Frugal but tasty, oats for breakfast.

  Try oats is by for a lowest cost tastiest and healthiest breakfast. Put the recipe is simple one   cup of oats and 3 cups of water in a large bowl stir and cook in the microwave for 10 minutes. Serve with a little milk and honey. Porridge doesn't have to be boring. There are many tasty variations possible.                                                                      

                                                                             

For example add sliced fruits apple or banana. Add spices cinnamon, cloves cardamon (if you like it spicy). Dates, sultanas or any other dry fruits can be added. Try  different kinds of honey Tasmanians leather wood my favourite. You can add some skim milk powder before cooking for extra protein to build more muscles.

Microwave cooking is the best way to go because it is automatic and gets consistent result every time. Preparation takes less than a minutes and you can take a shower while it cooks. The healthy benefits of oats are numerous in particular it contains lots of soluble fibre that can actually reduce your cholesterol's.

 

     To encourage your kids to like porridge try reading then " Goldilocks and the three bears).

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Save Money on Transportation

Here in Australia most families have a car and many families have 2 cars.
The cost of owning and running a car is accepted by many as just the necessary overhead cost of everyday life.

However when you stop to consider all of the expense involved it starts to make sense to consider alternative transport arrangements.

We sold our car in August last year just before we went overseas.
We certainly don't miss the depreciation. service charges, maintenance, fuel, tyres, insurance, registration, parking charges, speeding tickets and carwash expenses. Many people spend 20% or more of there income on these car expenses. So in effect they are working one day a week just for the car,

For the last 3 months we have managed fine without a car. We Ride the bus. everyday or two and walk or ride a bicycle around sometimes. The supermarket and other local business will deliver goods for a small fee. We calculate that in about 6 months without a car we will save enough to go overseas for a month or so.

We have noticed that we are getting a lot fitter since we sold the car.

We are fortunate that our daughters school is just 5 minutes walk from home. My daughter's first day walking to school.

It is true that we have to plan our outings and shopping a little more carefully but this is a small inconvenience really. We have found that travelling interstate is much easier and cheaper by public transport. It is also possible to hire a car or even a truck very easily  for a day or two at reasonable cost.

In recent months I have noticed an increasing number of folks zipping around town on motorised bicycles. These bikes have motors of less than 200 Watt power output and can be ridden without registration
license or insurance just like a bike. These bikes can have electric or petrol motors and are certainly a low cost way to travel that may become more fashionable soon particularly amongst the more intrepid retirees.

Electric Bikes are an interesting alternative. 

If you are considering a motorised bike you should investigate rules for your state, the 200 watt petrol motor conversion kit are a low cost ($385)option compared to the electric kits. There are some stylish 48cc "Easy Rider" style choppers about.

It is possible to spend thousands of dollars on a top of the range push bike.

However I bought my machine for just $30 at a thrift shop and it goes just fine.  In summer time it is just a 15 minute ride from our home to some really magnificent scenic beaches and fishing spots. It makes more sense to me to spend a day at the beach than a day working to support a gas-guzzler.

For some readers it may be more practical to buy a bicycle or conversion kit online. There is a very large range available on Amazon.com for example.

Save Money bake your own Muffins.

We made a batch of delicious and healthy muffins recipes available on line choose one that's uses vegetables oil. We use olive oil not batter  and  because it is good for the heart and health. You can use Any oil that's polyunsaturated and high in omega-3. We bought some nonstick muffin pan from Safeway. Muffins can be made with almost infinite variety of ingredients using whatever fruit you have on hand or in season. We blend the fruit with the oil and other liquids ingredients and mix with the dry ingredients.

 

 

We like to add lots of cinnamon and ginger. We used baking powder because its quick and easy.   You can also try using yeast. Use the making dough, cycle on your bread machine if you want lower sodium content. If you have you oven going to roast a chicken.There is is room for a couple of trays of muffins.

Once you start baking your own, you will never wants to buy baked goods from the supermarket again. Save money with 1 minute bread.
Malaysian's flat bread.

How to save money on your water bills.

How we save money on the water bills. We have installed a 5000 litres rain water tank in our back garden which has substantially reduced our use of town water and hence our water bill. We use the rain water for laundry and bathroom as well as on the garden. As the town water here in Portland contains quite a lot of minerals as added bonus is that we can use best laundry detergent. We find that rain water actually taste a lot better than town water and prefer to filter it and boil for tea and coffee.

 

 

 

The decisions to install a rainwater tank depends on a number of factors including the quality and cost of town water. The annual rainfall in your area and the area of your roof.Do you have a suitable space in your property for a tank? Do you access to spare cash or low interest finance? Do you pay high rates of income tax on your income? Are government grants or rebates available? Is an experienced plumber available at reasonable cost?

Our rain water tank has prove to be worthwhile for us. We like the peace of mind that comes from knowing we have a few thousand litres in reserve in case of  water interruptions or restrictions to the town supply. We are considering adding some additional storage tanks to our system. Gardening and plant more vegetables.
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How to save money on the hot water and heating.

We Installed a gas boost Solar hot water system in 2009. Our gas bill for70 days during summer was $48 consisting of $23 service to property charges and $25 for actual consumption.

 

 

Solar energy provides most of the heat required for hot water with gas boosting only required occasionally as a result our gas bill in manageable. In winter we use a gas space heater in the receiving room which provides adequate heating for the household because we have good insulation in the ceiling of the house.

 

                                                    Energy choices at the home.

Solar Panels to Generate eletricity.

We installed a 1.5 Kw Solar Panels (photo voltaic cells). On our roof a few years back in 2009, together with an inverter, an installation cost it was a sizable investment at the time, but it has proved to be worthwhile as the price of electricity continues to increase and the equipment has proved to be maintenance free.

 

 

Today is a cloudy day but the panels are still producing 500 watts. Electricity now cost around 26 cents a KWH, so each day the system generates about between $1 to $2 worth of power.

 

 

 

If we generate more power then we are using the power is fed back into the grid and we receive A$0.23 per kWh.

                                                                                    
If you are planning to sttle down for a few years and have some ready cash investing in your own solar system is something to consider. Particularly if you are fed up paying high electric bills.

Save money on toys.

It is certainly possible and very tempting to spend a small fortune on toys for the kids.
However  thrifty parents would rather save that cash for future education expenses and travel adventures. 

The secret is the 3Rs ,"reduce, reuse, recycle" .
Firstly reduce, don't buy a lot of cheap toys that will break within days but invest in a small quantity of good quality toys. It is also possible to borrow toys from the toy library here. We also save on batteries by using rechargeable batteries.
                          

Secondly reuse:  simple toys can be used in all sorts of elaborate ways which will develop your childs imagination. For instance our daughter has a collection of soft toys that star in all sorts of "pretending
games". She plays school, circus, olympics and pirates with them. A large collection of wooden blocks is also used in lots of different games. 
Thirdly:  Recycle we buy almost all of our toys at thrift shops and garage sales for a tiny fraction of the new price. We have fun making all sorts of toys out of recycled material like plastic bottles and cardboard boxes.   

One of our daughters favourite toys is "Robot Dog" he cost only $1 at a garage sale. He is missing an ear but still is a brave and very economical watch dog. Robot dog in action.
If you want occasionally  buy a brand new toy as a special treat you will find the widest choice and the cheapest prices online.
                           
Remember buy only safe age appropriate toys make sure there are no small parts or other choking hazards. A dog toys for sale at amazon.com buy now.
                                   
It is much wiser to spend more quality time with your child reading and playing with simple toys than to spend that time working to buy expensive toys.