To ask what small cheeky things you do to save money?

[monroeagogo]

DH routinely reuses stamps. His excitement when an envelope arrives and the stamp isn't marked is a wonder to behold.

Franking is the enemy.

What cheeky things do you do to save the pennies?

I shop online generally and supermarkets are changing the way they do offers and vouchers but also deals - in store there are often cheaper prices if using a loyalty card and also you get yellow stickers so I do basics online and call in once a week just for deals and sticker items - always always check for stickers and if necessary freeze items. When online shopping I also make sure to check the deals or offers first. Any sort of treat item has to be on offer, and if its something we frequently get I might buy several treat or otherwise

only boil as much water as needed.

My Nan used to "collect" sugar lumps - cubes were considered posh so when ever she went to a cafe she would pop sugar in her drink and pocket a packet or two as well (never masses but usually one or two) and she would depacket them at home and have a bowl of cubes for coffee for guests.

My MIL was the inveterate money saver - the things I found when clearing out her flat you would not believe. She never threw anything out. Under the bed I found 30 years worth of old pillows, she didn't want to throw them out and used them to "insulate" under her bed!! She had winter and summer curtains - winter being thicker and heavier. But honestly some of them I picked up and they were shredding in my hand, I found bales of towels and yet she was using patched towels in the main bathroom. SHe had two washing up clothes - string variety - which were so scrawny and threadbare and yet she had at least three packets put ready to use up. Paper for notes and lists she still had some of the stripey green computer paper to one side. I also found a tin of match books from places that had been closed for 30 yrs, All her drinking glasses were from early morning walk to work across Blackheath where drunks had left glasses or local pubs where they were left outside from the night before. She would go for a walk to collect all the free papers at the Station or Library and later when she had a carer she would get her to pick one up on the way in.

I think much of it was her upbringing she was put into a convent orphanage at age 5 and brought up in abject poverty (she was actually in there as her Mum was too poor to keep them so they took all the kids off her so she could work), she was sent out to service aged 16 on a pittance

Sorry got side tracked!!

Though of another one: I work out most days but don't want to leave sports bras in the laundry all week cos they'll smell and I'm not putting them in the machine by themselves so I wash them in the shower (obviously take them off first!)

I bake my own bread etc as well, its much cheaper than buying - also tastes better and find it therapeutic. Biggest challenge is not eating it all fresh from the oven!

I use natural bar soaps and try to buy them as a box of seconds. They're absolutely fine just don't meet the perfect size requirements for selling.

I've cut down old towels before and used them as cleaning clothes too. Last for ages.

Andddd finally in the summer I put a bucket in the shower with me and use the water it collects on the plants.

I can't believe that people intentionally steal carrier bags!

I was unintentionally stealing carrier bags from Morrison's for months because I didn't realise that you are supposed to pay for them! I know that you have to pay for plastic bags, but the bags in Morrison's are made of paper so I thought that they were free. One day I got an 'unexpected item in bagging area' message, and a member of staff politely told me that it was because I'd forgotten to scan the bag! I was mortified to realise that I'd been stealing them for weeks!

Someone on another thread bought their own power station which I was (A) pretty impressed with, and (b) amazed at their income 🤣

Cut the end off soft plastic tubes like toothpaste once they look like they are finished

I thought my mother and I were the only people who did this. I figure I have saved the cost of one whole tube of toothpaste - possibly two! - over my lifetime.

@teezletangler

Cut the end off soft plastic tubes like toothpaste once they look like they are finished

I thought my mother and I were the only people who did this. I figure I have saved the cost of one whole tube of toothpaste - possibly two! - over my lifetime.

Not with toothpaste but definitely with all my expensive face and hair stuff. I thought this could be normal.

I take cuttings off plants and propagate my own, then I swap them with friends.

I don't agree that this thread is depressing and skinflinty. Apart from the actual theft stuff which I completely disagree with, there are some nifty tips for avoiding waste that I'm definitely going to try:

• cut dishwasher tablets in two - never thought of this!
• use old textiles as cleaning cloths - just started trying this and it works really well
• buy Christmas loo paper/kitchen paper/napkins heavily discounted
• collect spare paper napkins from cafés etc.

Probably my 'cheekiest' savers/anti-waste measures are:

If I'm out for coffee or a meal with friends I'll bring home any unused sachets of salt, pepper, sugar, ketchup etc. including half-packets of sugar. I hate seeing them thrown out. When I see people throwing them in the bin I have been known to pick them out again.

If I've forgotten a bag to take to the supermarket I'll go and get one from the recycling dropoff for used plastic bags. free, and means a bag gets re-used again (probably several times) before it gets recycled.

I'll pick book packaging, gift bags etc. out of other people's recycling boxes on the street to re-use. If I see leftover bubble wrap at the supermarket or in skips/recycling boxes I'll pick it out, dry it and when I have a big bag of it I'll put it on Freecycle.

I think the idea of buying from charity shops and reselling on Ebay for a markup is just good business - benefits the charity shops and keeps products in commercial circulation for longer. The circular economy in action.

Probably not extreme but I got myself a coffee machine with a milk froth and I have already saved as I'm no longer buying so many take out coffees a day. I now put 5 pounds in my savings account each day instead in case of a rainy day. Oh and I also quit smoking 4 years ago.

I keep used Xmas cards for D's to make gift tags from using my pinking shears and silver lametta.

@Kite22

For those sneering at people saving money, or saying how 'unattractive" it is, you do realise that those individual small amounts add up for some people don't you? That not everyone can afford to pass by the opportunity to save a small amount here and there.

Not talking about those laughing at the fact they steal, I'm talking about the money saving things.

Washing face masks in the bath while you bathe? Asking cafes for hot water to save boiling the kettle?

Sorry but I’ve been poor (properly properly poor) and there’s no way that saves enough money to be worth the degradation of doing it.

[quote MyDcAreMarvel]**@Bitofachinwag* Thank you for calling it "the swimming baths"* confused as to what else you would say instead?[/quote]

@MyDcAreMarvel

Swimming pool ?

I leave the oven door open after cooking, it heats up the house nicely and saves putting the heating on.

Bought my kids cheap versions of Oodies for Christmas (from dunelm) they're super warm and it saves me putting the heating on.

I keep left over cafe/mcdonalds napkins in the car, there has been many an occasion when they've come in useful. Also keep ketchup sachets etc if we have any left over for picnics. That's out of convenience more so than money saving.

Leftover wine gets frozen into ice cubes and used in cooking.

We don't eat a lot of meat but I'll often get it reduced in the evening from the local supermarket petrol station and freeze it.

Also costco petrol is loads Cheaper than the local supermarket.

This one works for cut roses: if they start wilting, cut about 1cm of the stem at the bottom, plunge in boiling hot water for 30 seconds then plunge into ice cold water for 30 seconds. They do revive quickly.

Thank you, @Branster, I have some lovely white roses on the go at the moment and will try that on them.

@Justkeeppedaling

When your cut tulips do that dramatic thing where they keel over as though in extreme distress, pop some coppers in the vase and within 24 hrs your tulips will be fully upright again and will last another week.

If you put a pin through the stem of a tulip just below the flower, it won't keel over at all. It will stay nice and upright.

So do I just pierce them and remove the pin or leave a pin in each bloom?

Love all these floral tips!

"Yet benefit fraud is fine on another post

MN truly bewilders me."

@Suzi888 - you do understand that MN is made up of lots of different people just posting their own opinions, not one amorphous "hive brain" don't you? 😉

@monroeagogo

I've also been known to add extra rolls or cakes at the self checkout scale. Quite often, actually.

I'm like a big time thief.

Mmmm, not so much a big time thief, more a small time shoplifter.

@Fivemoreminutes1

When I’m going out shopping or with the fam on a day trip, I take an empty thermos mug with a pre-measured amount of instant coffee. When I need that caffeine hit, I just ask a nearby cafe to fill it with hot water, which they normally do obligingly. I also take a tea bag and do the same later on in the day.

That’s really crap of you when businesses are struggling right now.

Interesting thread with some great tips.

My (mild) money saving activities are:

Use employer’s and supermarket loos as much as possible (saves on loo paper and toiletries)

Get a free squirt of perfume using the testers at Boots

Turn the heating off a bit earlier on a night & sit under a throw with a hot water bottle.

Are people not embarrassed to go in a cafe and ask for a cup of hot water or o then get their own tea bag out?

Thermos flasks start from about £15. Stop being such a tight miserly bastard. Fair enough not paying for coffees but that’s someone else’s water you’re a demanding they give you, have some self respect.

@StrychnineInTheSandwiches pierce it with a pin and remove the pin.

But a whole chicken and butcher it myself, far cheaper than buying separate breasts and legs and usually they're bigger.

I buy about half of the meat we eat, reduced at the local coop. I've been known to get chicken, steak, salmon, seabass, prawns, sausage.... for 75% off

I keep old duvet covers, pillowcases and towels to use on the car to stop it freezing, and for anything else such as when I’m painting.

I also reuse gift bags and cut off bits of wrapping paper which are still good to reuse. I write directly on the paper to save buying gift tags, but write on the sellotaped side so the top half can be reused if it doesn't rip. More as an environmental thing but money saving as well.

This thread has made me feel very uncomfortable. Why are you all stealing? Petty theft. The stamps, taking someone's chocolate bar, asking for hot water (other than heating a baby's bottle). And the adding milk to tomato soup is just grim.