As a new member, I have saved $150 in my first week, thanks to the $21 Challenge! I thought I was careful with money until I discovered this site and realised how I could further improve my spending habits. I decided to give the $21 Challenge a go and it is now Thursday and I haven't been to the shops yet!

I have become a problem solver due to the fact that I must use what is in the fridge/freezer and pantry. I nearly buckled when my four year old wanted 'pink milk' and I had run out of Nestle Quick but no problem in the end. I found some rose pink food colouring and with just one drop - presto, pink milk! It does take some preparation because you are cooking from scratch but it is all worth it when your family tells you that the dinner you made tonight was the best, and is there any more?

My other dilemma was to use the three zucchinis in the crisper, so I made them into a slice. It was so easy to make and I had every ingredient on hand without even trying!

Zucchini Slice (serves 4-6)

3 zucchini (grated)
1 onion (grated)
1 potato (grated)
4 slices of ham/bacon (chopped)
1 cup of cheese (grated)
6 tablespoons flour (plain)
3 eggs
salt/pepper

Put all ingredients into a big bowl and mix really well. Pour into a quiche dish and cook in the oven for one hour at 160C. If you are vegetarian, simply leave out the ham. Simple, delicious and super cheap!

Buying Christmas presents for adult friends and family can be both expensive and stressful, especially when trying to match the perfect present to the person.

So one year I decided to make up small deluxe hampers which contained a mini bottle of sparkling wine, two plastic champagne glasses, chocolates, mixed nuts and home-made shortbread. I purchased the gold wire baskets from the Reject Shop for $2.00 each and the glasses (also from the Reject Shop) were $2.00 each. The mini sparkling wines were purchased from Dan Murphy's and worked out at around $3.50 each when purchased in lots of six. The chocolates were a good quality brand, and individually wrapped, so I bought a large tray and then divided them up (which was cost effective as I only needed around three in each basket). I then purchased a large bag of mixed nuts, which I repackaged into small Cellophane sachets, and I made the shortbread, which worked out to only a few cents each.

The overall cost of each hamper was around $10, including the cost of gold tissue paper (also purchased from the Reject Shop) to line the baskets and ribbon for decorating. I suggest sticking to one colour theme for each hamper, for example, gold covered chocolates, ribbon and baskets or silver baskets and accessories.

It's a good idea to look in places like the Reject Shop or $2 shops as soon as you see Christmas decorations appearing on the shelves. That way you get the best selection and can start putting them together early (except for the shortbread or any home-made foods you choose to include in the hampers). This way you'll have plenty of time closer to Christmas to concentrate on the children's presents!

I saved heaps of money, made something original and had heaps of fun doing it!

I save over $300 every time I clean my rugs with this ingenious tip! About 12 months ago I bought three large rugs at a garage sale. They were marked, but mainly from day to day use. I figured even if I had to pay for them to be cleaned, it would still work out much cheaper than buying them new. Was I in for a shock when I rung around to get prices! To get just ONE of my average room sized carpets cleaned it was going to cost me around $100. Apparently they are harder to clean than a regular carpet, hence the hefty price. I was very disappointed and felt like I had just wasted the $110 I had spent on my 'bargain' rugs. I thought surely there had to be a better way - and there was! I rolled up one of the rugs and went down to the local do-it-yourself car wash. I hosed the dirt off the ground and then laid the rug down. Using the pressure spray on the soap cycle, I sprayed the rug, then used the rinse cycle to clean it all off! It was so easy; the high pressure made very light work of all the marks and left no soap behind. Best of all, it cost me less then $10 - a saving of $270 for all three rugs! The rugs dried in a day in the sun and they came up like new. My friends have all started doing this too and one of them swears that her rugs come up better then they did when she was paying to have them done professionally. It gets rid of all smells and marks right down to the backing. I wash my rugs every couple of months as I have three dogs and two young kids and this has saved me a whopping $1620 to date!

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.

I use a simple principle every day, which helps me save money in all areas of my life. I try to reduce my use or consumption of what I normally do by 10%. The rewards are enormous. For example, if you spend $200 a week on groceries, try reducing it by $20 over 52 weeks and straight away you have $1040 extra in your pocket. You and your family won't even notice the difference, as it equates to less than $3.00 a day!

If you apply this principle to all areas of your life - petrol, electricity, phone calls and so on, the savings are huge even though the sacrifice is not even felt. It not only saves money but also the planet by reducing your overall consumption. Once I achieve this 10% reduction, I do it all over again! Every quarter after the electricity bill comes in, I then set myself the 10% goal anew to keep myself on track and to challenge myself to reduce further. This means the $180 grocery bill then reduces by a further $18 a week and so it goes on. I have done this only to a point where it is comfortable and achievable. Because it is baby steps it is easy and fun and not painful! We have saved hundreds, if not thousands, in the last year or two and are not feeling so pressured by the mortgage rate rises. Best of all is that we haven't noticed any difference to our lifestyle.

Through my job working at one of the major supermarkets, I have learned all kinds of tips and tricks to save money! Next time you visit a supermarket, bear the following in mind:

• You can save up to 50% on Sara Lee products by buying our house brand bakery items instead - they are made by exactly the same company.

• The meat is no longer as good quality and has gone up slightly in price. I would suggest going to a butcher instead and paying less for better quality.

• In-store baked items are marked down from 40-80% two days before their use-by date (this does not include bread or donuts)

• Buy bulk and buy less often. For example, if you drink coffee, wait until the BIG tins are on special and buy three or four. This will last you for ages and save you $40 and upwards on coffee alone in the long run!

• If an item seems a bit sparse towards the end of the week, chances are there is actually heaps out the back and it is going on special on the Monday, so wait to make your purchase then if possible.

• For those living alone, take another look at those frozen meals. They may look expensive at first glance at between $4 and $6 but then go and price the meat and all the vegetables. Remember also to take into account how much you have to throw out after a few days through not using them!

• If you want to see who makes what, look at the back of the pack to see which company owns it. Visit the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) website and find out which other 'mini-companies' it has under its belt. They often compete with their own brands!

We decided to get rid of the $96,000 mortgage on our home within three years. The massive load of interest we would pay to the bank was over the top and we felt that the bank owned us. The entire family bought into the project one hundred percent.

1) We replaced the nice modern cars with older, less costly ones. The net difference and any savings we had and $700 from a garage sale were paid off the mortgage.

2) We agreed to budget as if we were in a life and death war and the war had to be won in three years. I developed an Excel budget spreadsheet and we tweaked the numbers until we had a 'do-able' weekly saving of $220 extra to pay off the mortgage. Clothes purchases would be done exclusively at 'Harrods', our Salvation Army shop, until the war was over.

We decided to run any item not budgeted for over three 'hurdles'.

The first hurdle was 'could it shorten the mortgage war?'

The second hurdle was 'is it a health issue?' and if so what was the least-cost workable solution?

The third hurdle was 'could it wait until the end of the three years?'

3) As time progressed we became pretty smart at reassigning money to reward ourselves for enduring the war. This meant we could have a low cost take away sometimes, or spend on an out of budget item we had set our hearts on.

It took nearly four years to knock off the mortgage. Yes, we won the war a little later than hoped, but we won. If it had taken eight or nine years to win, it would still have been worth it.

The legacy of our war against the mortgage is that we have developed great money saving skills for life. And life is great.

Skint but stylish. That's how I like to think of my lifestyle, because it is such fun to live on the smell of an oily rag without anyone else knowing! Eighteen months ago, although in recovery from depression, I found myself many thousands of dollars in debt and with several accounts having been sent to collection agencies. I was also 31kg overweight and at risk of cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes. The excess weight (not to mention the stress!) was also making my arthritis worse. I was no longer able to work in my former profession and, as I was in my early sixties, I wasn't able to find other work and was on Centrelink (Social Security) benefits. I have since been transferred to the Age Pension. I knew I had to make some drastic changes, and pretty darn quickly too! I had just a few things going for me:

• My Visa card was a debit, not credit, card.

• My account was with a credit union, rather than a bank, and fees are much less.

• I was knowledgeable about nutrition.

• I was willing to face unpalatable facts about myself and make lifestyle changes.

With this small armoury, I prepared to do battle! The first thing I did was to sit down with all the paperwork, and list all the accounts, personal loans and the total. I nearly had a heart attack right there and then, but with the information, I was able to draw up a projected payments schedule. I contacted all the collection agencies and told them how much I proposed to pay each fortnight until all were paid. I did the same with private lenders. Nobody turned my proposal down; it really is true that, if you get in contact and show willingness, most lenders will give you time to pay. They would rather have their money than you in jail!

Step 2 was to organise payment of my electricity account by direct debit from my pension - what you never have, you never miss. Once the phone bill was paid off and reconnected, I did the same with that too. In all, my debt reduction program was going to be about $200 per fortnight, or roughly 34% of my pension and Centrelink allowances. Since my rent costs another 34%, the remaining 32% had to stretch to cover food, cleaning materials, clothing, pharmacy costs over the pharmacy allowance, fares for trips outside walking distance, presents, postage, life insurance and credit union fees (direct debit from my credit union account), occasional small charitable donations and the occasional small treat.

Step 3 was to go on to a sensible eating program (not a fad diet) that would help me to lose weight, bring my blood glucose and serum cholesterol levels into the normal range. A low GI, high carbohydrate, moderate protein, low-fat pattern fitted the bill in all respects. The challenge was: could I do it on $50-$75 per fortnight? The answer is yes! I make my own wholemeal bread, soups, skim milk yoghurt and lots of interesting dishes from many countries, based on grains and vegetable proteins, and stock up on tinned oily fish for essential fatty acids when on special. I have red meat and poultry only once or twice a fortnight and the rest of the time my proteins are derived from legumes, eggs and low-fat cheeses. It's just as well that I like oats! I drink two litres of water a day and make my own herbal teas from homegrown herbs. I don't buy soft drinks and buy leaf tea rather than tea bags, as it's better value per unit serving. I find whole fruit better all round than juice as a rule.

Step 4 was to get mobile! I walk, because I can't afford gym membership, and walking can be done by those who can't jog. Being out in the open air blows away the blues too. Having won a free pedometer, I wear it and try to reach 10,000 paces a day. I also started a vegetable garden and this saves me money where it counts, on vegetables, as well as being another source of fresh air and exercise.

Is it working? Is it what! In the last financial year I paid off $5000 in debts on the pension alone, and am on track to achieve the same amount this financial year. I lost 13kg in the same period - a nice, sustainable rate. My blood glucose level is normal, my serum cholesterol almost so, although because of familial hypercholesteraemia, I need some medication to help with that. I am continuing to lose weight slowly but surely and have much more endurance and less pain. My GP is nearly as stoked as I am. I take care of my clothes, believing that 'well-pressed is well-dressed', so my appearance doesn't give me away either. Occasionally I earn a little money from magazine contributions and this usually goes towards seeds or something else for the garden, but occasionally I restock the pantry with staples. I make my own cleaning products with such simple substances as vinegar, bi-carb of soda, washing soda crystals, soap scraps, eucalyptus oil and - wait for it - Worcestershire sauce (cleans brass and copper a treat, and one nearly always has it handy). I turn my appliances (apart from the fridge) off at the wall when not in use and have noticed a difference in my power usage. All my incandescent light bulbs have been replaced with long-life fluorescent ones, and by crafty use of acrylic-lined curtains I keep my house cooler in summer and warmer in winter. I pile on the clothing layers in winter and wear cool clothing in summer. If I'm watching TV in the winter, I cover my legs with a woollen rug and put on another cardigan if necessary, rather than turn up the heater.

Because I can't afford much for presents, I give of myself. A nice present is a 'book of vouchers', made attractively and containing such redeemable coupons as: 'This voucher is good for two hours' ironing... or an evening's baby-sitting... or... whatever!' Very few people say no to home-made goodies either. It makes me feel truly wealthy to give someone a loaf of bread still warm and fragrant from the oven, or a jar of chutney.

As part of my $21 Challenge to use all the food in the pantry, I have set up a 'use up soon' basket containing items getting close to their use-by date. This way, I will remember to use things before I have to throw them out.

Smaller portions means larger savings, as you'll see in this hint.

After having a little money left over from a gift voucher, I purchased a set of three small loaf tins. (each tin holds 1/3 of a normal cake mix). I made up a chocolate cake mix and baked it in three tins. I kept one cake aside and put two in the freezer as soon as they were cold. This meant the cake lasted three days instead of just one. I remove the bar cake from the freezer each morning and not long after the kids are enjoying their smaller slices of cake, with no complaints.

I have since carried this over to savoury dishes. When I make meatloaf, I put the mixture into one large tin as well as the three smaller tins. We eat the larger meatloaf for dinner and I freeze the other ones for lunches. This is working really well for me and the savings are huge.