My Mum caught me freezing chicken stock into ice cubes at the weekend. 'Another Simple Savings idea?' she grinned. 'I used to do that years ago, just as my Mum taught me!' That's just part of the appeal of Simple Savings, I told her - it teaches you to get back to basics. Years ago, people had to make use of everything - nothing was wasted and everything got recycled. Growing up in the 70's as I did, people were still doing that, but thirty-odd years down the track, these simple and effective methods have faded away to be replaced by convenience products and people either forget to go back to basics, or were never taught them in the first place. That's why Simple Savings is so valuable to young Mums, students, flatters and thirty-somethings like me.
The Vault still continues to amaze me. I laughed out loud a few days ago, when I read a huge advertisement in a magazine charging an exorbitant amount to buy a 'wonder book' full of the many uses for vinegar. They obviously have never seen the Vault! All the knowledge you need for hundreds of uses for vinegar is right there. Which reminds me...
I was cleaning the bathroom last week while chatting to Mum and said 'Darn, Noel's run out of olive oil!' She looked at me a bit funny and I explained that the little dish of olive oil that I keep his razor in to stop it going blunt needed topping up. I remembered putting this in my blog when I first did it and decided to go back and check how long that razor has lasted so far. Check it out, it was on June 22nd - four months ago! He's still using that same razor blade; before my dish of oil, he was going through a blade every week or two.
The tips in the latest free petrol saving tipsheet have been working really well for me too. I can't believe how much longer I can leave my car between fill-ups just by keeping the air conditioner turned off and winding down the window instead, you would be amazed! Not a day goes by when I don't find myself utilizing at least one tip from the Vault; the only thing is, there are so many to remember that I don't always recall them properly. A few days ago, Ali came running out, shouting 'Mum - there's something wrong with the dishwasher!' I went to investigate and found soap suds all over the kitchen floor. 'What have you done now?' asked my Mum as she popped in for her daily coffee. 'Oh, I ran out of dishwasher powder and I couldn't remember what Simple Savings said to replace it with, so I used washing up liquid, but I'm sure it didn't do this last time!' I said sheepishly. 'Tut, don't you remember - it was washing powder, you told me that last time!' scolded Mum. I had to chuckle to myself - she's learning!
