Sneaky ways to save the pennies

not been on this thread fo a while as too busy on the clothes challenge/toiletries challenge,it seems to have become very serious and people are not being nice to each other which is a shame.

without wanting to sound too much like the 4 yorkshire men!I think as a nation our expectations are so much higher these days than in the past.

If I look back to my grandparents time I remember tales of Granny giving the fish from fish and chips to grandad and just having chips or maybe even saying she was not hungry so the children could have more(grandad doing a hard labouring job needed more food)

in my own childhood we had none of the things that are taken for granted now,tv,fridge,central heating,car,holidays,phone etc etc etc!yet we were happy and I remember being very shocked when after being taken to a concert from the dance school I went to read in the paper than the trip was for "disadvantaged children"..... i did not realise that is what I was suppossed to be!

each lent our church has a challenge for each day (this year the money raised will go to Haiti)

examples of the challenges are,
give 10p for each meal you eat today.....many in the world have 1 if lucky
give 50p for each toliet in your house....many in the world have none
give 5p for each tv you have


and so it goes on

sorry to preach, just get annoyed at some of the negative comments on this thread!When there is so much waste in this country it makes sense to save what we can in whatever way and put any money into improving our lives and maybe the lives of others who have less than us

Not quite sure yet if this is money saving,not having a boiler(packed up before xmas but thats another story)I rely on my dishwasher instead of boiling endless kettles.I found that half a tab or even a whole one wouldn't get things clean unless I use the long wash.I saw fairy bursts on offer in asda 42 for£4 and decided to give them a go.
The results are amazing I'm hooked,decided to try a quick wash and wow everything is gleaming and lovely smell.Don't know yet if the money I save on electric no longer needing a long wash will balance out with paying more for the fairy unless I can stock up whenever I find them on offer.:D

I made some laundry gloop approx a month ago using 1 bar of value/basic soap, 250g soda crystals and 4½ ltrs of boiling water, this will last me this week as well, so instead of £5 for value/basic laundry liquid for the month, (and that is using less than recommended) it has cost 25p plus a bit of electricity and time.

The other thing is basically no packaging to dispose of.

I know the bottle can be recycled but we are better to reduce or not use before recycling.

Hi, I chopped a bar of soap up into small pieces (some grate theirs) put into a large stock pan (needs to be able to hold 5 litres really), added in 1½ litres boiling water and simmered until soap had melted, then added in another 3 litres of boiling water.
Let it cool a little then added in 250g soda crystals (laundry aisle) and stirred until these had disolved, then poured into a container which holds 5 litres.

It sets a bit like blancmange I put 100ml of gloop into a jug with 100ml hot water so it is disolved then add to the drum of the machine.

It has washed everything fine at the moment including muddy football gear.

My latest money saving tip is to buy Lavazza coffee, not the cheapest coffee at £2.50 for 250 g, we tried this when it was on offer and have found it to be really good value for money. We like our coffee strong but with this coffee you can make 10 cups of coffee using 5-6 spoons of coffee normally we would use 8-9 spoons. I like this coffee so much that I have now started to bring in a flask of coffee rather than paying for the coffee at work .saving even more money

I went shopping in Tesco this morning and was delighted to see they have an offer at the moment on the coffee we like, 2x250 g for £3.50 so I have now stocked up on coffee.