Just one plastic container is all you need to organise your freezer and save a small fortune on storing frozen food! I recently read an article which suggested freezing tasty, home cooked meals in small containers so you can whip one out in less time than it takes to get takeaway. Brilliant idea - but going out and getting all the plasticware I needed to do this was going to kill my miserly budget! So instead I bought just one plastic container that was an ideal size and a huge stack of small freezer bags. Now whenever I freeze a meal, I can line my single container with a freezer bag, seal it and once the food has been frozen, I can simply remove the container as though it was a cake tin! I have a ready-made 'freezer mould' and my freezer is still tidy with perfectly rectangular, scrumptious meals in minutes!

My husband and I have finally found the key to successful saving! The two of us are dreadful savers; while we're good at putting spare change in a jar, we don't know what to do with it once the jar is full! We thought a saving thermometer would be helpful, but wanted something that wouldn't be so obvious when people came over to visit. So we came up with a more subtle brainwave - a jigsaw puzzle!

We bought a jigsaw of what we wanted (a house) and assigned a dollar amount to every piece. Now we 'buy' pieces of the jigsaw puzzle, the money goes in our jar and we bank the money once a month. We even set up challenges for ourselves, such as who 'buys' the most pieces in a month, and we never have to worry about what to buy each other for presents - we buy pieces of the puzzle of course! Once we've completed the puzzle we're going to hang it on the wall - of our new house!

I make this vegetable pasta sauce for three reasons - it's cheap and healthy and it uses up leftover vegies (cooked and uncooked) so I save three times!

Whenever I serve up a dish of vegies for dinner (usually broccoli, carrots, beans and zucchini in my house) and it isn't all eaten, I put the leftovers in a ziplock bag and throw it in the freezer. Then, when my fresh vegies are starting to get to that 'oh dear' stage, I start cooking!

In a big pot, with a bit of olive oil, I fry onion and garlic and add all the 'oh dear' vegies - sometimes there is a fiddly bit of broccoli that is too small to use in a meal or carrots that are starting to wilt. Other vegies I have added include celery, cauliflower, broad beans, spinach, cabbage and capsicum. I chop and cook all of this - in summer I add fresh tomatoes, in winter I throw in a couple of cans of Home Brand tinned tomatoes. To this I add the frozen leftover vegies, a squeezie stock concentrate or stock cube and some water.

I cook the whole lot until everything is soft, and then I blitz it in a food processor or with a Bamix until it looks like pasta sauce. I then freeze this in meal-size portions and use it for everything - I add it to mince for bolognese, or just use it neat. My kids don't know it's full of vegies - they just think it's another jar of commercial pasta sauce!

I have found a great way to stop impulse buying. I turn the money I would have spent into a 'roundtuit'. A roundtuit is one of those things you always put off and say you will get 'around to it'. Have you always wanted to learn to ride a horse or treat yourself to a massage? Or buy an art print but, because of the expense, have never got around to it? Well, I now put the money I would have spent on impulse buying straight into my roundtuit fund.

Instead of buying that glossy magazine, I look at the price and I put that amount into a special pocket in my wallet. I try and jot down what I nearly bought as well. When the time comes to buy the art print I have always wanted, I can see that it was worth two magazines, a fast food lunch, a shirt on special and a home delivered pizza. I don't feel guilty because the purchase has been funded by my roundtuit fund.

I no longer waste money on stuff I don't really need and I can also see where I am most likely to waste money, which will hopefully protect me from temptation. Most importantly, I'm able to achieve my dreams, almost without realising it. It's a great way to save for what you really want, so isn't it about time you got around to it?

I had never considered my lifestyle to be particularly excessive, but when I found myself facing large debts and unable to make headway, I had to take control. Using the methods below, I managed to reduce my debts by $30,000 in twelve months.

Bill paying and budgeting:
I began making regular monthly payments into a savings account - which I called my ‘debt reduction’ fund. At the same time, I started to put weekly amounts in labeled envelopes. These envelopes were to cover all of the regular bills; meaning I no longer came under stress when they were due, and I didn’t need to touch any of the savings in my debt reduction fund.

I began a Christmas tin, paying $20 per week into it. While it may not be ideal to keep large sums of money in the home, for me it was preferable to paying more fees to the bank for opening yet another account.

I clear out my wallet every night and put all my coins in a jar. This alone gives me an extra $50 a month to take to the bank.

Food and grocery shopping:
Instead of takeaway food, I began substituting with one of the following:

Spaghetti (five meals per pack for $1.50) with bolognese sauce (two meals per can - $2.50)
Rice (eight meals per pack - $1.50) and canned chilli-con-carne (two meals for $3.50)
Savings approximately $20 per week.

I make sure I eat either frozen broccoli, cauliflower or peas five nights a week, at a cost of $0.60c per meal. I buy all my steak and meat in bulk and freeze in portions.

I get a box of slightly over ripe tomatoes ($3.00 for 5 kg - on special from the local fruit shop) and boil them (skins on) with onion, salt and pepper and a dash of chilli sauce. This sauce makes even the cheapest steak taste delicious, and is great with chicken too. I freeze the sauce in single portions.

Chicken drumsticks are cheap and often on special. All you need to do is roll them in flour and cook on an oven tray until golden. A quick, moist and tasty meal (two drumsticks per person) for less than $1.00.

Potato chips at $3.50 per bag are both expensive and very unhealthy. A cheaper option is to cut a $1.50 loaf of Lavash bread into triangles, dust with paprika or lemon pepper (spraying with a little oil to coat) and cook in oven until golden and crunchy. Add the home-made tomato sauce as a dip and save another $2.00 - $3.00.

I am self employed and work a minimum of 70 hours per week. It would be so easy to succumb to fast food when I am tired, but to curb the temptation I make a large lasagna (without pasta) or a salmon and rice bake; both meals with plenty of vegetables and freeze in portions. All I need to do when I get home is zap in the microwave and eat, and have my own tasty, balanced fast food meal (15 minutes to defrost and cook). Each batch I make gives me eight meals for each recipe, and as they have some of the same ingredients, it is easy to make both at once.

My recipes are delicious and low fat and I am happy to share them if anyone would like them. They cost only around $2.00 per complete meal and all use fresh vegetables.

I make my own burgers by buying mince, making thin patties and grilling, then freeze cooked, in portions. They cook super fast from the freezer with two minutes in the microwave. A quick, low fat hamburger with lettuce tomato and beetroot - $1.50 a hamburger. You can add some zapped frozen home-made tomato sauce for a really tasty treat.

I have my entire shopping list saved on my computer as an Excel spreadsheet and have the prices for each item entered. When I want something, I just enter the quantity (the spreadsheet automatically adds the total each time I input an amount) and know beforehand how much the whole bill will cost. I then look at the total and question whether I really need an item, or just want it!

By doing this, I also know when the supermarket adds a few cents (far more regularly than many people realise - usually 20% - 50% of items weekly, from upwards of $0.03c to $0.40c). I buy regular goods on special (enough for three months supply) and choose generic brands for things like tissues and toilet paper (1,000 sheets of this is the same price as 250 sheets name brand)! I also know when a special is really a special and when it isn’t, which is quite often. I take a calculator shopping and work out the best buy in quantity. Bigger is not always cheaper, and it really is good advice to never shop hungry. I have my weekly grocery budget and any savings go into the account.

I used to buy my lunch and a drink for around $8.00 each day. Now I make my own lunch each day - sandwich, fruit and a large bottle of lemon cordial. Otherwise I take a bowl of Country Ladle soup and a roll. One can gives me two meals for just $1.25 each, with my $0.60c roll. It is healthy, fills me up and saves me $6.00 a day - another $30 a week in my savings account.

There are always two large bottles of lemon cordial made up in my fridge. I only keep fizzy drink for times when I am expecting guests. I put bottles or cans in an hour prior to their arrival. If it is not normally there, I don't drink it. It costs $0.10c for a glass of healthy water based drink, as compared to $1.00 for unhealthy sugar based drinks - what would you rather have?

I save $10 a month on washing powder by reducing the amount I use each load by half.
You know by now where that extra $10 saving goes!
I am always organized for birthday and Christmas gift wrapping - I buy one bolt of wide, colourful paper (from Cello paper) for between $50 - $100 every 15 years. Based on usually giving 40 presents each year, instead of having to buy 40 sheets of gift paper at around $2.50 each, my bulk buying gives me an extra $100 a year in my savings account.

Reducing phone bills:
I now save $70 per month on my previous average mobile phone bill, simply by not making calls on impulse, and calling on a land line wherever possible. That extra $70 a month goes in the savings account. I also reduced by home phone bill by $210 per month once I realized where all the charges were going - on checking my email every time I dialed up. Now I only connect to the Internet once a day and that $210 each month goes into the savings account.

Entertainment:
My entertainment habits have also changed. Instead of paying $50 a time on the pokies, whenever I get the urge now, I put $50 into a tin for my next visit to the bank - it saves $100 - $150 from being frittered away each month. To keep control of my alcohol consumption, I would line empty bottles on my kitchen window sill and clear weekly. Doing this, you see it daily and unconsciously count the value - plus, do you want the neighbours to see how much you drink?? This saves me another $50 a month for my account. Instead of opening a can, now when I get home I have a really large lemon cordial. Then if I still feel like a drink, at least I have taken the edge off the need to relax and I will only have one every few days.

One last golden rule - put away $50 per month for ‘mad money’ - just for you to use for something special.

I paid off $30 000 in one year by using these exact tips and many more. The relief is amazing and now I save the same way.

[Shane's recipes are in the cooking section of the Savings Vault.]

[To view or download Shane's Excel Shopping spreadsheet follow the link below.]

http://www.simplesavings.com.au/resources/shopping_checklist.xls

We had the chance to travel overseas several years ago but had to save $1000 to make it happen. On one income with two small children it seemed impossible. Then I had the brainwave - I didn't have to save $1000, I had to save $1.00 a thousand times! This was so much easier - a generic brand product at the grocery store, a chocolate bar at the petrol station and so on, soon added up and the savings contributed to a great family holiday.

I can make four litres of handwashing gel soap for under $1.00! To make your own liquid gel soap, grate a bar of Sunlight or generic laundry soap into a two litre ice cream container. Pour boiling water to half fill the container and mix to dissolve the soap. Carefully fill to the top with boiling water and mix well. Pour half the mixture into another two litre container and top up both with boiling water again. The gel is very thick once it sets, but a good consistency for its purpose. Store in the two litre containers and refill pump bottles as needed. One pump is all it needs to clean your hands and can even wash dirty dishes if you squirt into the sink!

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.