Coffee Machine Ownership On The Rise - Does This Mean We're More Frugal Than We Used To Be?

Did you catch this article yesterday?

Aussies are getting more cup for their buck, saving up to $800 a year on cafe-quality coffees with the rise in popularity of affordable at-home machines.

I find the increase in ownership of coffee machines (especially pod based machines, like the Nespresso system) fascinating.

I'd love to believe it represents a growing awareness of how all those little luxury purchases affect the bottom line. I wish I could say it shows that Australians are finally learning to live within our means.

But honestly? I think that it's just one of the new, exciting toys that everyone wants to own right now. To me, a coffee machine in the kitchen represents lifestyle inflation. Five years ago it was ipods, this year it's Nespresso machines. If I don't see an article about increasing ownership of e-readers, and whether it represents a new frugal and / or minimalist zeitgeist, within the next two years I'll be very disappointed.

I'm not telling you that you shouldn't buy a coffee machine. Perfect Boyfriend bought one (for 60% of its retail price!!) a few months back and I love it.

But what I hope the folks running into Nespresso shops with their credit cards understand is: your coffee machine is only saving you money if you're actually saving more money. Has your savings figure gone up since you bought one? Has it changed your spending habits?

It could be true that Australians are becoming more frugal. However I tend to think that there will always be a section of the community who will live within their means, another section who will buy the new exciting toy no matter how much debt they have, and a whole other section who spends big bucks when times are good, and cuts back when that paycheck isn't looking so great anymore. I suspect that those people are currently cutting costs at about the same rate the big miners are cutting jobs in Perth.

I can see clearly now the rain has gone... Wait, nope, it's just my new glasses.

When I was about twenty, years of school and uni finally took their toll on my eyes. I started getting headaches and having trouble reading the slides in lectures... Yep, I needed glasses.

I think I spent about $400 on that first pair of glasses, and I didn't even really like them all that much.

I've learnt a lot since then. Some of what I've learnt is even about buying glasses without spending a whole week's pay. That's what I'm sharing here.

Your eye tests are free.
Medicare will pay for you to have an eye test every two years. Some optometrists will waive the cost of your eye test even if medicare doesn't cover it (i.e. if you've already had a test in the last two years), because they want you to buy your frames from them.

Your employer may partially cover your costs.
This is the case for almost all public servants and a great deal of employees in the private sector. If you work at a computer, usually all you need is a note from your optometrist stating that you require glasses for screen work, and your receipts. Chat to your HR team for more information.

Your health insurance will cover more of the costs at some stores than others.
I looked into it and my health fund offers special deals at Specsavers stores. Some quick maths made it clear that this was my cheapest option. When I visited the Specsavers shop, they were more than happy to check for me exactly what my fund would cover. I chose one pair of awesome frames and one of very stylish sunglasses - $339 in total - but all I paid was $89. I cannot recommend enough that you work out where your insurance dollar counts the most.

Yes, these are actually my new glasses. Are they not beautiful?

It's almost always cheaper to have your old frames updated.
This means that optometrists try to steer you away from it (hint: they're in this business for the excellent profit margin). It costs about $100 at most optometrists to update your current glasses. If you love your frames, there's no need to adjust to a new style when you can have them remade with your new prescription. Speaking of which...

Optometrists HAVE to provide a written prescription if you ask... But they won't offer.
Without your prescription, you can't buy glasses anywhere else. This is what they want. Get your prescription and you suddenly have more options for where you buy your frames.

Don't be afraid to buy glasses online.
All you need is your prescription and your "pupillary distance" (this gets measured as part of your eye test, but you may need to ask for it specifically). I've bought several pairs online and it's always worked out well. I've used Optical4Less and despite the slightly dodgy website and not-so-great English, the glasses were great. It's an excellent site if you don't have health insurance and you need to buy glasses as cheaply as possible. The frames I bought never broke or scratched, though I admit they didn't have that designer look. I've also used SelectSpecs for designer frames. That's where I bought the Burberry frames I'm wearing right now - I tried them on in an optometrist where they would cost $450. I bought them for $149 online. Is it any wonder Australians are turning to internet shopping to save cash? Both sites provided exactly what was promised, with excellent customer service.

I spent more than I had to...
Because my job is reasonably conservative, I'm getting my current black Burberry frames updated so I can wear them to work most days and save the brilliant, colourful frames above for casual wear. I feel lucky to be able to afford this luxury - as one of my favourite heroines, Aurora Teagarden, says, having several pairs of frames is one of the best parts of being rich. For me, it's one of my favourite splurges. Even so, my new frames, new sunglasses and new lenses for my current frames will cost me... $188 ALL UP. That's still half of what I paid for that very first pair years ago. And if I'd chosen frugality over style, I could have paid nothing at all out of pocket.

Choc Chip Cookies

So have I mentioned than when I met Perfect Boyfriend, I was completely overwhelmed by all his food allergies?

He can't have eggs, citrus, peanut or MSG. Peanut is the worst allergy, but it's egg that's presented me with the biggest problem, because I love to bake.

Luckily for both of us, I've developed a knack for creating egg free recipes. Someday I'd love to publish a cookbook of egg free recipes, because I can tell you now that there are basically NO decent egg free recipes for baked goods out there!

This recipe is one of the first I fine-tuned, and it's remained a favourite in our house. The cookies are rich, chewy and delicious. Best of all, they're so easy to make.

Ingredients:
300g self raising flour
250g brown sugar
250g cooking butter
500g choc chips

Preheat oven to 180C. Line baking trays with baking paper.

Soften butter either by leaving it out of the fridge or by cutting it into small cubes and heating in the microwave on high for 20 seconds. (Any longer than this and it could melt, which is not ideal).

Sift flour and sugar into a large bowl. Use your (clean!) hands to rub in the butter. Once butter, sugar and flour are combined, mix in choc chips with your hands.

Shape into small balls and space 3cm apart on baking trays.

Bake for approximately ten minutes or until pale golden and crunchy around the edges.

Tips:

• Because these cookies do not contain egg, they spread out more than normal cookies, and don't rise as much. You will need to give them more space than you normally would.
• Cook slightly longer for a crunchier cookie, or if you like yours chewy and soft, remove from the oven as soon as they start to turn golden.
• The cookie "base" (flour, sugar, butter) can be combined with all different kinds of flavours. Try substituting a few tablespoons of the flour for cocoa if you're keen on a chocolate cookie.
• I like to use a mix of white, milk and dark choc chips, but anything works.
• These freeze very well and thaw quickly. Store in airtight plastic containers and leave cookies out of the freezer for about five minutes when it's time to eat them.

Crochet Penguin

Yesterday I finished making this super cute penguin pattern from All About Ami. I started this ages ago when Sophie started hers (published in her last post), but I've been seriously distracted by the launch of Guild Wars 2 and have sadly abandoned my crafty pursuits for the last few months. Hopefully finishing the penguin will keep me motivated for a while.

I'm really happy with my penguin. He looks super snugly with his over-sized scarf. I had to change the size of the body as I started to run out of blue yarn. I kept the sizes of the arms and scarf that same (because I had forgotten that I changed the body size!). I think it works though.

This is a great pattern and I recommend having a look at All About Ami; the blog has some really cute patterns. She's even got a pattern for Link which I really have to try some time!  

A Penguin for Penelope

We welcomed my new niece, Penelope Joy, into the world a month ago. She's super cute and she actually sleeps - who knew that some babies actually sleep? I would never have guessed it.

I wanted to make something special for her. I've been crocheting baby rugs for a few years now, but I decided it was time to go all out: it was time to learn how to crochet a toy.

Happily, I had Emily to teach me the stitches I needed, and to explain how to follow patterns. I don't know how I would have done it without her! She even found me an easy pattern to try: gorgeous Snuggles the Penguin from All About Ami. There are a few toy patterns on this blog that are definitely on the to-do list now :-)

My penguin isn't perfect, but I think he's pretty great for a first timer!

I changed the pattern a little bit by using a 4mm hook and 8ply yarn, instead of a 2mm hook and 4ply yarn. The penguin feels like a good size and weight to me - after all, there'll be a baby chewing on him and throwing him around the nursery soon enough, so he needs to have a little bit of heft to him.

My favourite childhood toys were all crocheted by my Grandma, and it makes me so happy that I can now crochet toys for my nieces and nephews.

Rockpool Salted Butter Caramels

I was recently lucky enough to be taken to Rockpool for a big family dinner... Yum. It was a great meal (and needless to say, great company) but at over $100 a head, it wouldn't be a regular event for me. I ordered the salted butter caramels for dessert and they were AMAZING! I loved them and immediately wanted to try making them myself.

One quick search later, and I had my hands on the recipe courtesy of Trissalicious. (This blog also has a lot of original recipes that I'd like to try at some stage).

This recipe was the final prompt to buy a sugar thermometer, which I've been meaning to do for years. Boy, am I glad I did. I've tried out the recipe three times now (half-batches each time, in case of massive culinary failure) and it's worked well each time. An $8 thermometer was well worth the money.

 

 

The trouble with cooking delicious caramel (and watching that thermometer closely) is that it smells great, but you can't taste it along the way unless you want to burn your tongue. Which I don't. 

 

 



When I ordered the caramels for dessert at Rockpool it cost $8 for about ten pieces, and the half-batches I've made have each produced over 50 pieces, for a total cost of about $4 - $5 per half-batch. Each time I've cooked them it's taken about half an hour, plus another half an hour to cut and wrap the caramels individually. So it's a relatively cheap and easy recipe, but the final product has a huge wow factor. I suspect that these will be added to my go-to list for homemade presents.

Butterfly Themed Baby Shower

I'm so excited because my big sister Katy is due to have a little girl in a few weeks time... I bet she's going to be gorgeous!
I teamed up with two of Katy's very talented and dedicated friends to throw her a pretty awesome baby shower last weekend (even if I do say so myself!).

We chose a butterfly theme (the amazing Jo picked up on my sister's love of butterfly themed decorations, so the credit goes to her). In the photo above you can see butterfly cupcake picks in the tasty lemon cupcakes Jo made, a display of melting moments I baked, and table decorations by Miriam. She chose flowers that would work with our colour scheme, and arranged them beautifully. She also decorated candle holders with paper to match the rest of the decorations - perfect!

This is (as you can tell) the drinks table, arranged under a butterfly banner and some very sweet butterfly wall stickers. Jo found both of those on Etsy. We served champage with hibiscus flowers in syrup, pink lemonade and english breakfast tea.

The only non-pretty food was my baked savouries! Sigh. I should have put more effort into their presentation. You can see party pies and vegetarian curry puffs, with a tray of mini quiches over on the left. I didn't make the quiches - you can tell because they look better than my savouries. However, what I do like in this photo is that you can see the butterfly foils placed on the serviettes :-) And to be fair, my savouries still tasted great even if they weren't all that pretty.

Miriam is about to become a new Mum, she works long hours in a demanding job, and she still managed to find time to bake three kinds of macarons. How?? She's promised to teach me how to make macarons - mine have always failed. In this photo you can see the sweet food labels Miriam made with little paper butterflies. I wish I had her creativity.

And finally, scones with whipped caramel butter, homemade strawberry jam, and cream. Yum.

Having three people team up to host an event makes it so much easier. Best of all, Katy really loved the shower and her friends had a relaxed, fun time.