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

Kiama

When you head upstairs in the dark despite the risks just to avoid having a light flicked on for a few moments.

When you stalk items you want on ebay/amazon until they become available at a price you feel comfortable with.

frugal?

when you only try to buy your clothes out of season/sales. I saw a pair of jeans I wanted for my LO at Matalan for £7 in the summer. Guess how much the same pair were at the end of summer! £1!!! So shop for summer in the winter,winter in the summer,etc (look for space,it is worth it!)

sparrer

Sucker_for_sweeties wrote: »

:ome too



I have a VERY decent hoover, one of my best ever buys (not least for the FABULOUS customer service, really, really good:D)
It's a miele and I love it, it's been fault and hiccup free for three years, long may it last.:cool:
But it's a greedy !!!!!! for new bags, and I howk them out at least twice before I replace them.

Doesn't help having kids and dogs:eek:

Not keen on an overstuffed bag in a rented holiday house though._pale_ Our own gook is different.

I love my Miele too sfs, got a free Cat'n'Dog on freecycle a couple of years back because the lady said it wasn't picking up any more. I took it to the local dealer who said it was the latest model and about a year old. They cleared out the blockage and voila! a 'new' Miele for £3!:T

savingqueen

....when its your birthday tomorrow and you ask DH not to buy you a card from the kids as you already have one - months back I found a happy birthday mum card in an abandoned supermarket trolley without an envelope, added a used but pristine stashed one and voila!

also ask him not to buy wrapping paper but use from my stash (included decent used paper)

not to buy me a cake as I've saved the Xmas cake my mum made for that purpose

and finally find out for him the cheapest shop to buy my pressie

DH thinks I'm mad but my perogative as my birthday!

already spotted 2 birthday card envelopes for me with unfranked stamps so will open those ones carefully.

need to check out cheap meal deals/clubcard rewards for birthday lunch tomorrow next!!!

tenuissent

.....when your daughter asks you to make a year's worth of marmalade for her (they eat TONS of it, and so far I have always given it to them - and given her a ticking off for throwing the empty jars away!) and you start costing it out......

Based on cost of materials, I have come out at 3p per 100g, and I have just wasted 20 minutes looking at:

http://www.ocado.com/webshop/getCategories.do?tags=|20001|20424|20817|20819

which helpfully prices lots of brands at 42p down to 12.6p per 100g.

Should a mother give her daughter free marmalade worth about £50, or can I ask her for my costs back? Given that she and her husband earn together a sum beyond my wildest imaginings?

And MY vacuum cleaner was bought 2nd hand for £20 from a friend who was dissatisfied with it, around 1986.

And I pick out the rubbish, put it in compost bucket, and put bag back. Same bag for 24 years.

savingqueen

you could package the jars up in a decorated box, make nice tag and really personalise it and present it as an early birthday/anniversary or whatever gift?

or ask her if she wouldn't mind buying the ingredients as you're on a budget and you'll give her the gift of your time, effort and skill in producing gorgeous homemade marmalade

or maybe she already does other things to "reciprocate" like watering your plants while you're away, giving you a lift when you need one or whatever.

tenuissent wrote: »

.....when your daughter asks you to make a year's worth of marmalade for her (they eat TONS of it, and so far I have always given it to them - and given her a ticking off for throwing the empty jars away!) and you start costing it out......

Based on cost of materials, I have come out at 3p per 100g, and I have just wasted 20 minutes looking at:

http://www.ocado.com/webshop/getCategories.do?tags=|20001|20424|20817|20819

which helpfully prices lots of brands at 42p down to 12.6p per 100g.

Should a mother give her daughter free marmalade worth about £50, or can I ask her for my costs back? Given that she and her husband earn together a sum beyond my wildest imaginings?

And MY vacuum cleaner was bought 2nd hand for £20 from a friend who was dissatisfied with it, around 1986.

And I pick out the rubbish, put it in compost bucket, and put bag back. Same bag for 24 years.

purpleivy

Sucker_for_sweeties wrote: »

:ome too



I have a VERY decent hoover, one of my best ever buys (not least for the FABULOUS customer service, really, really good:D)
It's a miele and I love it, it's been fault and hiccup free for three years, long may it last.:cool:
But it's a greedy !!!!!! for new bags, and I howk them out at least twice before I replace them.

Doesn't help having kids and dogs:eek:

Not keen on an overstuffed bag in a rented holiday house though._pale_ Our own gook is different.

I have one of those Miele's too. Even dh thinks it's good! It works well on hard floors (laminate and travertine) and the carpet powered type head is very good. Bags are very expensive though! I got some pattern ones instead of original as a cost saving measure but shan't be doing that again. I cut a fine strip of the edge, empty it out and then take the sewing machine across the very edge! This isn't too much bother as the sewing machine is usually out.

Barneysmom

Thread 122 - that's how far I've got on this great thread, I'm loving it but have to go and do some housework in a min :rotfl:

tenuissent

Good idea about packaging it nicely (though these are huge 1 litre preserving jars, of which I have made 5 so far) but we do have some history here. When I visit on most Sundays I usually take some sort of Sunday lunch with me, perhaps a raw chicken, vegetables from my allotments, fruit to make a crumble with, and as a full time doctor with two children and a third on the way she is very grateful for this, and pays me back the cost of the chicken without hesitation.

The difference here is that I have usually taken a few pots of marmalade with me most visits and it disappears rapidly. I have just retired onto a small pension, and I am starting to realise the cost of things a bit more. She will be happy to pay for the ingredients, I just feel fractionally mean.

I'd love her to water my plants and give me lifts, but she refuses to have a car (lives in London, which I don't), so it is me who gives the lifts at weekends, takes her shopping for heavy things, strims her allotment, raises seedlings, collects sacks of manure and so on. All of which I am happy to do, as she is so extremely busy and very grateful for any help, and a lovely daughter in every way.

It'll be payback time when I've lost my marbles and they have to look after ME. (Joke, ha ha. Slightly uneasy one).

Primula

tigerlily wrote: »

Erm.......MSE is actually my homepage!!! LOL I guess I am converted to the church of Moneysaving!!:D

Mine too! LOL