Thursday thrift....

Don't spend-save. Very much the message that is out there in the current financial climate. Question is-if you are on a low income ( and I know many who are) just HOW do you save? Every cent is counted for, allocated, devoured by day to day expenses. Right?

I say that you can, indeed save-even if you are on the barest of margins with whatever source your income takes.

Get yourself one of those money tins-the type which can only be opened with a can opener-they can be purchased cheaply at any of the $2 type shops ( consider it an investment). It is important that you cannot open the container easily!

Every payday put $5 in there-more if you can. Do this BEFORE grocery shopping-you really won't miss it! If your grocery budget is $150/week-then put the money in the tin and THEN do your shopping. Choose a couple of cheaper products and you will find that it is easy to do without that $5.

Even if you can only allocate that $5/week for 1 year-at the end of the year you will have $260. Enough to treat you and/or your family to some thing special!

Doggone it.....

Two of our family members are of the canine variety and as such a portion of our food bill belongs to them! In recent years we have been purchasing a "chub" variety to add to their dry food each day. One of the dogs ( His Lordship Turbo) has very sensitive skin and must eat all natural food with no artificial additives-otherwise he has skin reactions requiring medication!

Above: His Lordship Turbo on the left, and his subordinate Indy ( aka Potter!)



Today we purchased 6 kilos of pet mince ( $2-50/kilo) and added it to 2kg of pasta ($1-20/kilo), 2 kilo of shredded zucchini ( homegrown), 2 kilo shredded carrots ( homegrown), 1 head of minced garlic ( home grown) and 1/2 jar vegemite ( $2). Boiled up in a few litres of water it made 6 weeks worth of wet food for the two dogs ( 1 cup/dog/day in addition to the dry food).

Considering that we were paying $6/week for the wet food this homemade version is quite a saving!