"Secrets to Saving Money in America" Free Newsletter - August 2007
This issue includes:-
- Sad Sally, Happy Hanna: Caught Short
- Adding Up the Costs
- Vault Printables: How to Save for Something Special
- Sophie Gray: Sugar Rush
- Savings Forum: Back to School
- Minimising School Expenses
- Penny's Blog: Successes and Failures
- Homeopathy Corner: Tutorial One
- This Month's Help Requests: After School Activities
- Saving Story: Better Use of Space Saved Thousands
Hi!
How are you doing? This month we have an extra special announcement: Three cheers to Fiona, Matt, Jacqueline and Sam on the arrival of a healthy baby boy to their family! Mum and baby are healthy and happy and Momma (Fiona) is having a well deserved month off *big grin*.
Thank you for all your fantastic letters this month. Your support means a lot to all of us.
"I wanted to thank you so much once again! We had hit a financial sink hole in the last week and found ourselves with just $40 to make do for the week and having not done the food shopping for our hungry family of four, I was terrified. This caused a lot of stress fights between myself and my husband this last weekend, (my only days off this past two weeks!) so ... I decided to look you up again and saw the $21 Challenge. Instead of feeling like a destitute Sad Sally, I am a Happy Hanna again and we managed to just scrape by. Not only that, but we are eating well and not wanting for anything! Using tips from the past newsletters I organised the kitchen, made a weeks lunches ahead (something I scoffed at previously!) and pre-made slow cooker dinners and have really enjoyed eating 'real food' again. I am extending the Challenge to make everything from scratch which will be fun as I love to cook and can't see why I didn't anyway! I now realise how much money we have been wasting since I went back to work last year from maternity leave. Also now knowing that money saved equals time with my family, has given me new incentive! Thanks to you we are a happy family again this week and our new motto is 'ugly food = great cook'." (Kelly Ryan)
"You are wonderful, you keep me motivated, cheered up and part of a group. July's newsletter was fantastic!!! Loved the article from Sophie Gray.Keep it up.When I feel a spending urge coming on I go to your website and the urge goes. Thank you so much for all your hard work." (Katy Bassett)
"Your site is awesome, with its many 'money saving' ideas. I thought I was fairly thrifty but I feel like I throw money away when I read some of the creative ideas you all come up with. It certainly does pay to 'think outside the box'." (Janine Hill)
"I have just become a member and have already started saving lots. I shop at the warehouse stores, use some of your household and cooking tips and am finding it really fun; I don't feel like I am compromising on my lifestyle. We only have one 2 year old son and I was really nervous about having a second child for financial reasons but I really feel confident that we can live comfortably on a moderately low income. I am going to have to hold you personally responsible for my decision to expand my family!" (Louise Westwood)
"I read with much appreciation all the savings tips our SS members put in. I have saved $$$ from changing the way I shop to the way I clean my house with environmentally safe products like vinegar, ammonia and baking soda. I love shopping at warehouse stores, they save me tons. Thanks again, Fiona and the whole team, for caring about us battlers." (Arouma M.)
Thank you for your absolutely fantastic emails. It is totally amazing each month to read about your achievements.
Have a great month!
Naomi Bruvels
Simple Savings
1. Sad Sally, Happy Hanna: Caught Short
Sally was having a ball in the supermarket. This was turning out to be so much fun, compared to the last visit! No Hanna popping out from behind a corner, no Pete around to check her bags when she got home. She was in total control of what she put in her shopping cart today, so she decided she would spoil herself rotten. Sally couldn't remember the last time she had treated herself; a few little luxuries wouldn't hurt!
She gleefully popped a few decadent packages of hot chocolate into her shopping cart, along with some cute little individual packets of cheese and crackers for her lunches. She even threw in a handful of packet sauces - what the heck - they would make a nice change. Besides, it was only a dollar extra here, 50c there. So what if her bill ended up costing an extra $10 this week? It was hardly going to break the bank. After all, she had $50 more than last time to play with!
Sally bounced her way around the supermarket, helping herself to more bits and pieces as she went. She had $240 in her wallet and she was feeling rich! At last she reached the checkout and pulled out her wad of cash with a flourish. "That'll be $298 please," smiled the cashier. "What?" Sally replied, stunned. "Er - right, of course!" She tucked the bill back in her purse and fumbled around awkwardly for its hidden pocket before handing over a plastic card. "Do you take Visa?"
2. Adding Up the Costs
Sally just made a classic mistake we all make. One dollar always seems like such a small amount, fifty cents here or there seems like nothing most days, then before you know it the budget is completely blown. Your wallet is empty or even worse, you have to reach for... "THE CARD"!!!
It is such a common mistake but how you can protect yourself from falling into the same trap and being left with that scary sensation of 'Where did all my money go?'
The way you safe guard yourself is to look at the bigger picture and swap the big picture price for the amount on the price tag.
The big picture price is the yearly cost of an item. Not just financial costs, but the costs to your family. If you were to buy those goods every day, week or month what would the total amount be at the end of the year? After you've worked out the amount, sit down and think about all the different things you could buy or do for your family with that money at the end of the year.
For example, if you spend $3 on coffee every day. That is ($3x365) $1095 you won't have at Christmas. That is $1095 you can't pay off the mortgage, spend on a holiday or decadent presents. So don't just think of the coffee as a $3 cup. It is now a $1095 cup of coffee. This is the big picture price.
This is a skill worth learning and practicing every day till it is a sub-conscious reaction. The way you do it is to multiply daily spends by 365, weekly spends by 52 and monthly spends by 12. Then dream up lots of big things you could do with that money instead of spending it right now on something tiny.
For example, one dollar extra for lunch each day costs $365 per year. $365 would pay for a fantastic weekend away at the end of the year. What would you prefer? A fancy lunch or a weekend away?
Here is a table so you can see how quickly little amounts add up:-
So if you want to save yourself a lot of money, start paying attention to the small amounts. By putting a little bit aside every day you can save yourself enough for a great treat at the end of the month or something really special at the end of the year.
3. Vault Printables: How to Save for Something Special
To help you learn the 'big picture' cost of little items in your life, we made Vault members a poster to print out and stick on their fridge. I hope it inspires you to become a smarter shopper and save loads of money. (It is also great for other family members who, no matter how much you ask them to curb their spending, struggle to embrace the idea.) Print it out; pop it on your fridge and SAVE!!
Vault members can download the poster from here
4. Sophie Gray - Sugar Rush
Sweets have been part of food culture since - well, since kids anyway! The allure of sugary, sticky stuff is hard wired into our genes and while some of us grow out of our love of sweets with age and wisdom - some of us don't. For example, I recently attended a women's conference where each attendee was given a dainty little box of home made coconut ice. During the break I overheard many women saying 'Ooh, how lovely - I'm going to save this to share with the family', or 'My kids will just love this when I get home.' Not so myself. I had to keep changing the subject and mumbling my replies because I'd scoffed my whole boxful before we got through the opening speeches!
There is a definite nostalgia factor with home made sweets. Not much has changed at the school or church function since I was jostling my way to the front of the sweet stall line clutching my coins. It's still a cavity inducing sugar rush of childhood favorites like coconut ice, fudge and Rocky Road, honeycomb and candied apples, with maybe some toffee, or peanut brittle for good measure. The no-cook nature of some of these sweets means that the kids can easily whip up a batch.
Cook's Tip:
Sugar, condensed milk and flavorings are all inexpensive. Nuts and good chocolate however can significantly push up the price of what you are making. Buy ingredients according to your market - the more discerning the recipient, the better quality the ingredients need to be.
Chocolate Tips:
For home chocolate molding, the most commonly used chocolate is compounded coverture, (sold in retail form as chocolate melts). Made with vegetable fat instead of cocoa butter, compound chocolate is more heat stable than true chocolate. It does not require tempering and can be refrigerated or frozen without the fat solids rising to the surface and creating a 'bloom' (the white powdery look you sometimes see on real chocolate products that have melted and then hardened again). Compound definitely loses something of the flavour of real chocolate and has very little aftertaste, so personally I never use it in a recipe that asks for chocolate - if I'm eating all those calories I want every molecule of chocolate flavour going! But compound has its place, it is easy and fun to work with and when melted can be thinned with a little Copha or Kremelta if it is too thick for your purposes.
Real chocolate must be handled carefully - it will melt in the palm of your hand so doesn't require much heat at all to reduce it to liquid. In fact if heated too much, or too quickly, chocolate will 'seize' causing it to become stiff and granular and at that point pretty useless. Melt chocolate very gently in a heatproof bowl placed over a pan of simmering water. In some recipes chocolate may be melted directly over heat if butter or cream are present, as the high fat content will help prevent the chocolate from seizing.
Chocolate that has been melted and then re-set is likely to develop a bloom unless it is 'tempered'. Tempering is a fiddly process which I won't go into here. When it comes to chocolate sweets, you need to decide what is more important to you; flavor or appearance. Compound chocolate is inexpensive and won't bloom but is not particularly good to eat - although the kids don't seem to care. In comparison real chocolate may bloom, which can spoil the appearance but boy, it'll taste good. You decide!
Rocky Road
Rocky road can be made a simple sweet treat or a sophisticated indulgence by simply adjusting the ingredients. If you are making it with grown-up gift giving in mind, use luxurious nuts - pistachios, macadamias and pecans spring to mind. You could also add cranberries or Craisins (dried cranberries) and use good dark chocolate. If it's for the festival or a kids' party treat, then peanuts or mixed nuts will be less expensive and they probably won't notice if you replace the good quality chocolate with chocolate melts.
- 270g good quality dark chocolate - or chocolate melts
- 2 tbsp Copha or Kremelta
- 1 ½ cups unsalted nuts, coarsely chopped
- 180g marshmallows, cut in chunks - use mini marshmallows if you prefer
- 1/3 cup red glace cherries, halved
Put the chocolate and Copha into a heatproof bowl, place over a pan of simmering water and gently melt, stirring frequently until the chocolate becomes liquid.
Stir in the nuts and cherries and lastly the marshmallows, handling the mixture as little as possible so as to not melt or squash the marshmallows.
Spread into a pan lined with non-stick paper. You can spread it as thick or thin as you like (I like it thick!). Neaten the edges and refrigerate until completely set before cutting into squares.
Cook's Tip: Make Rocky Road 'Christmas Puddings'
Mold the rocky road in little cups or small bowls. When set, turn upside down and drizzle with thick melted white chocolate and top with a red cherry. Wrap each in cellophane and give as gifts.
Chocolate Scrunch
Scrunch has an engaging crunchy texture and is super easy to make - kids love it and it goes well with coffee too.
- 200g dark chocolate
- 1 cup rice krispies style cereal
- ½ cup shredded coconut
- ¼ cup dried apricots, finely chopped, or other dried fruit
Put the chocolate into a heatproof bowl, place over a pan of simmering water and stir frequently until the chocolate has melted.
Fold in the rice krispies, coconut and dried fruit and mix well.
Tip onto a tray covered with a sheet of non stick baking paper, and spread with a knife or spatula to a thinnish even layer, neaten edges then refrigerate till set. Cut into squares.
Place melts in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on medium for one minute, stir and repeat until melted, or place a heatproof bowl over a saucepan containing a small amount of simmering water and stir until melted.
No Cook Coconut Ice
Classic pink and white coconut ice is very easy to make. It's tooth shattering sweet and color coordinates beautifully with party food, princesses and anything else with a pink theme - Valentine's Day, Pink Ribbon Day, Sweet 16...
Makes approx 26 squares
- 1/2 can (approximately 200g) sweetened condensed milk
- 2 cups shredded coconut
- 2 cups confectioner's sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Splash of raspberry flavouring
- Splash of red colouring
Place the condensed milk into a large glass bowl. Add coconut, confectioner's sugar and vanilla and mix until well combined. I work it with my hands, kneading it together.
Divide the mixture in half. Place one half on a sheet of non-stick baking paper sprinkled with coconut. Roll out to 1cm thickness, shape and neaten as you roll.
Add the flavouring and colour if using, to the remaining mixture and roll out in the same manner. Place the coloured portion on top of the uncoloured portion and press together firmly. Chill then cut into squares.
Sherbet Dabs
This good old classic requires no heating, so is a safe sweetie for younger cooks to make. We used to buy sherbet dabs consisting of a little paper bag with sherbet in the bottom and a lollipop or candy stick to dip in. Sherbet is great sprinkled on ice cream, sucked through a straw or even just licked from a spoon!
- 1 cup confectioner's sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp citric acid
- 1 tsp tartaric acid (sold as cream of tartar)
- 2 tbsp powdered fruit drink concentrate
- 8 small paper lolly bags
- 8 lollipops or candy sticks
- 8 stickers
Crush or grind citric and tartaric acids to a fine powder with a mortar and pestle or the back of a spoon. Place all ingredients in a plastic bag and shake to combine. Store in an airtight container. To make sherbet dabs, place sherbet into small paper lolly bags, add a candy stick or upside down lollipop. Close the neck of the bag around the sweetie and seal with a sticker. The sherbet is then eaten by dipping the candy stick or lollipop into the sherbet then licking it off.
For more great money saving recipes, check out Sophie's newly revamped website! www.destitutegourmet.com.
5. Savings Forum: Back to School
Whether you will be cheering or sad at the thought of sending your children back to school, our members have wonderful ideas to help keep more cash in your wallet and the children happy. The Forum is a bonus for Vault members and it is growing fast. Here are some threads from our wise parents and caregivers:-
Ideas for freeze ahead school lunches?
Check out this fascinating thread from our Savings Forum where mothers are chatting about making school lunches ahead of time and freezing them. Once a Month Cooking (OAMC) helps take the edge off trying to rush through fixing school lunches in the mornings when it looks and feels like a fire drill in the kitchen.
Snack ideas for after school
As the thundering herd comes through the kitchen door after school they are always looking for something to eat. Usually lots of it and quick! Members discuss exactly what to have on hand for these starving people, without breaking the bank.
Update: Homeschool - one month down the road
We've been following a mother's new homeschooling quest. The challenge of helping a child who has been traumatized in public school - join us and if you happen to homeschool, let us hear your input and advice
6. Minimising School Expenses
As you head out to haunt the retailers for school supplies, you don't need to support the American economy entirely on your own. Don't be tempted to buy things that you wouldn't normally use, and browse our members suggestions for helpful hints like these below
Keep a reserve for 'back to school' sales
Use 'Back to School' sales to your advantage and save. Socks are usually on sale before school starts. Dryers do eat socks during the school year!! And if yours doesn't - it is a rare thing. If your child has a tendency to lose socks then buy multiple pairs of them while they are on sale and hide a couple in reserve for 'that day'. That includes things like backpacks and lunchboxes as well!
Swap lunchboxes for a 'new' treat in the Fall
You can save on buying new lunchboxes each year by swapping and decorating the ones you already have. With three children each wanting a new lunchbox every year (that I couldn't afford) I told them they had to swap lunchboxes and decorate it as they see fit - thus, getting triple mileage out of lunchboxes and each child had something different to take with them for the school year. As a plus, it added to their creativeness.
Plan Ahead for Lunches
This simple tip means no more wasting money on school cafeteria lunches! Instead of taking a chance and paying for a hot school lunch only to find there is nothing on the menu your child likes that day, keep an eye out in your local newspaper. In most areas of the country, the lunch menu of the week for your particular school district is printed in the newspaper. We cut ours out and post it on the refrigerator and check the newspaper each week for the next. This gives our children a heads up on whether they wish to take their lunch on certain days or not and they appreciate their cafeteria lunches much more!
Labeling, Labeling, Labeling
Write your child's name on lunch boxes, items of clothing, and so on. You can't stop kids from losing things but you are more likely to see things again if you have labeled them. If you do this, you probably won't have to pay for 12 expensive school jumpers in one year. I saved $60 last year when my daughter found her labeled jumper at the school office.
Decanting Sunscreen
Save on individual bottles of sunscreen for children at school. Buy a litre Homebrand SPF30 s/screen for about $11.00. Decant into small sealable plastic containers, empty roll-on deodorant containers or small baby food jars. Refill as needed. This saved me a fortune during terms one and four when sunscreen is compulsory at my children's school.
Buy craft supplies through your school supplier
If you and your children love doing crafts, ask their teachers about buying supplies for crafts and school work through them. They can get huge discounts compared to the public, as they often buy direct from the suppliers through the education system.
You can also access much cheaper software packages and school books through them as well. Give it a try, it doesn't hurt to ask!
University teachers also have access to much cheaper school supplies, craft items, software and subject texts as well.
Free craft supplies
My mother-in-law works at an adult day centre for the elderly and has found a great free resource for craft supplies. She contacted the local sewing and fabric shops and now gets yards of end cuts from materials, curtains, ribbons, lace and so on, all for nothing. The elderly clients then make gifts from this and sell them at fairs and markets or keep them to give as presents. This would also work well for schools and pre-schools. Try contacting your local fabric shop, you may be surprised at what they are willing to donate.
Spray before your kids go to school
I have prevented my children from picking up the endless cycle of head lice at their school cheaply this year, by spraying them with mosquito spray (without DEET) before they go to school. I spray them routinely as they go out the door and since I have been spraying all of their heads at the same time, they have not had lice at all this year. Much cheaper than expensive shampoos and lotions.
Spray before your kids go to school
I have prevented my children from picking up the endless cycle of head lice at their school cheaply this year, by spraying them with mosquito spray (without DEET) before they go to school. I spray them routinely as they go out the door and since I have been spraying all of their heads at the same time, they have not had lice at all this year. Much cheaper than expensive shampoos and lotions.
Home education saves a fortune
Literacy education online for homeschooling
The secret to keeping names on lunchboxes
7. Penny's Blog: Successes and Failures
Aug 6, 2007
It seems we have a junior Simple Saver in our midst! The boys' school has recently introduced fee-free school banking through the National Bank and all the kids in Liam's class were required to take a mini banking exam to see who was the most suitable to act as school banker. Liam was the only one in his class to get 100%, earning him the right to record and look after all the other kids' deposits every Tuesday. This Thursday he has been invited to the local branch to get shown all the workings of a real bank and have morning tea with the 'real' bankers. A proud moment for this SS mum and I can't refrain from dropping it into conversation with the other school mums - 'My son's the school banker you know!' It makes me chuckle as it reminds me of a rather well-to-do woman who was the mother of an old school friend in England. I bumped into her a few years later and asked what her daughter was up to these days. 'Ah yes, well she's working in the music industry you know,' I was told loftily. Turned out she was working behind the counter of Our Price record store! Anyway, whether he remains in the 'financial industry' or not, hopefully both my children will grow up to be sensible with their money much earlier in life than I did. It shouldn't be too hard, considering Simple Savings is such a big part of our lives. Mr Patel has said for years that Ali will be a bank manager one day, as he is so good at spending other people's money and not his own. This weekend is Liam's birthday and he is hoping to raise enough birthday money to buy his own calf. It might sound a strange choice but he knows that if he spends $80 - $100 on a beef calf, in two months' time it will have trebled in value for very little effort on his part. Smart kid and a definite bonus of living in the country!
As a Simple Saver, I'm always striving to do better (don't we all!) and sometimes I forget just how well I am really doing. Take the power bill for example. I was talking to some other mums at the school gates last week and they were talking about how high their power bills consistently were - often around $400 a month and on occasion it had hit $500. I couldn't believe my ears and was hoping they weren't going to ask me how much my power bill was because I would have been really embarrassed. Unfortunately they did ask and I had to admit that it hadn't reached over $140 all year. In fact, when I went home and checked all the power statements (which are paid by direct debit) I saw that we had actually been in credit for the past two months, due to the power company over-estimating our usage! I asked the other mums the usual questions - did they use a tumble dryer, were they running an old fridge or freezer but they swore this wasn't the case. This month's power bill is due tomorrow and is a grand total of $49.41! I always thought I ran my fair share of appliances but obviously not such expensive ones as they do, and/or not so often. We also have a wetback, which I imagine makes a significant difference to our hot water bill but even so, we only use cold water where possible. For those not familiar with the term, a wetback is a pipe system set up at the back of your log fire that allows water to be heated when the fire is going. This is then transferred via the piping to your hot water cylinder. Wonderful invention but even so, I'm amazed that it would make such a significant difference to our power bill compared with the others I spoke to. Whatever the reasons, we must be doing something right!
Before I come across as sounding too smug however, I must just add that I haven't been doing EVERYTHING right over the past week. The first two weeks I started keeping my dockets from Mr Patel's, I was pleasantly surprised but I have to admit looking at the dockets from the last seven days, I made some crap decisions. I am so embarrassed to admit this - do you know how much I spent on non-essential items? $51.24! I ended up with everything in my basket from a mini microwave pizza to a packet of Toffee Pops. $13.24 was on unnecessary drinks and over $17 was spent on magazines. I couldn't resist picking up the latest copy of Super Food Ideas because the front page caught my eye about stretching meals twice as far but come on Penny, you don't need a magazine for that when you've got the Vault and the Forum! It's the first copy of Super Food Ideas I have bought this year and already it's been put on the shelf with all the others I have ever bought, doubtless never to see the light of day again. On the plus side, there is at least a yummy sounding recipe for Lentil and Vegetable Soup which will use up a sad parsnip in the fridge so at least it has been of some use.
However, I am really cross with myself for wasting more than $50 so needlessly - all those little bits certainly add up! So in order to redeem myself I am going to do a $21 Challenge next week. I would have done one this week but have already made a menu plan and bought everything I need, so next week will be all systems go. I am hoping a Challenge week will also be good for the waistline because if I keep going the way I am at the moment, I'm going to be the size of a house. I received my copy of the new cookbook I won last week - it's called Jo Seagar Cooks and it's absolutely divine. Straight away I felt an uncontrollable urge to whip up her Banana Butterscotch Pudding and polished most of it off myself. Then yesterday I got Sophie's new 'Enjoy' book out and spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen making chocolate and berry Brioche and Mars Bar Slice. The Brioche recipe is actually called Breakfast Brioche but on sampling the results I have been having it not only for breakfast, but for morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and supper. I can't believe I made something so wonderfully tasting all by myself! Talking of Sophie too, her website has had a revamp and it's looking great! It has all sorts of new freebies on it, so even if you haven't been able to get your hands on Sophie's books, you will now have plenty to go on. No doubt I will be using a lot of these recipes to get through next week's Challenge!
PS - Thank you to everyone for all your carpet saving tips after my SOS in the Forum! I am pleased to say with your help it looks as though I have managed to save my carpet - *huge sigh of relief!*
July 2007
30th - Back into the groove
August 2007
3rd - SS Superwomen :-)
16th - Some days you step in it, some you don't...
21st - Everyone's an expert
25th - When mums DO know best...
8. Homeopathy Corner: Tutorial One
I'm still amazed how much money homeopathy has saved my family, but I really had to turn my head inside out to do so. Homeopathy is very different to mainstream Western medicine, so to help us understand how it works and how we can use it to save money, Fran has put together a series of twelve workshops.
In this month's workshop she explains the Law of Similars. To read Fran's tutorial go to: http://homeopathyplus.com.au/book/tutorial_one.html
9. This Month's Help Request: After School Activities
This month Bernice Sandler asks:
"I'm really shocked at how much money it can cost to involve my kids in after school activities. My daughter's friends are all doing either dancing or tennis this term and I know she will be really upset if I tell her she can't do it because we can't afford it. Life with kids seems to be getting more and more expensive and we just don't seem to have the spare money. Do you have any other suggestions for providing after school sports and activities that don't cost an arm and a leg?"
If you would like to share with Bernice some ideas for affordable after school activities please post your welcome suggestions here
And Liz Irwin asks:
"My daughter's school has requested that no food is brought to school to share with the class on birthdays. This is because of allergy/health reasons. However some parents have been buying little presents for their child to hand around. Birthdays and presents are so important to the littlies. I don't want to add to the junk that children seem to accumulate or spend a lot of money. Can anyone suggest some low cost ideas for little but memorable gifts to suit lower primary age?"
If you have any suggestions which could help Liz, please send them in to us at www.simplesavings.net/donatehints
10. SAVINGS STORY: Better Use of Space Saved Thousands
By spending just five to six hours of our time we saved between $1100 and $2800 on a new wardrobe. Instead of buying more storage space we had a good old fashioned clean out. We thought that because we couldn't fit all our things in our walk-in-robe it had become too small for our needs so we would need to extend or make it bigger. I arranged quotes with several companies that ranged from $1100 to $2800 - and that was just for a basic fit out. So instead my husband and I decided to empty it out completely and sort through our possessions. By the end we had around twenty shopping bags of clothes, shoes and accessories to be donated or recycled (plus dozens of coat hangers) and had nearly filled our recycle bin with papers, cards and other mementos that we no longer wanted to keep. After a thorough cleaning and rearranging what was left neatly back in the wardrobe, we were amazed that it is quite big enough already! We even managed to put some extra items in there as well, creating more space in our spare room. The best part though is that I have taken some of the better clothes to a recycle shop and have already received $50 for some items that sold immediately.