I Think Its Interesting

I think it's interesting that so often people equate living the Cheapskates way with spending hours and hours shopping, cooking from scratch and cleaning. They think that to save money, you need to work hard and go without the luxuries in life.

Well I am here, along with my family, to prove them wrong.

Grocery shopping is not one of my favourite things to do so it's a certainty that I would spend less time than the average Australian in a supermarket or shopping centre. I spend less than 2 hours a month on grocery shopping and probably less than another two hours a month on any other kind of shopping.

When it comes to cooking well lets face it, Gordon Ramsay would probably turn his nose up at my gastronomical delights, but even I can whip up a couple of pizzas in less time than it takes to get them delivered, for about half the price of one from the pizza shop! In fact we can have a cooked from scratch meal on the table in under 30 minutes, even if we've just walked in the door after a long day at work, school and sport. It can take that long to decided between pizza, Chinese or fish and chips if you are really tired. By the time you've rung and placed your order we are sitting down to a freshly prepared and cooked meal. The difference is that we have saved around $25 and get to sit down to eat exactly what we want.

While a cleaning fairy is on my 'one day' wish list simply because there are other things I would rather be doing (like working on Cheapskates) you can be pretty sure that I don't spend any longer cleaning our home than most working mothers do. It's no harder to clean with water and a micro fibre cloth or a splash of vinegar and a sprinkle of bi-carb than it is to use an all in one spray cleaner. It takes me around 5 minutes every three months or so to make a batch of washing powder at a saving of around $20 and the plus is I am not lugging home a heavy box of laundry detergent every fortnight.

The point I am trying to make, in this twisted and convoluted way, is that the spendthrifts have it all wrong.

Cheapskates don't spend hours and hours trolling the shopping centres. We know what we want and where to get it at the cheapest possible price. Our trusty price books save us money and hours searching for the best bargains.

We don't spend hundreds of dollars on takeaway and home delivery meals. We have homemade takeaway, save a fortune and teach our children that you can have fun and save money at the same time.

We are not polluting our homes and our bodies with supposedly fast cleaning products. We use one or two multi-purpose products that do an excellent job and are budget priced.

We live within our budget, regularly adding to our PoM accounts and emergency funds.
We eat tasty, freshly prepared meals with our families.
We spend time doing the things we enjoy with our families and friends.
Our homes are clean (tidy may be another matter, especially if we have kids!).
We wear fashionable clothes and dress our children well on our budgets.

As Cheapskates we choose to spend our money, time and energy on the things that are important to us and not waste them on the unimportant stuff.