I had a tear in my eye as I waved them off...

After eight glorious weeks of holiday school went back today. I had a tear in my eye as I waved the kids off this morning, they never even looked back!

It is Hannah's first day of high school and it was a most definite NO when I suggested I help her carry her backpack and the extra bag to her locker. Miss Independent didn't realise it was for my benefit and not hers. That I needed to hang on to my baby for just a few minutes longer because I know that when I pick her up at 3.20pm today she will have grown a little more and need her mum a little less. Don't worry, I was just as soppy when the boys started high school too.

I was amazed to see just how much all three had grown over the summer. Poor Thomas put on his school pants and I just burst out laughing. My tall, skinny boy was about 15cm taller than he was in December! He looked so comical with his lovely grey wool three-quarter pants. He didn't see the funny side at all. Thankfully there was enough of a hem to let them down. Did you know you can iron out a hem mark if you use an pressing cloth and white vinegar? Dampen the pressing cloth with the vinegar and then iron it dry over the hem mark. The crease should disappear like magic.

Left to my own devices for the day I'm going to finish off the February Journal and get it uploaded and then I'm going to look into specific savings accounts. Number One son is saving madly for a car and all related costs for when he turns 18. I've found a Bankwest account that pays 8% interest and yet still gives him access to his money if he needs it as long as deposits are between $50 and $500 a month. At the end of they year they transfer the balance to a nominated account. Sounds a bit like a Christmas club type of thing, only the year starts from when you open the account. At the moment this is my pick, for ease of setting up, use and a reasonable interest rate.

Mum has given me more zucchini too. There's only so many zucchini slices, pies, quiche and breads my lot will eat so it looks like pickles it will be for this lot. I like zucchini pickles, they are quick to make and have a nice tang to them. And with only a couple of ingredients they are very economical too.

That lot should keep me busy and out of mischief for the day.

I make no apologies

Yes Marion B., I do feed my kids gelatine sometimes. And yes, I do know what it's made from. I also sometimes feed them white rice, chocolate cake, saturated fats and if they are really sick and need them, antibiotics!

What I don’t feed them is artificial colourings, preservatives that have been banned in other countries because they are known carcinogens, or greasy, salt and fat laden convenience meals and takeaway foods and a myriad of other things that are not good for them.

Gelatine is found in a variety of foods, from yoghurts, sour cream, some cream cheeses, marshmallows, jelly/jube type lollies through to tinned meats and soups, even sausages. While I try very hard to stick to a grocery budget, I don't compromise on the quality of the food that I serve to my family. If it's at all possible to make it myself I do. I am fussy about what my kids eat.

If you are wondering if there is a substitute for gelatine, yes there is. Agar Agar is derived from seaweed and you can get it from a health food shop. I use Agar too, depending on what I'm making.

So Marion B, I make no apologies for the occasional use of 3 teaspoons of gelatine in a dish that they absolutely love. There are many worse things I could be feeding them!

Homemade deli delicacies

There's a forum thread going at the moment about cheap deli meats and it made me stop and think about what I buy from the deli. Not much really: olives, feta, occasionally cocktail franks but not much else really because I can make most of our deli desires. Yes, I know it's unbelievable but I can and do and for the most part it doesn't take any longer than it does to take a number and stand in the crowd!
Most of you know that I had to learn to cook when Disaster Struck. I could cook a steak or sausages and veg of course but I wasn't a great cake, jam, pickle, pastry type of cook. I had to learn how to make these things and believe me I was blown away when I realised just how easy it was to put a piece of corned beef in the crockpot for a few hours and have sliced silverside for sandwiches for less than half the price of the deli silverside. Ditto with roast beef.
I buy a piece of beef or a largish chicken and roast it and then slice it with the electric knife once it's cold and use this for lunches, ditto with corned beef, especially if I can get it on sale.

You can smoke your own fish and chicken too and save a fortune on what you pay at the deli. It's another one of those things that is so easy I don't know why I haven't always been doing it.
You can make your own seasoned chicken loaf for about half the price/kg of the bought one and it's so much nicer and you know you've used real chicken in it. For ham lovers buy a leg or half leg and slice it yourself. Even taking into account the weight of the bone you are still paying about half the price of the pre-sliced or shaved stuff you can buy.
Make a brawn with your leftover meats and you can have it with salads or on sandwiches. It's another old fashioned meat but it's really easy to make. Trust me, homemade brawn is so much nicer than the stuff you buy from the deli, there really is no comparison.
The thing I've found with preparing these foods myself is that it doesn't take a long time and you don’t need to be a gourmet genius and it doesn't cost a fortune. I think that the last 40 years or so homemakers have been brainwashed into believing that cooking, baking and preserving are really hard and time consuming and require extra special skills and that it is easier and better for them to just buy what they need ready made. It's not.
If I can do it anyone can. I'll add the recipes and instructions to the Recipe File so you can try them out. I bet you'll be a convert too.
And as soon as I perfect homemade cocktail franks I'll let you know. That will be one less thing I will be buying from the deli and one more thing I can cross off my shopping list.

The week that was

I can't believe it's been over a week since I last posted. This week I've done two magazine interviews, one newspaper interview and two radio interviews! As well as tried to keep up with emails (I'm sorry if you're still waiting for a reply, I will get to you) and keeping the website working and keep my gorgeous family at least fed and with clean clothes.

If there is one thing I love doing it's talking abut the Cheapskates way of life. As a result of all the publicity the Cheapskates Club has lots and lots of new members (welcome everyone, I'll be in touch soon), proving our point: Australians are becoming more and more aware of the need to save money, time and energy to have a life and they are finding the benefits of living the Cheapskates way really does pay off. I'll shout it from the rooftops (or talk to more journalists) as long as the message gets out: you can be debt free, cashed up and laughing if you live the Cheapskates way!

Last week was quite busy and if I'd only stuck to the plan on Friday I would still have my beautiful Bendigo Pottery teapot! I reached into the cupboard Friday night to get the food cover out and because I was in a hurry I just gave it a gentle tug. Ok, well it wasn't quite a gently tug, I was in a hurry, and as it came tumbling out of the cupboard it pulled my beautiful teapot with it. Smashing, spout end down, onto the floor. I just stood there and stared at it. Wayne has it on his desk hopefully to glue it back together again. At least it will look nice with flowers in it, even if I can't use it.

If only I had stuck to the menu plan then I wouldn't have been in a hurry to grab the food cover and it would never have pulled the teapot out of the cupboard. I changed the menu plan because I just couldn't be bothered making fritters, peeling vegetables and then making a gravy. I wouldn't have been in a hurry if I had started to prepare dinner as soon as I changed the menu, instead of 20 minutes after dinner should have been on the table. The burgers were nice but I'm not sure they were worth my beautiful teapot.

Remember last week I told you about the laundry disaster? Well that leak under the laundry sink spread further than I originally thought.

I had two boxes of Duo under the sink, at the back under a roll of plastic bags. They were there for emergencies or when I was just to frazzled to whiz up some more detergent. Unfortunately they were soaked by the leak. I can tell you now that I was so annoyed with myself for putting them under there instead of in the store cupboard that I could have jumped with frustration. Just the thought of having to put two kilos of bought detergent in the rubbish bin was enough to annoy me, so much so that I left them sitting outside on the verandah.

There those two boxes have sat for a week. We've had some really hot weather this week and the soap powder had dried to a solid lump so when I walked past it again this morning I had a brainwave and decided I'd just whiz it in the food processor and make soap powder again. Unfortunately the stuff had set harder than cement and not even dropping it on the floor broke it up enough to whiz. BUT the solid block was perfect for grating, on the finest side of the grater. The result: 10 minutes grating and 2 kilos of washing powder and $3.58 saved (I bought it on sale for $1.79/kg) and one happy Cheapskate.

On a much cheerier note the cool change arrived about noon Friday. We even had a few minutes of rain to damp down the dust and freshen up the grass. I raced around opening the curtains and blinds and winding windows out to let the breeze through. The weekend has been lovely and cool so it was a goo opportunity to catch up with some household chores I'd let slip during the heatwave. Now everything is spic and span again, the house looks lovely and that has really put a smile on my face.

Let's hope this week isn't quite as hectic.

Well that cool change was short lived….

The cool change I've been waiting for since Thursday hasn't arrived. I must be getting old because I really don't like this hot weather at all. I like cold days, where I can take a jumper off if I get too hot. I could apply that same thinking in reverse to manage hot weather but I'm not sure the neighbours could cope with me going topless in the heat.

Keeping the house cool enough to stay in has been a trial. Thank goodness we only have two north facing and two west facing windows, it really helps to keep the heat out. I've been getting up early every morning and closing the doors and windows and pulling the blinds and drapes shut to keep the sun out. The ceiling fans have been turned on early too to keep the cooler air circulating. Another thing that has helped has been closing the doors to rooms we aren't using. So bedroom, bathroom and laundry doors have been closed during the day and it's made a big difference to the temperature in the house. At night I've opened up all the windows and doors and kept the fans on until we've gone to bed and the house has cooled down beautifully, enough for us all to sleep.

There has been a musty odour in the laundry for a couple of days. At first I put it down to the pile of beach towels that never seemed to shrink so I put Hannah in charge of getting them all washed and onto the line. Still the odour lingered. I cleaned the inside of the washing machine with washing soda and vinegar. I wiped over the outside of the washing machine with white vinegar. I checked the freezer was still working (one of my greatest fears is that the freezer will die) and wiped it over too. I washed the floor with water and some eucalyptus oil. I could still smell that musty odour and it was really annoying me. This morning I bent down to get the container of washing powder out from under the trough and I found the cause of the musty smell.

Apparently the join from the washing machine hose to the drain wasn't quite water tight anymore. All the cleaning rags were damp and mildewy (yuk) and the cartons of laundry soap were a soggy mess. Luckily the ice cream container was away from the direct drip or I would be making washing gloop right now.

Thank goodness it was easily fixed. Wayne took his tool box and worked his magic with it. Well not really magic, he tightened the screw around the bracket that was holding it into the drain pipe and then wrapped it with waterproof plumbing tape. Problem solved and odour gone (I put the cleaning rags through a wash cycle with some vinegar and bi-carb).

The back to school frenzy has started, with flyers being dropped in the letterbox a couple of times a week. We've gone over the stationery lists and the flyers and there were only two things we needed to buy.

The first was a set of watercolour pencils. At Officeworks a set of 24 costs $19.95. Campion Books (an educational book shop) sells packs of 24 for $11.95. Our local $2 shop sells a pack of 36 for $6.00 so that's where we bought them, saving at least $5.95.

The other thing we need to buy is a scientific calculator. Again, Officeworks was the most expensive at $19.95. Kmart had a cheaper one at $16.95. Aldi has scientific calculators for $7 starting this coming Thursday so we'll get one of those and save $9.95. We'll spend some time this week re-vamping pencil cases, rulers and folders that we have and everyone will be set for the start of the school year. And I won't be battling the shops the week before school starts either.

There are some really cute school book labels available online. Hannah has been busy printing them out and using her new watercolour pencils to personalize them. She's also made some new labels for her pens and pencils too.

Today's Savings
I haven't been out in the car since Friday, so no petrol used for two days. In fact I haven't filled the car up since 11th December. I didn't believe it had been that long, I had to check the receipts to be sure. That's almost 4 weeks and I still have half a tank! That's $320 still in the fuel budget, just from walking to the shops and planning our trips. That's amazing.

I'm part of the January Grocery Challenge (it's in the Forum) and thoroughly enjoying it. This week so far I've only spent $16.65 of the grocery money, so a savings of $128.35 for the grocery budget.

We ran out of the orange cordial I made on Tuesday, it's been so hot. This morning I made some Magic Cordial instead of putting it on the shopping list. Saving of $1.69 on not buying cordial and using what we have at hand. And it's better for the kids too.

I found some carrots hiding in the back of the fridge so I washed them and cut them into straws and put them in the freezer. Have you noticed that carrots have been quite expensive lately?

Added 3 tsp gelatine and an extra 500ml water to the jelly to make 1 litre from 1 pack. Only saves about 30c but the jelly isn't as sweet and everyone can have a reasonable serve for dessert.

Took the shirts off the line as soon as they were dry and put them away immediately. No creases in them so no need to iron. Saving on electricity and my legs.

It's amazing how little things can save so much and without any extra effort involved.

It's taken a few days but I've come up with a New Years resolution

I am inclined to find New Years resolutions a waste of time. Most resolutions made are worthless, they are simply empty words either spoken or scribbled down and then promptly forgotten so I don't "make" them.

I would rather make goals. The potential is so exciting.

Something I'd like to do this year is actually write down the Cheapskate ways I do things. For instance using things on hand rather than rushing out and buying more stuff, getting three meals from one chicken by using up every part, saving water by catching it in a bucket and using it in the washing machine and then re-cycling it onto the grass are all Cheapskate ways to live.

I can't guarantee that I'll post every day, I get busy with the website and of course my family. But at least once a week I'll post my Cheapskates ways and the calculated savings.

Maybe by the end of the year I will have saved $5,000 just by living the Cheapskates way.

Today's savings:

Not enough of any washing to do a full load. Will wait until tomorrow – saving electricity, water and detergent. Saving possibly $1.20

Needed cream for the pav. Stretched the half bottle I had by whipping with gelatine to increase the volume. Worked a treat and a side benefit – the whipped cream didn't fall. Saving $0.99 (the cost of a bottle of cream).

No chips or crackers for the dip. The oven was already on so cut the crusts off bread slices, cut each slice into four, sprayed with olive oil, sprinkled with herbs and baked them until they were dry and crisp. They were delicious; I'll do this again. Saving $1.69 by not buying a packet of chips.

Had lunch at Mums. Saving $4 here.

Brought the leftover salad, lamb and corned beef home. Used them for dinner. Saving $5.

Total savings today $12.88

Make a promise to yourself......

.....that no matter what, if you have chosen to live the Cheapskates way, you will no matter who says what to you.
Often in our journey through frugality our lifestyle, our sense of pride, responsibility and even our ethics are questioned by people who don't understand the choice we have made. The Cheapskates way of life isn't the lazy choice by any means. Nor is it hard.
Cheapskates have made a conscious choice to focus their money, time and energy on the things that are important to them, not the things that the Jones' think are important.
For some of us paying off a mortgage in double quick time is the top priority, for others it could be having the money to buy a new car every two years or take the family on an overseas trip every Christmas. The difference is that Cheapskates are prepared to forgo things that aren't essential or important to them (pizza on Friday nights, cappuccino every day, designer clothes on a whim, magazines, movies etc ) so they can enjoy the things that are.
We don't feel deprived at all. If we want pizza we can make it (try my fanstastic pizza dough) or buy frozen on special and add our own gourmet touches and still be saving money. Looking good is easy, clothes don't have to cost a fortune. Shopping wisely keeps us well-dressed and within our budget and it doesn't take any longer that traipsing through the shopping centres looking for full-priced clothes.
Whatever your reason for living the Cheapskates way be proud of the choices you have made and stay focused on your goal. In the end you will be the one who's debt free, cashed up and laughing!

First Grocery Challenge for 2008

We've started the first Cheapskates Club grocery challenge for 2008 today and I've posted the list of challengers in the Forum. It's not to late to join in, it's never too late to join a Cheapskates Club challenge. You can sign up here to start 2008 off with a savings bonanza, we'd love to have you.

I actually started yesterday. We needed milk and cheese (can't live without our cheese in this house) so off I went to Aldi and spend a grand total of $16.65 for milk, cheese and a lettuce. I'm hoping this will be the last of the grocery spending until next Monday.

If I can stay away from the supermarket, butcher, green grocer and of course my favourite market then will have $63.65 left from this week's grocery money. Maybe if I'm careful I can find school shoes for under $63.65 for one of the kids and then I won't need to spend the money in the school budget on shoes which means that I can add it to the school camp fund and have head start. This is a big year for school camps for us, all three kids have camps this year and they are not cheap!

Well that's a plan - not quite the original but I think it's a better one. Now I really want to not buy any more food this week. Nothing like a good incentive for motivation is there?

I posted in the Grocery Challenge Forum about the huge bag of oranges I had in the freezer. I took them out after breakfast and would you believe the boys have eaten two each frozen. If I had given them frozen oranges and told them to eat them they'd have looked at me like I was nuts. Teenagers!

Anyway the cordial is made and in the fridge and I've saved the pulp and skins to make some muffins and an orange cake this afternoon after it cools down. I've put a huge bowl of orange jelly in the fridge so we'll have a nice cool dessert tonight. I know it won't last long, jelly is Thomas' favourite food. He'd live on it if I'd let him :)

I'd best get off this computer, the family awaits. We're off to the beach for a picnic, meeting my brother and his family and looking forward to a fun day. Lucky this is a grocery challenge and not a petrol one!

Welcome

I have a brand new blog and I am so excited. I love to be able to share my thoughts and blogging is the perfect way for me to get them out really quickly. My new blog ties in so well with the Cheapskates website and for a complete technological nincompoop like me it is a dream to use too. I can add the posts whenever I feel like it. Can you hear Julie cheering? She is our ever so patient tech guru and now she has one less job to do.

I expect that I'll be blogging about anything and everything to do with living the Cheapskates way. If it will save you (or me) money, time or energy I'll be blogging about it. If it helps you to be debt free, cashed up and laughing I'll be blogging about it.

On this blog you can leave comments too, so I'll be able to hear what you have to say. While this is a blog and not a chat group, you may find that I'll be commenting on your comments from time to time so if you add me to your Favourites list you can check back easily to see the latest entries.

And welcome again to my blog.

Blog Action Day

Today is the day when bloggers around the world (and the web) unite to focus on just one very important and relevant issue: the environment.

When it comes to the environment I try to do my bit. I recycle, have a compost heap and a worm farm, use companion planting rather than pesticides in the garden, walk or cycle whenever possible, we have switched all our light globes over and I've finally nagged the children enough that they know to turn lights off when they leave a room and to turn all appliances (except the fridge and freezer - go on, ask me how I know this) off at the wall rather than using the remote.

But I am sure that there is a lot more that I and my family could be doing. Nothing groundbreaking, but simple, everyday things that can become habit. I know that the "green" habits I have developed have and will continue to save us money, just the thing for a Cheapskate.

Using environmentally friendly cleaners used to sound expensive and hard work (to me anyway). Guess what? I use environmentally friendly cleaners and the work is no harder than it was with the smelly, dangerous chemical cleaners. You know the ones with the "pine forest fresh" scents and the "no scrub" action.

Commercially made, chemical-based household cleaners can eat up a large chunk of your household budget. There are cleaners for windows, mirrors, bench tops, cupboard doors, walls, sinks, enamel cook tops, ceramic cook tops, ovens, stainless steel appliances, wooden floors, vinyl floors, ceramic tiles, carpet, bathrooms, toilets, kitchens and laundries. You could almost fill a small supermarket with just cleaning items.

These days I use bi-carb, white vinegar, washing soda and pure soap to clean everything in our home, from the kitchen sink to the floors, bathroom and windows. I even use these ingredients to make my own washing powder to clean our clothes. Instead of spending $1,000 a year on cleaners, I spend around $60 and I'm not adding to landfill, or water pollution and I'm saving plenty of money.

Instead of spending your hard-earned dollars on these things, just a few simple, safe and cheap everyday items will clean your whole house.

The environmentally friendly and cheap ingredients I use are:

Bicarbonate soda a gentle, moderately alkaline, non-toxic abrasive which cuts through grease and oil because it reacts with the fatty acids to form a mild detergent. Use it to clean, deodorize and buffer (you can even clean your teeth with it).

Lemon juice is a natural bleach which can be used for stain removal, deodorizing and mould inhibiting. And lemons are free if you have a lemon tree or if you know someone who does!

Salt is a natural and gentle abrasive and disinfectant, that's useful for clearing drains and scouring utensils. It is very cheap and readily available.

White vinegar is a moderately strong acid that can remove bathroom scum and hard water deposits as well as discolouration from metals such as aluminium, brass, bronze and copper. It can also remove rust stains on iron. White vinegar will clean moss off bricks and concrete, just remember they are porous and it is an acid. Rinse well with water after cleaning.

Eucalyptus oil removes stains on carpet. Simply put eucalyptus oil in a spray atomizer, spray generously on the stain, and wipe with a clean absorbent cloth. It is also very useful for getting sticky stuff off almost anything.

I use these ingredients to make up these cleaning products for use in our home:

Window and Mirror Cleaner
1 part vinegar, 3 parts water

Put vinegar in a spray bottle and fill to top with water. Spray on surface. Rub with an old cloth nappy, lint-free rag, or sheets of newspaper. For outdoor windows use a sponge and wash with warm water mixed with a few drops of liquid soap. Rinse well and squeegee dry.

Vinyl Floor Cleaner
½ cup vinegar, bucket of warm water

Mop with a mixture of ½ cup vinegar in a bucket of warm water. The vinegar odour will go away shortly after the floor dries.

Copper Cleaner
1 tablespoon vinegar, 1 tablespoon salt, water, vegetable
oil (optional)

Mix vinegar and salt (a tablespoon of each) and apply to surface with a rag. Rinse thoroughly with water to prevent corrosion. Apply a little vegetable oil with a cloth and rub for a shiny appearance. Do not use this cleaner on lacquered finishes.

Drain Cleaner
½ cup bicarbonate soda, ½ cup vinegar, boiling water

This recipe will free minor clogs and help prevent future clogs. Pour bicarbonate soda down the drain first, then the vinegar. Let it fizz for a few minutes. Pour a teakettle full of boiling water down the drain to clear it. Repeat if needed. If the clog is stubborn, use a plunger.

Washing Powder
This has to be the cheapest and best value laundry detergent around.

Ingredients:
1 bar soap, grated
1 cup washing soda (Lectric Soda)
1/2 cup borax

Mix together and store in a sealed container. Use 3 scant teaspoons per load for a top-loader and 1 scant teaspoon per load for a front loader. You can use up the small slivers of toilet soap you collect if you like, ordinary bath soap or laundry soap. This recipe is ideal for using up all the leftovers you collect in the family bathroom. This detergent won’t produce masses of suds, but it will get your clothes clean.

Optional:
Give the washing powder an extra boost if you wash really dirty or greasy clothes by adding one small box of bi-carb soda to the mix.

All Purpose Cleaner

Combine in a clean spray bottle:
Two teaspoons of borax,
Two teaspoons baking soda,
1 quart water

Spray on, wait a few seconds and then wipe off with a damp cloth.

So Long, Farewell

At 7.30am yesterday morning I said goodbye to my best friends and their two gorgeous babies as they walked into the Customs hall at Melbourne Airport to fly out to live in America. I am going to miss them like crazy. Even if we didn't see each other every week we still talked almost every day about everything going on in our lives. The last words I heard were "We'll be on Skype in about 24 hours" and they cheered me up no end. We have used Skype to chat for ages and it is just brilliant and free so I'm looking forward to chatting to them as they settle in their new home. Just have to remember the time difference (and I hope they do too, I'm not the most lucid in the middle of the night!). One good thing about the rise in the Aussie dollar is that visiting them won't be quite so expensive (I hope). The Internet will be very handy when it comes to researching cheap airfares, accommodation and car hire and I already have the specials page at www.disneyworld.com bookmarked :)

It was another early start this morning too, 5.45am, to get Hannah up and ready for her school trip to Canberra. Thank goodness I organized breakfast and her lunch last night. We were told that there would be no eating on the bus (fair enough too) and only one stop before lunch so I wanted her to have a really decent breakfast because of the early start and the long wait until she could eat. Crockpot porridge, and pancakes with peaches and yoghurt should have filled her up. Freshly squeezed orange juice (I used the left-overs in an orange cake)finished off her huge breakfast. Actually the boys had exactly the same as they had to get up at the same time. There was no way I was going to make two trips to school this morning, so the boys had to come with me at 6.30. There's a Golden Arches close by so we sat there reading the paper until it was time for them to walk to school.

I'm planning on getting her room spring cleaned this week. It will be so much easier without Miss Hannah putting things back as fast as I put them in the op shop pile. She has a favourite shirt, miles too small for her, that must be part boomerang. I put it out at least twice a year and next time I open the drawer it's back! Anyway the op shop pile will be huge this time, she's had a growth spurt that seems to have lasted for 3 months and nothing fits anymore. Thank goodness for friends with daughters a year or so older and their spendthrift ways. Hand me downs are fine and it's a bonus if they are recognized brand names and labels according to my fashion conscious almost a teenage daughter. Good thing I say.

The mending pile didn't go away while I was away unfortunately so I still have pants to hem, buttons to replace and even a necktie to re-stitch. It seems the only fairies that visited during our holiday were the dust ones. Did you know that you can remove a hem mark with white vinegar? The tip is in the Tip Store. Another great idea is nail polish to keep buttons on - this is one I will definitely be using when I tackle the mending tonight.

Fish & Chips

I've been slack about blogging the last few days. I seem to be well and truly in holiday mode at the moment and thoroughly enjoying it. It's hard to believe that we've been away a week already and have hardly put a dent in the holiday budget! There are so many fun things to do in Sydney that don't cost an arm and a leg. Our biggest expenses so far have been petrol (duh, it's school holidays here now and it's reflected in the price of petrol) and the motel in Cowra (and we found that on wotif.com.au and saved a bundle too).

I don't care what the oil companies say, petrol prices go up for the weekend and then up again for any holidays and school holidays are no exception. I am so glad I have been saving the fuel dockets - even an extra $2.80 in my pocket is something. Shopping at Aldi and the markets fuel dockets are hard to come by but Wayne's mum shops at BiLo (I miss BiLo) and Coles every week and she has very generously passed a half dozen on to us. Wayne still checks out the price at each service station and buys it where it's cheapest. Even on holidays he's a Cheapskater.

Today was glorious, sunny and hot, really hot! Our excursion today was up to Brooklyn, on the Hawkesbury for fish and chips - yummy. Because it was going to be so hot we packed extra bottles of water and took a second cooler bag with us and we were all grateful by mid-afternoon. My legs are a little sore from all the walking we did. Hannah, Mum and I followed the path around the water's edge for an hour or so and then back again while the boys went off to take photos and look for some trains.

They were waiting on a particular freight train to come through, apparently Wayne doesn't have a photo of the loco in his collection and it's one he needs to complete it. Another 67 photos taken today, thank goodness for digital cameras and only printing what you want. I shudder to think how much it would cost us in film processing. We buy the most amazing photo paper from a $2 Shop at Kmart Plaza in East Burwood and it's only - you guessed it - $2 a pack of 24 A4 sheets. After spending up to $30 a packet while we were working out which paper was the best I can tell you that the $2 is brilliant and we have even converted a couple of avid photographers over to it.

We had our fish and chips for lunch and boy were they nice. The fish was expensive but the chips were reasonable - a huge box for $5.80 and the 7 of us had some with plenty leftover. I'd buttered a loaf of bread and packed tomato sauce and tartare sauce (homemade of course) and some fruit so we had a feast under the palms until the wind came up and made it unpleasant. We took the old Pacific Highway home and stopped at Pie in the Sky for pies for dinner. They were delicious and I picked up some ideas for different pies to try in the pie maker. I'm pretty sure I could make 4 pies for the price of 1 from this very busy pie shop but we're on holidays and treats are part of the fun and what holiday budgets are for.

On the road again…..

Wow it gets daylight so early in Cowra! We had the sun peeping through the curtains at 5.30am! Wayne was up and off before 6am with camera at the ready to take photos of the station and the view across the valley. With the sun on the frosty fields the pictures are stunning.

An hour later he was back and we were all waiting for breakfast before we hit the road. The boys could hardly wait to get to Bathurst – Mt. Panorama here we come! The Mt. Panorama circuit is much more interesting in person. Television really doesn't do the hills and curves any justice.

As we drove around the track we had a running commentary from Wayne. “We camped up there in 1987”, “this is the bend that Dick Johnson missed. He went straight over the edge”, “these concrete barriers haven't always been here, loads of cars would drive off the road” and so on all the way around.

I feel sorry for the residents. For most of the year they have peace and incredible views but I'm not sure that they are worth the three weeks of mayhem, madness and incredible noise that is Bathurst.

Next stop Lithgow with all its history. More photos of bridges and a visit to the rail museum. The highlight of our visit to Lithgow was finding some old diesel locos hidden away in a paddock on the Bells Line of Road. Allan and Wayne were in heaven!

We had lunch at Clarence at the Zig Zag Railway (of course!), picnicking in the sun. No steam trains running today, the train was being pulled by a rail motor. Pity, I love steam trains. We were talking a few days ago about how in the not to distant future young people and children won't know what a full size steam train is. They'll be able to see scaled down models (there are plenty around, Diamond Valley Railway, Wagga Wagga Society of Model Engineers etc) and ride on the back of them, but they won't see the majesty and feel the power of those huge steam locomotives.

From Clarence we went back across to Mt. Victoria and on to Katoomba. Echo Point is the place to see the Three Sisters. It was chockers with tourists and we were more than happy to blend in with the camera carrying crowds, lining up to take pictures of everyone with the main attraction in the background. Parking there is the killer - $3.50 an hour! We made sure we only stayed the hour, doing the short walk and avoiding the information centre and gift shop all together. Looking out off the point it was easy to see why the mountains were given their name. They really did look blue through the haze. I'm just not sure if it was from the eucalypts or if it was pollution! I'm hoping it was the eucaplypts.

Wayne gave the kids another history lesson as we made our way down the mountain. Wentworth Falls, Lawson, Blaxland and Springwood, the first settlement in the mountains. I'm not sure if it's because we're living in Victoria or not, but they didn't really know much about the history of the mountains and their exploration at all. Thomas is a bit of a history buff and he lapped it up, loving that Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson defied the thinking of the day and followed the ridges rather than the valleys and succeeded where others had failed.

It was a very easy day travelling wise, with lots of stops and plenty of sightseeing but I was very happy to reach Sydney and be able to sit down in a comfy chair with a cuppa. Tomorrow will be here soon enough.

On the road

It's 5am and the alarm has gone off – ALREADY! It feels like I've just gone to bed. Wayne has jumped up and into the shower and the kids have all thrown themselves out of bed (I know because I heard the thumps as they hit the floor). Why can't they get up this quickly on a school day?

We are off on our holiday this morning. Up the Hume Highway, stopping at Glenrowan (this is a tradition, we stop here and have our breakfast), then onto Albury, Wagga Wagga, Junee, Young and overnight in Cowra.

We had a small break with tradition and decided to stop at the Golden Arches for breakfast. Hmm… It was a nice treat for the kids but I think we all prefer our own picnic breakfast. The queues were long and we had to wait for half our order,while the other half went cold. Not to worry, we were all making jokes about it and it was a good break and a chance to stretch those legs.

I haven't been along the Hume since the Albury bypass opened – what a joy to not have to stop and start at all those traffic lights. The only thing I'm going to miss is the stop at the park to watch the paddle steamer. Turning off at Gerogery, we followed the Olympic Highway (I'm old enough to remember when it was the Olympic Way) through to Wagga. We giggled over the sign stating 107kms to Wagga – we didn't know it had moved!

Of course all along this particular route we had followed the train line much to Wayne and Allan's delight. Every now and then we stopped so they could jump out and take a photo. Thank goodness for digital cameras, between them they took 143 photos! Lunch in Cootamundra, at the station of course, while they waited for the down-line XPT. The train was running 40 minutes late so we had a very lazy picnic in the sun and the wind. It was blowing such a gale the picnic basket blew over and milk and coffee went everywhere! Fortunately we keep a couple of old towels in the boot of the car, they came in very handy to mop up the mess.

A petrol stop made me very glad that we live in suburbia these days. At 135.9c per litre my heart bleeds for country motorists, especially when they have no choice but to travel such long distances. We continued on our journey, through Young, the cherry capital of New South Wales, and I thoroughly enjoyed the hill sides covered in cherry blossom. It was so pretty and a sure sign of spring time. And yes, we did get some photos.

Finally, much to Hannah's relief we arrived in Cowra. What a lovely town and there is so much for visitors to do. The Steam Museum kept the boys happy for an hour, and the Japanese gardens are amazing and well worth the visit but we had the most fun at the Fun Museum. This museum incorporates Railway, War and local memorabilia and it is so interesting. We were given a sheet with 32 things to find around the museum and it was the best thing for keeping the kids interested in the displays. They had to find things like an Irish teaspoon, a Kangaroo butter churn, a model of a steam train made from charcoal as well as other things and they had to search the information on the exhibits to get the answers. Even I had fun on this treasure hunt and it was educational to boot!

We can also recommend a visit to the Country Music Museum (you should have seen the looks on the kids' faces when I told them we were going there!). Even if you're not a country music fan (we're not particularly) it is interesting and quite interactive too.

Tthe Alabaster motel, the only one we could find with a family room that actually slept 5. was our overnight accommodation. I wonder who decided that families were limited to 4 members? It was lovely, spotlessly clean and the cheapest we could find too. It was booked it before we left on wotif.com.au and saved $34 off the rack rate. made me very happy and it was so easy.

We all fell into bed exhausted at 9 o'clock. Day one of our holiday was great!

Back to winter

It is absolutely freezing here this afternoon. Gusty winds, showers (yay!) and dark, brooding skies all encouraged me to bring in some wood and light the fire. It's so cold I've made some hot chocolate mix ready for when the kids get home from school. Hannah has swimming this afternoon so she will be cold and damp and looking for something to warm her up. A hot chocolate and then into the shower will do wonders for her. Luckily this is a bulk mix because my boys love hot chocolate and they'll have two each. Thank goodness it's cheap and easy to make. Hannah has a camp next weekend too so I've bagged some up for her to take with her. I'll make some marshamallows for her to take too. Funnily enough these are cheap and easy to make as well.

I love living the Cheapskates way. There are so many things that are easy to make at home, from scratch that are much, much cheaper than buying them. This week I've made pizzas, bread, steak and mushroom and apple pies, yoghurt, seasoned wedges, double choc chip muffins and shortbread. Goodness when I see that list I feel exhausted but it was really easy to do and didn't take long. With two children that have allergies and food intolerances reading food labels is a priority in our home. I love that by spending time cooking instead of shopping I know exactly what my family are eating.

Sunday we will be celebrating Thomas' birthday with the family and I'm hoping for a nice warm day because I've planned a bbq. When I did the shopping last month I made up a bbq pack and put it at the back of the freezer just for the party. There's a reason I planned a bbq :) Somehow cooking it all inside just won't be the same, especially as it will be me doing the cooking and not Wayne!

Not so budget friendly bikkies

Our school Home and School committee does a lot of fundraising throughout the year so that the kids have great playground equipment, extra tools in the classroom, fantastic excursions and incursions and incredible Interest Group activities and I love to support them in their endeavours, I really do.

When Hannah brought home her newsletter folder and neatly tucked inside it was an order form for the latest fundraiser – biscuit dough in a bucket, ready to use or freeze, I was happy to have a look at it, all ready to tick some boxes and buy some to support the Home and School. Ho hum!
The selection sounds lovely: Golden Light, Chocolate Chunk, Oatmeal Raisin, Ginger, White Chunk Macadamia and ANZACs. For $13 ($14 if I order ANZACs) I'll get enough cookie dough to make 50 – yes 50 – biscuits!

Ok, maybe I really am a mean Cheapskate but even for a good cause I cannot see the value in paying $13 or $14 for 50 biscuits, especially when the Member's Centre has recipes for the same biscuits and for a lot less than $13 (Lunchbox cookies run about 100 cookies for under $5).

I'm still trying to figure out how to tell them diplomatically that this isn't a fundraiser, it's highway robbery with a bikkie sweetener at the end and I prefer to make my own thank you very much.

Billycarts and blisters

We spent yesterday at the annual Weetbix Billycart Grandprix. The kids each enter a school team and they have an absolute ball. I'm sure it's the best $9 we spend all year. To see hundreds and hundreds of kids (of all ages, including some who should probably know better) having fun the old-fashioned way is fantastic.

These are real billycarts. No motors to make pushing easy. This is real, physical work and those little legs must really ache the next day. And don't think the driver gets off easy, they don't. In fact I think the driver has the most dangerous job – some of the stacks around the course yesterday were quite spectacular.

The weather was fabulous, sunny and warm and the crowd was so well behaved. We ate our picnic (homemade rolls, cream cheese spread, crisp lettuce and slice smoked chicken – yum) and drank our thermos of coffee while everyone else lined up to pay $2.50 for a bucket of chips or $5 for a small plate of pancakes! With some nice fresh ginger kisses for dessert we were sitting pretty, up in the grandstand right opposite the start/finish line.

Hannah's team came second in the Leader Dash for the grade 5/6 age group so they were very excited. They didn't fare quite so well in the actual race, a huge crash put them second last but they still had fun and after all that was the point of the day. Every one of them was at school today, tired and sore and blistered though they were.

It was a great day, cost hardly anything and we all had so much fun. I can hardly wait til next year.

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Spring is early

Today I feel like spring has come early it's so sunny and bright. Sunshine is such a mood lifter isn't it? I get so energised on sunny days and today is no exception.

So far I've whipped through our usual morning routine, dusted and tidied through (amazing how sunshine shows up dust on furniture), tidied the linen cupboard (this was a job I've been putting off for ages), hung out three loads of washing (yay – sheets and towels all out in the sun) and put some muffins in the oven for snacks and lunchbox treats.

We had a frost this morning and the backyard looked stunning with the fence and grass all silvery and shimmering in the sunlight. Aren't we blessed that we can admire the beauty nature provides us free? Can you imagine how much that picture through the kitchen window would have cost me this morning if someone could figure out a way to charge for it?

This last lot of wintry weather encouraged the boys to ask for warmies for watching TV and doing homework so this afternoon I'll be cutting and tying fringes around two new fleece blankets. I'll post a picture of the finished warmies later on.

Anne Ferrier emailed about the apple slinkies, with a question about the gadget. I'll post a picture of this too so you can see what it looks like. We are still going through apples at a great rate of knots, the novelty hasn't worn off. I even caught Wayne making one last night!

Julie and I have been busy working on new features for the Member's Centre including the Article Archive and the Recipe File. I can't wait to get them finished, especially the recipe file and I know you'll love them.

If you have any suggestions for the website please let us know. We've created a Suggestion Box and I can't wait to see what you come up with. You'll find it in the Menu (on the left hand side of this page) so please, whenever you think of something, add a suggestion and we'll see what we can do.

Frugal Friday

Friday is usually my day out with Mum. I really look forward to it (actually I really look forward to morning tea). Today I am at home. Thomas is sick, not really, really sick, just sick. You know when your kids are too quiet, too still and just don't look right? Well that's Thomas at the moment. I'm keeping an eye on him just in case he is coming down with the flu, especially as it's particularly nasty this year.

With a sick boy I wasn't too keen on going out and leaving him at home so I have spend the day here. It has been rather nice. Two loads of washing done, out and dried (thank goodness for such strong winds), floors swept, mopped and vacuumed, lounge has been dusted and the bathrooms have been cleaned. A sparkly clean house is such a nice way to start a weekend.

Hannah asked for potato pie for dinner tonight, so it's been made and is ready to pop in the oven. The ratatouille is simmering on the stove and I have even put a loaf of bread on. Fresh baked bread is so nice with this dinner and really easy with the bread maker.

I found some “senior” veggies in the crispers so they are in the crockpot with some stock from the freezer and a tin of tomatoes and we will have soup for lunch tomorrow. I may even get another loaf of bread made.

Instead of going out just for milk I made some powdered milk up and added it to the half a bottle of fresh in the fridge. That will see us through until Monday if I use powdered milk for cooking.

Because the kids have been eating apples this week there were a few oranges left in the bowl, starting to look a little sad. They were perfect to use in an orange cake and this recipe is one of our favourites.

Orange Cake
1 Orange
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs 1
1/4 cups oil*
2 cups SR flour

Place the whole orange, sugar, eggs and oil in a food processor and blend well. Add sifted flour. Whizz until flour is mixed into orange mixture. Bake in a greased and lined loaf tin at 180 degrees for 45 min until cooked.

*Olive oil gives a very moist cake but can leave a “taste”. I like to use half vegetable oil, half olive oil. The result is a lovely moist cake without the taste of the olive oil.

It has been a very frugal Friday with no money spent today and only minimal petrol used (just to get AJ and Hannah to and from school). The house is clean and tidy and smells lovely with the soup cooking away and the aroma of fresh baked bread. It's Friday and we have the whole weekend ahead of us. I am feeling very contented.

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I forgot to get the groceries!

I have had a particularly busy couple of week, what with one thing and another but really HOW could I forget to do the grocery shopping? I do our big food stock up every fourth Friday without fail, much to the family's relief. This month I forgot that it had been four weeks since I'd stocked up.

I was so busy running in and out that I only half noticed that the pantry and freezer were getting low. I did notice that we were out of Weet-bix and had a chat with the boys about eating them as a snack and perhaps cutting back. My boys are so loving, they just agreed with me and promised to cut back on their “cereal” snacking. It honestly never occurred to me that we were out of breakfast cereal because I hadn't been to the shops.

If I hadn't done some banking and wondered why the house account had so much money in it I would probably still be living and wandering around in sweet oblivion . I panicked for a moment and wondered what bills hadn't been paid. Then I realised the date and as they say the light went on.

So the shopping has been done. Supplies were picked up at Aldi, the fruit market and the butcher and everything on the list was bought. Just the same as I would have if I had done it last week. I spent exactly what I had budgeted for four weeks of food and household and my secret plan is to stretch it to five weeks again! August has five Fridays this year so if I'm “forgetful” again then my grocery budget will be looking quite healthy.

As we are planning on taking the kids away for a couple of weeks during the September holidays this money will come in really handy for some extra treats. If I keep stretching the shopping by a week until the end of the year I will have saved enough money to buy the school books and new uniforms and I can then put the money that's been allocated in our budget for this purpose straight into savings.

Hmmm thinking… thinking…