Little things you do because actually you're a bit tight...

[theevildead2]

I put a bit of milk in creamy dressings to get the last bit out.

I will cut toothpaste tubes to squeese last bit out.

By bannana that are on death's door for 50p to chop and freeze for smoothies and make in to loads of bananna bread to freeze for snacks.

This thread has made me feel very wasteful.

the key with charity shops is to go to the ones in rich areas, we live in an affluent suburb of london and pick up some amazing stuff, got a complete playmobile advent calendar for £1 in nov! that was in banardos though - never oxfam!

I cut everyone's hair as well, my mum used to when I was a kid, I've only been to the hairdresser about 5 times in my life.

cupcakebakerer it really quite satisfying to do these things, we don't have much money so it does help, but even if we won the lottery I'd still be doing most of them, it's a good feeling, not being wasteful. give it a go!
most of them are things I got from my grandma and mum, when you're brought up with a mum who (despite being rather comfortably off) squidges all the tiny last bits of bars of soap together so they're still useable then this kind of thing is second nature

I have a company car, but I deliberately chose a diesel skoda as it had the highest published mpg. A bigger spend, but deliberatly tight none the less.

yeah.some of this is a bridge too far even for me!
we use half a dishwasher tablet (bought from qualitysave so they're 70p for 30tabs,we get 60 washes out of a 30 tab box (unless stuffs properly dirty\baked on\greasy)
i've stopped buying magazines-i get subs for my birthday from family instead.
i buy 'good' shoes\coats for us though. cold and with uncomfortable shoes is not an option...

You lot think you're tight. I have just remembered that MIL insisted her father's funeral was delayed a day so she and PIL could book Apex tickets. Her tightness knows no bounds but even I'm still shocked at that one!

Biscuits that are a bit soft I just pop in the oven with whatevers cooking and they crisp up really well- doesn't work for chocolate covered biscuits although funnily enough there never seems to be many of those left for long enough to go soft.

Some good ones on here - I dont mind sharing bath water (as long as I get to go first)!

snownelly, yes that would be my conditon to bath sharing too! I remember seing the film "Germinal" and all the family was sharing a bath. Out of respect the dad was getting the first go but as he was working down the coal mines I let you imagine the colour of the water after him... did live me with a real fear of water sharing!

• hand me downs for dc to wear.

-only ever buy nappies/wipes on offers, always stock up when good offers.

• never throw food away - always eat leftovers

• make food from scratch if cheaper than bought stuff

• veggies going off make them into soup and freeze

• book people for presents and going home presents (50p each, and no bag required)

• pad out bolognause sauce with chopped tomattoes from value range

• DS2 using DD's (and DS1's) pram and car seat, didn't buy anything new for him.

Do lots of things on this thread (not foraging in supermarket bins or using charity bags for binliners though)!

One thing I do is to try and cook more than one thing in the oven at a time (eg par-cook jacket potatoes so they take less time the next day, or cook a banana bread when I do a roast). I also leave the oven door open to warm the kitchen (even dry teatowels in front of it sometimes) when I've finished cooking.

I also enter lots of competitions - won my wedding cake, £50 Clarks vouchers, Green & Blacks gift hamper, a season's worth of tights and a few other things this year.

Recently switched bank for a £100 incentive and happy to make the move!

Awesome thread!

My tip is to buy onions from Asda (cheapest around, small and fiddly but who cares!), reduced swedes and parsnips, lentils (use like pearl barley) and then buy very small amounts of good expensive lamb, but cheap cuts from a butcher, and then make a massive stew that is about 98% vegetables. If the lamb is really good it will easily flavour the whole stew. Freeze the lot in small containers and eat with lots of home made chapattis (cost about 2p each and only use flour and water).

You can get down to less than 30p a meal (discounting cooking fuel.. ) i.e for one starbucks coffee, you can feed 8 people (or one person for a week!)

also if someone leaves shower gel in the sports centre, as in they leave and forget it, no matter how little is left, I whip it away.. :) I don't think I have bought shower gel for myself for about six months! (yes I know thats only saving about £5 max but still...)

I quite like all these things we do, it kind of adds to a family culturei think... Stuff we do...

• 'Dilute' washing gel with washing soda

• While I am chopping and skinning onions and veg I put the waste into a pan to make stock instad of using stock cubes

• I have loads of screw top pots about the size of tins. Almost every meal I try to fill a pot to put in freezer for hubby's lunch another day

• Canban bathrom cleaning box: when ever I see shower gel/ shampoo etc on special offer I put it in this box so when we run outit has been cheaper

• Present drawer. Underneath my bed is a set of books bought at an Easter fete that hubby has always wnted. They were 50p and I am stingy enough to have made him wait till Xmas to receive them....

• Meat in Morrisons - if you buy stewing meat in big pieces it is cheaper than if it is diced.. I then ask them to cut it up for me.... and I have seen what its all like.

• I shop in terms of price per 100g etc rather than per unit.

• best thing we got this year were wome lovely snuggly throws from Tescos that are keeping us lovely and warm :)

• ADORE my slow cooker... everything tastes nice :)

When we go to the supermarket the first thing I do is march over to the reduced aisle. Sometimes they move it though which bugs me! It's the one thing I miss about doing Internet shopping.

I wash & reuse sandwich bags

Always swill out jars with water

I wash scouring sponges in the machine, not sure why as I could buy a years worth of the cheapo ones for the price of a bar of galaxy!

I only ever get a wet cut. Not going to pay an extra £7 for a blow dry that will last till bed time!

i make my own tomato based sauces instead of jars using tinned tomatoes and spices they taste much nicer too. I also use curry pastes instead of jars one jar is about 1.79 and has eight servings .
re use shopping bags for all sorts of things , sandwich bags ,rubbish bags storage etc.
only boilo water i need in the kettle.
i switch off lights and electrical appliances as soon as they are not in use.
open the oven door to warm the house.
go to the market for fruit and veg much cheaper and better quality than supermarkets.
use the market meat van, better quality cheaper and much bigger quantities than supermarkets plus the butcher always throws in some extras for me .
i use own brands for everything that does not taste different. dh comes from a well off family who always buy brands and he turns his nose up at my own brand buys. i come from a skint family and budget out of habit.
pound shops and bargain shops are great.
amazon almost always has everything high street shops have but cheaper.
i always use a little water and swirl it around jars of sauce to unstick the bits from the side.

I't be worried about the source of meat from a market meat man.

i know what you mean , i was sceptical when dh suggested it but he has his own butchers shop and the meat is excellent quality much much better than supermarket meat, he looks extremely clean wears gloves and everything is appropriately wrapped.

at our heating used to be set to 16 and was only put on if it was 10 degrees or colder

reuse tin foil - if it goes to work wrapped around a sandwich it must be carefully folded and brought home.

my mum is possibly certifiable though: when she comes to stay she brings all the food that will go off if she left it at home while away. Once, this included a small tupperware container with 2 egg yolks. She had used the whites for something, but couldn't waste the yolks, so they travelled 500 miles.

Wear 2 pairs socks, more comfortable and socks last 2-3 times as long.
New socks are inners.
When worn out they are demoted to outer socks. (Which effectively protect the inner sock)

I do a monthly ASDA delivery shop for all the non perishables and freezables: tins, ketchup, bread, etc, cleaning stuff, toiletries. Even with the delivery charge I think it saves at least 20 pounds.

I'm now confused I do all the money saving things - not the socks - and yet on another thread when someone asked how much the weekly shopping bill was ours seemed very high in comparison although I don't think we live at all extravagantly.

This thread makes me think - goodness - I'm very careful - the other made me feel grossly extravagant!

Cumfy - you have to wash twice as many socks though! Or do you wear them an extra day to make up for it?