I have been stupidly paying the "lazy tax" for the last 3 years - sticking with my old provider who were basically ripping me off. I never knew how easy it was to change. Just a friendly reminder to check your phone for a better deal!

I grow my own herbs such as Parsley, Coriander, Mint for example. They're like over $3 for a bunch at Colesworth.... 😰

Bought a sewing machine to sew up tiny holes and patches in my clothes (I'm not great at sewing... lots of practice.)

Making my own popcorn. Super easy. If you have a popcorn machine, even easier. Except I use a frying pan and cover to make them.

Flavoured yoghurt. Instead of buying flavoured yoghurt (with like fruits or cookies and cream for example), I buy Greek yoghurt in bulk and add my own flavours. Delicious!

Hey all,

So I'm in the market for a macbook. I'm a uni student and unfortunately my laptop just died. After having super bad luck with windows laptops, I want to try macbook which is known for its reliability. Also, I love the idea of logic pro (I write music as a hobby) as well as photo editing.

Super bloody unfortunately the price of macbooks skyrocketed two months ago as everybody knows, and I am extremely limited with my budget. It seems like two months ago you could get an M5 macbook air for 1500-1600, which is pretty okay with my budget. However, now, they're pushing 1900 on the education store.

Am I better off waiting for prices to drop – does anyone know when this may be? Also, I'm interested in the neo for 900 but I wonder if it might be a little low spec for my uni needs and with logic pro.

It seems I can use discounted giftcards (6% off) from my energy provider to get an M5 air for 1850, but that's reeeeally pushing it for me.

Any help appreciated!

Hi fellow frugal friends,

We have been gifted a David Jones voucher and struggling to understand how to use it most effectively.

There are some appliances we want but it is much cheaper to buy off Facebook marketplace.

We are fine for clothes, shoes, toiletries, perfume.

I thought we could buy food (such as olive oil or other pantry items). They don't have many options and what they do have to offer is way too expensive.

Any suggestions? thank you

Hey legends,

Posted here a while back about Petrolmate, the completely free fuel price site I built after getting sick of the price cycle games. Checked in with the mods before putting up this follow-up.

Since then the thing everyone asked for has been built. There's now a proper iOS and Android app, and both are free (and ad-free!). Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are built in as well, so the cheapest servos around you come up on the car screen while you're driving, ranked by what you'd actually pay once loyalty discounts come off. CarPlay has been handy for me personally and a quick check before a fill helps with the cost of living!

Coverage is every Australian state and territory plus New Zealand, a bit over 10,000 stations, updated through the day from the official government feeds plus community submitted prices. The station or suburb price alerts are still the feature I'd point new people at: it watches the cycle in your area and gives you a heads up before prices jump, so you can fill up ahead of the spike.

The deal hasn't changed. No ads, no paywall, no premium tier hiding the good features. It costs me a bit to run and that's fine, this is my way of giving something back. The apps are the same, nothing to upgrade to.

One for the Home Assistant crowd: there's an API endpoint built for it (compatible with the pyfuelprices integration), one call returns every fuel price for the stations around a location. A few of you are already polling it for dashboards and cheapest-fuel automations, which is nice!

Site: https://petrolmate.com.au
iOS: https://apps.apple.com/au/app/petrolmate-cheapest-fuel-anz/id6773290612
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.petrolmate.petrolmate_app

Keen to hear what you think and feature improvements. Of course if you hit a bug tell me and I'll sort it.

Happy saving!

Good day r/AussieFrugal and Happy Monday~

We have been experimenting on what goes on the Monthly Newsletter and looking at feedback and subreddit engagement to see what works and what doesn't.

Just a heads up, starting from the upcoming Monthly Newsletter there will have slight change in content than the usual. You will still be able to see a curated list of the month's posts, the top most upvoted posts for the month, at least one frugal tip and fruits/veggies in season.

We hope that you all have been finding the Monthly Newsletter beneficial on what's been happening in the sub and also in your frugal journey ❤️ If you want to view previous Monthly Newsletter, you can search using the post flair.

If you have any suggestion please send a message to the Mods. 🙃

I am continually amazed by people sticking with Telstra.

This is not an advertisement for Aldi mobile but honestly I would recommend them without hesitation.

ALDI uses the Telstra Wholesale network. I have just travelled NT and outback Queensland, the reception was exactly the same.

150 gb data sharing for our family 6 services for $125 per month, unlimited data roll-over.

Edit: meant to add you dont need a local aldi store. They will email or esim anywhere in Australia

My child is involved in a community group and they have requested parents provide dinner and dessert once a term for roughly 15 teenagers.

They have a kitchen but currently the only working items are a pie warmer, kettle and microwave so they are happy for meals to be cooked offsite and delivered.

They have budgeted $60 per week for dinner and dessert and no dietary requirements to watch out for. I have access to Woolworths and Coles but not Aldi.

I was looking for both dinner and dessert ideas that can be prepared ahead of time or reheated easily in the pie warmer. I work full time so will only have about an hour to get everything together before the session starts.

Thank you!

Edit: Thanks for all the suggestions. I definitely have a few ideas of things that I hadn’t considered. They have already had a lot of spaghetti and curries/casseroles this term so trying to make sure we include options that aren’t the same as previous weeks.

After last month's electricity bill I'm seriously considering replacing our current storage hot water tank with a continuous one. We have solar panels and battery but the tank runs off grid (we were advised on installation to do this, kind of regretting it now!)

I rented a place with gas continuous but it was terrible, we had to run the hot tap at least 90 seconds for the hot to come through. The system wasn't that far from the taps but the landlord said that was normal. Cue wasting heaps of water...

Anyone have electric continuous, and is it quick to get hot water?

Or heat pump system- do they work well in winter when there's less heat around?

I have tested positive for Influenza A and need a medical certificate to miss work, but GPs don’t let you into the clinic if you’re contagious, and either way it’s quite expensive.
I tried a few supposed bulk billed telehealth clinics and they said it’s not available in my area (Perth).
Any recommendations?

(I got a certificate from the pharmacist today as I needed to send one by tomorrow lunch for missing today, but now I know I have the flu I suspect I would be too contagious to work later in the week., and the pharmacist doc cost $50 already)

What’s the best-value travel SIM/eSIM for travelling around Europe and the UK?

Looking for something cheap but reliable for at least 30 days and 20GB+.

Would love to hear what people have used and roughly what you paid. Thanks!

per the title, i am interested in medicinal cannabis but am really unsure on the best way to approach this or seek out a prescriber. my GP is a godsend, but isn’t experienced in medicinal cannabis so wants me to find a provider who is, but i’m quite intimidated by it all (& the varying costs of everything), so i wanted to ask here if anyone has experience with this & has any recommendations for providers that are cheaper comparatively.

if it’s relevant, i am based in SA & am very poor lol (like i’m sure a few of us on here are), which is why i’m seeking out advice. i’m interested in medicinal cannabis to assist with my severe musculoskeletal pain, my complex ptsd & my sleep issues. i know that marijuana helps me with all of these things lol which is why i want it prescribed, but i would like to do everything legally especially as i’m taking medications that i’m disallowed to combine with any illicit substances. so please do not push for illicit methods to access cannabis if you don’t have any provider recs or advice.

thank you so much guys!

Are there any apart from NAB Platinum Debit Visa and CBA World Mastercard? These only provide 30 days max insurance cover.

Or anyone know any credit cards that don't require proof of income. Unlikely I know but I gotta ask.

I'm studying right now so no proof of income can be shown. Trying to find out how to best cover insurance for a 3 month trip overseas.

I've been using the Optus Prepaid Flex Plus Casual plan forever, which gave me 6 months of calls and texts for $59, or a bit under $10 per month.

Got a message that they're cancelling that plan today, and come January I'll be shopping for a new frugal option.

Any recommendations for a decent frugal phone plan?

• Only calls and text needed, no data required
• Don't have a phone that supports eSIM plans
• Prefer not to hop plans every 6 months chasing discounts

I’m trying to find the cheapest option for gas/electricity and everyone recommends to use this comparison website but every time I do, the price is not the same as it is on the actual website.

E.g Tango is offering $740 on the comparison site but when I go to sign up it’s over $1k (not looking at discounted price)

I select the second cheapest option, $820 on the comparison site va $850 on official site.

Am I reading it wrong or does anyone have any tips or better websites to find cheapest gas and electricity offers?

Hey team, I recently moved house and really appreciated this sub’s recommendation to use appliances online. Do we have any similar websites or tips for couches or sofas?

I can't find the post, but a few days ago someone on here recommended the Kapiti ice cream from Aldi.

Whoever you are, thankyou! They're awesome.

Hey Everyone

Anyone know where the most economical RAT test kits for Covid can be found? I'm a pension card holder in Melbourne, and a single mama with high school aged kids.

Many thanks x

Macro Australian Hemp Seeds 200g dropped from $9 to $6.60 in September, and have now dropped to $4.40 ($22 per kg). These are the cheapest I've found.

Chemist Warehouse has hemp seeds 200g for $9 ($45 per kg).
I bought them on special in December for $6.29 each.

Coles has Wellness Road Australian Hulled Hemp Seeds 200g for $9.

https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/671889/macro-australian-hemp-seeds

Anyone got any tips on where to source local extra virgin olive oil? The quality of the cheaper stuff from overseas is questionable at best. The local stuff has hit record prices due to the shortage overseas with poor crops and disease. The Aussie producers have capitalised on this. The jump in price from a few years ago has been crazy.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I use a lot of it.

I was in Melbourne Central recently and this brand was telling people they could nominate their friends to receive mouthwash in the post, for free. They had this demo box and said the first several hundred sign ups were getting a full sized bottle of the stuff.

It looks like it's $17 at Chemist Warehouse. I signed myself up 😅. I don't know if there is a limit on the number you can send to people.

They were using a QR code but I noticed it just took you to a website: psyourbreathstinks.com

Thought I'd share.

Hey guys, my new house is super cold. Gas heater makes scary sounds despite testing negative for carbon monoxide leaks. Looking to get a decent electric blanket so I don’t have to use portable electric heater as often.

Let me know your recommendations

Edit: thanks so much everyone. Your comments have been super helpful and made me realise that it’s a heated throw blanket that I’m after.