How to beat rising prices like Nana did. Skills.

Both my Nans were very capable women.  They accumulated skills.  Nana L was the youngest of thirteen children.  They lived on a farm and everyone helped.  It was inevitable you learned a lot of skills as you went along.  And she had so many older bothers and sisters to learn from.   Nana B was an accomplished florist by her teenage years and made an income from making flowers for weddings and funerals.  Later she became a a wonderful seamstress.
As a child I just took it all to be normal and under appreciated how capable they were other than enjoying the beautiful baking!  But later I realised their talent.  Nana B was featured in several books.
Nana L ran a spinners and knitters group that gathered at her house, she would take a raw fleece and comb it, spin it and dye it with natural plants from the garden then knit it up.   She fed us beautiful things all our childhood years and into adult hood.  Both Nans mended, darned, baked, preserved, hemmed and altered,  kept animals,  never wasted anything....  it was not until years alter that I understood they had been through the great depression and the wars...  they had known hardship but never talked about it.   As they had always been in good families and happy they still had not felt deprived.  Nana L had brothers go away to war though.  This was a hardship of it's own.  The stress on parents of their child going away to war is beyond what I can imagine.
I remember how Nan and Pa looked after things.  They kept things in good condition and fixed things and made them last.  The re used and recycled.    Pa's car was sold years after he passed away as it was in such mint condition a collector bought it!

With all this in mind it is no surprise Mum is very capable.  Preparedness books today don't have a patch on Mum's capabilities in a crisis,  power outage, illness,  injury...  Her pantry and stores cover everything.  First comes the families needs then helping others is high on the list too.   Like the Nans many things to Mum seem wasteful and crazy.  She saw a recent fashion magazine and was appalled to see the models looked about twelve and their dresses were thousands of dollars.   She thought it was ridiculous!

So somewhere after Nans and Mums younger times things changed dramatically.  Times were more prosperous and convenience became the big thing.  Skills were not necessarily passed on anymore.   Over time so many things that were once just the norm became specialist services.  Instead of hemming your jeans you take them to a seamstress.  Instead of washing your windows you hire professionals.  Even walking and washing the dog is something you hire someone to do.  You can pay someone to do everything and instead of live your life you work for someone else and pay others to do your stuff.   Sometimes there is a financial profit in all of this and sometimes not.

Some years ago I noticed advertising attempted to diminish any form of domestic activity.  There was an ad on TV where one older lady said to another "Oh you don't STILL make your own jam DO YOU?"  as if to let everyone know you would have to be stupid to make jam yourself and not buy it from a certain brand.  Then you have the whole "you deserve it" advertising...   go ahead you deserve it... whether you can afford it or not! haha!

I have written before too about people who will attack you for being a homemaker!  It is implied that homemaking is a waste of time, as is caring for children and surely you would want to do something else to be "fulfilled."  Most of us have experienced some of this.  I have to the extent that it seems to UPSET some people that I do all of these things and enjoy it.  My theory on this is that the devil hates  a homemaker and he has many good reasons to do so.  I have always kept Proverbs 31 in my line of sight and I do not buy the worlds view of homemakers one bit!  

We have already covered how Nana made do and would be so trendy if she was here now as she already recycled, re used and never wasted anything.   She didn't use plastic bags she used her basket.   Everything "new" now is not new at all.  It was largely how Nana did things!  You can read that post here.
Then we covered how Nana beat prices in the laundry here in  How to beat rising prices (or shortages) in the laundry like Nana did.
Then How to beat rising prices like Nana did. Cleaning.
Then How to beat rising prices like Nana did and how to make meat go further.
I have been slow as a wet week to get to a new subject just because of being busy and having had both Dad and Andy rushed off to hospital since then!

Having followed Flylady I think she nailed it in regards to one of the reasons why we have gone away from doing things ourselves.  Besides convenience there is perfectionism.  We feel if we do something ourselves it might in some way be sub standard, a failure, somehow less than perfect.  She says that housework done imperfectly still blesses your family.  Well, I can tell you a cake you make for your child does not need to be perfect.  They will think it is wonderful that YOU made them a cake.  And so will your friend. And so will your Mum...  And the same with something you have sewn, knitted, crocheted etc... your small child will love that you made it.   (Teenagers are more dangerous territory lol!)
As for a whole list of skills that need to be practiced and improved on... this is NORMAL.  No one is born a wonderful seamstress, baker or anything else.  It is usual to have a go at something, gather information on how to do it, ask someone to show you and try.  First time will likely be wonky.   We cannot improve if we don''t persist.  The number of times I have heard someone say they are no good at something amazes me.  I will ask "how many times did you try?" and the answer is usually once!   Like you fall out of bed just BEING a good cook or knowing how to do anything!?

The next objection is about no time.   Great Gran had thirteen children and no washing machine but mended.  She would probably have a good laugh over our idea of no time.   She might be amazed at how much people watch tv and drive around from one place to another, spend on their devises and the phone.  She would think she would just not have time for these things!
None of us can do everything.  And I am all for making easier ways.  But if we identify where the budget is really breaking we might be able to learn a skill to help.   A quick way to work out what these may be is to calculate the annual cost of things.  If you have five children and haircuts are costing a fortune per year then hair cutting equipment and some study might save you hundreds per year.  If taking up pants and jeans is a regular cost this is a really easy skill to learn.   If your family spend a fortune on yoghurt this might be a good one to study.

I am mortified to share this but here goes.  We once spent $50 a week on pizzas.  It was a Friday night thing from a fancy pizza place.  They were divine I admit.   But that is a whopping $2,600 a year!
Learning to make a decent pizza base (and later a good gluten free one)  and yummy toppings reduced this to well under $10 a week. And it was easy.   And saved over $2000.   Nan would have said I needed my head read to ever have paid that.    Anyway now I don't and I routinely price the cost of things annually.   This is always amazing and you realise that it is absolutely worth doing it yourself, finding an alternative, making do or learning how...

We are so blessed to be able to study any skill for free online.  If you are lucky enough to still have your Nan or Mum and can ask her to show you how to do something that would help your household then do!  It will be a beautiful time together!   If not then you have an endless choice of free tutorials, you tube, the library...    It is exciting to learn a new skill.  It might save you a fortune.

A couple of years ago I learned soap making. I had a fear of caustic soda I had to overcome first.  Today I saw homemade soap is selling for $10 a bar.   Knowing how to make soap is something I am so glad I learned.

My friend Laine decided early on that with four children she would need a lot of birthday and celebration cakes.  So she took a short course in cake decorating.  She long ago lost count of how many cakes she made and how much that saved her.   But it would be a fortune.  What a good investment that class was!

Here on the farm I have learned to take good care of leather boots.   It has reminded me how Pa always polished his shoes.  Shoes were expensive and you took good care of them.  Leather boots are an investment and I take care of mine.  Then I learned how to keep them waterproofed.

Knowing how to make bone broth and stock is a skill that means you can feed your family nutritious food very cheaply.   Soups and stocks are very economical.   Stocks can be made from things you normally would throw out!

If you develop skills you may also have an alternative income stream or ability to trade.  These could come in very handy!

What skills do you use that save you the most?
Do you have something you would like to learn that could save you a lot?
Are there any jobs that you could do that are not so much skill just time and mess?  Mine was windows.  I thought I was really bad at windows.  Now I use the cheats method.... for outside windows I hose everything down.   Then I use a window washer dipped into a bucket of a few drops of dish washing liquid and half a bottle of Finish Rinse Aid.  I give them a rub with this.  Then I hose them down well and walk away.  They dry practically perfect!    My neighbour in Adelaide paid $300 to have the windows all done.  I timed it and I could do all mine in under an hour.  Not perfect but still wonderful. I gave up perfectionism for good shiny windows!

Approaching Christmas things are busy!  But now I really start to think over the year and about next year too.  My presents are all made and wrapped.  This is largely because of The Tuesday Afternoon Club.  We encouraged each other, shared skills and ideas and started in January!

Now I will think about what skills I should learn that will help us in the future.  It is not only money saving but it is fun!  And good for us!   Have faith in yourself as you can save a fortune taking things on yourself.

xxx

How to beat rising prices like Nanna did and how to make meat go further.

We have all noticed rising meat prices.  In Australia there is a major and long lasting drought and this is one of the reasons for it here.  But still very often I am shocked at the price of meat.  And the things that were once cheap are no longer.  It is nothing for even ground meat (mince) to be $15 a kilo.
So that will be my first tip... just because something used to be the cheaper option it may no longer be! Don't assume your old favourite is still better value.  Look elsewhere!

My Nan used to cook a Sunday roast lunch for the whole family.  We would go to church them meet at Nan and Pa's for a beautiful roast meal.  From memory there were usually ten or so of us.  As a kid it never once occurred to me how much this would have cost my Grandparents.  I do know they used to study the catalogues and specials and store hop to get them.  It wasn't until I was an adult that I realised some of the yummy things I loved were in fact clever ways Nan made the meat go much further.  She had many tricks and no one noticed!  And this is the thing... no one does notice. When the food is delicious and stomaches are full everyone is just happy!

We always had a lot of different vegetables and side dishes.  One I have mentioned before is a really simple one Nan made to go with roast meat.  It was a cooked up mix of onion, tomato, zucchini and whatever else was on hand and baked with bread crumbs and cheese over the top.  I loved this.  I make it every Christmas day in memory of Nan.   You can find this recipe here.   And it there are left overs of this I make little spaces in the pie plate and crack eggs into them.  Then I bake it as a breakfast or brunch.  It is delicious!

Nan very often served soup and/or desert.  These in themselves fill you up or in the case of hungry teenagers and hard working people they slow them down!
After we all went home I know Nan used every bit of meat and any left overs!  The bone from the roast then became the base of a soup.  One of her soups I have never been quite able to replicate but it was the bone from the roast lamb,  soup bean mix, loads of veggies and pepper.  This was all cooked down and blended.   I grew up on my bowls of this delicious soup.   After a roast the bone still has just a ton of goodness and a surprising amount of meat left on it.

Roast chickens or turkeys were made into stock.   A stock has so much goodness and then is a nutritious base for further soups.  You can also cook your rice or pasta in stock rather than water to add extra goodness.  If you freeze some stock (or can it) whenever there is sickness in the house you can make chicken soup very quickly.  Both itself is so full of nutrients. I am noticing bone broth now is the in thing and sold in supermarkets.  I use the tip to add a seals of vinegar to the bones you are cooking up to draw out the goodness.

This is how Mum and Nan talked.  Cooking for your family was about giving them nourishment and as much "goodness" as possible.  It wasn't meant to be fancy, it was meant to be nutritious.  The water from cooking veggies and the juices in the pan from roasting all were used as they all had nutrients.   Pan juices and vegetable water made the gravy.  Full of goodness!  It would have been a crime to pour something with nutrients in it down the drain.  It went into something.  Think about this. What goodness do you waste?

One of the most expensive types of meats are deli meats.  All the sliced up and packaged hams are incredibly expensive.  If you work out the price per kilo it is shocking.  Also generally they have preservatives and things added.  Going to the deli and buying it there rather than the pre packaged ones is cheaper but still expensive.  Neither Mum nor Nan ever bought this.  And neither do I.
Instead left over roast meat or extra meat was roasted, usually on a Sunday.   When it was cold it was sliced up thinly to make up sandwiches and rolls for the working week (or school week).  I still do this.  I always watch out for meat on special that can be roasted.  If I find a ham I will still roast that as it improves it so much.  Most often we will have some dinners from it and many things make from the cold roast meat.  It is not a small saving.  Packaged deli meats mostly work out from $30 to $40 a kilo.  You have a whole chicken for $10. There is no comparison.   Lately the cheapest roast meat has been chicken but I see specials and markdowns and swoop!   After Christmas and New Year I found hams marked down and this was a great way to build up lunch meats supplies.  A piece of corned beef cooking in the slow cooker will make lots of lunches.  If you roll your cooked corned beef in cracked pepper and a little oil and roast this, then you have Pastrami!!   Once cold slice that thinly.  It will give you just a ton of "deli meat."   Because this has a strong flavour it will go further too!

That gets me to my next point.  If you have family members who are big meat eaters and object to meatless meals then choosing meats with a big flavour impact gives the impression of more.  Bacon,  chorizo, salami etc. all have a big burst of flavour and you don't need much.   So you can make pizza, fried rice, frittatas, salads, cheese boards etc all seem to be meaty but for very little.  Some things are perception, it is not really a meat meal it more has meat as a garnish.  

Of course then you have meatless meals too.  I always serve protein so if we have a meatless meal it will be based around eggs or cheese mostly.

Different countries have their own special "stretch the meat" tricks.  The English have Yorkshire Puddings and I notice these are becoming popular here.  Indian cuisine has so many beautiful sauces and spices and Naan Bread so that with all of these little bowls of sides you have a surprisingly small meat dish that just goes miles.

We are so lucky now that any skill we want to learn is as simple as a quick search on You Tube or a bit of a Google to find instructions.  I like that you can Google "How to...." basically anything!  And there are really simple instructions and pictures for a free lesson.   If you don't already know how to make stock or bone broth then next  time you have bones from a roast learn these skills.  Then learn how to add this goodness to another meal.   Try some recipes and make a tray of Yorkshire Puddings!  Or my Nans Tomato pie.  Use what you have too as your number one meal stretcher!

Very often my meaty meals are a slow cooker casserole.  I put in a lot of vegetables.  They are usually served then with more vegetables, rice or mashed potato.  So my cook up makes a lot of meals.

The soft cooked down meat from the slow cooker is just ideal to make up meat pies.  And they freeze well.   Your pies are a very good all in one meal. The type of thing to pull out of the freezer when life has meant you are too busy or unwell to bake.

 You can find some good combinations for the slow cooker and pie making here.  (And some of my saving calculations I did at the time.) I just keep ready pastry on hand in the freezer as so often a bit of meat and a few veggies get me an extra dinner... or several.  Even if not enough for a meal I might have enough for a couple of individual little pies to use for a lunch.  Very handy!
Sometimes I will not have much meat left but still get out the pie maker and make some pies for dinner or to put away for later.  A big stretcher of left overs!

A lady I spoke to in the supermarket last week told me how she is a basic cook and her daughter and son in law are foodies and they came to dinner.  She was a bit nervous as the SIL is new to the family.   And at home they have pretty fancy meals.   But she thought she would go with what she knows and she did roast beef with lots of roast veggies and gravy.   Well, the son in law could not stop talking about how beautiful it was!   It was if an old fashioned roast dinner was a new invention!  And really who can beat this?  Some things are classics for a reason!  
When I do a roast now it is just the two of us I cook extra veggies.  When I plate up I serve dinner and then another dinner goes into a casserole dish.   Then I skip a night and we have a roast meal again.  This gives me a night off!   Left over meat becomes lunches.   Last week I still had meat so I made up a heap of rolls and froze them.   I stick to roast meat, butter, pepper and maybe mustard or cheese.  Andy loves them and these freeze perfectly.  Even if he is driving into town he will grab a roll to take with him.  These save us a lot.

I loved a tip from Jamie Oliver which was to make a whole heap of extra stuffing and cook it in a loaf pan.  This way each person doesn't just get stuffing from inside a chicken or turkey but there is a ton extra. Genius!  I always liked the stuffing best when I was a kid.  Imagine how much further a roast would go with slices of stuffing added to the plate!

Mum used to make left over roast meat fritters.   Usually they had roast meat, corn, egg, flour and milk to make a fritter and fry it.  As kids we loved these.  Of course there are Shepherds Pies also.

I hear lots of ladies say that if they make planned left overs they are just eaten.  Well, I have been through this.  You have to be tricky.  You can ask  "would anyone like anymore?" and have extra rice, veggies or other bits and pieces.  Or dessert.  But you need to have dealt with and hidden the meat!  I usually serve up what I want for the next meal and set it well aside.  I also write on things i.e. "Friday nights dinner" so there are no illusions it is free to eat! You have to do what works for you here but there is nothing wrong with teaching kids about the budget, planing etc.   We were never free to just raid the fridge.  We always asked if there was anything to eat.  My daughters were not free to help themselves either.  I always had afternoon tea ready after school and THIS was afternoon tea.  They didn't go grab what was set aside to be lunches, dinners etc. So if you have good plans messed up by others then change what you do.  Keeping in the budget is important!

The area of menu planning is another big thing here.  Plan around what you already have and what you find on great deals or markdowns.  I have stalked the mark down person many times for some great deals!  I get asked how am I so lucky on finding mark downs?  How do I know when is the best time to find them?  There is no science to it, I just ask the staff.  I have never had anyone refuse to tell me.  Most of the staff also are on budgets and find meat expensive!  So I just ask and try to shop at the good times.  Also if possible I shop late when I know that store will be closed tomorrow.  I follow the catalogues and Facebook pages of butchers and meat wholesalers.  One wholesaler we found has a weekly email.  Some of their best specials have been just incredible!    I have also phone butchers and asked questions like "what would be your best price on 50 kilos of ground beef?"  as often buying a big lot of something and dividing it up yourself saves a lot of money.  And asking can't hurt, right?

Packaging is another...  buying a whole side of lamb or some kind of bulk pack can save you a lot but, yes,  then you need to package it up into nice meal sized portions for your family.  But this is a huge saver.  I also do mixed grill packs where there is a smaller serving of steak or lamb but also a sausage per person.   When you need to serve up a BBQ and feel you need a lot of meat mix it up... a little bit of streak and a lot of sausages, burgers, onion rings, potato bake, salads, breads...  it can be all smoke and mirrors that you spent a lot on meat.


Now there are lots of other ways to stretch a meal i.e. beans, textured vegetable protein...  I will leave some of these to you as these are two I don't do.  However I do add granted carrot to sausage roll meat and I put lots of grated or chopped veggies into my spaghetti bolognese sauce mix. And a lot of onion.  I would say I double my volume of meat easily with zucchini, capsicum, spinach, mushrooms, parsley... depending on what I have.  No one even knows it is there.  In fact if you are a Mum wishing to get more veggies into the kids look up Jamie Oliver's seen veg sauce.  Once you have this you can make pasta, pizza etc all so full of veggies!

To make meat sauce go further with pasta you can make a lasagne with some layers of vegetables instead of the meat sauce and your cheese sauce or béchamel sauce really fills up the dish and is delicious.  So if I am making a spaghetti dish I will often do a cheese sauce also .... this will usually mean I end up with heaps of meat sauce left for other meals.

You can sneak a lot of extras into curries, meatloaf, casseroles.  The sky is the limit really.  To each you can add so many side dishes.  It is time to get creative!

When shopping look in the places you usually skip.  The price of chicken will vary widely depending on the cut.  It is often cheaper to get a whole chicken than two chicken breasts!  Then the prices will vary from what is in the fresh meat section to what is over in the deli section.  Then explore the freezer section.  For some recipes you could also consider canned.   Don't assume which will be the best deal.  The deli section of the supermarket often has amazing end of the day specials too.   A few years ago I stocked up big time on turkeys from the freezer section after New Years Day. Suddenly they just decided enough with turkeys and cleared them all out!  My only restraint was freezer space.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going!  Break out of your usual shops and routines.  Try markets, supermarkets that are further away, wholesalers... if you know someone who has a business maybe they will let you shop at their wholesaler?  Try new recipes.  Learn learn learn!
Attend to re packaging and freeze your meat.  Letting things sit in the fridge until you figure out what to do with it can lead to wasted product.  Add a side dish so maybe your dinners worth of protein will in fact be enough for two nights.   Use things up as they need using rather than cooking "what you  feel like" and menu plan this way!

Really old style cook books tend to be wonderful for basic ingredients and using up the cheaper cuts of meat.  I use my slow cooker a lot. Meats that are tougher or harder to deal with turn out melt in your mouth tender.  Some thing that has turned out tough can be re cooked and made into pies.  I have had a few things that were less than spectacular that I have added a sauce to, cooked for the whole day in the slow cooker,  and turned into tender and good pie filing!

If you have tips on how you save in this area, things your Nanna used to make or other tips please do share.   Between us and the different countries we come from we can probably come up with so many more savings.

Have a good new week!  It is a public holiday here for us tomorrow. It has been drizzling... I hope it keeps going! xxx

How to beat rising prices like Nanna did. Cleaning.

I am sorry to have taken so long to get on with this series!  At last we have our third post.
If you missed them you might want to read the introduction which is here How to beat rising prices like Nanna did.   Then the fist subject which was How to beat rising prices in the laundry like Nanna did. 

So today we are going to tackle cleaning.  I first got into natural cleaners when I had reactions to some spray cleaners. They literally took my breath away and for several minutes I was struggling to breathe.  This was the beginning.  Hearing that some homes are so full of pollution and toxic chemicals that they are not a safe haven at all finished me.  I have not bought toxic chemical clearers since.  The exception is oven cleaner where I do the racks outside on the lawn.

Going back to what Nanna did I firstly have to say her home was so clean and her kitchen was wonderful. She cooked a lot.  Yet her sink and surfaces were always beautiful.  Nan liked things hygienically clean.  Dishes were washed by hand in very hot water.  They were rinsed.  All the whites were white and the bathroom was spotless.  She believed in being clean!   She did not need scented candles (which didn't exist yet anyhow!) or deodorising sprays as there were not stinks to cover up.  Rubbish never sat inside.  The house smelled of whatever was cooking and it smelled good! Cleanliness and fresh air smell good.   Trying to cover up bad smells with scents usually creates a unique worse stink of its own! haha!
Bins were washed out and wiped down.  Household scraps went to animals and the garden.
Nan used "dusters"  which were mostly old clothing, linen or towels that had become worn out and then were cut up to clean with.   When cleaning cloths were dirty they were boiled up on the stove.

In recent years I started using my left over crochet cottons to make cleaning cloths and cloths to wash the dishes.  I have a heap and use a fresh one each day.  They are easy to make and fun to do.  (and make good gifts!)

For windows and larger cleaning jobs I usually have a stack of cotton, flannel and old wash cloths on hand.

I like to find old flannelette sheets in the op shop (thrift store) and cut them up.  This gives me great heaps of lovely cleaning cloths.  

Next I make Miracle Cleaner.  This isn't my own recipe, I originally got it from The Cheapskates Club.  It is a great all round cleaner, it kills germs and it smells amazing and your house smells clean!

You can use it in a spray bottle, for washing the floor, cleaning sinks, the toilet... pretty much anything.  If you make a batch it will last a long time as it is a concentrate.  The pink bottles are a batch of Miracle Cleaner.  You can find the recipe in an old cleaning post of mine Clean and Fresh.

I am always saving bottles and anything with a spray pump and things I can fill with my own cleaner. Another simple one is just vinegar or you can add to it by soaking you lemon peels in a jar of vinegar for a couple of weeks.  This makes an effective cleaner also.

Bicarbonate of soda makes a great paste to clean touch spots or sprinkled on the sink and scrubbed off.  It really does a good job.    I add lemon juice to a sprinkle of bi carb on my sink and give it a good scrub then rinse and dry with a cloth.  It is an old sink and comes up so nicely.  Also to fresh and unblock drains just toss in some bicarbonate of soda then a cup of vinegar. It will fizz away and do a great job.

Some of my soft cloths I fold and stack in a big jar.  I add some Miracle Cleaner and water to the jar... just enough to dampen the cloths.  These are my ready to go damp cleaning cloths.  I would use these for dusting sleeves, window sills, skirting boards etc.  I love them! 

Kelsey shared how she makes cleaning cloths in a past Show and Tell.

She gives her friends homemade cleaning kits.  How beautiful everything looks!  As I mentioned in my first post Nanna would be so cool right now with all her sustainable cleaning methods and recycled items.   So all of these things also make great gifts.   Many brands are marketing natural, non toxic products that are safe for us and the environment and they generally are more expensive.  I have seen some in lovely bottles for over $40 each!  Making your own is so so cheap!  The supplies you gather are basic and will last just ages. Probably years.   As with the laundry it sets you up that when you run out you just make some more.  There is no more going to the store, well not for a long time. 

If you consider what can easily be spent on cleaning products and cloths this just can be such a saving.  But to me it is not just that it is a clean house it is cleaning without harming anyone with fumes or chemicals we really would be best to avoid anyhow. 

The dishwasher can be beautifully cleaned so easily and it makes so much difference.  I clean the little holes in the arms with a toothpick and then follow Cath's cleaning method.  I noticed that a single use dishwasher cleaner can be five or six dollars.  So there is about $70 a year saved in once simple change.   It is amazing how much better the dishwasher works after a quick clean!  This is Cath's method How to Clean your Dishwasher- The Cheapskates Club. 

My additional habit is whenever I use a lemon I sit the used up halves on the top tray of the dishwasher for the next round.  Lately that has been every day.  It is amazing.  The remaining lemon has had the life sucked out of it when the cycle is done!  But the dishes and dishwasher is so sparkling.  So this gets even more use from your lemon.  Citric acid is another wonderful dish washer cleaner.

If you use essential oils and have a supply there are so many cleaning things to make.  Many of mine are my homemade copies of some of the expensive brands.  I love them.  They also make lovely gifts.  Especially if there is sickness in the house I love to spray the surfaces and things like door knobs, remote controls, computer keyboards and all the things that are constantly touched... I use my Thieves/ Germ Killer/Plague Defence formulas that really kill germs in a non toxic way.  I wrote a post on cleaning with essential oils a little while ago.  You can find that here The Home Pharmacy. 
Cleaning Products.

With essential oils you can make your own version of Glen 20 (overseas think of an aerosol spray disinfectant) very easily as well as diffusing germ killing oils.  If I was not into essential oils this alone would convince me.  Since using these I have been able to free myself from regular terrible sore throats and usually head off any colds and flu.  They are powerful.  I feel good quality essential oils and studying them has helped my health and the families and finally I just do not need commercial germ killing products. 

One of the last things I will mention is boiling water.  Bringing things to the boil or pouring water over something with boiling water will disinfect.  What cannot be exposed to this amount of heat I like to use peroxide.  I am a big fan of a You tube Channel called Prepsteader.  She has a tutorial on the uses of peroxide.  So for instance when toothbrushes need cleaning soak them in peroxide.  (as boiling water might melt them or the bristles)  You can find loads of information on peroxide here The incredible difference an extra atom of oxygen makes.  This is very useful as it also has medical uses. 

I could go on and on but I will turn to over to you all.  How do you save on cleaning products?

By all means use up what you have but really you can save an absolute fortune and have a healthier household by making some simple products for yourself.  I love it.  I enjoy it.   I love to give essential oil and natural products as gifts.  And I love to make up a fresh batch of cleaning cloths and see them all stacked up.  I also do my drying kitchen towels.  When they get too worn out then they become dusters also.

I make these in a super big size.  These were from a waffle weave pure cotton op shop (thrift store) quilt cover.  I paid $4 and got 8 huge kitchen towels.  By comparison the shop bought ones are not much good!  

Can you remember how your Mum or Nan cleaned and managed without fancy sprays and so on?   If you have money saving tips here please do share.  We are all working out ways to stretch our dollars and you might have a tip that really helps someone else. 

I hope your week is going well!  It is a busy week here but I have planted lots of seeds and seedlings for Spring so I am really happy with how I am doing (so far!) xxx

How to beat rising prices, (or shortages) in the laundry, like Nana did.

Last week I introduced the idea of a new series based on getting back to basics and doing things like Nana did.  You can find that post here.  Thank you all for your amazing comments and emails about how your own Grandparents made it through hard times.  We have so much to learn!

I am starting with the laundry as that is an area I have been working on lately.  I felt I had a few areas under control but not the laundry.  This was two fold.  Firstly in the supermarkets many laundry liquids are up to $20 a bottle.  Then there are pods and powders... still expensive.  So the cost of good clean and fresh smelling washing is a big factor.  Second I felt that my supplies were low.  They were mostly low because I really didn't want to pay those prices. Even at half price sales I was still seeing $8 to $10 a bottle.  I would not last long at all if for some reason I could not buy laundry products.
I decided to stock up and get as far ahead as possible.  And to do it without spending a fortune.

First of all I remembered how Nan loved her washing machine.  She already had a twin tub machine by the time I can remember but I remember Mum had a machine where you fed everything through a wringer to get the water out.  I could see this took a lot of effort even when I was little!
Nan seemed to always be washing.  Things were always clean that was for sure.  When she tucked you up into bed the sheets were crisp and smelled of sunshine.  She tucked you in so tight your organs couldn't function but it was kind of reassuring and safe.
Because the machine was precious it was looked after.  First you have to have a clean washing machine.  How often do we forget to keep the machine cleaned, filters cleaned out and seals and inside fresh?  
So lets start there!  Before anything else clean your machine. Our washing machine is one of our hardest working handmaidens. Imagine not having it!   I follow Cath's advice on this.  Here is her simple step by step on how to have a fresh clean washing machine.  Washing the washing machine.This makes a world of difference.  It is basically a free way to get a cleaner wash,  a longer lasting machine.  Whatever products you are using will work better.
If you don't know where your filters are then your instruction book will tell you. If that is missing then google your machine model and you can download your manual.  This all takes just a few minutes and whatever products you use will now work better.

This was a photo from Rachel of her own laundry liquid and knitting.

First of all I tried a couple of recipes for laundry liquid.  I really like this one that Jane gave me.  She says it is from Rhonda's Down to Earth blog.   I made it up and am very happy with it.

This is the recipe.
1 cup Lux flakes.  If you are in the US Ivory soap flakes are the same I think.  Also Aldi have pure soap flakes in the baby section.
1/2 cup Borax.
1/2 cup washing soda.
Use boiling water to dissolve these ingredients well then add more water to make up a ten litre batch of liquid.  I used my soap making pot in the stove.

Use a stick blender to blend it well.
Jane adds soluble lavender oil to hers for scent.
I used a large spoon or Eucalyptus oil.  It smells heavenly.
Use about half a cup per load.  It does separate in the bottle somewhat so you shake it before use. But it works and it smells wonderful.
I now use this for all work clothes, jeans and so on.

I have not worked out the exact price per bottle of this. But it is cents.  The savings are incredible. 

If you would prefer a laundry powder then try The Cheapskates Club recipe which is here.   This works out at about $2 per 90 loads of washing.  

I made myself up some Wool Wash.  I use this for all woollens, quilts, pillows (even feather), blankets, underlays...

You can find this recipe here Wool Mix recipe.   This is honestly the nicest thing I have ever used. Things become so so soft.  And smell so beautiful.   The feather pillows do need to go into the drier to be fluffed back up and throughly dried.  But the other things like the quilt and underlay I just wait until hot days and they dry in the sunshine perfectly well in a day.  There is no need to dry clean these things.  This will clean them so well and kill all dust mites etc.   People pay a fortune to have these dry cleaned! 

With all of this and good results I have ended up with a cupboard full of ready made products and also the INGREDIENTS to make much more. If I run out of laundry liquid or there was some shortage/crisis then I have my easy laundry recipes printed on cards.  They are stuck inside my laundry cupboard door.   And I have the ingredients to make many many batches of products that could last me at least a couple of years.   Suddenly my supplies have gone from maybe a months worth to maybe several years worth.  For very little!  

Ingredients I have on hand now are:

Lux flakes.  Several boxes.  (Ivory or other pure soap flakes are substitutes. So is grating hard pure soap bars)  To store Lux flakes I transfer it into big jars.  I have found long term storage in the cardboard boxes it comes in is not so good. 

Methylated Spirits.  In USA called Denatured Alcohol. 

Washing Soda/Lectric Soda.

Borax.

Eucalyptus oil.  

Lavender oil if preferred. 

Collection of bottles, funnels and I have my soap making pot. This could also be used to boil things that need disinfecting. 

Old wooden spoons.

Bars of velvet soap or Zote or similar if in US. 

With all this you are set to be self reliant for laundry supplies for just ages.  What a good position to be in!   Game changer! 

Now Nan had a secret weapon.  A wonderful freshener, deodoriser and stain remover.  It was called sunshine!   This is where Nan was totally hip and cool, she had the latest technology of wind and solar power at her disposal. It was called the clothes line. haha!

The breeze is the best iron of all.  Creases drop out.  Sheets were folded carefully from the line completely crease free and smelling beautiful.  

On washing day the bed was stripped and the window flung open. The bed was left unmade to air.  It might be rotated or flipped also.  But the room would be filled with fresh air for at least a few hours. 

I notice so many of these things produce such beautiful results but they are all free! 

Another is soaking.  Things that were grubby or stained were soaked.  I was blessed by a letter from Kelley.  She told me her daughters both use my method of keeping baby clothes clean which is to have several little buckets in the laundry sink.  As something gets a mark or stain treat it and then soak it immediately in a little bucket of its own.  I use a good amount of detergent or soaker so the concentration in the bucket is high.  Later put it through the wash with the white or lights or whatever colour it should go with. Soaking in a good concentrate works wonders!  I like the Aldi stain soaker and stain spray. They are cheap and work miracles.  I am working on a DIY substitute but am not quite there yet!

Another was boiling.  When you needed to disinfect something it was boiled.  If too big to boil an option was to boil the kettle and pour this into the wash to make the water hotter.  Hot water kills germs and removes stains!

Nan (and Mum) always had Velvet soap. It was pretty much used for everything.  From people to dishes to laundry this soap was wonderful. You can still buy it and grate it to make Cath's Laundry Powder.  A great thing to keep on hand always it could replace many things if needed.  Also cheap!  I am investing in extra bars of this as a backup to my back up!  I think in the US the equal would be Ivory soap in a bar?  Zote would also be good to have a supply of however it is not pure soap and has many other ingredients.

Many homemade formulas do require grated soap.  If this puts you off just just soap flakes where this work is done for you.

When weather was bad Nan had a clothesline under the veranda and a portable rack that could be placed anywhere.  Mum always has had this too and in winter there are usually several things drying on hangers in near the fire somewhere.   

If a drier is needed then drier balls are the best thing ever.  I have pure wool ones and they really help get things dried faster.  I add a couple of drops of Eucalyptus Oil to them and I never would need to buy either fabric softener or drier sheets.  Everything smells so fresh and good.  However good these are I still think you cannot beat sunshine for freshness.

I am really happy that in the space of a month I now have a couple of years of laundry supplies for so little.  I do not have to worry about the high cost of products.  If I see massive bargains I will pick some up otherwise I will do without.

Nature is your friend with washing.  Aside of sunshine the breeze irons things!  I dry all my tops and Andy's shirts on hangers in the breeze.  They go straight into the cupboard from the line.  Let drip drying and hanging do some of the work for you.  Above all NEVER stuff clean dry laundry into a basket!  Then it becomes all creased!  This is madness.  Fold at the line and put it away.  It will be almost crease free. 

Now to help each other.   Please share any tips you have and recipes too!  We can reduce costs in this area and have a long lasting reserve of supplies.  And clean, beautiful smelling results!  

Next week we will have How to beat rising prices (or shortages) with cleaning like Nana did. 

Over to you... if you have a laundry problem please feel free to post that as the ladies here will help I am sure! xxx

How to beat rising prices like Nana did.

For a few years I blogged several times a week up and we had a series on preparedness and lots on things such as crock pot cooking,  sour dough, various ways to save money and get ahead.
Then life suddenly changed and we moved to the farm!   It is amazing to think this time last year I don't think we were even sure we would be moving.  Look at us now!
But all this meant I have had much less time to write so I continued my Friday posts and I have The Tuesday Afternoon Club as well.
But lately it has been on my mind to write a new series as I keep noticing so many interesting things. And many of you have too.  Now we come from different locations but many of these will still be things in common.

First we really battled rising electricity and water costs.  They doubled then they doubled again. They just kept creeping up.  Being winter here there was a report the other day of people dying of hypothermia in their own homes simply because of the price of electricity.  Heaven help us if we have one of South Australia's heatwaves at any time as people will die.

Water and electricity were once just things you took for granted.  Now they are so expensive that people are really struggling.  Watering a garden is so out of the question for many as well.

Another has been the price of meat, butter, eggs and many basics.  One day I went to buy lamb chops for my Granddaughter who loves to hold the "little handle" and eat them.  That day they were suddenly $45 a kilo!  I wondered if there was a mistake!  A block of butter is easily $8 unless you get a special or Aldi.  Eggs are up to $8. Toothpaste is $8 and $10.  Laundry liquid is up to $20!  There used to be cheaper alternatives but they are becoming less.  And wages haven't risen with all of this.
In fact house prices have fallen.  So this asset has lost value while peoples debts and living costs have risen.
Interest rates have fallen so low and if they fall more where will we be? In negative interest territory. That is so mind boggling it is hard to get a handle on. You would have to pay the bank to keep your money in it.  Before this the government is trying to stop people from using cash for larger purchase meaning stuffing your money in the mattress won't work either.

Petrol (gas) prices are high also.  It is not long and this is passed on to the cost of groceries also.

What were treats like takeaway and a coffee and a cake out are also now shocking prices.  Many of us have had a fright when we have bought something at a bakery or a cafe and found out a slice of something is $8.

Our British sisters have their own worries. I was just reading an article "No deal Brexit: Delays and food shortages expected."   It was so interesting and a bit frightening and from very mainstream media.

Our USA sisters have very possible price rises and shortages as the vast majority of farming land just had very bad weather this season.  Even absolute champion gardeners like Vicky have struggled to get a harvest.  They just keep getting washed out.

Today I read that our government is trying to quickly fix the issue that Australia only has 21 days of fuel supplies.  If any issue (and there are some right now) blows up the whole country would come to a standstill in 21 days.  Many people don't even consider what that would mean.  It would mean no food on the shelves, no medicines and no transport!  Just for starters.

Next I notice so many on social media asking genuinely for advice on how to stretch the food in their child's lunch box, how to lower their food bill, how to cook from scratch... how to make it to the end of the week on $10.

My eyes nearly fell out of my head when I saw in a popular Australia home living magazine a few pages devoted to winter.  They had a beautiful room and pointed out ways to stay warm.  They hung a curtain rod across the front door and hung a quilt on it ... like they used to do in England to limit the gush of cold air coming into the home when the door is opened.   Heavy curtains, door snakes, blankets to snuggle up in on the lounge.   It was a direct address to power prices.  I have never seen this in a mainstream magazine.  It is the new normal.

Then I noticed constant requests for cakes and meals with no butter.  And war time recipes with no butter and no eggs...
Articles on how to grow the most you can in a small amount of land.
More people keeping chickens even in the city.
People wanting to learn basic skills so they can save from cooking from scratch to mending, sour dough, yoghurt making etc.

Another big trend is re useable items and less throw away and waste.  Some of this is from concern about the environment and some is to reduce costs.  Mostly I think it is a bit of both.   This is a good thing as they go hand in hand.   So now reusable lunch wrap and containers, drink bottles, serviettes and cloth napkins, even cloth menstrual pads, nappies (diapers) drier balls, baskets to take shopping and cloth bags,  everything that we don't have to buy and throw in the bin any longer is a saving in more ways than one.

I am glad to see this and have a smile because it is not new, it is how Nana lived.  She would be so cool right now.   Her shopping basket and change purse, her veggie garden and fruit trees,  cooking from a few basic ingredients,  swapping food and help with neighbours and relatives,  mending and making do, fixing things or trying to!   She did not think  "mmm what will I go buy for dinner?"  or "what do I feel like for dinner?" she worked out how to use up what she had and what was in the garden to come up with a meal.   The shopping was not to a set plan or to a list of favourites so much as shopping to get the best deals THEN making a list from what  was on hand now and to get the most possible meals and lunches to pack from all of this.  Anything looking a bit tired was quickly made into something before it was "past it" so there was rarely any waste.  Throwing large amounts of food in the bin would have been seen as unbelievably stupid and terrible waste.

You had fruit you picked and used it.  

You had plums you made plum jam, cake, cobbler and you ate plums! 

Nan and Pa would head off with lunches packed and a thermo of coffee and cold drinks.   They studied the catalogues for the best specials and shopped many stores.  Nan cooked everything.  Pa grew veggies.  Nan spun her own wool and knitted gifts.  If there was fruit nearby it was time to make jam and pies.   One of my Nans had a kind of fruit tree radar, she knew every fruit tree in about a 50 kilometre radius.  Especially lemon trees.  I inherited this gene.  haha!
If you had a lot of eggs you cooked with eggs!   If produce was fading fast you stayed up late getting preserves made!

You gathered what was useful to your family and you shared the rest with others.
Nan washed out her plastic bags and used rags to dust and clean.  Her house was spotless and her linen smelled like sunshine.  The clothes dried on the line and Pa helped her fold the sheets so they were so neatly stacked.

Nan was always busy.  She was happy.  She got on with her work and helped the extended family.
They saved.
They rescued any stray animal and it became one of the gang.  One time I remember Nan and Pa saw a dog had been left tied to a tree just outside their closest town.  This town had about ten people population.  Yep that was our town!   Anyhow we headed off in their little car to see if this dog was still there.  If it was the conclusion was that it had been dumped.  And it was still there and it had obviously recently had puppies yet there were not there.   So it had been dumped and the puppies got rid of we though...   into the car she came.   Her feeding up and looking after began instantly and she was part of the family for many years.
So even pets were what came your way you just looked after.

Neighbours moved in next to Nan and Pa.  They had fled the war and came from Latvia.  None of them could speak any English so Nan taught them.  They became life long friends of us all.

Nan and Pa didn't take big fancy holidays.  For many years they and my parents and my Aunty and Uncle all shared a holiday house at the beach about an hour away.  This became an annual holiday for many years.  Once there Nan still cooked the usual meals and Pa took us to the beach and swung us over the ways.  He never grew tired of us saying "do it again!"
Nan and Pa's carbon footprint was miniscule.   A while ago I said how I have realised I would much rather be home making jam then in a jet.  It is true.  And this was the way Nan felt.

When they built their house they actually made the bricks.  Mum and her brother helped and they made large bricks until there were enough.  This is how they got their house!

When I had Chloe Nan and Pa came to help.   I was supplied with hand knitted baby dresses from Nan plus many of her friends and tiny soft smocked gowns and so many things all of which I still have.  Nan kept us all warm with knits and now Mum does the same with knitting and crochet.

So here we are.  For one reason or another we are going back to Nan's ways.  Electricity is not freely used.  You put on slippers and a dressing gown and have a hot drink and a blanket on the lounge.  You collet the eggs and work out what you can make with what you have and how to stretch the roast with a ton of veggies and sides and consider how soup beforehand or desert after will further fill everyone up.  Then they might not notice the reduced meat portion. You might even have meat left over to make the lunches or pies.

Food was quarrelled away and much of it was done via stretching things, substituting things, being inventive, growing things... but there was always a pantry and it was important.  There was always a back up plan.  An emergency meal wasn't takeaway it was a sandwich.

There are just so many things we buy now as we think we need them but Nan never heard of them.  There are a lot of things we can drop from the list!
There are a lot of things that if we dropped them from the list we would be healthier as well as save money.  Mind blowing amounts of money.

So we are going to work through this one subject at a time.  We are going to start out with the laundry.  I hope between us we can greatly reduce laundry costs.  We are going to work through the whole house and garden and then also Christmas, birthdays, pets and holidays.

I just wanted to introduce the idea today to get us going and thinking.
What did your parents, Grandparents or Great Grandparents do that would be considered ridiculously cool and trendy now?   Do you know much about how they got through WW1, WW2 and the depression?

For those interested in this subject Wartime Farm is a great series on You Tube and I love Great Depression Cooking with Clara Cannucciari.  She has a book too that I am just reading.  The old cookbooks are the best!  They take basic ingredients and make beautiful homely nourishing food.  What more could you want!?

See you next time for "How to beat rising prices in the laundry like Nan did." xxx