This Week's Newsletter 35:17
In this Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - The $554 Kitchen Upgrade; Save More on Wish; It's What's Underneath That Makes You Feel Good
3. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - Brownie Cake
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - How to Build Your Stockpile Part 4
6. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
7. Member's Featured Blog - Almost August
8. This Week's Question - How to get all liquid lipstick from the tube?
9. Ask Cath
10. Join the Cheapskates Club
11. Frequently Asked Questions
12. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
This week's newsletter has some great ideas to save you money, time and energy, and I've shared one of my favourite cakes - Brownie Cake. Its a one bowl, mix and pour cake, just my style - quick and easy. Brownie Cake is quite cheap too, costing just $2.05 to make and perfect for our grocery budget.
This week is the final instalment of the How to Build a Stockpile. If you've missed the series, you can find the first instalment here.
Have a great week everyone and have fun living the Cheapskates way.
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
The $554 Kitchen Upgrade
We bought an older house with a 1970s kitchen. Kitchens were much smaller then. The basics were still in good condition but it was very ugly, including wood panelling throughout. We have updated it for about $600. The updates are a mix of the practical and the cosmetic:
1. Paint: we painted the whole room and cabinets. This included painting the wood panelling. A lot of people warned against us doing that but we painted it an off white and it looks beautiful and rustic, like a country kitchen. Cost: $200.
2. Curtains: I wanted a specific print, that I ordered from Spoonflower. While this was more expensive than a trip to Spotlight, I got exactly what I wanted. My sister sewed them for me as a gift. Cost: $74.
3. Hanging rack: I read a lot of kitchen design books and decided I wanted a hanging pot and utensil rack, but when I priced these online they cost over $120 and were not nice. I decided I could make my own, and bought the separate parts from Bunnings. It's a great statement piece in our kitchen and always invites comments. And it is very useful. Cost: $80.
4. Interesting art: I have collected together art from my kids, a brass plaque that belonged to my grandmother, and a couple of pieces I paid for, and hung in matching frames. Cost: $200.
We spend a great deal of time in our kitchen so it's important that it is a space that we like. Our mini makeover was cheap and took some time but now it's a room that makes me feel happy to be in.
Contributed by Amanda Tulloch
Save More on Wish
if you see something you like on the Wish website, look at the "Related" tab, you may see the identical item from the same retailer at a lower price. You can save even more.
Contributed by Jenny Marshall
It's What's Underneath That Makes You Feel Good
What makes me feel rich is lovely lingerie. My Gran used to say that a lady would wear darned and mended rags if she had to, but would have faultless underwear, shoes and gloves. The gloves have gone and I always have good shoes because I'm on my feet a lot, which leaves underwear, and Gran was right. When I wear properly fitted, pretty, supportive lingerie, I know that whatever I wear outside sits well and looks elegant. That makes me feel good and I'm sure it shows on my face, and certainly in my posture. Good underwear does not need to be expensive thanks to factory outlets and sales. Try it yourself - put on your good bra and matching undies when you get dressed tomorrow, even if all you are doing is getting the groceries then doing canteen duty at school. You really will feel well dressed, and it gives such a feeling of self-confidence.
Contributed by GR
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
Afternoon Tea or for Lunchboxes, this Cake is Great!
This quick and easy one bowl loaf cake smells wonderful while it's cooking and tastes even better. The combination of nuts, dried fruit (and you can use any combination you like, not just commercial mixed fruit) and aromatic spices makes it taste even better than it smells. Brownie cake is a moist loaf, and lasts well if wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in the fridge.
Brownie Cake
Ingredients:
2 heaped cups SR flour
1tsp mixed spice
½ tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup mixed fruit and nuts
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease and line a loaf tin. Sift together flour, spice and cinnamon. Rub in butter and add sugar. Mix with milk. Add fruit and nuts. Pour into greased loaf tin and bake 1 hour or until a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Chicken
Monday: Garbanzo bean casserole, mashed potato
Tuesday: Spag bol
Wednesday: Chilli Con Carne, corn bread
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Hamburgers
Saturday: Toasted sandwiches, tomato soup
In the fruit bowl: oranges, apples, lemons, bananas
In the cake tin: Brownie Cake, ANZAC Slice, Choc Chip Muffins
There are over 1,500 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File.
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge
How to Build Your Stockpile Part 4
I'm going to wind up this series this week with a summary of things I've covered this month to help you build your stockpile.
Build up a slush fund
A grocery slush fund is the way you can build your stockpile without going over your allocated grocery money or going into debt. Every week, fortnight or month when you draw your grocery money, do your shopping. Then take whatever is left and put it in the grocery slush fund. You can then use this money to buy up extra of your basic items or to buy up when items you use regularly come on a good sale.
Buy up loss leaders
Supermarkets entice you into the store by offering a few items at ridiculously cheap prices (the Tim Tams on sale for $1.49 a packet at Woolworths a few weeks ago spring to mind). These items are generally on the front page of the brochures and can be seasonal. So, when diced tomatoes are on sale two cans for a dollar, use your slush fund to fill your pantry until the next sale.
Figure out your storage possibilities ahead of time
Even if you live in a small flat, you can find unused space for storage. In a box under a bed is a good spot, for example. Throw a cloth over a coffee or end table and use the space under to hide your stockpile.
Invest in a freezer
This is the single best thing a stockpiler can buy. Our first chest freezer cost just $50 second-hand and it lasted us for over 10 years and saved us thousands of dollars before it decided to stop working. Meat, vegetables, fruits, bread, butter, even milk can all be frozen for months. You can also store your dry goods such as flour, pasta, cereals and dried fruit in the freezer if you have room. Make double or triple batches of biscuit dough or an extra casserole to freeze and you won't be running to the fish'n'chip shop for takeaway when you are tired.
Shop in bulk
I have always shopped in bulk. I buy lamb and beef in bulk, chicken pieces and fillets in 20kg lots, whole chickens by the box (usually 6 to a box). Fresh meat, produce, cases of canned goods, flour, sugar, cereals, toilet paper, toothbrushes, toiletries and nappies are usually good deals. Watch prices on frozen convenience foods and non-food merchandise. Resist the 12 dozen tins of smoked oysters for 20c a tin if you only use a half a tin once a year on New Year’s Eve. There is no saving in buying that many of anything, no matter how cheap it is if you aren't going to use it in a timely manner (that means before the best before or use by or it just gets old and stale). It will just become an expensive waste of space.
Be selective
Don't stockpile a carton of instant coffee if no one in your family will drink it. See above: expensive waste of space.
Donate any excess
Never has my family ever become bored with something I stockpiled, but we do like to share our bounty with others. Older family members, friends and neighbours will be especially grateful when you show up with a smile and those extra staples and treats for them.
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
6. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
What's in Your Food Stockpile?
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3536-What-s-In-Your-Food-Stockpile
Who Actually Achieves the Magic $300 per Month Grocery Bill?
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?2840-Who-actually-achieves-the-magic-300-per-month-grocery-bill-Or-what-do-you-spend
Things I've been Learning about Shopping as a Relative Newbie
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?2647-Things-I-vbeen-learning-about-shopping-as-a-relative-newbie-...
Most popular blog posts this week
How to Avoid Rent
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2013/09/how-to-avoid-rent.html
Tricks Supermarkets Use to Steal Your Money
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2013/09/tricks-supermarkets-use-to-steal-your.html
Choices
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2013/07/choices.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 Mumof2.
Almost August
Wow hasn't this year just flown by at warp speed...but I don't mind it means we are closer to the warmer weather...which I am dying for!!
Study has finally started this week and I am really looking forward to learning something new and get my brain working again, then hopefully can get my health back to where I can get back to work at least part-time...I really miss working!
It was payday today and I just love watching our savings grow each month. With no debt, it is growing just nicely and it keeps me motivated and on track to us buying a house in a couple years (fingers crossed). I have changed the way we do a few things that fit with us better but it is all working well.
Feeling positive and loving this feeling.
Login to read more Cheapskates Club Member blogs
8. This Week's Question
Toni writes
"I don't wear much makeup, but I do use lipstick and I get frustrated when using the lipsticks that are liquid type in coloured reservoir type covers (rather than the ones that are a stick of colour and you twist to see the stick). You never know how much lipstick is in the container as the container tube is the colour of the lipstick and the applicator brush cannot reach around the container tube as it is threaded. Any suggestions on how you can use the last of what is in the container? This looks to me like it would be an issue for a number of cosmetic products, as they colour the packaging, so you never visually see how much you are actually buying or how much is left in the container."
Do you have the answer?
If you can help Toni 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
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.
Read our privacy policy
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
1. Cath's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - The $554 Kitchen Upgrade; Save More on Wish; It's What's Underneath That Makes You Feel Good
3. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - Brownie Cake
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - How to Build Your Stockpile Part 4
6. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
7. Member's Featured Blog - Almost August
8. This Week's Question - How to get all liquid lipstick from the tube?
9. Ask Cath
10. Join the Cheapskates Club
11. Frequently Asked Questions
12. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
This week's newsletter has some great ideas to save you money, time and energy, and I've shared one of my favourite cakes - Brownie Cake. Its a one bowl, mix and pour cake, just my style - quick and easy. Brownie Cake is quite cheap too, costing just $2.05 to make and perfect for our grocery budget.
This week is the final instalment of the How to Build a Stockpile. If you've missed the series, you can find the first instalment here.
Have a great week everyone and have fun living the Cheapskates way.
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
The $554 Kitchen Upgrade
We bought an older house with a 1970s kitchen. Kitchens were much smaller then. The basics were still in good condition but it was very ugly, including wood panelling throughout. We have updated it for about $600. The updates are a mix of the practical and the cosmetic:
1. Paint: we painted the whole room and cabinets. This included painting the wood panelling. A lot of people warned against us doing that but we painted it an off white and it looks beautiful and rustic, like a country kitchen. Cost: $200.
2. Curtains: I wanted a specific print, that I ordered from Spoonflower. While this was more expensive than a trip to Spotlight, I got exactly what I wanted. My sister sewed them for me as a gift. Cost: $74.
3. Hanging rack: I read a lot of kitchen design books and decided I wanted a hanging pot and utensil rack, but when I priced these online they cost over $120 and were not nice. I decided I could make my own, and bought the separate parts from Bunnings. It's a great statement piece in our kitchen and always invites comments. And it is very useful. Cost: $80.
4. Interesting art: I have collected together art from my kids, a brass plaque that belonged to my grandmother, and a couple of pieces I paid for, and hung in matching frames. Cost: $200.
We spend a great deal of time in our kitchen so it's important that it is a space that we like. Our mini makeover was cheap and took some time but now it's a room that makes me feel happy to be in.
Contributed by Amanda Tulloch
Save More on Wish
if you see something you like on the Wish website, look at the "Related" tab, you may see the identical item from the same retailer at a lower price. You can save even more.
Contributed by Jenny Marshall
It's What's Underneath That Makes You Feel Good
What makes me feel rich is lovely lingerie. My Gran used to say that a lady would wear darned and mended rags if she had to, but would have faultless underwear, shoes and gloves. The gloves have gone and I always have good shoes because I'm on my feet a lot, which leaves underwear, and Gran was right. When I wear properly fitted, pretty, supportive lingerie, I know that whatever I wear outside sits well and looks elegant. That makes me feel good and I'm sure it shows on my face, and certainly in my posture. Good underwear does not need to be expensive thanks to factory outlets and sales. Try it yourself - put on your good bra and matching undies when you get dressed tomorrow, even if all you are doing is getting the groceries then doing canteen duty at school. You really will feel well dressed, and it gives such a feeling of self-confidence.
Contributed by GR
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
Afternoon Tea or for Lunchboxes, this Cake is Great!
This quick and easy one bowl loaf cake smells wonderful while it's cooking and tastes even better. The combination of nuts, dried fruit (and you can use any combination you like, not just commercial mixed fruit) and aromatic spices makes it taste even better than it smells. Brownie cake is a moist loaf, and lasts well if wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in the fridge.
Brownie Cake
Ingredients:
2 heaped cups SR flour
1tsp mixed spice
½ tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup mixed fruit and nuts
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease and line a loaf tin. Sift together flour, spice and cinnamon. Rub in butter and add sugar. Mix with milk. Add fruit and nuts. Pour into greased loaf tin and bake 1 hour or until a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Chicken
Monday: Garbanzo bean casserole, mashed potato
Tuesday: Spag bol
Wednesday: Chilli Con Carne, corn bread
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Hamburgers
Saturday: Toasted sandwiches, tomato soup
In the fruit bowl: oranges, apples, lemons, bananas
In the cake tin: Brownie Cake, ANZAC Slice, Choc Chip Muffins
There are over 1,500 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File.
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge
How to Build Your Stockpile Part 4
I'm going to wind up this series this week with a summary of things I've covered this month to help you build your stockpile.
Build up a slush fund
A grocery slush fund is the way you can build your stockpile without going over your allocated grocery money or going into debt. Every week, fortnight or month when you draw your grocery money, do your shopping. Then take whatever is left and put it in the grocery slush fund. You can then use this money to buy up extra of your basic items or to buy up when items you use regularly come on a good sale.
Buy up loss leaders
Supermarkets entice you into the store by offering a few items at ridiculously cheap prices (the Tim Tams on sale for $1.49 a packet at Woolworths a few weeks ago spring to mind). These items are generally on the front page of the brochures and can be seasonal. So, when diced tomatoes are on sale two cans for a dollar, use your slush fund to fill your pantry until the next sale.
Figure out your storage possibilities ahead of time
Even if you live in a small flat, you can find unused space for storage. In a box under a bed is a good spot, for example. Throw a cloth over a coffee or end table and use the space under to hide your stockpile.
Invest in a freezer
This is the single best thing a stockpiler can buy. Our first chest freezer cost just $50 second-hand and it lasted us for over 10 years and saved us thousands of dollars before it decided to stop working. Meat, vegetables, fruits, bread, butter, even milk can all be frozen for months. You can also store your dry goods such as flour, pasta, cereals and dried fruit in the freezer if you have room. Make double or triple batches of biscuit dough or an extra casserole to freeze and you won't be running to the fish'n'chip shop for takeaway when you are tired.
Shop in bulk
I have always shopped in bulk. I buy lamb and beef in bulk, chicken pieces and fillets in 20kg lots, whole chickens by the box (usually 6 to a box). Fresh meat, produce, cases of canned goods, flour, sugar, cereals, toilet paper, toothbrushes, toiletries and nappies are usually good deals. Watch prices on frozen convenience foods and non-food merchandise. Resist the 12 dozen tins of smoked oysters for 20c a tin if you only use a half a tin once a year on New Year’s Eve. There is no saving in buying that many of anything, no matter how cheap it is if you aren't going to use it in a timely manner (that means before the best before or use by or it just gets old and stale). It will just become an expensive waste of space.
Be selective
Don't stockpile a carton of instant coffee if no one in your family will drink it. See above: expensive waste of space.
Donate any excess
Never has my family ever become bored with something I stockpiled, but we do like to share our bounty with others. Older family members, friends and neighbours will be especially grateful when you show up with a smile and those extra staples and treats for them.
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
6. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
What's in Your Food Stockpile?
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3536-What-s-In-Your-Food-Stockpile
Who Actually Achieves the Magic $300 per Month Grocery Bill?
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?2840-Who-actually-achieves-the-magic-300-per-month-grocery-bill-Or-what-do-you-spend
Things I've been Learning about Shopping as a Relative Newbie
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?2647-Things-I-vbeen-learning-about-shopping-as-a-relative-newbie-...
Most popular blog posts this week
How to Avoid Rent
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2013/09/how-to-avoid-rent.html
Tricks Supermarkets Use to Steal Your Money
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2013/09/tricks-supermarkets-use-to-steal-your.html
Choices
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2013/07/choices.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 Mumof2.
Almost August
Wow hasn't this year just flown by at warp speed...but I don't mind it means we are closer to the warmer weather...which I am dying for!!
Study has finally started this week and I am really looking forward to learning something new and get my brain working again, then hopefully can get my health back to where I can get back to work at least part-time...I really miss working!
It was payday today and I just love watching our savings grow each month. With no debt, it is growing just nicely and it keeps me motivated and on track to us buying a house in a couple years (fingers crossed). I have changed the way we do a few things that fit with us better but it is all working well.
Feeling positive and loving this feeling.
Login to read more Cheapskates Club Member blogs
8. This Week's Question
Toni writes
"I don't wear much makeup, but I do use lipstick and I get frustrated when using the lipsticks that are liquid type in coloured reservoir type covers (rather than the ones that are a stick of colour and you twist to see the stick). You never know how much lipstick is in the container as the container tube is the colour of the lipstick and the applicator brush cannot reach around the container tube as it is threaded. Any suggestions on how you can use the last of what is in the container? This looks to me like it would be an issue for a number of cosmetic products, as they colour the packaging, so you never visually see how much you are actually buying or how much is left in the container."
Do you have the answer?
If you can help Toni 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
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.
Read our privacy policy
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