Any other money saving tips? Have just come to the conclusion that we're BROKE!

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Help! We've just come very close to arguing, big time, about money but then realised that it was better to sit down and talk about it I reckon we've spent over £2.5k in the last month due to computer packing up, lots of people here, Christmas presents etc. So we're trying to work out how to cut our expenditure. I know people have just put a lot of money saving tips on the Wanting the best vs affording it thread but I thought I'd start a new thread for any others anyone has got. So far we've got:

Make gloop instead of washing powder (thanks PamT, we're going to try it)
Give up smoking (me)
Stop buying bin liners, re-use carriers instead
Stop buying magazines/newspapers
Turn off lights/TV when not used
Grow some veg (yeah right, but we did manage 2 carrots last year!)
Shop once a week only and stick to a strict list
Give up meat and fish, be veggie for a while (might help with my weight loss too)
Use less olive oil (ditto)
No going out
No huge invitations or offering to feed lots of people (have done this soooo often in past 6 months)
Shop around for fruit
No extras like yoga classes etc - have a video and will do at home
Wine only at weekends (weight also)
Change our mobile phone contracts (currently have a bill of £150+ a month)
No video rentals
Lidl for basics
Take food in car don?t buy at service stations
Try to sell some stuff on Ukparents or ebay.

Any others? I'm also going to put my credit cards away and pay off more than the minimum every month to try to reduce the enormous balances. We don't have a mortgage as we rent, so that's not an option. No-one's about to sue us or anything, so it's not that desperate but we have been living beyond our means for ages and it's got to stop NOW! Any and all ideas welcome. TIA.

clary, if you can't give it up, how about having it delivered. We have 6 19 litre bottles a week delivered, they are £5 each. You can rent a cooler for aboout £ 2 a week, or buy it outright which we did. It dispenses room temp, chilled and hot, so don't have to boil a kettle so saves money (I think!)

Chilled tap water is indistinguishable from mineral water in taste (even in London).

Turn off your heating half an hour before you go out. The house won't freeze in that time and you save lots of gas.

you can turn the oven off a bit earlier as well (if doing long things like casseroles, and always fill everything- oven, dishwasher, washing machine
no half loads

WWW - that's fantastic about the Amazon sales. I've got so many books lying about, maybe I should try it. Mine are all paperbacks though so not worth much.

Insurance. I've just remembered that when I reviewed our finances pre-ds, our house and car insurance was one of the biggest expenses. I saved several hundreds of pounds shopping around - currently with e-sure. And I am forever thankful that we don't need two cars - after houses, cars must be the biggest black hole for money invented. Actually I bet doing car maintenance yourself (or persuade dh) would also save a fortune.

I'm not sure I can bring myself to think about the mooncup though

Our local college even does women-only car maintenance courses - though fortunately DH is quite good at all things mechanical so I don't ever have to do more than the occasional wheel change.

Bloss, you have converted me! Like WWW and others, we are absolutely broke and desperately looking for ways to cut back. Since reading this yesterday, I have cut the plug off our tumble drier - it was so much easier just transfering the clothes from washer to drier, but what a waste, esp at the moment when our radiators are on frequently as its bloomin' freezing! I love my dishwasher so this will be a sacrifice, but I have started to halve the tablet as someone suggested. My last 2 clothes washes have been cold and 30 deg and I can't tell the difference!

Elliott, re the wipes question, I haven't bought them for the last 2 months as we spent a fortune on them. We use disposables tho and what I do is wipe the excess poo off with the front of the nappy which is clean (or only peed on) then run a little warm water in the sink, strip off d.s from waist down and plonk him in the water. I know this sounds disgusting but once you get into the routine ...... Anyway, he loves it and thinks its a great game.

Like many others, I rarely shop with a specific dinner in mind but go for the bargains: loads of stuff is half price at our local supermarket because it has to be used the same day. We have rediscovered homemade soups and casseroles and using the slow cooker. Am now making a real effort to follow kids around, switching off all the lights they turn on before they leave the room! Bloss a 40% saving on your power bill is really impressive. Off to wash up by hand (sob - I really love my dishwasher)

now before you jump on me (i might be wrong) about the light switch situation, but when you turn the light on the amount you use to switch on is the same as leaving it on for 2 hours (not sure of the exact time though)

I know it has been said already but Supermarket bargain buys are the way to cut shopping bills drastically. I started out buying a can of Baked Beans 9p, and now it has spread. The biggest saving seems to be washing powder/conditioner. I used to use tablets and conditioner, then went to Bold and now use ASDA's Smart price £1.88 for a big box of powder and 35p for conditioner!!! My weekly shopping bill was already cheaper by using ASDA normally (about £20 less than Sainsbury/Tesco) but this has reduced it by at least another £10 per week. About once a month I go to one of the other supermarkets for the bits ASDA doesn't have, but not often.

Also the local market for fruit and veg, household cleaners, bin bags etc. I can get a tonne of veg for less than a fiver, the only thing is using it before it goes off.

Lastly if you eat loads of Chicken, switch to Turkey, it is far cheaper. I never buy stuff like chicken breasts, just Turkey and it is less then half teh price. ASDA (no I am not advertising!!) does a huge Turkey drumstick for 99p which makes a great Roast (or they do a joint for £2.99 which always seems to do a 2-4-1 deal on it).

One last thing, mobile phones. I thought I was doing OK with a bill of about £30 a month, but I phoned Vodaphone and got a deal of £14 per month inclusive of 200 free minutes (peak or off peak) and 50 text messages! This halved my bill in one call. We never used all our off-peak inclusive minutes we had, use the mobile if you have these.

Oh I am on a roll now!!

Get together with friends who have kids and do a clothes swap session (kids/grown up clothes) Grab a bottle of wine and it becomes a fun evening in if everyone brings a carrier bag or three of stuff.

Car boot, I have done 4 and made over £500 last year.

Cook double/triple quantities - I'm sure the ingredients work out cheaper and obviously the oven is only on once.

Trying the same WWW, we are starting a business and have no income apart from a few pounds from parttime teaching. My tips - own brand and economy (how I used to sneer) items are often as good as named brands, supermarket beauty products also v.good. I have also discoevered Pound shops - fantastic for hardware, light bulbs etc - our local ones are G&Ts and Poundland (I used to snigger at these too but they are incredibly cheap. Leave the car at home, saves petrol and parking costs, take out crisps, a carton of juice etc for toddlers (sounds obvious but I always used to end up spending £2 or so on snacks for my toddler when out), check local paper for items you need - we recently got a 2nd-hand pine toddler desk v. cheap and good as new.
Sorry mine are all pretty obvious but to me they are revelations, I used to have an account at Harrods so this is all new to me.
LAstly ENJOY IT - I get a buzz now out of saving a few quid, its become a challenge and I'm getting bloody good at it.

Another one - bake cakes - far cheaper than buying fun for toddlers too.

Use biscuit dough instead of playdough - you can eat the results and save on buying biscuits.

Not sure if this actually saves money though...

I like to bake and so do the children, but our local Asda's do a chocolate sponge with fresh cream for 75p!! I don't know how they can do that and make a profit! Not that I am buying them now I am on the new diet

Don't have tea and coffee have water instead. If you make a cup of tea for 2, use the same teabag and only boil the amount of water you need rather than a full kettle. ...and i'm just off to have a cuppa now.

I agree with ks, I've used tesco.com for the last 3 months and have cut my monthly grocery bill by over 100pounds!

Once you get used to having Ocado or Tesco deliver, I find the thought of actually going out to the supermarket becomes quite awful, so if we haven't got something until the next delivery, then we use what's in the cupboard.

This is from a lady who could easily spend £250 a week on food from M&S , Waitrose and Sainsburys, just by going in for a few things. It has cut my food bill by at least £75 a week. I go to the farm for my meat and a vegetable wholesaler who has a shop, who will get me anything ie. rocket, pak choi etc. I can't believe how cheap my veg bill is now.

We also had a 10lb gammon for New Years day, it cost less than £20 and we have had so many meals off it, it was so sweeet and tender , the kids loved it!

Not sure if anyone saw this, but there was an article in the Observer magazine a few months back about saving money (and also about how trendy it is to be frugal, so at least I can say one area of my life is current!). One of their suggestions, which I agree with wholeheartedly, is to buy a breadmaker. OK, so the initial cost has to be taken into account, but I have seen the odd second-hand one for sale. Not only can you make all the usual types of bread (much tastier and loads cheaper than shop stuff), but also yummy things like raisin bread (there goes the New Year's resolution!) and useful things like pizza dough, at a fraction of the cost of shop-bought pizzas. Since getting our breadmaker last year, I have not bought any bread at all (although I do keep an 'emergency' loaf in the freezer just in case). I've also discovered home-made soups (great with home-made bread) and would be lost without my slow cooker. Admittedly, all these things do take extra effort, but the end results are well worth it and the cost savings do add up.

This was in today's Chicago SunTimes:
Depression-era Granny has thrifty tips for 2003 .

My big problem is using up leftovers. I've found that almost any leftover bits of meat or fish can be finely chopped and put into potato cakes (mashed potatoes with a bit of egg and whatever else ). I freeze them and fry them up as needed for the boys. But any other suggestions on how to handle leftovers? I'd do a lot better and life would be a lot easier knowing what to do with the food that doesn't get eaten.

You don't need a breadmaker to make bread! I agree it does takes the effort out of it though

JJ I have one word for you - bubble and squeak! (same as your potato cakes only with leftover veg). Sorry - that's three words.

Stale bread can be used for breadcrumbs or for bread and butter pudding. Delicious.

megg makes lovely home made bread.

Can anyone recommend a good breadmaker that does a good basic white loaf but also with some other fancy options too for when I'm feeling inventive?

Ok, stupid question: what is bubble and squeak? I thought it had something to do with cabbage for some reason.

(yeah, I realize I'm setting myself up for ridicule here)