These are the weird little things I think about because I have way too much time on my hands.

If you want to cut down on the grocery bill, the first thing to do is to reduce how much food gets wasted. But what does this mean in practical terms? The other day I was thinking specifically about wasting bread.

I was eating the crust end of bread so it doesn’t get thrown out (DH tells me he leaves them specially for me), and I was thinking that throwing the thin crust out doesn’t at first seem like much waste. But then I did a little maths:

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If you’re doing a lot of craft, then you will come across the need every now and then to do some tracing.

Yes you can do the whole hold it up to the window trick, but when you’re doing a lot of tracing, a light box is ideal. The problem is that commercial light boxes cost an absolute fortune, so here is a way to create a makeshift light box for free.

I actually got this idea from a wonderful little quilting blog I came across months ago, but I can’t for the life of me find it again, so I apologise for not crediting the blog and providing a link. If I find it, I’ll add it in.

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Almost all personal care products today contain parabens. Parabens are preservatives. They extend the shelf life of our products. Without preservatives, most of our skin care products and cosmetics would either have to be kept in the fridge or used within a few days.

It is the water content in products that make them susceptible to spoilage. Water makes an ideal environment for mould and bacterial growth, and when we open our skin care products, air borne spores come in contact with the water and can potentially grow (this is why pure body butters are easy to make and preserve, there is no water). Parabens have bactericidal and fungicidal properties that prevent bacterial growth once personal care products are opened, thus preserving the product and extending its shelf life.

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Opportunity cost is a fundamental economic concept that affects our everyday lives.

Opportunity cost basically refers to the opportunity that you forgo by making one decision over another. Despite it being an economic concept (and being a ‘cost’), the opportunity cost of a decision doesn’t necessarily have to be financial. In fact, we weigh up opportunity cost (often unconsciously) all the time when making decisions:

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I’ve been watching too much telly. I had a craving for one of those chicken sauces in a jar. It tempted me in the supermarket as I walked past it’s shelf.

I didn’t buy it, I decided to make my own version which was pretty easy and doesn’t include any extras like preservatives or artificial flavours.

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With 24/7 supermarkets, and the ability to buy what you need to cook and eat every day, it’s not that common these days to keep a well stocked pantry. While it may seem restricting to cook with only what you have on hand, if you keep a well stocked pantry, the variety of meals possible are endless.

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They say that one man’s junk is another man’s treasure. And when you think about it, we throw out a whole lot of ‘junk’. But what if instead of constantly buying ‘new junk’ we repurposed what we had and kept it out of landfill. Not only would we be reducing our environmental impact, we’d be saving a whole heap of money as well.

While regular recycling is a great thing to do and we should be recycling as much as possible, it’s not the perfect solution. Of course, not buying waste in the first place is a good start, but not always very practical. Repurposing things keeps them out of the waste cycle for longer.

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In a world of increasing demand for fuel, rising fuel costs and peak oil concerns, spare a thought for the petroleum products(mineral oil, petroleum jelly) that get smeared on your skin every day. Yes, there is a good reason why Vaseline rhymes with gasoline: the inventor of petroleum jelly (petrolatum) as a skin care product came up with the idea when visiting an oil rig.

Petrolatum is a mixture of hydrocarbons that repels water and is used in skin care products where a smooth texture is required (as in lipstick) but is particularly common in “moisturising” creams and lotions. Almost all ‘mainstream’ moisturising creams and lotions contain petroleum products because it is relatively cheap, it gives cream a ‘nice’ texture, and provides an effective barrier on the skin, trapping in moisture.

This barrier quality sounds great, but is actually one of it’s downfalls. Using petroleum based products is often likened to wrapping the skin in cling wrap. It effectively prevents the skin from functioning properly or ‘breathing’.

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A quick glance at your payslip will tell you what your income is. Quite often we base financial decisions on this gross amount (or even the after tax amount) rather than taking into account the cost of earnings. So what is your real hourly wage and how much does this differ from the amount printed on our pay slip?

Obviously, tax is the first thing to think about when calculating your real hourly wage, but there are also hidden costs to earning income that once taken into account can significantly reduce the amount that you actually earn.

Why is this important? While it may seem pretty obvious, it is easy to make the mistake of basing your spending on gross earnings rather than actual earnings and this leads to debt. Often when people get say a $2,000 pay rise, they spend as if they got a $2,000 pay rise, when in actual fact, the in-the-pocket amount is much less.

When making financial decisions such as calculating how much mortgage you can afford to repay, basing your repayments on your actual wage rather than your gross wage will give you a more realistic picture of what you can and can’t afford.

How to calculate your real wage – an example:

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This scrummy cake is a little different to the usual butter cake with icing. Use fresh peaches if they are available, or tinned. If you’re using tinned, keep the syrup to add to the cake.

I created this cake by taking a basic vanilla cake recipe, making some adjustments, and incorporating some ideas from a few other recipes.

I’ve always read that you have to be absolutely precise when baking, but I haven’t found this to be the case yet. If the mix doesn’t seem right, I add a little extra moisture or a little extra flour.

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