Great Isn’t it Obvious MoneySaving Hunt: Tell us the secrets you didn't know you had

WEEGIE

Make your bottle of tomato sauce last longer by diluting it with a wee drop of vinegar:p

HC_2

gillette147 wrote: »

It changes all the time but after a quick search.....

hxxp://www.phones4u.co.uk/shop/shop_contract_details.asp?ItemKey=187744&MPItemKey=191474

700mins: 250txts a month.

12mths, 11mths free so for year it costs £40.
Quidco give you £60.
So total cost MINUS £20.

And if you got a handset already then sell the new or the old phone.

Thanks so much for this, Gillette. I've just ordered one of these via Quidco, and may get one for my daughter too - which will save me another £10 a month in top-ups for her.

I don't suppose you know, by any chance, if there is a problem porting an Orange number to Vodafone, do you?

It says this on their website: " Unfortunately we cannot arrange to Port your number on Vodafone and O2 for website sales."

So I suspect so. However, I've requested my PAC from Orange, so we'll see.

Thanks again for such a useful post!

gillette147

HC wrote: »

Thanks so much for this, Gillette. I've just ordered one of these via Quidco, and may get one for my daughter too - which will save me another £10 a month in top-ups for her.

I don't suppose you know, by any chance, if there is a problem porting an Orange number to Vodafone, do you?

It says this on their website: " Unfortunately we cannot arrange to Port your number on Vodafone and O2 for website sales."

So I suspect so. However, I've requested my PAC from Orange, so we'll see.

Thanks again for such a useful post!

I think it's very difficult to port numbers when you buy a new contract.
That, and the fact you have to shell out the contract money before you get the cashbacks are the two downsides of all this.

However you do now have a ton of txts and mins to tell everyone your new number.

One other general point.
e2save and Fones 4 U are all part of carphonewarehouse. So you should be safe getting the cashbacks. You WILL have to phone them to chase each cashback - but I have always got it.
However, I personally wouldn't trust smaller cashback people. There's a big chance they will go bump and you will be stuck paying £40 a month and NOT getting it back.

HC_2

gillette147 wrote: »

I think it's very difficult to port numbers when you buy a new contract.
That, and the fact you have to shell out the contract money before you get the cashbacks are the two downsides of all this.

However you do now have a ton of txts and mins to tell everyone your new number.

One other general point.
e2save and Fones 4 U are all part of carphonewarehouse. So you should be safe getting the cashbacks. You WILL have to phone them to chase each cashback - but I have always got it.
However, I personally wouldn't trust smaller cashback people. There's a big chance they will go bump and you will be stuck paying £40 a month and NOT getting it back.

Thank you.

I wouldn't be concerned about having a new mobile number except that I'm freelance and my clients have my current one. It's not the end of the world, though, if I have to change it. (I shall put my existing SIM card into an old mobile phone and leave an answerphone message with my new number to catch any stragglers.)

I realise you have to pay the money first and then get it refunded, but that's no problem. I'm not broke, just tight.

Thanks again. I didn't realise these deals existed (although I did get a phone from Boots a few years ago, whereby I made a £300 profit in Boots points in a similar way). Thanks to you I shall save about £100 this year if it works out (double that if I get another for my daughter). I think I shall spend it on fine wine

Oliver_Southern

Washing-up liquid: I buy the brand leader because the cheapies don't cut through grease, in my experience. I buy it when I find it discounted or BOGOF. I also don't put a full bottle by the sink - I decant some from a new bottle into an empty bottle until it's a quarter full, adding a little water to make it flow better. This "last quarter" seems to last longer than the first quarter of a new bottle. Odd, eh?! It may be that a full bottle leads to liberal use - "We'd got loads, so I can afford to use more".

greent

gillette147 wrote: »

I want a way of using all the bits of soap bars once they get too small to use. Like a soap masher.

Laundry gloop - save the bits until you have about 100gm. Grate/ cut into small pieces. Add to 1 litre of hot water and bring to boil in a large pan. Simmer until aall soap pieces have dissolved. Add a handful of washing soda crystals and mix well. Turn off heat, cover and leave for several hours/ overnight. the mix will have turned into a gel (if a bit separated, whisk well briefly and it will gel almost immediately) - use in washing machines. I use about a heaped tbsp diluted in hot water and added to drawer, with white vinegar as a rinse aid.

can also be used to wash floors etc & as a laundry pre-treatment. Take a spoonful and add 1-2 spoons of bicarb and you have a 'cream cleanser' for the bath/ sink too :-))

GT

Charis

I also use white vinegar as a rinse aid and wonder every time how much I should be using and whether it really makes any difference at all? If it's one tablespoon to gallons of water is it enough to make any impact on the limescale and scum supposedly clinging to our washing?

Just wondering as I find a big container of vinegar a lot to carry home and I would hate to be wasting all that effort.

alysonteapot

OK, well I never know what I'm having for tea till I pop into my local Somerfield on the way home and check out thier "Yellow sticker" corner. They regularly reduce stuff dated that day or the next by 50%, often more and as this is stuff I might have paid full price for if I'd shopped in my lunch hour and would be the same quality, Im sure it's only pride that stops a lot of people putting reduced stuff in ther basket. Over time Iv'e saved myself a fortune and eaten very well with it!!:j

gillette147

alysonteapot wrote: »

OK, well I never know what I'm having for tea till I pop into my local Somerfield on the way home and check out thier "Yellow sticker" corner. They regularly reduce stuff dated that day or the next by 50%, often more and as this is stuff I might have paid full price for if I'd shopped in my lunch hour and would be the same quality, Im sure it's only pride that stops a lot of people putting reduced stuff in ther basket. Over time Iv'e saved myself a fortune and eaten very well with it!!:j

Be very careful when buying yellow label stuff that should be kept chilled.
Quite often these items are ones that someone discarded on an ordinary shelf and were left at room temperature for god knows how long......before being stuck back in the chilled bit at a reduced price.

Save money....but not at the expense of food poisoning.

WEEGIE

gillette147 wrote: »

Be very careful when buying yellow label stuff that should be kept chilled.
Quite often these items are ones that someone discarded on an ordinary shelf and were left at room temperature for god knows how long......before being stuck back in the chilled bit at a reduced price.

Save money....but not at the expense of food poisoning.

That only happens in dodgy shops and supermarkets, I work in a supermarket and that sort of thing does not happen where I work. If an item(chilled) is found outwith the chilled cabinets it is disposed of. I know what you say does go on in some places.