Which thrifty thing do you do that you're surprised that no one else does?

[Sizeofalentil]

Basically, that

I'm always surprised when people don't bulk buy things (toilet paper, store cupboard staples etc) or only buy name brands. How much tastier can a posh tinned tomato really be?

Dh is mortified when I reuse bath water to water the plants or make my own cleaning cloths from old pants. But he does love a charity shop bargain (most of his coats are from there).

What are your favourite thrifty tips or what thrifty things are you surprised that other people don't do?

All of the presents i need to buy for Christmas, birthdays or new baby etc are bought in the sales and put away until needed. I buy gift sets,scarfs, toys jewellery from charity shops to put into charity Christmas boxes to distibuted in the U.K and overseas.
I save envelopes and use the back of old letters as scrap paper ( my adult kids think i am potty)

Eat seasonally. If you grow your own, work out how to use the gluts. My autumn planted onions are nearly ready for harvest. They don't store well so I will batch cook them then freeze them to give us ready to go portions of pre-browned onions.

@BobbyBrewstersMagicTorch do you mind sharing your recipe for rhubarb gin please

Wow, I'm full of admiration for you lot! I don't do much that takes any effort but always use car boot sales and EBay first before I think of buying anything new. I also don't change my car much and it usually is quite old before I change it to another second hand one. I use the library for books and audio books (amazes me how many people don't know libraries do audio books for free), I never buy ready meals apart from pizza and I freeze or eat leftovers, never throw away. I don't owe anything on credit cards, etc. Oh and DH always gets into the bath after me as he thinks another bath full of water is wasteful!

Use i cashback site like top cash back, even for things like a take away, and take the voucher rather than cash. A friend and I went for a carvery with a bottle of wine on a voucher a week or two ago.

If you are buying online always search for a voucher code, Virgin wines often have £50 vouchers - OK you need to buy a case but if you drink wine it's not really a problem.

One my dad does, he 'shares'the gardener with his next door neighbour, they both pay the cost of their garden being done but pay 1/2 each for the waste to be taken away.

Freecycle/freegle.

All money is logged on a spreadsheet.I have a current account that money is paid in to and bills paid from, extra is paid into my 'spending' account or a savings account.

My biggest saver is to withdraw weekly cash for spends. So much easier to think twice about parting with real money than tapping a card. Immediately turns 100 thoughtlessly spent into 70.

OhTheRoses - this is so true

I've had my card cloned a fair bit the last few years and each time have to get cash out from bank rather than using card

It makes you much more aware, and much more careful.

Whereas plenty of people say that paying by card helps them budget because if they take cash out, they fritter it.

Spending by card also helps you see more easily exactly where you are spending your money/what on, as either you can download all your transactions into a spreadsheet, or the information is already provided within the account app, which some people find helpful.

I'm of the generation where many places didn't take cards, or won't below a certain amount, or charge extra if they do and while I'm trying to just pay by card more because with contactless especially it is easier, but I still feel like a bit of a twat if I put less than about a fiver on a card.

But like everything else, different things work for different people. Some people think that taking a packed lunch or a picnic is the height of misery, others see it as preferable to paying a lot of money for often substandard food. You just need to decide what's important to you and to make your money, and time work the best you can for you.

And as this thread illustrates, there are probably economies that most of us could be making, and most of us will benefit if it allows us to have more nice things and experiences overall, or to work less/retire earlier. Very very few people can have and do absolutely everything they want to do, with no compromise at all.

cosco loo roll and they do huge bags of yorkshire tea which are worth the space for the saving.if you like marmite its worth getting one of their giant tubs.
pasta is up to £1 a bag but if you go to the supermarkets value range is 20p!
aldi is huge svings.on some of our items its a third of the price so on an overall shop if you have cut it by half or a third is massive.
dont chuck fruit and veg when the date says.ut is never off until you can see its off!
when you open a bag of salad put it then into a freezer bag with damp kitchen towel to stop it going off and slimy so quick
never chuck leftover they always go into a tupperware.

cosco loo roll and they do huge bags of yorkshire tea which are worth the space for the saving.if you like marmite its worth getting one of their giant tubs.
pasta is up to £1 a bag but if you go to the supermarkets value range is 20p!
aldi is huge svings.on some of our items its a third of the price so on an overall shop if you have cut it by half or a third is massive.
dont chuck fruit and veg when the date says.ut is never off until you can see its off!
when you open a bag of salad put it then into a freezer bag with damp kitchen towel to stop it going off and slimy so quick
never chuck leftover they always go into a tupperware.

I ignore best by dates, use by dates to a lesser extent and the instruction on pickles and sauces to throw away X weeks after opening.

Fresh food is almost always good for at least a day after the date, yogurt at least a week or two, cheese weeks or months.

Some of my pickles, sauces, jams, marinades etc are months or years out of date and often open for all that time and they are all fine. I dread to think how much stuff is wasted by people who actually take heed of this bollocks instruction. Eg I only eat ketchup on fish and chips so it literally takes 3 or 4 years to finish a bottle. The last one was two years out of date and there was nothing wrong with it.

I used to make soup from the outer leaves of lettuces (the ones not nice enough to have in a salad), broccoli stalks and the like instead of throwing them onto the compost heap. It was actually quite tasty! I haven't made any for ages though, as I don't have as much time in the kitchen these days.

I use milk up to a week beyond its "use by" date; eggs up to a month beyond the date; tomatoes up to 3 weeks beyond the date. I'm wary of going over the date with fish, prawns and raw chicken though, as they tend to spoil very quickly and can make you ill if eaten when slightly "off".

@Kabia
I make 2 tissues last for 3 days, even in winter

Why not just use a proper handkerchief then? You're still carrying around a pouch of snot for days!

I'm definitely better with card as I can keep track of spending much better than cash. Avoid contactless for the same reason. The key is to find the one that works best for you, and there can be a lot of variation.

I do find it a bit interesting that so many people have all these thrifty tips yet it seems like a majority of MN users have cleaners!

By being careful with your money you can then afford to spend on things you personally value. For many who are time poor a cleaner is a very good use of money.

We are now both high earners but were not always and we developed careful spending habits. I just see it as wasteful to not do many of the things listed here. I mean who wouldn't reuse gift bags, jiffy bags etc. To throw them away is just crazy and so bad for the environment. That's why we are in the environmental mess we are in as a society.

I like that a lot of these things are both thrifty and also so much better for the environment, which ultimately benefits all of us.

I'm not sure I do much that hasn't already been listed. For us, the biggest change over the past couple of years has been growing our own. Potatoes, courgettes, tomatoes, herbs, salad leaves, rhubarb and berries in particular have saved us a fortune.

Yes, I don't have or want a cleaner myself but I thought for a lot of people, the point of choosing thrift is so you can use the money/lower living costs for other things you want, be that luxuries, not working as much or financial investments. Of course there are many people who have to do it and it isn't a choice.

"Oh and if space is a problem to bulk buy have you thought about putting it up in the loft?"

No, because if you live in a small flat you may not have a loft (or a cellar or a garage or a garden shed).

"EL doublewear retail £33.5 for 30ml
We paid £60 for 200ml, split 5 ways. £12 for same product.£21 saving we received 40ml each , that’s 10ml more than store size"

So complicated!
You must really like EL doublewear.
I just use foundation that's not as expensive :)

"I make 2 tissues last for 3 days, even in winter:

1. take 2 sheets of strong kitchen roll"

This will destroy the skin around your nose. I grew up having to use toilet paper as tissues, but I refuse to do that now except in an emergency. Proper tissues all the way.

"Gwen why do you avoid Timpsons on principle? I think their initiatives to give ex convicts a second chance by providing jobs and training is an excellent idea. One of the best ways to help people avoid a life of crime is to allow them to earn money legitimately."

I didn't want to derail the thread by bringing up a controversial subject, but Timpson gave a lot of money to the Brexit campaign.
That cancels out his work with convicts (and fostering children I believe) for me.

"Use cloth hankies."

Yuck. They need to be boiled. Do you boil them on the hob before putting them in the washing machine? Do you put them in the machine with other clothes or do you waste water by washing them on their own in the machine?

Just been to Aldi to do my weekly shop. Thanks to this thread I bought washable dishcloths. Something I hadn’t considered before so thanks.

Brexit eh? Come on let’s have at least one thread without the B word!

I never understand the values given for such things as thrown away food. Clearly my extended family and friends aren't filling in the surveys!