Help need your money saving tips to help survive - you guessed it - the credit crunch (and can anyone think of another name for the credit crunch while we're at it?)

Biggest thing is to stop your morning pret/eat/starbucks coffee and whatever you have to go with it. This saves you loads.

Then, if you can remotely get organised, make your lunch too.

Exercise brand downsizing from whatever you normally buy. If your a lancome girl, go Garnier instead. If you're a Garnier girl, go Simple. If you're a Simple girl, go superdrug own brand.

Leave your cards at home - take cash to work.

Don't wander shops in lunchhour - go for a walk or read a book instead.

Stop buying organic.

Bulk buy BOGOF or reduced items if you have the freezer space.

Ebay everything that isn't nailed down. Other people need the bargains now, and you need the cash.

Cherry Garcia every time

Haagan Daas isn't as good as Ben and Jerry's, anyhow .

I think I'd rather give up a tub of Haagen Das than take my child out of private school for sixth form actually.

I have tried dropping a brand in supermarkets as per Martin Lewis on moneysaverexpert - really does work.

I found supermarket washing brands crap - so buy whatever has a deal on and only use one tablet etc - really works. If the washing is a bit stained then I add some oxiaction - but very rarely.

Get thermostats on radiators and turn off ones in rooms not being used.

Get thrifty with cooking - always use leftovers or freeze etc.

Make the most of special offers in supermarkets e.g. soft fruit - bung in the freezer - great for adding in smoothies straight from the freezer etc.

Freeze leftover wine (if there ever is any) ala Nigella, so when making sauces you have what you need rather than opening another bottle and quafing the rest!

Freeze chicken carcasses and make your own chicken stock - dead easy.

I do only buy organic meat - so have very little.

Have children of the same sex - so you get a lot more wear out of clothes!!!

I'm sure I will think of more - this thread is really good!

the little things that make life enjoyable for us include things like heating and electricity.

this fecking house is so damp even towels that you use to dry yourself after a shower are wet the next day.

haagan daaz just winds up on your arse and most newspapers here are just full of Rosie Millard type shite.

this dude's going to have to sink some serious dosh in this place to damp proof it or it's going to be rubble in a couple of years if this weather keeps up.

but at that point we'll be long gone!

well actually Olive they are always happy to take change

smaller shops go "Oh that's lovely thank you"

little shops have to fetch their own change you know the change fairy doesn't bring it down in little golden bags

giving a fiver for everything is idle

idle I say

are you 78?

I bet you are popular at the till Cappy

I don't collect change

I spend it

if someone says "that's £1.48 please" I give them £1.48 exactly if I have it

I don't understand saving change at all. It makes no sense to me

we have named the credit crunch- Captain Crunch.

now if we can't afford to go out we say it's Captain Crunch's fault.

My tips
Car Boot everything you would normally give to charity
Ebay stuff that is still got life in it
Drive carefully- no revving or screetching
keep revs below 20.
unload all crap out of car and do not use the aircon ever
stop buying magazines or organize a magazine swap with friends
join freecycle
join Gumtree
Never 'just call in' to Marks and Sparks
Stop buying take away coffee
Make your own packed lunch
Get out and pick masses of blackberries and make mountains of jam

Swedes, if I bought a tub of Haagendaz I'd have to file for bnkruptsy. Is it really only a 'small thing' to most people? Am I really that poor?

Batch cook things like stews and casseroles that take ages to cook. I usually make enough for three meals and freeze the extra. Ditto mashed potatoes, bolognese, chilli etc. Be organised enough to take them out of the freezer the night before you need them and they'll only take five minutes to heat up on the stove.

Shamelessly panhandle relatives for useful birthday presents for your dcs instead of yet more plastic crap things they don't really need. DD got a coat from my Mum, school clothes from IL's and a lunch box from us for her birthday (alongside pink stuff of course). Admittedly this only works for little ones - I can't see a 14yo being that impressed with a sensible coat or a lunch box for their birthday but dd was delighted.

So has the Sunday TImes cut back spending or are their journalists too bloody lazy to do their own research?

For me, it's the small things/treats (a daily paper, a Gu chocolate pud, a tub of Haagen D) that make life so enjoyable. Disproportionately so. I would therefore look to the bigger things and keep the lovely small things as they are.
Are you a 2+ car family, could you get rid of one?
If you have a lovely home, house-swap for your holiday with someone else who has a lovely home.
Could you cycle to work/school?
Could you rent out a room in your home to a paying lodger? You can earn just over £4,000 per annum tax free under the Government's Rent-a-Room scheme.
If your child goes to an independent school, could he/she change to the state sector for sixth form?

vixen - I'd def recommend a breadmaker then we got our from freecycle and if u buy flour in bulk its worth it. You cna also make tea loaves, ciabatta, rolls, pizza bases etc

Aldi is our saviour....am always at prices in Tesco now

Bypass the cash economy! I've been given some lovely toys, books, clothes and I given my used items away. Helps out friends and it's so nice to be be given something you'll use. I've also been giving apples away and when my friends have something in surplus they know I'd use they'll pass it my way!

connie - I live in the only town in the UK which has no Netto, Aldi or Lidl...

Move o wales- so much cheaper here (then the anywhere-but-wales house prices will plummet for when we can move back to Somerset Tee hee )

ask an older person. What we think of now as economising is really normality and has been for each and every generation bar ours. anyone over 50 knows exactly how to cope- the things our mums all did when we were little. using lefto vers, sitching organic couscous salads for potatoes, growing your own, etc etc etc. Compared to a generation ago, things are stll generally easier unles you are unfortunate enugh to be landed with a massive mortgage.

bu saver veggies and fruit if you are not organic dependant- a tomato is a tomato; savers just means it didnt pass a bizarre appearance test or might need 2 days ripening. wowee.

kids dont need 11 pairs f ahoes. they need one for school if theyre old enogh, one for play, and wellies. They dont need 3 different couloured pairs of trainers, combat boots and the like. Likewise coats: by a decent weight one and add jumpers and hats for coldest weather.

get your Nan to show you how to darn if you can.

go veggie one day a week- its much better for the envirnment too but isnt a massive pita for meat lovers.

plan n advance: winter always comes after autmn, so buy winter clothes n ebay etc in july when theyre cheap rather than October as prices rocket.

start planning Christmas now. It may be annying but it is inevitable and a present or two a week now makes for a much easier December. Include 'sensible' gifts- kids love character jumpers or sleeping bags, but theyre also damned useful for keeping warm / filling the wardrobe.

remember that whilst its nice to cook froms cratch its also often more costly- especially if you are ding things that needs lots of extras. Great for a plain sponge, reconsider though for pricier ingredients.

Crikey who movedmychocolate, you can get a jam jar up your fanjo?

www.mirror.co.uk/advice/homes/2008/08/30/why-you-should-store-soap-by-your-undies-and-other-wartime- secrets-115875-20717558/

wartime secrets.

You may laugh at these but let's not forget people actually used these ideas because they were really poor and had the added terror of bombs dropping at any given moment(but somehow happier, how did that happen?)

I have myself, in days gone by used old vests for dusters!

they have a decent loaf at aldi...it was 37p but has just gone up to 45p and is very nice

freezes well too

Capp - yes but our bank gets really sniffy about taking loads of change and I can't be arsed to count it so 7p per pound is worth it to save me loads of hassle [idle]

Keep a change pot and empty pockets into it. You can take it to the coin machines but they charge a premium, so to get all your money get bags from the bank and count it.

Batch cooking, definitely!

PLan menus and take a shopping list to the supermarket - don't end up throwing out food that you bought "to make something with" but it didn't fit the rest of your available ingredients and went off

Roast up veggies and freeze them, defrost to put in soups and sauces

Drive more slowly. We do a lot of motorway driving, and by keeping revs down to 2500 instead of up over 3000 we got an extra 100 kilometers out of a tank of fuel. Takes a bit longer but if you can plan it that way it makes a huge difference.

Present box. I buy pressies, especially kiddies ones, when I see them and stash them away. Saves panic buying and I often get things in the sales.

I made £50 at car boot last weekend.

50 p a loaf is fine - I struglle to find any bread worth eating for less than 70p at the moment. The bought bread my children like best costs £1.30 a loaf ad we can get through a loaf a day in this house. So IMO, breadmaker pays for itself. Plus you can make fab pizza dough, rolls, seeded bread, even cakes in it.