Dishwashing liquid breaks down hard to remove stains

I have found a cheap and effective solution for tough laundry stain removal! Stains such as fats or body odours can be notoriously hard to remove. Normal washing powders may be made for getting out dirt and stains but not for breaking down fats and body fluids. To combat the problem, I simply add a squirt of dishwashing liquid to the wash, along with my normal powder and soaker and it works like a charm. After all, it breaks down grease and fatty food residue when doing dishes, it makes sense for it to work on clothes too!

Make-up removal wipes make tough cleaning a breeze

I stumbled across a fantastic household cleaning product quite by accident! While cleaning and decluttering the makeup drawer, I accidentally found myself smearing broken-off eyeliner and other cosmetic dust around. The standard multi-purpose cleaners were not helping and the mess was getting bigger. In desperation, I grabbed out a make-up remover wipe and attacked the mess. Just like that, it removed all the old eyeliner, plus power foundation and everything else from the bottom of the drawer! I'm adding make-up wipes to my regular bathroom cleaning routine from now on!

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!

Freeze the price of 'gourmet' ice creams

I’ve saved countless dollars on expensive gourmet ice cream by getting creative with the cheaper varieties. My kids love it when I buy them what they call 'special' ice creams. These are the expensive varieties that come in exotic flavours and cost between $7.00 and $9.00 for a two-litre tub! Needless to say, they really are a rare treat. However, during the school holidays, my kids and I became gourmet ice cream chefs! Using a four-litre tub of Home Brand vanilla ice cream (that cost $4.59), we scooped it out of the tub and let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes. Then we mixed green food colouring, a couple of drops of peppermint essence and some chocolate chips into the softened ice cream to create our very own Mint Choc Chip flavour! We placed it in an airtight container and popped it back in the freezer to enjoy later. The kids were so excited to have made their own special ice cream that we have since concocted many different ‘gourmet’ flavours just by adding ingredients from the pantry.