26
Feb
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.
25
Feb
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.
24
Feb
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’.
23
Feb
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:
22
Feb
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.
19
Feb
Do you have a food blog that you love to read? While I’ve come across a couple, I’m always on the look out for new food blogs, especially Australian ones. In my more cashed up (pre-mortgage) years, I used to love food magazines. Now I can indulge in my recipe cravings with free food blogs.
Below are some of my favourite food blogs. For me, the key to a wonderful food blog is the photography. Some of the photos on the blogs below are so professional and very, very tempting.
18
Feb
I thought that aprons were a bit passé, but lately I need to wear an apron all the time. All my clothes have grease marks on them from cooking and my hand-eye coordination seems to have gone out the window, because I even need an apron on while I eat. I love the cafe style aprons, but an apron without a bib just won’t cut it.
I always get a little carried away with these collections. I thought there would be only a couple of apron variations but 300 tutorials later, I’ve realised that that’s not the case. Every time I thought “last one” I came across a new design or a new design element that had to be included. The up side to this is that there is a variety of techniques and designs that can be used as inspiration and mixed and matched.
17
Feb
At some point a couple of years ago, I became aware of the chemicals in our personal care products. I can’t remember how, but I got really interested in the subject, so interested in fact I spent six months researching everything to do with skin care, including talking to manufacturers about starting my own private line of natural skin care products.
Recently I rediscovered my draft 60 page eBook I wrote on natural skin care and thought I would share some of the information I gleaned from doing the research.
It’s important to know what we’re putting on our skin and in our bodies. Up to 60% of what goes onto our skin gets absorbed into our bodies (that’s why nicotine patches work)! I thought I would start with the very common ingredient: Sodium Lauryl Sulphate / Sodium Laureth Sulphate.
16
Feb
While these days you can have multiple savings accounts without incurring extra fees, it’s often easier to keep all your savings in one account. But if you’re working towards a variety of savings goals, how do you keep track of your progress towards each goal?
I like to use an excel spreadsheet to allocate various savings amounts to each savings goal and monitor my progress. This sheet forms part of my budget. Below is a tutorial on creating a savings spreadsheet similar to the one that I use. This spreadsheet may seem a little complicated, but once it’s set up it is easy to use, you just plug in your numbers ever month the formulas take care of the rest. I like to update mine every time I do any online banking.
Of course, you can create a much simpler spreadsheet, or just use an exercise book and a pen, which is how I used to track my savings for years before moving to excel.
15
Feb
This is a quick omelette that is very tasty. DH insists that it must be served with grilled Turkish bread, but a well dressed salad adds some greens to the plate, the vinegar cutting through the fattiness of the chorizo. Chorizo isn’t exactly a diet sausage, but it is oh so good. Serves 2
This year's theme: The Step by Step Guide from Money Blues to Savings Success. Find out more
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© Frugal and Thriving 2009
