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

Daniella500

I save leftover wine. Freeze it in an ice cube tray and use the cubes in sauces and cooking

steerpike

I try to use meat, fish and cheese as a filling/flavouring rather than as portions in themselves...meat in is bulked out with homegrown salad in sandwiches, with potatoes and veggies in casseroles or in a nice plate pie with a thick, tasy and hunger-beating crust.

Save any fat left after cooking/grilling meat to make your pastry - it will be the best savoury pastry ever.

Fish is put in a hm sauce with plenty of veggies and baked with a thick potato topping.

I use 2 or 3 chicken thighs on top of a large bed of cheap and cheerful homegrown carrots, onions, leeks with a chicken stock cube and a couple of spoons of rice in my slow cooker and it makes a fab chicken casserole, thick veggie broth to be eaten the following night with bread and then I add a tin of cheap corned beef, a can of baked beans and some chilli powder which ekes it out for the next two to three days. Any leftover veggies, cereals, bread (cut into cubes) are all added to the slowcooker - we never get two casseroles the same but it really stretches the most expensive ingredient -meat - into many meals.

Take some time to research what you can make from wild fruit and plants - we make port, wine, cordials, jams, jellies, sauces, pies, tinctures, herbal tea, cough syrup from wild plants like crab apples, elderberries, elder flowers, brambles, sloes, rosehips, nettles, dandelions. Check out the fab Preservers Year thread here on MSE for ideas and tips

saharapop

I refuse to buy greetings cards at extortionate prices. Instead I frequent my local most humble charity shops i.e small local charities rather than the national chainstore types. They generally have a box of donated cards that are worth a browse through.
I buy a handful at a time to put away for future use and generally pay 10p to 30p a card.
Plus I know that the money is going to a good cause, which gives a certain feelgood factor.

HappySad

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.

uncle_nick

Nice to see Rizla01 raiding her greengrocer's bin.... As a student, I used to hit the skip by the veg stalls at the market - cauliflower leaves in abundance, but lots of other fruit+veg - all stews down into healthy slurry, and banana crates were there to carry it off and then be re-used as bookshelves and house-moving boxes.
Later in life I became a proper bin-diver - cheers to the Co-Op for putting their skip in a cage after about 5 years of amazing free food (though 20kg of currants were a challenge)
I am still in some 1984 jeans too; however they have got some character now ;-]
Forget meat - expensive, not an economical use of land, big carbon footprint for any creatures that lived overseas
Thinking about it, skips have provided endless firewood, tools, valuable scrap metals, newspapers, magazines and books, construction materials, crockery, loads of curios, fabric and leather, dog blankets+towels, computers.....
It helps to have at least one mate with a similar attitude - each confirms the other is not a mad tramp - and each may see different opportunities
Good luck

skint,single_mum_of_4

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:

Wow thats great and soooooooo Healthy too !

Sarah.A_4

Please be careful when bin-diving as the stuff is technically still the property of the company who has the skip and it is on their premises. Where I work we have several skips for different items and one is specifically for cloth (rags etc) and another scrap metal. We are able to sell these goods at a good price and it is re-used, however we constantly have **** asking to buy the stainless steel or just plain stealing it at night-time. Beware that these instances are reported to the police and if the culprits are identifiable from our CCTV the company would not hesitate to press charges! Eeeek.:eek:
I'm sure no-one minds some rotton food being taken- but obviously Co-op were narked or they wouldn't have caged their skip!

Please take care as I'm sure not having a criminal record is better than saving a couple a couple of quid.

moneysavingmonkey85

not using heating! I must admit I am quite a warm person, and often have windows open, but in the last 12 months I have not turned the heating on once. I am in a small apartment, and the warmth from cooking dinner/taking a warm shower is enough. put on some fluffy socks or a jumper!

rizla01

Personally I can't wait for when the apples start to fall - Bramleys ESPECIALLY.

They store well if not bruised if first wrapped in newspaper and left in the outhouse, and make good crumble, but they make the very best pies. (As long as they aren't mixed with Blackberries - Yuk!! - heathen idea!!)

JHWilts

Not extreme but wheni was off work for my foot op for 2 months I was astonished to realise how much money I had left over at the end of the week not buying my daily coffee and lunch. It was over £30! Now I bring in my own filter coffee & lunch for me and the other half and we put the money saved onto our mortgage! An extra £70 or so £'s a month is unbelievable!