To ask for your most ingenious money saving tips

[Toothiehurtie]

my Best one is…

a visit to the card factory for cheap cards and gift bags and then picking up presents from car boot sales or charity shops. I have got some brilliant kids party presents for 50p so with the card and a cheap gift bag I have brought the cost of a present in for a pound before.

looking for any tips at all, obviously you can buy porridge oats in bulk cheaper than buying expensive kids cereal etc but anything clever or that people might not have thought of before.

don’t know how bad the fuel crisis will be but considering charging battery packs to charge phones at work and taking a thermos of boiled water home 😂

How would you know? A huge amount of car boot items are brand new in box/with tags etc. Or it could be a vintage/retro item you can't get anymore and very sought after.

I'm glad my DC are more appreciative, in fact I've taught them to love retro things and so they often have a fossick themselves for a bargain! DS1 was most put out with Covid lockdown and no trash and treasure markets being open (Australian version of car boots).

It seems to me that for people not actually on the breadline, you would save as much by drinking one fewer bottle of wine a week than by making your life miserable taking cold showers and not flushing the toilet.

This is such a fucking bonkers response to someone saying that cold showers are invigorating.

Bit of a diff between a short sharp shock of cold water and sitting in a battlefield in a soggy hose and jerkin in 1415.

ffs.

Quite a few people have mentioned plant pots and tea light powered heating. I heard about the plant pot heaters earlier this year and was so intrigued I went and bought the stuff to make my own. It works! Gets so hot you can't touch it and really throws out the heat. I was very surprised!

Is two plant pots, with a metal bolt joining them with a space between them. I decorated mine and I love it. Will definitely be using it this year, probably in the bathroom to reduce the chill after getting out of the very brief shower 😂. Cost me about £14 for all the bits from b and q but would have been much cheaper from my local DIY trade shop.

Okay @roopeedoopeedooo - you have officially intrigued me and I now want to try this plant pot tea light warmer. That looks
Amazing!!

@Qik there is actually a scientific basis to cold showers. Researchers say the cold shock protein released might actually help fight against dementia. This is why open water swimming can be beneficial. I follow Wom Hof (the Ice Man) but can only tolerate 30 seconds myself but it does wake me up in the mornings.

@Qik the English overwhelmed the French at Agincourt due to superior weaponry (the (sic) Welsh War Longbow) rather than the inclement weather!

I do agree though that getting soaked in the rain is pretty demotivating, but also, agree than more managed and deliberate cold water therapy can be very beneficial to mental and physical health (I swim outside several times a week and have experienced the very calming and energising "reset" effects).

Think your brother must have a 25kwh electric shower then 🤨

re the gym, we have a large traveller community and they have been using the local council gym for daily ablutions for years, I lapsed my membership during covid but as it's walking distance I might investigate rejoinging just for the odd class and showers!!

Didn't someone die of a heart attack recently doing all that cold water stuff?

I guess death stops you having dementia though. Or you could always ask a family member to revive you with cold soup spooned from a can once they've finished sharing a shower with granny.

I've not actually tried this but have researched it, but you can make your own solar powered heaters. One version uses either drink cans or tinned vegetable tins. Lots of different clips with instructions, this is just one.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DLGZPti_n-M

My own tip would be Vinted. I have kitted my two DDs out for the next year this month. I have brought Next jeans for a pound, Adidas tops and Speedo swimming costumes, brand new for £5. So many t-shirts for £1-£2 . You have to factor in postage but still it’s a bargain. In total I have spent about £180 in August, (got a bit addicted) but that bought 31 items of clothing and don’t need to buy anything for over a year.

I used Amazon paint pens to decorate it so it's a bit less "plant pot" and a bit more decorative feature 😂. Apparently if you fill the metal bolt with big washers and nuts it's even better at retaining heat . There are lots of videos about them on YouTube and some are really nice to look at as well. I also bought a cheap metal mesh waste bin to turn upside to go over it to protect it and stop shutting accidentally touching it.

My son always takes a cold shower after the gym. He says it is better for muscle inflammation after training.

Are you actually being serious? You can’t see the difference between being cold, wet and miserable in clothing to jumping in a cold shower for 2 minutes and then getting dried and into dry, warm clothing?

Anyway, here is the first link I found. There has also recently been a programme called “Feel the Fear” or some such thing with the likes of Gabby Rosalind which was all about cold water and being cold and how good it is for you. But whatever, if you don’t fancy it, don’t do it. Life is very simple on some levels.

www.healthline.com/health/anxiety/cold-shower-for-anxiety

We have a 3 day rule for any non-essential shopping - clothes, magazines, books, house stuff, just any general tat that isn't food. You have to wait three days before you buy it. If by the third day, it still seems essential, then OK, but 9 times out of 10 you find you're just as happy without it.

Appreciate your time but just seems to me like make 7 days of grocery shopping last 8 in a nutshell.

While cold soup from a tin sounds like a delightful repast I'd maybe try farting on it to try and take the chill off.

Actually I save and repurpose the methane I produce after eating cold soup from a tin. I use it to reheat my cold hairy shower water and wash the spoon in that.

Heated gilet!! Stamps foot. I wanna heated gilet. Does anyone have any experience or recommendations for them?

Oh just get one from Amazon. What exactly could the difference be between one heated gilet and another?

Here is my best one. Get a sense of humour. It can work wonders in any situation! 😉

Genius, I'm definitely going to try this.