Hello Cheapskaters, What a week it has been.   Welcome to all our new Platinum members, I can't wait to meet you in the Member's Centre. And a warm Cheapskates welcome to all our new Silver members too. I hope you all enjoy your Cheapskates Club membership, whichever level you have chosen. If you are not sure of the differences between membership levels, let me explain them for you. Silver membership is free and includes a weekly newsletter and limited access to the Tip Store, Tip Sheets, Just Ask and our Forum. Silver members do not have logins and cannot access the Member's Centre. Platinum membership is just $29.20 for the first year. Platinum members have logins and full access to the Member's Centre. Their membership includes our weekly newsletter, Tip of the Day emails, The Cheapskates Journal (our monthly e-zine), access to all back issues, the Article Archive, Cath's Blog, Cheapskates Tip Store, the Menu Plan Archive and Recipe File. Platinum members also have full access to all e-books, tip sheets, tools and guides, our original Bill Paying System, Just Ask and the amazing Member Forum. You can upgrade from Silver to Platinum membership here, there's no risk.  We are so confident that you will find a way to start saving on your first visit to the Tip Store that we offer a no questions asked,  money back guarantee. I've been a follower of your newsletter for many years and find the information fantastic.  Candice Pearce   I have recently joined the  Cheapskates Club and enjoy every minute of it. I have been amazed with the kind of savings that can be made just by planning in advance and shopping wisely. Thanks for all the lovely tips. I really look forward to the "Tip of the Day" emails. I hope I can one day contribute a cheapskate tip to all the fellow members. Good work and God bless,  Manasee I love receiving your newsletter and reading the tips. I have created a word document with different categories e.g. Cleaning, Recipes, Holidays, Bills etc. I copy and paste tips that I know I will use into their appropriate category. This saves me a lot of time.   Gae Ramsay I have just read your book and have been accessing some of the free stuff on your website. Congratulations on your writing of a nice, simple book which covers a very pertinent difficulty in life today. There are not many books like this.  Cynthia Tay I am a new Cheapskates Club member and I have to say thank you. I joined on Tuesday night and I've been glued to the computer since. There are so many ways I can save money, thank you. I never dreamed I would ever be able to even save on groceries, this week I think I'll spend less than half what I normally do. Around $90 saved immediately, so I've recouped my joining fee three times. Amazing!  Mel Draper I spent some time on Tuesday and Wednesday with the delightful crew from A Current Affair, working on a story, Best Bread. It was loads of fun, as always, and I learned a lot about bread too. One of the challenges for me was to rate seven different wholemeal/wholegrain breads. If you'd like to see the results, click here. Bought bread is so convenient, but pricey. On the Menu this week features an easy bread I make every week and in deference to ANZAC Day, a traditional Anzac biscuit recipe for you to try. Have a great week everyone, 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 we have two winning tips. Ashleigh Saint and Wen Cheng have both won one-year Platinum Cheapskates Club memberships for  submitting a winning tip. Turn a Saving into an  Object  for True Value Approximate $ Savings:    $10 plus a week   Recently, my partner and I suffered from a rough financial patch which forced us to look at our budget and spending habits. I would regularly have a coffee from the daily coffee van and my approach to spending is "it is only $10.00" but oh  how wrong was I. What I realised that is $10 here and $10 there adds up. $10 every week for a year is $520. That had me thinking.  Now every time we need/want something or a saving could be made that requires a little effort, I take the monetary value and put it against an object value. For example, my extravagant cup of coffee at $3.80 is actually the cost of a box of fifty green tea bags from the shop. That’s forty-nine extra cups of a hot drink. My former thought of “it's just $10.00”, is now that $10.00 is worth a petrol trip to work (as I work an hour outside the city). I usually didn’t bother with finding the cheapest fuel or use the fuel discount voucher, however I realised the  $2.00-$3.00 saved every time I fill up, can actually feed me and my partner for dinner. By turning the savings into an object, it points out the former errors of my way and keeps me on the savings track.    Contributed by Ashleigh Saint Reduce Insurance Premiums Approximate $ Savings:     $150   When I receive my annual insurance policy renewal notices, I compare my insurance premium with various insurance companies by enter online quotes. I use the same conditions as in my existing insurance policies to make sure I am comparing apples to apples. I also go to the same insurance company to fill in an online quote. I was surprised to find the online quote is $170 cheaper than my renewal premium! I called up the company asking them to compare my quote to the renewal to make sure I did not incorrectly put in anything to bring down the premium but left myself under-insured. They made a few adjustments to my existing policy and made it $20 cheaper but cannot match the online quote. They admitted that the two policies are exactly the same but could not explain the price difference. I ended up purchasing the online policy and cancelled my renewal policy. Now I have $150 extra in my pocket and have no change to the policy or the insurance company!!   Contributed by Wen Cheng

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

Dough Is Dear The kids were in heaven earlier this week when I brought home lots of different breads for them to try for an ACA story I was helping with (Best Bread ). We sampled seven different wholemeal/wholegrain breads to find the one the kids liked the best and the one I, as a mum, liked the best for my kids. What I realised during this exercise is that dough is dear; really, really dear. Breads vary so much in weight, nutritional value and price. Buying just one loaf a day can increase your weekly grocery bill by $20 - $34 a week! Ouch! There is no need to spend that much money on a grocery staple. Bread is not only easy to make, it's really cheap too. A loaf of basic bread consists of flour, yeast, water and perhaps a little sugar. That's it. You can make a really nice, nutritious 800g loaf of wholemeal bread for around 80 cents. Compare that to even the cheapest white bread (I found some for 89c a 600g loaf) and it is still cheaper to make your own. If you have a bread maker, use it. If you don't, no problem. You can use your hands or an electric mixer to prepare the dough and just bake it in the oven. Simple. Here is the recipe for my favourite quick bread. I make this bread every week, sometimes in the bread maker and sometimes in the oven, depending on how much time I have and have never had a failure yet. Easy Bread Ingredients: 1 cup plain flour 1 cup plain wholemeal flour 1 cup rolled oats (not quick oats) 1 tsp salt 1 1/4 cups lukewarm water 2 tsp dry yeast 1 tbsp honey Vegetable oil to brush tin Method: Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Mix the flours, oats and salt together. Mix yeast into warm water, stirring until dissolved. Stir in honey. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in yeast mixture. Mix well, making sure there are no dry lumps of flour. Grease a loaf tin with a thin coating of the vegetable oil. Place dough in tin, brush top lightly with oil. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave in a warm place to rise, about 30 minutes. Leave in tin and bake for 35 - 40 minutes. Bread is done when it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. This coming Sunday is 25th April, ANZAC Day, the day we commemorate and remember the 60,000 lives lost during WWI, and the many thousands lost in wars fought to protect and defend our country since. As well as attending services, we always have ANZAC biscuits for morning tea on 25th April, as a part of our remembering. ANZAC biscuits used to be called Soldier's Biscuits because they were made by the wives and mothers of soldiers and sent to them in food parcels. The biscuits had to withstand slow travel by sea, without refrigeration, for up to two months and still be edible. And so the recipe of rolled oats, sugar, coconut, golden syrup, flour, bi carb soda and water was developed. Ninety-six years on, ANZAC biscuits are still popular and loved by Australians. ANZAC Biscuits Ingredients: 1 cup plain flour 1 cup rolled oats (not quick oats) 1 cup desiccated coconut 1 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup butter 2 tbsp golden syrup 1 tsp bicarb soda 2 tbsp boiling water Method: Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Combine flour, oats, coconut and sugar. Melt butter and golden syrup. Mix bicarb soda into boiling water and add to the butter/golden syrup mixture. Pour into dry ingredients and mix well. Spoon walnut size dollops of mixture onto a well greased biscuit sheet, leaving room for spreading. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, until golden in colour. Cool on a cake rack before storing in air-tight containers. Makes approximately 1 1/2 dozen biscuits. There are over 700 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File.

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Last Weeks Question

  

Last week we had two questions. The first was from Charisa, seeking a solution to smelly, clean clothes. Margaret Flower answered Charisa, this recipe worked for me. Mix 1 tablespoon of cream tartar with 3 crushed aspirin tablets to a paste with warm water. Leave on for 20 minutes then rinse area with warm water Melissa Southeren asnwered I have the perfect solution to this smelly problem. Having a pre teen son whose school shirts were developing an odour. The answer is a cheap bottle of 3% peroxide from the chemist around $2-3 dollars. Damp under the armpits then I just dab a little of the peroxide on straight from the bottle, let sit for an hour or so. Wash as normal. The smell is gone!!! and your clothes are not bleached. I use this on all his shirts now with no problems. Michelle Tucker answered If you put metho on a cotton ball and dab it onto the fabric where the smell is and leave it for 10 mins them wash the item the way you would normally wash it you will find that the smell will have gone. This really works. Yvette Markham answered I have 3 sons, each had a problem with perspiration odour. I found using Homebrand Eucalyptus stain removing soap worked really well. Wet and rub stain removing soap onto problem area. Rub well into the fabric, then leave to soak overnight. It might take a couple of applications, but should remove the odour. Gillian Vance answered Just as bicarb works in your fridge to eliminate odors so it will work in your laundry. Make a paste and then rub it directly onto the fabric, let sit for 24 hours, rubbing occasionally, adding a bit more water if it dries out. Then wash normally, the bicarb will dissolve in the wash water, and your clothes will come out clean and smelling fresh. The second question was from Anne, looking for a cheaper alternative to Foxtel. Rachael Campbell answered Digital TV is upon us and if you don't have it yet you'll be forced too by next year. Free Digital TV offers many more channels than regular free to air. Your husband might not always get to view the games he wants to but he will probably get more access than he had before Foxtel. Also, for important games, he can watch them at friends houses who may have Foxtel, make it a social event. Bindii B answered Try the nearest club/pub - they always have Foxtel sports on in the bar areas - on the big screen too! Julie Nicks answered My husband and I both barrack for an out of our State AFL team, love our footy and definitely on one wage cannot afford Foxtel etc. We found that there is an Interstate Supporters Club affiliated to our team and they have get togethers within our State for followers to watch the game together - either at a pub ( and we sip on Cokes)or at someone's place. The 'special' times are when we use up some of our Cheapskate savings and find a motel (cheap one) with Fox Footy, pack our own cool drinks and nibbles etc and watch our footy team play as well as a 'night' out from home- Whoohoo! Wendy Rice answered I have been using Optus Basic Cable TV for years and have found it is less expensive than Foxtel. Optus has the AFL included on their Sports channel. I pay $58 per month, however, I think it will sometime this year increase but I feel confident it will stay competitive. Enjoy! Fred Baxter answered The best way for you to watch AFL, is to buy a DVD Recorder, and record the programs that you cant watch live. Then play them back when it suits you. Just make sure you buy a good brand with a good warranty. Don't believe what the salesmen tell you, do some research on the forums as to which is the best, and importantly, easy to use. Philip Clarke answered I suggest to look at this website, www.afl.com.au, which lists the viewing times on TV of AFL. There are plenty of games on free to air.  Website:  www.afl.com.au

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

Penny writes "I have just joined the Cheapskates Club and I am unclear where to start. I know that I need to clear my credit card debt, but I keep seeing references to the Emergency Fund and Peace of Mind Account. I don't know where to start."

Do you have some advice or a suggestion for Penny? Click here to send your advice to Penny.

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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