Old style things that 'only you' do... 2 August 2006 at 7:08AM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Old Style MoneySaving 904 replies 248.6K views

SusanCarter

Sophiesmum wrote:

Caught myself doing another one tonight ... Anyone else use the vinegar from used jar of pickles to fill vinegar bottle? I don't remember the last time I actually bought vinegar for this.:rolleyes:
sophiesmum

I hope that's the bottle you use on your chips and not the one you use for washing your clothes :eek:

Sarahsaver

Then you would get red chips if u use the beetroot vinegar :rolleyes:

I make 2 cups of tea out of one tea bag, but I expect that's not too unusual.

Also I have a bar of chocolate I bought in October and still havent finished it! Honest guv! Next!...

pounds_and_pensive

When running the dryer through the winter, I used to save the fluff from the filter and stuff it into empty toilet roll tubes. By the time summer rolled round, I'd have a nice stash of barbecue lighters created from virtually nothing. I'm the only person I know who ever did this (and only stopped because there's no real room for a barbecue in our current garden), but it wouldn't surprise me to find that it's common practice on here

This has been a great thread - the post about re-filling the expensive shampoo bottle made me laugh out loud

sophiesmum_2

Another one for mums of teenagers...
My daughter regularly wears 3 or 4 outfits in a day, especially during school hols.Through constant nagging i have at least got her to put washing in her laundry basket instead of hanging it on the floor, but when I come to sort the washing out the majority of it is still clean and probably only been tried on or at most worn a couple of hours. Now i give it a once over for stains, have a quick sniff and if it looks and smells fine it gets folded and put back in her room.Saves water, electric, and washing powder and she is no wiser.
i probably cut her share of the washing down by at least half this way, and she thinks her mum is super duper efficient as she gets her stuff back washed and folded etc in no time.;)
sophiesmum

skintchick

I do a lot of the above

I also use the water from rinsing milk cartons for recycling to water my plants - the milk is a fertiliser

Can't think of anything else at the moment - although there must be stuff I do.

betterbargains4u

Sophiesmum wrote:

my teenage daughter is a terrible brand fiend. She insists she cant possibly use cheap nasty shampoo and conditioner on her hair, and insisted on chucking a particular (expensive brand in the trolley). I let her get away with this the once and over the past year have been refilling it with asda own brand stuff. I cant help sniggering to myself as she carries the shampoo and conditioner back and forth between her bedroom and bathroom so that us lesser mortals don't use up her "good " shampoo.....:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
sophiesmum

I bought some really expensive shampoo and have been refilling it with cheaper brands, since it ran out...over a year ago!!
My Husband used to buy the really cheap supermarket bread and put it into a Kingsmill (or similar) bag and tell the kids that we were well off...as we could afford to buy "proper bread"
We only ever buy cartons of UHT milk....about 36p for a litre in the supermarket. It lasts for ages and is much cheaper than buying fresh. When we have guests, this then gets put into a nice jug in the fridge....so they don't know, it's not "proper milk".
I use the very last dregs of anything...by cutting open the pack/bottle/container.

:T :T :T :T :T :T

sheenaf

I do the toilet roll/dryer fluff thing but for lighting my open fire. Also collect bits of dfiftwood, fallen branches, etc when out walking or in the car -also for the fire, which drives OH mad. I tell him he is lucky that I don't carry a bucket and shovel in the car in case we come across any horses droppings to take home for the garden. My father used to do this much to our disgust! He also collected sheep's purlies which he put in a sack in a barrel of rainwater and used the resulting liguid for fertiliser. It really worked.
Why has no one mentioned yet the free soap and shampoo from hotels? Usually good quality and you can use them to fill Posh jars in your bathroom.

sophiesmum_2

I work in a sheltered housing complex and when walking around the corridors kept finding elastic bands at intervals. this went on for ages until i finally caught the postman dropping them as he delivered his bundles of mail. Now I have got him trained and he hands me a bunch of elastic bands each morning as he leaves the building. Come in useful when we make marmalade etc for sales and need to put frilly paper covers on. Any one got any uses for big elastic bands??????

Sarahsaver

Purlies! LOL never heard that on ebefore. I grew up in a rural area and it was a race out of the front door with the shovel when the posh horsey folk went by - 'get it on the roses' Dad used to say. We also collected the liquid which ran off a dung heap FANTASTIC fertiliser for the tomatoes!

Jolaaled

When i'm in tesco's and reaching for a new bottle of washing up liquid, i check all the bottles on the shelf and choose the one that filled up the most!

Also do this with milk/fab cond... and anything else in a see-through bottle!