End ant invasions pronto with Talon gel

I have found a truly fantastic product which gets rid of ants like no other pest treatment I've ever seen. Upon my recent invasion of ants, the faithful old borax and sugar mix was barely making a dent in their numbers. I couldn't use my own kitchen bench, guests were commenting and while I hate killing anything, it was driving the whole family crazy.  Thank goodness for Talon Ant killer gel! It works immediately (I saw ants leaving food and running to this gel), they swarmed it and as the product promises, they are gone in 48 hours. I can leave food out on the bench now and there are none to be seen. The gel works for 14 days, but at $8 for 5ml, it is totally worth it!

Eat your way to lovely, strong nails with blancmange!

If biting your nails is a problem, start growing them from the inside out, with this easy coffee blancmange recipe! All you need is:

One x 400g can coconut milk or cream. 2 tbsp gelatin 2 tsp coffee 1/4 cup hot water Sweetener of your choice, e.g. sugar, stevia or artificial sweetener

Stir the gelatin into the hot water and mix well.
In a separate bowl, put in the coffee and sweetener of your choice and stir, then tip in the can of coconut milk or cream. Pour in the hot gelatin mixture and stir all together well. Refrigerate for one hour.

The result? Delicious, smooth coffee blancmange, with the health benefits of coconut, and gelatin for nail growth!

$2 dinner nights

I am saving around $100 a month on my grocery bills, thanks to a few simple changes to our family meals. I wanted to reduce our food bill and after some thought came up with the idea of making two nights per week a '$2 Dinner Night'. For example, one night we will have something like toasted baked bean sandwiches or stuffed baked potatoes; the other I use up all the leftover vegetables in the fridge to make a self-crusting quiche. This reduces the amount of food we waste and the kids love it. Even the simplest meals can be delicious and filling and the savings we are making from our twice-weekly $2 dinners are well worth it!

Manual helps home and budget run like clockwork

I am a busy mum of two and my home manual helps my husband and I run our home efficiently, saving money and buying us both precious time to do things for ourselves.
The first section outlines the weekly and daily routines. The daily routine buys me 30 minutes to myself to exercise which makes me feel better throughout the day. My husband can also see when things get done, so he knows what to do if he is letting me have a sleep.
I let the girls watch TV until 9am so that I can complete a chore (clean the bathroom, dusting etc) each day. This helps me keep the house clean and tidy, and then I have the rest of the day to play with my children.
The next section covers dinners for the month. I have a weekly list of which dinners we will have and where to find the recipes for them. This saves time deciding what to have plus hubby or anyone who comes to stay can cook too.
The next section is shopping and supplies. I write all the ingredients needed for the month so I know exactly what I need. I keep catalogues in this section so when it’s shopping time I know where to get the specials.
I also asked for a floor layout plan of my supermarket so I don't need to walk down the aisles I don't need anything from. This saves time (especially when shopping with two young children) and money as I am not tempted by things in those aisles.
I also have a maintenance section with dates when items need maintenance done on them, eg. an oil change for the car. This means everything can be budgeted for and planned and it also helps prevent unexpected expenses, like changing gas bottles.
There is also a budget section of the manual which contains the monthly, weekly and annual budgets in it. We write down everything we spend in this section, so we can see where the extra dollars are spent!
Finally, I have an important numbers section such as insurance companies, medical centre etc so that everyone (including people who are staying) can get to them easily.
The manual doesn't always bring dollar savings, but its our way of making sure we don't waste time doing everyday household things so we maximise our family and down time.