Three keys ways to save time and money

Thanks to everyone who sent an order or an inquiry about buying my book. I've answered some of you and will answer you all when Hanno gets more information from the post office. We're trying to get the best possible price for you all but so far, for overseas sales, it's looking pretty expensive. I'll have more information this afternoon and I'll try to answer all the emails from other countries when I come home tonight.

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Last week someone asked me if it is possible for those who work for a living to live a simple life.  The answer was a resounding and positive "yes!". I write about this subject from my own perspective and as we're retired folk, we have time to give to a variety of activities. However, what happens if you have less time? I know of many younger people living this way and many of them go to work most days and have two days at home - just like we used to.

This simple way of living is like a piece of elastic. You can stretch it every which-way and it will fit around whatever you're doing at your particular stage of life. You can live simply in the city, the suburbs or the country. You can be a stay at home homemaker or go out to work. You can be a woman or a man, a couple, single, or with a brood of children. The thing that will distinguish you from your contemporaries if you live this way is that you'll make a commitment to conserve rather than splurge, you'll recycle and repair, you'll see the value in eating local and seasonal food, you'll take your own shopping bags or a basket to the shops instead of relying on plastic bags, you'll be paying off debt rather than adding to it. Basically, you'll be stepping back from the cult of convenience and trying to become more self-reliant. And along the way, you'll develop several strategies that help you save both time and money so you have that precious duo to use as you need to.

I thought it would be helpful for some of you who don't have a lot of time in the home and newcomers to this way of living, if I went over a few of the day-to-day tasks that will save you money and time. You may believe, like the person who asked the question did, that you don't have the time for these kinds of things, but I'm here to suggest three key points to you and to encourage you towards them.

STOCKPILING GROCERIES
Stockpiling groceries, especially if you're in a large family, or even a couple like Hanno and I, will give you the convenience of having a cupboard full of groceries available to you 24 hours a day, most of which have been bought on sale. I recommend you start a stockpile. I started mine by putting aside a certain amount of money each week to buy whatever we used or ate that was on sale that week. I guess it took about three or four months to have my stockpile cupboard at the stage it is kept at now. We have enough non-perisable food, groceries and toiletries here to last us about three months. It's a great insurance policy - if a family member loses a job or if someone is sick, you know that you can still put food on the table every night.

My stockpile cupboard is above. That holds all the groceries that I've not started using yet. Below is my pantry, it is where I store the items I'm using at that time. As soon as something is opened, it goes from the stockpile to the pantry.

Don't forget to include your preserves in your stockpile. When you make jam or relish, try to make enough for six months or so. And don't forget your freezer. If you have too much silverbeet/chard or beans or whatever - either harvested from your own garden or bought cheaply at the market, freeze it. Preserves and frozen vegetables make a valuable addition to your stockpile.

The thing that will support you cooking from scratch more than anything else is to have the ingredients you need at hand. If your children come home from school and hand you a note saying they need to have some cupcakes for the school fair the next day, no problem. If someone drops by out of the blue for dinner, you won't be frantic wondering what you'll feed them. And it is a great time saver too. When you have that cupboard to the capacity to want, you won't have to shop every week. You'll keep scanning the sales flyers and shop only when you see a bargain, or to pick up fresh milk, fruit and vegetables. Your weekly shop will be replaced by a top-up shop once a month. There is a post here about how to set up a stockpile.

MAKING HOMEMADE CLEANERS, ESPECIALLY LAUNDRY LIQUID OR POWDER

Those of you who don't make your own cleaners will probably be surprised to know that laundry power takes about one minute to mix up; laundry liquid takes a bit longer but it's much more economical. It takes me 15 minutes from start to finish with the liquid. That makes up 10 litres and that will see us through at least four months. I'm sure you'll agree, 15 minutes every four months is not much when you consider what a saving it is. Depending on how large your family is, that four months of commercial laundry liquid would cost about $60 in Australia, homemade will cost you about six dollars and you'll have ingredients left over for another batch. But it's the time saving I'm highlighting here. If you have the ingredients on hand, you'd be able to make up enough for months in less than the time it would take you to go to the supermarket to buy the commercial stuff. And it works! The recipe is here.

Don't forget to stockpile the ingredients for your green cleaners. If you have them on hand, you're more likely to get into the habit of using them.

It will take you less that a minute to fill a spray bottle with vinegar, that can be used as an all purpose spray and wipe type cleaner. Adding bicarb to laundry liquid and stirring it will take about two minutes and you can use that to clean the bath or sink.  As you can see, green cleaners can save you a lot of money. What I hope you realise now is that even if you work outside the home, you can make all these cleaners up in less than 15 minutes, then it will be a long time before you have to go through the process again. Not only will they save you time and money, they're a much healthier option for you and your family.

DOUBLE BATCH COOKING and the SLOW COOKER

It's a wonderful habit to get into to do some batch cooking on the weekends. If you have a couple of spare hours, you have a cooking session and then you've got three or fours meals in the freezer to feed the family during the week.  When you come home, you know the meal is there, all you have to do is warm it up while the kids set the table. Goodbye takeaways and convenience foods! But I know that many of you don't have that spare time on the weekends, and even if you do, you're so tired, cooking is the last thing you want to give two hours to. 

Using homemade chicken stock in my cooking. Every time I make meals that are suitable for freezing, I make enough for two meals and freeze half.

But there is another way to squirrel away a meal or two without going to too much extra effort. There are many meals that you can cook on a week night that can easily be doubled up. You eat half straight away, the other half is frozen for later. Meals like meat sauce for pasta can be used for tacos or turned into savoury mince a few night later. Chicken curry, beef stew, soups, pizza, stroganoff, can all be made in large batches and the second half frozen. Any roast meat or chicken can be eaten as a hot roast one night and turned into a quick curry or stir fry the following night. If one chicken is enough for your family for one meal, then cook two at a time and save the second in the fridge. It saves electricity, time and effort. If you can get into the habit of cooking double batches, and you seal them up and mark them correctly, you'll often have a meal waiting in the freezer on those nights when you run late or you're just too tired to cook everything from scratch.

Making chicken stock from scratch.

Another cooking method that will save you time is slow cooking. Just load the slow cooker in the morning before you go to work, turn it on low, make sure it's on a sturdy surface and the cord is safety tucked away and you can leave it all day to cook. If you have a large slow cooker, make a double batch and freeze half of it.

These three key steps will help you get closer to your goals. They don't take a lot of time but by doing them, you'll save time and money. There is no magic fairy who will come down and transform your life to a more simple one, but these steps will help you get there. Once you've got these three key things as part of your life, you can move on to another three. Good luck!