Cleaning your toilet, naturally and cheaply!

Cleaning toilets may not be the most loved household chore, but it's necessary.  Why not use a more natural and cost effective method than off the supermarket shelf cleaners.  I got very excited when I discovered I could clean my toilets with just vinegar and borax, it's great to be able to clean without breathing in toilet cleaner fumes, and it's guaranteed to leave your toilet sparkling and smelling fresh!  You will obviously need borax and vinegar, as well as a spray bottle, a cleaning cloth, and a microfibre cloth.

• Start by flushing your toilet to wet the sides of the bowl (if you would prefer to not flush the toilet, use your toilet brush to wet the sides).
• Sprinkle the sides of the bowl liberally with borax.  Using the vinegar in the spray bottle, spray the sides of the bowl to thoroughly wet the borax, and then spray the entire toilet with vinegar.  Leave the borax for as long as you desire, but ideally at least 10 minutes.
• Scrub the toilet bowl using a toilet brush, then dampen your cleaning cloth and clean the toilet seat and outside of the toilet.
• Use the microfibre cloth to dry the toilet seat and outside of the toilet.

Your toilet may smell like vinegar for a few minutes, but this will disappear quickly leaving  a fresh smelling and very clean toilet!

Bargain Mums top tips on the $100-a-week grocery shop.

After asking how much money Bargain Mums Facebook fans spend per week on grocery shopping, I have had many fans wanting to know how our family, consisting of two adults, one toddler and two dogs, keep our grocery bill so low.  So I thought I would put together my top tips for how I personally feed our family for so little.  Before you all start thinking we must live on air, keep reading, it can be done and after a while it just becomes habit.  Here is how I do it:

1. Buy your meat from your local butcher - Our local butcher in SA happens to be Gawler River Cattle Co, they are amazing.  They release specials each week, one of my recent favourites being beef rump steak for $4.99kg.  We now have a freezer full of rump steak, but it is so much cheaper than the major supermarkets, and better quality (A major supermarket recently had beef rump on special for $14.99kg, so you can see the difference between butcher and supermarket prices)
2. Buy your fruit & veg from your local greengrocer - Once again for those in SA, my pick of the greengrocers is Virgara's Fruit & Veg in Angle Vale, I am a massive fan.  They also have advertised weekly specials, often including bargain such as 1c apples and onions.  I use these specials to my advantage, thinking of meals that involve the current cheap veggies.  Buying in season will always reduce your grocery bill.  
3. Use natural cleaning products - There is no need for most of the overly expensive cleaning products lining the supermarket shelves.  Using mostly natural cleaning products has shaved hundreds each year off our grocery bill.  Try stocking up on bi-carb and vinegar, these two ingredients have so many uses.  Keep watching this blog, I will be sharing my natural cleaning tips in the near future.
4. Choose your supermarket wisely - I discovered a long time ago that the big two supermarkets charge so much more for essential items than the smaller, independent supermarkets.  Sure, The big two have many items half price each week, but I can't say the endless soft drink and chocolate bars ever really make it into our trolley.  I find the independent supermarkets have amazing specials on the basic everyday products that we actually use.  For those in SA, my tip for the cheapest supermarkets is Foodland and Drake supermarkets.  For those in other states, Aldi are fantastic for certain items.
5. Make as much as you can from scratch - This has been something I have always done, there is no need for recipe bases, cake mixes etc.  Packets of cake mix only include the dry ingredients, you still need to add the majority of the ingredients, making for one expensive cake.  As for those recipe bases, invest in some great cookbooks (I love Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food) and start experimenting with herbs and spices to add flavour to your meals.

These are just a few of my tips, I hope they help you shave some money off your grocery bill. 

Pressure Cooker Beef Goulash

I love my pressure cooker!  I have had it for a few months now and use it multiple times every week, I don't know how I ever lived without it, it makes great tasting meals in about a third of the time.  This Beef Goulash is very easy to make, it only requires a few ingredients and is perfect for cold wintery nights.  This recipe is written for electric pressure cookers, which is what I use, but can easily be altered for a stove-top pressure cooker.  I have also included the cost of making this recipe, which came to $5.30.  Some ingredients were purchased on special, as I stock up when I see a bargain!  You may also want to serve the goulash with some fresh veggies, which shouldn't add too much to the cost if they are in season.

Beef Goulash
 Serves 4

 What you need:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil (neg, in pantry)
• 500g stewing steak such as blade, cut into cubes ($2.50 from local butcher)
• 3 large brown onions, chopped ($0.50 from local greengrocer)
• 1 teaspoon salt (neg, in pantry)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sweet paprika ($0.05)
• 1 cup beef stock ($0.05 using powdered stock)
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste ($0.20)
• freshly ground black pepper (neg, in pantry)
• 150g sour cream ($1.25)
• pasta, rice or mashed potatoes to serve (served with pasta, $0.75 for 500g)

What to do:

• Heat the oil in the pressure cooker and fry the onions for a few minutes until soft.  Add the beef and stir until browned.
• Stir in salt , paprika, stock and tomato paste.  Secure lid on pressure cooker, set it to high and set timer for 25 minutes.
• When timer has finished, stir in sour cream and black pepper.  Serve with pasta, rice or mashed potatoes.

Share your pressure cooker recipes in our forum, http://bit.ly/KqwKLD.

Launch of Bargain Mums Travel

I'm so excited to announce that the Bargain Mums Travel Facebook page has just been launched, www.facebook.com/BargainMumsTravel.  It is less than 24 hours old, and has already had a massive response.  I am a massive travel fan, I have ambitions to see as much of the world as possible.  But, I understand how expensive travel can be, especially with kids, now that I have a family of my own.  So Bargain Mums Travel is here to show you how you can take that family holiday, while on a budget. 

I have been on some amazing holidays, and always manage to find great bargains which helps keep the cost down.  A few years back, pre-kids, we visited New York for $1200 return from Adelaide, and managed to find a hotel that had just opened and was having an heavily discounted opening special.  A few years before that, I found a cruise on the Diamond Princess for $600 each, and that was for a 12 night cruise to New Zealand.  That was only $50 each a night, you would struggle to find  a hotel for that price, let alone taking into account the food and travel that is part of the fare.  It is possible to travel on a budget, you just need to know where to look.

I hope to get a website up and running in the near future.  This will be a place you can search for tips about family travel, find family friendly destinations, read reviews, and of course find the latest travel deals.  Stay tuned for more info.

Buying second-hand for baby

I am a massive fan of second hand, my 19 month old daughter's clothes would be about 95% second hand, and it has saved us so much money.   Baby’s and toddler’s grow so quickly, it doesn’t make sense to purchase all of their clothes and shoes new when you can source them for a fraction of the price.  It’s a bonus if the clothes are still in good enough condition once you have finished with them to on-sell them, you will often be able to completely recoup the money you had initially spent on the clothes, meaning you are effectively clothing your children for nothing.

Buy second hand isn’t restricted to just clothes, all baby goods can be found used, although it’s always best to buy car seats new, and if you find a second hand cot, make sure it is in good condition and that it complies with Australian standards.  Once again, once you are finished with your items, on-sell them, there is a massive market for second hand baby items, and it feels great to de-clutter every so often.

Here are some of the best ways to buy (and in some cases sell) second hand baby items:

Op Shops – There are still some fantastic ones around that don’t charge the same or more as the item would have cost new.  Op Shops are fantastic for clothes, and you can feel great making purchases from them, as your money is going to charity.

Adelaide Baby Bargains – Both the website and Facebook page are excellent for finding clothes and other baby items, however it is worth looking for items in your local area, you may spend all your savings in petrol otherwise.

eBay – There are bargains to be found, just watch the price of postage if the item isn’t in your local area.

Bargain Mums forum – We have created a new forum at www.adelaidebargainmums.com for you to buy and sell your items, best if you are in Adelaide.  However, watch out for Bargain Mums websites appearing for your local area in the future.

Facebook – There are local area groups set up to find and give away free baby items, I have received a few bags of free clothes this way.  Be sure to give back to the community and pass on your items to another mum once you have finished with them.

How to make the most of your interest rate cut!

The Reserve Bank dropped interest rates on Tuesday by 50 basis points, as I'm sure you are sick of hearing by now, and even though it is unlikely the rate drop will be passed on in full by the banks and financial institutions, partial rate drops are starting to filter through in the media.  So it got me thinking, what does everyone do with this extra spare cash when an interest rate drop occurs? 

I'm not sure how other banks operate, but when a rate cut happens our mortgage repayments stay the same, if we wish to reduce them it's up to us to contact our bank and arrange this.  But this is exactly the way we like it, it means we are paying extra off our mortgage with each fortnightly payment.  When you think about it, you wont miss the money when you didn't have it before, so why not pretend the rate cut never happened.

There is no better time to pay extra off your mortgage than when interest rates are low, it means your interest payment each month will be lower, and therefore a greater portion of your repayments will go toward paying off your principal.  Another thing to think about, generally the Reserve Bank reduces rates for a reason, especially when it's a double rate cut.  It means the economy is slowing down, and there could be rocky times ahead, so its best to stash away some cash, whether it's in your saving account, or in your mortgage if it can be redrawn.

Win a baby beanbag thanks to Baby Beanbags!

Baby Beanbags are a comfortable, high quality and innovative seating option for your baby. The soft fabric outer, bean filling and swappable covers provide a cosy, safe and flexible rocker alternative for your child from birth to school age. Baby Beanbags are portable, easy to clean, offer a wide range of health benefits to you and your children and years of use from newborn to toddler.

Thanks to Baby Beanbags Bargain Mums are giving away a Baby Beanbag as pictured above, worth $149.95, to one lucky winner. To enter, email jasmine@bargainmums.com.au with your name, postal address and phone number. Entries close midnight on Monday the 14th of May, with the winner chosen at random and announced on Tuesday the 15th of May.