Read more Oily Rag articles by Frank and Muriel Newman
Many thanks to everyone who provided feedback for the milk report. Although the report specifically looked at the cheapest way to buy a two-litre bottle of blue top, there are other ways to save on milk. Here are some of your comments and suggestions, as well as some of the other money savings tips that have been recently sent in to our www.oilyrag.co.nz website. Please don’t forget that if you have a favourite tip we would love to hear about it!
- Lots of people suggested using milk powder. Here is a typical comment from S.D. “For about 30 years, we've been mixing up our own milk from milk powder. I buy it at $7.19 (currently) per 1kg. This mixes up to around 10 litres of milk [72 cents a litre!]… We never run out and we save money too. We had a large family of 11 children, so swapped to milk powder, when we reached 12 old glass bottles a day, to save space in the fridge. We soon realised we were saving money. Although now, we are down to a small household of 3, the habit is so ingrained, we can't ever envisage changing back.”
- A reader from Katikati says, “The beauty of milk powder is that you can store it for a long time and do not have to run to the dairy every day.” And Rene says, “You can't taste the difference… I no longer waste my money buying plastic milk bottles and it cuts down on recycling all those bottles.”
- A number of readers recommended buying milk in plastic packets. A reader in Hastings says, “Pak N’ Save in Hastings sell 1 litre plastic sachets (full cream homogenised pasteurised standardised) on special for $1.29.”
- Cher from the Waikato says, “I am a farmer, we too have to pay top dollar for dairy products and because of Fonterra dramatically reducing our payout I am now reading your web page for cost cutting ideas… We are certainly not as rich as some ‘townies’ may think. Most of us live with massive overdrafts; some in the hundreds of thousands. So please don't think we are ‘creaming it’. We have to live off an oily rag just like the rest of you.”
Thank you again to everyone who took part in the Great New Zealand Milk survey. A full copy of the Milk report is posted on www.oilyrag.co.nz. It went so well that we may do it again next year… and we will see if milk prices come down now that the kg milk solids payout to dairy farmers has fallen from $7.90 to $5.20 and is expected to be $4.55 next year.
Now to some of your other tips and ideas.
- Tom says, “Enjoyed your book and learned a lot. Best tip for me was rather than charging working kids board to give them one of the bills to pay (power or petrol would be my pick).”
- Shirl from Napier says, “Make the most of the recession with interest rates for floating mortgages low at present, if you are able to keep paying the same amount you were before the interest rates dropped. This way you will be paying the difference straight off your principle loan amount. You can save thousands of dollars in interest in the long run.”
- T.I. says, “My number one tip: join a ski club. Once you get involved you can pretty much ski for free and have the best time ever with great people.”
The www.oilyrag.co.nz website has hundreds of new money-saving recession-beating tips.
* 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. The book is available from bookstores and online at www.oilyrag.co.nz.