Are You Ready To Start Living Frugally?

"Waste Not Want Not" is what my dear Nan used to say. How true is that? Nan never wasted a thing. If you want to save some money in 2010 and also help to save the environment for future generations keep reading.

We are known as the "throw away society" and future generations will call us the wasteful ones. A few small changes to the way you do things and a little effort will save you money and also help stop landfill and waste.

Is there any area in your spending habits that could be cut? Could you save just $10 per week by not purchasing something that you really don't need or could do cheaper if you did it yourself. Would forward menu planning enable you to have Friday night off from cooking and instead of buying take away could you pop something into the oven from the freezer? How much would that save $20 ? $ 30? What would you do with that money?

Take a look at this...................

Let's say that you have a $200,000 mortgage (this can be worked out on credit card balances or personal loans) Over the life of the loan the interest rate would average out to be let's say 8%..... over 25 years which is about average for a mortgage these days. If you paid the $10 you saved for the week from your mortgage it would save $63.63 off your loan in accrued interest. Don't believe me? Go HERE . Enter the loan amount (whatever you like) Enter the average interest rate over the life of the loan. Enter the additional payment in the lump sum amount box ($10) and then enter "0" at Lump Sum Payment made After....... See what I mean? Now enter the $20 that you saved from that take away meal. Keep playing with it - It will open up your eyes to a whole new world of finance. Imagine being debt free so much quicker? What if you saved just $1 per day - That's $365 per year - That would save you $2307.65 off your interest. Not a bad return is it?

There are so many ways to save those $$ each week some require little or no effort but of course some will need a little - It just depends on how serious you are to save $$ - Join me in this year of frugal living and we will be one step closer to debt free living.

And now to begin. How many of use throw away our stale bread or crusts? I do have hens - But they are not great fans of processed bread and too much is not really good for them unless it is multi grain.



Clean out your bread cupboard and chop up all of the stale bits and crusts into little cubes. Lay them onto a baking paper lined tray and spread them out. Spray lightly with a little bit of olive oil spray.

Put into a hot oven after you have finished cooking the evening meal and turn the oven off. Eat Dinner & Wash Up and then remove the croutons from the oven. You will have nice crisp croutons.

Allow to cool and place in air tight containers. Cost = $0. You were going to throw them out anyway. Energy Cost = $0 - Oven was off and the remaining heat would have been wasted. Savings = 150g box of Croutons from Coles is $3.98. An average slice of bread weighs 30g so just 5 crusts and you have saved $3.98. Croutons are fantastic in Caesar salads and Soups.

I spend a little time every week going through the local supermarket catalogues on-line. I write down a list of items that I use regularly that are on special and buy enough for at least 3 months. I plan to do a menu plan on a fortnightly basis and will try to use my pantry foods as much as possible and this would include those items that I have stocked up on. You can save lot's of $$ by buying like this. I also buy items that I would not normally buy if I think that we will use them and if they are on special. Like these mini french sticks. 2 sticks in a bag last week for 99c. I bought 2 packs to make into garlic bread.

Cut each stick into slices cutting 3/4 of the way down but leaving enough so that the stick stays together.

Allow around 2 level tablespoons of butter or margarine per stick and sprinkle garlic flakes over it (Or fresh garlic if you prefer). Around 1/2 teaspoon per tablespoon is enough.

Whip with a knife.

Spread between slices and then wrap in foil. Freeze until required. When you are ready to eat your garlic bread open up the foil to expose the top of the stick and bake in a moderate oven until the butter has melted and the top is crispy. I estimate that each loaf has cost 99c to create. The cost for a Coles brand stick is $3.65. That a $2.66 saving per loaf - A total saving of $10.64. It takes about 15 - 20 minutes to prepare 4 loaves.

And to show you a little sewing - I created this little bag yesterday. The doctor has put me on some medication in a big box and I didn't want to carry it around in my hand bag in it's box so created this lovely little draw string bag to keep it in. It is made from a little stitchery designed by my friend Vicki and a fat 1/8th of fabric Plus the lining and a little ribbon. I now have something pretty to carry it around in for hardly any cost at all. The tip here is that little stitcheries and scraps of fabric can be made into beautiful items with very little effort.

Until next time,

HUGS