Get every last cent out of your powder foundation

I have found an easy way to use up every last bit of make-up powder foundation. You know when you have almost got to the end of your powder compact, and all that is left is the powder on the rim? It's sad to waste, but so hard to use. Not any more, however! I've discovered it can easily be removed using a small spoon or lolly stick, then transferring it into another container. From there, you can simply apply it with a brush, like a loose powder! From now on, every time I buy a new compact, the left over bits first get mixed together and used. These days I never run out in between buying my more expensive foundation. Better still, I get to use the crushed foundation powder for 'everyday' and keep the new compact for special occasions, making it last even longer!

No more shopping lists with free app

We have eliminated paper shopping lists by using a free app called Our Groceries. You can link the app via entering one email address, so everyone who does the shopping at your house has the up to date grocery list at any time. The best thing is, you can customise the list to be very specific about what you want. There is a paid version of the app but we have been successfully using the free version and love it. No more wasted paper and no more forgetting things as the list is always with us!

Big savings on seeds

We have saved over $150 in seeds alone this past year. Instead of paying up to $5.00 for packets of seeds which may or may not sprout, we have started grabbing packets of seeds from the herb sections of Woolworths, Coles and IGA. Most mustard, coriander, fennel, cardamom or celery whole seeds that you get as a spice for cooking will sprout for you in your garden. These normally cost around $1.05 per packet and you will get a lot more seeds than if you bought them from a gardening shop. We also get the full dried peas (not freeze dried) from the soup section and have planted these successfully for three years now. They give us the sweetest sugar snap peas ever! A packet normally costs $1.53 and you get close to 100 seeds. In comparison to buy 'packet' seeds it would cost you over $12.

We also cut the ends off shallots and replant them, it takes about three weeks before they start to recover, but then you have an endless harvest of shallot leaves to use in salads. We do the same with old onions that have hidden themselves away in our cupboards and have sprouted. Plant them in your garden, let them go to seed and you will have a great seed stock for the next few years. No need to buy more!

Garlic can be done in the same way. Grab a clove and plant it flat end into the ground. After about four months you will get a great bulb of garlic from your original clove. Be aware that garlic from China or Mexico has been treated with Bromide (cancer causing agent) so only use Australian grown garlic.

Old potatoes and sweet potatoes that start sprouting can be replanted and will give a good yield. Just cut a 3cm piece around the sprouting part of the potato and plant it, from one potato alone you could get up to seven new plants.

Pumpkin, cucumber, capsicum and other vegetable seeds can be cleaned, dried and then planted out to give you more seed stock to play with. Try planting two different types of pumpkins near each other and you might get a hybrid created which tastes great. Our family had a butternut mix with a jap pumpkin and it was the sweetest tasting pumpkin we'd ever tried. We also let one or two of each vegetable go to seed so that next years planting will cost us even less. Our goal is to go totally self sufficient in the garden. So far we have an abundance of butter lettuce, silverbeet, rocket, mint, corn, tomatoes and sugar snap peas all from previously saved seeds.

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!