Save Money On Home-Made Pies, Made Simple
In a recent post I told you how I bought a Sunbeam Pie Maker and how I was going to be using it to save myself some money.
Well, I have.
And today I wanted to share with you the fruits of owning a Sunbeam Pie Maker.
I love a good hot savory pie. And I have bought many over the years, as have a lot of Australians. You could say it’s our National Dish. And like many others I usually buy mine from corner stores, bakeries or (more recently) dedicated pie shops.
But no more! This Sunbeam Pie Maker will be saving me a lot of money over the coming months and years.
I made my first patch of pies from it today and to be honest (and less than modest) they were great! And it was probably the cheapest lunch I have had in ages. Each pie cost me only $1.00.
I bought the pastry sheets for $5.00 for a pack of 5 sheets. Each sheet will make 3 pies, so there are potentially 15 pies in each $5.00 pack. If you divide 15 into $5.00 you get each pie costing approximately 33 cents for the pastry. But you also have to fill it.
Today I used left over Kangaroo meat and roast vegetables from a mini-roast I cooked two nights ago. I didn’t figure out the exact cost of the roast meal but it would of been in the vicinity of $10.00 for the ingredients. Halve this as I had one good meal out of the roast already, and that leaves you with a cost of $5.00 for the pie filling. Divide this by the number of pies made, which was 8, and that comes out at a cost for the fillings at approximately 63 cents per pie.
Add that to the 33 cents for the pastry and you get a grand total of 96 cents per pie. Or close enough to $1.00. And only about 30 minutes of my time.
Not bad considering that I bought a Big Dad’s pie for $5.00 the other day for lunch. Two of mine would be equivalent of one of those pies at a cost a mere $2.00. Less than half the price.
The great thing about the pies you make is that you can freeze them and re-heat them later. Great for taking to work for lunch.
And how good did the pies look? Well, see for yourself:
And they tasted as good as they look!
Image credit: Sunbeam
Start Budgeting Now For Higher Petrol Prices
With crude oil reaching US$120 a barrel last week, and petrol prices here in Australia reaching as high as $1.45 per litre, it might be time to start budgeting for further possible petrol price rises.
I don’t own a car, and for a very good reason: they are money-munches. Yes, sometimes I miss the freedom of owning a car, but most of the time I love the freedom of having money because I don’t own one.
But for those of you who do own a car (and I am sure that would be most of you) it might be time to think about factoring in the rising cost of petrol into your budgets now, rather than just waiting and suffering later.
The first thing you need to do is to figure out how much you spend on petrol now. If you don’t have any idea, for the next two week record every cent you spend on petrol. This is a simple thing to do and it will give you a better idea of how much you will need to put aside now for future petrol price rises.
Two quick and easy ways to record how much you spend on petrol is to write down how much you spend each time you go to the petrol station (on petrol, not on drinks or chocolates), or simply keep your receipts when you pay for your petrol - you can just stick them in the glove compartment until you need them.
Once you know how much you spend, you will need to figure out how much petrol will rise over the next year or two. But unless you have a crystal ball you won’t know exactly, but you can figure out rough estimates based on what has happened over previous years.
Petrol prices over the last few years have, despite the doom and gloom of media reports, fluctuated a fair bit. In May of 2006 the average price was $1.35/litre, while in May of 2007, the price had dropped to $1.30 a litre. And as you are probably aware, in May of 2008, the price of petrol has increased to around $1.45 a litre.
You can see from this data that the price of petrol has increased by 10% over this time last year. But had decreased by 4% from 2006 to 2007. So what will it be May of 2009?
Like I stated before, no-one is absolutely sure but if you have a look at the historical data from the last 7 years you will see that there has been a 32% increase in petrol prices over that time, which comes out at a 5% increase each year over the 7 years. (The maths isn’t as simple as dividing 32 into 7, that’s why the 5% figure is different).
Looking at the figures in the long-run it seems likely that petrol prices will continue to rise but not as dramatically as they are at present. Although in the short-term that may not be the case.
Also, other factors are at work now that were not around in the past: the increasing demand from China and India, troubles in the Middle East, and a shortness in long-term supply.
So how much more should you factor in when working out your budget? Based on the data available, I would say between 5-10% more. This will give you a nice cushion against any future price-rises.
The next thing to do is to re-write your budget to factor in this extra 5-10% increase. Say you spend $50 per week on petrol now and you decide to play it real safe and factor in a 10% increase. If you start putting aside $55 per week now (and saving any left over money) you will have built up a nice buffer (as in extra cash) if the price does increase by another 10% over time. And if the price drops for a while, keep budgeting $55 for petrol per week and you will not be stung in the future if prices rise again.
Also, you may look at using your car less, but that is a whole other post.
How are you handling the rising cost of petrol?
Image credits: Maccanti and Zimpenfish
Medicare Levy No-More For Average Australian
There is some great news come Tuesday.
The 1% Medicare Levy will now only apply to single people who earn $100,000 or more annually (instead of a mere $50,000 as it now stands).
This means a saving of about $600 for the average person per year, or around $50 per month.
This is great news as I always hated being slugged with the Medicare levy just because I chose not to join a private health scheme (which I think is a serious waste of money).
What I Learned From The Millionaire Next Door
In an earlier post I mentioned that I bought a book called The Millionaire Next Door
I have just finished reading this book and I want to impart some of what I learned from it. But before I do I just wanted to say that why I recommend this book, it isn’t a book on personal finance, but rather a great book to get you thinking about what it really means to be wealthy (as opposed to just earning a lot).
It shows you who the real wealthy in America are and how they got that way. And it wasn’t through spending lavishly on imported sports cars and gold watches, but rather by working hard on their money, living below their means and being frugal.
It’s a good book to get you thinking and will place you in the right frame of mind for budgeting and saving.
This is what I learned from The Millionaire Next Door:
- Live below your means.
- Be frugal with your money.
- Invest heavily.
- Reduce your taxable income (legally!).
- Research and comparison shop on large purchases.
- Spend time each month on your finances.
- Hire a good accountant.
- Keep your investments for the long-term.
- Invest for your retirement (super).
- Risk is part of life and sometimes necessary.
- Don’t accept expensive gifts.
Out of all the above list the last one was the one that stuck with me the most.
The authors tell a story of a millionaire, Mr Allan, who was going to be receiving a Rolls-Royce from some of the people he had helped to stay in business over the years, as a kind of thank-you gift. He was uneasy about receiving this gift and eventually told them thanks, but no thanks. Why?
Because Mr Allan understood the dangers of having status symbols such as a Rolls-Royce, and how having one status product can lead to purchases others “to fill up the socially conspicuous puzzle.”
In other words, items have a way of changing you. You could say that you are what you purchase.
Have you also read The Millionaire Next Door? What did you think? Did you learn anything from it?
Image credit: Gary Bridgman
Saving Money On Food With The Sunbeam Pie Maker
When it comes to spending money the thing that I least like to spend it on is food.
I am not too sure why this is. Maybe its the temporary nature of food: it’s here one day and gone the next. Or maybe it’s because you have to buy it so frequently. No matter what the reason, it was the first place that I looked to when I was trying to cut my spending and save more money.
That’s not to say that I am starving myself. I like food, it’s just that I used to spend so much money on it and I am sure I am not the only one.
Already, two of my posts for this site include ways to save money on food. Both posts - How To Save Money When Dining Out and Looking For Ways To Save - showed easy ways in which you can save when eating away from home.
But there are ways to save money when eating at home as well.
About 3 months ago I bought a Sunbeam Pie Maker. It has been siting in my bedroom (of all places) gathering dust, but today I finally took it out of the box and read the instructions. It also came with a small book crammed with yummy ideas and recipes for pies.
I used to own one of these about 10 years ago and I loved it then, just as I am sure I will love it now.
The great thing about the Sunbeam Pie Maker is that it can make more than just pies: it makes damper, muffins, quiches, both savory or sweet pies and even cheesecakes. The thing is brilliant! But it can also save you money.
By making your own pies you don’t have to buy them from the corner store or frozen from the supermarket. And it’s ability to make a variety of different types of food will leave you spoiled for choice and richer in the pocket.
The best thing about it though is that your can pretty much throw anything into the pie you like. It’s great for finishing left-overs from the night before and you can readily freeze the pies for weeks at a time.
I know this post sounds a lot like a plug for the Sunbeam Pie Maker but I don’t care. The thing is truly a gift from the Kitchen Gods. And now that I have mine all set up I will be using it regularly to not only make myself some tasty pies (or damper, muffins and quiches) but also to save money.
Have you got a Sunbeam Pie Maker? Is there any other kitchen product you use that saves you money?
Image credit: Galant
