A bitter end for bitten nails

To stop biting nails for once and for all, try bitter nail polish. There are a few brands that can easily be purchased in Australia. I’m not a nail biter myself but I worked with someone who used it. The polish tasted so awful so she simply stopped putting them in her mouth and eventually the habit was broken! Check out these links for more information on available products:

https://mavala.com.au/all-products/mavala-stop https://www.priceline.com.au/manicare-bite-no-more-12-ml https://www.google.com.au/search?q=nail+polosh+for+bikint+nails&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-au&client=safari#imgrc=kVOEVCjLBbc5eM:

Bundle up your bags and don't get caught short

I have come up with a super easy way to solve my shopping bag dilemma! Like many people, I was sick of trying to organise a whole bunch of bags of different shapes and sizes in the back of the car, ready for shopping trips. I really like my car to be free from clutter, so wanted a thrifty and simple solution, I decided to use an old cosmetic purse and filled it with 99c reusable nylon bags from the supermarket. These roll up tiny and fasten with a elastic tab, making a neat and tidy little roll. I can fit eight of the tiny rolls into my cosmetic purse and this in turn fits nicely into my handbag or centre console of the car. These days I never get caught without a bag and these ones can get used over and over again. Being made of material, they can also be thrown into the washing machine if they have had meat or something drippy in them and are soon as good as new again!

A birthday card for just a few cents

We no longer spend up to $5.00 on a birthday card. Now we spend $0.15c at the very most!

All we do is take a photo of the family holding up a sign that reads 'Happy Birthday'. I have had a pile of them printed off and we simply write a personalised message on the back of each photo.

This great idea can be used on any occasion, including Christmas. So say cheese and save bread!

Break your expensive shopping habits

We've saved at least $10,000 this year alone, simply by changing our shopping habits!
 
Almost every day, we'd stop at the supermarket on our way home to buy fresh ingredients for dinner – however, we'd also buy a couple of impulse items while there. The daily grocery bill was at least $30; an extra $150 each week on top of our weekly 'big' grocery shop!
 
To reduce the number of trips we made to the supermarket, we analysed our spending habits. We looked at all the grocery items we purchased and separated them into three categories:
 
1. Perishable items that need to be used within a week or so, for example, milk, bread and vegetables.
 
2. Items that had a longer shelf life or could be stored so they last longer, for example, meat that could be frozen, canned items, pasta and rice.
 
3. Items with an extended shelf-life such as toilet paper, detergent, toothbrushes and so on. We then estimated how much of each item we would use in a year.
 
We looked at what we could make or grow ourselves, for example, bread baked in the oven or herbs and vegetables grown in the garden. That left a limited number of items we needed to buy on a weekly basis including milk, fruit and vegetables; at least until the garden was established. These were all items we could buy from the local fresh food market, avoiding a trip to the supermarket, which meant lower prices and fewer impulse buys.
 
The next step was to develop a monthly meal planner - five meals per week with two nights of leftovers or 'invention' cooking using whatever was in the fridge, freezer and cupboard. We put all the recipes in a folder and worked out a monthly shopping list based on these recipes. All non-perishable ingredients are now purchased in this monthly shop. Meat is also purchased monthly from a butcher who offers bulk purchase discounts; the meat is frozen in meal lots ready to be thawed in advance for each meal.
 
We don't tend to cook in bulk, as we enjoy the process of creating fresh meals each day, but we do cook enough to provide the next day's lunch and occasionally cook a couple of casseroles or 'one pot' dishes at the same time and put them in the fridge - the flavour seems to build and is even nicer after a day or two.
 
Our menus also change depending on the season and what produce is available at that time. We're in the process of developing 'summer', 'autumn', 'winter' and 'spring' meal plans with enough recipes to get us through each season.
 
Finally, during each monthly shop we'd buy extended shelf-life items when they were on special until we had a year's worth. It takes up some extra cupboard space but we never run out of essentials and don't have to duck out to the supermarket.
 
Our ultimate goal is to reduce our 'big' shops to once a quarter rather than monthly – this will save us even more time and money by further reducing our exposure to the supermarket.
 
We have saved $150 a week by eliminating daily shops – this adds up to $7800 annually. We've saved even more by shopping at fruit wholesalers and butchers, buying in bulk or taking advantage of specials. By changing our shopping habits, we estimate we've saved at least $10,000 this year!