Tips and Quick Questions on “How To Start Being Old Style”

ChocClare

LolaLemon wrote: »

i buy 5 litres of goats milk a week for us to use in the house, sometimes we drink this all others we have some left over at the end of the week PLUS i have to get both of my sons nurserys a carton each and each carton is costing me £1.38! (£9.66 a week for milk!) we've tried uht, but both cant stomach it, so is a waste in this house.

I don't know if you've already tried this (if so, just ignore me!) but you can freeze goat's milk very successfully - I'm just thinking that if you bought larger sizes you could decant into smaller plastic bottles and put in freezer - it keeps about 6 months - and that might work out a cheaper way for you to supply your son's nurseries with "his carton" for the week. It would also enable you to stock up while prices are a bit lower - goat's milk is on special offer at Tesco's this week for example (if you shop there)...;)

sandraroffey

do you have an iceland near you?? get down there as they are opening and the reductions on the meat are just amazing. a huge chicken down to £2. its done me 3 days already and going to have the freeze the rest. and use the carcass of course. big trays of mince for £1. trays of pork mince for 50p. take it all home and freeze it. absolutely money saving at its best.

patchwork_cat

Someone mentioned find the cheapest petrol - this will do it for you http://www.petrolprices.com/ Also sign up for Topcashback and always click through it. If you want to make extra money learn how to match bet! Look at the forum matched betting, but don't run at it, make sure you really understand it. Meal plan, always.

Gothicfairy

LolaLemon wrote: »

What sanitary towels are you using? i did use a mooncup, but since i got the coil, i cant use it anymore soo back to thinking of reusables.... not to be too gross, but how do u get the stains out?

At the moment I am trying Love your flow eco towels. Working great which was a suprise. I soak them in cold salt water or milk and then wash them and they come totally clean.

I couldn't get on with the mooncup but am now using the jam sponge and that is much easier for me.

happyreader

Spend less on the big shop by doing a list and pretending the list is for your mum/nan who cannot afford or want all those little extras that find their way into the trolley.

Or shop with a friend, swap your lists and shop from different ends of the shop. Also consider sharing any BOGOF offers.

Good luck everyone.

rhiwfield

We try to be organised about our spend and run a monthly spreadsheet showing both income and expenditure. We print off the spend budget and keep a record of spend as it occurs. So no surprises, no spend hidden.

By tackling biggest spend items first we've got some big continuing savings, but had to invest money for some of these:

• £500+ saved a year on replacing Sky TV with Freesat
• Replacing low fuel economy cars (now get 50mpg)
• Insulating house thoroughly (fuel bill down 50%)
• All appliances energy saving (leccy bill down 40%)
• Solar pv - worth £1300 a year in FITs and saves another 30% off leccy bill
• Garden converted to GYO and eat all produce , including preserves and wine (savings say £300 a year, maybe more as we now eat more fruit and veg)
• Haggling on car and house insurance, switching if necessary
• Sign up to broadband/rental/ calls package (save £150 a year)
• Gradual convert kitchen to take freestanding units (saves a fortune when an appliance cant be repaired)

Other than those we've tried a large range of OS methods until they've become ingrained, including:

• comparing prices
• bulk buying of offers
• cooking from basic ingredients
• combining trips to save on petrol
• avoiding branded goods if there is a good quality alternative
• batch cooking and freezing
• diy unless it's electric or plumbing
• use the library reservation services to get latest books
• read news online
• clothes wash at 30C and use one tablet per wash
• line dry
• line all curtains using bulk supply thermal lining
• use neighbours papers for kindling (and wood from beach!)
• make do and mend
• free compost (municipal), pots (homebase), roottrainers (toilet roll inners), woodchip for paths (municipal) and compost chicken poo and all veg peelings
• homemade handknits and preserves for pressies

OrkneyStar

Some great ideas on here.
Got to say I agree with most of them, although like someone a few posts up, I am not overly impressed with my SC- ended up wasting meat in it as the stews never tasted right- meat too soft, veg too hard. Will possibly try again though!

adelight

• I spend an absolute fortune on food! thier is only the 2 of us in this house, me and a 3 year old. and i spend about £40 a week we both have a cows milk allergy - my sons extends to beef too... so i buy 5 litres of goats milk a week for us to use in the house, sometimes we drink this all others we have some left over at the end of the week PLUS i have to get both of my sons nurserys a carton each and each carton is costing me £1.38! (£9.66 a week for milk!) we've tried uht, but both cant stomach it, so is a waste in this house.

Is enriched soy milk a possible alternative for some or all of your milk? You use so much even a soy milk maker would pay for itself quickly. If the taste is an issue, it's very easy to blend with a little frozen fruit or cocoa powder, or make soy yogurt and blend that with frozen fruit for a smoothie.

herbily

Just to add, re soya milk, a litre carton of the value soya milk from Mr Ts or Sainsbugs is around 60p - your son might still need the goat's milk, but if you can stand the soya milk, you could save money. I use it in tea, but it goes funny in coffee, for some reason, and also use it on breakfast cereal.

rubytuesday

seraphina wrote: »

You DON'T NEED A SLOW COOKER!

Sorry for shouting but there are plenty of us who can't stand the wretched things. Def. see if you can try a friend's before you buy - or stick a post on freecycle as someone may have bought one and then discovered they are in the "hating slow cookers" camp! However, batch cooking is definitly the way forward.

Plan, plan and plan again. Also, sounds daft but if you're relying on a dish doing two meals, plate up tonight's serving and then put the rest away immediately. Otherwise people wander into the kitchen, help themselves to a wee piece here or there and the next thing you know next week's portion has vanished!

If you can't/won't compromise on some things, can you use a cheaper alternative for some things? So for example our towels and guest bedding get washed in Tesco Value Economy Cheapest bio washing powder, whilst clothes get Persil (only bought on offer!)

I am definitely in the hate slow cookers camp! Yuk! I have finally given mine away to my sister in Law who loves it and I have extra much needed space in my cupboard. Mind you I don't eat much meat except chicken so if I was doing lamb and beef stews etc it may have been good.