Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter 30:18
In this Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - An Almost Free DIY Hair Colour Touch Up; DIY Carpet Repairs; Don't Get Trapped
3. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - Slow Cooker Veggie Lasagne
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - The Slush Fund
6. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
7. Member's Featured Blog - Writing Lists and Getting Back to it
8. Last Week's Question - Is there a MOO for wet cat food?
9. This Week's Question - Retirement advice needed
10. Ask Cath
11. Join the Cheapskates Club
12. Frequently Asked Questions
13. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
Welcome to another newsletter, full of great ways to save you money time and energy.
There are some great tips this week. I can vouch for Margie's tip, we have done this very thing after I left a leaking pot planter on the carpet (I didn't know it was leaking) and it stained the carpet. And it was such an easy fix too - we did it ourselves in no time.
And before I stopped colouring my hair, I touched up my colour using a similar method to Lee's. Back in those days we didn't have coffee pods in our house, so I used the leftover coffee in the bottom of the carafe. Again, a simple thing, and it worked to spruce up a dull colour.
I'm working on a challenge for you all for next week. One that most definitely will save you lots and lots of money, and one that you can continue well after the official challenge ends. Stay tuned!
Have a great week everyone.
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 Almost Free DIY Hair Colour Touch Up
I colour my (naturally) dark brown hair now that there are more than a few (naturally) grey strands showing. I DIY it with hair colour I buy on special from The Reject Shop (I never pay more than $5 for quality, brand name hair colour), but instead of doing a full colour every six weeks, which is about what my hair needs, I do this. Every morning after I've made our coffee, I put the pods through again, using the espresso setting so the coffee is stronger. Then I just pour it into a container in the freezer. When it's full it's time to do a touch-up. I just thaw the coffee, then warm it slightly in the microwave, pour it over my freshly shampooed hair and let it sit for a few minutes. Then I rinse, and dry as usual. It doesn't completely cover all the grey, but it does dull it. The bonus is the lovely shine my hair has, it seems to brighten and make the colour more intense without changing it.
Contributed by Lee McAllister
DIY Carpet Repairs
When we had our new carpet laid, we kept the off-cuts. DH rolled them up and stored them in the shed "just in case". Well "just in case" happened when our 4 year old managed to get supposedly washable texta all over the carpet in his room. After unsuccessfully trying to clean the carpet, we remembered the left-overs in the shed. DH used a Stanley knife to cut out the stained carpet and replace it with patches from the "just in case" carpet. He bought special double-sided tape for carpet laying from the hardware shop to stick it down and hold it in place. To look at it you wouldn't know it was there. It took about an hour all up, saved the carpet and the cost of calling in an expert. So, if you get new carpet, save all those off-cuts, because "just in case" could happen to your lovely new carpet too.
Contributed by Margie Burton
Don't Get Trapped
Don't get trapped by the faulty logic of many sales pitches. You know the "but it's tax deductible" or "it's my money, I can do what I like with it", "it's old fashioned to budget", "consolidate your debts and save", "you need to spend money to make money", "you need to use a credit card to build up credit", "interest free" and my favourite of all time "but you deserve it".
Don't let these traps take away your financial freedom. Don't let them cause you stress and worry, and unnecessary hardship and pain. Be smart with your money, look carefully before you spend, and avoid those nasty traps.
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
Slow Cooker Veggie Lasagne
Ingredients:
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp dried thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
500g ricotta cheese
90g grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
190g lasagne noodles
125g fresh mushrooms
1 green capsicum
90g fresh spinach
3/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese
Method:
1. Prep ingredients: Crush garlic. Slice mushrooms. Dice and seed capsicum. Line the slow cooker with baking paper.
2. In a small bowl, combine the crushed tomatoes, garlic, salt, oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme, and pepper.
3. In another small bowl, combine the ricotta, Parmesan and egg.
4. Pour 1/4 cup of the tomato sauce mixture into the base of the slow cooker to coat the bottom. Add a layer of lasagne noodles, broken as needed to fit in single layer. Spread 3 tablespoons tomato sauce mixture over the noodles. Top with 1/2 of the sliced mushrooms, diced capsicum and spinach. Sprinkle 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese over the veggies.
5. Add another layer of broken noodles. Spread the rest of the ricotta mixture over the noodles.
6. Add another layer of broken noodles. Top with 1/2 of the remaining tomato sauce and all the remaining veggies. Sprinkle 1/2 of the remaining mozzarella over the veggies before adding a final layer of lasagne noodles. Top with the remaining tomato sauce, and finally remaining mozzarella cheese.
7. Cover with the lid and set the slow cooker to high for 2 1/2–3 hours. Remove the lid and allow to set for 15 minutes before serving.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Chicken
Monday: Lamb hot pot, mashed potato
Tuesday: Lasagne, salad
Wednesday: Rissoles, mash, onion gravy
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Haystacks
Saturday: Party food—pies, sausage rolls, pizzettes
In the fruit bowl: mandarins, oranges, apples
There are over 1,600 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File.
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Slush Fund
Hello Cheapskaters,
How are you going with your $300 a Month Food Challenge?
Sometimes it's easy to stick to, other times, like this past week for me, it can be so tempting to forget it and just go crazy, or as crazy as you can when you're buying groceries.
For me it was meat, or rather chicken fillets and sausage mince. Both were on sale this weekend at Australian Butcher, chicken fillets for $5.99/kg and sausage mince for $1.99/kg (that's 80% off!).
Thankfully there was money in the slush fund, so it was fun to go a little crazy in the butcher store, knowing it wasn't going to impact the grocery budget.
In the traditional sense a slush fund is money put aside to use for illicit purposes, mainly being bribery, particularly political bribery.
Yikes!
In the Cheapskating sense though, a slush fund is what is left from your allocated grocery budget each week, fortnight or month (depending on how you budget). For example if you allocate $90 for groceries this week, but only spend $84.30, then you have $5.70 left over. That money goes into your slush fund.
I shop monthly for most groceries, with a few things being a yearly stock up; meat, poultry and bulk dry goods are bought quarterly. It's not nearly as complicated as it sounds. I allocate $280 a month for regular groceries. What is left from the $280 is put into my slush fund (which is a pocket in my purse) and the next month I draw $280 and do the shopping. What isn't spent goes into the slush fund.
And that's how a slush fund is built, Cheapskates style.
This money is then used to build my stockpile or pick up a few extra good specials or even treats, without me needing to find the money - it's in the slush fund.
I carry my slush fund money in my purse so that if I am out and see a really super fantastic special, I can buy it. Sometimes it's used for a bulk meat buy when there's a super special on, like last week when chicken fillets were $5.99/kg at Australian Butcher. I've been known to clear supermarket shelves on a really good sale, all made possible because I have a slush fund.
Without it, I'd be scrabbling to find extra money to buy that chicken or clear those shelves. That money would either have to come from future grocery allocation or another category, leaving it short.
At the end of the year my allocated grocery budget will still be $80 a week, or $4,160 for the year, and if I've withdrawn the grocery money and spent the slush fund, the money spent will still average $80 a week or $4,160 for the year. If I haven't spent all the slush fund there will be some left in my purse to start the new year (and take advantage of the after Christmas meat sales).
Most people take their grocery money (or do the shopping and just pay the bill) without thinking about the leftover cash. It gets put into general funds, and by that I mean it stays in their purse or wallet, mixed up with their other money and so is spent on whatever.
At the end of the year their grocery budget will be what it is - on budget, over or under, but they won't have anything extra to show for it.
Building a grocery slush fund is a wise move for any homemaker, regardless of the size of the household. Singles can benefit just as much as families and couples.
Your grocery slush fund is allocated money you've not spent, but rather put it in reserve, to use when you need money for those grocery bargains and bulk buys, letting you stock up debt free.
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
7. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
Decluttering Tally Game 2018
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3692-Decluttering-Tally-Game-2018
Sticking to the $300 a Month Food Challenge
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3772-Sticking-to-the-300-a-Month-Food-Challenge
MOO Toothpaste
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?1856-MOO-toothpaste
Most popular blog posts this week
A Big Pot of Soup
https://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2011/05/big-pot-of-soup.html
Sundried Tomato Pesto
https://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2013/08/sundried-tomato-pesto.html
The Cheapskates Cabbage War
https://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2011/05/cheapskates-cabbage-war.html
8. 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 kay.taylor2401.
Writing Lists and Getting Back to it
Well I am starting to feel a little better and able to do a bit more so I can start looking at getting back to doing the things I use to get done, this weekend we made our soap powder we were right out and we haven't made any in 9 months so glad that we were able to do that.
Next on my list is to get back to menu planning, so looking up some new recipes and change things up a bit, will use the slow cooker a lot more this year as we are all pretty busy and just makes it easier to cook.
Have paid a lot out of our savings on specialists but we have it there to cover us and as my hubby keeps saying "you're worth it" but we are finally getting some progress so money well spent.
I can finally wear my glasses again for longer so I can do more reading and writing which means I can start on next year's budget and menu plan (I like to do a couple months at a time) then planning what we are going to plant in spring which can't come soon enough for me
I have to say that with all we have been through this year we have managed to stay on track with the budget, incur no debt, have not touched our emergency account and although I have spent a lot on specialists lately which has affected our savings we will still have savings left...so overall I am pretty happy with how things are going and hope they can stay on track.
Login to read more Cheapskates Club Member blogs
9. Last Week's Question
Last week's question was from Meredith who wrote
"I have four cats, and they will only eat ONE brand of wet cat food (which I bought for the older two, as one has bad kidneys) supplemented with some dry food. I'm looking for a good wet cat food recipe that I can make my own to avoid the cost and packaging of the sachets they currently like. I know with cats they need some extra supplements, so can anyone assist?:
Pam Baker answered
I am a cat breeder and we feed minced beef and a good quality biscuit. This contains everything a cat needs in their diet. The cat biscuit has all of the supplements you need. Been breeding Ragdolls for 19 years and their coats are beautiful and we win many awards at the shows. You could feed just tinned fish like sardines or, r any variation of beef, chicken.
Lisa Di-Mauro answered
My cat had a UTI so I totally understand how costly special wet food can be!
I feed my cat this mixture:
- 60% K-Roo kangaroo mince ($10.50 for 1kg pack of 100% kangaroo mince from Coles or Woolworths)
- 35% VIP Fussy Cat canned food
- 5% steamed pumpkin and broccoli puree.
I would completely make my cat's food from scratch but he won't eat it, he has to have some canned food.
Here's a from scratch recipe:
- 60% kangaroo mince (it's very high in protein)
- 25% regular beef mince (you could skip this for younger cats, older cats need some fat for energy)
- 10% sardines for omega 3
- 5% steamed pumpkin and/or broccoli or sweet potato for vitamin C
Combine and freeze in daily portions.
I also give my cat a pea sized amount of extra virgin cold pressed coconut oil every 3 days to help with hairballs and to give him a shiny coat!
Kate Crawford answered
I have three cats (one really fussy one that only eats tinned food in gravy)...but the other two I feed on a mix of 1kg kangaroo mince and 1 kg whatever other mince is on special. To this I add 2 crushed tablets of multi B vitamin, and 4 crushed calcium tablets. The multi B contains thiamine which is vital to cats, as they don't produce it in their bodies, but have to consume it via their diet. I find that if I don't buy people grade mince, the cats will turn their noses up at it (dogs are so much less fussy). I freeze this in 500g batches, which gives me 9 serves each time I get one from the freezer.
I use the same size serve of this meat for dogs, but bulked out with grains and veggies. I kept a large dog healthy on this for years by adding the equivalent of two big Maccas drink cups worth of rice and veggies to the meat each night. Or you can cheat by buying a high fibre horse food, and mixing it with water and the meat (saves you doing the cooking).
10. This Week's Question
Carol writes
A New Zealand friend has been living in Australia for more than 10 years now, but has not been able to apply for citizenship due to a recent battle with cancer. Of course money is now tight. As my friend and her husband are approaching 60, thoughts of retirement are springing to mind. Does anyone know what options there are for NZs in terms of financial assistance (pensions) in Australia?
Do you have some advice or a suggest for Carol's friend and her husband?
If you have a suggestion or idea let us know. We'll enter your answer into our Tip of the Week competition, with a one-year membership to the Cheapskates Club as the prize too.
Send your answer
11. 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
12. 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!
13. 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.
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14. Contact Details
The Cheapskates Club -
Showing you how to live life
debt free, cashed up and laughing!
Contact Cheapskates
1. Cath's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - An Almost Free DIY Hair Colour Touch Up; DIY Carpet Repairs; Don't Get Trapped
3. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - Slow Cooker Veggie Lasagne
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - The Slush Fund
6. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
7. Member's Featured Blog - Writing Lists and Getting Back to it
8. Last Week's Question - Is there a MOO for wet cat food?
9. This Week's Question - Retirement advice needed
10. Ask Cath
11. Join the Cheapskates Club
12. Frequently Asked Questions
13. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
Welcome to another newsletter, full of great ways to save you money time and energy.
There are some great tips this week. I can vouch for Margie's tip, we have done this very thing after I left a leaking pot planter on the carpet (I didn't know it was leaking) and it stained the carpet. And it was such an easy fix too - we did it ourselves in no time.
And before I stopped colouring my hair, I touched up my colour using a similar method to Lee's. Back in those days we didn't have coffee pods in our house, so I used the leftover coffee in the bottom of the carafe. Again, a simple thing, and it worked to spruce up a dull colour.
I'm working on a challenge for you all for next week. One that most definitely will save you lots and lots of money, and one that you can continue well after the official challenge ends. Stay tuned!
Have a great week everyone.
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 Almost Free DIY Hair Colour Touch Up
I colour my (naturally) dark brown hair now that there are more than a few (naturally) grey strands showing. I DIY it with hair colour I buy on special from The Reject Shop (I never pay more than $5 for quality, brand name hair colour), but instead of doing a full colour every six weeks, which is about what my hair needs, I do this. Every morning after I've made our coffee, I put the pods through again, using the espresso setting so the coffee is stronger. Then I just pour it into a container in the freezer. When it's full it's time to do a touch-up. I just thaw the coffee, then warm it slightly in the microwave, pour it over my freshly shampooed hair and let it sit for a few minutes. Then I rinse, and dry as usual. It doesn't completely cover all the grey, but it does dull it. The bonus is the lovely shine my hair has, it seems to brighten and make the colour more intense without changing it.
Contributed by Lee McAllister
DIY Carpet Repairs
When we had our new carpet laid, we kept the off-cuts. DH rolled them up and stored them in the shed "just in case". Well "just in case" happened when our 4 year old managed to get supposedly washable texta all over the carpet in his room. After unsuccessfully trying to clean the carpet, we remembered the left-overs in the shed. DH used a Stanley knife to cut out the stained carpet and replace it with patches from the "just in case" carpet. He bought special double-sided tape for carpet laying from the hardware shop to stick it down and hold it in place. To look at it you wouldn't know it was there. It took about an hour all up, saved the carpet and the cost of calling in an expert. So, if you get new carpet, save all those off-cuts, because "just in case" could happen to your lovely new carpet too.
Contributed by Margie Burton
Don't Get Trapped
Don't get trapped by the faulty logic of many sales pitches. You know the "but it's tax deductible" or "it's my money, I can do what I like with it", "it's old fashioned to budget", "consolidate your debts and save", "you need to spend money to make money", "you need to use a credit card to build up credit", "interest free" and my favourite of all time "but you deserve it".
Don't let these traps take away your financial freedom. Don't let them cause you stress and worry, and unnecessary hardship and pain. Be smart with your money, look carefully before you spend, and avoid those nasty traps.
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
Slow Cooker Veggie Lasagne
Ingredients:
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp dried thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
500g ricotta cheese
90g grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
190g lasagne noodles
125g fresh mushrooms
1 green capsicum
90g fresh spinach
3/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese
Method:
1. Prep ingredients: Crush garlic. Slice mushrooms. Dice and seed capsicum. Line the slow cooker with baking paper.
2. In a small bowl, combine the crushed tomatoes, garlic, salt, oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme, and pepper.
3. In another small bowl, combine the ricotta, Parmesan and egg.
4. Pour 1/4 cup of the tomato sauce mixture into the base of the slow cooker to coat the bottom. Add a layer of lasagne noodles, broken as needed to fit in single layer. Spread 3 tablespoons tomato sauce mixture over the noodles. Top with 1/2 of the sliced mushrooms, diced capsicum and spinach. Sprinkle 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese over the veggies.
5. Add another layer of broken noodles. Spread the rest of the ricotta mixture over the noodles.
6. Add another layer of broken noodles. Top with 1/2 of the remaining tomato sauce and all the remaining veggies. Sprinkle 1/2 of the remaining mozzarella over the veggies before adding a final layer of lasagne noodles. Top with the remaining tomato sauce, and finally remaining mozzarella cheese.
7. Cover with the lid and set the slow cooker to high for 2 1/2–3 hours. Remove the lid and allow to set for 15 minutes before serving.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Chicken
Monday: Lamb hot pot, mashed potato
Tuesday: Lasagne, salad
Wednesday: Rissoles, mash, onion gravy
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Haystacks
Saturday: Party food—pies, sausage rolls, pizzettes
In the fruit bowl: mandarins, oranges, apples
There are over 1,600 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File.
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Slush Fund
Hello Cheapskaters,
How are you going with your $300 a Month Food Challenge?
Sometimes it's easy to stick to, other times, like this past week for me, it can be so tempting to forget it and just go crazy, or as crazy as you can when you're buying groceries.
For me it was meat, or rather chicken fillets and sausage mince. Both were on sale this weekend at Australian Butcher, chicken fillets for $5.99/kg and sausage mince for $1.99/kg (that's 80% off!).
Thankfully there was money in the slush fund, so it was fun to go a little crazy in the butcher store, knowing it wasn't going to impact the grocery budget.
In the traditional sense a slush fund is money put aside to use for illicit purposes, mainly being bribery, particularly political bribery.
Yikes!
In the Cheapskating sense though, a slush fund is what is left from your allocated grocery budget each week, fortnight or month (depending on how you budget). For example if you allocate $90 for groceries this week, but only spend $84.30, then you have $5.70 left over. That money goes into your slush fund.
I shop monthly for most groceries, with a few things being a yearly stock up; meat, poultry and bulk dry goods are bought quarterly. It's not nearly as complicated as it sounds. I allocate $280 a month for regular groceries. What is left from the $280 is put into my slush fund (which is a pocket in my purse) and the next month I draw $280 and do the shopping. What isn't spent goes into the slush fund.
And that's how a slush fund is built, Cheapskates style.
This money is then used to build my stockpile or pick up a few extra good specials or even treats, without me needing to find the money - it's in the slush fund.
I carry my slush fund money in my purse so that if I am out and see a really super fantastic special, I can buy it. Sometimes it's used for a bulk meat buy when there's a super special on, like last week when chicken fillets were $5.99/kg at Australian Butcher. I've been known to clear supermarket shelves on a really good sale, all made possible because I have a slush fund.
Without it, I'd be scrabbling to find extra money to buy that chicken or clear those shelves. That money would either have to come from future grocery allocation or another category, leaving it short.
At the end of the year my allocated grocery budget will still be $80 a week, or $4,160 for the year, and if I've withdrawn the grocery money and spent the slush fund, the money spent will still average $80 a week or $4,160 for the year. If I haven't spent all the slush fund there will be some left in my purse to start the new year (and take advantage of the after Christmas meat sales).
Most people take their grocery money (or do the shopping and just pay the bill) without thinking about the leftover cash. It gets put into general funds, and by that I mean it stays in their purse or wallet, mixed up with their other money and so is spent on whatever.
At the end of the year their grocery budget will be what it is - on budget, over or under, but they won't have anything extra to show for it.
Building a grocery slush fund is a wise move for any homemaker, regardless of the size of the household. Singles can benefit just as much as families and couples.
Your grocery slush fund is allocated money you've not spent, but rather put it in reserve, to use when you need money for those grocery bargains and bulk buys, letting you stock up debt free.
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
7. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
Decluttering Tally Game 2018
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3692-Decluttering-Tally-Game-2018
Sticking to the $300 a Month Food Challenge
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3772-Sticking-to-the-300-a-Month-Food-Challenge
MOO Toothpaste
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?1856-MOO-toothpaste
Most popular blog posts this week
A Big Pot of Soup
https://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2011/05/big-pot-of-soup.html
Sundried Tomato Pesto
https://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2013/08/sundried-tomato-pesto.html
The Cheapskates Cabbage War
https://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2011/05/cheapskates-cabbage-war.html
8. 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 kay.taylor2401.
Writing Lists and Getting Back to it
Well I am starting to feel a little better and able to do a bit more so I can start looking at getting back to doing the things I use to get done, this weekend we made our soap powder we were right out and we haven't made any in 9 months so glad that we were able to do that.
Next on my list is to get back to menu planning, so looking up some new recipes and change things up a bit, will use the slow cooker a lot more this year as we are all pretty busy and just makes it easier to cook.
Have paid a lot out of our savings on specialists but we have it there to cover us and as my hubby keeps saying "you're worth it" but we are finally getting some progress so money well spent.
I can finally wear my glasses again for longer so I can do more reading and writing which means I can start on next year's budget and menu plan (I like to do a couple months at a time) then planning what we are going to plant in spring which can't come soon enough for me
I have to say that with all we have been through this year we have managed to stay on track with the budget, incur no debt, have not touched our emergency account and although I have spent a lot on specialists lately which has affected our savings we will still have savings left...so overall I am pretty happy with how things are going and hope they can stay on track.
Login to read more Cheapskates Club Member blogs
9. Last Week's Question
Last week's question was from Meredith who wrote
"I have four cats, and they will only eat ONE brand of wet cat food (which I bought for the older two, as one has bad kidneys) supplemented with some dry food. I'm looking for a good wet cat food recipe that I can make my own to avoid the cost and packaging of the sachets they currently like. I know with cats they need some extra supplements, so can anyone assist?:
Pam Baker answered
I am a cat breeder and we feed minced beef and a good quality biscuit. This contains everything a cat needs in their diet. The cat biscuit has all of the supplements you need. Been breeding Ragdolls for 19 years and their coats are beautiful and we win many awards at the shows. You could feed just tinned fish like sardines or, r any variation of beef, chicken.
Lisa Di-Mauro answered
My cat had a UTI so I totally understand how costly special wet food can be!
I feed my cat this mixture:
- 60% K-Roo kangaroo mince ($10.50 for 1kg pack of 100% kangaroo mince from Coles or Woolworths)
- 35% VIP Fussy Cat canned food
- 5% steamed pumpkin and broccoli puree.
I would completely make my cat's food from scratch but he won't eat it, he has to have some canned food.
Here's a from scratch recipe:
- 60% kangaroo mince (it's very high in protein)
- 25% regular beef mince (you could skip this for younger cats, older cats need some fat for energy)
- 10% sardines for omega 3
- 5% steamed pumpkin and/or broccoli or sweet potato for vitamin C
Combine and freeze in daily portions.
I also give my cat a pea sized amount of extra virgin cold pressed coconut oil every 3 days to help with hairballs and to give him a shiny coat!
Kate Crawford answered
I have three cats (one really fussy one that only eats tinned food in gravy)...but the other two I feed on a mix of 1kg kangaroo mince and 1 kg whatever other mince is on special. To this I add 2 crushed tablets of multi B vitamin, and 4 crushed calcium tablets. The multi B contains thiamine which is vital to cats, as they don't produce it in their bodies, but have to consume it via their diet. I find that if I don't buy people grade mince, the cats will turn their noses up at it (dogs are so much less fussy). I freeze this in 500g batches, which gives me 9 serves each time I get one from the freezer.
I use the same size serve of this meat for dogs, but bulked out with grains and veggies. I kept a large dog healthy on this for years by adding the equivalent of two big Maccas drink cups worth of rice and veggies to the meat each night. Or you can cheat by buying a high fibre horse food, and mixing it with water and the meat (saves you doing the cooking).
10. This Week's Question
Carol writes
A New Zealand friend has been living in Australia for more than 10 years now, but has not been able to apply for citizenship due to a recent battle with cancer. Of course money is now tight. As my friend and her husband are approaching 60, thoughts of retirement are springing to mind. Does anyone know what options there are for NZs in terms of financial assistance (pensions) in Australia?
Do you have some advice or a suggest for Carol's friend and her husband?
If you have a suggestion or idea let us know. We'll enter your answer into our Tip of the Week competition, with a one-year membership to the Cheapskates Club as the prize too.
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