Homemade Stain Remover

Image courtesy of:  morguefile.com.

Because I only like to go grocery shopping once a month, I need to be organized to ensure my family are stocked up with items that are regularly used so we don't run out. You can imagine my annoyance when Mr 13 presented me a white tee shirt which had been hiding in the bottom of his wardrobe for quite some time with a big dirty stain on the front. I reached for my stain remover to find only a dribble left...nooooo! I  decided to consult with my friend Mr Google for a homemade stain removal recipe and found a cracker of one! This was originally posted as an answer on the Thrifty Fun  website. Honestly, this stuff works far better than any other stain remover I've used, even the high end brands. It even works on old stains. Best of all I already had the ingredients in my laundry cupboard.

You can purchase spray bottles for around $1 at a hardware store or I just washed old my old one and poured my homemade liquid in there. This recipe will make about 400ml of stain remover.

To make your own stain remover you will need:

1/3 c dish washing liquid (any brand will do)
1/3 c cloudy ammonia
2 TBS bicarbonate of soda
1 cup water

Mix all the above ingredients in a jug and pour into a spray bottle. 

I tend to give this a good shake to make sure the bi carb distributes evenly, before spraying it on. 

The ingredients I buy to make this are the following brands:

Coles Smart Buy lemon dish liquid 1 litre- $1.09
Coles Smart buy cloudy ammonia 1 litre- $1.58
Woolworths home brand bicarbonate soda 500g- $1.59

Total- $4.26

These ingredients are enough to make 12 refills of stain remover, for only 50 c a bottle!

Why not try making some yourself?

Walking With A Baby T-Rex

Next month the Walking With Dinosaurs Arena Spectacular show is coming to Perth. We all thought this sounded pretty impressive until I checked out the prices, which are not for the faint hearted. I mean who could afford these tickets? Certainly not anyone on a budget!

Then I found out via social media, that the baby T-Rex dinosaur as featured in the show, would be appearing around Perth shopping centres to promote Walking With Dinosaurs. Best of all, this would be for free! Which coincidentally, is the price I can afford to pay!

We made sure we got there early to get a good view and we were not disappointed. There was also some prizes being handed out for answering dino related questions and Miss 16 and Mr 8 both won a set of cool badges each.

The baby T-Rex itself was amazing. It moved so realistically and would stalk and snap and roar at the crowd.  We somehow forgot it was a puppet and not a real dinosaur and were completely immersed in this great show.

The baby T-Rex was quite happy to be petted. Seeing this dinosaur was awesome and made me feel the wonder and excitement of being a kid again. If you have the means to do so, I would definitely recommend seeing either the free mini show at a shopping centre near you, or the arena spectacular.

Sometimes living on a strict budget can get me down. I feel guilty for not being able to afford to go to the movies or big shows such as this. We are currently saving up to get our pool repaired and leaking gutters and patio fixed and I know this will be worth it in the long run, but there are days when it is tough. We try to save up for a local holiday each year, but other than that most of what we do for entertainment is free. I do feel very grateful to live in a great city like Perth which host a cool range of free family events.

February Grocery Shop

Before I go shopping I withdraw the allocated $400 grocery budget out of the bank and keep it in a little zip lock bag. In this bag, I also keep any bonus Fly Buy coupons and my tell Coles survey which I do every month to get $5 off my grocery bill, adding up to a bonus saving of $60 a year!
I also store my receipts in the bag which helps to keep track of my spending.

If I see a great special I will buy enough to put in my stockpile, which saves money on the following months shopping bill.  For most items I buy generic brands or which ever item works out to be the cheapest per 100g. 

I used to only do a big shop each month with a top up for fresh produce in between, but by doing that I've found I've missed out on good specials. So these days if I am traveling pasta new shopping centre I will call in to check it out. A good example of this is while visiting my parents in law who live about half an hour away we had to call in to a chemist on the way home to pick up a script for hubby. I noticed there was a large oriental grocery store there, so had a browse. There I found eggs at $1.89 for 1 dozen and watermelon for 59c a kilo! Both of these items were at half the price compared to my local store and I still had quite a bit of money left in the food budget, so I could afford to buy them.

Woolworths

3 bags bi carb soda  $4.77
2 x 1.8 kg sausages (clearance)  $7.22
Polony  $2.42
6 x 2 ltrs milk (special) $9.00
Homebrand rice bubbles $2.00
Home Brand cocoa puffs  $2.00
  
Total                                                  $28.39

Foodworks

Rolled rib roast $14.86
Lamb leg roast $21.13
Pork leg roast  $13.82
Whole chicken $10.30
Chicken drumsticks $6.26
Cheese kansky $3.99
Bananas $2.95
Orange bubble bar $1.99

Total $65

Bunnings

Borax $8.20

Total $8.20


Coles

2 x 12packs toilet paper $9.00
2 x 2 litre  white vinegar $2.78
Frozen blueberries $4.50
Frozen rasberries $4.50
2x 1kg frozen corn $5.00
2 x 1kg mince $10.00
4 kg chicken thighs $25.82
Sour cream  $2.20
5x 500g butter $15.00
2 kg plain flour $1.85
2kg self raising flour $1.85
2 x taco shells $4.80
Tomato paste $1.28
Caramel topping $2.65
Wraps $6.00
Sandwich bags 50 pack $2.00
Large ziplock bags 20 pack $2.40
Mini zip lock bags 50 pack $1.90
2 x 500g brown sugar $3.38
Cling wrap $2.15
2 x marshmallows  $3.00
Cooking choc chips $ 1.75
2x 1kg dish powder $ 4.58
Hair dye $10.00
2x 500ml shampoo $3.80
Corn chips $4.32

 Total $ 136.51

Armadale Fresh

2 x coconut cream $1.98
1 ltr coconut oil $8.99
1 ltr sweet chilli sauce $2.49
2 doz eggs $5.00
Butternut pumpkin 3 for $1
Rice paper $ 1.29
Red plums $ 1.74
Mandarin and zucchini 2 bags for $1
Red and green capsicum 4 bags for $1.50 (lady only charged me for 2)
Pocky $1.99

Total $26.48

Kakulas Brothers

350 g dried cranberries $2.78
.875g Himalayan pink salt  $ 10.06
2 vanilla pods $3.98

Total $16.92


Woolworths

1 ltr shower gel $4.99
4 x deodorant  (half price sale) $13.08

 Total $18.07

Coles 

Mushrooms (clearance)  50c
2 x Vietnamese salad kit $1.20

Total $1.70

Oriental Supermarket

4.8 kg watermelon $2.86
Sushi rice $3.34
4 dozen eggs $7.56
Nori wraps $1.65

Total $15.40

Total Cost=  $316.60