Hot Tips
Hello and welcome to another networking page. On this page you can share your tips with others and hopefully learn some ideas that may be helpful to you.
If you would like to forward a tip send it to the contact us section on this web-site or inquiries@australianfamilymatters.com.au
We are always looking at finding ways to help you out and lighten the load.
Gifts
Cook Book with a special touch
I always enjoy those special gifts you get from friends when you know they have made them with their own hands. A friend of mine made me up a cook book of her favourite recipes, and they are yummy. She brought a colourful book with empty pages. She put a personal message on the first page, prettied up a title page and then made up an index. She divided the book into entrees, main meals, desserts and a miscellaneous section. What followed that page were all the recipes. She filled up the beginning of each section with her recipes and then left blank pages for other recipes that you found on your travels. It was a great gift idea that anyone can make up and pass onto your friends or your children when they leave home. Special Friend
Unique Gift Idea
This gift idea came from the children while they were doing craft. We would cut up magazines and boxes to make collages and found one day that a section cut from cardboard which was cut out was just the right size for a book mark and looked really pretty. So what we did to the other side was painting it a colour similar to the main colour on the printed side and wrote a message. We even stuck on small bits of extra pictures to add to the affect. It sure brings a smile to people’s faces ? 3 Little Children
Wrapping Paper
My children are always discussing the environment and trying to work out ways to save it. So this idea has come from them. There are several alternatives.
- They do a paper run and there are several sheets of plain paper lying on top. They decorate this paper with paints, felt pens, stickers and stamps and then we use it for wrapping paper.
- They also use big sheets of paper that come off packaging.
- Posters out of magazines they read are always trendy with their friends as wrapping paper. Green Children
Be prepared with special occasion cards
Since having children I have made it a habit to buy a selection of cards in advance. For two reasons because of cost and for convenience. I hate missing sending wishes for special occasions whether that is birthday, births, congratulations and more. It is also very handy for the children’s birthday invites to parties. We have a selection of cards at home and I keep them in a small filing cabinet that is tucked away in a space in the linen press. We do a shop twice a year to stock up, we have also started to make our own which is a lot of fun for the children and if they make a lot at any craft session well that’s all the better. It’s too easy! Sain Mum
Safety
Emergency
From a young age we have educated our children on what to do if someone is badly hurt or if they can’t speak and are lying quite for no reason. We have shown them some basic first aide and we also showed them the 0 button on the phone which we have coloured red with a permanent marker pen and explained that they will need to press the button 3 times and wait for someone to speak to them. We even went as far as to do a mock run answering the phone and asking questions with the children’s play phones so they could see what it was like if it did happen in real life. Relieved Family
Please note that the emergency number listed above and the directions of pushing the button three times is for Australian emergency services only. It should also be noted that some mobile phones in Australia do use a different number for emergency services so it would be worth your while to check you mobile phone with regards to that.Arrive Safely
As the children get older I find I have to be more relaxed in encouraging their independence. It doesn’t stop the worry though so I came up with a solution. They can walk to the pool or other places but when they get to their destination they either give me three rings on the phone and hang up (therefore no cost) or they send me a SMS message. I find now with the teenagers that I don’t have to worry because it has become a habit that they do it automatically with out me asking. One happy mum!
Safe Keeping for money
The children’s first visit to the pool alone meant that their spare money to buy lunch got mislaid. We decided to do what my dad did when he had a physical activity. He would tie his loose change and notes up in his hankie giving it bulk and it would stay together. Also not many people who don’t own that hankie like touching it (the childrens hankie was always clean), so it proved to be a safe way for the kids to keep there money and they have had no problems since then. Dad’s Idea
Someone at home
When we go away on holidays we bring my husbands or sons car to the front of the house so it looks like someone is home. We did on one occasion get our neighbour to park their second car in our driveway. The timer switches are set up with the light and radio connected so there is always the sense that someone may be home. To this date we have been fortunate not to have any problems. Paul and Fiona
Which Key?
I have two tips here the first one we used when money was really short. I have quite a few keys on my key ring and find it easy to negotiate those that are similar.
Garden
Glorious Roses
A friend shared this tip with me and she said that if you put your banana skins around the base of your roses then you will get an abundance of roses that bloom, also put crushed up egg shells there to keep the snails away and help improve the colour of the flowers. It works for me! A Clever Friend
Organisation
Which Channel
I always seem to forget which channel is which on the remote control, not sure why that is. Anyway my solution was to record this information Prime = 5, Win = 2, Southern Cross = 4 and ABC = 1 on a sticker and place it on the back of the controller. This was always helpful for the babysitter as well. Don’t I look the clever one now! Confused Mum
Dining Table
How about this for a novel idea. We had some visitors just recently and were lost on space for people to eat there meals. One of my children came up with this novel idea of putting the ironing board up at just the right height and it made the perfect table for them. Wow what clever children.
Money Savers
Economical Meal
An economical meal is with Dim Sims in Sweet and Sour Sauce with boiled rice along with vegetables of your choice. We find no name sweet and sour sauce is okay to use and that can depend on your budget. With a growing family, namely ours, the equivelant of 4 adults and 3 children we allow on average $15 for the meat for our main meal each day. We generally come in under that amount which is a saving.
Now back to the Dim Sims you can buy a packet of 30 for $4 then the sauce is $5 and vegetables and rice for $4 bringing the total cost for a meal to $13, thats not bad and it tastes good. We microwave the Dim Sims until cooked, then add the sauce and heat through again in the microwave. Great value and very yummy for 7 people.
Bulk Purchase
Buying meat for the main meal can be quite expensive. I suggest buying your meat from the local butcher because if you check the price per kilo you will notice that the supermarket will be several dollars per kilo dearer. Sure the supermarket is convenient and we do buy some meats from there. They are usually economy or special offer packs. Why not buy the 2kg economy pack of ie sausages, usually around $3 per kilo and freeze half. A great saving!
Also at the butchers sometimes they offer 2kg cuts at a cheaper rate than buying 1kg lots, keep a lookout for those offers.