Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter 23:21
In This Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - Dried Citrus Fire Fuel; Prevent Hot Air From Rising;
Keeping Warm Without Using the Heating
3. Tip of the Week - Dessert, Breakfast & Snacks Sorted All In One
4. Share Your Tips
5. On the Menu - Curried Beef
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - Build a Stockpile
7. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
8. The Cheapskates Club Show
9. The Weekly MOO Challenge - MOO Condensed Milk
10. 2021 Saving Revolution - Lesson 23 - Pick Up the Phone
11. Ask A Question - Have a question? Ask it here
12. Join the Cheapskates Club
13. Frequently Asked Questions
14. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
Well we sure know it is winter. Brrr but it is cold outside. Toasty warm in the house, the fire is burning merrily, washing drying next to it.
Before the cold snap arrived, we planted some more potatoes and mulched the fruit trees in the pots for the winter. I picked oranges and limes from our trees too. They taste nothing like the fruit from the shop; the oranges especially are so sweet we are eating them, and I was hoping to make more marmalade. We had tacos for dinner one night and I squeezed some lime juice over the salad and added some to the rice, it just gives a little something else to the meal. Gotta love free fruit - those trees have paid for themselves over and over and over.
Most of our fruit trees are in pots. Yes, pots. And most of them are dwarf varieties too, so they suit pots. Why? Well I can get more trees into our little backyard orchard in pots. My aim is to eventually have something ready to harvest all year round. I'm almost there! Why? Well we eat a lot of fruit, and I use a lot of fruit in my cooking. And buying fruit is expensive, even in season, these days.
If we all have just one piece of fruit a day, that's 35 pieces I need to buy each week. I did a very quick calculation, and those 35 pieces of fruit would cost on average $1 each - so $35 of my grocery budget would be spent just on fruit. But if we can grow it, that $35 can be used for other things. Even growing just some of it, keeps a lot of money in our budget. Something to think about if you believe growing at least some of what you eat isn't worth it.
Lots of trees will grow from strikes too, so you don't need to buy a tree. If you know someone with a fruit tree you'd like to try and grow, do some research to see how to take a strike and ask for a cutting. If it works, you've saved $30 on a plant.
Well the sunshine has disappeared and it's raining again. Good for the rain barrels! And the garden.
Stay warm everyone, and have a great week.
Happy Cheapskating,
Cath
PS: Love our site? We love referrals! Send a note to your favourite newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV stations, friends and relatives, and tell them about us!
2. From The Tip Store
Dried Citrus Fire Fuel
This is one of the many tips from my Gran who was a housewife during the depression and war. Never throw citrus peel in the bin or the compost. Dry the skins in a cool oven after you've finished cooking using the 'leftover' heat. These skins are then wonderful to put on an open fire. The oil in the skins makes them burn well and they give off a lovely fresh smell. Even if you are a real Cheapskate and grate the rind from the orange or lemon before eating the flesh, the dried skins can still be used as fuel but they won't smell as nice. They keep a fire going though and they cost nothing but a tiny bit of effort.
Contributed by Georgina Richard
Editor's note: I love this idea, and during citrus season (it's starting now) after I've juiced and zested the oranges, limes, lemons and grapefruit I pop the skins into the oven after I've used it to dry. I just toss the mandarin peels in. There is enough oil left, even after zesting, to burn and use as a fire lighter. Oh, and they go really well on a campfire too. Cath
Prevent Hot Air From Rising
If you have any in-ceiling exhaust fans throughout your home that don't get a lot of use, for example in the laundry or spare bathrooms etc., make a round disc that you can put inside to stop all of your heating in those rooms disappearing out into your roof space. The disc can be made from something as cheap and simple as newspaper or cardboard and easily placed inside the fan by removing the plastic cover, inserting newspaper disc and closing back up again.
Contributed by Melina
Keeping Warm Without Using the Heating
Apart from using window coverings to help insulate your home, close off any unused rooms and use draught stoppers against closed doors. Wheat bags, layers of clothing (a few thin layers are warmer than a couple of thick layers) and even trusty hot water bottles are cheap and effective ways to keep toasty warm. Of an evening, I have a shower and put pyjamas on with a comfy track suit over the top. I find that if I keep my feet and head warm, I am fine. I wear a beanie, neck scarf, socks and slippers. A single bed doona is great to lay under on the couch while watching tv. Depending on how cold it is, you can add a blanket and/or more layers of clothing. Consume hot food and drinks to help heat your body from the inside. Investing in several wheat bags is a good idea. Just remember to place a mug full of water on the turntable of the microwave while heating the bags, to ensure the wheat doesn't dry out and burn. Be sure to warm your bed up before getting into it, too. If you don't like using an electric blanket, place some hot water bottles or wheat bags between the sheets.
Contributed by Dianne Kelly
Add a Tip
3. This Week's Winning Tip
This week's winning tip is from Brooke Wilmott. Brooke has won a one year Platinum Cheapskates Club membership for submitting her winning tip.
Dessert, Breakfast & Snacks Sorted All In One
So cheap and so easy as I cooked my mixture in muffin trays. Yes, I’m that lazy mum; we have six kids so we are flat out and I hate spending to long in the kitchen. I tried this for the first time tonight and I will make them this way forever now. Grease your muffin trays with cooking spray and put your pancake or pikelet mixture into them and bake on 180 degrees Celsius for 10 - 13 minutes until they are spongy to touch. Take out of the oven and serve hot with toppings you want. Or do what I'm going to do and make a variety up for school lunches/desserts/snacks and breakfasts. They can be frozen, ready to just pull out when needed. You don’t need spend ages in kitchen making up pancakes, just heat in microwave and good to go. You don’t need all those fancy pancake machines; use what you have in your cupboards.
Mix and match combos:
add one banana to mixture for banana pancakes
add little bit of Nutella into mixture in muffing trays and cook (best for weekend snacks if using Nutella) if school has nut allergy
add Choc chip for choc chip pancakes
add cocoa to pancake mix and have chocolate pancakes
have with berries (strawberries or blueberries)
choc chips, mini marshmallows, ice-cream etc.
traditional with old maple syrup.
Congratulations Brooke, I hope you enjoy your Cheapskates Club membership.
The Cheapskate's Club website is thousands of pages of money saving hints, tips and ideas. There are over 12,000 tips to save you money, time and energy; 1,600 budget and family friendly recipes, hundreds of printable tip sheets and ebooks.
Let's get together and make the Cheapskates Club Australia's largest online hint, tip and idea library. Share your favourite money saving, time saving or energy saving hint and be in the running to win a one-year membership to The Cheapskate Club.
4. Share Your Tips
Share your favourite hint or tip that saves money, time and energy and be in the running to win a one-year subscription to The Cheapskate Journal.
Remember, you have to be in it to win it!
Share Your Tip
5. On The Menu
Curried Beef
Ingredients:
I kg stewing steak (gravy/ chuck), cut into 4 cm cubes
2 medium onions cut into large cubes
3 tbsp flour
1 ½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
¼ tsp garlic powder
1 ½ tsp curry powder
425 ml tomato sauce
2 tbsp ketchup manis
2 tsp beef stock powder
½ tsp sugar
Method:
Combine the first 7 ingredients in a 3. 5 litre slow cooker. Stir well making sure all meat is coated in flour. Stir the remaining 4 ingredients in bowl. Pour over the top. Cover and cool on Low for 8 -10 hours or on High for 4 – 5 hours. Makes 6 cups.
Next week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Beef
Monday: Stuffed drumsticks
Tuesday: Italian Vegetarian Meatballs
Wednesday: Curried Beef
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Fish, potato gems, coleslaw
Saturday: Quesadillas
There are over 1,800 budget and family friendly recipes in the Cheapskates Club Recipe File, all contributed by your fellow Cheapskates, so you know they're good.
Add A Recipe
Recipe File Index
6. The $300 A Month Food Challenge
Build a Stockpile
I practice the buy-ahead principle as much as possible, in order to create a stockpile and build up our pantry with items we will use later. I aim to have a twelve month supply of our basic grocery items at all times. I don't have stuff stashed everywhere and I don't stockpile things we rarely use. I do use the grocery slush fund to stockpile things we use a lot of when they are on a super great sale, especially if they are the pricier items like shampoo, conditioner, dried fruit, meat and so on. When I'm creating our meal plan I shop the pantry, fridge and freezer and use the groceries we have on hand. This way I always pay the lowest possible price for groceries.
Having groceries on hand is well, it's handy. It means that if something happens (a pandemic lockdown perhaps or a stubbed toe) then I don't need to panic and rush out and buy whatever I can get at whatever price its being sold.
It saves us money, usually because if it's not a generic or store brand, then I can wait until it is on half-price sale to replenish the pantry. That saves us money - at least 50%.
Your stockpile, yet another tool to use to stick to the $300 a Month Food Challenge.
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
7. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
2 Hour Fingerless Gloves, Just in Time for Winter
Filling in a Hole (or How to Darn a Sock)
How to be a Single Cheapskater
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
The Preserving Thread
Can I Use Roasted Meat Bones to Make Soup
Recipe Book - What Would You Include?
8. The Cheapskates Club Show
Join Cath and Hannah live Tuesdays on You Tube at 7.30pm AET
Join us live on YouTube every Tuesday and see how we are living debt free, cashed up and laughing - and find out how you can too!
Show Schedule
Tuesday: Around the Kitchen Table - join Cath and Hannah for a cuppa and a chat around the kitchen table as they talk about living the Cheapskates way.
Popular Shows
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - Dried Citrus Fire Fuel; Prevent Hot Air From Rising;
Keeping Warm Without Using the Heating
3. Tip of the Week - Dessert, Breakfast & Snacks Sorted All In One
4. Share Your Tips
5. On the Menu - Curried Beef
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - Build a Stockpile
7. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
8. The Cheapskates Club Show
9. The Weekly MOO Challenge - MOO Condensed Milk
10. 2021 Saving Revolution - Lesson 23 - Pick Up the Phone
11. Ask A Question - Have a question? Ask it here
12. Join the Cheapskates Club
13. Frequently Asked Questions
14. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
Well we sure know it is winter. Brrr but it is cold outside. Toasty warm in the house, the fire is burning merrily, washing drying next to it.
Before the cold snap arrived, we planted some more potatoes and mulched the fruit trees in the pots for the winter. I picked oranges and limes from our trees too. They taste nothing like the fruit from the shop; the oranges especially are so sweet we are eating them, and I was hoping to make more marmalade. We had tacos for dinner one night and I squeezed some lime juice over the salad and added some to the rice, it just gives a little something else to the meal. Gotta love free fruit - those trees have paid for themselves over and over and over.
Most of our fruit trees are in pots. Yes, pots. And most of them are dwarf varieties too, so they suit pots. Why? Well I can get more trees into our little backyard orchard in pots. My aim is to eventually have something ready to harvest all year round. I'm almost there! Why? Well we eat a lot of fruit, and I use a lot of fruit in my cooking. And buying fruit is expensive, even in season, these days.
If we all have just one piece of fruit a day, that's 35 pieces I need to buy each week. I did a very quick calculation, and those 35 pieces of fruit would cost on average $1 each - so $35 of my grocery budget would be spent just on fruit. But if we can grow it, that $35 can be used for other things. Even growing just some of it, keeps a lot of money in our budget. Something to think about if you believe growing at least some of what you eat isn't worth it.
Lots of trees will grow from strikes too, so you don't need to buy a tree. If you know someone with a fruit tree you'd like to try and grow, do some research to see how to take a strike and ask for a cutting. If it works, you've saved $30 on a plant.
Well the sunshine has disappeared and it's raining again. Good for the rain barrels! And the garden.
Stay warm everyone, and have a great week.
Happy Cheapskating,
Cath
PS: Love our site? We love referrals! Send a note to your favourite newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV stations, friends and relatives, and tell them about us!
2. From The Tip Store
Dried Citrus Fire Fuel
This is one of the many tips from my Gran who was a housewife during the depression and war. Never throw citrus peel in the bin or the compost. Dry the skins in a cool oven after you've finished cooking using the 'leftover' heat. These skins are then wonderful to put on an open fire. The oil in the skins makes them burn well and they give off a lovely fresh smell. Even if you are a real Cheapskate and grate the rind from the orange or lemon before eating the flesh, the dried skins can still be used as fuel but they won't smell as nice. They keep a fire going though and they cost nothing but a tiny bit of effort.
Contributed by Georgina Richard
Editor's note: I love this idea, and during citrus season (it's starting now) after I've juiced and zested the oranges, limes, lemons and grapefruit I pop the skins into the oven after I've used it to dry. I just toss the mandarin peels in. There is enough oil left, even after zesting, to burn and use as a fire lighter. Oh, and they go really well on a campfire too. Cath
Prevent Hot Air From Rising
If you have any in-ceiling exhaust fans throughout your home that don't get a lot of use, for example in the laundry or spare bathrooms etc., make a round disc that you can put inside to stop all of your heating in those rooms disappearing out into your roof space. The disc can be made from something as cheap and simple as newspaper or cardboard and easily placed inside the fan by removing the plastic cover, inserting newspaper disc and closing back up again.
Contributed by Melina
Keeping Warm Without Using the Heating
Apart from using window coverings to help insulate your home, close off any unused rooms and use draught stoppers against closed doors. Wheat bags, layers of clothing (a few thin layers are warmer than a couple of thick layers) and even trusty hot water bottles are cheap and effective ways to keep toasty warm. Of an evening, I have a shower and put pyjamas on with a comfy track suit over the top. I find that if I keep my feet and head warm, I am fine. I wear a beanie, neck scarf, socks and slippers. A single bed doona is great to lay under on the couch while watching tv. Depending on how cold it is, you can add a blanket and/or more layers of clothing. Consume hot food and drinks to help heat your body from the inside. Investing in several wheat bags is a good idea. Just remember to place a mug full of water on the turntable of the microwave while heating the bags, to ensure the wheat doesn't dry out and burn. Be sure to warm your bed up before getting into it, too. If you don't like using an electric blanket, place some hot water bottles or wheat bags between the sheets.
Contributed by Dianne Kelly
Add a Tip
3. This Week's Winning Tip
This week's winning tip is from Brooke Wilmott. Brooke has won a one year Platinum Cheapskates Club membership for submitting her winning tip.
Dessert, Breakfast & Snacks Sorted All In One
So cheap and so easy as I cooked my mixture in muffin trays. Yes, I’m that lazy mum; we have six kids so we are flat out and I hate spending to long in the kitchen. I tried this for the first time tonight and I will make them this way forever now. Grease your muffin trays with cooking spray and put your pancake or pikelet mixture into them and bake on 180 degrees Celsius for 10 - 13 minutes until they are spongy to touch. Take out of the oven and serve hot with toppings you want. Or do what I'm going to do and make a variety up for school lunches/desserts/snacks and breakfasts. They can be frozen, ready to just pull out when needed. You don’t need spend ages in kitchen making up pancakes, just heat in microwave and good to go. You don’t need all those fancy pancake machines; use what you have in your cupboards.
Mix and match combos:
add one banana to mixture for banana pancakes
add little bit of Nutella into mixture in muffing trays and cook (best for weekend snacks if using Nutella) if school has nut allergy
add Choc chip for choc chip pancakes
add cocoa to pancake mix and have chocolate pancakes
have with berries (strawberries or blueberries)
choc chips, mini marshmallows, ice-cream etc.
traditional with old maple syrup.
Congratulations Brooke, I hope you enjoy your Cheapskates Club membership.
The Cheapskate's Club website is thousands of pages of money saving hints, tips and ideas. There are over 12,000 tips to save you money, time and energy; 1,600 budget and family friendly recipes, hundreds of printable tip sheets and ebooks.
Let's get together and make the Cheapskates Club Australia's largest online hint, tip and idea library. Share your favourite money saving, time saving or energy saving hint and be in the running to win a one-year membership to The Cheapskate Club.
4. Share Your Tips
Share your favourite hint or tip that saves money, time and energy and be in the running to win a one-year subscription to The Cheapskate Journal.
Remember, you have to be in it to win it!
Share Your Tip
5. On The Menu
Curried Beef
Ingredients:
I kg stewing steak (gravy/ chuck), cut into 4 cm cubes
2 medium onions cut into large cubes
3 tbsp flour
1 ½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
¼ tsp garlic powder
1 ½ tsp curry powder
425 ml tomato sauce
2 tbsp ketchup manis
2 tsp beef stock powder
½ tsp sugar
Method:
Combine the first 7 ingredients in a 3. 5 litre slow cooker. Stir well making sure all meat is coated in flour. Stir the remaining 4 ingredients in bowl. Pour over the top. Cover and cool on Low for 8 -10 hours or on High for 4 – 5 hours. Makes 6 cups.
Next week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Beef
Monday: Stuffed drumsticks
Tuesday: Italian Vegetarian Meatballs
Wednesday: Curried Beef
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Fish, potato gems, coleslaw
Saturday: Quesadillas
There are over 1,800 budget and family friendly recipes in the Cheapskates Club Recipe File, all contributed by your fellow Cheapskates, so you know they're good.
Add A Recipe
Recipe File Index
6. The $300 A Month Food Challenge
Build a Stockpile
I practice the buy-ahead principle as much as possible, in order to create a stockpile and build up our pantry with items we will use later. I aim to have a twelve month supply of our basic grocery items at all times. I don't have stuff stashed everywhere and I don't stockpile things we rarely use. I do use the grocery slush fund to stockpile things we use a lot of when they are on a super great sale, especially if they are the pricier items like shampoo, conditioner, dried fruit, meat and so on. When I'm creating our meal plan I shop the pantry, fridge and freezer and use the groceries we have on hand. This way I always pay the lowest possible price for groceries.
Having groceries on hand is well, it's handy. It means that if something happens (a pandemic lockdown perhaps or a stubbed toe) then I don't need to panic and rush out and buy whatever I can get at whatever price its being sold.
It saves us money, usually because if it's not a generic or store brand, then I can wait until it is on half-price sale to replenish the pantry. That saves us money - at least 50%.
Your stockpile, yet another tool to use to stick to the $300 a Month Food Challenge.
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
7. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
2 Hour Fingerless Gloves, Just in Time for Winter
Filling in a Hole (or How to Darn a Sock)
How to be a Single Cheapskater
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
The Preserving Thread
Can I Use Roasted Meat Bones to Make Soup
Recipe Book - What Would You Include?
8. The Cheapskates Club Show
Join Cath and Hannah live Tuesdays on You Tube at 7.30pm AET
Join us live on YouTube every Tuesday and see how we are living debt free, cashed up and laughing - and find out how you can too!
Show Schedule
Tuesday: Around the Kitchen Table - join Cath and Hannah for a cuppa and a chat around the kitchen table as they talk about living the Cheapskates way.
Popular Shows
9. The Weekly MOO Challenge
MOO Condensed Milk
I made a caramel pie on the weekend, it was delicious, no leftovers and no complaints, and I made it with MOO condensed milk. Condensed milk is one of those ingredients you probably don't think about keeping in the pantry until you need it, and then you have to buy it, and it is jolly expensive, and one of the grocery items that has been heavily affected by shrinkflation. This recipe makes the equivalent of more than two tins (thanks to shrinkflation!) for less than the price of one. MOOing at it's best, saving money, time and energy!
Here's my go to condensed milk recipe - and don't worry about being able to store it before it goes yellow. It will keep in the fridge for at least a week, longer if you turn the container upside down. But it freezes! Yes, put any extra in the freezer until you're ready to use it in another recipe.
MOO Condensed MilkIngredients:
1 cup hot water
2 cups skim milk powder
2 cups white sugar
6 tbsp butter or margarine
Method:
Place all ingredients in a food processor and mix for about 3 minutes. The mixture will be quite thin, but thickens on standing for about an hour. Use immediately or refrigerate for up to one week. Can be frozen, thaw before use.
Makes 3 cups.
Seriously, it is so quick and easy to make and so cheap - why would you ever spend your hard earned dollars on tinned condensed milk?
Get in on the fun and discussions here.
10. 2021 Saving Revolution
Lesson 23 - Pick Up the Phone
I did this last week. We had an insurance renewal arrive and it had not only gone up by 15%, but the depreciation allowed lowered the value to below replacement cost - not what we were paying for! On this particular item we specified, and paid the premium, for new for old. So I spent a while on the phone, I won't lie to you, about half an hour all up.
In the end, the policy was renewed to my satisfaction, the premium was reduced to a more acceptable price and the insured value was raised and we still have new for old. And kept more of our money in our bank account.
So pick up the phone. Call your insurance company/ies. Call your electricity and gas providers. Call your mortgage provider. You get the idea - pick up the phone and call them and request a better deal for being a stellar and loyal customer.
You won't always get the answer you like, but that's OK. You can do some research and simply change supplier.
But you won't know if you don't try!
Log into the 2021 Saving Revolution forum and join the discussions too. They're fun, keep you accountable, and over the course of the year will be an amazing source of valuable hints and tips for you too.
11. Ask A Question
We have lots of resources to help you as you live the Cheapskates way but if you didn't find the answer to your question in our extensive archives please just drop me a note with your question.
I read and answer all questions, either in an email to you, in my weekly newsletter, the monthly Journal or by creating blog posts and other resources to help you (and other Cheapskaters).
Ask Your Question
12. Join The Cheapskates Club
For just $25 for the first year, you can join the Cheapskates Club and get exclusive access to the Cheapskate Journal, the monthly e-journal that shows you how to cut the costs of everyday living and still have fun.
Joining the Cheapskates Club gives you 24/7 access to the Members Centre with 1000's of money saving tips and articles.
Click here to join the Cheapskates Club today!
13. Frequently Asked Questions
How do I change my email address?
This one is easy. When you login to the Member's Centre just click on your name at the top of the page to go straight to your profile page where you can update your details, change your password and find your subscription details.
Not a Cheapskates Club member? Then please use the Changing Details form found here to update your email address.
How do I know when my membership should be renewed?
Memberships are active for one year from the date of joining. You will be sent a renewal reminder before your subscription is due to renew. You can also find your membership expiry date on your profile page.
When you login to the Member's Centre just click on your name to go straight to your profile page where you can will find your join date and your expiry date.
What will you do with my email address?
We never rent, trade or sell our email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You'll never get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.
How did I get on this list?
The only way you can get onto our newsletter mailing list is to subscribe yourself. You signed up to receive our Free Newsletter at our Cheapskates Club Web site or are a Platinum Cheapskates Club member.
14. Contact Cheapskates
The Cheapskates Club -
Showing you how to live life
debt free, cashed up and laughing!
PO Box 5077 Studfield Vic 3152
Contact Cheapskates
MOO Condensed Milk
I made a caramel pie on the weekend, it was delicious, no leftovers and no complaints, and I made it with MOO condensed milk. Condensed milk is one of those ingredients you probably don't think about keeping in the pantry until you need it, and then you have to buy it, and it is jolly expensive, and one of the grocery items that has been heavily affected by shrinkflation. This recipe makes the equivalent of more than two tins (thanks to shrinkflation!) for less than the price of one. MOOing at it's best, saving money, time and energy!
Here's my go to condensed milk recipe - and don't worry about being able to store it before it goes yellow. It will keep in the fridge for at least a week, longer if you turn the container upside down. But it freezes! Yes, put any extra in the freezer until you're ready to use it in another recipe.
MOO Condensed MilkIngredients:
1 cup hot water
2 cups skim milk powder
2 cups white sugar
6 tbsp butter or margarine
Method:
Place all ingredients in a food processor and mix for about 3 minutes. The mixture will be quite thin, but thickens on standing for about an hour. Use immediately or refrigerate for up to one week. Can be frozen, thaw before use.
Makes 3 cups.
Seriously, it is so quick and easy to make and so cheap - why would you ever spend your hard earned dollars on tinned condensed milk?
Get in on the fun and discussions here.
10. 2021 Saving Revolution
Lesson 23 - Pick Up the Phone
I did this last week. We had an insurance renewal arrive and it had not only gone up by 15%, but the depreciation allowed lowered the value to below replacement cost - not what we were paying for! On this particular item we specified, and paid the premium, for new for old. So I spent a while on the phone, I won't lie to you, about half an hour all up.
In the end, the policy was renewed to my satisfaction, the premium was reduced to a more acceptable price and the insured value was raised and we still have new for old. And kept more of our money in our bank account.
So pick up the phone. Call your insurance company/ies. Call your electricity and gas providers. Call your mortgage provider. You get the idea - pick up the phone and call them and request a better deal for being a stellar and loyal customer.
You won't always get the answer you like, but that's OK. You can do some research and simply change supplier.
But you won't know if you don't try!
Log into the 2021 Saving Revolution forum and join the discussions too. They're fun, keep you accountable, and over the course of the year will be an amazing source of valuable hints and tips for you too.
11. Ask A Question
We have lots of resources to help you as you live the Cheapskates way but if you didn't find the answer to your question in our extensive archives please just drop me a note with your question.
I read and answer all questions, either in an email to you, in my weekly newsletter, the monthly Journal or by creating blog posts and other resources to help you (and other Cheapskaters).
Ask Your Question
12. Join The Cheapskates Club
For just $25 for the first year, you can join the Cheapskates Club and get exclusive access to the Cheapskate Journal, the monthly e-journal that shows you how to cut the costs of everyday living and still have fun.
Joining the Cheapskates Club gives you 24/7 access to the Members Centre with 1000's of money saving tips and articles.
Click here to join the Cheapskates Club today!
13. Frequently Asked Questions
How do I change my email address?
This one is easy. When you login to the Member's Centre just click on your name at the top of the page to go straight to your profile page where you can update your details, change your password and find your subscription details.
Not a Cheapskates Club member? Then please use the Changing Details form found here to update your email address.
How do I know when my membership should be renewed?
Memberships are active for one year from the date of joining. You will be sent a renewal reminder before your subscription is due to renew. You can also find your membership expiry date on your profile page.
When you login to the Member's Centre just click on your name to go straight to your profile page where you can will find your join date and your expiry date.
What will you do with my email address?
We never rent, trade or sell our email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You'll never get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.
How did I get on this list?
The only way you can get onto our newsletter mailing list is to subscribe yourself. You signed up to receive our Free Newsletter at our Cheapskates Club Web site or are a Platinum Cheapskates Club member.
14. Contact Cheapskates
The Cheapskates Club -
Showing you how to live life
debt free, cashed up and laughing!
PO Box 5077 Studfield Vic 3152
Contact Cheapskates