Shopping the Mark Downs for Mega Savings

Cheapskates Members know how to shop. They know how to find a bargain: the stores to frequent, the time to be there and which items to concentrate on.

These savvy shoppers are so tuned into getting a grocery bargain that they even know the time of day different items are marked down! And they make sure they are there to snap up the best deals.

My local IGA marks down produce on a Monday morning and a Thursday afternoon. Why? Because they get their fresh produce deliveries on Monday morning and Thursday afternoon and they need to clear out the older stock to make room for the new.  They mark down meat every day around lunchtime before they re-stock the cabinets for the late afternoon shopping frenzy. Dairy products are marked down every day as they re-stock the cabinet. Bread and cakes are marked down after 3.30pm every afternoon.

My local Coles supermarket marks down meat around 3pm on a Sunday afternoon. I know if I pop in then I might be able to pick up some great bargains.

If I want rock bottom prices on fruit and vegetables and visit my local green grocer after 4pm on a Sunday. As they are only open Wednesday through Sunday they need to clear out the perishable produce so it's marked down, often by 50% or more, making shopping on a Sunday afternoon well worth the effort.

There are some excellent grocery bargains to be had when you shop the mark-downs. The trick is knowing when your local supermarket marks down. You can't guarantee that you'll be able to get everything on your shopping list, and you must be prepared to make a few substitutes, but if you like a bargain and want to get your grocery bill even lower, shopping the mark downs will definitely help.

These are the guidelines I use to help mark-down bargain grocery shopping. When I stick to these rules I know I'll always get a good deal.

1. Know the regular price of the item.
2. Check to see if it’s on your shopping list. If it isn’t, is the item something you use regularly?
3. Will you be able to use it before the Use By date?
4. If not, do you have the capability to freeze it, store it, dehydrate it, bottle it?
5. Will you be able to use it within a reasonable period of time? There’s no point in storing 15 cans of furniture polish if you only polish your furniture once a year!

I do a big grocery shop once a month. But when I call in to top up the milk I try to time it to mark down time and always have a quick look to see if there's something on my list I can pick up earlier and save a little on.

Nurturing Seedlings

My passion is gardening and saving money where I can, for several years now I have been saving my own seed from home grown herbs, fruit, veggies and flowers. 

After forever running out of punnets and small pots to raise my seeds in I've very successfully been using the empty cardboard cylinder from toilet rolls and empty margarine containers. I punch small holes in the bottom of the margarine containers then place the cardboard cylinders on end into the container and fill each one with potting mix.

I find I can get 4 cylinders into the square and round containers and 5 into the oblong ones. I then pop a seed into each cylinder and top with a little more potting mix then water.

Once seeds have sprouted and grown big enough to handle I water the plant well so the cardboard is wet through without falling apart then plant the complete cylinder into the garden without disturbing the plant or its roots. The wet cardboard retains the moisture and slowly rots into the soil providing compost as it well.

An added benefit of the round margarine container is that a plastic soft drink bottle cut in half fits well over the top to provide a mini hot house.

I've had great success with this method with all types of seed from lettuce and tomato to parsley and pumpkin as well as many flower varieties. Not only does this save me money on pots and punnets but also helps the environment by recycling waste products.
Contributed by Glenys

Spring Clean Your Finances - Week 2

Now you've been faithfully tracking your spending for a week (you have, haven't you?) you'll have a better than fair idea of how your spending is going. This week it's time to take that information and use it to update your Spending Plan.

Spending Plans, or budgets for those who like the "B" word, are not set in cement. They are meant to be fluid, to change and adapt as your circumstances change. That won't happen without regular reviews. They don't need to take long, just a few minutes every couple of months, to make sure you're on track and living to your Spending Plan.

I do a quick (10 minutes max) review of our family Spending Plan each week, usually on a Sunday afternoon when it is quiet and I can concentrate. It makes sure I know I haven't over-spent any of our budget categories and I use the time to schedule bill payments and file any paper work that needs to be kept.

But once a month Wayne and I sit down together and go over our complete Spending Plan. Now this isn't always a cheery exercise. For starters Wayne is more than happy to leave the nerdy stuff like spreadsheets and so on to me. He also trusts me implicitly to ensure that our family finances are straight, something I don't take for granted and don't ever want to take advantage of. We are a team and as a team we need to both know our financial situation. So sometimes when the footy is on or there's a particularly exciting car race or he would rather be doing anything but crunching numbers he needs a little encouragement. But we do it together because we both need to know where things stand.

Here's our Spending Plan review routine. It works for us. You can follow our steps or arrange them to suit yourself.

1. Set a day and time. We use the first Sunday of the month. I time it for just after lunch if possible, when we are already sitting at the table, well-fed, happy and relaxed (and before any exciting sport event on TV). If you have small children you might need to find half an hour after they are in bed or having an afternoon nap. Just choose a day and time when you can sit down together without interruptions.

2. Hide. Get away from distractions.  We use the laptop so we can pull up any of our accounts and the dining room table because we won't be tempted or distracted by the television.

3. Come prepared. Before each meeting I make sure our Spending Plan is up to date and have the bill folder, with bills to be paid and any other things we need to discuss within reach. I bring the receipt envelope and Wayne brings his wallet with his receipts and mini-statements so we can check them against bank statements.

4. Go through your receipts and tracking notes. Use them to bring your Spending Plan up to date for the year. Are you on track in all your categories? Have you over-spent in some? If so, will the deficit be made up by the end of the year? Have you under-spent in some categories? Will they balance by the end of the year or will they be in surplus? If they are going to be in surplus can you adjust the amount down and put the excess into another category that needs a boost?

5. Keep it simple and fun. We do this once a month and it takes no more than half an hour. We could probably get through it all in around 15 minutes but we enjoy the time together. We usually have our coffee and dessert while we are going over the Spending Plan. It makes it more fun and less work, we get through the bookwork quickly and we both know exactly where we stand financially.

It doesn't matter whether you run your Spending Plan on a spreadsheet, in a computerised budgeting program or the old fashioned way in a ledger, as long as you keep the records up-to-date so you can see at a glance just how your budget is working.

Remember, it's not set in cement. It is meant to change and adapt to suit your financial situation. Regular reviews will ensure you are always right on budget.

Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala

Today is Tom's birthday and that means he gets to choose dinner (roast beef is on the meal plan but we can have that another night.) He chose Indian - Chicken Tikka Masal and garlic naan, one of his favourite meals.   The chicken is in the slow cooker, simmering away and it smells divine. The long, slow cooking really lets the flavours of the spices develop. It also means dinner time will be calm and easy with the main course already prepared.

Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala

Ingredients:
1 large onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp grated ginger
800ml tomato puree
1-1/2 cups natural yogurt
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp garam masala
1 tbsp ground cumin
1/2 tbsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves
6 chicken breast fillets, diced
1 cup cream
2 tsp cornflour
garnish with chopped fresh coriander

Method:
In a bowl, stir together the first 16 ingredients.
Add the chicken and stir again to combine and coat the chicken well.
Pour mixture into crockpot, cover, and cook on LOW for 7 to 8 hours.
30 minutes before ready to serve, put cream and cornflour in a small bowl and whisk together, then add to mixture in crockpot and stir gently; continue cooking for 30 minutes.
Serve hot garnished with fresh coriander.
Serves 6 to 8.
Leftovers can be served cold the next day in a wrap with sliced onion, sliced tomato and a drizzle of natural yoghurt.

MOO Kecap Manis

We make a lot of stir fries, especially vegetables to have over noodles and many of the recipes we use have kecap manis as an ingredient.

Kecap manis is an Indonesian sweet soy sauce, quite thick and syrupy. It's used in stir fries, noodle dishes, fried rice and stews. We use it as a dipping sauce for spring rolls and rice paper rolls too.

If you don't do a lot of Asian style cooking buying a bottle of kecap manis is a waste. You'll pay around $3 for a 600ml bottle, not really expensive, but if it's just going to sit on your pantry shelf for years, well there are better things you could be doing with your money and that shelf space.

Of course if you do a lot of Asian cooking then knowing how to MOO kecap manis means you can cross another item off your shopping list and make up just the amount you need fresh when you need it.

Either way, knowing how to MOO this delicious sauce is worthwhile.

It is not at all complicated. In fact it is so simple and easy you'll be surprised.

MOO Kecap Manis

Ingredients:
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup molasses
2 tbsp brown sugar*

Method:
Stir all the ingredients together in a small saucepan. Cook over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Bring the sauce to a boil, turn the heat down to low and simmer until the mixture thickens to the consistency of maple syrup (the sauce will thicken as it cools). Remove from the heat and it is ready to use.

*If you don't have molasses, replace it with brown sugar. Molasses gives a richer flavour, the brown sugar gives more of a caramel edge to the sauce; they are both good and both make a lovely sauce.

5 Simple Ways We Save on Groceries

Today, being the first Friday of the month, is my OAMS day (once a month shopping). I've already done the groceries, I didn't have a lot to buy as you can see from the picture above. I included a few stockpile items this month too, in preparation for the Christmas/New Year craziness.

Since Disaster Struck I've watched our grocery spending like a hawk. We have a very strict grocery budget and I try very hard to not go over it. I need to tell you what is included in our grocery budget, just so you know what's covered by my $320 a month.

For my family groceries include:
1. Food
2. Meat
3. Whatever fruits and vegetables we don't grow or get via bartering
4. Cleaning products
5. Basic toiletries and hygeine products.

I shop for my family of five adults. Yes, our kids are all grown up but still studying and living (and eating!) at home. I buy meat once every three months, so to be sure I have the "meat money" I put $60 a month aside to use. This is usually more than enough (thanks to Tasman Meats great prices and some good specials at our local butcher).

Today I spent $215 at Aldi. For the first time in ages I was able to get everything on the list, including as I mentioned earlier, some stockpile items. The meat money has been put aside and I have $45 left to buy milk (the only grocery item we will actually need) for the next four weeks.

So how do I keep the grocery bill low?

1.  Menu planning

I typically plan our monthly menu a few days before shopping day. I shop for a month so I meal plan for a month. Cheapskates Club members can see what we are eating in the Member's Centre. By doing this, I buy what exactly what we need for the month. Meal planning is a great way to stop "random" shopping, which really causes chaos with a grocery budget. Meal planning also stops the takeaway temptation. Knowing you have something planned for dinner is half the struggle of getting tea on the table. I'm not saying we don't ever have takeaway or eat out but the temptation to do so isn't there if we know we have something delicious already planned.    

2.  Planning my shopping trips

I shop with a list, a very comprehensive list. It has the item, size, quantity and the last price I paid on it. I write my shopping list in order of stores and I try to write each stores list according to the layout. My shopping list keeps me focussed on the task at hand: getting the groceries. I do one big shop on the first Friday of each month, then buy milk and cream and any fruit and veg top-ups once a week. That's it. I stay away from supermarkets until shopping day.

3.  Shop the sales

When I'm writing my shopping list, I always do it with the Coles, Woolworths and Aldi websites open.  This is probably the biggest way we save on groceries; having the online catalogues open lets me compare prices between the supermarkets quickly and easily.  This means I can jot items down under the supermarket they are cheapest.

4.  Build a stockpile

I practice the buy-ahead principle as much as possible, in order to create a stockpile and build up our pantry with items we will use later.  I aim to have a twelve week supply of our basic grocery items at all times.  I don't have stuff stashed everywhere and I don't stockpile things we rarely use. I do use the grocery slush fund to stockpile things we use a lot of when they are on a super great sale, especially if they are the pricier items like shampoo, conditioner, dried fruit, meat and so on. When I'm creating our meal plan I shop the pantry, fridge and freezer and use the groceries we have on hand. This way I always pay the lowest possible price for groceries.

5.  Ditch brand loyalties

I am not a brand snob. Flour is flour, sugar is sugar. Most basic grocery items available in Australia are excellent quality regardless of the price. I try to buy Australian owned, then Australian made when they fit within my grocery budget. There are times I'll have something on my shopping list that isn't on sale. When that happens I buy the best value brand I can find. If the cheapest brand is the store brand, then that's what we buy.

I could write a lot more about how I keep the grocery bill low, but for today these five points give you the general idea.  Everyone is different, every family's needs and wants are different and that is fine. You may live hours from supermarkets or you may be catering to special dietary needs. Your grocery budget doesn't have to be the same as anyone else's, you determine what meets your needs. If you're struggling with cutting the cost of groceries, implement these five simple steps.

I guarantee you will save money and if nothing else, you'll have your grocery spending under control. You can work on getting it as low as you want it to be then.

You Don't Need to Spend $140 to Make Great Pizza

AJs MOO pizza, straight from the oven, piping hot and ready to eat!

Thursday night is MOO pizza night in our house.

We make pizza the old fashioned way, with a yeast dough and homemade tomato sauce, lots of freshly grated cheese and whatever other toppings we can find.

Then we bake them on baking sheets or the pizza stones in the oven. Twenty minutes at 160 degrees Celsius and we have the best gourmet pizza around.

So why, when MOOing pizza is so easy, would you even want to spend $140+ dollars on an electric appliance that bakes just one pizza at a time (I can get four in my oven or on the barbecue). It sounds great. The stone absorbs moisture the pizza releases during baking to ensure a nice crisp, evenly cooked base. It can cook a pizza in as little as five minutes. It is (supposedly - I've never used one so I can't really say either way) easy to clean. And it takes up a LOT of room in the kitchen whether it's on the bench or in a cupboard.

I'm just saying I can buy a whole lot of pizza ingredients for $140, keep what little spare space I have in the kitchen and still turn out fantastic pizzas.

I use the Penny Pinching Pizza recipe for the bases because it is so quick and easy. When I make pizza bases I quadruple the recipe, giving me enough pizza dough for 8 pizzas - enough for a month of MOO pizza nights.

First you dissolve the sugar in warm water then add the yeast and let it get all bubbly and frothy.

While the yeast it doing its thing, process the flour with the oil until it looks like breadcrumbs. Using a food processor makes this step a breeze.

When the flour is all crumbly add the yeast mixture and give it a whizz for a couple of seconds to blend it.

Then slowly pour in the remaining water. Let that food processor work its magic and turn that floury mess into a glorious blob of soft, smooth pizza dough.

Turn it out onto a floured bread board, cover it with a damp tea towel and let that hard-working dough have a rest for about 10 minutes.

When the dough is rested and ready to become a tasty pizza cut it in half. Then press it, don't roll it, to fit your pizza tray. Add your toppings, put it into the oven and in 20 minutes you'll be enjoying the best pizza you've ever had.

I call these our rustic range - I don't have any round trays so we make the "round" pizza bases fit the oblong baking sheets.

Toppings are tomato sauce (I use homemade from tomato paste) and cheese and then either olives, onion, sliced tomato, ham, salami, chicken, capsicum, mushrooms, pineapple, feta, mozzarella, baby spinach - whatever is in the fridge really.

A couple of weeks ago Tineka suggested using cooked chicken with a  drizzle of kecap manis over the top, then a sprinkle of grated mozzarella for a satay-style pizza. Sounds odd with the kecap manis but trust me. It. Is. Finger. Licking. Lip. Smackingly. Good. Thanks Tineka, I think that is now my favourite pizza topping.

Penny Pinching Pizza Base

Ingredients:
2 cups plain flour – 30c
2 tbsp olive oil – 30c
1 cup warm water
1 tbsp dry yeast – 5c
1 tsp sugar – 1c

Method:
Dissolve the sugar in ¼ cup of the warm water and then add the yeast. Put aside to ferment – about 5 minutes.

Process the flour and oil for a few seconds until it becomes crumbly. Add the yeast mixture and process. Slowly pour in the remaining ¾ cup water. Process until a dough ball forms. Continue processing for 30 seconds.

Turn the dough out onto a floured board, cover with a damp tea towel and let it sit for 10 minutes.

At this point you can freeze the dough in a ball to use later on or cover with a damp tea towel and let it sit for 10 minutes before dividing in two and either pressing into a Swiss roll tin, using the palm of your hand, or pressing it into a more traditional round. Try not to roll it with a rolling pin (or Marmite jar) as it toughens the dough.

So do you think you need to spend $140 on a pizza maker? Do you MOO your pizzas? What's your favourite pizza topping?

Spring Clean Your Finances - Week 1

For the next four weeks Wednesday is going to be spring cleaning day. We spring clean our homes to get rid of the dust and mustiness of winter and we should do the same thing with our finances.

To know exactly where your money is going we are going back to basics. This week get your Spending Plan, a notebook, a pen, your bills and receipts and track your spending. Because you have a working Spending Plan a week is  long enough to give you a snapshot of exactly where your money is going and whether it is going where it should be.

How to Track Your Expenses

There are a lot of ways you can do this. For the purpose of this exercise, seeing as it is only for a week, choose the easiest method that works for you. It might be a notepad and pen, it could be an excel spreadsheet on your computer or even one of the gazillion aps available for your phone. Personally I just use my diary and jot down each day's spending after tea. To make tracking expenses even easier I've created a printable expense tracker you can download and use.

Download the printable Expense Tracker

Start with the receipts you currently have. Go through your purse, handbag, wallet, the fruit bowl, check your bedside table and the console in the car. Find as many receipts as you can and then write the details into your expense tracker. The Cheapskates Expense Tracker has common categories you can use. Jot down the date, the item, how you paid for that item (cash, credit card, direct deposit, Bpay etc.) and the Spending Plan category it comes under.

You'll see the Expense Tracker has a category for "Other". We all have one-off, odd expenses that don't really fit anywhere. Put those expenses here.  Now a week of tracking won't necessarily be a complete picture of your spending but it will give you enough detail to determine if your Spending Plan is working and where you need to tweak.  Remember, this is just a spring clean of your finances.

If a receipt falls under two or more categories, for example you bought food, medication and school items at the supermarket just list the totals under their respective categories.

For purchases that don’t have a receipt, mortgage payments for instance, write these in every time you make a payment so you don’t forget to track them.

As you track your spending this week you may see some surprising habits that you may not even have realised you have. You may be wondering why your grocery bill just won't fit in the  $300 a Month Food Challenge, then realise just how much you are really spending at the supermarket on incidentals. Or it may be the odd coffee now and then that is breaking your budget.

Tracking expenses shows you exactly where you are spending your money, and how.

Next week we'll use this information to review your Spending Plan.

Delicious Homemade Pita Chips

We go through thousands of pita chips a month in our house. I know because I'm usually the one who makes them. Why do we go through so many? Because they're delicious, cheap, easy to make and better for us than potato chips. We snack on them  with or without dip, I crumble them over the top of casseroles, they make great nachos and even better Haystacks. And did I mention they are cheap?

One bag of pita bread will make a LOT of pita chips. When pita bread is on sale I will buy a half a dozen packets and pop them in the freezer just for making pita chips.

To make pita chips take a round of pita bread. White or wholemeal, it's your choice. Lavish that bread with olive oil. Be generous and coat both sides. This is important. The oil will not only crisp up the chips but give them a wonderful flavour.

Sprinkle on any seasonings you might like. Herbs, onion flakes, garlic, salt and pepper, paprika - whatever you fancy. Don't fancy anything? Don't worry, leave them plain, they'll still be absolutely delicious.

Cut the pita into chips. I use kitchen scissors to cut strips across each round. Then I cut each strip into chips. You might have another way of cutting the bread, it doesn't matter as long as you get it all cut up.

Spread the chips onto a baking paper lined baking sheet. A single layer is best so they dry evenly.

Bake them in a moderate oven (180 degrees Celsius) for 15 - 20 minutes or until they are golden and crisp.

Take them off the baking sheets immediately and let them cool on cake racks. Once they are completely cool store them in an airtight container to keep them fresh.

What to do with Stale Bread

Before you feed that stale bread to the birds (it's not really good for them anyway) or put those crusts in the bin (what a waste of good food and your money!) there are a lot of other uses for it.

The most obvious one is bread crumbs. You can make either fresh or dried bread crumbs, both are very easy and very handy to have in the pantry.

To make fresh bread crumbs, all you have to do is grate the bread or run it briefly through a food processor. Fresh bread crumbs can be used in meatloaf and meatballs or to make bread puddings just like this one.

Chocolate Bread Pudding

Ingredients:
2 cups milk
1 tbsp butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
4 slices stale bread (about 2 cups crumbled dry bread)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Meat the milk and butter until the butter has melted completely. Stir in sugar and cocoa. Crumble the bread into the milk and sugar mixture and allow to soak until bread is soggy. Beat with a hand mixer until well blended and smooth. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Pour mixture into greased casserole dish. Place the casserole dish in a pan of water so the water comes half way up the sides of the dish. Bake for 1 hour. Serve warm.

In the old days, people would use fresh bread crumbs to replace part of the flour in pancakes and other simple recipes. Fresh breadcrumbs turn a schnitzel into something really special. They make great seasoning for chicken or a piece of rolled beef or lamb too.

There are two ways you can make dried breadcrumbs. The first method is to run the crumbs through a food processor, then place them on a baking sheet. Pre-heat the oven to the lowest possible temperature (around 100 degrees Celsius for most ovens). Put the baking sheet in the oven and dry the crumbs until they are lightly browned. How long will depend on your oven and the amount of crumbs you have on the baking sheet. Stir them every 10 minutes so they dry evenly. Let them cool completely and store them in an air tight container.

The second method (and my favourite, it is cost free) is to lay the bread in a single layer on cake racks. Cover with a tea towel and leave overnight to dry. Then grate or whizz in a food processor to make the crumbs. Store them in an air tight container in the pantry.

Dried breadcrumbs made either way will keep for months in the pantry without a problem.

You can also add some Italian herbs (oregano, parsley, basil, etc.) for seasoned crumbs.

Dried bread crumbs are perfect for casserole toppings or as the coating for baked fish or chicken.

There’s a lot more life to that stale bread than mere crumbs, though. Some more
suggestions:

• Add a gourmet touch to your lunch salad with croutons. Cut the bread into
small cubes, and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle on some herbs to your taste, then
toast them in the oven on low heat until crisp and crunchy.

• Try re-introducing moisture into bread that’s not too far gone. Wrap the
bread in a paper bag and dampen the bag all over with water. Heat in a 325F oven
until the bread softens. Make sure the bag doesn’t dry out and start to burn!

• Toast, French toast and grilled cheese sandwiches all benefit greatly from slightly stale bread.

The Cheapskates Way to Stretch Expensive Cheeses

We are cheese lovers in our home. Hard or soft, as long as it is cheese, we'll devour it. And that can play havoc with my grocery budget.

I keep the cost of the cheese component of my grocery budget down a number of ways:

1.I buy blocks of tasty cheese ($6/kg at Aldi) and grate them to use on pizzas, pasta bakes, potato casserole etc. Grated cheese freezes beautifully and can be used straight from the freezer for casserole toppings. To stop the cheese shards sticking together when they are frozen add a teaspoon of corn flour per cup of cheese when you pack it into containers or bags. Shake it up to coat the cheese and you won't have a problem with clumped, hard lumps of cheese again.

2.I make mozzarella, ricotta and feta. Fresh mozzarella grated in slivers over hot pasta is divine. These are three of the easiest cheeses to make and they are so versatile. Ricotta can be used in dips and cheesecakes or as a spread on bread instead of butter. Feta is delicious on its own and in salads.

3.I buy blocks of the more expensive aged hard cheeses when they are on sale and use my trusty cheese slicer to slice them. This is the biggest cheese cost saver for my family. I never buy sliced cheese. The slices are always much thicker than what I slice myself and at twice the price of a block of the same weight I feel it's money I could use for something else. Slicing the cheese myself and storing it in a Tupperware container.

4.I portion the cheese out. That means when I do my monthly grocery shopping and buy cheese for the month, it is packed into weekly portions and frozen. I take one portion a week out of the freezer and put it in the fridge to use for cooking, sandwiches, salads, snacks and so on. When it's gone, it's gone. I don't get any more out until the next week. We've learnt over the years to make our cheese last or go without.

We get to enjoy the cheeses we like without blowing my grocery budget.

Is cheese a big expense for your family? How do you make it last? Or do you just absorb the cost and buy more when it's all gone?

Where to find the best bargains

Every city and some of our larger towns has at least one outlet mall. That's the enormous shopping centre, often bare bones factory style, that has a whole lot of factory outlets in the one place. They are great for hunting out bargains if you are after brand names like Sheridan or Mikasa or Gazman or Oroton or Puma any other brand.

The thing with these shopping centres is that often they are not cheaper than department stores. You need to know your prices and you need to know what is current stock and what is last season's stock. You can still pick up a bargain, but not quite the bargain you can pick up if you find an independent outlet.

Every city has lots of independent outlets, well kept secrets, that sell their wares direct to the public for less - a lot less; in some cases up to 85% off the retail price. That's a whole lot of money that stays in your bank account, that you can use to pay down debt, build an emergency fund or splurge with.

Some of my favourites are :

NQR Grocery Stores - brand name groceries at greatly reduced prices.

Hindustan Imports - spices, herbs, rice, oil with savings of up to 85% of supermarket prices.

Aurora Cleaning Supplies - save 50% plus on basic cleaning items. Great for bulk washing soda and soaker.

Tasman Meats (my favourite butcher) - meat isn't a luxury at Tasman's prices.

TruTaste Nuts - huge savings on dried fruit and nuts, honey and snacks.

Mountain Bread - order online, have it delivered to your door and save 50% on supermarket prices.

Theo's Discount Craft - find the interesting and the more mundane craft items here at  rock bottom prices. Great for buttons and ribbons.

Do you have a secret super saver outlet you love? Where do you find your best bargains?

The Fine Line

There is a saying about a fine line between love and hate.

Living the Cheapskates way there is a fine line too: a fine line between Contented Cheapskate and Sad Skinflint.

Whether you choose to live the Cheapskates way out of necessity (sudden un-employment, huge debts etc) or to have the cash to do the things that are important to you, the line has to be drawn: just how far can you go without becoming a mean, sad skinflint?

For me not buying takeaway food on a regular basis frees up money for music lessons for Hannah. The boys can play their sports because we choose to recycle clothes and buy from garage sales and op shops before we resort to paying retail. This frees up the cash needed to pay for sports fees and other activities and we have a contented family.

I would feel like a Sad Skinflint if I didn't buy the brand of coffee I enjoy to just save a couple of dollars. Instead I wait for it to go on sale and then use the grocery slush fund to stock up, I never pay the regular supermarket price and I am a Contented Cheapskate.

By using generic sugar, flour, custard powder, bi-carb soda, coconut and icing sugar I have the cash to buy the coffee I like. We don't notice any difference in the end result of my baking, we are not missing out on any treats and I am able to enjoy good coffee.

In our quest to live the Cheapskates way sometimes we go to far. There is no purpose in going without something you need, enjoy or even want if you can afford it just to not spend money.

We cut back on things we don't particularly care about so that we can have the things that are important to us. There have been times when I've gone too far (a rissole recipe using just bread crusts, herbs and water springs to mind) and the exercise has ended up causing us to be unhappy.

Using the bread crusts and herbs along with some chopped tomato, a grated onion and an egg to make a Mock Chicken however saved us some money, used up leftover crusts and it was delicious with gravy and baked vegetables.

With things like electricity, gas, water, telephone and petrol trim them little by little until you find that you need more, then ease the trimming just a bit. You've found your fine line and by easing back a bit you are on the Contented Cheapskate side.

With clothing, shoes and so on you can work out exactly what you need to maintain a comfortable wardrobe. Add a couple of spare outfits (for those times the washing hasn't dried or you just plain ran out of time to do it) and you'll be on the Contented Cheapskate side.

Not giving yourself enough clothing will end up costing you money. You'll be washing more often, perhaps having to resort to using the dryer, and your clothes will be wearing out and looking old much faster. This is the Sad Skinflint side of the line.

In all things, trimming a little, gradually, lets you find exactly where you want to be in your Cheapskates lifestyle and when you are contented with where you are you'll find saving money, time and energy easy.

Freezer Coleslaw

At the One Day Workshop reunion a couple of weeks ago we were talking about cabbage and how to use up an abundance. When I mentioned freezer coleslaw all heads turned with interest and the questions started to flow.

Yes you can make coleslaw and freeze it. Yes it thaws beautifully and the cabbage will be crisp. Yes it's a great way to use up excess cabbage, especially if you're not a fan of sauerkraut or are sick to death of chop suey and cabbage rolls for dinner.

This recipe uses a vinegar based dressing which helps it to remain crisp after freezing, Freezer coleslaw doesn't work with a mayonnaise style dressing. It's not complicated but you must follow the steps. Don't be tempted to skip any and don't be tempted to try and rush them. The idea is to remove as much excess water from the cabbage as possible before you freeze it so you'll have delightfully crisp coleslaw when it thaws.

Freezer Coleslaw

Ingredients:
1 large head of cabbage, shredded
1/4 cup salt
Cold water
1 cup white vinegar
2 cups sugar
1 tsp mustard seed
1 tsp celery seed
1 large carrot, grated
1 capsicum, diced (green, yellow or red - your choice)

Step 1. Put the cabbage and salt in a large plastic or glass bowl. Add enough water to just cover the cabbage. Let the cabbage soak for 1 hour.

Step 2. While the cabbage is soaking make the dressing. Combine the vinegar, sugar, mustard seed and celery seed in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to lukewarm.

Step 3. After 1 hour drain and rinse the cabbage thoroughly. Then squeeze to remove as much water as you can. This is an important step in getting crisp cabbage in your freeze coleslaw.

Step 4. Add the carrot and capsicum to the cabbage and toss through.

Step 5. Pour the cooled dressing over the vegetables and toss through.

Step 6. The coleslaw is ready to use and can be stored in a covered container in the fridge for up to two weeks. To freeze the coleslaw portion into freezer safe containers or ziplock bags and place in the freezer. This coleslaw will keep in the freezer for up to three months.

To use the coleslaw take a container from the freezer, let it thaw and serve.

Oh So Easy MOO Banana Ice Cream

MOO banana and hazelnut ice-cream

We were talking at the Workshop reunion about fruit ice-cream and I was quite surprised to realise that not everyone knew about this simple, fat free, dairy free, totally delicious and so easy to make "ice-cream".

All you need is banana. I usually use six large bananas at a time, but you can use just one or two depending on how many serves you want. This is a fabulous way to use up those soft bananas no one will eat, just pop them in the freezer until you're ready to make ice-cream then let them thaw for about half an hour before you use them.

Step 1. Peel your bananas first. Cut them into small pieces.

Step 2. Freeze for just 1-2 hours on a baking sheet or freezer safe plate.

Step 3. Put the frozen banana into the food processor (or a jug and use a stick blender) and blend, blend, blend – scraping down the sides of the bowl when they stick. Keep blending until the banana has reached the consistency of ice-cream.

At this stage you can eat it or put it into an air-tight container and freeze. It goes well in icy-pole moulds for individual banana pops too.

Want to glam it up a little? Try these variations:

Hazelnut Chocolate Banana Ice Cream

For every two frozen bananas you will need 4 tablespoons of chocolate hazelnut spread. Blend bananas in food processor until they are the consistency of soft serve ice cream. Blend in the choc hazelnut spread, transfer to a freezer container and freeze until solid.

Peanut Butter & Honey Banana Ice Cream

For every two bananas you will need 3 tablespoons of peanut butter (try crunchy for a delicious twist) and 2 teaspoons of honey. Blend bananas in food processor until they are the consistency of soft serve ice cream. Blend in peanut butter and honey and transfer to a freezer container and freeze until solid.

Strawberry Yoghurt Banana Ice Cream

For every two bananas you will need 2 tablespoons of plain, full fat yoghurt and 1/2 cup chopped fresh strawberries. Blend bananas in food processor until they are the consistency of soft serve ice cream. Blend in strawberries and yoghurt until smooth, and transfer to a freezer container and freeze until solid.

What other flavours can you come up with?

For the Coffee Addicts: The Cheapskates Way to Refilling Pods

I promised over on our Facebook page to share how you can easily (and cheaply) refill coffee pods. Here it is, step--by-step.

We all know coffee is expensive. Good coffee is even more expensive. Buying great coffee is one of those outrageous costs we coffee addicts have put up with until recently.

The arrival of coffee pods and the idea of instant good coffee took Australia, and the world, by storm. The machines are compact. They make a reasonable cup of coffee in just a few seconds. Best of all they have brought the price of a half-decent cup of coffee down.

But the pods, the little containers of coffee grounds, are actually quite expensive. You can buy pods from Aldi for $5.99 for 128g or $4.67/100g (and these are the pods I use - my mother gave me the Expressi unit for Christmas a couple of years ago).

I can buy coffee beans from Coles and grind my own coffee for a fraction of the price. Coles Fair Trade coffee beans are the cheapest at just $1.30 per hundred grams. My favourite Lavazza beans cost $3.37 per hundred grams, almost half the pod price, off the shelf and less than half price when they are on sale.

These days I refill the pods. Now in saying that my unit is well and truly out of warranty. If you're unit is still in warranty then I don't recommend you refilling the pods just in case you need to make a warranty claim and your MOO pods are used as an excuse to not honour the warranty.

But if you're up for a fun challenge, would like to make your daily java even cheaper and are not concerned about the warranty on your unit, give refilling the pods a go, it is really easy.

You will need:

Used coffee pods
Your favourite ground coffee
Foil

Step 1. Take your used pods and carefully cut the foil off the top of them. Clean the used coffee grounds out (put them in the compost or sprinkle onto the garden) and wash and dry the pods.

Step 2. Fill the pods with ground coffee beans. I use two teaspoons of ground coffee per pod. Gently, very gently, pack it down. Don't press to hard, you don't want the coffee compressed.

Step 3. Cut a square of foil large enough to wrap over the top of the pod and down the sides. Wrap the re-filled pod with the foil, pressing it tightly over the edge so it is smooth.

That's it - you've just refilled your coffee pod. How easy was that? Use it the way you usually do and then save the pod and the foil to re-use. I can re-use the foil three or four times before it becomes too holey (each time you use it the coffee machine will put tiny pin pricks in it to let the water through).

Now enjoy your even cheaper coffee :)