Why buy lunch? With recipes as good as this, there's no need! I make this egg slice every few days to take to work, and I thought you might like to try it too.

Ingredients:

2 cups vegetables – just about anything will do. Leftover roast vegetables, steamed vegies, wilted salad... even raw stuff like grated carrot or chopped up tomato.

1/2 cup leftover meat, for example, bacon, fish or chicken

4 eggs, beaten

Grated cheese

Method:

Spread the vegetables and meat over the bottom of a greased square baking dish. Pour over the beaten egg, top with grated cheese and bake at 170C for about 30 minutes.

I take a quarter of this slice and some salad to work every day – it's yummy hot or cold. Thanks to the wide variety of vegetables you can use, no two slices are the same. It costs less than a dollar to make and the vegetables and protein keep me going for hours.

Here's how we saved $3160 on our food and grocery shopping in one year!

With two kids, it's difficult to find time to shop every week, so I now plan a month's meals in advance and do one big shop each month for basics and weekly shops for fruit, vegetables and meat.

We used to spend $150 a week ($7800 a year) shopping, then find we were throwing away fruit and vegetables because they had gone bad, and that we never had enough ingredients in the house for a full meal. We now spend a total of $170 a month grocery shopping, and $50 a week on fruit, vegetables and meat, if that. This equates to a yearly total of $4640 - a saving of at least $3160!

Planning the month's menu takes a maximum of 20 minutes, and each week we have two fish meals, two meat meals and three vegetarian. Recipes come from 'The Destitute Gourmet Cookbook', the Safeway magazine, magazines from the library and from friends. Each week has a mix of easy/quick recipes and more involved ones so that if I have a busy day, I can make something quick. I also plan the 'snacks' such as oat cake, date loaf and banana muffins.

I have a spreadsheet on the computer which helps me to plan how much pasta, rice, tinned tomatoes, and so on I need (four kilograms of rice, five packets of pasta, and so on).

After planning the menu, I write the shopping list and then hit NQR, Safeway and Coles while my husband looks after the kids. It takes only an hour if you're organised with a list and go at a quiet time of day! I prepare separate lists for the weekly fruit, vegetable and meat needs.

We are all now eating in a healthy way and always have cakes and biscuits on hand for guests - and we always use what we have before it goes off.

Other advantages are that other people can consult the menu to see what to cook if I'm not around. Because I'm only doing one big shop, I'm not buying as many impulse items - especially since the husband and kids stay at home! We're also finding that we have enough leftovers from one meal to last another, even after using some for lunches.
And we don't live on baked beans! Tonight we feasted on vegetarian sushi with pickled ginger and Asian dips. Last night was a Moroccan chicken casserole with couscous. Tomorrow night may be a tuna curry, home-made vegetable pizza or grilled balsamic lamb salad!

Doing this, we're saving more than $3000 a year for the family - and don't have the stress of shopping each week with two active children!

Sometimes I feel as though I've lived on a budget all my life! I live alone in a second floor rented apartment - no yard or garden, just a concrete car park. To combat that 'locked in' feeling, I have endeavoured to bring the outside in for little cost.

I have several indoor plants; beautiful, green and healthy. My small cold water fish tank has two goldfish in it, they are healthy and lively and provide colour and movement darting around. Very cheap pets too, a can of fish food lasts for ages and you can get all kinds of tanks to suit any budget.

I conserve water by using the 'old' water from the fish tank when I change it to water my plants, giving them lots of nutrients! I also use the water left from steaming vegetables to water the plants too.

I have no car, so must walk to get my groceries and other needs. I tell myself this is all POSITIVE. Everytime I walk to the shops and back it is exercise and energy sustainable. I'm not creating any air pollution either!

Almost all my clothing comes from the local opportunity shops - guess you could call me Second Hand Rose! I have three good op shops in my area, which are also great for cheap books, kids' toys - just about anything you can think of!

Frugality is not about being 'mean'; it's often very necessary for those on a fixed and limited income - and it can be a lot of fun!

I held a very successful and inexpensive party for my daughter and her 12-year-old friends by doing my own version of the 'Amazing Race'! When sending out invitations, each person was allocated a team colour and asked to wear clothing in that colour. On arrival they were given a back pack containing water bottles, maps of the town (we live in a small town and had all activities within a few blocks of home) dry biscuits to snack on, a list and bag for a scavenger hunt to find things on their travels, a dictionary, sunscreen and their first clue.

I had friends in the area lined up with different tasks to be completed (these included windows to be washed, shooting a set amount of goals at a basketball court, sorting books into alphabetical order, separating peas and corn with chopsticks and many other easy to prepare tasks). Each team had a passport to be stamped when each task was completed and the next clue was handed over at each destination. For the final clue, they had to use the dictionary to work out the coded directions to their final destination - our local swimming pool where they spent a couple of hours playing around before heading back to our place for the party food!

This party really didn't take much to organise once I got into it; just a few friends willing to give up a little time for each task and some imagination. I used items from home to make up the challenges, such as books, jigsaws, basketballs and frozen vegies. It was talked about for weeks afterwards and I used photos from the day to make a photo slide show, which I burnt onto discs for everyone who came!

We've saved at least $10,000 this year alone, simply by changing our shopping habits!
 
Almost every day, we'd stop at the supermarket on our way home to buy fresh ingredients for dinner – however, we'd also buy a couple of impulse items while there. The daily grocery bill was at least $30; an extra $150 each week on top of our weekly 'big' grocery shop!
 
To reduce the number of trips we made to the supermarket, we analysed our spending habits. We looked at all the grocery items we purchased and separated them into three categories:
 
1. Perishable items that need to be used within a week or so, for example, milk, bread and vegetables.
 
2. Items that had a longer shelf life or could be stored so they last longer, for example, meat that could be frozen, canned items, pasta and rice.
 
3. Items with an extended shelf-life such as toilet paper, detergent, toothbrushes and so on. We then estimated how much of each item we would use in a year.
 
We looked at what we could make or grow ourselves, for example, bread baked in the oven or herbs and vegetables grown in the garden. That left a limited number of items we needed to buy on a weekly basis including milk, fruit and vegetables; at least until the garden was established. These were all items we could buy from the local fresh food market, avoiding a trip to the supermarket, which meant lower prices and fewer impulse buys.
 
The next step was to develop a monthly meal planner - five meals per week with two nights of leftovers or 'invention' cooking using whatever was in the fridge, freezer and cupboard. We put all the recipes in a folder and worked out a monthly shopping list based on these recipes. All non-perishable ingredients are now purchased in this monthly shop. Meat is also purchased monthly from a butcher who offers bulk purchase discounts; the meat is frozen in meal lots ready to be thawed in advance for each meal.
 
We don't tend to cook in bulk, as we enjoy the process of creating fresh meals each day, but we do cook enough to provide the next day's lunch and occasionally cook a couple of casseroles or 'one pot' dishes at the same time and put them in the fridge - the flavour seems to build and is even nicer after a day or two.
 
Our menus also change depending on the season and what produce is available at that time. We're in the process of developing 'summer', 'autumn', 'winter' and 'spring' meal plans with enough recipes to get us through each season.
 
Finally, during each monthly shop we'd buy extended shelf-life items when they were on special until we had a year's worth. It takes up some extra cupboard space but we never run out of essentials and don't have to duck out to the supermarket.
 
Our ultimate goal is to reduce our 'big' shops to once a quarter rather than monthly – this will save us even more time and money by further reducing our exposure to the supermarket.
 
We have saved $150 a week by eliminating daily shops – this adds up to $7800 annually. We've saved even more by shopping at fruit wholesalers and butchers, buying in bulk or taking advantage of specials. By changing our shopping habits, we estimate we've saved at least $10,000 this year!

Watching my 'non-Simple Savings' sister unpack her groceries this week made me realise how much my shopping habits have changed in the year since I discovered Simple Savings. I used to love supermarket shopping, wandering the aisles for hours, one of this, one of that.

Some products I just don't buy anymore include:

• Liquid handsoap - I now make my own (my first SS project from the Vault). Saves $40/year.

• Spray and cooking oil - I buy 4L of good olive oil on special for about $20 and use a refillable hand pumped spray container (from House, $15 - will last years). I used to buy cans of olive oil spray at about $3.50 each and by changing how I buy oil, I am saving $100 per year.

• Cleaning products - are now missing from my list - we use bi-carb and vinegar and other simple Vault tips.

• Dishwashing cleaner - has gone too. We use citric acid, which I normally keep for my yearly lemon cordial making.

• Soft drinks and cordials - are rarely bought now - we use juice as you would cordial, and have changed our habits in favour of water.

• Yoghurt - we make EasiYo using packets bought in bulk from GoldenGlow online. Saves about $150 a year.

• Eggs and vegies - in the back yard!

• Condensed milk, Yogo, cake and pancake mixes - we M.O.O. ('make our own') using Vault tips.

• Icypoles - M.O.O. using tinned fruit juice or other - search the Vault!

• Magazines - I never buy new, just pick up the free supermarket recipe brochures or occasionally buy some gardening ones from the op shop.

• Junk and pre-prepared foods - we buy a lot less in favour of having our own 'sausage roll make-athons' or other baking with the kids.

As well as noticing the presence of many of the above things in my sister's shopping, I also noticed she buys small quantities of lots of items I now buy in bulk. Each week she has to mentally or physically check if she 'needs another of...', where I buy large amounts from the supermarket and other cheaper sources - and then don't need to think about it again for at least six months. These types of products include:

Washing powder (I'll never buy less than 20kg, and with the Vault advice to reduce our amount per load, this is lasting ages!), teabags, coffee, shampoo, dog and chook food (from pet supplier every six months), ham and meats(buy large piece of ham and store in ham bag per Vault tip - saves at least $50 a year over my previous habit of buying little cute packets of 50g each), bacon (buy from ALDI and freeze), dishwashing powder (ALDI brand is MUCH cheaper than the Finish tablets we were using - saves us $150 a year at least. I buy 12 months supply on one of my ALDI runs), cheese (buy larger amounts less often and freeze if necessary), rice (10kg bag much cheaper), jelly crystals (I bought 5kg bag at IGA last week - makes 20 serves for same cost as three individual packets), tinned fruit, soup, tomatoes and other products (from SPC outlet), nappies, paper towel and toilet paper (I buy lots when on a fabulous special). Fruit and veg I buy from the greengrocer, the market or grow my own. Meat is from the butcher, chicken from the poultry shop and fish from the fishmonger once every three months.

I could go on for every grocery item - nearly everything has changed in 12 months. This is even without noting the savings from changing products - for example, I used to think myself very clever if I bought my Uncle Toby's quick oats on super special for $2.00 per kg box - until I discovered I can buy Home Brand, which I cannot fault, for $1.00 a kilo all the time. Same for most basic products.

With changes like these to my grocery shop and to our home loan, insurance, shopping habits and so on, Simple Savings has saved us thousands of dollars in our first year of membership. Our lifestyle has actually been RICHER since SS. I didn't set out to change my shopping habits - I just started by making handsoap and buying Home Brand porridge oats - but suddenly I have realised how large this change has been. If I see you at the supermarket with your milk, bread, 8 large packets of toilet paper, 6kg of the super special meat, 10kg of rice and three-litre containers of vinegar, I'll know you caught the bug too!

When my daughter started school last year, she had birthday after birthday to attend, which meant present after present. Last year, each present cost $25 to $35 and I couldn't afford to pay that much this year. So, I planned ahead!

Before every school year starts, Big W has a huge stationery sale, where I purchased the following:

• 100 writing books at just $0.01c each, total cost of $1.00
• 20 packs of 24 colouring pencils at $0.49c each, total cost of $9.80
• 10 twin packs of safety scissors at $0.49c each, total cost of $4.90
• Five eraser 4-packs at $0.99c each, total cost of $4.95
  - Five pencil sharpener 4-packs at $0.29c each, total cost of $1.45
  - Two 10-page sticker booklets with 150 stickers per page at $2.00 each, total cost of $4.00
  - Four sheets of contact paper in girl and boy themes at $0.99c each, total cost of $4.00.

Total for all this is just $30.10, and I'm able to make 20 presents! That's just over $1.50 per gift! At every birthday party, my daughter has presented the birthday girl or boy with the following gift:

• Three books covered in contact paper
• One pack of colouring pencils
• One pair of safety scissors
• One eraser
• One sharpener
• One page of stickers.

Both parents and children have loved this present because, unlike a toy they soon lose interest in, they can continue to use their imagination to create drawings.

This simple tip saves money on toilet cleaners and air fresheners! A cheap and easy way to keep the toilet clean and smelling fresh is to make your own antibacterial spray. I have a spray bottle on the window sill filled with water and a few drops of tea tree oil. After each flush, we spray two or three squirts in the toilet bowl and close the lid. It keeps the room smelling lovely and our toilet sparkling clean without yucky chemicals.

For just $10 I've finally discovered soft skin. I had always suffered from dry skin and, over the years, had spent a fortune on moisturisers in every price range. I never really found anything that I could put on at night which left my skin soft and moist in the morning. It seemed my skin was always thirsty. Then I read in Vogue magazine, about a woman who used Neutrogena Norwegian Hand Cream as a facial mask. She also suffered from dry skin and her dermatologist had advised her to do this. Having nothing to lose, I decided to give it a go myself. It costs well under $10 and is available at Priceline and in most supermarkets. I chose the fragrance-free one and can honestly say it is the best moisturiser I have ever used. I use it every day under make-up and my skin looks 'dewy' all day long. I apply more in the evening before bed and my skin feels lovely in the morning. I even apply it thickly as a mask sometimes, with great results - and it beats a facial in terms of how my skin feels the next day. So if you have dry or mature skin - give it a try. It is also amazing on dry feet - it really is a miracle! It's amazing to think of how many dollars I will save from now on on my new, simple skincare product!

When shopping for large furniture items, it's well worth asking the furniture retailers if they have any damaged stock. We saved over $400 on our beautiful new dining table. Thanks to putting into practice some hints from Simple Savings, my husband and I found ourselves with enough money saved to spend on a new kitchen/dining table.

We shopped around for a long time. We knew we wanted something big - an eight-seater preferably, with a beautiful wood grain and lots of character. We looked at second hand as well as new, then finally found one we loved. But the price, at $930 was still beyond our budget. We sadly let it go.

Several days later I had a thought and I convinced hubby to go with me back to the shop again. We got talking to a sales person and I decided to be completely honest. 'We love this table but we just can't afford it at that price - can you do a better price?' He did a few calculations but the answer came back 'No'. I said we'd even be willing to consider a damaged table if they had one.

He thought for a minute, and then rang one of the guys out in the warehouse. Sure enough they had the table we wanted, in the eight-seater size, with a scratch on it. He arranged for us to go and look and - we got our beautiful mahogany table, imported from India, for half price (a saving of $465).

We don't mind the scratch at all - in fact, when people admire our gorgeous table (which they do all the time), I proudly point out the scratch to them (which they would probably not even notice otherwise) and tell them the story of how we would never have got the table if it weren't for the scratch!