John writes that he is enjoying seeing native wood pigeons feasting on the guava berries in his garden. He has grown them especially for the pigeons but says he loves eating them fresh from the tree too. So, if you have some space, guavas are a great tree to plant – and they are also […]
This week we are going to do some living off the smell of an oily rag revision, by looking at the most important things you can do to build a savings nest-egg. First, let’s review why it’s important to save. In a word – life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. OK, while that’s more […]
To celebrate the passing of the shortest day, this week we head off into the garden. Mary has a little trick for winter gardening. “We have a number of raised garden beds. This is an ideal base to add a mini green house. We built one that was only about 500mm high with a sloping […]
Anita says she loves winter fires. “We use our freestanding wood fire to slow-cook winter meals in our cast iron pot. The bonus is we save on electricity, and we have ash from the stove to put on the garden”. Using wood ash is a very good oily rag trick. Spreading ash onto plants gives […]
Your letters and queries have been keeping our mailbags full. Fred from Northland has this tip. “I have a birthday coming up so I redeemed $250 worth of credit card reward points for Farmers vouchers. I used some of those to buy clothing, which I have now given to my family to give to me […]
Last week the Government released its Budget, and given that lots of people had lots to say about lots of things, we thought we would report on the Oily Rag Minister of Finance’s Alternative Budget. The first paragraph of that budget speech went like this: “Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I […]
The first of the winter chills has set in so oily rag households will have their wood burning stoves stoked up and the slow cookers simmering with warm winter meals. Jo from Christchurch writes, “For a simple winter family meal there is nothing better than a mince stew. Hubby and I make one starting with […]
A reader from Palmerston North is planning a 4-month overseas walking holiday and is asking the oily rag community for money-saving travelling tips. If you have any suggestions, let us know and we will pass them on. But as a start, we thought we would catch up on the latest travel market innovations. Things have […]
The NZ Herald recently ran an interesting article about a young lady from Auckland, who despite the stories of housing un-affordability has, at the age of just 24, managed to own a property in Auckland and a batch in Pauanui. How did she do that? “…it wasn’t having rich parents that got her there – […]
Last week a reader from Whangarei asked if anyone has suggestions for getting permanent markers off a whiteboard. Well, we had loads of responses, all with the same suggestion! The reply by Jocelyn from Waikanae was typical. “Simply draw over the permanent marker with a water-based marker – a tip I picked up when colleagues […]