Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter 37:17
In this Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - Keep Chickens for Easy Eggs; A Newsworthy 21st Birthday Present; Give Wallpaper a Softening Treatment
3. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - Simple Lemon Cake
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge with Wendy - Stockpiling for Summer
6. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
7. Member's Featured Blog - I'm Revolting
8. Last Week's Question - Is there a frugal Armor All Replacement
9. This Week's Question - Do Eco Eggs work?
10. Ask Cath
11. Join the Cheapskates Club
12. Frequently Asked Questions
13. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Welcome to our new Cheapskates Club members, it's lovely to have you join us in living the Cheapskates way. When you login, don't forget to stop by the Forum and introduce yourself and then have a look at the Getting Started page. We can't wait to meet you.
I don't know what it's like at your house, but my goodness it's cold here. You'd never know it was September it's so cold and wet. The ground is so wet it squelches when we walk on it, a sound I haven't heard in I don't know how long.
Our tanks are full and overflowing and the garden is so wet the weeds just about jump out. I did a few minutes weeding yesterday in-between rain showers. I so want to get the veggie beds ready for planting just as soon as the night time temperatures hit double digits. In the meantime, I have seedlings at various stages, just waiting for the soil temps to rise just a little.
The September Journal will be live in the Member's Centre on Saturday, so don't forget to login and catch up on what's new.
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
Keep Chickens for Easy Eggs
The easiest and most cost-effective way to get eggs is to keep chickens. Three chickens should keep a family of four in eggs easily. Best of all, these pets are great fun to keep, kids love them and you know that they have had a good life and know what they have been feed on. There are chickens available for sale in Garfield, Victoria, for $10 each that are 18 months old and being rescued from being turned into dog meat if you would like to grab a few. Making a chook pen can be relatively cheap too, often people use a small garden shed or disused cubby and modify it slightly, but chooks aren't that picky. There are some great books you can pick up from the library to get you started. Free range chicken is sometimes marked down in the supermarkets and freezes easily, and it is always worthwhile talking to your local butcher to see if they have 'rewards' type programs for free range products. Shopping at a good old fashion butcher is not only good for the local community, but it is always a rewarding experience and much less impersonal than the big chain supermarkets. And I'm sure that someone will mention farmers markets, although I've just come back from one and the prices were a little bit high.
Contributed by Belinda Ruff
A Newsworthy 21st Birthday Present
Buy a selection of newspapers on the actual date of the 21st birthday and cut out the headlines/interesting articles/advertisements. Make sure you have the date visible. Buy a reasonable size picture frame from an op shop, paint it if necessary. Create a collage of the newspapers and get creative on the computer and design a "header" along the lines of "Making news on your 21st birthday". Will make interesting reading down the track. Alternatively see if you can get the front page of a paper on the actual day of birth. Check out "Old Australian Newspapers Online". Not sure of the cost though.
Contributed by Rusty Woodward
Give Wallpaper a Softening Treatment
I’m a total amateur but did a makeover last year which involved stripping lots of both new and old wallpaper plus wallpaper borders. Both came off really well with fabric softener. I just bought the cheapest sachet, for 70 cents, and mixed it with equal parts water (warm water might work better). Just spray it on the wallpaper and leave for 5-20 minutes (depending on how old and how well the wallpaper was applied). Lay a towel on the floor to catch the drips. Then come back and literally peel the wallpaper off. Can use a scraper too. Newer wallpaper comes off much easier than old wallpaper but the results on both are great. (The room will smell lovely too!!) If the wallpaper is really old or thick you could carefully score the wallpaper first with a Stanley knife to help the fabric softener seep in, but avoid this if you're worried about marking the wall. Sometimes you need two applications, first for the outer part of the wallpaper, then for the papery underside that is left after the first peeling, but if you just reapply the fabric softener it will come up a treat. I have taken off whole walls and borders too of wallpaper with fabric softener easily. Incidentally, the colour under the wallpaper was quite nice so I avoided painting. 70 cents and a little elbow grease beats paying the tradies through the nose!
Contributed by BT
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
This is one of those treat cakes, but we love it. I don't make it often, usually for special occasions, but when I do it doesn't last long! It isn't cheap, well for a homemade, from scratch cake, costing around $3.45 to make (using ingredients from Aldi), but when you compare it to a $5 cake from the supermarket it wins hands down on price and delciousness (and if that's not a real word it should be!).
Simple Lemon Cake
Ingredients:
2 cups SR flour
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
¾ cup vegetable oil
¾ cup water
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 pkt lemon jelly crystals
1 cup icing sugar
3 tbsp lemon juice
Method:
Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Grease and flour a 22cm x 33cm cake tin. Mix all cake ingredients, except icing sugar and lemon juice, and beating well. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for approximately 35-40 minutes. Test cake is cooked by inserting a toothpick into the centre. If it comes out clean, the cake is done. While cake is baking, mix icing sugar and lemon juice. Spread over a warm cake for a crusty glaze or over a cool cake for a thicker glaze.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Chicken
Monday: Schnitzels, potato bake, veggies
Tuesday: Spaghetti & meatballs
Wednesday: Shepherd's Pie, steamed greens
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Stir-fry
Saturday: Kebabs with salad, tabouli, hommos
In the fruit bowl: lemons, apples
In the cake tin: ANZAC slice, Choc Chip Slab, banana muffins
There are over 1,500 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File.
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge with Wendy
Stockpiling for Summer
Welcome to the food challenge everyone.
As most of you know, I love to stockpile. Security and being prepared are the main reasons I keep extra food on hand. I don't really need a reason but it sure feels good to be organised.
For the third year running I've just started stockpiling for Summer and the Christmas period. For those of you who are new to Cheapskates, Cath inspired me to try this a few of years ago. I'd spent the day with her talking (nothing new about that) and she mentioned her Summer stockpile. Here's how it works.
*I do a monthly shop on the 16th of each month.
*I DON'T want to do grocery shopping from 17th Dec through to 15th March. This is the busiest time of the year in the shopping centres. I don't want to battle the crowds doing my monthly grocery shopping with a heavy trolley. I also don't want to be grocery shopping during our Summer heat.
*I work out what groceries we would use during these three months. This includes everything except milk, fruit and veg.
*During my monthly grocery shopping in August and September, I stockpile toiletries, tinned food (including cat food), pasta, toilet paper, foil, cling wrap, paper towel, cleaning ingredients and herbs and spices.
*October and November's grocery shop is when I stockpile frozen veggies, butter, cheese, sauces and dressings, meat (if it's on sale) and baking items.
*The month of December is used to buy anything we need for Christmas Day and New Year's Day as well as anything else I feel the need to stockpile.
*Summer stockpile items are added to my usual monthly grocery shopping list.
*I use my grocery slush fund money to pay for the extra items I'm stockpiling during this time. When I'm not shopping (much) from Dec to March, the allocated grocery money not used is put back into the slush fund to top it back up.
*During Dec to March, I duck into the shops weekly to buy milk, fruit and veggies only. Because this is during Summer, we grow a lot in our garden so I might only need milk. More often than not, we'll buy milk from the petrol station to avoid the busy shopping centre.
*If we have visitors during this time, we have heaps of food to feed them.
By stockpiling ahead of the Christmas / Summer rush, I can really enjoy time at home with my family. I'm not getting hot and flustered trying to find a carpark in the heat. I'm avoiding the school holiday crowds and chaos. BLISS.
Who will join me in stockpiling for Summer?
Have a great week and BE ENCOURAGED!!!
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
6. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
They've Moved the Goal Post- I Knew They Were Wrong
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3629-They-ve-moved-the-goal-post-I-knew-they-were-wrong
Receipts and Proof of Ownership
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3626-Receipts-and-Proof-of-ownership
Cutting up Credit Cards!
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/forumdisplay.php?13-Investing-Banking-and-Superannuation
Most popular blog posts this week
Getting Ready for Grocery Shopping
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2015/01/getting-ready-for-grocery-shopping.html
How I Write My Shopping List
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2013/08/how-i-write-my-shopping-list_31.html
5 Simple Ways We Save on Groceries
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2014/09/5-simple-ways-we-save-on-groceries.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 Anne.
I'm Revolting!
I've just read the email for Step 1 in the Saving Revolution - Learn to live beneath my means......
Which is something that we do for the most part BUT not always, and yes, it was a DOH! moment when I realised this.
Thanks Cath.
Now to re-jig our Spending Plan so that we are always living beneath our means and not just within them.
We don't have any debt anymore (YAHOO!) but there are times when we go ahead and buy stuff before we have the money to pay for it - which means we do have debt occasionally. Doh!
I've been living in La La Land - but not anymore. Starting right now (I've phoned DH to let him know what I'm up to, quite made his lunchtime enjoyable I'm sure) we are living BENEATH OUR MEANS!
I really want to get us ready for retirement - it is still a ways off, but honestly if we keep going as we are DH will be working until he's 110, and I don't want that - I think 100 is a much more acceptable retirement age (only joking).
I would like us to be ready to retire when DS2 finishes uni - so about 7 years depending on what he chooses to do - and he'd better not choose anything that lasts much longer than that or he's on his own.
We would like to be able to do some travelling around Australia when we retire - yep, grey nomads here we come (we've already got the grey down pat).
So I'm revolting, and proud of it.
Login to read more Cheapskates Club Member blogs
8. Last Week's Question
Last week's question was from Michelle who wrote
"I used to love using Armor All Protectant to make the dashboard in my car shiny but it's expensive. Does anyone have a MOO recipe or alternative?"
Cathy Morcom answered
Use MOO glass cleaner or MOO furniture polish. Works wonders on the interior. It will also stop the 'fogging' on the windscreen from the silicone when it gets hot in the car.
Lynette Stewart answered
You can buy in Coles a cheaper brand of Vaseline, I can't remember what it cost me now and it was a larger jar, anyway you put a bit on a clean cloth and rub it in with another clean cloth polish it and you will see the same results but cheaper.
Elaine Fay answered
Baby oil with a dash of essential oil for perfume, on cloth.
Carol T answered
A damp micro fibre cloth is all my car detailer uses. He's found that Armor All and similar products leave a greasy film that shows up fingerprints and attracts dust. He also says that plastic dashboards in modern day cars (last 20 years) don't need the Armor All type protection that older cars need.
9. This Week's Question
Rachel writes
"Hello, I recently read about eco-eggs which are basically laundry detergent replacements. Here's what they claim: 'The award winning Laundry Egg is a complete replacement for washing detergent. Just pop it in the drum of your washing machine – no powder, liquid, tablets or gels required. The two types of mineral pellets inside the egg get to work, producing powerful – but natural – cleaning foam which powers through the fibres lifting off the dirt and grime.' Has anyone used them? Do they work?"
Do you have the answer?
If you can help Rachel, 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
10. 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
11. 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!
12. 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
13. Contact Details
The Cheapskates Club -
Showing you how to live life
debt free, cashed up and laughing!
Contact Us
1. Cath's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - Keep Chickens for Easy Eggs; A Newsworthy 21st Birthday Present; Give Wallpaper a Softening Treatment
3. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - Simple Lemon Cake
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge with Wendy - Stockpiling for Summer
6. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
7. Member's Featured Blog - I'm Revolting
8. Last Week's Question - Is there a frugal Armor All Replacement
9. This Week's Question - Do Eco Eggs work?
10. Ask Cath
11. Join the Cheapskates Club
12. Frequently Asked Questions
13. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Welcome to our new Cheapskates Club members, it's lovely to have you join us in living the Cheapskates way. When you login, don't forget to stop by the Forum and introduce yourself and then have a look at the Getting Started page. We can't wait to meet you.
I don't know what it's like at your house, but my goodness it's cold here. You'd never know it was September it's so cold and wet. The ground is so wet it squelches when we walk on it, a sound I haven't heard in I don't know how long.
Our tanks are full and overflowing and the garden is so wet the weeds just about jump out. I did a few minutes weeding yesterday in-between rain showers. I so want to get the veggie beds ready for planting just as soon as the night time temperatures hit double digits. In the meantime, I have seedlings at various stages, just waiting for the soil temps to rise just a little.
The September Journal will be live in the Member's Centre on Saturday, so don't forget to login and catch up on what's new.
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
Keep Chickens for Easy Eggs
The easiest and most cost-effective way to get eggs is to keep chickens. Three chickens should keep a family of four in eggs easily. Best of all, these pets are great fun to keep, kids love them and you know that they have had a good life and know what they have been feed on. There are chickens available for sale in Garfield, Victoria, for $10 each that are 18 months old and being rescued from being turned into dog meat if you would like to grab a few. Making a chook pen can be relatively cheap too, often people use a small garden shed or disused cubby and modify it slightly, but chooks aren't that picky. There are some great books you can pick up from the library to get you started. Free range chicken is sometimes marked down in the supermarkets and freezes easily, and it is always worthwhile talking to your local butcher to see if they have 'rewards' type programs for free range products. Shopping at a good old fashion butcher is not only good for the local community, but it is always a rewarding experience and much less impersonal than the big chain supermarkets. And I'm sure that someone will mention farmers markets, although I've just come back from one and the prices were a little bit high.
Contributed by Belinda Ruff
A Newsworthy 21st Birthday Present
Buy a selection of newspapers on the actual date of the 21st birthday and cut out the headlines/interesting articles/advertisements. Make sure you have the date visible. Buy a reasonable size picture frame from an op shop, paint it if necessary. Create a collage of the newspapers and get creative on the computer and design a "header" along the lines of "Making news on your 21st birthday". Will make interesting reading down the track. Alternatively see if you can get the front page of a paper on the actual day of birth. Check out "Old Australian Newspapers Online". Not sure of the cost though.
Contributed by Rusty Woodward
Give Wallpaper a Softening Treatment
I’m a total amateur but did a makeover last year which involved stripping lots of both new and old wallpaper plus wallpaper borders. Both came off really well with fabric softener. I just bought the cheapest sachet, for 70 cents, and mixed it with equal parts water (warm water might work better). Just spray it on the wallpaper and leave for 5-20 minutes (depending on how old and how well the wallpaper was applied). Lay a towel on the floor to catch the drips. Then come back and literally peel the wallpaper off. Can use a scraper too. Newer wallpaper comes off much easier than old wallpaper but the results on both are great. (The room will smell lovely too!!) If the wallpaper is really old or thick you could carefully score the wallpaper first with a Stanley knife to help the fabric softener seep in, but avoid this if you're worried about marking the wall. Sometimes you need two applications, first for the outer part of the wallpaper, then for the papery underside that is left after the first peeling, but if you just reapply the fabric softener it will come up a treat. I have taken off whole walls and borders too of wallpaper with fabric softener easily. Incidentally, the colour under the wallpaper was quite nice so I avoided painting. 70 cents and a little elbow grease beats paying the tradies through the nose!
Contributed by BT
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
This is one of those treat cakes, but we love it. I don't make it often, usually for special occasions, but when I do it doesn't last long! It isn't cheap, well for a homemade, from scratch cake, costing around $3.45 to make (using ingredients from Aldi), but when you compare it to a $5 cake from the supermarket it wins hands down on price and delciousness (and if that's not a real word it should be!).
Simple Lemon Cake
Ingredients:
2 cups SR flour
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
¾ cup vegetable oil
¾ cup water
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 pkt lemon jelly crystals
1 cup icing sugar
3 tbsp lemon juice
Method:
Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Grease and flour a 22cm x 33cm cake tin. Mix all cake ingredients, except icing sugar and lemon juice, and beating well. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for approximately 35-40 minutes. Test cake is cooked by inserting a toothpick into the centre. If it comes out clean, the cake is done. While cake is baking, mix icing sugar and lemon juice. Spread over a warm cake for a crusty glaze or over a cool cake for a thicker glaze.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Chicken
Monday: Schnitzels, potato bake, veggies
Tuesday: Spaghetti & meatballs
Wednesday: Shepherd's Pie, steamed greens
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Stir-fry
Saturday: Kebabs with salad, tabouli, hommos
In the fruit bowl: lemons, apples
In the cake tin: ANZAC slice, Choc Chip Slab, banana muffins
There are over 1,500 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File.
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge with Wendy
Stockpiling for Summer
Welcome to the food challenge everyone.
As most of you know, I love to stockpile. Security and being prepared are the main reasons I keep extra food on hand. I don't really need a reason but it sure feels good to be organised.
For the third year running I've just started stockpiling for Summer and the Christmas period. For those of you who are new to Cheapskates, Cath inspired me to try this a few of years ago. I'd spent the day with her talking (nothing new about that) and she mentioned her Summer stockpile. Here's how it works.
*I do a monthly shop on the 16th of each month.
*I DON'T want to do grocery shopping from 17th Dec through to 15th March. This is the busiest time of the year in the shopping centres. I don't want to battle the crowds doing my monthly grocery shopping with a heavy trolley. I also don't want to be grocery shopping during our Summer heat.
*I work out what groceries we would use during these three months. This includes everything except milk, fruit and veg.
*During my monthly grocery shopping in August and September, I stockpile toiletries, tinned food (including cat food), pasta, toilet paper, foil, cling wrap, paper towel, cleaning ingredients and herbs and spices.
*October and November's grocery shop is when I stockpile frozen veggies, butter, cheese, sauces and dressings, meat (if it's on sale) and baking items.
*The month of December is used to buy anything we need for Christmas Day and New Year's Day as well as anything else I feel the need to stockpile.
*Summer stockpile items are added to my usual monthly grocery shopping list.
*I use my grocery slush fund money to pay for the extra items I'm stockpiling during this time. When I'm not shopping (much) from Dec to March, the allocated grocery money not used is put back into the slush fund to top it back up.
*During Dec to March, I duck into the shops weekly to buy milk, fruit and veggies only. Because this is during Summer, we grow a lot in our garden so I might only need milk. More often than not, we'll buy milk from the petrol station to avoid the busy shopping centre.
*If we have visitors during this time, we have heaps of food to feed them.
By stockpiling ahead of the Christmas / Summer rush, I can really enjoy time at home with my family. I'm not getting hot and flustered trying to find a carpark in the heat. I'm avoiding the school holiday crowds and chaos. BLISS.
Who will join me in stockpiling for Summer?
Have a great week and BE ENCOURAGED!!!
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
6. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
They've Moved the Goal Post- I Knew They Were Wrong
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3629-They-ve-moved-the-goal-post-I-knew-they-were-wrong
Receipts and Proof of Ownership
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3626-Receipts-and-Proof-of-ownership
Cutting up Credit Cards!
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/forumdisplay.php?13-Investing-Banking-and-Superannuation
Most popular blog posts this week
Getting Ready for Grocery Shopping
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2015/01/getting-ready-for-grocery-shopping.html
How I Write My Shopping List
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2013/08/how-i-write-my-shopping-list_31.html
5 Simple Ways We Save on Groceries
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2014/09/5-simple-ways-we-save-on-groceries.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 Anne.
I'm Revolting!
I've just read the email for Step 1 in the Saving Revolution - Learn to live beneath my means......
Which is something that we do for the most part BUT not always, and yes, it was a DOH! moment when I realised this.
Thanks Cath.
Now to re-jig our Spending Plan so that we are always living beneath our means and not just within them.
We don't have any debt anymore (YAHOO!) but there are times when we go ahead and buy stuff before we have the money to pay for it - which means we do have debt occasionally. Doh!
I've been living in La La Land - but not anymore. Starting right now (I've phoned DH to let him know what I'm up to, quite made his lunchtime enjoyable I'm sure) we are living BENEATH OUR MEANS!
I really want to get us ready for retirement - it is still a ways off, but honestly if we keep going as we are DH will be working until he's 110, and I don't want that - I think 100 is a much more acceptable retirement age (only joking).
I would like us to be ready to retire when DS2 finishes uni - so about 7 years depending on what he chooses to do - and he'd better not choose anything that lasts much longer than that or he's on his own.
We would like to be able to do some travelling around Australia when we retire - yep, grey nomads here we come (we've already got the grey down pat).
So I'm revolting, and proud of it.
Login to read more Cheapskates Club Member blogs
8. Last Week's Question
Last week's question was from Michelle who wrote
"I used to love using Armor All Protectant to make the dashboard in my car shiny but it's expensive. Does anyone have a MOO recipe or alternative?"
Cathy Morcom answered
Use MOO glass cleaner or MOO furniture polish. Works wonders on the interior. It will also stop the 'fogging' on the windscreen from the silicone when it gets hot in the car.
Lynette Stewart answered
You can buy in Coles a cheaper brand of Vaseline, I can't remember what it cost me now and it was a larger jar, anyway you put a bit on a clean cloth and rub it in with another clean cloth polish it and you will see the same results but cheaper.
Elaine Fay answered
Baby oil with a dash of essential oil for perfume, on cloth.
Carol T answered
A damp micro fibre cloth is all my car detailer uses. He's found that Armor All and similar products leave a greasy film that shows up fingerprints and attracts dust. He also says that plastic dashboards in modern day cars (last 20 years) don't need the Armor All type protection that older cars need.
9. This Week's Question
Rachel writes
"Hello, I recently read about eco-eggs which are basically laundry detergent replacements. Here's what they claim: 'The award winning Laundry Egg is a complete replacement for washing detergent. Just pop it in the drum of your washing machine – no powder, liquid, tablets or gels required. The two types of mineral pellets inside the egg get to work, producing powerful – but natural – cleaning foam which powers through the fibres lifting off the dirt and grime.' Has anyone used them? Do they work?"
Do you have the answer?
If you can help Rachel, 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
10. 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
11. 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!
12. 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
13. Contact Details
The Cheapskates Club -
Showing you how to live life
debt free, cashed up and laughing!
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