You know you're a money saver when.....

sparrer

when you save all your eggshells in a plastic bag until spring and use a rolling pin to crush them then sprinkle them on the garden, knowing that not only is it good for the soil but all the slugs will emigrate to the neighbours either side because they won't go on anything gritty or uncomfortable. And you haven't used some horrible chemical to give them a slow and painful death. (what the neighuours do is up to them, your conscience is clear :rolleyes:)

tenuissent

when you are seriously considering some advice you have just read: instead of recycling old magazines, soak them in water, roll them up to push through a toilet roll inner tube, dry it out, use as a log in your woodburner.

ms_piggy

delain wrote: »

You head straight for the reduced aisle of the shop :rotfl:

• your kids head straight for the reduced aisle and spot reduced stickers before you.
• your kids haggle even when you are not with them.
• They can cook better than their teachers (one of whom couldn't even crack an egg!)
• Your grown up children call you to say they have just cooked a lovely meal from bits found in the cupboard/fridge/freezer when OH said there was no food in the house.
• you have converted the cupboard under the stairs into a pantry to store BOGOFs.
• The guy at the car showroom is crying when you have finished haggling

you smile when the bank statement arrives:dance:

debtdesperado

...you've had to stop giving clothes to the charity shop as you no longer have loads of clothes that you get bored of before you've even worn them once or twice.

My wardrobe has shrunk drastically (eg work clothes, I have 5 tops, 3 skirts, 5 pairs of tights, a coat, a bag...and that's it) and now I wear something until it wears out..then it I turn it into rags/patchwork material... the stuff is too knackered to give to the charity shop!

The bonus is that my clothes are much nicer than they used to be - I can buy full price, good quality and I still spend way less than when I used to buy bags of stuff from primark/in the sales etc...

frugal?

What a nice thread!!! Thanks you all for the tips.
For me - you don't buy full price until you have checked ebay,freecycle/freegle/even friends that like to throw away;
you walk round the house turning lights off and kids shout,'Mum,I turned the light off!';
you don't plug in laptop endlessly,you unplug when full and recharge when about to run out;
you check Supercook to see what you can make with the minimal ingredients you have instead of buying more;
you dilute handwash,shampoos,etc;
you cannot wait for the summer because of bills;
you don't buy new toys unless you have sold some off ebay first;
you get frustrated when you cannot find anything to sell on ebay on free listing days.

Don't have a lot but trying since I joined. Hope to get better :-)

Frugal_Mouse

When you ask your friends and family, who don't make their own bread, to save their bread bags..... so that you can use them to pick up dog poo

Well, my way of looking at it is that if they were going to go to land fill anyway they might as well go full rather then empty :rotfl:

Switch off the power to the base units for the house phones when they show fully charged. Thinking about putting them on timers,that is of course if I can find timers at a really MSE price

Thanks OP and all posters for a great thread.
x

wilf55

When mcdonalds do offers and you take the kids for a treat but make sure you get your moneys worth in sugar salt and pepper sachets!

Big_Nige

Yesterday, I packed up my brand new T.V. (bought on 31.12.09), took it back to Mr A's as it had been reduced by £30. Under thier 28 day no quibble refund I returned it & then rebought it.

Big_Nige

SavvyStudent wrote: »

I get this all the time... some peeps have said that I 'act like a student' in having no car, taking a packed lunch to work, using Orange Wednesdays, restaurant vouchers, only buying toiletries on offer, doing things that are free i.e. walking etc instead of spending all day Saturday shopping, never buying anything full price, cooking from scratch loads, using leftovers etc etc. What they don't realise is that they are fools, not noticing when they are being ripped off/overcharged, spending all their money (and running up CC debt) on tat and having nothing to show for it!

Been there, still getting it from peeps. People say i am a skinflint, yet we paid off our mortgage in 6 years (my ambition was to do it before I turned 40 ((last week)), yet by following MSE & being savvy ie stocking up on non perishable offers switching mortgage/utility providers etc we did by the time I was 37. Who's laughing now ??

topgranny

... when you walk a mile to Iceland to buy a 4-pint bottle of milk and save 53p rather than walking round the corner to Tesco. I've now started buying two at a time and freezing one. Also pick some up for the freezer if I'm nearby at any time.

Do you know that I saw two women with the 6-pint bottles in their trolleys last time I went? Can't they see that they could save 25p AND get two extra pints if they bought 2 4-pinters?!!!:rolleyes: