Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter 27:18
In this Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - An Alternative to Shredding Paper; The Great Garden Pipe; Halve the Cost of Washing-Up
3. Share Your Tips - Have a great money, time or energy saving idea? Share it here
4. On the Menu - Seasoning Soups and Stews
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - Put Your Appliance Stash to Use
6. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
7. Member's Featured Blog - Planning for a Jolly June
8. This Week's Question - The Emergency Entertainment Meal List
9. Ask Cath - Do have a question for Cath? Ask it here!
10. Join the Cheapskates Club
11. Frequently Asked Questions
12. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
This week the Revolutionists are doing a review of their Spending Plans (can you believe it's week 27 of the Saving Revolution already?). As I was writing up the notes for the lesson I realised that it's a good time to review and revise goals too. It also occurred to me that perhaps you don't have any goals, that you are just plodding along day by day, with no real aim.
Goals are important. They don't have to be grand. They can be small. Actually, small goals are much better because they are achievable. Grand goals are good too, but they take a lot longer to reach. If you have grand goals break them down into smaller goals and as you achieve each one remember that you are one step closer to your grand goal.
Plan your goals for 3 months only. It takes 3 weeks (21 consecutive days of the same action) to establish a habit. If you can make it 3 months, you will have changed your life!
Make your goals as specific as possible.
Make your goals "action oriented". For instance, if you want to lose weight, choose one thing to focus on such as the goal of not eating after 8:00 p.m. in the evening.
Write your goals down and put them where you will see them - on the bathroom mirror or the fridge door perhaps?
Become accountable. Choose someone you can report to, this will help to keep you on track. If you must tell them whether or not you’re on track, you are more likely to stay focused.
Break large goals down into smaller, more achievable goals. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day.
Be sure and choose one thing you can do to help your family finances and set a realistic goal.
Keep on setting goals. Don't stop once you have reached your first goal set another one and keep on striving to meet them.
And don't stop visiting Cheapskates. Login regularly, check the forum and the tip store. Read the Journal and the blog.
We are here to help you, so let us!
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
An Alternative to Shredding Paper
You don't need to buy a paper shredder for home use. Just use the kitchen sink with warm water and a dash of detergent, then add the papers to be destroyed. In minutes the paper dissolves to paper mâché consistency and can be squished into balls for the bin or garden.
Contributed by Lindy Stuetz
The Great Garden Pipe
This pipe can be used all over your garden for both compost and watering. If you place these pipes strategically around your garden, by the fruit trees, next to your veggie garden, in garden beds, you can use them for your compost, as an inground worm farm, and/or to water your garden.
You need to get a plastic water downpipe, a decent size in diameter, and in about 1 metre long lengths, as well as a way to cap the pipe. The pipe and sometime the caps you can often get from just asking around, salvage yards, builders offcuts, gumtree, freecycle etc. it doesn't matter what they look like, most of the pipe will be in the ground.
With the length of pipe drill a few holes, using a spade bit if you can, so you can fit a finger in the hole every 10 cm or so up the sides of the pipe. Dig a hole 3/4 the height of the pipe (helpful if you can borrow an auger or post hole digging shovel). Put the pipe into the hole, making sure it is reasonably level, then backfill around the pipe with some of the earth you have just dug out. Fit the cap and you are ready to go.
You can use a saucer, or even a small pot plant for decoration if you want, you can even get the kids to paint them in bright colours to make them a feature.
Contributed by Denise Scotford
Halve the Cost of Washing-Up
This tip is, super-simple and an oh-so easy and obvious way of splitting the cost of washing--up, using a dish-washer, in half, literally, by simply splitting your dishwasher tablet in half and using half a tablet per wash. I use an eco-brand called Earths Choice, and I'd noticed that while the dishes were coming out of the dishwasher squeaky clean, they often had a sudsy residue. By simply splitting the dishwashing tablet in half, my dishes are still sparkling clean BUT with no sudsy residue AND I've halved the cost (+ any environmental impacts), of using this product! NOW I wonder why I didn't think of it sooner!!!
Contributed by Therese Krix
Editor's note: The lazy homemaker in me loves my dishwasher and would love to be able to use dishwasher tablets, but both our old dishwasher (which was very old) and our new one (about 2 years old) hated the dishwasher tablets. I even forked out for the expensive Finish and Fairy brands to try! These days I buy the 1 kilo box of Coles dishwasher powder, use two teaspoons per load (level teaspoons please) and have clean dishes and a happy dishwasher. I buy six boxes of dishwasher powder a year, for a cost of around $13. If your dishwasher doesn’t like the tablets, try the Coles dishwasher powder - just remember this is a case of less is more. Cath
There are currently more than 12,000 great tips in the Tip Store
3. Submit Your Tip
The Cheapskate's Club website is over 3,000 pages of money saving hints, tips and ideas. 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. We publish a Winning Tip each Thursday, so enter your great money, time or energy saving idea now.
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!
Submit your tip
4. On the Menu
Seasoning Soups and Stews
Colder weather means you may be eating more soups and stews. Do you know what seasonings are best for these dishes and when it is best to add them?
It is easy to fall into the habit of opening a can and heating it up rather than making soup from scratch. And while this might do in a pinch, there is nothing quite like homemade stock and fresh ingredients. Making soup from scratch takes a little more time but the results will be worth it. Your family will be able to taste the love that went into preparing this meal.
Start with the freshest ingredients possible. If you’re preparing a large pot of soup this means you will use fresh vegetables and herbs if at all possible. If you must use frozen or canned vegetables just remember they may contain salt so you will want to taste the base before adding any salt.
I don't like salt, so I never use it (and you've probably noticed it is hardly ever included in the ingredients list of my recipes) so to salt lovers my soups can be bland.
But food with flavour is important, so garlic, parsley, oregano, rosemary, cumin, coriander, thyme, pepper, nutmeg, even a little chilli all find their way into our winter soups and stews.
If possible make your soup, stew or casserole a day or two before you eat it. This gives the ingredients a chance to “marry” and the seasonings to meld together. These are the dishes that really are better the day after they are made. And be sure to test the soup before you serve it to see if it needs salt or if any other seasonings are needed. Having salt and pepper on the table lets everyone season to their own taste.
Here's a handy tip: what do you do if you’ve accidentally over-salted your soup? If it isn’t too salty, you can place a whole, peeled potato into the soup and allow it to simmer for about 15 minutes. This will help remove the excess salt. When it is time to serve, remove the potato and set it aside for use later.
Next week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Beef
Monday: Mock chicken roast, baked veg
Tuesday: Refrigerator lasagne, salad, garlic bread
Wednesday: Stuffed chicken legs, baked veg
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Fish & Chips, coleslaw
Saturday: Hamburgers
In the fruit bowl: Mandarins
In the cake tin: Yum Yum Balls, cupcakes, Pink Finger Bun Cake
There are over 1,600 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File.
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge
Put Your Appliance Stash to Use
I love meals that can be on the table in 30 minutes or less. Not snack type meals, but meat, chicken or fish with vegetables, either cooked or as a salad.
I've said often enough that you can get a decent, frugal meal on the table in less time than it takes to order in and I'm right, we've tested it. It's also faster that going out for takeaway too. The secret is having a meal plan and then using the appliances you have to prepare those meals.
There isn't one meal on my meal plan for the next week that can't be prepared and on the table in under 30 minutes, except for the roast chicken. And really once it's in the oven, I don't need to do anything to it until it's cooked.
To have 30 minute meals I must make use of all those appliances I have. The curried beef is done in 20 minutes in the pressure cooker. The beef casserole is a slow cooker meal, as is the lasagne.
It takes just 10 - 20 minutes to prep a slow cooker meal, and then it cooks without any interference from me. Preparing dump packs (packs of meat or chicken, vegetables and seasonings) ahead saves even more time on a busy morning. Just take the pack from the freezer, dump it in the slow cooker and let it cook all day. Dinner is done in under 5 minutes!
Bulk cooking, then freezing meals ready to be thawed and heated saves so much time in the kitchen.
Prep time can be cut by making use of food processors (electric or manual) and packing veggies in meal portions in either the crisper or the freezer.
I am getting better at using my appliances, if only because I love that they really do save me money and time.
If you have a pressure cooker or a slow cooker or a food processor or mixer or some other appliance lurking at the back of your cupboard, drag it out. Read the instruction manual again and then think about how you can use it to save yourself money and time in the kitchen this week.
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
6. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
Mid-Winter Cleaning
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3767-Mid-Winter-Cleaning
Gourmet Freezer Sandwiches
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3257-Gourmet-freezer-sandwiches
Savings vs Bills
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?2681-savings-vs-bills
Most popular blog posts this week
Wrinkly Stew
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2015/10/wrinkly-stew.html
Would You Just Put $500 in the Rubbish Bin?
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2013/08/would-you-just-put-500-in-rubbish-bin.html
Easy Whole Chicken and Stock in a Crockpot
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2013/10/easy-whole-chicken-and-stock-in-crockpot.html
7. Members Featured Blog
Platinum Cheapskates Club members have their very own Cheapskating blogs, and they are wonderful and inspirational and encouraging and even funny. This week's featured blog is written by barbw7.
Planning for a Jolly June
As June approaches I am reviewing my spending plan and have already identified one area where I can cut back further. I have a category in my plan for miscellaneous money but also give myself what I call " me money”, my me money can be up to $50 a fortnight and my miscellaneous category allows $20 a fortnight so that's $70 a fortnight I can spend on whatever I like. All my bills are paid, and some are in credit. My bills including debt get paid (some automatically before I see my pension). I am up to date or in front of everything, so I feel like I can use the leftover money to do something for myself.
I buy any household needs such as shower curtains, my gentle body wash, washing powder etc after I pay my bills and buy my groceries.
My new plan includes a definite savings category which will get put away before I do anything else.
In my plan will also be a category for giving to others, I currently buy items for a local organisation that helps people in need including homeless people. I buy toiletries, toys and any items I think they can use but I always buy things on special or reduced to clear rather than full priced items.
I used to just buy these items out of my miscellaneous and me money, but I think having a category in my spending plan just for giving will help me see where my money goes.
I am going to go back to basics and track my spending for a fortnight or a month and see where my money goes, I haven't done this for a while. I generally know where my money goes but not down to the last cent.
I am also going to have a holiday fund in my plan but more importantly I will bring back an emergency fund category.
I will come back in a week or two and let you know how I am going.
I highly recommend a mid-year spending plan review or if you do not have a spending plan well it might be time for one.
Login to read more Cheapskates Club Member blogs
8. This Week's Question
Q. Is there such a list of ingredients that you use that helps with unexpected guests, unplanned meals etc? Every time I try to cook to a recipe, I find it seems to have a necessary ingredient that I don't have on hand!
A. It sounds like you need to change the type of recipes you are looking at. Keeping your pantry, fridge and freezer stocked with basics ensures you can always put a meal on the table. If you find you don't have basics when you are cooking (and basics are just that, basic ingredients such as flours, sugars, fats, flavourings, common herbs and spices etc) then you need to look at what you are cooking and how you are eating.
Keeping the more exotic ingredients in your pantry isn't necessary unless you plan to expand your recipe repertoire to include more exotic and extravagant dishes. These ingredients are often expensive, so think carefully before deciding to try recipes with them listed. Look for other recipes that use them to make it worthwhile buying them. If you can't find any perhaps look for another recipe to try.
You'll find a list of common pantry basics in Back to Basics: What to Keep in the Pantry. The ingredients on this list will allow you to make thousands of different recipes and all within a reasonable grocery budget.
9. Ask Cath
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
10. Join the Cheapskates Club
For just 10 cents a day 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!
11. Frequently Asked Questions
How do I change my email address?
This one is easy. Members can update their email address or any other details by clicking on "Edit Profile" directly under their membership number after they have logged in to the Member's Centre. Subscribers to our free newsletter can use the Change Your Address form (under Customer Service in the menu) and fill it out. Once you've filled it in click the send button and we'll do the rest. Please remember to include your old email address so we can find it in the list as well as the new one.
How do I know when my membership should be renewed?
When you login to the Member's Centre you will be told how many days of membership you have left once you have 30 days left. Just click on the link to renew and your membership will just continue on, uninterrupted.
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 You Get on Our List?
You signed up to receive our Free Newsletter at our Cheapskates Club Web site or are a Platinum Cheapskates Club member
12. Contact Details
The Cheapskates Club -
Showing you how to live life
debt free, cashed up and laughing!
PO Box 5077 Studfield Vic 3152
Contact Cheapskates
1. Cath's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - An Alternative to Shredding Paper; The Great Garden Pipe; Halve the Cost of Washing-Up
3. Share Your Tips - Have a great money, time or energy saving idea? Share it here
4. On the Menu - Seasoning Soups and Stews
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - Put Your Appliance Stash to Use
6. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
7. Member's Featured Blog - Planning for a Jolly June
8. This Week's Question - The Emergency Entertainment Meal List
9. Ask Cath - Do have a question for Cath? Ask it here!
10. Join the Cheapskates Club
11. Frequently Asked Questions
12. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
This week the Revolutionists are doing a review of their Spending Plans (can you believe it's week 27 of the Saving Revolution already?). As I was writing up the notes for the lesson I realised that it's a good time to review and revise goals too. It also occurred to me that perhaps you don't have any goals, that you are just plodding along day by day, with no real aim.
Goals are important. They don't have to be grand. They can be small. Actually, small goals are much better because they are achievable. Grand goals are good too, but they take a lot longer to reach. If you have grand goals break them down into smaller goals and as you achieve each one remember that you are one step closer to your grand goal.
Plan your goals for 3 months only. It takes 3 weeks (21 consecutive days of the same action) to establish a habit. If you can make it 3 months, you will have changed your life!
Make your goals as specific as possible.
Make your goals "action oriented". For instance, if you want to lose weight, choose one thing to focus on such as the goal of not eating after 8:00 p.m. in the evening.
Write your goals down and put them where you will see them - on the bathroom mirror or the fridge door perhaps?
Become accountable. Choose someone you can report to, this will help to keep you on track. If you must tell them whether or not you’re on track, you are more likely to stay focused.
Break large goals down into smaller, more achievable goals. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day.
Be sure and choose one thing you can do to help your family finances and set a realistic goal.
Keep on setting goals. Don't stop once you have reached your first goal set another one and keep on striving to meet them.
And don't stop visiting Cheapskates. Login regularly, check the forum and the tip store. Read the Journal and the blog.
We are here to help you, so let us!
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
An Alternative to Shredding Paper
You don't need to buy a paper shredder for home use. Just use the kitchen sink with warm water and a dash of detergent, then add the papers to be destroyed. In minutes the paper dissolves to paper mâché consistency and can be squished into balls for the bin or garden.
Contributed by Lindy Stuetz
The Great Garden Pipe
This pipe can be used all over your garden for both compost and watering. If you place these pipes strategically around your garden, by the fruit trees, next to your veggie garden, in garden beds, you can use them for your compost, as an inground worm farm, and/or to water your garden.
You need to get a plastic water downpipe, a decent size in diameter, and in about 1 metre long lengths, as well as a way to cap the pipe. The pipe and sometime the caps you can often get from just asking around, salvage yards, builders offcuts, gumtree, freecycle etc. it doesn't matter what they look like, most of the pipe will be in the ground.
With the length of pipe drill a few holes, using a spade bit if you can, so you can fit a finger in the hole every 10 cm or so up the sides of the pipe. Dig a hole 3/4 the height of the pipe (helpful if you can borrow an auger or post hole digging shovel). Put the pipe into the hole, making sure it is reasonably level, then backfill around the pipe with some of the earth you have just dug out. Fit the cap and you are ready to go.
You can use a saucer, or even a small pot plant for decoration if you want, you can even get the kids to paint them in bright colours to make them a feature.
Contributed by Denise Scotford
Halve the Cost of Washing-Up
This tip is, super-simple and an oh-so easy and obvious way of splitting the cost of washing--up, using a dish-washer, in half, literally, by simply splitting your dishwasher tablet in half and using half a tablet per wash. I use an eco-brand called Earths Choice, and I'd noticed that while the dishes were coming out of the dishwasher squeaky clean, they often had a sudsy residue. By simply splitting the dishwashing tablet in half, my dishes are still sparkling clean BUT with no sudsy residue AND I've halved the cost (+ any environmental impacts), of using this product! NOW I wonder why I didn't think of it sooner!!!
Contributed by Therese Krix
Editor's note: The lazy homemaker in me loves my dishwasher and would love to be able to use dishwasher tablets, but both our old dishwasher (which was very old) and our new one (about 2 years old) hated the dishwasher tablets. I even forked out for the expensive Finish and Fairy brands to try! These days I buy the 1 kilo box of Coles dishwasher powder, use two teaspoons per load (level teaspoons please) and have clean dishes and a happy dishwasher. I buy six boxes of dishwasher powder a year, for a cost of around $13. If your dishwasher doesn’t like the tablets, try the Coles dishwasher powder - just remember this is a case of less is more. Cath
There are currently more than 12,000 great tips in the Tip Store
3. Submit Your Tip
The Cheapskate's Club website is over 3,000 pages of money saving hints, tips and ideas. 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. We publish a Winning Tip each Thursday, so enter your great money, time or energy saving idea now.
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!
Submit your tip
4. On the Menu
Seasoning Soups and Stews
Colder weather means you may be eating more soups and stews. Do you know what seasonings are best for these dishes and when it is best to add them?
It is easy to fall into the habit of opening a can and heating it up rather than making soup from scratch. And while this might do in a pinch, there is nothing quite like homemade stock and fresh ingredients. Making soup from scratch takes a little more time but the results will be worth it. Your family will be able to taste the love that went into preparing this meal.
Start with the freshest ingredients possible. If you’re preparing a large pot of soup this means you will use fresh vegetables and herbs if at all possible. If you must use frozen or canned vegetables just remember they may contain salt so you will want to taste the base before adding any salt.
I don't like salt, so I never use it (and you've probably noticed it is hardly ever included in the ingredients list of my recipes) so to salt lovers my soups can be bland.
But food with flavour is important, so garlic, parsley, oregano, rosemary, cumin, coriander, thyme, pepper, nutmeg, even a little chilli all find their way into our winter soups and stews.
If possible make your soup, stew or casserole a day or two before you eat it. This gives the ingredients a chance to “marry” and the seasonings to meld together. These are the dishes that really are better the day after they are made. And be sure to test the soup before you serve it to see if it needs salt or if any other seasonings are needed. Having salt and pepper on the table lets everyone season to their own taste.
Here's a handy tip: what do you do if you’ve accidentally over-salted your soup? If it isn’t too salty, you can place a whole, peeled potato into the soup and allow it to simmer for about 15 minutes. This will help remove the excess salt. When it is time to serve, remove the potato and set it aside for use later.
Next week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Beef
Monday: Mock chicken roast, baked veg
Tuesday: Refrigerator lasagne, salad, garlic bread
Wednesday: Stuffed chicken legs, baked veg
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Fish & Chips, coleslaw
Saturday: Hamburgers
In the fruit bowl: Mandarins
In the cake tin: Yum Yum Balls, cupcakes, Pink Finger Bun Cake
There are over 1,600 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File.
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge
Put Your Appliance Stash to Use
I love meals that can be on the table in 30 minutes or less. Not snack type meals, but meat, chicken or fish with vegetables, either cooked or as a salad.
I've said often enough that you can get a decent, frugal meal on the table in less time than it takes to order in and I'm right, we've tested it. It's also faster that going out for takeaway too. The secret is having a meal plan and then using the appliances you have to prepare those meals.
There isn't one meal on my meal plan for the next week that can't be prepared and on the table in under 30 minutes, except for the roast chicken. And really once it's in the oven, I don't need to do anything to it until it's cooked.
To have 30 minute meals I must make use of all those appliances I have. The curried beef is done in 20 minutes in the pressure cooker. The beef casserole is a slow cooker meal, as is the lasagne.
It takes just 10 - 20 minutes to prep a slow cooker meal, and then it cooks without any interference from me. Preparing dump packs (packs of meat or chicken, vegetables and seasonings) ahead saves even more time on a busy morning. Just take the pack from the freezer, dump it in the slow cooker and let it cook all day. Dinner is done in under 5 minutes!
Bulk cooking, then freezing meals ready to be thawed and heated saves so much time in the kitchen.
Prep time can be cut by making use of food processors (electric or manual) and packing veggies in meal portions in either the crisper or the freezer.
I am getting better at using my appliances, if only because I love that they really do save me money and time.
If you have a pressure cooker or a slow cooker or a food processor or mixer or some other appliance lurking at the back of your cupboard, drag it out. Read the instruction manual again and then think about how you can use it to save yourself money and time in the kitchen this week.
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
6. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
Mid-Winter Cleaning
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3767-Mid-Winter-Cleaning
Gourmet Freezer Sandwiches
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3257-Gourmet-freezer-sandwiches
Savings vs Bills
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?2681-savings-vs-bills
Most popular blog posts this week
Wrinkly Stew
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2015/10/wrinkly-stew.html
Would You Just Put $500 in the Rubbish Bin?
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2013/08/would-you-just-put-500-in-rubbish-bin.html
Easy Whole Chicken and Stock in a Crockpot
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2013/10/easy-whole-chicken-and-stock-in-crockpot.html
7. Members Featured Blog
Platinum Cheapskates Club members have their very own Cheapskating blogs, and they are wonderful and inspirational and encouraging and even funny. This week's featured blog is written by barbw7.
Planning for a Jolly June
As June approaches I am reviewing my spending plan and have already identified one area where I can cut back further. I have a category in my plan for miscellaneous money but also give myself what I call " me money”, my me money can be up to $50 a fortnight and my miscellaneous category allows $20 a fortnight so that's $70 a fortnight I can spend on whatever I like. All my bills are paid, and some are in credit. My bills including debt get paid (some automatically before I see my pension). I am up to date or in front of everything, so I feel like I can use the leftover money to do something for myself.
I buy any household needs such as shower curtains, my gentle body wash, washing powder etc after I pay my bills and buy my groceries.
My new plan includes a definite savings category which will get put away before I do anything else.
In my plan will also be a category for giving to others, I currently buy items for a local organisation that helps people in need including homeless people. I buy toiletries, toys and any items I think they can use but I always buy things on special or reduced to clear rather than full priced items.
I used to just buy these items out of my miscellaneous and me money, but I think having a category in my spending plan just for giving will help me see where my money goes.
I am going to go back to basics and track my spending for a fortnight or a month and see where my money goes, I haven't done this for a while. I generally know where my money goes but not down to the last cent.
I am also going to have a holiday fund in my plan but more importantly I will bring back an emergency fund category.
I will come back in a week or two and let you know how I am going.
I highly recommend a mid-year spending plan review or if you do not have a spending plan well it might be time for one.
Login to read more Cheapskates Club Member blogs
8. This Week's Question
Q. Is there such a list of ingredients that you use that helps with unexpected guests, unplanned meals etc? Every time I try to cook to a recipe, I find it seems to have a necessary ingredient that I don't have on hand!
A. It sounds like you need to change the type of recipes you are looking at. Keeping your pantry, fridge and freezer stocked with basics ensures you can always put a meal on the table. If you find you don't have basics when you are cooking (and basics are just that, basic ingredients such as flours, sugars, fats, flavourings, common herbs and spices etc) then you need to look at what you are cooking and how you are eating.
Keeping the more exotic ingredients in your pantry isn't necessary unless you plan to expand your recipe repertoire to include more exotic and extravagant dishes. These ingredients are often expensive, so think carefully before deciding to try recipes with them listed. Look for other recipes that use them to make it worthwhile buying them. If you can't find any perhaps look for another recipe to try.
You'll find a list of common pantry basics in Back to Basics: What to Keep in the Pantry. The ingredients on this list will allow you to make thousands of different recipes and all within a reasonable grocery budget.
9. Ask Cath
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
10. Join the Cheapskates Club
For just 10 cents a day 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!
11. Frequently Asked Questions
How do I change my email address?
This one is easy. Members can update their email address or any other details by clicking on "Edit Profile" directly under their membership number after they have logged in to the Member's Centre. Subscribers to our free newsletter can use the Change Your Address form (under Customer Service in the menu) and fill it out. Once you've filled it in click the send button and we'll do the rest. Please remember to include your old email address so we can find it in the list as well as the new one.
How do I know when my membership should be renewed?
When you login to the Member's Centre you will be told how many days of membership you have left once you have 30 days left. Just click on the link to renew and your membership will just continue on, uninterrupted.
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 You Get on Our List?
You signed up to receive our Free Newsletter at our Cheapskates Club Web site or are a Platinum Cheapskates Club member
12. Contact Details
The Cheapskates Club -
Showing you how to live life
debt free, cashed up and laughing!
PO Box 5077 Studfield Vic 3152
Contact Cheapskates