Make extra money with your own amazon store.

We have found it very easy about 10 minutes work to set up our own amazon store and we make a small commission about 4% from amazon each time someone visits our store and buys a product. So far our store has just a few of our favourite books and handy gadgets. We plan to add more blooks and products. We will add them as we come across products that we have personally found useful and worthwhile. Here is the link to our store:

Teach you Kids to Save Money.

                                                             Celyne's when she was 3 year old.

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We started to teach our 5 year old daughter about saving when she was about 1 year old. We have opened a bank account at the Commonwealth bank for her. She now has a few thousand dollars in savings. The bank gave us a money box for saving coins in the shape of a platypus. She also has two piggy banks.  One of the coins is for coins from overseas that we bring home from our travels.  Sometimes she play shops with the foreign coins  and with her animal toys as customers. The other piggy-bank is for Australian coins.  

We pay her a small allowance. She can save some in the piggy bank or the platypus bank. When the platypus bank is full we take the contents to the Bank and deposit the cash into her account.
The piggybank is for short term savings for toys or occasional treats. The bank account is for longterm savings for her future studies at University. The account earns a good interest rate.
By encouraging our daughter to "spend some for fun but save some too", we are helping to prepare her for a prosperous and happy future.                                       

                                                  

If life gives you lemons... Make lemonade!

If you have adult taste buds you will probably enjoy bitter lemon drinks. We have a lemon tree in our garden and so we decided to experiment with home made lemonade. We just cut the lemons in half, removed the seeds. Then threw the lemons peels, pith and all in the blender with some water and a generous amount of sugar. It is the pith that gives it the bitter taste. You will need to experiment a little to get the taste just right. Keeping in mind that commercial soft drinks contain about 16 teaspoons of sugar in each can. It takes a lot of sugar to make it taste just like the commercial product. At least with home made lemon drinks there are no artificial colours or preservatives and you are in control of how much sugar you add.       

Blend on high for a few minutes then pour into a nice jug and refrigerate for a few hours. The sediment will sink to the bottom leaving a tasty delicious and very thrifty drink on top. Serve with ice cubes in a tall glass' It's delicious on a hot summers day and full of vitamins.

Save money on green vegetables. Our Silver beet (also known as Swiss Chard.)

Our silver beet is growing extremely well in just 2-3 months. Our seedlings are now fully grown. They are providing an abundance of fresh organic silver beet. The leaves just keep growing. We expect them to do so for several more months.

The challenge now is to find some healthy tasty ways to prepare it. We did some on line research and discovered that young tender leaves can be used in salads as an alternatives to lettuce. More mature leaves and stalks can be cooked quickly in the microwave or steamed and served with lemon juice and olive oil. "Spinakopita" (Greek style Spinach pie can be made with silver beet, ricotta cheese, eggs, filo pastry and is delicious. If you have blender you can make a delicious pesto sauce for pasta with some walnuts, olive oil and feta cheese simply blend them together. Warm a little in the microwave and serve on pasta. Curried chisk peas with silverbeet is also a frugal and tasty combination.

Silver beet is absolutely packed with vitamins and minerals, especially if it is eaten fresh. If you have a juice extractor try making a juice blend with silver beet and apple for a power packed start to the day.

                                                                 
                                                                                                

Save money burn fire wood for heat.

                   Wood Heat                          

                                                   

 

A big advantage of living in a rural area is that wood heating is often a viable option. Firewood can usually be purchased more cheaply in rural areas. If you are prepared to be a little resourceful it can sometimes be obtained virtually free of charge. Our friends Lita ans Sam have a large wood heater in their home which keeps them warm and cosy in the winter months. We have some experience of wood heating because recently we lived for 18 months in Condobolin N.S.W. in the house with a wood heater. We found that we need to purchase around $200 worth of firewood to get us through the winter, however we also made use of scrap wood found around the place. Wood can also be obtained from state forest at very low cost. A license to gather firewood from State forest can be obtained on line from relevant state government department. To gather firewood you will need a robust trailer or pick up truck. Chain saws are dangerous. If you do not have the necessary experience knowledge and skill to operate, a chain saw it is strongly advisable to do a formal training course at your local TA FE. In a small town there is also likely to be a wide variety of sources of scrap wood available. from , For example from old pallets, small factories and construction sites. You might like to place an ad in your local newspaper, "Scrap wood removed free of charge". It is important to avoid burning chemical treated , painted or damp wood. If you obtain green freshly cut wood you will need to cut it, store it for 6-12 months in an airy dry place before burn it. It is even possible to make briquettes using waste paper by soaking them and them compressing into handy blocks with a special press, and them allowing to dry thoroughly, this process is of course a little labour intensive. If you buy a house without a wood heater,

                                             

 

 will need to invest a fairly large amount for installing good quality wood heater to make efficient use of your wood. This investment will pay for itself in just a few winters because of the savings on heating cost. We found that our stove with a window at the front gave an abundance of cheery light and radiant heat and was usually more entertainment and relaxing to watch than T.V. The stove also produced a steady supply of wood ash which is useful source of potash and minerals for the garden. There is a certain art in lighting and managing your stove which comes with experience. It is certainly a comforting sight to have a large pile of firewood ready for the next 2 or 3 winter particularly it has been obtained at negligible cost. It means that you have to worry about a heating bills. If you are living in a rural area and you are planning a new house or renovations a wood heater is certainly well worth considering. 
           
There are thousands of other wood stove  on amazon to choose from to suit your situation.  We recommend you find out more about wood heating by reading this book;
            

                                   

Frugal travel: how to save money on luggage and on Airport transfers.

Singapore Changi Airport.http://youtu.be/uJD4keVZwds
The real secret of happy frugal  travelling is to take the absolute minimum of luggage. It is even possible to manage with just 7-10 kg of cabin luggage if you are really thoughtful and disciplined. If you travel with a budget airline that charges extra for checked luggage you will save a lot of money and time if you don't have any checked luggage at all. Provided you are able to easily carry your own luggage and are willing to do a little homework it is often possible to save a lot of money on airport transfers by using public transport. You can research frugal airport transfer arrangements online .or by making a phone enquiry or at the enquiry counter at the railway station.

For example, recently we discovered how to save a lot of money getting to and from the Melbourne Airport. Suppose for instance you have arrived by train from the country at the Southern Cross station in down town Melbourne and have a plane to catch. The options would seem to be. Catch a taxi for around $50 or catch the Skybus direct to the Airport. The Skybus costs about $15 per person so for a family of 3 thats $45.

In fact under these circumstances  it is possible to get to the Airport free of charge. This is because your V-line country rail ticket includes  use of the suburban network for at least 1 hour after arriving in the city.

The trick is to catch a suburban train to Broadmeadows station and then catch the 701 public bus to the airport. The 701 bus will drop you just across the road from the Tiger Airlines terminal. You will need to walk a
a few steps from there ro all the other terminals.

If you are travelling from Northern Victoria the country trains stop at Broadmeadows you will save both time and money by hopping off the train there. Your ticket to Broadmeadows will be up to $5 cheaper than if you travelled all the way in to the downtown station at Southern Cross. It is only about 20mins to the airport from Broadmeadows by bus.

By travelling light and catching public transport to the airport you will save time and money.

Save money on entertainment: Read a book!

                                          Reading can be the most frugal of all pastimes!

Here in Australia it is possible to read a lot of books without spending big at the bookshop.

Here's how: first stop is your local public library. Here in Portland our local municipal library offers books for children and adults, magazines, cds and dvd's can also be borrowed. The librarians are friendly and helpful. There are comfortable chairs, There is even free internet access and PCs to use.

Of  course you will come across some books that you will want to read over and over again. All homes should have a library of their own, We recently came across a relevant quote: "Rich people have big libraries poor people have big tv's".

The challenge is how to build up a nice private book collection without breaking the bank. The answer is to buy good quality second hand books from garage sales and thrift shops. Another alternative is to buy books from surplus library stocks. Of course you will need a lot of time to find the book you really want this way. Used book stores are also a great option if you are prepared to spend a little morecash and want to save time. If the collection grows unmanageably large you can always have a garage sale and sell them and get most of your cash back or maybe even make a small profit. Many  people also make a little extra cash re-selling used books on Amazon.

Our preference nowadays is to buy hard back books rather than paper backs. A good quality hard-back book will last for centuries if cared for. Most paper backs will fall apart after a few decades. The hard backs look so much more impressive on the shelf and are a good long term investment. We are quite proud of our "Great books of the western world", collection there is at least 10 years worth of serious reading there, the whole collection of more than 50 beautifully bound books can be picked up on Amazon at a very reasonable price.

                                             

                                                                           
A good quality reading lamp is a worthwhile investment and consumes a lot less power than a TV or PC.  Of course If you read in the day-time of  sunshine is free of charge!

                                        

Another challenge is how to combine an interest in travelling with an interest in reading. We always travel with at least one good book and swap with travellers we meet. In some English speaking countries you will find books cheaply and easily, but in some other countries it is more difficult. The 21st solution here is really the e-book. It is possible to download a lot of classics for free and a small external harddrive weighing around 100 grams can contain 1000's of e-books.

 

It is not really  necessary to buy a Kindle or e-book reader if you travel with a netbook or laptop you can download the Kindle for PC software free of charge, Many public libraries now have e-book collections so it is possible to "borrow" e-books these days without even visiting the library.

There are some excellent websites for readers, book-lovers and collectors. For example reading-the-great-books offers guidance and reading suggestions on the great books. Perhaps it is best to just follow ones interests. If you find an author you enjoy read all that authors books. If you find an interesting subject read more about it.   Before too long you will discover you are smarter, wealthier and wiser.