Make every cake of soap last twice as long

To make a cake of soap last twice as long, simply paint the top or bottom with some PVA wood glue and let dry. Doing this means only one side of the soap dissolves, enabling the cake to last double the time. I paint the top side of the cakes of soap when we bring them home. Sometimes my granddaughter even glues a pretty picture to the side!

Going vegetarian has saved all round

Going vegetarian has been a great move for me in every way. For me, it was an ethical decision as I no longer wanted to eat animals but as an added bonus I have found it saves a lot of money. Pasta sauces don't need meat; beans and lentils are just as tasty and filling and cost a fraction of the price of meat. These days I make all kinds of delicious vegetarian dishes such as pasta bakes quickly and easily, for less than $1!

Fill a treasure chest with gold!

One year a friend gave me a money tin and on the side of it was printed, 'If you fill this tin with only gold coins by the time it's full you will have at least $500'. It really didn't look big enough to hold that amount of money, but I love a challenge so I decided to find out if it could!

We started in March and any gold coins we had went into the tin. Our goal was to open the tin at Christmas and use it to pay off lay-bys plus have some spending money over the Christmas break.

November rolled around and the tin wasn't quite full. However, when we opened it up and counted our 'gold' we were very surprised and extremely happy to discover we had collected $700 in our little tin!

Because of that little treasure chest of gold we enjoyed a fantastic stress-free Christmas! I was able to pay for all the presents for our immediate and extended family as well as cater for a great Christmas day feast, AND we had spending money left over for the holidays.

Now it's a family tradition. My sceptical husband happily donates all his gold coins to the tin and my 12-year-old will go hunting for gold coins just to add them to the collection! I know that I don't have to worry about the financial strain of Christmas any more as my tin has got it covered.

Cheap chocolate craving buster

Save on trips to the shops during a chocolate craving, with the most dangerous chocolate cake recipe in the world! It’s called Five Minute Chocolate Mug Cake.

Ingredients:
4 tbsp flour
4 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
1 egg
3 tbsp milk
3 tbsp oil
3 tbsp chocolate chips (optional)
Small splash of vanilla extract

Method:
Add dry ingredients to a large coffee mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips, if using them, and vanilla extract and mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for three minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip onto a plate if desired. This can serve two if you want to feel slightly more virtuous.

And why is this the most dangerous chocolate cake recipe in the world? Because we are now only five minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!