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

guy0wen

HappySad wrote: »

Love extreme saving.

Each year I call all companies I pay money to & say "I am leaving unless I get a discount" use for insurance home, car & pet, mobile etc.

Spend £50 or £100 in shops & ask for a discount each time. Eg when refilling printer cartridges, health & beauty shop,...

I too ALWAYS bring own food & tap water everywhere. Cinema, countryside, shopping trips, long journeys, shows etc..... Use a pack lunch bag with ice blocks to keep everything fresh.

I dilute my hand wash soap 30% soap 70% water. Last ages & still does the job.

Use reuseable face wipe clothes & nappy wipes clothes. Use teatree oil when washing.

I too use airer & never irons as clothes are hung out flat to not crease. If clothes are more crease prone drying on radiator over winter does the trick.

Newpaper as baby changing mat. I actually like using newpaper as it is being green & it takes up less space in my micro changing bag.

Cut reuseable large carrier bags -you know the plastic one that last for ages. Cut it along the middle & clip into place with bull dog clips with son's legs inside. Great as rain cover for legs & lap. It also folds down to a tiny size when not is use. My son does not like the cover everything rain covers you buy in the shops so I made my own for free!

Keep old soap to make one big one later.

Get clothes free hand-me-downs from stylish friends. only choose stuff that suits me.

i once board 30 nappies because they were reduced by £2 each. I calculated roughly how many of each size nappy I needed.

Don't use nappy sacks with wee nappies. Just fold then in neatly & in the bin.

My affirmation is "free or nearly free"
When your friends talk about their stuff always be on the lookout for good quality things they do no longer want & are getting rid of.

Look through magazines in shops & don't buy them.

Visit large toy shops as a fun toy playing day out for the kids. Used to do this at Woolworths.
Visit garden centre with pet shop as family day out.
Visit large book stores with coffee shop & large lounging chairs. Bring your own food + drink. Any books you like order from library online when I get home. Partner buys 1 coffee there.

Push toothbrush up the back of toothpaste upright pump to get many more servings. Finally suck out last portion.

Get given newspaper from my lodger after she has read it.

Get fancy shopping bags from lodger & use them as carrier bag/wrapper for birthday presents.

ALWAYS complain when something goes wrong when you make a purchase with service or product; then ask for a discount/voucher/freebee.

Egg cartons make good paint "holders" for when the children to art.

You must save a fortune, but dont you feel like a skivvy?

If I did all of the above and my mates found I would be publicly humiliated down the pub. al;though I bet you dont go to the pub either?

Also the people who dont use their heating anoys me. I hate going to a mates house that is freezing because they are too tight to pay for gas.

I would rather pay a bit more every year and be warm and comfy. is there any pleasure in sitting on your sofa with 5 layers on thinkin "oh i've probably saved 50p oon gas today?"

ceridwen

li'l_p wrote: »

Magazines are full of adverts anyway, so you are mostly paying for these. The magazines already have made their money selling that advertising space.

Also to the poster that said "You have enjoyed the book without paying the author for his/her services, and also both deprived the store of takings, and left them with a worn copy they may not be able to sell" - the stores where you can do this, i.e. Waterstones and Borders, encourage you to do this, so they are not exactly depriving themselves of takings, otherwise they wouldn't provide the seating areas and they would have people patrolling the floor stopping people from reading the books if they felt it really dented their takings.

Actually - I had been wondering why there is less seating than there was in bookshops - guess I now know why. The fact that the seating is vanishing is a nuisance for those of us who use it for its proper purpose - ie sitting down and looking at a book just enough to see whether we wish to buy it. As for any books that I only want to read once - I make a note of the name/author/etc and put in a request at the library for them to buy a copy.

cengkar

i'm thinking

Fredula

Maybe the book stores are reducing the seating so that they can maximise the space for their stock! That's what they've done in our local Waterstones.

rozeepozee

guy0wen wrote: »

You must save a fortune, but dont you feel like a skivvy?

If I did all of the above and my mates found I would be publicly humiliated down the pub. al;though I bet you dont go to the pub either?

Also the people who dont use their heating anoys me. I hate going to a mates house that is freezing because they are too tight to pay for gas.

I would rather pay a bit more every year and be warm and comfy. is there any pleasure in sitting on your sofa with 5 layers on thinkin "oh i've probably saved 50p oon gas today?"

I just read HappySad's post and thought I'd posted it - all sounds very familiar, so she's not alone!

HappySad

guy0wen wrote: »

You must save a fortune, but dont you feel like a skivvy?

If I did all of the above and my mates found I would be publicly humiliated down the pub. al;though I bet you dont go to the pub either?

Also the people who dont use their heating anoys me. I hate going to a mates house that is freezing because they are too tight to pay for gas.

I would rather pay a bit more every year and be warm and comfy. is there any pleasure in sitting on your sofa with 5 layers on thinkin "oh i've probably saved 50p oon gas today?"

Good comments GuyOwen. I was brought up to recycle most things without knowing that this was beening green. Now more recently I have learnt that it is good to reduce, reuse & recycle to save the planet & save money at the same time. So I have read Save cash & the Planet as learnt even more handy tips. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Save-Cash-Planet-Andrea-Smith/dp/000719420X/ref=pd_ys_iyr219



I save in all areas that I am happy to save in. So reusing plastic shopping bags as bin liners is no fuss for me & all the other things too. I started shopping second hand when I noticed my sister (who used to a model) was coming home with more stylish clothes than me & she was getting them from charity shops for peanuts!!! I used to get my suits from work second hand and sometimes adjust them by sewing to make them look different from what you get in the shops & this was for style & not to save money.. at the time I was an IT professional.

NOw I am not working so money saving is even more important. I too love a warm house; so have the heating on at a good temperature.. To save the planet & should have it lower but I don't. I also wash my clothes at 60 degress with extra long cycle as I don't really feel that our clothes that get really dirty will get a proper wash. I also buy every toiletry organic (soap, hand wash, body wash, toiletries etc) .. However I water them down.. collect the old soap & negoitate a lower price from the health shop when I make a purchase of over £100 in one go.

HappySad

Had a really extreme money saving Christmas.

Christmas Cards £0 - had not time to get his sorted as I was working on school Christmas presentations as the year rep. Will not do this again next year and will be more prepared for school activities during Christmas time.
Presents £20 >>>- Ben10 scooter argos £10 with £10 voucher. Second hand presents for stocking filler. 2nd hand playstation 2 games. Book People books at £1 a book worth £5 each!
Christmas food shopping £0 above normal. Used £50 collected from year's nector points from Sainsbury's.
Decorations £0 - used 2nd hand resuable Christmas tree + decorations. Made paper chains with coloured paper left over from kids play activity.

HappySad

rozeepozee wrote: »

I just read HappySad's post and thought I'd posted it - all sounds very familiar, so she's not alone!

Great Rozeepozee!!! What other sort of things do you do?



I don't tell others the money saving things that I do. But I am finding that some of my friends are asking me what I do as they can see I am not struggle with money & living within my means.

[Deleted User]

polka.dot wrote: »

yep, have been doing it for the last 20 years. You'll need economy 7 to make any savings though.
More on washing: I buy cheap tablets (Lidl or Tesco) and use one per wash. Yes, it works, even though I live in a very hard water area. For wash that's not very dirty (ie dark coloured clothes) I use Ecoballs I picked up free at a green exhibition - reusable, no detergent needed. All washing goes on the line outside - not only free, but you get a fresh smell and the sunlight kills bacteria and gives the whites a bit of a lift. If you're worried about colours getting bleached then turn them inside out before hanging.


Other comments also jogged my memory:

- Pasta: supermarkets sell "easy cook" version - cooks in half the time or less and I swear by it. Spaghetti's not that great (hollow in the middle) but any other shape you could not tell the difference.
- if you want to save on cooking time, start using bulgar wheat or couscous: no ned to cook , just soak (I add a little Marigold veggie stock to flavour it). Excellent instead of pasta/rice and also great in salads.
- cheap way of cooking rice (anf foolproof - nice fluffy rice every time and works with the cheap Tesco one as well as basmati and jasmine): put the amouth you need in a measuring jug. Remember how much there was! Cover in water and soak for at least 20 minutes. Rinse on a sieve and put in a saucepan. Cover with exactly the volume of water that you had rice originally - yes, that's right, exactly the volume. Add a pinch of salt, put the lid on and bring to boil. Immediately after it started to boil, stir, and put on the lowest flame you can get. Lid back on and don't be tempted to peek as you lose the moisture. Cook for 10 min, then turn off and leave for another 10. Done!
- beans/chickpeas etc: soak overnight, then cook in pressure cooker. If you do it first thing before going to work for 10 minutes under pressure, then leave standing untill you need it later in the day it will be perfectly cooked.
- soups: pressure cooker again. Bring to pressure with whatever you're making the soup with, then switch off. Let stand until you can open, then finish off - season, add delicate veg, cream or whatever you do to your soup. Bring to pressure again if you think it needs more cooking, turn off and finish off when pressure dropped. It takes time but hardly any gas.
- oven: Usually only on if I can think of at least two things to put in it. It's good discpipline and if you're not doing a full roast dinner with an oven cooked pudding you normally get a quiche out of it for another meal later in the week.

I bought eco balls but find I don't use them because the instructions say NOT to use them on a quick and cool wash (This is the wash I use all the time to save electricity) So they sit in my cupboards unused. Does anyone use their ecoballs successfully on a quick and cool wash cycle?

jno

Love Thy Neighbour/Love The EU and save ... just some ideas, but has anyone here ever used a "gentlemen's agreement" to save money with their neighbour, for example ...

Shared internet with their neighbour? Single RJ45 network cable through the wall into his/her modem/router, or to yours? Half the cost ?

Shared Sky Multiroom with their neighbour? Split the cost of a single subscription between the two of you.

EU Breakdown cover : used a foreign breakdown service (my one in Austria is 75% the cost of full European cover (including the UK) from the AA and if I conk out in the UK, I have to call the AA number anyway (partner clubs!).

Love this thread.