Can we start a general frugal tips thread please?

[poshsinglemum]

I tried starting this on the money forum but no-one took it seriously.

General money saving tips very welcome. Am on benefits and struggling. Very hand to mouth.

My tips;
Buy second hand baby clothes on ebay/nct sale.
Sell stuff on ebay.
Turn off lights.
Make sure appliances aren't on standby.
Cook a bit too much and freeze.
Am really getting into charity shops.
Make Christmas decorations/presents.
Lentils with everything.

Oh yes- Tescos value toilet paper

use the library for books (obv) and internet access, kids cd stories and games

find out what free family courses are on offer at local surestart or CFE, for entertainment purposes. also possibly learn a skill/craft and sell outcome on etsy.coom

Oil Cleansing Method, if you are a product junkie

The No Poo Method if you have dry curly hair.

Both of these cost much much less in toiltries, and are actually more effective than wasting the money you used to.

Don't waste time money and effort on Etsy.com
Nobody ever buys anything - they just try selling you their stuff instead.

Ebay your junk - that does work and also gives nice tidy clutter free home as a side effect.

ahhhh. give outcome as christmas presents?

whats the oil cleansing method?

Sort out food plans and only buy what you will use.

Go through your freezer - you will probably be suprised what may lurk there and could be eaten.

Our city council run a "scrap store" as part of their recycling programme. Basically waste card, paper, textiles etc sourced from local businesses which would otherwise be sent to landfill is made available for a nominal membership fee to Families, Schools and craft groups, scout/guides etc. Presumably other cities may have something similar.

I keep meaning to sort out and do a car boot - but haven't had time/got round to it.

I've been making lots of bread in bread maker and have now cracked the formula and getting lovely bread.

Echo not buying too much food in one go. Little and often and don't let dh pack the fridge - mine doesn't do it right and things get hidden at back to go off

The Oil Cleansing Method- there have been a few threads on here about it, with lots of people wowed by the results. I am mainly wowed by the cheapness- I haven't paid out anything in moisturiser or scrubs/cleansers etc for months.

Bitoffun - does it work for you?

I have terrible combination skin - dry and flaky round my nose and oil T zone and spots

sorry about thread jacking

It does! I have combination skin too, and it's great for sorting the oily spotty bits out, while being moisturising on the dry bits. You have to play with the proportions of castor oil to base oil to suit your skin, but if you search the threads here, there is loads of good advice

fab i am going to buy some castor oil tomorrow, and ditch my Liz Earle hot wash cleanser - as its made my skin worse!! Thank you

shall let you know

def will try that tmow, but what's the no poo method?

No Poo Method...great for curly haired women who waste a fortune in taming products and serums. I have a pic on my profile of my hair after a short while of trying it, and it is looking nicer and a bit curlier and more moisturised than it did when I put the pic up a couple of weeks ago. I used to go through Frizzease like the clappers, but I don't need it any more. I don't know if it's great for other hair types, but it seems gret for dry curly hair.

Hi all.
Thanks so much for so many good tips. I'm not sure why there are two threads but hey- that's twice as many tips!

Keep posting.

I thought of a few more.

Use eco balls instead of washing powder..
Try to use half the amount of shower gel/shampoo/toothpaste/washing up liquid per wash.
Don't do brand names. Supermarket own brands are just as good and cheaper.
Keep plastic bags and use them for wrapping e-bay orders or lining dustbins.
grow veg.

We are having a frugal month this October. Basically we have stocked the freezer and cupboards, and we are trying to spend as little money as possible.

We are noting down anything we do buy e.g fresh veg, milk, bread and will see how much we actually needed to buy during the month!

We're hoping it will stop take aways, unnecessary chocolate purchases, newspapers etc!

Maybe give it a try?

PS> I know it's cheating a bit as we spent money to stock up but I reckon we will still save.

If you do get books from the library, remember to renew them/take them back on time as otherwise the fines will outweigh the benefits

meal plan!

we have a 4 week rotating meal planner and at the start of the month i spend 100 pounds ish on all the dry ingredients, then maybe £30 per week for the other 3 weeks to top up on fresh food. we buy exactly what we need, and no wasteage, also cook double portions that are frozen for a meal the following week. there is no 'what shall we have for dinner' panic, no arguing between the kids about what they want, they go and look on the fridge and read what it is and they know that's what they're getting.

in this way we can buy food, toiletries, cleaning products and nappies for me, dh, ds (5) and dd (2.10) for under £250 per month.

before we did this we spent approx 80 per week, and ended up buying top up bits and takeaways when we didn't have anything in.

Also, leave oven door open after cooking so the heat warms up the house (we did this today, the house was quite chilly but warmed up considerably quite quickly)

turn electricals off at the plug (wish i could get my dh to do this)

line all your curtains (doing mine with cheap fleeces from ikea) and draw them at dusk to keep the heat in.

make christmas and birthday presents, and/or buy stuff in the sales and keep in a present box

will think of more no doubt, saving money, my current obsession!!

jackie - what sort of meals do you do >

we are veggie, so no meat or fish, that prob helps keep costs down.

this week & next week are

mon - spicy sausage stew
tues- leftover stew in jacket potatoes
weds - vege chilli in taco shells
thurs - pasta bake and homemade garlic bread
fri - kids - l/o pasta bake. us - l/o chili
sat - veggie quesadillas
sun - nut roast

mon - jacket potatoes, cheese & beans
tues - veg lasagne
weds - middle eastern rice and lentils
thurs - sausage, mash and yorkshires
fri - homemade pizzas
sat - macaroni cheese
sun - tomato risotto

we don't eat posh food but i feel we do eat well.

oh, ds takes packed lunch to school, sanwiches, fruit and a biscuit or 2, me and dd have cheese/beans/scramble egg on toast or crackers and cheese type things, not terribly exciting but it works well for us

We do eat meat, but I don't see why we couldn't do a spicy sausage stew or middle eastern rice and lentils though instead. I do like to cook from scratch.

Would you be able to post those recipes for me

We spend far too much every week, it does not help though that DS1 (12) eats just as much as his dad, so now, instead of having some leftovers that would feed DH and myself (we would put it in the freezer for a night when there is something else leftover for the DS's) there isn't anything left at all.

DH, me & DS2 take packed lunches - I roast a ham on a Sunday and use this for the week. DS1 has £2 per day for his lunch in the school canteen.

Totally agree with the meal planning idea, it tales a bit of work but is really effective in avoiding waste.

I would also recommend trawling though old bank statements and doing a spreadsheet of EXACTLY what you are spending and on what. I did it recently and it was a completely shocking experience. I had NO IDEA where all our money was going so was good to find out - now am on a strict budget.