Lots more Sneaky Ways to save the pennies

mcculloch29

You may find that your local authority / county council website has clear information on what can, and can't be recycled. Ours does. (County Durham).

gemmajenkins0208

This looks like my kind of thread!

I've had a gander through the old sneaky ways thread and I can relate to a lot!

Had a little gander through the first couple pages of this one then got impatient and wanted to post! :rotfl:

We always buy the cheapest coffee. Taste doesn't really matter to us.
We don't drink tea, so we don't buy teabags. If anyone wants a cuppa when they come to visit they can bring their own and I've told them this! :rotfl:
We don't buy anything where there's even a slim chance we may not like the taste of it, no matter if it's reduced, on offer or cheap enough anyway as it may go to waste. We stick to food we know and love.
I always buy the cheapest value products. A little seasoning and how you prep/cook it is what it's all about.
I buy a few of things at a time, like rather than just one tin of value beans, I'll buy 2 or 3 or 4 then we're stocked up.
I don't have a trillion different cleaners in the cupboard under the sink - elbow grease is usually enough. As long as the water is hot, soapy and has some kind of disinfectant in it, it will work.
I just fill a sink(bathroom sink if cleaning the bathroom, kitchen sink if cleaning the rest of the flat) with hot water and put a tiny drop of fairy and a splash of zoflora in and go at it hammer and tongs to get things clean. I start from the top and work down. The sink gets done last(unless in the bathroom then the toilet gets done last) and I don't rinse the cloth out in the sink once I get to the floor(spread of germs etc.-no rinsing after doing toilet either)
I'm more inclined to spot clean rather than do deep, all over cleans every week or so. Just a kitchen towel dampened and rub at the spill/mark/mess. Takes a couple seconds, also makes a deep clean a lot easier as I don't have to keep stopping to rub at marks moreso than the rest)
We have a dishwasher but it is unplugged at the wall. Don't see the point. What's wrong with a bowl of hot soapy water and your hands? It's part of the flat(built in) so has to stay.
We have a washer dryer but I only use the dryer to dry bedsheets and towels which only get washed once a week or less. Everything else gets thrown on the dryer over the bath.
We don't buy boxes of facial tissues. We hardly ever need to blow our noses so some loo roll or a piece of kitchen towel works just fine for when we do need to.
We haven't gone clothes/shoe/accessory or any kind of shopping other than food for about a year now. Everything we have is still working perfectly well for us. The only other-than-food shopping I've done recently was Christmas shopping for everyone and I still spent less than £50 all in

VfM4meplse

gemmajenkins0208 wrote: »

We always buy the cheapest coffee. Taste doesn't really matter to us.
We don't drink tea, so we don't buy teabags. If anyone wants a cuppa when they come to visit they can bring their own and I've told them this! :rotfl:
We don't buy anything where there's even a slim chance we may not like the taste of it, no matter if it's reduced, on offer or cheap enough anyway as it may go to waste. We stick to food we know and love.

Huh?!

OS is about living well whilst spending wisely, it’s not about being mean, which is a completely different thing.

gemmajenkins0208

Literally just realised I basically contradicted myself. Thanks for pointing that out :rotfl:

Foods and drinks are different for us. If you don't like a drink, it's usually mostly water so you can tip it away. Food is very wasteful to throw out if you don't like it.

As for the teabag thing, we only ever have my parents or my partners parents to visit, and it's either usually a flying visit or they will happily have coffee anyway

[Deleted User]

I agree VfM4, I am frugal, but enjoy various things I do like good ground coffee and if I buy Aldi's beans/tinned stuff etc the money I save helps to pay for it.

I shop as wisely as I can to get the best value for my money that I can I use spices and herbs to enhance plain food and a decent bottle of sweet chilli sauce will enhance most meals

I certainly don't waste either money or food, and use it to the best advantage that I can.

But different folk have different ideas, I use the money that I save to help pay for my families annual holidays in August.Everything is budgeted for in advance . I was brought up during the 1940s-50s so know how to streetch a meal to two or three just by the addition of perhaps extra veg or a basic pudding.I love to try new things if I can and today eat things that were unheard of 60 years ago. Often trying something new will make me look for other recipes. My shopping is done by 'need's' and not 'wants' and at my age I am far past wanting very much at all.

Katieowl

I'm clutching my Clipper tea protectively to my chest. I can't abide horrid tea, OH drinks decaff, and DS will drink any old coffee. I don't have any other vices left. But I'll happly cut mouldy bits off cheese to save money for my tea!

LameWolf

Nargleblast wrote: »

Not sure if I have said this before, but during the time we were paying off an IVA and I was into moneysaving, I once spilled a small container of sweetener tablets on the kitchen worktop and frantically started to pick them up and put them back into the container. I realised I was maybe getting too obsessional when I found myself trying to pick the last sweetener tablet out of the sink and dry it on a tea towel!

The awful thing is, I can imagine doing the exact same thing myself, given the same circumstances. :rotfl:

One thing I will not compromise on is coffee. I drink it strong, black and unsweetened, so it has to be the decent stuff from beans. No instant muck here (apologies to those who like instant coffee).

I must save a fortune on stockings - I simply don't wear them! I go barefoot at home at all times, and just put shoes or boots on if I need to go out; if I need warmth on my legs I wear leggings under my skirt - can't abide having my feet encased in nylon.

Nargleblast

Aldi do some nice coffee beans, varying strengths at reasonable prices.

VfM4meplse

LameWolf wrote: »

I must save a fortune on stockings - I simply don't wear them! I go barefoot at home at all times, and just put shoes or boots on if I need to go out; if I need warmth on my legs I wear leggings under my skirt - can't abide having my feet encased in nylon.

I have a huge pile of tights with a single run in them, ready to wear under trousers at home when it’s cold.

They’ve been accumulating for years; this will be the first year I will be wearing them as my new place is gonna be chilly in the winter!

[Deleted User]

I too prefer ground coffee and never drink instant if I can help it.

The aldi coffee is pretty good but the best was a couple of years ago my DGS Danny bought his Mum a coffee subscription, and she had a packet of ground coffee from various parts of the world as a Christmas present and a packet arrived every month for a year, as she and I are the only coffee drinkers we had a fantastic year drinking it

I must try to find out where he got it from as the packs used to just arrive by post every month. I think we have drunk coffee from almost every country in the world that produces it :)

I can substitute most things but like LameWolf not my coffee