The Great "Extreme MoneySaving" Hunt: How far do you go?

homealone_2

rizla01 wrote: »

MY OH baths every night in about 3 inches of water and leaves the plug in till the following morning and uses this to water her veggies.

Also, 2-3 nights a week my OH and I get a great deal of excitement raiding the local Greengrocers waste bin. Its like Xmas every visit.

It all started when I received a Juice Extractor (for free) from Freecycle.

Now, bruised apples get juiced for a fantastic drink. Strawberries are usually good enough to eat but because there are so many and they also get pureed for sauce, jam, Etc or used to make strawbery ice cream.

Mushrooms in huge quantities. They taste much better when they just start to discolour.

Butter squash, Ginger root, Kohl Rabi, Swede, Peppers, Garlic. All thrown away.

I could go through the entire list of what comes out of the bin but suffice to say that anything a greengrocer sells has been retrieved and most of it used.

Beautiful food and totally free - and more than we can handle.

Now. Do you have the nerve?:):eek:

just how easy/difficult is this to pull off??? have been tempted now for months especially after seeing a tv prog where a family of 4 lived out of their supermarket waste bin for a month?

harryhound

The sellers of the Evening Standard on the streets of London, would eventually decide that business had fallen off for the day and it was not cost effective to hang about any more fore the few papers being sold.
So they would pour some sort of "liquid" over the remaining bundle, in theory to make the papers impossible to read. (Eventually a van would collect the "damp" bundle and I guess they would bet some sort of refund?)

Actually a copy squashed in the middle of the bundle was still completely readable, if a little "damp" round the edges.

HappySad

Have I mentioned that I water down by more than
half my hand wash. The one I buy is so thick that you don't needuch to wash your hands.

I just got two free arm chairs from a local house. I am stripping it down, washing the seats buy hand and parts in the washing machine. Then strub the frame. Dye the seats to match my living room. I did a furniture restoration course many years ago and it comes in very handy in getting stuff looking great.

homealone_2

queenmedusa wrote: »

Some brilliant tips on here. Here are some of my penny-pinching ways...

Given up conventional cleaning liquids and gone retro - vinegar and baking soda are brilliant for cleaning and eco-friendly too.

The only things I won't give up are my Ecover washing up liquid and toilet cleaners (cos they're good and green). Even so my local health-food shop has signed up to their Refill Station scheme so now I can refill my bottles and save money :j

Make my own soup. 1 butternut squash and a couple carrots makes 4 lunches for me! Also salad dressings (balsamic vinegar and olive oil - doesn't have to be the dear stuff), healthy pasta sauces (how simple!) and bread are easy to make. Long life milk - lasts ages without going off. Since I only use a little for breakfast one carton lasts 2 weeks.

Use free samples from magazines instead of trial-size versions of things for holidays and weekend breaks. If you don't have any get little bottles (cheap from chemists) and decant.

Bought a 1970s Kenwood mixer off Ebay - at least £50 cheaper than an equivalent modern day one. It's just like my mums and hers has never had a problem.

Not exactly extreme but def. well worth it. Got an unlimited cinema pass. Use it twice per month and it pays for itself. Means I get at least 2 nights out with my fella each month so it's well worth the money (and good for those of us not on Orange/able to go only on Wednesdays!)
Simples! :beer:

hope you dont mind me asking but where did you purchase your unlimited cinema pass?

kim85

I don't think i'm an extreme money saver but i do the follwoing
- i often use my green tea bagsd a few times and after i use spare green tea as a toner for my face, always use OH's tea bag 2 3 times he doesn't notice.
- quite often will get a friend to ask for a glass of water when they are buyin alcholic drinks to save paying for drinks ( they are use to me by now and don't mind).
- as i work where their is a kitchen the cook often pots up leftovers of gone off food for me to take home these make a good few extra meals at home.
- i have found loads of ways to save on buyin giftwrap found the brown packaging from my last amazon package really good to wrap a hamper just looks like nice brown paper and when i chucked away brocken shoes which had ribbons in took out the ribbon and also used to wrap packages.
- since the buying a house i have cycled to work nearly every day as now have somewhere to store a bike savin me loads in petrol and keepin me very fit- my boss bless her kindly gave me safety jacket etc (so am all sorted- think she got concerned after some-one knocked me off my bike one day)!
- have drastically reduced the amount of washing i do wearin a uniform helps this as can where that all day and if not goin out old clothes every evening am managing to do only 1 load of clothes washing a week

January20

Bambywamby wrote: »

Extreme money saving??? Been there...done that and occasionally still do it. This has included:

*Watering down every possible liquid and lotion in the house to make it go further.
*Using one packet of free contraceptive pills straight after the other so I didn't have a totm and therefore didn't need to buy protection.
*Blagging leaves from the greengrocers and bones from the butchers for the "pets" when they were really for human consumption.
*Putting cardboard in shoes when the sole went through and carrier bags on feet for when the cardboard went through...feet were then protected for a short period of time from the elements.
*Putting socks on my hands in winter when I lost a glove, couldn't afford to buy a new pair.
*Worn a woolie hat and gloves in bed during the winter when we didn't have central heating many moons ago.
*Jam sandwichs and bruised apples for packed lunches (yuk!)
* Buy medium sliced bread instead of thick so you get more slices for your money.
* Using jelly with a few slices of banana in it as pudding, rather than doleing out whole pieces or fruit of more expensive sweet courses.
*Investing in a £10 waterproof jacket, so I could walk every where even in bad weather rather than pay out for transport and petrol.
*Turning the mattress over when a spring started to poke through, then layering the bed with a thick blanket under the bottom sheet for when the springs started to poke through on the other side.
*Making rollie cigarettes out of other people's dog ends...oh those student days memories.
* Pinching from local allotments to eat produce.
* Mixing dreg ends of paints to make a whole new colour to paint the spare room...turned out a nasty mustard yellow (vom!).
*Going to bed early when it got too cold to sit downstairs.
* Leaving pasta to soak for an hour in cold water so it rehydrates and only needs two minutes cooking time.
* Taking the kids to any free museums, parks and places of interest during the summer holidays as we couldn't afford a proper holiday. This included picnics out, trips to the library and then story time with a tea party when we returned home, A pre-set quiz about things around the mueseum and a prize for getting so many answers correct (usually a choccy bar). I once spent hours making a Post Office set with hand made notes, postal orders, coins, date stamp, postage stamps etc. My son loved this and would play with it for hours and hours. Also we would make homemade Snakes & Ladders type quiz boards...they usually had themes that the kids were into at that time (i.e one was Pokemon) and we also camped in the backgarden with a tent, sleeping bags and spooky stories by torch light.
*Removing the toilet roll from the bathroom and leaving a few sheets in there (keen toddlers and lots of wastage was the problem).
*Making "rubber mince" ...a basic onion and mince mixture with grated carrot and mushrooms which could be made into many meals. Cottage pie with more topping that meat, bolognaise volumised with a lot of tomato sauce, stew and dumplings with more veggies than meat and meatloaf with plenty of added breadcrumbs, herbs and an egg.
*Only been able to eat twice a day, missing breakfast and having an early lunch and late tea.
*Eating "naturally" brambles, wild strawberries, garlic, nettle tea (yak!), elderberries etc
*Giving the dog gruel for breakfast (oats and water) allowed to soak overnight.
*Feezing dilute fruit juice into lolly moulds rather than spending money on icecreams from the icecream van.
*Unpicking an old jumper and reusing the crinkley wool.
*Dyeing wool by soaking it for a few days in onion skins and water - goes a lovely rich brown.
*Making flat sheets into curtains.
*Recording the charts off the radio with a tape recorder - yay good old days.
*Using a hand bag strap for the dogs lead when the original one snapped.
*Propping the door open and all sharing the same public lav when it used to cost 2pence to go.
*Pinching the Izal toilet roll from the public lav...y'ouch!
*Wearing a navy jumper as a school skirt when my school skirt ripped- arms tied around my waist to one side. I was 13, Madonna was out in her raggle taggle 80's get up and everybody thought I was making a fashion statement as oppossed to mum being skint.

Oh those were the days. :rolleyes:

"Pinching from local allotments"???

1. It is THEFT

2. it's stealing from people who are trying to live the MSE lifestyle!

vanoonoo

homealone wrote: »

hope you dont mind me asking but where did you purchase your unlimited cinema pass?

Hiya - I've got one of those too - they are from cineworld cinemas

HappySad

HappySad wrote: »

Have I mentioned that I water down by more than
half my hand wash. The one I buy is so thick that you don't needuch to wash your hands.

I just got two free arm chairs from a local house. I am stripping it down, washing the seats buy hand and parts in the washing machine. Then strub the frame. Dye the seats to match my living room. I did a furniture restoration course many years ago and it comes in very handy in getting stuff looking great.

Now.....getting chair cover from Ikes and Using curtains as material and partner is fixing the seats. Got library book about how to make chair cover.

Bambywamby

January20 wrote: »

"Pinching from local allotments"???

1. It is THEFT

2. it's stealing from people who are trying to live the MSE lifestyle!

Refer to post 90 for an explanation - all your points have already been covered.

sillywilly

skint,single_mum_of_4 wrote: »

If i have a special occation to go to i buy something nice then take it back for a refund after ive worn it.

When my sister comes to stay i buy air beds then take them back too for a refund after shes gone home.

When my kids were younger if we went anywere like a theme park or cinema i'd always try and sneek one in.

Never bought rip off food at cinemas always took our own, sometimes we'd buy popcorn.We eat it and then say we spilt it and get a free refill

I know its wrong...but needs must !

Not just wrong but illegal becuase it is fraud. Am all for money saving but you are obtaining goods by deception which is not nice and illegal. I'd have no hesitation in prosecuting you if I caught you.

I bet you are scrounging off the state too - single mum of four - doesn't work!! :T