great tips

I got some brilliant feed back from my devoted readers, early on in my call out to 'thrift-ers'. And in an ongoing commitment to this blog, amt is proving a powerhouse of ideas. But I am feeling the pressure build. It seems that each issue I consider raises tangled branches of ideas to explore. This is brilliant, but I find it quite pressing. I feel that by taking my time over this stuff, I'm letting dollars slip through my fingers. But every little aspect of life must be considered. I remind myself of the tortoise and the hare.

Isn't it always the way that once you focus on something, it seems to pop up everywhere? Before, I wouldn't have noticed a thing about saving. But then I started this, and within a week, Helen found me a website and then I heard of another on 774, there was a string of articles on the tabloid news shows, and even the baker stumbled across a blog about saving money on another site. Not such an original idea, then..

Helen's turned out to be the best. In fact I was a bit gobsmacked that the Cheapskates lady was trying charge me to use her site. Like 'pay me, and I'll save you money,'. Really! But I did glean something for free- her home-made yoghurt recipe.

I have a yoghurt thermos, but I didn't really ever like the yoghurt it made. I didn't really trust those pre-mix packets. Then I heard the Cheapskate lady tell Richard Stubbs (774, afternoons) all about making it and how easy it was. I thought why not? I'd read all about it in 'French Women don't get Fat', but it seemed to require thermometers and special devices and much time and patience. Wouldn't suit me at all. This new recipe is easy. It's setting as I type this and I'll let you know how it goes.

In order to make the yoghurt I bought some powdered milk. I haven't seen this since I last stayed over at my Nana's house, when I was little. She's always used it, I think. And then I thought, why don't I? Currently we buy two types of milk. But the baker's been preferring the baby boy's whole milk. So we're down to 1 litre of skim and three of whole, a week. I'm happy enough with the idea of powdered milk, so I decided to try it out myself for a week. The bag makes 10 litres and cost about $6, so it's 60c a litre. Better than $1.41- $2+ for a litre of skim milk. By a lot.

I had some diet and health questions- surely fresh milk is better? My Nana is living proof that it's not. She's more than 80 years old and all things considered, fit and well. Bones intact, hair, teeth and nails all gleaming (I think the teeth are false, though). Powdered milk not proving any problems there. I checked out the Choice and Dairy Farmers websites, which had limited information. The yahoo Q&A forum discussed that the difference was in the taste. I know that already. I have a lovely cold jug of powdered milk waiting in the fridge. Tepid or freshly made, it can taste, hmm, powdered.

So the milk is under review. Yoghurt is setting.

I'm following a few suggestions from the Saving Mum website. I'm considering the washing powder recipe. And I've jotted down the Playdoh recipe for future reference.

The tips from everyone have been brilliant, and quite varied. I'm still working my way through them. I go back and reference the lists regularly. There's fodder for many months of blogging. I was quite proud that I was already using some of the tips- perhaps I'm not so bad at this afterall!