Many meals from one rolled roast

I have found a way to get maximum meals and value from one single rolled roast. I bought a rolled pork roast which was way too big for just the two of us. Not wanting to be living on leftovers all week, I decided to cut it in half before cooking it. As I was about to place the uncooked half in the freezer, I decided to cut it into thinner slices and use the meat as pork chops instead. This has worked well! I also plan to cut the rolled roast into chunks in future, to use for stir fry, sweet and sour pork and so on. Normally you could never get pork chops or stir fry for $7.99 a kilo! There's no reason why you couldn't use this method with other rolled roasts too.

A 'glovely' way to stop nail biting

If you're a nail biter and want to stop, get your gloves on and leave them on. Don't knock it until you've tried it! It's impossible to get past a fleecy woollen layer, no matter how hard you try. If you can leave them on long enough, (maybe get the kind with fingertips so you can still use your phone!) the habit is broken and before long, your nails will be strong and long (er). Give it a go!

Fluffy towels from cheap conditioner

My washing requires a fabric softener as my laundry gets hard and coarse if they're washed and dried without it, but I hate spending up to $4.00 per bottle, so came up with this cheap solution.

It works brilliantly. I now buy a home brand or extremely cheap hair conditioner (no, NOT a shampoo!) This costs $0.80c to $1.90, per 500 mls or one litre.

All you do is squirt a tiny 10 cent size dollop into your fabric softener holder, then fill up the remainder with very hot water.

I now have fluffy towels all the time, and the cheap conditioner option has worked out to be a bottle every six months or so, instead of spending lots of money per week on commercial 'fabric softeners'.

Anti-pimple treatment that works!

I save over $50 per month on skin care preparations for my children's teenage skin. With four of them, I have spent a fortune over the years on pimple creams, Panoxyl at $12 a tube and the latest Diprovan cream at $52 per month.

Once, we ran out and in exasperation I advised my daughter to use bicarbonate of soda and lemon juice. It works! Cut a lemon in half and save one half covered in the fridge for later use. Rub the other half on affected areas and use as a cleanser. Rinse, then cut a slice off the top, wrap in cling film and place in the fridge. Then mix one teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda with a small amount of water to make a paste. Dab onto affected pimples and leave for half an hour. Then rinse off. (Perfect for evenings when doing homework!)

The lemon acts as an astringent and is antibacterial. The bi-carb dries up the excess oil causing the pimple.

For a cheap and effective moisturiser we use Vaseline Intensive Care at $8.00 a bottle, which lasts six months. A total cost of $26 (lemons from the garden) per year and my daughter has recommended this to all her friends. Much better than $600 spent at the chemist each year!