What is the stingiest shit you do for no reason?

[mowgelijeffs]

I'm wondering what people do that is really stingey but they honestly don't need to?

We are able to afford new dish cloths and sponges but I always wash them in the washing machine until they shrink to nothing or the sponge looks like someone ate it.

My dad used to put cheap kitchen spray in my mums expensive bottle and she never knew 😂

My husband waters down hand soap? That really annoys me.

Ok I'll think of more. But tell me what you lot do!

For those saying they put sponges in the washing machine - put then in the microwave! Washing machines are good if you're trying to get rid of ingrained diet, but if you just want to kill the germs microwaves are quicker and more effective. Just soak the sponge and blast it for 30 seconds. It just needs to be wet enough not to burn and it'll be completely sterilised.

Do be careful using sun cream as moisturizer at this time of year DevelopingDetritus. Most people don't get enough Vitamin D in winter because of the lack of sunlight and you are potentially blocking the little bit there is. Very unhealthy and risky! Thanks for your concern, I think it'll be ok though, I'm all covered up bar my face anyway in this cold weather, I don't put it on my face.

I warm my eyelash curlers up either between my thighs or under my armpits rather than buy heated ones I didn't even know you could get heated ones

I thought I was the only person to use pine cones for kindling. I send the kids out to collect them from the garden.

So proud I can add my favourite one which no one else has mentioned yet!

I scrape crumbs from the bread board into a freezer bag to keep as breadcrumbs. I always have a nice big bag of breadcrumbs in the freezer. I use them throughout the month as a topping for eg macaroni cheese, then when I have loads I make chicken escalopes (homemade is SO NICE!).

DP is into chicken escalope sandwiches, so cutting the bread for them starts me filling the bag up again.

Bliss

This thread reminds me of the take a break top tips page.

Get writing in peeps there is money to be made here!

Lots of good ideas here (apart from the sun cream one - that's a bad idea in the uk, as has been pointed out already).

I cut my hair conditioner bottle open when it gets near the end so i can scrape out the bits that wont squeeze out!

I cut open all make up cosmetic and toiletries ... Even use a bread knife in really hard to open stuff. Then I take all the cut up packages to Mac to get a free lippy ! The girls on the counter laugh at my bag of dismembered products and alway just guess that there is about 6 whole products in there somewhere - Lol

What's this free lippy thing? What do you have to do?

Talking of fee stuff, H & M have a scheme where if you donate a bag of old clothes you get a £5 voucher for H & M.

(I stretch mince with mushrooms. I don't care that no-one likes mushrooms.)
I haven't RTFT but where I live (Oz), mushrooms are dearer than mince. Different in the UK?

www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Summerhealth/Pages/vitamin-D-sunlight.aspx At this time of year you cannot make vitamin d from sunlight so using the sun cream won't make any difference.

penelope £2.50 a kilo vs £4 or £5 a kilo (plus a kilo of mushrooms is more volume than a kilo of mince). But you made me check!

I can be quite wasteful in many areas, yet totally frugal in others hmmm. I buy 29p bottles of white vinegar for cleaning and use old spray bottles, best thing ever for Windows, tiles, taps, cooker hob. I also water down bleach or sterilising tablets in spray bottles for work surfaces. I use half as much wash powder as needed. I put cheap bath foam in hand wash (probably why my hands are so dry!) I buy cheap cuts of meat and slow cooker them, I freeze bags of spinach and once frozen scrunch them and they crumble to a great size for cooking. I also use out of date flour. If I've run out of dish soap I've been known to wash the pots with shower gel and a cap of white vinegar till I can get some fairy later in the day. I froze my entire wedding cake in portions, we were eating it for 14 months!

Along the lines of the eyelash curlers, I buy Veet/Nair cold wax strips from Poundland and lay them on my hair straighteners for a couple of seconds to warm them so they work like hot wax.

We have Christma gift bags in my family that must be a decade old, they go backwards and forwards each year!

Oh and I cut up wax very strips from poundshop for eyebrows! Full pack lasts a year waxing every 3 weeks ish. Mackerel just reminded me!

Is it just me, or does watered down hair conditioner work better?

My hair always feels softer on the last few washes of the bottle.

The bread crumbs are genius!

breadcrumb trick is genius I agree.

Am interested in the wax strips from poundland idea for eyebrows ,will go and look.

I now home dye my eyelashes with a kit originally from boots but now Ibut it cheaper on ebay and its the same stuff they use in the salon (MN S&B tip) , I sometimes get Dh to paint it on for me, but mostly do it on my own,(use vaseline around eyes , first and no chance of staining ) . 1 kit does several times , far cheaper than getting it done.

Also (ive never managed well with the just vinegar trick) instead of big brand toilet/bath kitchen cleaners and vanish.. try the Astonish and the HG ranges brilliant, long lasting and often much cheaper . Try lakeland and local hardware shops

eurochick the sun cream is on my arms and legs that are covered anyway as it's Winter. Or am I missing something.

Deux Take any 6 empty Mac containers (even lash boxes) back to counter and pick a lippy of your choice !

My mum always put vinegar in the ketchup bottle to stretch it further tasted foul

I totally disregard out of dates on NON food items. Why would you FGS? Will it kill you.

Also...yogurt, cheese, and eggs get the same treatment. Yogurt is fermented something or other so why fekkin bother, cheese will last yonks, just cut off any green bits and it's absolutely fine. Blue cheese anyone? eggs..... do the bowl of water trick. If they float, then discard and use as a hair conditioner, if they descend into the slough of despond, they are absolutely fine to eat. I know...wink.

I decant cheapo (so called, but it's all the same with different scents) handwash into a posh bottle. I would defy anyone to tell the difference.

Anyway, that's my lot. For now!

Never obey use by dates. I have thrown stuff out before it's use by dates lots of times because it is... off.
We had some shallots last year that "went off" in April and I still had them and used them in July.

We harvest and curate a stunning collection of sachets of ketchup, mayo, coffee creamers, etc from various fast food locations. We mainly use them for camping - where you don't want to carry a whole bottle there and back.