Tip of the Day May 31, 2009

Budget Sandpit Sun Shade

Approximate $ Savings: $1,200

With an active toddler I built her a sandpit two years ago just off our back verandah. We then realised that every time she played in there she was getting an awful lot of exposure to the sun and her toys were getting trashed by the elements.

Rather than building a solid structure over the sandpit we invested a whole $30 in a standard gazebo that you can pick up at Reject Shop / Cheap as Chips et al. type outlets at anytime.

We have had the gazebo up continuously for two years now and it is only just starting to show some wear and tear. We secure the corners with very long tent pegs and bricks, and weigh the centre point of the gazebo down with a heavy weight off a chaff cutter. It has not taken off in the wind yet!

Once the kids are grown we will return this area to lawn or garden so we did not want a permanent structure. When the current gazebo wears out we will just buy another one for $30. Big saving and it looks remarkably good!


Contributed by Tracey, Tintinara

Tip of the Day May 30, 2009

Thimble in a Can

This is a quick and easy craft that even young children can help with. These little containers are a fun idea for a gift for the needleworker or sewer and because they are so quick and easy to make, and very inexpensive they make really good fete and stall stock too. Use up all those cute scraps of fabric and ribbon you have stashed and they will be even cheaper to make.

Materials needed:

• 1 x 35mm film canister (or a pill bottle about the same size)
• 1m narrow ribbon (or desired length)
• Fabric (10.5cmX 5cm or size of your container)
• Glue
• 1 thimble

Instructions:

1. Turn your film container upside down and centre the ribbon onto the bottom of the film container. Glue it onto the bottom and the sides only leaving the long ends hanging loose. Let glue dry.
2. Run a bead of glue along the long edge of the container and glue the edge of the fabric down.
3. Make sure the top edge of the fabric is lined up against the top edge of the film container. Continue to glue the rest of the fabric to the container and let dry.
4. Clip the edges of the bottom of the fabric about every 1cm up to the bottom edge of the film container.
5. Glue all these little pieces down towards the centre of the bottom of the film container.
6. Draw a circle on paper the size of the bottom of the container.
7. Pin the paper circle onto a little piece of fabric and cut it out.
8. Glue this to the bottom of the film container to cover all the little edges you glued down. Let thoroughly dry.
9. Knot the two loose ends of the ribbon together to make a necklace out of your creation.
10. Put the thimble into the container, replace the lid onto the top of the container, and there you have a "Thimble in a Can" to wear around your neck.

Tip of the Day May 29, 2009

Where does it all go?

Have you taken a family spending inventory lately? Grab your last bank statement and categorise every cent spent in the last 30 days.

You may be surprised at where your hard-earned money is going. If one category seems particularly bloated (grocery, entertainment, and miscellaneous are typical budget busters), spend an hour brainstorming with your family to find ways to trim the fat.

Set a specific goal (ie. resolve to drop $50 off of your grocery bill), create a concrete plan, and review your progress weekly. Plan a special treat as a celebration when you meet your goal.

Next month, plan another family budget challenge. One that we always enjoy (we play this little ‘game with our kids two or three times a year) is to find ways to cut 20% off our electricity bill. It s a real challenge in our house and the kids really begin to appreciate how much utilities such as electricity actually cost.

This is not only a great way to save money, but a fun way to teach children about planned spending.

Tip of the Day May 28, 2009

Take your time and decorate to your style

Let your decorating scheme evolve over time as you find treasures and deals that work. Not only will you spread out your spending over a longer period of time, your room won't look out of fashion next year. Use flexible decor. Find pieces you can decorate with that you can switch out or modify slightly with the seasons. Change florals, bows, pictures in frames, and candle colours. Reverse pillowcases, window treatments, quilts and throws. Search the classifieds and garage sales for bargains. There are a lot of people out there who redecorate every year or so and are happy to sell off decorator items at greatly reduced prices.

Tip of the Day May 27, 2009

Organize your expenses as you spend

Want to know how much you spend each month, so you can determine your monthly spending budget? As you spend, just record that expense. This can be called your Expense Summary. You can use a computer program for this purpose (do a Google search on "free personal budget software", or you can certainly do this with paper and pen and a small spiral notebook.

Tip of the Day May 26, 2009

No more tears

If you hate chopping onions store them in the freezer. When you need one next, just zap it in the microwave for 20-30 seconds (just long enough to make it soft enough to chop, but the onion is still cold). No more tears, guaranteed. Chopping onions will now be a pleasure.

Tip of the Day May 25, 2009

A Sewing Kit for Non-Sewers

Even if you aren't a great dressmaker, or mad keen on sewing, you will at sometime have to bite the bullet and actually do some mending. By keeping a basic but small sewing kit on hand, those emergency mending jobs can be done with a minimum of stress, time and cost.

This little sewing kit can be put together for under $10, and will fit into a small lunchbox (around 99 cents at discount shops). Keep it in the laundry, or the linen cupboard where it will be easy to get to in a hurry.

Basic Sewing Kit:

1 reel white thread
1 reel black thread
1 reel invisible thread (matches any colour)
1 packet of all-purpose needles, self-threading, or include a threader
4-hole white shirt buttons (usually come 5 to a card)
1 iron-on patch kit, lightweight
1 iron-on patch kit, heavyweight
1 pack of Velcro strips, white
1 pack of Velcro strips, black
Small pair scissors

Tip of the Day May 24, 2009

Grow Your Own Garlic

When you get cloves of garlic that are too small to use, plant them outside in your herb garden or into a pot. As they grow you can use the tops like garlic flavoured chives and when they are larger cut them off at the base and use them like spring onions (don't pull out) to flavour dishes and meals and as green garnish for scones and pizzas. The flavour is a lot lighter than the actual clove and if you don't pick the whole clove again they will keep growing all year around. If you leave them in for a few years they will multiply and when the tops have died off and before they start growing again, the whole clove can be picked...but I leave mine down unless I'm desperate because I've run out. You will always have garlic for salads or anything you need without any waste and no cost.

Contributed by Silvia

Tip of the Day May 23, 2009

Cheap Family Outings

We purchase a family memberships to our State museum. At just $70 per household it gives us free general entry to all the museums and unlimited discounted entry to special events. We also received reciprocal free entry to interstate and overseas museums. A trip to the museum is a great way to spend your Saturdays and Sundays when you have active children (or not, it's still fun) and it is a great activity for school holidays. Check your area museums. Household rates are not limited to one or two children but includes one or two adults and children at the same address, so this becomes a really cheap way for a large family to have a loads of fun and adventure!

Tip of the Day May 22, 2009

Budget Banana Shakes

Did you know that once frozen bananas can be whipped? Buy bananas when they are on sale, and either freeze them in the skin, or you can peel them and then freeze them. Use the frozen bananas to make a delicious extra creamy and thick, thick shake. Blend two frozen bananas, one small tub of yogurt and half a litre of low fat milk. They are delicious, and much thicker than the same ingredients without the bananas. All this with the added bonus of being healthy and low calorie.

Tip of the Day May 21, 2009

Bedsheets

To keep your linen press neat and tidy, always fold your sheets and pillowcases in sets. Then simply use one of the pillowcases as a cover for the sheet set. Next time you go to get sheets, the complete set is there, just ready for you to grab and put on the bed.

Tip of the Day May 31, 2009

Budget Sandpit Sun Shade

Approximate $ Savings: $1,200

With an active toddler I built her a sandpit two years ago just off our back verandah. We then realised that every time she played in there she was getting an awful lot of exposure to the sun and her toys were getting trashed by the elements.

Rather than building a solid structure over the sandpit we invested a whole $30 in a standard gazebo that you can pick up at Reject Shop / Cheap as Chips et al. type outlets at anytime.

We have had the gazebo up continuously for two years now and it is only just starting to show some wear and tear. We secure the corners with very long tent pegs and bricks, and weigh the centre point of the gazebo down with a heavy weight off a chaff cutter. It has not taken off in the wind yet!

Once the kids are grown we will return this area to lawn or garden so we did not want a permanent structure. Big saving and it looks remarkably good!

Contributed by Tracey, Tintinara

Tip of the Day May 20, 2009

Reducing the Paper Pile

Open your mail near a rubbish bin. Immediately toss all outer envelopes (or put them in the notepaper stack to re-use), un-needed bill inserts, junk mail (unopened, if you can bring yourself to do it) and magazine wrappers. Only carry away things that need to be dealt with or referenced. This will reduce the pile of papers you have to take care of by more than 50 percent!

Tip of the Day May 19, 2009

Buy sugar soap as a cleaning agent

Water it down in a spray bottle and you'll be surprises how far it goes, how quick it cleans and how less often you'll be forking out for cleaning agents. My squirt bottle sits on the bench in my kitchen, I have a grubby hubby, a feral 2 yr old and I have found over the last year by accident when I had run out of pine o clean it did the trick in half the time and cost half as much.
Contributed by Maresa Robbers

Tip of the Day May 18, 2009

Hang them out to dry

When hanging business shirts, t-shirts or tops out on clothes line to dry place the garment on a wire coat hanger (the type you get with your dry cleaning) so that you can easily bend handle so it does not fall off and hang on rotary type clothes line where there is a loop in pipe that runs out from centre top off the line (where the wire lines thread through). Tops dry better and it saves on ironing!

Tip of the Day May 17, 2009

Popcorn Paydirt

I just love fresh popcorn, especially the microwave kind. I have loads of visitors, including my husband's 8 brothers and sisters and their partners and children and my own 8 brothers and sisters and their kids. Between us we have 35 nephews and nieces who often visit us, completely ravenous as all kids are. We always keep popcorn on hand. The kids think we are giving them the expensive microwave kind but we are giving them our Cheapskate special. We just get a paper bag which we save from our shopping, although a new one is good too. We then spray it with a no name brand polyunsaturated oil in a tin on the inside of the bag. Place a handful of popcorn inside, give it a shake so the popcorn gets coated then seal the top with sticky tape. Lay it flat in your microwave for between 2 to 3 minutes or until the popping sound gets really slow. Presto! Hot popcorn that is healthy as well. We also buy McCormicks buttered popcorn flavouring in a jar and give it a quick shake. Heaps cheaper than wasting all that butter and salt. Flavours left over from two minute noodles that kids don't use are also great flavourings. Yum Yum!

Contributed by Jennifer

Tip of the Day May 16, 2009

Single Serves

When you live alone, cooking isn't always fun. Instead of indulging in takeaways or expensive '1 serve' portions at the supermarket, get together with friends, bulk cook and share. Each person should cook enough of a dish that will allow one serve for each person in the group. Package, label and freeze each serve then get together with your friends and swap. S friends means you get a different meal every night of the week with almost no effort and you can usually take advantage of supermarket bulk specials to cut the cost of ingredients.

Tip of the Day May 15, 2009

Magic colouring pages

If your kids like to do lots of colouring in or mazes and dot to dots, slide the sheet/activity book inside a clear plastic sleeve and give them some non-toxic white-board markers. The marker can be rubbed out with a cloth and used again and again.
Contributed by Sue

Tip of the Day May 14, 2009

The most popular birthday gift

When your children are invited to parties the best , cheapest and most popular present is a torch! You can get them for around $2, sometimes with batteries included, at $2 shops and hardware stores.

Tip of the Day May 13, 2009

Tidy up those cords and leads

What about all those cables and leads behind your TV. TV, DVD, Cable TV, Games Console, VCR. You could buy expensive cable ties that you have to cut off each time you have to move one of the components (repair etc) or you could simply secure the cables neatly with inexpensive pipe-cleaners. They are easily undone as well.