Tomato paste doubles as cheap puree

Tomato paste saves me valuable dollars on buying puree! Whenever a recipe calls for tomato puree, I just use a sachet of tomato paste and then add water to it to make it up to whatever quantity of puree is required. It works as well and tastes just as good. I like to buy the Delmaine concentrated tomato paste, which comes in four little tubs of 70gm each. It is so versatile, and compared to tomato paste takes up far less room in the pantry!

End ant invasions pronto with Talon gel

I have found a truly fantastic product which gets rid of ants like no other pest treatment I've ever seen. Upon my recent invasion of ants, the faithful old borax and sugar mix was barely making a dent in their numbers. I couldn't use my own kitchen bench, guests were commenting and while I hate killing anything, it was driving the whole family crazy.  Thank goodness for Talon Ant killer gel! It works immediately (I saw ants leaving food and running to this gel), they swarmed it and as the product promises, they are gone in 48 hours. I can leave food out on the bench now and there are none to be seen. The gel works for 14 days, but at $8 for 5ml, it is totally worth it!

A much loved gift from Grandpa's shirts

While searching through the craft section in the Vault, I came across a contribution titled 'Loving keepsakes from recycled clothing'. This inspired me to write in and tell you what I did with my late husband's shirts.
 
He had a lot of flannelette check shirts, which he loved to wear in winter. I cut up the shirts into even squares, leaving the pockets on some squares - I replaced the pocket buttons with gold ones from my button tin. I then sewed the squares together and detailed them by sewing some bright blue ribbon down and across each section. After that, I backed the lot with a flannelette sheet – the end result was a lovely shirt rug!
 
I gave this rug as a keepsake to my seriously disabled grandson, who just loved his Grandpa to bits. My grandson could keep his treasures in the pockets I had left on the squares, as they had a flap that could be buttoned up.
 
Even though Grandpa's Shirt Rug is nearly worn out, my family will always think of it as a special keepsake. I thought you might like to read about my efforts; I just love making something new and useful from something old.

$21 Challenge keeps the 'budget nag' at bay

School holidays are more affordable with the help of the $21 Challenge! Money seems to slip away so effortlessly while out having fun with my teenage kids. Budgeting is something I am trying to teach them about but it is hard to make it relevant sometimes. Then I had a great idea that would make them pro-active with the weekly budget over the holidays, without me being a 'budget nag'.

It is the $21 Challenge week, with a twist. THEY have to go and log all the food in the freezer and pantry, and make up the meal plan for the week. Then all the money THEY save us for the week can go towards some guilt-free fun. It's a great incentive and my kids are learning important household skills.