Small money saving habits...petty even

[Buddy80]

Hi,

I was just thinking of some of the small habits i've gotten into from habit and though i'd share...

I know some of them have probably been mentioned before

Always break a dishwasher tab in half
Water down fabric conditioner to get 2 bottles instead of 1
Freeze unwanted bananas for cakes
Chop up apple cores for the birds
Save pumkin seeds for planting
Save envelopes for seeds from old calendars
Use old envelopes for shopping lists if not reused
This one is stingy [embarrassed]...intead of buying a calendar, I just print off monthly from on-line planner. It gets amended anyhow and easier just to put on pinboard
Save old flyers to make paper chains.
Add handful of porridge oats to make crumble go further

Oh, and we still only have the central heating on for an hour a day...

I freeze anything & everything - the odd dollop of mashed potato, a dribble of leftover gravy, leftover meat, fruit that's starting to go off etc. It can always be used in something else - gravy in a casserole, mash for kids, meat in a pie, fruit to be stewed to have with porridge/rice pudding.

I also freeze bread that has gone 'off' rather than chuck it. I use it to feed the ducks, so we don't have to use up good bread for that.

Am also very particular about turning off appliances when not using them - I figure that it is costing money to display the time on the microwave, or the power light when the shower is kept on, so they all get turned off!

I re-use jiffy bags & stamps that have not been stamped over . Not sure if you are meant to do the latter, but I have posted parcels this way over the counter at the post office & have never been told it's not OK!

I take all my old aluminium cans to Tesco's recycling bank (they have electronic ones at larger stores, you get 1 clubcard point for 2 cans, it soon adds up.

I can't remember the last time I bought kitchen bin bags. I use the multitude of charity bags that are delivered through the letter box.

If you put out the bags with items in them, they are not necessarily collected by charities. They often go to a commercial operation that gives the charities something like £50 per tonne but they sell the items for hundreds lots more and make a profit out of what you donate.

Always break a dishwasher tab in half - Fairyconomy! No dishwasher here!

Water down fabric conditioner to get 2 bottles instead of 1 - Don't need fabric softener at all! Its a lie!

...intead of buying a calendar, I just print off monthly from on-line planner. It gets amended anyhow and easier just to put on pinboard - not cheapskatey, this just saves you buying cheap tat calendars, my dad has done this for years it means he has all meetings etc, on paper should his HTC run out of battery (and he can pencil last minute things in it too).

Have always fried eggs by turning the heat off after flipping, the oil is still hot and the yolk stays runny!

I have a list on the fridge now of everything that's in the freezer as I am really bad for going to the shops and buying junk when actually we have plenty to eat. Cross things off the list as we go through them.

Decide what you like branded and what doesn't matter - I am a 'bread snob' too as you put it but beans taste the same in a 10p can as a Heinz one IMO. I like Tetleys' but buy bulk on offer haven't paid full price for tea in a year.

Don't throw out Jcloths, they come out the washing machine fine 4 or 5 times before they're really done.

Recently discovered a scheme called Save the Change, bloody brilliant, every time you use your card the change off the pound goes into your chosen saving account. I've only had it a few weeks and only done grocery shops in that time but already saved more than a fiver! £10 a month into savings when before it was nothing!

Use tesco daisy dishwasher powder, £4.69 lasts me 11 months.

I used to buy sandwich bags for freezing things in etc but these days I always seem to grab too many bags out of the dispensers in the fruit and veg aisle. By the time I have all my overpriced items, Tesco have provided me with all the bags I will need that week...

OP, why do you have to print the online calendar? That's a waste of money. We just have a google calendar for the family, and everyone edits and looks at that one. It's more green for the environment too to not print!

Just remembered another thing! Clothes very rarely get thrown out here. Adult clothes go from best to everyday best (eg workwear) to everyday casual to garden/decorating clothes or rags. DCs clothes go from DS1 to DS2 & get patched if they get frayed (DS1 has been very pleased with his 'monster jeans' & 'spider jeans' as Daddy makes very good patches ) Sleepsuits/vests that get holes in become cloths - one 12-18m sleepsuit makes 4 small cloths & 1 large!

And 90% of our clothes are hand-me-downs/secondhand to begin with...

onelittle printing the monthly calendar on the back of printed A4 is easier for myself. It is my google planner like yours but, personally, easier for me to grab a pen

jenduck great idea about cloths. Do you bother to hem the cloths? Or just cut from the clothes and use as is?

Just chop them. If something is thready at the edges cut with pinking shears.

I never thought of that as economising my parents did it and I have always done it! Old teatowels are the best.

Buddy I just cut & use. I do cut off any poppers though, as they annoy me & any buttons go into our button box . The cloths may fray fairly quickly, but I'm not too bothered as I've paid nothing for them & there is usually something else on standby!

Don't use a tumble dryer, washing dries well outside even on days like today.

Use half the washing powder, no conditioner.

Hang straight from the washing machine and don't iron (except for work shirts)

The waxy plastic bags inside cereal make really god sandwich bags.

We were staying in an apartment recently and they had only provided a couple of DW tablets and I didn't want to buy a whole box, so I just ran it without any powder, and everything came out clean. No pans, admittedly, but cups, plates etc.

We live in the sticks so some of these may not apply to everyone:

Newspaper shreds in the bottom of your wellies (just enough to cover) are good insulation.
Tea bags can do more than one mug! (3 or 4 if you are my Dad)
Keep all spare buttons and sequins from new clothes for spares and decorating cards etc
Free Food:
In the spring - and wearing gloves - pick young nettles and use as you would spinach. Makes great soup.
Pick blackberries (too late for this year) - keep going back to the same place as picking encourages more to come through. We have a freezer half full of them, fab for crumbles and Jam and they are FREE

Sloe gin, elderberry wine etc are all lovely - but you will still need to spend on alcohol and sugar so not really a saving unless you would drink it anyway.

ALWAYS get a claim form if your rail journey screws up. The rail companies get compensation from Railtrack if their journeys go wrong; they have plenty of funds to give back to travelling customers who have been delayed. I read the other day that only about ten per cent of their compo ever finds its way back to the customers.
If a journey is a real nightmare (eg I was delayed by two hours in October) - you will get your fare refunded in full. Anything over half an hour's delay and most companies compensate you for part of the ticket price. It's horrible at the time you are being messed about, but it's great later on when you can subsidise your next journey using the compensatory rail voucher from the previous journey which screwed up.
Oh - food - Sainsbury's basic coffee in a bag (47p for 100 grams) is perfectly OK. A massive saving over other brands.
Food for free: Sweet chestnuts from my local cemetery are feeding me well at the moment!

These are great

We only use half a dishwasher tablet (Lidl 2 in 1) too - we're in a soft water area and I'm sure it also helps stop the glasses clouding.

Don't use full measures of washing powder. Only use half a measure of fabric conditioner - and none at all if washing towels.

Re-use sandwich bags (either from the inside of cereal packets or I've used to get fruit or beg) for as long as I can.

Give ds chunks of cheese (wrapped in cling film - which can be re-used) cut from a larger piece for packed lunches.

To give ds his due, he's good at bringing back the empty sandwich bag and cling film.

Leave oven door open after use so that the residual heat warms the room (and the noisy fan turns off quicker)

Also use old envelopes for shopping lists - can also put vouchers etc in to them, so that you've got them easily accessible when you get to the till.

Have a "fat" jar, which I use sometimes instead of olive oil (eg when making shepherd's pie or frying onions), which is kept topped up from frying bacon or cooking anything else fatty.

Haven't bought kitchen bin liners in over 20 years - re-used other plastic bags. Even though I now use jute bags and/or "bags for life", we still seem to acquire enough plastic bags. On the couple of occasions I've run out, I've use a bread plastic bag for any "wet" waste. Most of oour food waste goes in to the compost caddies anyway.

Keep ginger in the freezer and grate it from frozen when required.

Use a plate instead of cling film to cover something that's being microwaved.

ALWAYS get a claim form if your rail journey screws up. The rail companies get compensation from Railtrack if their journeys go wrong; they have plenty of funds to give back to travelling customers who have been delayed. I read the other day that only about ten per cent of their compo ever finds its way back to the customers.
If a journey is a real nightmare (eg I was delayed by two hours in October) - you will get your fare refunded in full. Anything over half an hour's delay and most companies compensate you for part of the ticket price. It's horrible at the time you are being messed about, but it's great later on when you can subsidise your next journey using the compensatory rail voucher from the previous journey which screwed up.
Oh - food - Sainsbury's basic coffee in a bag (47p for 100 grams) is perfectly OK. A massive saving over other brands.
Food for free: Sweet chestnuts from my local cemetery are feeding me well at the moment!

use the back of junk mail for photocopies or for children to draw on or make shopping lists, notes etc. Re-use envelopes, buy a huge roll of sticky labels for about £1.00 and stick over 'old address'

Never throw out bread. Cut into squares and freeze to use for croutons. You can make them and put in a jar in the fridge, th will last and are great on soup orin salads.

Save all glass jars all year, in summer buy a massive tray or two of tomatos at the market depending on your jars and make up chopped tomatoes for here larder. Store somewhere cool, maybe a shelf in the garage if no space indoors. Should see you through winter.

Line dry towels etc in almost any weather but rain. Even on a cold day like this, if there is wind they will get pretty dry. They then just need a little while on the airer, or in the tumble dryer if you want to.

Slow cooker for soups and stews. Not quite as good, but good enough for everyday. Add lentils to everything to bulk out. Red lentils pretty much disappear into the sauce.

Agree with powder rather than dishwasher tablets.

Name tags 0 no need for one child to have their name at the end. Just do Jane John Smith. For John, you fold over the end. For Jane, you do a little pleat. That's what my mum did.

If you get gifts wrapped in lovely expensive paper, unwrap them carefully and reuse. Especially shiny stuff, the sellotape comes off easier. Remember to give it to a different person than who gave you it, just in case

Get a window box for the kitchen and plant with herbs you use regularly, rather than buying those fresh pots from supermarket. Taste nicer than dried too.

Keep newspapers. For everything - cutting hair onto (if you cut your kids hair or DP uses clippers like mine does), stuffing in wet wellies to help them dry, surface protection when kids are crafting/painting, papier mache, starting fires if you have a real one (roll into a tube and tie in a knot, leaving the end hanging out under logs also gives an easy way to light the fire), stick under drafty cupboard doors, can line under carpets or in drawers or a million other throwaway uses. Gets one more use out of them before they get recycled.

eBay. I get so many of DS clothes on there, nearly new cos he is just a toddler and they grow so fast. I pass most of it on to my SIL who's son is 9 months younger.

Look at everything in your home with a reduce, reuse, recycle mentality. To me it's not just about the money. Defo taking some other tips from people here!

Thank you for starting this thread. I agree re Daisy dishwasher powder: huge savings.

Any advice re cheapest/best way of washing clothes? Is powder the way to go? I've been using a great liquid from Aldi but need to cut costs further if possible.