Lock in fuel savings and make them last!

Our household has found a super easy way to make the most of cheap fuel prices. We watch the fuel cycles with the ACCC petrol price cycles website (https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/petrol-diesel-lpg/petrol-price-cycles). When it is getting to the lowest point of the cycle, as well as our vehicle, we also fill up five 20 litre fuel containers. If it is inconvenient to do so, we prepay and lock in the fuel price on both of our phones on the 7/11 app. This guarantees that locked price for seven days. We then use that fuel through the next 3-4 weeks (the length of the fuel cycle generally). It's like having our own petrol station at home!

Fuel containers cost around $20-$25 at BCF and the savings per cycle paid for each container. Now it's pure savings of $30 per cycle. Petrol works out around $520 per year less for us, for very little effort! At first, my husband was concerned that the fuel may not last (he is a qualified mechanic), but I showed him some tests BP had done on this matter, finding that six months later, the values were still the same. We notice zero difference in fuel consumption, km/L, or parts wearing out any faster.

Everyone we tell thinks this is an amazing idea, we find it strange that no one else seems to have thought of it!

4 simple and effective tips to stop nail biting

For some low cost and effective nail biting solutions which just might work, I can recommend trying the following:

1. For those who have a UV light for gel polishes, get 'IBX Strengthen'. This is a product you can put on underneath the gel (still using the lamp to set) to also help strengthen the nail. It won't get rid of the habit, but may allow for better results when they get any kind of length to them.

2. Carry a nail file. I would bite mine to 'neaten them up' so if there was a sharp bit or a daggy bit I would even them up. This was a never-ending cycle that led to very sore quicks! By carrying a nail file, you can make sure there is nothing that can snag or anything.

3. I actually think that a few months of artificial nails (I like 'Prescription Nails' by GO30 as they don't damage your natural nails as much) while you are breaking the habit is helpful, as they are very hard and you can't really bite them. I do find I still put them in my mouth or tap my teeth with them so I really need to break that habit too! But after that, refer to tip1.

4. This article is also a good one to read! https://hellogiggles.com/beauty/how-to-stop-nail-biting-10-steps/

Student secrets to eating for $15 a week

During my uni student years I developed a menu-planning and grocery shopping system that allowed me the freedom to eat well, generously fuel my bicycle-based lifestyle, entertain guests regularly and experiment with new recipes, all within my strict food budget of just $15 a week!

It works like this.

1. Decide how much you will spend on your weekly groceries. In recent years I have had to increase my spending to about $21 a week due to rising food costs and CPI, but the system still works really well when I use it and is a great way to separate needs from wants.

2. Choose the staples and basics that are to be made every week as needed. These could include soy milk, tofu, sourdough bread, yoghurt, sprouts, hummus, fresh lemon cordial, Anzac bickies, gomasio or whatever else you require.

3. Give the ingredients needed to make these staples first priority when making the weekly shopping list. If you have a local food co-op you can buy mostly organic ingredients with minimal packaging in exactly the amounts you need.

4. Check what else is in the fridge, cupboard, garden or neighbours' garden and pore over your large collection of second-hand recipe books to see what can be created with these other ingredients. Recipes which require two or less extra (and inexpensive) ingredients are preferred and a list of these and their corresponding cookbooks/page numbers is made and stuck on the fridge. There will usually be a selection of mains, side dishes, desserts, treats and beverages on the list.

5. Give the extra ingredients needed for the chosen recipes next priority on the shopping list. Over time you will intuitively know when your shopping list is 'full'.

6. Once out shopping, specials of the day such as a big bag of discounted apples or cheap cooking tomatoes take third priority. If not consumed within the week, these can form the basis of recipes chosen for the following week.

7. Last priority (and usually only considered after the register shows you are still under budget) are those inevitable temptations that one wants rather than needs. It often helps me to take my recipe list with me and remind myself that I can make a delicious self-saucing carob pudding at home for a fraction of the cost of the tiny chocolate bar I am now contemplating. All of a sudden the money seems much better spent on a kilo of brown rice!

8. Back at home, simply cross the recipes off the list as they are made. There will always be plenty of food for dinner parties or last-minute guests, and the sometimes tiresome decision of 'what to cook?' becomes easy.

Using this system I have never run out of food or felt like there was 'nothing to eat'. In contrast, I have stayed at many houses where, despite having pantries and fridges which are bursting with food, the occupants have driven to the supermarket and easily spent $30 or $40 just to cook up dinner for the night.

Seems unbelievable? Try scratching every processed food item off your own shopping list and see how many more kilos of real food you can come home with for the same amount of money. Don't forget too, to keep an eye out for trees in public areas which are loaded with fruit or nuts. I have used the $15 a week food budget for stretches of up to a year at a time, which means I certainly wasn't relying on stockpiles of food from more extravagant days tiding me over. Necessity breeds creativity, and I am so happy to have been forced early on to examine and separate my wants from my needs in this regard. Even when times are tough, I know I can eat well!

Cracking good lunch idea

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.