I was amazed that these women had some really great ideas that I have been looking for...
1) The candle
I learnt that if you light a candle and hold it up to any window in your house and if the flame flickers then it is an indicator that there is a draft coming from somewhere and you can then concentrate on blocking that draft. That tip grew into putting the candle in the fridge (or a torch) and shut the door. If you can see light coming from the fridge then your seals need replacing of fixing.
2) Shampoo & Conditioner
My sons have no hair yet they will use my good shampoo and conditioner regularly, and it is guaranteed that when I need it - there is none! NONE!!! So I listened attentively when one of the women gathered complained about her shampoo and conditioner having to be replaced every two weeks or so. So she got empty water bottles (Pump or H2Go) and filled them up with her hair products and she reckons this slows down the flow and lasts longer. So I am going to give that a go - now I just need to get my teenagers out of the showers after 2 mins!
3) Cleaning products
Have you ever heard of using baking soda and vinegar being used as cleaning products. One of the ladies gathered used to be a regular buyer of spray and wipe - going through it regularly (note to self: this lady must have a spotless house, followed by the thought - wow!! who cleans that much ;-)) and then by changing to baking soda and vinegar has not bought cleaning products in six months. Apparently, as I have not tried it yet - if you put baking soda on the surface you want to clean, then follow that up with vinegar, it creates a lather and then is ready to wipe.... Actually I once saw Martha Stewart use ketchup to clean the surface of a burnt pot bottom - ketchup! So great tips for cleaning and saving money this way - but this is food we eat so if it can clean surfaces - what is it doing inside our tummies, but that's a whole other story ;-)
2) Toilet Roll
A household of boys should not go through as much toilet paper as a house full of girls - so I have been scratching my head why or rather who has been responsible for the amount of rolls being used in ours. We narrowed it down to one particular son who takes a great deal of care - you know when. Fed up with this at our weekly family meeting - I brought a roll into our agenda and demonstrated how much was an ample amount of paper to complete business ;-). It was great to see that one roll lasted longer than normal - however, we returned to the one roll every four or five days! So when one of the ladies talked about toilet rolls - I could not believe my ears. She does this for her mokopuna which I could use on my teenagers. She gets the toilet roll and squashes it down so that the inner roll has a kink in it that requires the child to physically roll it around for more instead of it rolling freely.... I'll let you know how I go.
Thinking about this conference reminded me of a cousin of mine who creates things herself and by doing so not only saves money, but things are more meaningful and I for one am so inspired. She is the daughter of a talented seamstress and clever Nan - I would like to think my side of the family contributed something as well, but I don't think so!! ;-) Anyway, an example of this is this coat she created (first attempt of sewing a coat) from a woollen blanket she bought from an opshop for $1! I thought it was great and only one of the many things she makes. I have been so inspired, that I have informed my husband that I want a sewing machine as well..... and lets just say - this news has kept him giggling for days!
So you see - there are always things we can do to help us save a little here and a little there from filling the freezer with scrunched up newspaper to try and trick it into thinking it is full, or like one lady suggested, fill half of it with water and letting that freeze and putting things on top of that to achieve the same thing.
Happy saving.
Yours in friendship,
Mxox
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