Old style things that 'only you' do...

Ladyhawk

NualaBuala wrote: »

I'm thinking of getting one ... I know it's a good investment but they are so dear! But it would pay for itself in time I guess.

Just do it!

They are really good, even though I only used mine for 3 months before getting the minera coil fitted.

Herbyme

Topher wrote: »

Am I right in thinking electricity is ONLY cheaper at night if you've applied to go onto an economy 7 or equivalent tarrif? Otherwise the night time elctricity to all houses is exactly the same price as in the day.

Yes, that's right. It's only worth having Economy 7 if at least 20% of your electricity is used on it. We manage that with dishwasher and washing machine. I get very cross if I have to wash something on normal price electricity! But then I only put it on a 15 min superquick wash... most things don't need any more (well, sheets and towels do, but not most clothes...) Is that gross?

Re the fire risk, I think anything that's plugged in can be a fire risk - I'd like to say I unplug everything before I go to bed but I don't. My washer and DW run overnight on their own delay buttons, not an external timer plug, which I do think can be less than safe. Just my view.

NualaBuala

Ladyhawk wrote: »

Just do it!

They are really good, even though I only used mine for 3 months before getting the minera coil fitted.

:rotfl:
Sounds like an ad for sanitary protection marketed by Nike!

I probably will - but they are about €30+ over here and with my light flow it would take me a looooong time to use €30's worth of tampons. I'm looking at some of the other brands that are a bit cheaper and come in pretty colours (I know, I know, why should the colour even matter!:D)

Herbyme

debtworrier wrote: »

Ref! Ref! I call foul!

This is about using cucmber slices to make the salad bowl bigger in Pizza H**

In Yorkshire they do that in skips with old doors called 'greedyboards'!

lauren_1

Winchelsea wrote: »

Some more things I just thought of (so you'll all know exactly how sad I am!)

Cutting wipes in half and re-using them is great - but I just never buy them in the first place. I have a stack of white face flannels in the bathroom which get used for everything (yes, everything, including - as with wipes - giving a final swipe to the washbasin, bath and toilet seat), and are then washed.

Don't buy kitchen roll or tissues either - I use cotton hankies, which I often make by hemming round bits of soft cotton fabric from old clothes or bedlinens, and, have 2 piles of rags under the sink, the better ones to use and re-wash, the others to use and throw.

I have a white plastic washing up bowl in the bathroom, and stand in it to shower. The water I collect is used for the next toilet flushing. Also, I do the "sailor shower" - turn on the water to wet hair and self, turn it off, lather, then turn on again to rinse. My metered water bill has definitely gone down - and when DH was having carers in to give him a shower, our water use went up.

Even worse, I even save on toilet paper, using a tip I got off the American site The Compact. I have a plastic box filled with squares of old t-shirt material, and use one to wipe after a no.1 if you know what I mean (never t'other!) - and they go in a mesh bag for washing. (Now you now I'm gross as well as sad! - though in my opinion this is not as bad as wiping your nose on your toilet paper before use!)

Most of these measures are things I started when taking early retirement and was worrying about whether we'd cope on our pensions.

I use washable wipes along with cloth nappies, quite a few times we have ran out of loo roll, or the new packet was downstairs etc etc and I've sat there for about 5 mins debating on using a wipe.

The wipe won.

My wipes get soaked in a nappy bucket with diluted pine disinfectant (wilkinsons own says you can soak nappies in it) and wash on 40

lauren_1

elisamoose wrote: »

Surely the money saved on loo roll is out numbered by the cost of a boil wash for the cotton cloths? you surely have do every day and on their own?

Why on their own? If your doing a white wash then there is no reason why they cant be washed with them, and really you only need to do a 60 wash.

As long as they are stored correctly, a nappy pail for example they wont need washing everyday, if you steep them in diluted disinfectant too you wont need to do any more than a 30 wash.

However If its your own Urine and your the only one using the wipes what are you going to catch from it?

Schrodingers_Cat_2

Well, one can't get more old style than knowing how to make rice cremola. Birds Eye...i think it was....stopped making it years ago......and all I had was memories of Mum serving it to me as a kid. Absolutely yummy ! I finally got hold of a recipe for it.....not quite as good as the original but it sure brings back memories.

ceridwen

morganlefay wrote: »

I did see a woman in Sainsburys once who had a knife and was going through the broccoli bits (or perhaps it was asparagus, it was a while ago) cutting off the long stems and putting the nice short bits left in a bag to get weighed. It was interesting because none of the assistants who could clearly see what she was doing, said anything....I don't think I could do that myself !

That aint economising though - thats theft - as the vegetables will have been priced according to the stems remaining on. If the supermarket cut all the stems off first themselves - then they would charge a price that reflected the amount of the produce they had just thrown in the bin and we'd all have to pay extra to allow for women like that....:mad:. Those shop assistants werent doing their job properly - I would have marched straight up to the woman concerned and put the stalks back onto her scales and asked her (in a firm tone of voice) if she still wanted the broccoli - and pointed out the thief to the manager anyway, so that he could keep an eye out for her in future in case she tried it again.

One can eat broccoli stalks actually - just peel off the knobbly bits and cut up the remainder small and use in a stirfry.

EDIT: Note to peeps reading this thread in future - please stop and think about it before using the ideas - a few of the other ideas mentioned recently are also theft actually. Perhaps we ought to have an official "warning" on this thread "WARNING...WARNING...not all the ideas given are legal/honest. Please work out for yourselves which ones arent and don't use them yourselves".

ceridwen

gem68 wrote: »

i remember jamie oliver saying to do this with asparagus in shops,apparantly the stalks naturally snap where the woody bit tuns nice.
bet that was before his sainsburys contract!!:rotfl:

Well - thats just put me off Jamie Oliver then - yes...seriously.

Nicoll

Topher wrote: »

Am I right in thinking electricity is ONLY cheaper at night if you've applied to go onto an economy 7 or equivalent tarrif? Otherwise the night time elctricity to all houses is exactly the same price as in the day.

I think it is only on specific tariffs. My bill shows 2 different rates and costs, one for day and one for night so I suppose if your bill only shows one rate then it is of no benefit to you to put things on overnight.

One thing to remember with night rates is when the clocks go back and forward an hour for the summertime change that the timing of the cheaper night rate changes too. Currently mine runs from 0100 to 0800 but in the winter it is midnight to 0700. I had to ring Eon to find that out as I had no idea of the times!