Hello Cheapskaters, Hello and welcome to this week's newsletter. I have had a fantastic week, even if it is Spending Freeze month. It's amazing just how much fun you can have and what you can make do with when you can't spend money. I've been reading the forum posts for Spending Freeze month and this comment jumped right out at me: "I have kept track of the things I would have got if I wasn't buying only essentials and I've saved almost $102 and don't miss any of the "stuff" I would have purchased."  Toots Wow! That is a really empowering realisation.  How often do we buy "stuff" just because we can, without thinking about it?  If you could add $102 to your mortgage each month, or to your credit card debt, without feeling deprived or missing out on things you enjoy,  how fast would it be paid off?  One hundred and two dollars on it's own may not seem like a lot of money, but it can pack a powerful punch to the bill monster. Thanks for pushing me into a spending freeze! My washing machine died  and without the spending freeze we would not have had the money to get it fixed, we would have just put it on the credit card and added to our debt, which has been coming down every month since we started our Payment Push. I am so grateful for Cheapskates and the way it has changed our lives.  Fiona Dyson Thanks for a great website, I really love the washing powder and recommend it and the Cheapskates Club to many people. Suzanne McEwan Am loving the spending freeze. We are getting married in June and what we save this month is going towards our honeymoon spending money and as we are going to Japan, I'm hoping to save a lot so I can do some fun shopping.  Bec Taylor PS: Love our site? We love referrals! Send a note to your favourite newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV stations, friends and relatives, and tell them about us! PPS: You can read this newsletter and past copies on the website in the Newsletter Archive.

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Cheapskates Tip of the Week

This week's winning tip is from Ida Elliott.  Ida is already a Platinum Cheapskates Club member so her membership has been extended by one year for submitting a winning tip. Are You a Local? Ask for a Discount! Approximate $ Savings:     Between 5% and 10% on anything     I used to work around the corner from a popular shopping strip. I was buying a toy from one of the shops and when I mentioned I worked around the corner they said they would give a discount of 5% because I was a local. When I asked, some of the other shops gave a 10% discount. I then asked for a local discount around where I live and not all, but most give you something. The bread shop gave me free bread rolls and the butcher always takes a couple of dollars off, it's not much but it all adds up and I'm supporting the local community.  Congratulations Ida, I hope you enjoy your Cheapskates Club membership.

The Cheapskate's Club website is over 2,000 pages of money saving hints, tips  and ideas. Let's get together and make the Cheapskates Club Australia's largest online hint, tip and idea library. Share your favourite money saving, time saving or energy saving hint and be in the running to win a one-year membership to The Cheapskate Club. We publish a Winning Tip each Tuesday, so enter your great money, time or energy saving idea now!

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Submit a Tip

Share your favourite hint or tip that saves money, time and energy and be in the running to win a one-year membership to the Cheapskates Club valued at $29.20. Remember, you have to be in it to win it! Enter your tip here

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Money Saving Meals

After School Treats That Won't Break the Budget (or ruin dinner) Chocolate Weetbix Slice Ingredients: Base: 1 cup brown sugar 125g unsalted butter, melted 1 egg, lightly beaten 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 tbsp cocoa powder 1 cup self razing flour ½ cup shredded coconut 5 crushed Weetbix Icing: 250g cooking chocolate 2 tablespoons cream Method: Preheat oven to 180°C or 160°C for fan forced. Line a 20cm square slice tin with baking paper. Combine all base ingredients in a bowl, mixing well. Press into the prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes. While base is cooking make icing. Melt chocolate and cream in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir until chocolate is melted. Remove base from oven and allow to cool 5 minutes. Pour over warm base and allow to cool. Cut into squares and serve. Banana Choc Chip Muffins These muffins have an unusual ingredient, but they are delicious and so moist. Ingredients: 1½ cups  SR flour 1 cup sugar 1 tsp each bicarb soda and salt 1 egg ½ cup mayonnaise 3 ripe bananas, mashed 1 cup chocolate chips Method: Mix flour, sugar, bicarb soda and salt in a large bowl. Beat egg in small bowl and stir in mayonnaise. Add to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (about 16 strokes is plenty, any more and the muffins will become tough). Stir in bananas until just combined. Spoon into greased or paper-lined muffin tins. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Bake at 190 degrees Celsius for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned. After School Muesli Bars These muesli bars are lovely and crisp on the outside with a nice chewy texture in the centre. They are quite rich so cut the cooked bars into squares for approximately 16 serves. Ingredients: 175g unsalted butter 3 tbsp golden syrup 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar Juice of 1 lemon 250g rolled oats 2 tbsp slivered almonds 2 tbsp sesame seeds 50g raisins, cut 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon Method: Preheat the oven to 160°C (150 if  fan forced).  Grease and line a 26cm x 18cm slice tray.  Place the butter, golden syrup, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan over low heat until melted or melt in microwave in 20 second bursts.  Place oats, almonds, seeds, raisins and cinnamon in a bowl, add butter mixture, then stir to combine.  Press mixture into prepared tray and bake for 25 minutes.  Turn bars out of tin onto a flat baking sheet and cook a further 15 minutes or until crisp.  Cool on wire rack. Cut into squares when cold. Scrumptious Savoury Scones Ingredients: 3 cups SR flour 300ml thickened cream 1 cup grated cheese 1 tsp finely chopped chives Method: Mix flour, grated cheese and chopped chives together in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre, pour in the cream and mix to a soft dough. Use your hands if necessary. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured cutting board and gently press out until about 2cm thick. Using a glass or scone cutter dipped in flour cut scones. Place on a greased baking sheet with the scones just touching. Bake in a 200 degree Celsius oven for 15 - 20 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through. Note: The scones will rise higher and bake better if they are just touching each other on the baking tray. You can easily pull them apart once they are cooled. There are over 700 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File

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Last Weeks Question

  

Last week's question was from  Lisa asking for ideas for a fete fundraiser. Selena Cosgrove answered The local school has done this for 30 years. Each year level brings in certain items i.e  Prep balloons, Year 1 stickers or finger nail stencils ($1 at cheap shops), Year 2 rubbers and pencils etc.  We also do the lucky bag stall- instead of bottles (no glass on the oval). I put handmade vouchers in the ziplock bags - $1 voucher towards a bottle of water or BBQ stall run by the school - children get food cheaper and will spend the voucher anyway. Also have a stall where Year 7 "babysit" shopper's bags of plants and food etc for $2. People hate lugging heavy items around. Also have a can day every 2 months - everyone at the school donates a can of food - dog or cat food, baked beans etc - towards the fete day and you have instant hampers to make up and raffle off. Every donated can supplier goes into the draw for the class to have free time or an extra book from the school library. Helen Oxley answered Hi Lisa - we had a very popular stall for our church fete. Beg your friends (especially the ones who cook and buy the more expensive food magazines) for some of their old magazines. Make them up into bundles of 6 and tie with gold ribbon from the $2 shop. You can sell them for about $5.00 as each are usually worth from $7 - $9. Good luck. Megan Hall answered In regards to items to add to your fete for lucky dips I would keep an eye out on Aldi. Many items are heavily reduced after a week or more and you can pick up lots of bargains. Items can include toys, make-up, specialty chocolates and lollies, home items. The list is endless. Sonia Tsaousoglou answered At our school, one of the ideas is a bottle stall. Each child brings a bottle or jar filled with something. A number is placed under the bottle and you pay for a ticket with a number on it and then when you match it with the bottle you get to keep it. Ideas to put in them are lollies, cotton balls, marshmallows, sauces etc. Also, for lucky dips eBay has a good selection under toys under wholesale lots. Also if you Google lucky dips there are Australian sites that sell bulk lucky dip items. Pancakes and donuts are always popular, hotdogs are easy to do. Or spiders with soft drink and ice-cream. Emma Stewart answered As I am a teacher I have been involved in many a school fete. From experience lolly trees are always popular. They are made from  styrofoam balls ( medium size), dressmakers pins ( with a ball end), lollies with wrappers ( such as Minties, toffees etc) and a glittery pipe cleaner. All you do is pin the lollies around the ball working up from the base (it will form a triangle shape)then once the ball is covered in lollies, shape the pipe cleaner into a star and stick into the top. (We had a Christmas fetes so it was like a Christmas tree). These were always popular and sold for $3.We were always the  first stall sold out. We always had parents donate the items as Crazy Clarks etc sell these items quite cheaply. The students made them with the help of parent helpers. Other popular things were coloured hair spray in hair for $2, chocolate wheel and glow sticks if it's a night time fete. Hope this helps. Julie Ismail answered The best stalls are the ones that give you a sense of value for money, don't charge too much as the aim is to have nothing left. If you can put a theme to them that unites them all, then so much the better. Include cake stalls, jam and preserve stalls, second hand book stalls (ask for them to be boxed or bagged by category to put on the appropriate table), white elephant stalls, Christmas decoration stall, sausage sizzle, curry stands, pony rides, kids petting zoo, face painting, cool drink stall (cans and frozen cordial cups with a pop stick), fire truck rides from the local volunteer services, kids, babies and toddlers used clothes stalls. Ask local community groups (arts and craft) if they want to exhibit and sell stuff so as to add variety and bulk out the fete. Chocolate wheels and the lucky bottle stalls are also fun. Janine Benson answered Try asking some of the local businesses, especially the $2 shops, as they will often donate things for lucky dips. Lucky icy pole sticks and the prizes can be icy poles. Get the grade sixers involved, they have great ideas such as face painting or nail polish painting. Decorating Marie biscuits with home made icing and lollies and 100s and 1000s is a good stall. Get each student to donate an item for a themed food hamper raffle. We received so much stuff we had 17 prizes and some leftovers for special prizes for the fishing game  a wading pool with home made paper fish with paper clips on their heads, the  fishing poles had magnetic attached to try and catch the fish with). Janelle Porter answered    I have been to several school fetes in my time and one always stands out. The kids and myself had a great time together. All activities were $1. They had a lot of items donated by parents and they only did one fundraiser for the year, so all planning was around the one event. They had things like glass jars filled with many things that parents wouldn't want but kids love like McDonalds toys and toy cars and small dolls with lollies and balloons. All the jars were different shapes and sizes. Each jar was numbered and it was a lucky dip into a big barrel to pull out your number. If every family brought a few filled jars it wouldn't take long to have heaps, especially if you did it at the same time each year and parents had time to clean out toy boxes. The other idea they did was to place straws in the sandpit, again with numbers on the ends buried in the sand. They would receive different prizes depending on the number on the bottom of the straw. They used some donated items that kids really wanted in the mix.  They had a board with all the numbers and prizes listed on it, things like vouchers and swim passes, t-shirts and hair things etc. The kids just kept wanting to try it again to see if they could get something really cool. We had a great time and it really didn't cost heaps. The kids all came away with something. Plus you can recycle the items again the next year. Hayley Pearcey answered I remember when I was in year 2, for our class stall we all brought in a packet of juice poppers. The teacher brought in some ice and an esky and we sold them for about $1 each. It worked well just having one product with one price for the younger kids to be able to sell easily. If 30 students each brought in a packet of six poppers and they sold for $1 each it works out at $180. Also it is easy for the parents to donate as its cheap at about $2.50 a packet and the parents can just grab a packet when they are doing their groceries. Wendy Duncan answered For lucky dips go to a $2 shop or discount store where things go very cheaply.  In the school staff room sell tea and coffee with scones (with jam and cream)or fancy biscuits if you know a good cook. Here's an activity from when I was at school many moons back: buy some apples or doughnuts. The kids stand with their hands behind their backs and they try and take a bite out of the apple or doughnut which is tied to a string and hung up. You usually give  a prize or the apple or doughnut to the winner. The cost: around 50 cents per go for older kids. Also a car wash at $2- $3 per car is a good money spinner too. Janis Bryden answered What about hiring or borrowing a kit to make badges and magnets? The people bring photos along and you make them into magnets or badges - a nice item that sells well and is not too pricey either. Kerri Morgan answered Invite community groups to perform during the fete. Not only will the entertainment encourage people to stay longer, but family and friends of those performing will come (and buy) too. Bel Bird answered Ask the teachers if they could get all the kids at school to create handmade birthday cards to sell at a stall... the school will have all the supplies already, the kids will be proud of their creation and you can guarantee they will all sell because no-one's Mum will leave their little darling's masterpiece as unsold!

Do you have a question that needs an answer? Send us your question and receive the combined knowledge of your fellow Cheapskates to solve your problem! Ask a question

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This Weeks Question

Dawn asks I need help! My husband and I are planning a holiday later in the year with our two small kids 3years and 5 years the airfares alone cost $7,000. What can I do to save money fast?

Do you have the answer? If you have a suggestion or idea for Dawn let us know, and your answer could be published in our next newsletter. You'll also be automatically entered into our Tip of the Week competition, with a one-year membership to the Cheapskates Club as the prize. Send your answer

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Join the Cheapskates Club

Join the Cheapskates Club for just  $29.20 for the first year ($18.25 to renew) and get exclusive access to the Cheapskates Club Platinum Member's Centre containing thousands of ideas to save you money, time and energy. Join the Cheapskates Club today

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Frequently Asked Questions

How do I change my email address? This one is easy. If you area Platinum member login and click on the Edit Profile button, then on Change Password. If you are a Silver member use the Change Your Address form (under Customer Service in the menu) and fill it out. Once you've filled it in click the send button and we'll do the rest. Please remember to include your old email address so we can find it in the list as well as the new one. How do I know when my membership should be renewed? When you login to the Member's Centre you will be told how many days of membership you have left once you have 30 days left. Just click on the link to renew and your membership will just continue on, uninterrupted. What will you do with my email address? We never rent, trade or sell our email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You'll never get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list. How Did You Get on Our List? You signed up to receive our Free Newsletter at our Cheapskates Journal Web site or at the Channel 9 Money Expo. We never add names to our list unless you have voluntarily opted in.

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Contact Details

The Cheapskates Club - Showing you how to live life debt free, cashed up and laughing! Cheapskates Club PO Box 4232 Ringwood Vic 3134 www.cheapskates.com.au info@cheapskates.com.au