Ways a to save money around the home now we are all tightening our belts

[bronze]

I am pretty much a tightwad, mainly down to needs must but I find these threads with people ideas always have at least one new thing for me to try. So I though I would start one

pavlov re veg in shade,most veg likes sun, but if you,ve got nothing to lose, give it a go.You sound excellent at frugality and improvising, so just beg or borrow some big old containers, and look on freecycle for surplus veg seedlings. theres usually some at this time of year.

Something i've found/noticed about growing veg,from long & bitter experience is that it is extremely easy to spend more on growing it that it would cost to buy.(ethical and taste issues aside).

So now I have a rule -- improvise with everything, re-use everything, save all seeds that i can, and just grow little bits of everything we like.and i mean just little bits,a tiny pinch of lettuce seeds gives more than enough salad for acouple of weeks,then sow another tiny pinch. So a packet of seeds, stored carefully in a tin in a cool place,can last till next year.(i'm still using seed from 3 years ago)

Thanks everyone for your tips - I don't have any of my own except budget, budget, budget.

HasStoredSomeOfTheseAwayInTheModeOfASquirrelTiggaxx

Keep a list of what is in your fridge,freezer and cupboards. And see what you can use without going shopping.

If you want containers for growing fruit and veg try asking florists....They buy their flowers in those black buckets so usually have loads to just throw away....I got loads for absolutely nothing and just drilled a few holes in the bottom. Not exactly beautiful but a good size and FREE!!!!

E-bay! I buy lots of bits and bobs for the house.

Squash (hi juice only for us) no pop, cans, fancy drinks. Works out much cheaper and better for you. Cant do cheaper squash..yuukkky.

I general household cleaner and mixed into a spayer, avoid kitchen, bathroom types etc
No air freshners (thank god).

No fancy glossy magazines anymore.

I got a massive box of Asda Smartprice washing powder plus Asda Smartprice fabric conditioner and you honestly can't tell the difference between that and the normal stuff. cost less than half of the usual Persil price.

If you live in a soft water area, you can half your diswasher tablets (Lidl of course - they are a Which? Best Buy) and your dishes will still come out clean.

Hello...did some one call me??

I am called tightwad for a VERY good reason.

(may be repeating but her i go)

meal plan, write all meals for the week then write your shopping list according to the meal list.
Stick to it rigidly. (i cut food shopping down to £39 a week)

Slow cooker, use it as often as poss.
Buy chicken legs/drummers, cook them in slow cooker then strip the meat...actually the meat will just fall off the bones. Use to make a curry or cassarole or something like that. These types of chicken are a fraction of the price of chicken breasts.

OR a large turkey leg, that will make a couple of meals..again, cook in slow cooker.

Buy the cheepest loo rolls that you can find, asdas/tesco's own are fine. vv cheep

take packed lunches to work/school.
freeze loaves of bread, ONLY buy when on offer. take out slices as needed.

make BIG patches of soups/bolognaises/pasta sauces/curries and feeze half, this is a free meal for the following week.

At least once a week eat what you have in your freezer, i can honestly say that you will have a meal in there that you can throw together.

At least once a week have a something on toast night.

Cut right down on meat, its too expensive. we have a piece of meat every other sunday for a roast...only buy some thing on offer though.

Dont use kitchen sprays, just a drop of washing up liquid on your cloth is as good.

Use a cheepo shampoo to clean bath out, just rinse really well so its not slippy.

Go through your wardrobe, use what you have got.

save all your 50p coins, and £2 coins in a pot. I have a little bank account that i put them into when i get a tenenrs worth. Now have £250 in there which i use for birthdays and Christmas.
I get those £1 stickers from Tesco if i get a couple of quid in my purse, these i save for Christmas, last year i have £120 which payed for my Christmas food shopping and a couple of presents.

I could go on and on and on but i am getting on my own nerves now

also, cant recommend Martin lewis money saver expert website enough, it is brilliant.

wow tightwad your fab any more advice for someone newly super skint (we've always been nearly skint now with dh wrapping up the buissness were really skint)many thanks

tightwad, please don't stop, it's good to have advice in one big post so please add to your last post

Not much to add really there are some brilliant tips here. The only other thing i've been doing recently is not buying biscuits at all. I've been making up batches of cookie dough, various recipes, roll it into a sausage shape in greasproof paper, wrap in foil and freeze. When you want some biscuits take it out of freezer, slice off however many you want and return the rest to the freezer. Pop in the oven (preferrably after you have cooked something else so you don't waste energy heating it from scratch) for about 10 mins - lovely

Possible big wins that can really make a difference - not appropriate for everyone:

Phone bills - check them. Are you paying to make calls - if so a couple extra quid a month to upgrade a BT package may save lots. Virgin cable may also be cheaper but last I heard doesn't do Ringback.
Mobile phone - how many calls and texts do you really send? I was on a contract paying £15/month and never getting a new phone because I didn't spend enough - I gave up and £10 PAYG keeps me going for over 3 months! And I still never run out of credit as I get text alerts and can top up by text too.

Old mobiles even crap ones sell for a bit on Ebay and you get more than with Mazuma/Envirophone.

If you've got a mortgage and it's not a discount deal have a free meeting with a financial adviser (the Guardian website has some ads, for example) and that could save you a lot a month.

Supermarket own brand shampoo and conditioner are just fine. Ditto moisturiser etc.

Go round the house insulating as much as you can - our bills have halved since insulating the loft beyond recommended spec. It'll pay for itself in a year.

dobbyssocks - can you let us have that biscuit dough recipe? That sounds like a really good idea.

Bulk buying only saves money if you still strictly ration. I think if you know you have a lot of something you tend to be less careful e.g if you know you've got another tube of toothpaste in the cupboard you're much less lkely to finish the current one properly. Sometimes I split BOGOF deals wth friends as we have little room to store stocks of things.