Opinion: Need to scrimp and save? Step back in time

With inflation rising, house prices cooling and the cost of living soaring, I’ve well and truly got the memo and am working hard to pull in the purse strings and get serious about cutting down on expenses and (not) spending.

So I’ve gone deep and discovered old fashioned tools and knick knacks that are now saving me money.

The cost of food is an albatross around the neck of most Australian households. It’s one of my family’s biggest expenses and so I made the commitment to do more with less. It started by me fossicking around the kitchen drawers and finding bits and bobs that have lifted my cooking game so that eating at home became tastier.

Do you have a spurtle? It took me a while to discover this, but it’s changed my breakfast game (I used to love taking my children out for breakfast once a week but that was back in the good old days of low inflation and even lower interest rates). A spurtle is an old Scottish kitchen utensil (kind of like a stick) that is considered the ideal tool to make the perfect porridge (apparently the long rod helps the porridge not form lumps which can happen when using a spoon). Goodbye brunch in overpriced cafes and hello nourishing breakfast at home.

Still in the kitchen drawers… I lost the attachment to the stick blender (I know!) – it was my MVP for making soups with leftover vegetables in the bottom of the crisper. So again, I rummaged around the cupboards and found beneath the pots and pans, an old food mill. It works a treat, is perfect for soups and there’s a whole lot less kitchen carnage compared with what can happen with an electric stick blender. The food mill can also be used to make the most luxurious and silky smooth mashed potatoes. Another win for eating in.

And then I found my pie bird – a perky little blackbird that sits in the middle of the dish with the pastry draped over its beak – to allow the steam from the pie to escape when cooking – no more soggy pies and thus and thus, no need for expensive pies from the local deli. And I haven’t yet mentioned my egg topper for the most neatly cut and perfectly cooked soft-boiled eggs, but that could almost be a whole other story.

And next, to the part of the house that always breaks me, the laundry. I’ve had great laundries, lousy laundries and no laundry. I loathe using the tumble dryer but with a family of five, we. Have. So. Much. Washing. And so, I have long been a fan of drying racks. But, even with three of these and a clothes rail for hanging shirts and dresses, I still needed to use the dryer to take up the overflow of washing. And then I bought a pulley. It is brilliant. It sits in the ceiling and holds so much and the bonus is, it’s out of sight. I have this one but there are many variations and customisations. The tumble dryer is almost never used and any haircut to my swollen electricity bill is a relief.

I’m actually enjoying this ‘step back in time’ experience, so please tell me if you have any tips for making your home more economical… drop me a note at alice.stolz@domain.com.au I’m off to research making my own cleaning products.