well its coming up to the cold months when power goes up to skyrocketing heights and pockets need to be tightened... . . so some great cost cutting hints and tips would be a great idea... . . BARTERING is my best tip to add this morning, we all people that have large veg gardens or fruit trees and could do with a hand to do something, maybe you could help them weed their garden or take them some bottles fruit(from there tree) if they share there produce with you, maybe bake a cake or have them for a meal, there are ways and means of gaining free stuff, fruit trees on the side of the road, overhanging onto streets, spekked fruit from the dairys and supermarkets ask... you will never know what is avaliable if we dont ask
kob,
May 21, 6:48pm
Get to know your deli and fresh goods manager at the supermarket they often have pizzas, cheeses yoghurts, and goods that are due to expire or have dated and for next to nothing you have gained a meal... . dont be embarased by asking I know i have been a managaer of a dept and it is amazing the waste that you throw away and its still good enough to eat, but theres no takers... ... approach you cafes and see if they need a hand getting rid of the days leftover food, (worked there too, my freezer has never been so fill all the muffins etc)... learn how to bottle and cook & freeze veges, silverbeet & spinich can be cooked and frozen in rounds on a oven tray and then transfereed to a bag for long term freezing (did you know that)
kob,
May 21, 6:54pm
cont pumpkin can be cut and frozen in chunks uncooked, cron can be frozen in the husk no cooking needed, carrots & potatoes(as chips)when in great supply can be blanched(cooked for 2-3 mins in boiling water then put in iced water then frozen)... fruit learn to puree and keep margerine containers and freeze what ever is handy, 8 blackberries can transform a boring applecrumble to a delishes apple& blackbeery one... . . jellies can be made with the juice by adding geletine to the hot liquid(take a 1/4 cup of liquid & add the G to that first before mixing with the rest then set)... . baking well baking can be as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be ginger crisps and condensed milk biscuits are basics but still fill the lunch boxes... ... popcorn you know you can still buy the actual kernals that you heat in pot with a little oil and shake the s**t out of, we all grab a bag of ready made when for about 1/4 of the price we can make 5 times the amount
kob,
May 21, 6:57pm
school lunches get some small containers(i use tupperware small jello moulds) and fill them all kinsout of the bulk bins(cheaper that way)eg: raisons, nuts, pretzels, seeds, jellies, custard, stewed fruit(homemade of course), custard and fruit & jelly & fruit, you can make a dip and give them vege slices , or chippies or crackers to go along with it, buy a jar of kraft cheese mix and fill container with that and then give crackers seperately(H/M le snaks), mine loved nutragrains so be it not for breakfast just for lunches 1 kt lasted 2 weeks... . thers heaps of different ways you can save money,
kob,
May 21, 7:02pm
Home made takeaways make american hotdogs, get a bag of long rolls some frankfuters9heat them ion microwave), fry some onion grate some cheese and place together drizzle with mustard and tomato suace heat and enjoy... . . Pizza, base 2 cups of flour, 2 tsp of baking powder S7P 1/2 cup of oil 1/2 cup of milk mix together and form a dough roll out then add your toppings spagetii, bacon cheese, or just corn & cheese what ever... . . Hotdogs and chips. . 6 savoleys roll them lightly in cornflour(makes batter stick) and then add to batter of 1 egg 4 onces of water(beat) add 1 cup of flour and 1 teaspoons of baking powder 1/2 teaspoon of salt mix together and cook in hot fat or oil...cook chips and there you have it... . Fish and chips... ...cook chips and then either use bought crumbed fished, fish fingers or fish that you batter yourself using batter above(beer batter is nicer). . just use your imagination and takeaways can not only be cheap but fun as a family as well with just a litlle planing
kob,
May 21, 7:05pm
Babies... . dont get me started who needs all these new fandangles baby wipes and disposable nappies, collect all your friends old cloth nappies die them falsh colours if you want to be trendy and ok you have to wash them but who cares make some cheap laundry powder... . . cut up an old soft towel into squares and edge so they dont fray and make these babies only and use as baby wipes... . all these flash cream and lotions good old fashioned baby pil and if needed cornflour for nappyrash... ok wahing powder recipe... .
kob,
May 21, 7:09pm
here you go First make sure you have empty containers to put it in. I use empty 2 litre milk containers as I make up 30 litres at a time and so use 3 x 10 litre buckets to mix it up in. Dissolve 1 cup of Lux flakes and 1 cup of washing soda (both available at supermarket for about $8-9) in a bucket of boiling water. Then divide the mixture in that bucket so that all 3 buckets have equal amounts of mixture. Top each bucket up to full with cold water and pour the final mixture into your containers. Use about one cup of mixture per full load of washing, gets the washing nice and clean. I have been using this mixture for over 2 years and it is so easy and cheap to make. Btw 30 litres of mixture will last approximately 3-4 months... . . toothpaste can be made as well...
maximus44,
May 21, 7:59pm
You have some wonderful ideas kob. I'm sure they will be useful to a lot of people.
little_flick,
May 22, 11:12am
kob Are all those hints yours or have you copied them from other threads by any chance?
annie.nz,
May 22, 12:24pm
Thanks kob, I will try some of these one thing worth noting for people with children though is to keep anything w washing soda out of children's reach, disaster if they swallow some, burns their oesophagus and causes permanent scarring and pain. (I don't have kids at home any longer though so I'm going to give that one a go! ) Thanks
kob,
May 23, 5:13am
re # 11 prety much all these are things i have learnt over the years, read on here or been taught... . it wasn't something i wanted to do i had to... . theres a difference
little_flick,
May 23, 10:41am
kob I didnt mean to upset you. I posted the washing machine liquid one in a parenting thread a couple of nights ago, i thought it looked familiar lol :-)
kob,
May 23, 7:16pm
littleflick good for you, coming up with that idea & i hope you didnt mind me putting on this thread for people to use, i like anything that saves money... like i said when my kiddies were smaill we were lucky if we had $40 per week for groceries, ok they were alot cheaper then but still that wasnt much so there were alot of things i learnt to make myself... . I certainly did take advantage of every free food there was, whether it be plums, apples, veges or what ever i did it, we had a fruit & veg stall that a framer had on the road out the front of his property that was our veg lifesavour, for $2or less you could get your weeks veg might not of been the beutifullist looking veg(shops wouldnt take for looks, odd shaped pumpkins or carrots & to small cabbage etc)but who cared... . I got reipes books out of the library and studied them, learnt how to make things from scratch instead of buying a packet i devised a recipe9some copied some not). I like to help other people and if it means they to can save thats a good thing
donnabeth,
May 23, 11:56pm
I've been there done that too Kob. As a child I was acutely aware of my mother's frugalness when it came to 'added extras'. Only when I was in the same postion myself with kids to raise did I realise just how tough she had it, but, all her old lessons came back to me and I copied her tight budgeting and make do skills. I'm proud to say my daughter is in her turn doing the same. Her partner has complimented us on teaching her budgeting skills, but it is something learned by absorption, and later is so ingrained that we study packet labels and choose to save a few dollars by making from scratch. Many young families struggle for years, but with realistic budgeting, the rewards come later. I'd rather have it second hand than be still paying off my stainless appliances years after the shine has worn off them.
little_flick,
May 24, 2:45am
kob Thanks for your post, I wasnt complaining that you had copied the recipe. After all, it was shared with me, and I too like to pass on any tips that help save money where possible. I also had a rough time a few years back, and my girls remember us only having about $75 a fortnight for food. Its amazing what you can do when you have to. Even though I can now afford to pay extra if I want, I choose to stick to what I know, and my girls are now thrifty as well lol. Keep up the good work! !
kob,
May 24, 6:35pm
litleflick thanks i did know that you wern't complaining i must of been tired when responding, but i did know... . i to put things on here to share, in the hope that it might help someone who has not had the benifit of learning these things... all the young ones know want to leave home with all the mod cons and have new everything, i had a single bed a set of draws and all mums old linen, that was it, hubby aunty gave us two chairs my boss gave me a B/W tv (yes B/W) with a coathanger aerial and we had beercrates covered with a tablecloth as a coffe table... . . table & chairs was bought at a garagesale as was a fridge, i used his aunties for about for about two weeks(she lived 6 houses down from us)... . but we have become soul mates and have got to where we are in life because we have had to work hard to get waht we have now 25 years on, we are still best friends and having no money if it happened again although would be a bummer we could cope all over again
fetish,
May 30, 9:01pm
wonderful thread kob, and all others who contributed. Sadly too many people know about 'making do' or even just going without, I'm on a good wage now and am ok moneywise, I budget but there is enough, but I do remember days of struggling and one thing I'll add is bypass your supermarket for meat and try some of the butcher shops instead, I used to (god a lot of years ago) get special packs which were for retirees (or those on low budgets) where they put a certain amount of a variety of meats for a set price, giving you great value and good range, I've seen one of the bigger chain butchers have something similar going, but it never hurts to ask, who knows you might give them an idea to increase customers !
dinkydi5,
May 31, 8:30am
great ideas more please...
lilyfield,
May 31, 9:32am
one of my biggest moneysavers is milkpowder. Raised the kids on it and still use it for myself at home. Even though it has shot up in price lately its still a lot less than fresh milk.
dinkydi5,
Jun 1, 2:18am
... ... bumping
charlieb2,
Jun 4, 6:15am
bumping for joker... ...
helen59,
Jun 4, 8:23am
dg... I suggest going to the library and getting out any of the Destitute Gourmet books by Sophie Grey. The recipes are awesome and I use them all the time but the advice at the front of the books is well worth reading. I have adopted many of the principles, particularly the 'if you can make it, don't buy it' ethic.
juliewn,
Jun 5, 8:16am
Hi Kob. . hope you had a nice time away. . Re the washing soda. . A friend of mine uses this is in her dishwasher, with great success. . she fills the powder dispenser to the same level as would be done with purchased dish-washing powder. . and proceeds as usual. . Much cheaper and way less chemicals. .
baasey,
Jun 7, 2:08am
Homemade laundry mix ok for excema? Hi. I have just copied out the homemade laundry mix recipe made with lux flakes and washing soda. Sounds great, would the mix be ok to use on sensitive/excema skin types? Thanks.
annie.nz,
Jun 8, 1:28am
Make refrigerator cookies rather than a full batch of bikkies if you decide to bake instead of buying packet bikkies, then you cook some as needed rather than cook a batch and have the whole lot scarfed the same day. Anzac biscuits for instance can be made into a stiff dough, rolled into a cylinder and frozen - take out and cut off a few slices to bake (bake a bit longer).
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