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

Aldi washing powder tabs are fine and I only use one unless washing is really manky.wash at low temps and on quick wash when possible.don't use fabric conditioner.
Aldi Magnum washing up liquid is dirt cheap and lasts for ever. Don't need a dishwasher. Use over ripe bananas in cakes, apples in crumbles. Blitz stale bread into breadcrumbs and freeze. Use as crumble topping (thanks Nigel Slater). Red lentils to bulk out pretty much anything, and all leftover veggies are used for soup.a bit of manky blue cheese gives great taste to a leek and potato soup.buy liver, chop up and freeze in small portions. Great supplementary pet food if the kids won't eat it and cheaper than the tinned stuff. Use topcashback when buying on line.

I've been saving a fortune by getting my shopping delivered . You can see what you have and how much it would be before you commit rather than throwing things in the trolley and discovering you've spend £160 when you get to the till .

This is my kind of thread

Which did a test in one of their recent magazines on alternatives to manufacturer ink for Canon, Epson and HP. PM me if you'd like to know which they thought best, I daren't post it on here. (I got £20 off a car seat for taking up a £1 trial).

Use a pressure cooker for cooking meat, veg, soup, everything is cooked much faster so your hob is not on for as long. When cooking different veg, use a steamer, so that only one ring is on.

I've just ordered a curtain rod for our front door, it's soo draughty!
Agree with using soda crystals - nothing better on stains. I've not used fabric conditioner for years either.

I'll remember the tip about the bath - our is about to be replaced.
I also like the one about the "floppy" carrots and harriet, I'll be keeping my eye out for comics - what a great idea!

Every time you are out and about shopping, and notice potential presents between £1 and £5, buy them and squirrel them away, and you can slash the cost of Christmas and birthdays by an astonishing amount, especially if you also buy all your wrapping papers and ribbons in the sale as well as recycling them from other presents when you can.

Edgar - what did you insulate under the bath with?

BTW the danger wth DIY laundry liquid is that it does not contain limescale remover, so if you are in a hard water area your machine will get knackered. You'll need a Calgonite tablet as well as the DIY liquid, so you may as well buy the normal laundry powder, tbh!

Great thread! For washing windows/glass, use a splash of vinegar on scrunched up newspaper. Works a treat. Packed lunch ideas....instead of boxes of raisins, wrap some in a piece of foil..and reuse the foil. A chunk of cheese instead of those individual portions. Make up a jelly and pour into small tubs, add a bit of fruit to make a few nice cheap pudds. Same with yoghurts..buy big pots, pour into small tubs for packed lunches.

marking my place! I do make batches of stuff and just have same thing 2 nights in a row.

Always put the pan lids on when you are cooking. not half open. wedged on. then turn the heat down till its a rolling boil, not manic spitting everywhere, but gently rolling (like when you put the shower head under the bathwater).

saves on condensation too

when i make pancakes, there is usually some pancake mixutre left. i cook it into pancakes and put on a plate. they can be reheated for breakfast the next day, or can be used instead of lasagne sheets (i wouldnt go to the faf of making then specially for the lasgne) but they do make the lasgne nice and light and not at all stodgy.

keep odd socks for puppet making

use babyoil when you are still wet from the shower, it works 10x better than mositurisers and is £1 a bottle.

I buy my meat at the cash and carry. I got 2kg of beef for £9. Okay i have to chop it myself (it comes in one huge big lump), and it takes a bit of time, but i freeze it in 500g portions and stew it from frozen. Lovely.

"BTW the danger wth DIY laundry liquid is that it does not contain limescale remover, so if you are in a hard water area your machine will get knackered. You'll need a Calgonite tablet as well as the DIY liquid, so you may as well buy the normal laundry powder, tbh! "

white vinegar will solve that problem and is a deodoriser it also has anti-bacterial properties.

Booyhoo, that's a good point.

BTW lots of tips on my blog.

Austerity Housekeeping

Keep an eye on poundland!! I recently bought a massive bag of pasta and spaggetti in there - £1 each is such a bargin and it tastes the same as any other brand!! I have also bought books in there, gifts, wrapping paper, scented candles as long as what ever you buy you are 100% sure would not be cheaper anywhere else poundstretcher

Buying toiletries from Wilkinsons saves me money.

I take paper that would otherwise be chucked from work and give to my dd as drawing paper, I haven't had to buy her paper ever!!

Morrisons savers bath foam smells lovely and lasts for ages.

Not buying any crap (biscuits, crisps, chocolate) saves me a fortune and is good for my waist line, dd is allowed to choose a treat from the shop on a friday to allay my guilt!!!

Fab thread! I have just got up and shut my living room curtains! Will also definitely look into a curtain for the front door. Our vestibule is freezing and my DS is forever leaving the door open .

A few of mine:

• Always squeeze the toothpaste from the bottom of the tube (sounds obvious but you'd be surprised at how much the 'manglers' waste!)
• Use plastic carrier bags as small bin liners.
• Use old toothbrushes as polishing tools, or for dusting small crevices.
• Make a vat of soup, eat one portion and freeze the rest (freezer bags take up less space than tupperware.
• Keep old clothes that are unsuitable for charity shops/clothes bank, and either cut up for rags, or if a nice material, can be used in craft-type projects.
• When soap is down to the last sliver, keep it, and when other soaps are down to the last sliver, stick all the slivers together to make a new(ish!) bar.

I'm sure there's more but I'll keep tabs on this thread for other tips!

Buy hair clippers. Got mine about ten years ago from Argos for about a tenner. I cut DH's hair (number three on sides and back and number six on top) and it actually looks good! I also cut both my sons hair this way too. Not sure I'll subject DD to a buzz cut when she is older but will defo get my scissors out, saves a fortune!

Give your children short names. Not only can I fit 'Child1 DeBois Child2 DeBois' on a single name label, it made buying those nice wooden letters for their bedroom doors a bargain .

WRT the using plastic shopping bags as bin liners- i do most of my grocery/toiletries/cleaning product shopping in asda and every bag without fail has silly round holes in it making it completely useless as a bin liner. why do they do this?

Booyhoo it's an anti-suffocation measure, I think. But I was going to ask the same question - how does everyone manage to use bin bags as bin liners without getting yuk on their bins? (Actually, I only ever use fabric bags for shopping these days, so I never have a plastic bin bag when I need one anyway.)

Second the hair clippers, DP every 4 weeks or so, so good saving there. I'll reuse teabags when using pot, just top up water. Ive stopped using fabric softner, honestly dont muss it. SW tablets Ive swapped Finish for Tesco EveryDay, made no visible difference to end result. Recently bought soda crystals, still experimentung with those but hope to make it only cleaning solution goung forward (got a hhuugge bag in Asda for 99p!). Recycle carrier bags as bin liners. Swapped to Value toilet and kirchen rolls, and now that DS is toilet rained have swapped to value wipes too.

bof your blog is great. i love the morning routine post. i have been trying to get myself (it's me that struggles with the mornings) and the dcs into a good morning routine so we are running like clockwork but so far I we are still having that mad morning rush (which made life hard for ds's teacher this morning apparently because when i sent in £1.50 that was requested for a play and £5 for after school club all in coins in the same envelope she couldn't work out how to separate the £1.50 from the other 5 coins ). anyway off to have a proper read of your blog now. thanks for the link.

I have an ivernight hotel stay once a month fow a work meeting...I bring hime all the tea/coffee/sugar/ hot chocolate sachets. And all the bathroom toileteries find their way into my bag too...shampoo, shower gel, conditioner, soap etc.

people who use clippers- how skilled do you have to be to do it? i have clippers and i used to cut ds' hair when he was about 3 but everyone always told me it was too short and i wasn't confident enough to do two different grades so he got the same all over. also what grade would be good for two little boys and wouldn't look too harsh?

i'm surrently paying £7 each for their monthly haircuts.

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