Frugal housekeeping tips

[Coolminty]

As title suggests really, need to drastically reduce spending in all areas of our lives. Gone are the days of wasting £100 in home bargains on nice smelling cleaning products which isn’t such a bad thing. I’ll start :

amazon do 4 x 5l of white vinegar that can be used for all sorts, fabric softener, glass cleaner, getting rid of smells etc

Washing up liquid can be used in place of a lot of other soap cleaners diluted in a spray bottle. I sometimes add a few drops of lemon or eucalyptus oil to get my nice smelling fix

Keep meals simple, look for 4 ingredient recipes and such.

anyone else have any tips to share?

@MrsLargeEmbodied We got 2 very naice Egyptian cotton ones from JL as a wedding present... If these don't make it to my retirement I'll be gutted 🤣

Full disclaimer I also only buy black cotton pants so that they can get a refresh with the dye if needed! But that's more because modern quality is decreasing year by year, and when they finally need replacing it'll likely be with something substandard.

Probably wont save you a lot of money unless you bake a lot, but a handy one to know anyway is....

If you're baking bread in the oven or a cake or something and you usually buy the specially shaped baking parchment liners that fit in the bread/cake tin, you can do the same for cheaper by tearing off the right amount of baking parchment from the roll, scrunching it up and dampening it under the tap. It then bends under the pressure of your dough/mix and shapes to the tin that you're using.

Hope that makes sense!

I do a lot of these things. A few more...
I blend up leafy herbs that are on their way out with olive oil and freeze in cubes. Then I always have parsley etc on hand.

I freeze whole chilies and ginger and you can grate what you need into the dish.

I buy Dylon and dye some of my faded teeshirts and cotton camisoles etc - they last longer. Usually the navy or black stuff.

A chicken can make three dinners for our family of 5:
Day 1 - roast chicken. Serve with plenty of sides (roast potatoes, vegetables). You don’t need more protein than the size of your palm so once everyone has been served there is still some left.

Strip the remaining meat from the carcass; set aside.

make stock - this is super easy!! Big pot, add one carrot, one stalk celery and one whole onion cut up, five peppercorns. Cover with water and simmer for 4-5 hours; strain.

Day 2: use leftover chicken (plus any vegetables you like, maybe sesame seed too) in a noodle or rice stir fry. Top with stir fry sauce made from a couple of tbsp soy, sesame oil and a teaspoon of sugar (optional)

Day 3: chicken soup. Big pot + 1 tbsp vegetable oil; gently fry one diced carrot, one diced celery stalk, with a teaspoon celery seeds (optional), add stock, bring to a boil, simmer, season to taste, add pasta (small shapes) or cooked rice. OR if you saved some chicken from day one, dice and fry that separately with some salt and pepper and celery seed or coriander, then add tk the soup

Addition to the above: obviously chicken carcass goes into the stock!!

Freezing milk still requires the same pre planning as not running out of milk. Unless there is a miracle way to defrost it instantly

Our food costs is big as we are a family of 5 and eat a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits. We don’t waste any food as we all eat well and anything left is used for my lunch next day.

I use bread bags too.

I bought sheets of Teflon for my oven shelves. When baking biscuits I take the shelves out, pop on the Teflon sheet and drop cookie dough onto it, you can get loads more biscuits on that than you can a baking tray, saves money on baking paper (if you use it), and thus cuts down on the amount of time the oven is on. My microwave shelf fits my oven as they are the same manufacturer so I cook 3 shelves of biscuits at once. (take care to put back the correct shelf into the microwave, mine is labelled by the manufacturer).

I always cut toothpaste tubes in half to scrape the final bits out and I buy soap bars, I put them in a sisal pouch which makes them go further too. I did buy bar shampoo and dissolve in warm water, quarter of a bar at a time, grating it makes it easier but I find it’s not quite as good as a liquid shampoo.

I buy sturdy freezer bags and wash them again and again, I hang them off a sock hanger in the garage for a few days until they are bone dry. I’ve got a cotton shopping bag hung on the back of the utility room door and I roll them up and bung them in there, easy to find one you want. I might buy one new box of 12 a year if that.

things that only come with a pull back lid ie cream, yogurt, if I don’t use the full amount I transfer what’s left to an old Mayo/jam jar and mark up with a wipeable pen.

never thought to freeze root ginger and grate from frozen, that’s definitely one I’ll be doing from now on.

Small freezer? Freeze milk in ice cube trays and pop one out straight into the cup.
Chop and prepare ginger and garlic and freeze.
Cut up old rubber gloves into bands to go around frozen peas etc i the freezer

We have started pressing the half load button on the dishwasher. Everything still washes and dries fine, but it takes much less time/energy/water.

I always used to set the washing machine at 40 degrees. For the last few months I've been setting it to 30 degrees and I haven't noticed any difference in cleanliness or fragrance.

I used to use sandwich bags to store cheese, sandwich meat etc in the fridge. Now I use Tupperware so no waste.

Turn the oven off 5 minutes early, it still cooks the food but doesn't use any more power.

I always try to think if anything can be reused before I throw away eg ribbons on cakes I keep for hair ribbons, biscuit tins for storage.

Loving this thread, got lots of ideas from it!

I turn the gas hob off 5 minutes before it’s due to be cooked, and keep the lid on tight.
Beware of fast washing machine and dishwasher cycles, some of them use more water and power due to doing the job quick.

save the rubber bands from daffodils/spring onions

Use an eco egg instead of washing detergent and softener

I tend to go to Costco for my staples, loo roll, washing powder, softener, white vinegar etc. Cushelle is iirc about £14 for 5 packs of 9. I can't stand anything else. I find Asda shades disentegrates with one wipe, tried Aldis own was awful, even tried Nicky stuff from home bargs but there are some things just aren't worth skimping and loo roll is my main non negotiable luxury. 🍑🍑

@thingymaboob because I need new baking trays

Clean the shower screen with fabric conditioner and rinse. I scrub with a palm scrubber. I was amazed at how clean it came up.
Use the twisty plastic coated wires that come with electrical gadgets etc as freezer tie bags or for cereals, rice, etc.
If you have a burnt saucepan disaster boil up water, vinegar, washing powder, dish detergent and citrus peels. Keep boiling & cooling and the burnt stuff lifts off.
Asian food stores very cheap for big flagons of white vinegar.

Use paper take away bags or old give away newspapers to wrap then recycle our food waste as the biodegradable ones are useless and disintegrate.
Use a rolling pin on nearly empty toothpaste and tomato puree tubes. Roll to the top and cut it off.

Ps Some great tips on here btw! 😀

I buy the liners from Poundland, I hate lining tins so that's worth it to me.

I cut preheat time right down, with modern ovens if you do it at the start of the recipe, it's way too early.

Someone mentioned coconut milk, I get block coconut cream, equivalent to 4 tins and costs about a pound. Lasts forever in the fridge and you just hack off what you need and mix with boiling water.

Asian branded frozen prepared garlic and ginger is way cheaper than fresh as well as less work.

Place frozen carton in large saucepan. Fill with very hot running water. (Not boiling water!)

I can get enough milk for a cup of coffee in the time it takes to grind the beans this way. (I know this because I used to have an ancient, useless fridge and I all too often woke up to prematurely undrinkable milk.) Obviously not ideal if you need a large quantity at once - but left in hot water the rest will defrost pretty quickly.

I don’t know if this adds anything significant to energy costs - but never having to run to a shop ‘just for milk’ is highly cost effective. All my milk arrives with my weekly grocery delivery and goes into the freezer.

We only use bar soap and I put the last fragments into a bottle of water so they dissolve and I can use it for handwashing any woollens that can't go in the machine.
I only use detergent powder on a 40 or 30 degree wash, my machine is about ten years old and I've never had to run a cleaning wash though it.
The green vegetable bags you can buy from Lakeland and online will keep veg fresh in the fridge for weeks and you can just rinse them out and reuse them.

I don't use fab con!! I started only using it every other wash, turns out I don't need it at all. All my clothes are soft

Also if you store opened jars of pesto, chilli paste upside down in the fridge with the lid tightly screwed on (I keep them in a plastic box lined with kitchen roll in case they leak a bit), they won't go off.
I've never used fabric conditioner and the clothes are fine.

Do you use just vinegar for the shower spray?

Bought a chest freezer for the garage and we meal plan so leftovers are created (eg bulk cooking of Bolognese in the slow cooker) or used up (eg Sunday roast meat into a pie). Saves food waste plus ensures we have quick meals for busy nights instead of buying extra convenience meals at the supermarket or getting takeaway.

I also cut the end off all tubes especially foundation to use it all up. I only buy foundation in a tube now!

Check the world food aisle in the supermarket for cheaper herbs and beans. Often you can get big bags for less than the small packets in the spices aisle.

Some of these are great. Thank you 😀