Berry nice savings to be had on blueberries!

I have found the answer to enjoying the health benefits of blueberries is in the freezer aisle! Blueberries are so good for you, but very expensive if you buy the punnets of fresh fruit. The regular price of fresh ones works out at well over $30 per kilo and while they look nice on a fruit platter, they don't have a lot of flavour. Instead, I now buy frozen blueberries at around $4 or $5 per 500g pack - less than a third the price! Simply throw a cupful in the microwave with a teaspoon of sugar and zap for a minute or two. Much tastier and are delicious with ice cream, natural yoghurt or just on their own!

Bundle up your bags and don't get caught short

I have come up with a super easy way to solve my shopping bag dilemma! Like many people, I was sick of trying to organise a whole bunch of bags of different shapes and sizes in the back of the car, ready for shopping trips. I really like my car to be free from clutter, so wanted a thrifty and simple solution, I decided to use an old cosmetic purse and filled it with 99c reusable nylon bags from the supermarket. These roll up tiny and fasten with a elastic tab, making a neat and tidy little roll. I can fit eight of the tiny rolls into my cosmetic purse and this in turn fits nicely into my handbag or centre console of the car. These days I never get caught without a bag and these ones can get used over and over again. Being made of material, they can also be thrown into the washing machine if they have had meat or something drippy in them and are soon as good as new again!

Better food, less vet trips

We have found that changing our brand of dog food from a 'cheap' supermarket brand to a vet-only brand has effectively saved us $5,000.

We used to feed our pets a good quality but cheap brand of food, costing around $20 per week in two kilo bag lots. We decided to experiment and switched to an ultra premium brand that is only available from veterinary hospitals and some pet shops. At $35 for a two kilo bag, it was quite a shock and we thought this was a mistake! However, we stuck it out for a month as planned and came to the following conclusions:

1. They gained condition, coats were shinier, softer and thicker and whiskers grew longer and stronger.
2. They had more energy but lost their tendency to behave like children at a five year old's birthday party!
3. They 'pooped' less and the odour of their urine and faeces was reduced by at least 75%.

The biggest realisation was that they only ate their way through half a bag every week, meaning we were now saving $10 a month just on food alone. Plus, we no longer had to feed supplements and we saved money on litter and both time and money on litter tray cleaning.

In the long term, we have found that their odour has decreased so much that they only need a shampoo bath every six months, not every two weeks as previously.

We have also had less trips to the vet and some chronic conditions have disappeared or become easier to manage without medication. A saving of close to $5,000 per year for us. We love our local vet and so do our pets, so we still visit regularly - but only for a cuppa and a chat!

Add personal touch for successful renting

Going out of my way to present well to prospective landlords has really paid off for me. I recently had to find a new rental property and found that the open inspections where attracting many families at a time. Being a single mum of four, I knew I had my work cut out for me trying to get something over the two-parent families.

I decided I would write a covering letter as an introduction to the land agent/owners. I wrote about who we were and even what schools the kids went to, to show we were already established in the area, where I worked for the same reason. I got friends, my employer and my pastor to all write character references for me, which I copied and added with the letter. I also have a dog, which can be a problem so I got my then-current agent to write a reference for my dog too, which I also copied and added with the letter. I then attached these to the application, along with copies of my last four weeks' payslips and a payment summary from Centrelink.

The first house I applied for had more than 20 families and most of them were two-parent families. I added all the above mentioned stuff to my application and I was happy to receive a call the next day to say I was successful. I asked the agent if my letters and other details had helped and he told me that they had been the deciding factor. They liked that I had taken the extra step and cut out some of the work for them. They also appreciated that I had been so open with them. I would recommend this to anyone trying to rent a place. It takes only a little time and effort but could be just what you need to secure a house!