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.

Pretty much mashed potato and cabbage I think? I'm not 100% sure either though!

we had it as a kid, it all the left over from the roast (vedge) and all mashed up and fried in a frying pan.

I don't care how poor I am, can't face bubble and squeak, yuk!

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I barely use my breadmaker nor the ice-cream machine DH bought me at the same time 'so I could spend less time in the kitchen'. Eh? I'd never made either of those things before. That's what happens when a desperate husband goes shopping on Xmas Eve.

The trouble is neither DH nor DD are keen on the bread it produces, any recipe, and so I end up eating too much and that's not good for my waistline.

If anyone's in the Nottingham area and wants a secondhand Panasonic breadmaker, hardly used, and/or an ice-cream maker, let me know!

Tampons - yuck. I use them but I hate them.

When we lived in Australia, we got a block in the drains/sewage and every time we flushed the loo or ran the shower water would leak up out of the drain and run down the garden.

We called the rental agent who arranged for someone to come and send one of those whizzy wire cleaner things down. When it came out, it had all these torn rags attched. I asked him what they were and he said tampons. I was fine about that since I didn't think we'd been living there long enough for me to have had a period but later realised that I had soon after we'd moved in. Then I got embarrassed (fortunately after he'd left!).

It turned out the drain had partially collapsed anyway so it wasn't those that were causing the problem but just seeing them still down there weeks later - bleurgh.

GeorginaA,
I would thoroughly recommend the Panasonic breadmaker ... it's probably one of the more expensive on the market but I've yet to have a bad result from mine (after 2 years fairly heavy use). It does the basic white/wholemeal/wholegrain loaf very well and the recipe book that comes with it is full of great ideas for more unusual breads and sticky buns!

SueW what do you want for the breadmaker??

As I boiled a full kettle of water this morning I realised you should only boil as much as you need (in my case, 1 cup of coffee!!).

Haven't read whole thread so sorry if repeating ideas:
Shop around for insurance. When your policies are due for renewal, see if you can get a better deal.
Shop for groceries on-line. You can get a Tesco delivery for 3.99 at off peak times and you save money buy not using the car to get there. Also, you will not be as prone to impulse buys.
Buy clothes from Matalan, Primark, etc, unless you're expecting years of wear from them.
Have holidays in the UK.
Don't give up entertaining friends but have a "fuddle" at your house (everyone brings something edible/drinkable to share). Hopefully, you'll get to keep all the leftovers and can eat them the next day!!
If you have to stop on a journey try a supermarket cafe instead of a service station. We often stop at Asda, Cribbs Causeway (next to M5, Bristol) where we feed a family of 4 for about a tenner.
Have a Pay as You Go mobile and don't use it unless STRICTLY necessary.
Make sure you don't leave your computer on standby all night, ditto TV, VCR, etc.

Or if you find you have boiled more water than you need, pop the extra into a vacuum flask rather than letting it cool down in the kettle, and it'll boil that much quicker next time (assuming next time isn't days away...)

Re the Mooncup, quite keen, but while I could come to terms with the whole bonding with your flow and that, I could even cope with using blood as plant food, but there's a woman further down who mentions painting with it?????? Eeeeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!

I use cloth nappies and even reusable liners (I ran out last night and had to use a flushable liner. Oh the ease and simplicity...ho hum, I actually quite like my liners...) ANYWAY, my question wrt to the washable wipes, what sort of cloths do you use?

yuk !!!!!!!!

Use a hot water bottle instead of electric blanket and in the morning, when the water's cooled, use it to water your plants

Take your lovely homemade sandwiches to work in a reusable container, not foil or clingfilm.

If you don't have one already, look into getting your house put onto a water meter, rather than paying flat rate water rates based on the ratable value of your house. It usually seems to cut the bills quite a bit, and I think most (all?) of the water companies will fit them free. After having the meter fitted, you have a year in which you can choose to go back to having a fixed charge instead. Try this savings calculator to see if it's worth checking out for your situation.

Anais, I use facecloths - £1 for 10 from IKEA, I have 2 packs, so my washable wipes cosat me less than a packet of some brands of disposable wipes!!

hi susan, that sounds like an excellent idea. we have a trip to the dreaded ikea planned in the next couple of weeks

do you soak them in a solution? a friend of mine uses reusable wipes - i think she uses a mixture of glycerin and witch hazel - iirc - we discussed it a fair while ago...

WWW, thanks for the Amazon idea - I've sold a book !

Admittedly I've not dared calculate the fraction of the credit card bill it will pay but I'm sure 'every little helps'. You must have more covetable books than me !

Marvelous Twink! It was actually anais who suggested the Amazon idea but I've crowed about it the most so I'm not surprised you thought it was mine My Amazon sales are now up to £35 so I'm very pleased. And we've only spent £30 on food in the last week, hurrah!

Nope, I just wet them under the tap when I need one! I take some damp ones in a bag when I go out. I also have a spray bottle with water ant tea tree oil in it in case they dry out/have very sticky poo that needs a bit of help to come off! I bought a bottle of stuff like that from Earthlets but then when I needed more just made it up myself.

Everyone has great money saving tips, been taking a few on board myself. The only thing I can think if is to join somewhere like Costco or Macro if you are entitled to a card (many people are) and make the most of buying in bulk. I wouldn't trust myself to buy chocolate or biscuits in bulk but the likes of dishwasher tablets, washing powder or toilet rolls can work out quite reasonably.

The joining fee for Costco puts me off but I have a Makro card (for my business). I actually don't buy very much there because for a cash and carry it seems very expensive. I find it is far better to buy in bulk when the supermarkets have BOGOF offers or multibuy savings. Morrisons have got their dishwasher powder on BOGOF right now so its only £2.19 for 2 x 1kg bottles. Tradex can sometimes be cheaper for cleaning products - I bought 30 toilet rolls for £4.88 last week there, and they are Safeways good quality ones too.

I find that if I go to these 'cheap' places I see lots of bargains that I don't really need and end up spending more money anyway.

www, what sort have books have you sold?

Also Clarks kids sale shoes/boots/trainers all now £10.