Inventive readers devise new ways to trim costs

It is always very interesting opening mail from the oily rag community.

Although the good frugal folk of Oilyragaroa have been writing to us for a couple of decades it still amazes us how people keep coming up with great money-saving tips and ways to make something from nothing.

This week's tips are great examples of that ingenuity.

Erina writes: "I buy good quality knitted items from second-hand/church shops. Unpick the garments and wash the wool.

"You need to wind the wool around the legs of a chair or something similar, like someone's hands - if you have a helper - to make a skein. Tie it loosely. Unwashed knitted wool will not look nice, so wash /soak for a while until all the crinkles of the previous knitting have gone, then tie on the line to dry.

"Rewind. I recently did this, buying an item for 50c which gave me wool worth $6-$7 dollars in the shops."

Susan from Hastings has a cunning plan to stretch her shopping dollars: "I used to buy my groceries every Thursday (pay day).

"I then moved it by one day each week - Friday then Saturday, etc, till grocery day came around to Thursday again. When you reach the day you started you will have two weeks' grocery money! This can then be used for unexpected bills or saved! It really works!"

MC Geisser from Invercargill has a tip about growing garlic: "Don't plant supermarket bulbs as they are sprayed so they don't sprout. Go to your farmers' market, garden centre or friendly neighbour.

"One bulb will produce 10 or more the next year and so on. We had over 150 this year. It also keeps the bugs down in the garden. We're always giving them away!"

Susie from sunny Hawke's Bay has a tip for women: "When you think your mascara has run out or dried out just stand it (the container) in a cup of hot tap water for a few minutes. I get 1-2 more months' use!"

Shane from New Plymouth has two great tips: "When raising seedlings, put old tea bags in a dish of water and sprinkle or place your seeds on top. When they shoot and grow up a bit, transplant them into potting mix in raising cups with tweezers from your wife's manicure set (while she's out!) so you get only one seed per cup."

He also has a tip for campers on these hot summer days: "Camping one year we had trouble keeping things cool. I found an old beer crate (a box with holes, like a bird cage, will do).

"Place a shallow tray (an old baking dish or anything that will hold water) on top of the box and pull a muslin bag over the lot then hang this up in a cool shady place where there is a breeze, like under a tree. Now weight the muslin into the tray with some stones no bigger than about fist size, and fill the tray with water.

"Put your food in the box and let the muslin fall to cover the sides. It will keep flies out. Hang on a hook or wire on a tree branch in the shade. The water will slowly wick down the muslin to keep it wet.

"The action of the breeze through the shade will evaporate the water from the muslin and cool the food in the box. I guarantee the butter will go so hard you won't be able to spread it easily on your bread. To take this contraption to the next level, fill a glass jar with water and stand it upside down in the pool of water in the tray (chicken feeder style) and you can leave your new fridge for hours unattended - a fridge off the grid and good for camping ... as long as there is water in the tray."

Frank and Muriel Newman are the authors of Living Off the Smell of an Oily Rag in NZ. Readers can submit their oily rag tips on-line at www.oilyrag.co.nz.