cost of living

Grow These 5 Perennial Greens to Beat $Price Rises

Grocery prices have risen sharply in 2022 due to inflation, and this upwards price trend doesn’t look to be stopping any time soon. Compounded by shortages due to the pandemic and localised extreme weather events, fresh produce prices in particular are higher than ever. We’ve all seen the $12 lettuces headline, but luckily as gardeners

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5 Practical Steps Towards Food Security

The rapidly rising price of food, especially fresh produce, isn’t news to any of us these days. Basic living is getting tougher everywhere: inflation is up, interest rates are higher, and supply chains are stretched to breaking point. Being scared won’t help, because it doesn’t lead us to safety or rational thought. But there are

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Energex Meter Readers Under Increasing Pressure

3 days ago, on 18th February at 6 pm, I got a text message from Origin Energy our electricity provider/retailer notifying me that our meter would be read two days either side of 20th February. Simple mathematics shows that this message was at least 12 hours late, to begin with…   Anyway, the reason energy companies

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Politicians At Fault For Rising Electricity Prices In Australia

As Labor and Liberal Parties shadow-box between themselves like the worst fake WWE show imagined, Australia's energy woes are growing on steroids with prices for electricity doubling in just the past decade.  Australians now pay 4 times more than households in the USA for electricity. The rising cost of energy has reached a point where

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This Article’s About Growing Food – Not Politics…

Introduction I know this save money by growing your own food subject has been covered ad nauseam over the past two decades; however, I have never written about the subject and mixed it with politics and today with the squeeze on peoples incomes all around the world becoming alarming I think both subjects could mix

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Are We Heading Back to the Protest Era?

Here I go getting political again… Protest movements around the world are rising like a phoenix song from the sixties. The times they are a changing – I can feel it too. Recently, groups like Occupy LA http://occupylosangeles.org/ have been camping out and “occupying” locations around Los Angeles associated with the wealthy, big corporations and stock

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Hen Gathering

Chicken Vs Goanna Vs Mortgage

I have a black hen who loves to come and visit me. She's a smart girl and definitely the smartest chicken out of all my hens and I say this because she's the only one (out of 15) that deliberately finds a way under my temporary fencing only to navigate 60 metres up to the

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Raspberries Home Grown

Save Time, Shop At Your “backyard-grocery”

Time-poor Many of us now live in a “time-poor” society and freeing up time or not wasting it is a business in itself these days with entrepreneurs cashing in on providing services and gadgets to save us a miserable minute. And, it isn't cheap either to free-up time but don't despair, because I've found a

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Gloomy powerlines reflect the greed of electricity companies

20 Solar Questions Answered

Introduction This article was edited in April 2015  In this post, I want to introduce the readers of SSM to a tennis mate of mine Brett Adams who is the Queensland State Manager of Green and Gold Solar, which is an Australian national solar installation company. Brett has been kind enough to answer a number of

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My solar 5kW system on shed roof

Why I finally got a solar system?

In my last solar article: 20 Solar Questions Answered  (when I asked 20 questions from Brett the QLD State Manager of Green and Gold Solar here in Australia), I concluded by stating not to be surprised if in 6 months to read about my own solar installation. Well, I’m pleased to announce that’s exactly what

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Solar PV system 5kw installed on shed roof

My Solar Installation 5Kw System On Shed Roof (Installed By Green & Gold Solar)

Whether you're looking to install your own PV system or just interested in solar energy and systems then this article is for you. From start to finish I have detailed my whole solar installation experience including selecting an installer; equipment used; step-by-step installation coverage (with images); and any problems I, or the installation crew came across. So my previous

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doomsday nuclear bomb

Food Security – Are You Prepared For A Doomsday Event?

Often people who grow their own produce, whether plants or animals, are considered to be doing so to save money, eat chemical free food, grow what they can’t buy, or as a hobby to help stay fit and healthy. However, few consider home grown food production (like a backyard vegetable garden) as a way to

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supermarket unhappy couple pushing trolly

Top 10 myths why supermarkets are good – busted!

Often the construction of a new supermarket in an area is perceived to be a sign of progress and opportunity but this is not always the case, in fact, a new retail giant in an area can mean pure evil and the death of a community as we know it.  Supermarkets are handy for the

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Supermarket Self Service Checkout Scanner Scam

One of the biggest scams to hit modern society is the introduction of self-service checkouts at our major retail supermarkets. Supermarkets would rather pay theft and shoplifting costs than wages and that’s the bottom line! Today, I lined up behind one of only two manned checkouts (out of about 20) at my local Woolworths supermarket;

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Cost of Living Pressures Causing One Term Governments

Incumbent governments worldwide are under increasing threat of becoming one term wonders due to the desperation and anger of struggling families trying to meet their ever rising household bills. People are venting their frustration at the ballot box and this in turn is making the overall situation worse economically due to the instability constantly changing

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