Page 27 | To ask what small cheeky things you do to save money?

monroeagogo · 2022-03-05T19:17:28+00:00

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?

Mary46 · 07/03/2022 19:05

I have done the stamp thing! Judging by my birthday cards I have seen others do it. !!!

Anonymous48 · 07/03/2022 19:07

@CharacterForming

Ridiculously frugal but not cheeky: I have a large biscuit tin in my kitchen into which I put any unused serviettes from takeaways and I use them instead of kitchen roll

Actually cheeky: ASD DC refuses to eat chips at school on Friday because they're unsalted which means they actually go hungry, so I snaffle a couple of sachets of salt each time I'm in a takeaway and secrete them in blazer pocket.

I have a large biscuit tin in my kitchen into which I put any unused serviettes from takeaways and I use them instead of kitchen roll

I wouldn't say it was ridiculously frugal, or even frugal, just sensible. It would be ridiculously wasteful to throw them out unused.

My question is, why don't you just reuse them as serviettes rather than kitchen roll?

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 07/03/2022 19:07

Don’t reuse stamps.
They know!
One of relatives does this to me.
You get a note to go to the distribution office to pay for it.
Plus a surcharge.

Right pain, as have to go to pick it up AND then pay for it!

Am I the only one wondering exactly how the senders would/do feel if/when they find out about this? You'd expect them to be mortified, but part of me is thinking that some of them really wouldn't care - maybe just tough it out and insist that the 'stupid robbing post office' keep making 'mistakes'.

Some just people don't care whether they rip off a company or family/friend, as long as they don't have to pay. Not sticking a stamp on at all makes it obvious that you haven't cared, whereas putting on a used one gives you plausible deniability.

Anonymous48 · 07/03/2022 19:08

OP, you're not "cheeky". You're a thief, and you should be ashamed of yourself rather than bragging about it.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 07/03/2022 19:09

Some just people

Should have said 'some people just' - I don't think regular theft is usually a behaviour that leads to you being described as 'just' !!

Gwenhwyfar · 07/03/2022 19:10

"I wash the face masks in the bath with me once a week."

When I used cloth ones I just washed them in the sink with soap and water.
I now use surgical ones because they're safer even if they're a more expensive.

Gwenhwyfar · 07/03/2022 19:13

@ScribblingPixie

I often go to bed about an hour before my DH, so I turn the heating off when I go. He thought I was doing it absent-mindedly for ages.

That's really quite selfish.

VelvetChairGirl · 07/03/2022 19:14

No, I presume the pp means 'just pay the new amount your current company sends you'. You don't have to be a monthly payer - they auto renew an annual policy using your credit card details of you let them.

oh mine doesnt do that, they send me an email with the new amount for my cover and if I dont respond to it near the date they phone up, but then I use a broker, the insurance company has actually changed this year.

Gwenhwyfar · 07/03/2022 19:22

"I'm just saying that I don't pay for them and couldn't actually imagine someone picking up on it and marching me right back to the till!"

Why should they just let you steal?

Gwenhwyfar · 07/03/2022 19:29

@notacooldad

Crikey I wasn’t expecting some of the responses. I thought mine was bad by not buying a Starbucks or Costa on the way to work like a lot of the staff do but having the free unlimited coffee, tea or hot chocolate and biscuits that we are allowed to have!

Why would that be cheeky? It would be cheeky if you took them home.

TatianaBis · 07/03/2022 19:33

I am insanely mean about mobile phones. I love my ipads and have 2 but I just don't care about phones so I have a £160 jobbie with a £7 a month 8GB SIM only contract.

Everyone else I know has top of the range iphones @ £30-40 a month

Gwenhwyfar · 07/03/2022 19:37

@Wagsandclaws

Oh and I also always pay for carrier bags.

However I was told by the checkout staff that the money from the carrier doesn't go to the supermarket but goes into the governments pockets as a 'plastic tax' how much do that is true I don't know but it wouldn't surprise me.

Yes, it's true. In Wales the money goes to environmental charities. It's to cut down on plastic use. So it's tax evasion as well as theft.

womaninatightspot · 07/03/2022 19:53

@TatianaBis

I am insanely mean about mobile phones. I love my ipads and have 2 but I just don't care about phones so I have a £160 jobbie with a £7 a month 8GB SIM only contract.

Everyone else I know has top of the range iphones @ £30-40 a month

I can beat you there EE does a sim only contract for £1 a week not alot of data but I get free wifi at work so I never use it anyway.

notacooldad · 07/03/2022 19:57

From Gwenhwyfar
Why would that be cheeky? It would be cheeky if you took them home
Yeah I know but I when I posted there was the revelation that "cheeky" equates to stealing.
I wasnt expecting tips on thieving but saving cash legitimately!

TatianaBis · 07/03/2022 20:00

@womaninatightspot you definitely win that. How much data do you even get for £1?

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 07/03/2022 20:01

If I buy a scone/tea cake/toast in a cafe, and i don’t use all the butter and jam portions, I take them home.

Gwenhwyfar · 07/03/2022 20:04

"Bigbiggles

My DM taught me that when you have a ladder in one leg of your tights you cut it off, throw away and keep the one legged remainder. When you have two 'pairs' of one legged tights you wear them together - ie the two good legs. I did this throughout my teens (though a little uncomfortable with two layers of nylon pants, which tended to twist round).

Good lord. Am astonished by lots of things on this thread but this one takes the biscuit. Can't imagine how uncomfortable that must have been."

I was taught to put nail varnish on the ladder in the hope it wouldn't get any worse.

woodhill · 07/03/2022 20:08

@Gwenhwyfar

"Bigbiggles

My DM taught me that when you have a ladder in one leg of your tights you cut it off, throw away and keep the one legged remainder. When you have two 'pairs' of one legged tights you wear them together - ie the two good legs. I did this throughout my teens (though a little uncomfortable with two layers of nylon pants, which tended to twist round).

Good lord. Am astonished by lots of things on this thread but this one takes the biscuit. Can't imagine how uncomfortable that must have been."

I was taught to put nail varnish on the ladder in the hope it wouldn't get any worse.

I think my dmil did this with the 2 pairs of tights

I've done the nail varnish trick

Gwenhwyfar · 07/03/2022 20:25

@zingally

I'd consider my mum the most honest person I know - but growing up, there was quite often a dish of water on the kitchen side, with a stamp soaking in it, so that mum could slide it off and re-use it!

It was considered totally acceptable when I was growing up. You would have been criticised for NOT reusing an unfranked stamp.

Gwenhwyfar · 07/03/2022 20:32

"god i hate him, its his fault i had to pay for packed lunch in primary even tho my son gets free school meals, kids would rather starve then eat plain baked potatoes and sweet potato fries."

He didn't tell schools to give children crap food.

FlyingGeeseAgain · 07/03/2022 20:48

I did the ladder thing with tights too.

FlyingGeeseAgain · 07/03/2022 20:48

Nail varnish thing I meant to say

FlyingGeeseAgain · 07/03/2022 20:50

@TatianaBis

I am insanely mean about mobile phones. I love my ipads and have 2 but I just don't care about phones so I have a £160 jobbie with a £7 a month 8GB SIM only contract.

Everyone else I know has top of the range iphones @ £30-40 a month

Once you’ve paid off the contract you switch to the £8 a month SIM card ! That’s what I have done.

Gwenhwyfar · 07/03/2022 20:59

@User76745333

My son's a security guard and it's actually against the law to detain a shop lifter in this way. Bloody frustrating when you have let the thieving scum go!

This isn’t true. A security guard is entitled to detain a shoplifter as long as they have reasonable grounds to suspect the theft under a 24a PACE and they can detain until a police officer arrives to take over.

I thought they used the same powers as people can do with a citizen's arrest. What I think they may not have the right to do is force people to show the contents of their bag when the alarm goes, but they haven't seen them steal. I find that really cheeky as it's not the customer's fault if an alarm goes most of the time and it's not proof that you've stolen anything.

Gwenhwyfar · 07/03/2022 21:03

"Why not only boil the amount you need, when you need it. By only boiling that one mug full in the first place rather than a full kettle, you will have saved enough money to boil the other 4 mug fulls you need during the day, surely ? confused"

There's a minimum amount you have to put in the kettle or you damage it.