Hello Cheapskaters, Welcome to this week's newsletter and I hope you have all had a fantastic week. My week has been busy, as always, and so much fun. There has been so much going on here at Cheapskates Central that Wayne and I ran away over the weekend! We left the kids at home and went away with friends for the weekend and it was so much fun.  We celebrated my friend Debbie's upcoming birthday with a delicious dinner at a very quaint country pub about and hour from Melbourne. Karen, the cook, served up a wonderful meal, so much nicer than any restaurant meal I have had in a long time. The MasterChef  team could learn from her! We stayed over, in cute little cabins, rather than drive home. I woke a couple of times through the night, to rain on a tin roof and the sound of the creek running outside our window. The next morning was cold,  wet and misty, and perfectly suited to our mountain surrounds. After a hearty and delicious breakfast (included in our room rate of $65) Wayne and I drove over the mountains, through the drizzle and fog, to Marysville. I spent a lot of time in Marysville growing up and the memories of walking to the falls, of fast trips to hospital with a broken arm and of diving head first into the blackberries to get out of the way of a speeding car all came flooding back.  We were in stitches laughing at all my escapades. We enjoyed a lovely coffee and a rather scrumptious chocolate éclair before we continued on our way.  My brother and sister-in-law needed a hand with some building work, and while it was pouring with rain, neither Wayne nor Greg wanted to stop.   A huge tarp thrown over area they were working, held up by some borrowed tent poles, meant they could get stuck in and get their job finished. Mind you, it only rained while they wanted to work. As soon as they would give in and stop, out the sun would come. I think Murphy must have been watching them. In spite of the rain, floor went down, walls went up and roof went on and the job was finished and we toddled off home, thoroughly exhasuted. As much as I enjoyed running away, I enjoyed getting home. It was so nice to climb into my own bed and snuggle down that night, knowing everyone I loved was close by. Reading this week's emails, I think MasterChef has competition from Cheapskaters too. It's nice to know the recipes in the  Recipe File are becoming favourites. "Thanks for the great website, have a meal in the crockpot from the Recipe File, sure it will be nice.  Faye Butterworth "Wow, my husband and I just made your Lemon Chicken Pasta for dinner tonight...DELICIOUS! Sitting out on the deck with a glass of wine and such a delicious meal made us not feel like  Cheapskates at all! Thanks for all the great recipes. I'm trying the Anzac Biscuits this weekend."   Larissa Brisbane "I made a batch of Barossa Rock Cakes yesterday, thinking they would be good for lunchboxes. Kids came home and half the batch disappeared. Hubby came in and there went the rest of them. Next time I'll make a double batch and get half into the freezer straight away, these look like they will be a family favourite. Thanks for sharing the recipe."  Joy Stanley 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 Amanda Johnston.  Amanda has won a one-year membership to the Cheapskates Club for submitting a winning tip. Simple Gathered Scarves I wanted to get some trendy new, flouncy, gathered up scarves recently but went out and found most to be around $30 to $40 each. So I came home and dragged out all of my old long scarves. I then picked out some of the longest and hand stitched some thin elastic along the length (like tram tracks).  With some I used similar coloured cotton and used big tacking stitches and then just pulled them up and tied knots. With the longest ones I used two 'U' shaped rows of tacking threads - one at either end. Voila - new and trendy scarves for free! I also found a couple at op shops for $2 each and did the same. Recycling in action.  Congratulations Amanda, 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

Four Easy Rice Dishes Rice is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's population. As a grocery item, it's one of the cheapest and most versatile  things in the supermarket. As a menu item, it will zoom to the top of your family's favourite foods when you serve these quick and easy rice dishes. Rice is the base for thousands of sweet and savoury dishes and is so versatile it can be steamed, fried, baked, shaped into rissoles, even used as a pie crust. Rice features heavily in my menu and so I buy it in 10kg bags (long grain) and 5kg bags (Arborio and Jasmine), saving up to 50%. I store my rice in Tupperware containers in the freezer. This kills off any weevils/pantry moths that may be in it when I buy it. When I move it from the freezer to the pantry I add a couple of bay leaves to the canister, as a weevil/moth deterrent. Mushroom Rice Ingredients: 1 cup uncooked long-grain rice 1 pkt French onion soup mix 300ml water 300ml good beef stock (homemade or use a tin of beef broth) 125g finely sliced mushrooms 1/4 cup butter Method: Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Combine rice, onion soup, water, beef stock, mushrooms and butter in a well greased 20cm square casserole dish. Cover, and bake for one hour. Serves four as a main, six as a side dish. Edith's Spanish Rice Ingredients: 2 tablespoons oil 2 tablespoons chopped onion 1 1/2 cups uncooked white rice 2 cups chicken stock 1 cup chunky salsa 1/2  cup grated cheese Method: Heat oil in a large, heavy fry pan over medium heat. Stir in onion, and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Mix rice into fry pan, stirring often. When rice begins to brown, stir in chicken stock and salsa. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes, until liquid has been absorbed. Sprinkle with grated cheese, turn heat off and let dish sit five minutes before serving. Mexican Chicken Rice Bake Ingredients: 1 1/3 cups uncooked white rice 2 2/3 cups water 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, diced into 2cm chunks 2 cups grated low fat tasty cheese 2 cups grated low fat cheddar cheese 1 can cream of chicken soup 1 can cream of mushroom soup 1 medium onion, finely diced 375g jar mild salsa Method: Place rice and water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for twenty minutes. Meanwhile, place chicken breast into a separate saucepan, and fill the pan with water. Bring to a boil, and then turn heat to low and cook covered for ten minutes, or until done. Remove chicken from water. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Lightly grease an oven-proof lasagne dish. In a medium bowl, combine tasty and cheddar cheeses. In a separate bowl, mix together cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup, onion, and salsa. Layer half of the rice, half of the chicken, half of the soup and salsa mixture, and half of the cheese mixture in the prepared dish. Repeat layers, ending with cheese. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until bubbly. Note  This dish uses two cans of soup. Both can be replaced with Cream of Anything Soup Mix from our Recipe File, reducing the cost and the sodium in this recipe.  Cath Creamy Rice Pudding Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups water 3/4 cup uncooked white rice 2 cups milk, divided 1/3 cup white sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 egg, beaten 2/3 cup sultanas 1 tablespoon butter 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract Method: In a medium saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil. Add rice and stir. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. When rice is done, combine 1 1/2 cups cooked rice, 1 1/2 cups milk, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup milk, beaten egg and raisins. Cook 2 minutes more, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and stir in butter and vanilla. Serve warm. 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  Penny, a new Cheapskater who wasn't sure where to start. Derryn Whyte answered Pay off all your debts in order of highest interest rate down. Once debt free then put a couple of thousand aside in case you need a new appliance and I say need not want. Every time you want to dip in to it remind yourself that it would be there in case you needed to travel urgently for sick family and friends etc.  Vicki Judd answered Once you have set up a budget and cut back on spending where you can, put a little aside in a savings account, passbook accounts are good, or the Bendigo Bank and some Credit Unions have Christmas club accounts so you can't get the money out except near Christmas. Put all your loose change into a jar and each month when the credit card bills come in pay that plus the minimum payment off the card with the highest balance. When that card is paid off, pay the minimum balance from that card plus the minimum balance from the next highest card, plus the loose change off the next card and keep doing that till the debts are cleared. Then that money can go into the emergency and peace of mind accounts to build up a healthy bank balance. I've managed to save a healthy amount while on a pension by not having credit cards and banking every week plus banking my change.  Dani Upton answered It is important to have some savings aside for emergencies, and a little bit for peace of mind. Paying off your credit card is great until your washing machine blows up, or your car breaks down and you need to pay for repairs on that credit card, meaning you pay more interest and add to your debt. Try putting aside even just small amounts for both while still making the credit card your focus. You will be surprised how quickly even just $20 a week can add up to some significant savings!   Amber  Skropeta answered I suggest reading Scott Pape's "The Barefoot Investor" (borrowing from the Library will save you around $30). He explains about a method called Debt-Snowball. It helped me go from being $20k in debt, to having saved a deposit for my first home in just 3 years, and I found his advice easy to understand.   Editors  Note:  The Debt Snowball payment plan is an integral part of the Dave Ramsay debt reduction program .  Cheapskaters use the Payment Push to pay down debt quickly.  Platinum members can login to download the Payment Push worksheet and instructions to use.  Cath Anna Clarke answered I have just been through the same thing. The first thing I did was a budget! Look at money you have spare and put it straight into the account that you're paying the most interest on (likely to be your credit card or overdraft accounts etc). Now I've paid all my debts off - including car and Uni debts (it can be done!) and started putting the spare money into the highest interest savings account I could find.  TIP:  if you are open to changing banks check out other banks offering to take on your credit card debt with lower interest for up to 6 months - sometimes even at 0% - but make sure you pay it off in the period, otherwise you'll be hit with a high interest rate when the period is over. Good luck.  Bindii B answered Penny - congratulations - you have just started on an amazing journey! Get that credit card paid off as quick as you can by regular payments (and add any extra savings you find). At this stage 'think' of the empty 'credit' it as an absolute emergency 'backstop' until you get your emergency fund up at running. You'll discover that you don't miss that credit card payment money then you can whack that into your emergency fund and happy, happy, joy, joy - interest is earned and then banks pays YOU, instead of you paying the bank!   Amie Etheridge Hi Penny! I recently joined too and had the same problem. I'm in a position where opening other accounts etc is just not practical for us (self employed with lots of high interest debt). First things first - sit down at the grocery section and check where you can make savings (on a side note, things like washing powder, cleaning products, etc can be purchased in bulk from the likes of Bunnings or vacuum shops - this helped our budget HEAPS!). When you've eliminated everything you can, create a chart on the wall with the amount of debt you have, in $50 slots. Then each time you put $50 off a debt you can cross it off - after a while it almost becomes a game to cross spots off. You may want to do it in $3000 blocks if your debt is more than that (that's what we're doing.) Doing this we've managed to pay  $1500 off one credit card (also look at changing to a 0% card for a period of however long - it really adds up with little effort!). Doing this one simple trick alone will help you to pay that debt off, and you'll soon start cutting back on things just to put together an extra $50! Good luck and I hope you enjoy the site as much as I do! P.S. Check out the Forums - very worth your while =]   Editor's Note:  You'll save even more on cleaning products if you make your own. They are easy, safe and economical. Go to Homemade Cleaning Products in the Tip Store for recipes, ingredients needed and instructions. Cath Presley Dostal answered My husband helped me and showed me how to pay little bits off every bill and how, when you had paid one in full, you put that money onto another bill. I did this and now have caught up with all bills. I have worked out a system where I pay all my bills in advance by working out how much they are and adding10% (for price rises).  I then put the money in separate envelopes until the bill is due. Even if the bill is slightly higher than what you have put away you only have a little bit to add to it. I do this with my insurances, regos, power, phone, petrol and everything. I now have spare money to put away into a holiday fund.

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

Suzanne asks "I am going to a wedding at the end of next month for a friend of the family, and I understand it is custom to give a gift worth the same amount as your meal. The problem is it is a very flash wedding and I have heard that the reception venue is charging the bride and groom $160 per person. So for my husband and I to attend that would be a $320 gift! Any suggestions on an impressive gift for a lot less?"

Do you have the answer? If you have a suggestion or idea for Suzanne 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. Click here to 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