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

Buy cheap whisky and make your own Baileys for christmas. One cup each of whisky, cream, condensed milk. Add a tsp of instant coffee and vanilla extract; works out about £5 a bottle and tastes much better than Lidl's own brand. Lots more ideas here

My thrifty tips:

1. Use carrier bags instead of bin liners

2. Buy staple groceries from shops like LIDL

3. Stock up good offers eg Birds Eye fish fusion normally 2.99, was 76p in Tesco last week, so bought a batch and froze
   Also Youngs frozen pollock was £1 from farmfoods, so bought and froze.
   Same for fillet fish finger offers, half price fabric condition from Wilko etc

4. One really FAB tip, when shopping for kids clothes, look for loose theads, any marks, tears and they usually knock off another 20%. I did this in Asda last week, also got £10 off a £60 (already reduced from £120) Guess watch because of a VERY MINOR scratch.

5. Ebay - you can buy almost anything on ebay. Don't worry if a transaction goes wrong due to no fault of your own. Eg. I bought a new Astracast sink on ebay, when fitted, it didn't drain properly, seller refused refund, ebay refunded me, Astracast also sent me a replacement sink, so I was quids in!

6. Check out Moneysavingexpert for upcoming sales and eating out vouchers eg. 50% toys in Sainsbury's so stock up for xmas presents, pizza hut £5 pizza and salad vouchers etc.

7. Always complain if you think are right eg. when I was pregnant, I was asked not to consume my take away sandwich in Waitrose whilst two business men continued to have thei business meeting without buying anything. I complained and received a £25 voucher as an apology.

8. Another complaint, I complained to Walkers about an open packet of crisps in a multipack (took me 30 secs!) and received a £6 Walkers voucher, also for Pampers, a nappy's sticky tab fell off, phoned Pampers, received £5 coupon.

9)Get kids to switch of unused lights, switching off laptops, TVs etc, not keep taps on when brushing teeth, taking more showers than baths etc.

10. Last but not least, saving money by eating restaurant style food. I loved cooking fresh food quickly, daily for my kids, so much so, healthyindianrecipes.co.uk was borne! You can even cook a three course meal for less than a fiver!

www.healthyindianrecipes.co.uk/three-course-curry-for-a-fiver/

I have negotiated on eveything from buying and selling property, to a few pence off children's slightly faulty clothing to getting parking tickets quashed. Its fun, saves the pennies and sometimes the pounds, and is a great challenge!

These are just a few, I have loads more but Eastenders is on and kids are asleep, so ciaow!

I always use carrier bags as bin bags and don't have a gunk in the bin problem.

When using the oven (for non baking) turn it off 10 to 20 mins before the end of the cooking time. The temp hardly goes down and saves loads of energy.

I cut the bott

Arse - hit post too soon.

Bottoms off toothpaste tubes - my mum always did this so I've just kind of carried on.

Half the recommended amount of washing powder here too.

Oh and fill your oven if you can. Stew in on one shelf, bung something else in for re-heating / freezing another day. Same lecci = 2 dinners.

Spend a week accounting for EVERY penny you spend to see just where the waste is. It is amazing how those odd 20ps get spent on stuff we have no recollection of.

Speaking of odd 20ps - I have coin jars. In a year I usually save around £250-300 in coppers and 5p, 10p and 20p. And you really don't miss it.

I already do the name tag thing (DS1's name, DS2's name, surname) which is a variant on what my mum did. Not sure I'm going to love unpicking and pleating when the time comes, though.

I started shopping at Aldi early this year, after reading the 'no-spend' threads on here. I'm still not convinced it saves me that much because I unfailingly buy junk (good quality chocolate, biscuits etc) that I wouldn't have bought in Sainsbury or Waitrose or Tesco. I also usually fall for the non-food items there because they're cheeeap. Tis how they make their money. But you can't beat their staple groceries, and the veg is great too.

Already use miniscule amounts of washing powder. Haven't tried breaking (Aldi) dishwasher tabs in half yet.

Will be getting a door curtain, ours is frigid and draughty.

I'm intrigued by insulating under the bath. I never have baths but the water gets cold for DSs' baths very fast in winter. (bathroom is on ground floor and I suspect is over a concrete floor with no insulation, as bathroom used to be a toolshed.) So I just take off the side and bung in some - what? foam? Commercial insulation? Newspaper?

Our electricity has just gone through the roof and I'm at a loss. Laptop is on most of the day but I NEVER iron. Washing machine could account for a lot of it, and I do use the tumbledrier about 3/4 times a week these days. Plus hairdrier every morning... Does anyone know,off the top of their head, how much it roughly costs to boil the kettle? I usually make sure I only boil as much as I need.

I don't buy carrier bags (in Wales so they cost 5p) and now have a carrier bag free house. I just line the kitchen bin with the council's black bag. I never put food waste in - that goes in the compost or the caddy so it doesn't smell or attract vermin and I haven't bought bin liners for years. Other bins in the house aren't lined but we make sure anything messy goes in the kitchen bin.

Also I don't buy kitchen roll but have a huge stash of cloths for wiping up spills etc. They are all just bits of old sheets, DH's worn out Tshirts etc.

DCs packed lunches go in small plastic boxes so no need for cling film or foil round individual items.

I have also tried cutting my own hair and it didn't go so well, so I'd rather save money in other areas and treat myself to a decent haircut about once or twice a year! I've never had a problem with gunk in my plastic bag liners either. I only use them for paper type waste, not kitchen/food gunk.

I also keep coins in jars, but a different jar for each coin value, (saves the hassle of separating them later, as you can't have mixed coins in those little plastic bank bags anyway.)

I use slightly less that the suggested quantity on certain products (washing powder, shampoo, etc)

I measure my porridge or pasta in a cup so I don't make too much. I can tolerate some own brand biscuits so will buy large quantities of cheap 'value' choc chip cookies, but it's obviously cheaper/healthier not to buy any! Only food things I can't compromise on are soups & canned produce. If it's not Heinz, Del Monte or Ambrosia then I can't stomach it.

I also save a fortune on razor blades by not shaving my legs!! (Well, it's winter!)

I cut ds' hair with clippers on a 6 or even 8 and it looks fine. Do need to go round the ears with scissors.

He does however have extremely thick hair so it would probably look good whatever I did with it.

Glad you like the blog, Booyhoo

bof your morning routine has cheered me, DP and DD1 this morning. It is so hilariously unlike ours that we all had to laugh.
cote how do you get your saved coins changed up? Coinstar charges and banks can be very unhelpful about coppers unless 4 yr olds are bringing in their piggy banks (and even then )

Reshape, if you get the manual out for your washing machine it will have a table of energy consumption per cycle. For mine it uses more power to do a 30 wash than a 40 one which I have always assumed to be becuase it agitates the washing more to get it clean at a lower temperature.

You can buy energy monitors that you plug into the wall which will tell you how much each appliance costs to run. Normal loft insulation can be wrapped around baths, at least one of the diy stores will be doing it cheap as part of a subsidy by the electric companies due to their "green" commitments.

I ask the bank for change bags and then bag up my change and take it down to the branch. Coppers are taken in bags of £1 and £5 for silver up to 20p. I think 50p's are meant to be £10 per bag. I dont care if they dont like it, I dont like it if they charge us for going overdrawn by a few pounds so they can sod off.

IAmShe, I bank with the Bank of Scotland, and at their normal counter they will only take up to five bags at a time. However, the business banking counter is happy to take as much as you can carry, so I assume most banks will be pretty much the same. The most I ever carried in (and I needed help to carry it all!) was £700-odd, and had no problem at all that way. Coinstar's a bit of a rip off IMO, so I don't use that.

Also, like ErrorError I have different jars for different denominations. You can, though, get savings jars/boxes that will sort the coins for you.

Boo, the longer grades are harder to do, but if your son doesn't mind the process just take your time and it should be fine. (my son hates it and cries but at least he sits still) I do about a 5 on top and 2 at the back to make it last as long as possible before subjecting him again! My dad also thinks I do it too short but you know what it's not his kid and if he wants to take him to the hairdresser, pay for it (which he always refused to do for me) and listen to him bawl his eyes out the whole time he'd be more than welcome!

Why would a bank not like to get their change back? Otherwise it just goes poof into thin air surely and costs them money. Or would they rather we count out 2ps at the till? (Yes probably because shops pay for their change!) You have to have an account with the branch, apart from that if they're snotty with you tell them to shove the pennies up their arse, then they'll actually have something to moan about. It's your money that would otherwise be blocking drainsthey should be more appreciative of their customers. I do it every Christmas and they've never moaned at me!

ref. washing machines I don't know if anyone else here knows this but if you have a washball it's always better to put yr detergent in it and then IN the machine thus bypassing the messy drawer.It's good 'cos none of the powder or liquid that you use is wasted.

I don't use that smelly chemical detergent I use a washball half full of bicarb and 2 scoops of white vinegar works a treat.I also have a magnetic water softener that goes in.

For smelly bins (I try to train DH not to put ANYTHING smelly in the bin but it doesn't always work ) so I always line the bin with newspaper before putting in the plastic bin liner it helps with the cleaning.

BTW I 2nd the use of white vinegar for wndows and HOT white vinegar removes scum, black bits round baths, hard water marks on shower curtains and IN baths too it's amazing.

I haven't been to a hairdresser since 1980. Fact.

Make my own bread; cheaper than posh artisanal and nicer than supermarket. Also

Make my own pizzas - much cheaper than Domino's, and if you make 2 the other can be frozen and reheated. DCs can add choice of toppings.

Use up all leftovers, kept in small airtight plastic boxes; fun to think about how to use bits of ham, bits of lamb and tomatoes in a pasta sauce..

I keep hens. For the price of a bag of seed they provide 6 eggs a day. For a treat I give them own-brand spaghetti'; 40p a tin, and they love it. They also like any food the cats have rejected.

Wood ash is good garden fertiliser/compost ingredient.

We cancelled all TV subscriptions, and now don't have TV but only bargain DVDs from Oxfam shop.

Something my parents used to do in thier freezing single-glazed house - Tape bubblewrap over the windows in winter. They don't any more as they got double glazing and another logburner, but it took the house from baltic to bearable.

Nobody's mentioned 'rent a room'. That is a BIG 'saving' - you can take in a lodger for a spare room in your house and get an income up to £4,200 a year I think it is, non taxable. That could solve quite serious money problems, so might be really helpful if you're living on the edge, financially.

'Teach', even if you're not a teacher? You might be able to find someone looking for English conversation practice on Gumtree or one of those other sites; that could bring in a bit of money and might be fun as well.

Because budgeting is so important if you're hard up, it can be a good idea to open specially designated accounts and save little bits in them whenever you can. And the big expense of a TV licence... you can buy stamps towards the cost as and when. you have the cash to spare.

I am so going to try making my own Baileys . Then maybe ice cream with that, yummy!

Have cat on my lap right now which had reminded me of another thing I do. Any bits of fat or skin trimmed off of our meat or fish goes to him as do any leftovers I can't freeze. He loves it & it saves waste.

IamShe - it is not always like that in this house, I can tell you!

Toiletries and house cleaners: make a list and poundshop it not Boots or Superdrug. You'd be amazed - I get the same brands sometimes to boot.

Don't waste the saved tenner on haribo bags - but do buy gardening things eg compost, bulbs, hanging baskets and feed.

As to decorating - if you have knackered teeny furniture, or crap wooden bits in the garden, use Farrow and Ball samples to produce a new oh so Notting Hill vibe in your haime. A sample pot goes a long way. The worse you paint, the better it looks. Takes 10 minutes, costs 3 quid.

I did this and immediately an interiors editor demanded to photograph my tiny, concrete balcony. But don't do it with cheap paint, only the high pigment levels in the posh stuff make it work. Do the painting in the bath so you don't have to clean up.

I use half the amount, if that, of washing powder and conditioner.

I never buy sandwich bags, I reuse bread bags or bags I've put loose fruit in from the shop ( never tie a knot in them!)

I stew old fruit and freeze it for DS.

I save all bits of ribbon etc for my sister who is a crafter.

I buy nearly all my meat and fish reduced.

Co-op pharmacy is sometimes amazing for toiletry bargains.

i'm an ex bank teller and i loved getting in bags of coin. especially if it wasn't a full bag and i had to count it. i'm a geek. if your bags are full the cashier should just weigh them and wont take any longer than doing a paper transaction so nothing for them to get arsey about.

£1 bags for coppers
£5 bags for 5p and 10p
£10 bags for 20p and 50p
£20 bags for £1 and £2

and BTW when local businesses bring in their lodgements they can contain several hundred or even over a thousand pounds in coin and it all has to be weighed. if the bank staff have no problem doing that then they certainly should have no problem doing a few bags for a personal customer. and most banks should be licking customers arses ATM to try and gain much needed brownie points. (i'm with ulster bank, they're in serious brownie point debt right now )