What have you done to save money which didn’t work out?

[SoBoredHelpMe]

Some of mine :

Buying hubbards tomato sauce instead of Heinz 🤮

Buying cheap plastic lunch boxes (lasted 2 days)

Bought crisps in bulk (just ate more)

bought a slow cooker (never used it)

Basically the cheap versions of anything and everything. I live by the mantra: Buy cheap, buy twice.

This goes for nearly everything - washing up liquid, trainers, shampoo, cooking sauces, loo roll, clothes.

And YES YES YES to the shitness of heated clothes driers!
I bought one years ago after rave reviews on MN. It was awful. Fucking massive monstrosity. Clothes took donkey years to dry and ended up smelling a bit mildew-y because they took so long. A normal airer works just as well and is much more portable.
I don't get the love for heated clothes driers on MN. I made my experience of them known on MN and got accused of being a troll 😂

Has anyone found those heated throws and air fryers which seemed popular worthwhile?

Heated towel racks / heaters are nice.

I'd like to use meal boxes once a week but none of them cater for more than four and we need five adult-sized portions. I don't know why they don't just allow you to add an extra person or two, I could understand a maximum of six perhaps. They need to try a bit harder if they want my business.

No word of a lie, I was just about to google when I saw your post. We're also a family of five so it clearly won't work for us.

Yes you think it would be easy enough for them as they would just need to add an extra 2 person portion of the same meal...

maybe you could email them and ask? they might do it for you. We have Green Chef and it is nice (have a free box offer for that can dig out if anyone wants to try it)

The other thing you could do with those meal boxes for bigger families is that the portions are often quite generous so you could get the 4 person one and eke it out with a bit of extra e.g. rice.

We do this if we have an unexpected person round with the 2 person ones and share it between 3..

...or extra veg. Ours does extra portions of veg / rice

Remote controlled plugs to turn everything off at the mains, spent twenty three pounds on the buggers. TV doesn't like being off off, messes up the signal somehow and, even if I did turn everything properly off it's eleven years till I'll see any savings 😡

I dont know how you manage that tbh.
Yes you need to buy spices, herbs etc… at the start but surely you just keep using them because you are doing that particular recipe many times after??

So it’s still cheaper right?

Fwiw I don’t think it’s just cheaper. It’s also healthier and more tasty.
And you can adapt to cater for various needs eg no gluten, more vegs etc etc

Not everyone has the money for the initial extra outlay, but also you don’t just eat that one recipe forever, you then try more… different things work for different people 🤷‍♀️

Ditched Sainsbury's for Tesco in order to take advantage of clubcard points for days out. They announced the reduction in points value 3 days later and the cost is exactly the same as Sainsbury's.

Also - went to Aldi to buy a few knock off branded bits for the month to 'save' money. Cost me even more. FML.

That Clubcard annoys me, the way it is more expensive without and a faff to use.

Waitrose essential butter is also £2.

@MyriadOfTravels
So it’s still cheaper right?

that will clearly depend on what value you put on your own time. I'm not saying anything whether it's a good thing to do.

We cook from scratch most of the time, not because its cheaper but because we value knowing exactly was has gone into the food we eat. We also acknowledge the time this takes, to plan and procure the ingredients.

I wouldn't call that cheaper, I'd say better value and make sure that is it isn't regarded as 'wifework' - tasks absorbed by the woman because her personal time is not valued and acknowledged

Why would need to throw away pantry staples? I have drawers full of spices, they don't go off.

We use our heated airer a lot. it needs a cover, or a sheet over it, but it dries overnight.
Slow cooker I don't use.

Orangesandlemons77 Farmfoods and Home Bargains are around £1.50

Exactly this!! We've spent all the equity from our bigger house trying to get our smaller one updated. And fuel bills are huge as the heating is older and less efficient!
Didn't think it through enough

Surely you soak dried beans just overnight?

Once switched supermarkets from my usual Tesco to Aldi.

Had to bin most of the vegetables because they went mouldy/slimy within a couple of days.
The non brand products on the whole were okay but some were so disgusting that I had to throw them out because no one could eat them.
(Aldi microwave "Chicago town" pizzas and "Pepperami's" I'm looking at you two for a start!)
I snapped a piece of my tooth off on some gristle/bone in the Aldi mince. Now I have a small but perfectly shaped square missing from my front tooth.

And I still needed to make a drive out to Tesco to pick up the foods I couldn't find in Aldi. Didn't save a penny despite the slightly lower cost on the Aldi receipt.

The Gousto boxes are 4 adult portions.

If you have children under the age of 10 you could quite easily stretch it to 5 people.

I have a discount code if you would like it dm me.

We encouraged everyone to use the shower instead of the bath. Shower got so much more use that the grouting failed and water leaked into the kitchen - Oh joy!

Have just been ordering shopping and Waitrose is doing very well for low prices