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

purpleivy

plebeian wrote: »

When you come from uni for the xmas holidays and moan at your parents for having a kitchen full of branded food!

LOL! Not my DD! I suggested to my sis that she bought dd a stick blender for Christmas. Took her back to Uni, now she can have a pan full of veg soup/mushroom soup/pot of hummus for the price of a can/pack from the campus shop!

We top her up with stuff that is always expensive to get in small quantities - mixed her a bag of washing powder/washing soda, decanted some Lidl chocolate powder, some sundried tomatoes out of our kg tub from Costco. Also she has a stash of hm jam in small jars that MIL and I made for her in the summer, so she can take a few back each time.

She knows that labels won't feature much here, but there are always one or two...eg Hellman's Mayo!

jpwhittle

pwpevans wrote: »

When you do your Christmas shopping in January

haha i do this, my mum nearly choked when i told her id started next years christmas shopping on christmas eve, only started because wilkis had a sale on and i got some bargains for the brothers, and started easter shopping yesterday as coop were doing 6 cream eggs for £1.25. I get laughed at but at least its cheap, at christmas sister in law got hair striaghtners cos they were reduced to £3.00 for a good set last january.

when your kids know all the rules of haggling and tell dad of when he isnt doing it right!!! my Son told his dad to go back in a shop and try again as he didnt try hard enough.

3 year old walks round using martins phrases i.e only use cashback credit cards.

Bogof_Babe

DianneB wrote: »

Right, one question - what's an H&B day at Tesco????

Just bumping 'cos I have no idea either. Health & Beauty is all I can think of.

hollyh

mama67 wrote: »

When the kids look for the reduced sticker/check bbdate/ask is it on offer on anything branded that comes into the house.

I can relate to that, the only time we have branded stuff is if it's reduced. :rotfl::rotfl:

ROB35

jamanda wrote: »

When you get to the back door with a couple of stale crusts to throw out for the birds, then change your mind and make some stuffing.

(Poor birds)

I have to admit, this is normally me, but not at the moment with all the bad weather. I've even opened a tin of (value) sweetcorn, 2 years out of date dried fruit, and the dregs of the Christmas dates.

Roll on summer when the birds can feed themselves!

Blancsanglier

When you change the baby's steraliser - don't throw the old water away but use it to wipe down your worktops, rinse out the bin,soak j cloths and washup sponge, wash the floor etc etc ......

Use plastic carrier bags as bin liners.
The plain, unused side of any correspondence in the printer.
Rechargable batteries (off ebay of course) for everything.
You don't need to butter toast if having beans on it (and slimming).
The wire that holds toys in their boxes or round the cables on new items is great for use in the garden or anywhere you need to tie something ie: all those loose cables and USB connectors?

Blancsanglier

........... oh, I forgot - always grab a handful of plastic bags at the fruit and veg counter in the supermarket! Don't ever buy a pack of new ones.
Never throw bubblewrap away, or jiffy bags - re-use them when selling things on ebay.
If you treat yourself to a cafe/pub meal - it goes without saying to get a handful of sauce/vinegar etc sachets.
Have eaten yoghurt that's been nearly 2 weeks over use by date and it hasn't tasted any different...... lot's of things are ok in fact but just be careful of things like meat of course.

Asiacat

Whenever you call a mobile phone you let it rin once then disconnect - they'll always rin you back.

You fill up your Chivers Real bottle with the cheapest whiskey you can find and no-one notices the difference.

You get off the bus two stops before the one nearest your home because it saves you 15 pence in bus fares.

.You ask your next door neighbours to let you have their evening paper the next day. Day old news for free is better than paying 35 p for a newpaper the night before.

You can't remember the last time you bought retail.

Your favourite authers are Amy Dacyczyn and Jeff Yeagar.

You look around for some bushes when you find out the public loo is going to cost you 5 pence.

You spend 3 quid in petrol driving round to find a feree parking space rather than pay 30 p at the council car park.

You skip meals to save money.

You'd rather wait 3 years for the latest hollywood blockbuster to be shown on terrestial TV than pay 5 quid to see it at the cinema.

You ask complete strangers in a taxi line if they're going your way so you can share.

You read all your favourit magazines for free in WH Smith in 10 minute shifts.

You always choose trick when kids come round trick or treating.

You think 5 quid is expensive for a T-shirt.

tenuissent

"Logs" for woodburners, made out of soaked magazines rolled up inside loo roll middles:

I have to say these are working out quite well. Little trouble to make, dried out overnight in airing cupboard, five of them burning in small woodburner at the moment.

I don't suppose they work quite as well as logs, but they haven't flared up and burned away quickly. They sit there glowing (air inlets almost closed) and giving out a good heat. They've been in for about an hour, along with one log.

The magazines are ancient copies of "Which?" by the way, quite thin. I imagine thick glossies would roll up more densely and burn for longer.

I wanted to add that I save loo roll insides for seed sowing, so I have masses hoarded over the winter. If you haven't got these, I imagine string would do the job but be more fiddly. I guess the reason for soaking and rolling is to bind the pages together into a firm roll, rather than simply chucking them into the woodburner flat and maybe swamping it and preventing air from moving around?

I am now toying with the possibility of folded and soaked newspaper as well as magazines. I normally use newspaper for smothering weeds on my allotments, but there's a limit to how much you need....

Freyagirl

Oh you forgot, let the boiling water stop bubbling before pouring it onto the tea, or it scalds it and spoils the flavour [/QUOTE]


Even better turn the kettle off before the water gets to bubbling point and save a few pennies in addition to having better tasting tea.

freyagirl