Make your own nut butters for a fraction of shop prices

I save a fortune on buying nut butters by making my own. Almond butter, cashew butter and good quality peanut butter can be fairly expensive to buy so instead I buy roasted almonds for about $4 at a bulk supplier (Bin Inn if you're in NZ) and blend it in my Nutribullet with the addition of a smidgeon of olive oil. This gives me twice the quantity of a shop-bought jar which would cost at least $12! You can also add a little honey or chia seeds to add variety. I use the same method to make cashew butter. I simply buy 200g of cashews for $4.80 from an Indian grocer, roast them in the oven and blend them with the addition of a little olive oil to start the process. At around $15 a jar to buy at health food stores, this is a terrific saving!

Re-use butcher's paper to save on paper towel

Instead of buying expensive paper towel, which doesn't seem to last in our household, we use the butcher's paper that is wrapped around purchases such as deli products to clean out oily pots and pans. This saves us money, as well as a heap of paper towel, landfill space and our precious trees!

The real cost of spending

I have turned my love of a good bargain into something far more valuable! Whenever I am tempted to buy something I could possibly do without, I first calculate how much we would save by paying that money into our mortgage instead. For example, I recently saw a new dress on sale for $49.99 - a bargain, right? However, I paid a quick visit to a mortgage calculator website and discovered that if I didn't buy the dress and put that money onto our mortgage instead, it would take a whole month off the loan term and save us $334.39c in interest. In other words, my 'bargain' dress would really cost me over $300!

Looking at my purchases this way has become a really easy and effective way to curb my spending habit. Now I carry a piece of paper in my wallet with various prices on and I can see how much I would really be spending. It's amazing how much stronger my willpower becomes when I check my piece of paper before buying something and find out what its real cost is!

A super easy menu plan

I have read heaps about menu planning but found it all just so overwhelming. Choosing a menu for a whole month seemed like a lot of hard work but I have found a way to help even the most disorganised person.

Starting on the first day of a new month, and using a calendar or diary, write down what you have for dinner each night of the month. You will soon see what meals you eat on a regular basis. You can then transfer this information to the next month in your calendar or diary, and there is your monthly menu plan!