Using Shallow Boxes As Dividers to Organise Drawers

If you have a long, shallow desk drawer, chances are it's filled with an assortment of paper clips, pens, tacks, loose change, etc. Pick up a desk organizing tray for around $5 - $8 from office supply stores. But, if you'd rather save some money, there is a very cheap solution. Gather small shallow boxes - the type that jewellery or dinner mints often come in. Most people have these floating around the house. Empty out the desk drawer and line up these boxes inside, arranging them so that there are no open spaces. Voila! You now have the perfect sorting system for all of those loose desk items. By the way, before you put anything back into that drawer, toss out anything you no longer need or can no longer identify!

Reuse Worn Out Clothes and Have FREE Rugs!

I love the look of rag rugs. My grandma and great-grandma had them in their kitchens when I was a very little girl and I loved the pretty colours. My mother had rag rugs in the kitchen too, one under the sink and one just inside the door, as I was growing up.

They appeal to me for two reasons:
1. They are a great way of using old clothes, sheets, blankets etc, saving them from landfill. This really appeals to my waste-not side.
2. They add character and charm to a room.

Cheapskater Wendy Boyd has shared her instructions for making a crocheted rag rug using old clothing and sheets that won't cost you anything but a few nights in front of the TV.

I dislike throwing away any worn out sheets and/or clothing, and there does come a time when these items just can't be passed on, or used to make new clothes. I have discovered that it is easy to cut or tear old clothes into strips and crochet them into lovely rag rugs."

Step 1. Cut off collars and cuffs and any thick seams.

Step 2. Rip or cut material into long strips, about 1-2cm wide.

Step 3. Tie or sew strips together at short ends, and roll into balls for use.

Step 4. Choose the order in which you want your colours to appear as a pattern.

Step 5. Choose a large crochet hook. Here are the instructions to crochet an oval rug:

• Chain about 15. 
• Double crochet in each chain, 3 doubles in end chain, and double in each chain back down the other side. You should have an oval shape at this stage. 
• Keep going around and around, adding two or three double stitches at each end. 

This needs to be juggled a bit as you go, to keep the rug fairly flat.

I have made several of these great FREE rugs. They are great for traffic areas, as they can be picked up and shaken clean (outside). They catch dirt and grime easily, and it flies out when shaken, reducing the need for cleaning both the floors and the rugs. I prefer to use material tied together at the short ends, and keep the loose bits on the top of the rug, as this is a great shaggy look, and catches more dirt.

It's very easy to crochet the ends in as you go, if you prefer a neater look, or to sew the ends with a sewing machine before beginning to crochet. I'm sure the same sort of technique could be used to knit rugs, if you prefer."

Contributed by Wendy Boyd

Shopping Aussie Made on a Budget

Today's Tip of the Day was contributed by Petrina and if you are conscious of buying Australian made when you shop, but still like to get the lowest price, it is for you. This variation of a price book will help you buy Aussie made (and owned - don't forget Aussie owned is good too - the profits then stay in Australia!) for the lowest possible price.

"Most people keep shopping lists. I have a permanent list that I add to each time I shop. My list contains all the products that I buy on a recurring cycle. My list details Australian made items as preferred items. Australian made items are generally more expensive as they cost more to produce than imported items. I buy almost all items when they are on special only, this way I am supporting Australian companies and saving money as well. For example Sorbent is Australian made. 12 rolls cost approximately $10-$12 normal RRP, however on special you can save $3 per package, so I bought 2 packets. The thing to have in mind is you must buy in bulk so that you won't need to buy the products when they are at full price, or if you do need to purchase an item when it is not on special make sure on your list you have an alternative product. I plan my menus before shopping so that I can purchase only what I need (some items already purchased when on special). By not purchasing items not on special you start to learn what you can actually go without. It doesn't matter where you shop as all retailers have a variety of different items on special every week."

Coping with Paper Clutter

The rumour we live in a paperless society isn't true. We have more paper than ever in our homes. Bills come with at least two sheets of paper, junk mail, school newsletters, quotes, statements and the list goes on.

Control clutter by asking the following questions about each piece of paper in your house:
Does it require action?
Can I identify a specific use for it?
Is it difficult to obtain again?
Is it recent enough to be useful?
Are there tax or legal implications if I toss it?

If the answer is "No," ask:
What is the worst possible thing that will happen if I throw this away?

If you can live with your answer, toss it or, even better, recycle it.

Fruit Trays Make Great Office Storage

I am a real 'storage buff' I love everything to be organised and I used to buy containers/trays which are expensive for organising my things in the office, garage, pantry and even in the fridge. I've stopped buying containers and now use the trays our fruit and veg come on, which are various sizes and depths depending on what we are buying. They store my sauces and spices in the pantry, items in my home office draws and I even use them in the fridge. All my friends comment on how 'neat' my fridge is! And they are great for us scrapbookers to store stamps etc. in. I've even taken them to work to organise the stationery in my drawers (the strawberry containers are the best for this as they are a bit smaller and you can fits heaps in them like post it notes, bulldogs clips and rubber bands - the list is endless. I've even started using them to organise our big stationery cupboard at work. So now instead of throwing them in the rubbish I have endless uses for them.
Contributed by Belinda

Pasta with Creamy Pumpkin Sauce

With the cooler nights slowly creeping in, it's time to think of hearty, warm dishes to keep the chills at bay.  This pasta dish is just the thing.  You'll need to cook around 500g peeled pumpkin to make two cups of puree. Use a pumpkin with flavour and substance like a Queensland Blue or Kent, for a sweet, flavourful sauce that will have everyone lining up for seconds.

Pasta with Creamy Pumpkin Sauce

Ingredients:
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp butter
2 cup pumpkin purée
2 cup chicken stock*
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp chilli powder
Pinch cayenne pepper
Freshly cracked black pepper
4 tbsp cream
500g pasta

Method:
Cook pasta until al dente. Drain.

While the pasta is cooking, prepare the sauce. Crush two cloves of garlic and add them to a large frying pan with the butter. Sauté over medium-low heat for 1-2 minutes, or just until the garlic is soft and fragrant.

Add the pumpkin purée and chicken broth to the frying pan and stir to combine. Add the nutmeg, chilli powder, cayenne pepper, and some freshly cracked black pepper. Stir in the spices and let the sauce simmer over medium-low heat while the pasta cooks (about 10 minutes), stirring occasionally.

Once the pasta is finished cooking and is draining in a colander, add the cream to the frying pan and stir it into the pumpkin sauce. Taste the sauce and add salt if needed (this will depend on the type of stock you use). Finally, stir the drained pasta in to the sauce and serve.

*To make the dish vegetarian, use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock. Homemade chicken stock is virtually free, and will bring the cost down to around $2.70 for four serves.

What we ate last week

I post my meal plan for the month on the Cheapskates website, in the Member's Centre. I was asked a few years ago if I could share what we ate - I was a little bemused because we don’t eat anything terribly fancy and I'm not really sure why anyone would find it interesting. My lot are definitely old school "meat and three veg" types, although they do like their food to have flavour.

Since the ACA segment I've been inundated with requests for information on my meal plan, and how it fits within our grocery budget of $320 a month (there are five of us, so as per the $300 a Month Food Challenge it should be $375, but I don't have that much to spare - $320 does us well with plenty to eat and some to spare).

This is what we've eaten for the last week:

Sunday: Greek style roast lamb, baked potato, pumpkin & onion, broccoli & cauliflower, glazed carrots, beans, gravy & mint sauce
Monday: Rissoles, pumpkin mash, beans, corn, broccoli, onion gravy
Tuesday: Pasta bake, garden salad, garlic bread (should have been Spag Bol but I felt like pasta bake - sauce the same, different pasta)
Wednesday: Crumbed fish pieces, MOO wedges, coleslaw
Thursday: MOO pizzas
Friday: Vegetable curry over steamed rice
Saturday: Savoury mince on toast

How did this fit into my grocery budget? Very well.

The lamb was bought a couple of months ago when Tasman Meats had a great sale. As we had visitors for the weekend, I used all the meat and put the bone in the freezer for stock. Normally I'd get at least another one, often two, meals of meat from the leg.

I did buy the fish pieces a few weeks ago when Coles had them on sale - bigger pack and the same price as Aldi so I picked up 5 packets - enough for 6 meals for the five of us.

Most of the vegetables have come from our garden. Looking over the list the only veg I have bought has been potatoes, onions, carrots and frozen corn.  Everything else has been home grown right here in our backyard. When I have a glut of fresh produce from the garden I either freeze, dry or bottle it, depending on what it is.

This week we have enjoyed broccoli, cauliflower and beans from the freezer and pumpkin, lettuce, capsicum, spring onion, tomatoes, garlic and basil from the garden, saving me around $30 at the greengrocer.

I make the pizza bases using the Penny Pinching Pizza base recipe, usually a triple recipe. This makes enough pizza bases for three weeks, and they freeze really well. I can make six family sized pizza bases for under $2.00, less than the price of one fresh pizza base from the supermarket, and much nicer than the frozen bases you can buy.

The sauce for the pizzas is homemade using tomatoes and herbs from the garden and onions I buy in 10 kilo bags for between 30c - 40c per kilo. The toppings are whatever are leftover in the fridge - sometimes there is meat or chicken, sometimes they are just vegetarian. They are always good.

Making pizza on a Thursday night instead of buying it saves another $22 a week off the food bill and everyone gets their fill of "junk" food.

Pretty much everything we eat is made from scratch, using ingredients. There are exceptions: spaghetti and the noodles for pasta bake, I always by those two items from Aldi the occasional box of crumbed fish, bread and breakfast cereal: wheat biscuits, ricies and bran cereal.

In the tinned department I use baked beans, tomato soup, tuna, salmon, beetroot and pineapple. Oh, and apricot nectar.  All of these items either come from Aldi or the SPC outlet.

Once a week I buy fresh milk and top-up the fresh fruit and veg we need and I allow $15 a week for these top-ups.

Would I be able to stick to our grocery budget if I didn't cook so much from scratch? Definitely not. Would we eat as well if I didn't cook so much from scratch? Definitely not.

I realised a long, long time ago that I could spend my time at home, in the kitchen, with my family, preparing our meals or I could spend my time waiting in line at the supermarket or the fish'n'chip shop or the local Indian restaurant or waiting 30 minutes for pizza or Chinese takeaway to be delivered.

I'd rather be at home with my family and keep the money we're not spending for "convenience" food on things we really want and love.

Tidy the Medicine Cabinet with Magnetic Tape

Keeping knives organised in the kitchen by hanging them on magnetic strips is a great idea, but did you know you can use the same principle to keep your medicine cabinet tidy too?

A simple, really easy DIY to tidy up the medicine cabinet is to stick a strip of magnetic tape (available from any craft store and some $2 shops) to the inside of the cupboard door.

Measure the width of the door and cut your magnetic tape to size. Use the tape with adhesive on one side to save having to glue the tape in place. Press the tape into place on the inside of the door and the job is finished! Under five minutes and around $2 (you'll have tape left over for other projects) and you have a place to keep tweezers, nail files, small scissors, nail clippers, needles, clips and so on.

The magnetic tape I used cost $2 a roll and I bought it at a local $2 shop.

Catching Up

The last three weeks have been so very busy I thought I'd better finally take a few minutes to catch you all up with what has been going on.

Life became even more hectic than usual on 23rd March when A Current Affair screened a part of the story they filmed with me (there was a lot that didn't make this particular segment). Oh boy did that segment generate some emails! I've finally managed to get the number waiting for a  response down to 276, but it has taken a long, long time. And still the questions are coming in.

Someone suggested I get someone else to answer them, but that didn't sit well with me. I promised to answer, and answer I will, it is just taking a little while. If you're waiting to hear from me, you will - I can't say when, but you will.

Of course that has meant I've been tied to my desk just about all day every day because of course I still have all the usual tasks associated with Cheapskates to do - newsletters, the Journal, researching stories and articles, editing tips for the Tip Store and Tip of the Day, monitoring website, blog and forum traffic and keeping things on an even keel. Add to that the work on the new website and of course my family and household chores and I have been busy :)

I was glad when Easter finally arrived for a break. We have visitors over Easter so I did take the opportunity to take some time off and relax a little.

Wendy reignited my card making bug, and on Saturday night I dragged out my craft stuff and sat down to make some cards. I was a little stuck for ideas, it has been a while, so it was Google to the rescue. It only took a few minutes to get those creative ideas flowing again and here's what I made - I'm very happy with how they've turned out.

 Dishcloths were also on the agenda. I needed a quick thank you gift and I know that hand-knitted dishcloths are a favourite for this particular lady, so out came the needles and the cotton and over two nights I knitted three square dishcloths, just in my favourite diagonal pattern. It's so quick and easy, I can do a 50 stitch dishcloth in around 2 hours.

Not much baking has been done so those rolls of biscuit dough stashed in the freezer came in very handy for morning and afternoon teas. I'm sure I earned some brownie points with a certain gentleman when he was able to enjoy freshly baked biscuits every afternoon - and a variety too! I had rolls of choc chip, Cranberry Hootycreek and Raspberry and White Choc dough in the freezer so it was a case of thaw, slice and bake, very easy and apparently very impressive.

My poor garden is suffering terribly. I need some time to get into it and get it ready for winter. The winter veg still need to go into the ground. As we're away for six weeks I've been waiting to get the cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli, parsnips, turnips and beetroot into the garden. If they had been planted any earlier they'd be ready while I'm away and that would be a waste. If I get them in the ground now they'll be ready or almost ready when we get home, no waste.

That jolly pumpkin vine is still growing. It's taken over the backyard, climbed the fence, into the neighbour's tree and produced some nice, plump pumpkins in it!  There are around 27 pumpkins on it - some of them are almost ready to pick. We've already cut two, and they are delicious. One was made into soup, one was cut into pieces for baking. Did you know you can freeze pumpkin if you're going to use it for soup or baking? I just put the number of pieces I need into ziplock bags or vacuum seal them and pop them into the freezer.  If you just want to store it in the fridge, take the seeds and pith out (I use a soup spoon to scrape them out) and then dust the cut side of the pumpkin with cornflour. It will keep in the fridge for weeks like this. Every time you cut a piece off dust the fresh cut with cornflour.

I'm still picking capsicums and eggplants, and freezing them for winter casseroles and stews. The basil is still going strong and I've been able to dry a bunch every couple of days; it smells amazing as it is drying and I can't wait to use it in my cooking.

The catnip has finally gone to seed. That means pulling the flower heads off and gently shaking them into a paper bag to collect the seed for next year. I use catnip to make a safe personal insect repellent, and it really works. It keeps mosquitoes and sand flies away, two summer pests that seem to love my arms and legs. Real catnip is hard to find, so growing it solves the problem for me. Next year though it is going into pots - it took over the garden bed and I'd rather use the space for food.

Well that's the condensed version of what I've been up to.

And now daylight saving has finished, I need to remember to get the washing off the line early! So, before it gets damp, I'd better go and bring it in. It will still be warm from the sun and fresh, ready to put straight away.

Let the Picky Eaters Create the Menu Plan

I have two teenage daughters and one is a difficult eater. She can't eat fish and hates the texture of some things like red meat, rice and soup. I have had enough of making two meals every night. Over the weekend I gave my daughters a job.

They emptied the pantry and wrote a list of what we had. Then they emptied the freezer and listed the contents while I did the defrosting and cleaning. The next day I gave them a challenge - how many recipes and meal ideas could they find online using those ingredients plus fresh stuff and maybe one or two small extras.

They took it all very seriously and spent ages finding new recipes. Now I have sixteen new recipes which we will all eat. Best of all it gave my daughters, especially the nuisance eater, a very good idea of just how hard and frustrating it is trying to feed a family on a budget, especially when catering for her. So this has given me a clean pantry and freezer and new recipes, and given them a bit of insight into the realities of life.
Contributed by Georgina

Be Ruthless when it comes to Decluttering

If you don't love it, and/or you don't use it, its clutter. Its the perfect time to embrace the Feng Shui art of uncluttered living. Feng Shui teaches that if energy can easily flow through a room, your life will be more harmonious and happy - and clutter is an obstacle to reaching this relaxed and calm state.

Make it a quest of yours to be ruthless when it comes to your decluttering efforts. You'll have less to dust, less clutter to look it, an easier time finding the things you do use and less stress in your life.

Organizing Finances on an Irregular Income - The $400 Rule

My partner and I were in a situation a few years ago when I was temping of not really knowing for sure exactly how much money we'd have from week to week. Whilst income can move around a lot we found our basic expenses of rent, groceries, bills, transport (essentials) cost $400 a week at a minimum for the two of us. I knew that I would always need to make at least $400 per week to survive. This meant that when I made anything over $400 it went straight into a high interest online savings which I could use if I had a week where I made under $400. You become quite possessive of your savings fund once you start to build it up and I often found that I would try to cut grocery bills so I didn't have to take money out of my savings. Since then my work has become full time but we still have the ‘$400 rule' – which means that I can now save a lot more! As we are getting married next year we are considering how we can make it the ‘$350 rule'! Cheers,
Contributed by Emma Healey

An Organized Handbag

Do you have to rummage through your handbag to find your keys or phone, or perhaps a hanky? Maybe even your purse? You find screwed up old receipts, old pens, tissues, the lipstick you've been looking for, lolly wrappers, school notices, perhaps even unopened mail.

Handbags are  a bit like the spare room: a catchall where you stash everything but can find nothing.

With a little creative organisation and a few minutes you can have your handbag in tip-top shape, organised and tidy so you can put your hand on the things you need when you need them. No more rummaging for pens or keys or business cards.

You will need:
Your everyday handbag - make sure it is a nice size for your everyday requirements. Too big and it will fill with rubbish, too small and you'll always leave something you need behind.
3 -7 small make-up purses or pencil cases. They can be fabric, plastic, printed or plain, with a zip, button or velcro fastener.

How to Organise:

1. Your purse/wallet
Money - notes
Money - coins into the change compartment
Credit/debit cards
Driver's license
Most used rewards cards
Small calendar

2. Bag 1
Lipstick/lip gloss
Small comb/brush
Blush
Mascara
Powder - pressed/loose/bronzer - whatever you use
Feminine Hygiene
Mirror

3. Bag 2
Nail file/emery board
Small hand cream
Small scissors
Hankies
Breath mints/cough drops

4. Spectacle case 1
For sunglasses

5. Spectacle case 2
For reading/spare spectacles

6. Bag 3
Business cards - yours, hairdresser, mechanic etc
Library card
Club cards - Auto club, ambulance, health fund etc.
Seldom used credit/debit cards
Small calculator

7. Bag 4
Toothbrush
Small toothpaste
Wet wipes
Small sewing kit
Band-aids
Toothpicks
Small tape measure

You won't need to carry all these bags every day, but having them organised makes it much easier to quickly pack your handbag for the day or swap to another handbag.

The Gift Box Tray Rack

Keeping cake tins, baking sheets and pots organised and tidy is something we can all struggle with from time to time. Cheapskater Michelle has come up with a simple, free solution, by utilising something that would otherwise become landfill.

"I love baking and have lots of trays, cooling racks etc. I keep all my baking trays, cake tins etc. in the same cupboard as my pots and pans. I always stacked the pots and pans and cake tins as much as possible but every time I stacked the baking trays Murphy's law would mean that the one that I needed was in the middle or bottom of the stack, and the cupboard would always get messy. I decided I needed to do something and thought about the various options in the stores but didn't have the money to go out and buy space saving devices. I looked in the shed and found a wooden box which had been a gift crate for some wine I was given at Christmas. The sides were made from nice timber and the back was just a plywood type material stapled on. I was able to pry the ply backing off and use the crate as a large square shape in my cupboard as book ends.

The particular gift crate I had had two ply board dividers in (to hold the bottles of wine in place!) and I've actually used those to sort the trays (ordinary baking trays, muffin/cupcake trays and cooling racks).

This simple idea has saved me so much time and stress because my cupboards are no longer cluttered. By tiding up the baking trays, I've found that I have more room for my pots and pans - so much so that I no longer stack big pans like woks. They all have a dedicated spot and I've even been able to move my rice cooker into this cupboard. Not bad for 15 minutes!

Of course if you don't have a wooden box you can get creative with you might have scraps of timber you can use to create a U shape which you can use to store your trays etc. Just keep in mind lots of metal trays can become heavy so you need to use timber rather than thin plywood. Basically you're looking at a bookend type device for your baking trays. Also don't forget to check the height of your cupboard - if you find a suitable wooden box you may have to get the saw out and cut one of the sides off so that it fits in the space you have. And if you have a particular theme in your kitchen, you can always paint the timber and decorate it in your theme."
Contributed by Michelle Hickey

Financial Records Double as Emergency File

April is Get Organised month for the Cheapskates Club, so every day for April will see a new tip or idea to help you get organised and de-clutter.

Today's tip comes from Dianna Smith, and it not only keeps you organised but it doubles as an emergency file too, perfect if you live in a bush fire, cyclone or flood prone area and need to evacuate in a hurry.

"I keep an A4 file, divided into sections. In each section I keep my financial records (accounts and receipts) e.g. utilities, bank statements, credit card statements etc in their own section. This way I can keep track of my household expenditure. It also doubles as my emergency file in case I need to grab records and run."
Contributed by Diana Smith