Category Archives: Oily Rag newsletter

Autumn cleaning

Spring has well and truly gone but there will be many who did not get around to the annual spring clean, so we thought we would gather together our reader tips for a good autumn clean! True to form, the oily rag community has lots of ways to take the cost out of cleaning. To […]

Oily rag herbs

A sprinkle of herbs is an easy way to add a sophisticated taste to the most basic of meals (which is a good thing given oily ragger culinary artists tend to work with simple low cost ingredients). There is a lot that could be said about herbs but here’s a quick guide to some easy-to-grow […]

Know your rights and wrongs

There have been some significant changes to consumer protection law since we last wrote about it a few years back, so we thought it worth going over some of the more important things to know about the Consumer Guarantees Act (CGA), which covers consumers buying from businesses – not from private sellers. The Act has […]

Having a good haggle

Nearly everyone likes shopping around for a bargain and we all know people who will drive great distances to save 50c on a packet of sugar. But we reckon there’s another better way to save money, and it won’t cost anything in petrol – and that’s haggling. Although haggling is not part of the kiwi […]

Frugal housing

Hardly a day goes by without housing appearing as a headline on the news. What you tend to read about are the hard-luck stories of course, not the good news stories about oily raggers making things happen. The aim of those housing themselves off the smell of an oily rag is to have comfortable accommodation […]

Managing debt

Hardly a week goes by that we don’t hear of another hard-luck story from someone who has ended up in a financial mud pool because they did not follow some pretty basic rules about money. Anne from Auckland is determined not to end up in that mud pool and has asked for some tips about […]

Small garden growing

Radio New Zealand’s Nine to Noon recently interviewed Tim Martin from Auckland about his fantastic small garden of less than 100m2 that is producing an endless supply of fruit and produce, and providing a lot of personal satisfaction as well. Here is a quick summary of what was mentioned during the interview and some extracts […]

Smelly carpets, happy pets, and tasty silver beet

Last week Silvana from Wellington asked if anyone had any suggestions for removing a musty smell from a home, which she thinks comes from the carpet. Karen from Palmerston North writes, “I recommend baking soda, sprinkled onto the carpet, brushed in and left overnight if possible. Vacuum thoroughly the next day. I repeated the process […]