Lots more Sneaky Ways to save the pennies

Siebrie

For coffee: we have a machine that does both ground and whole-bean coffee. I like to drink 2 cups in the morning, and I make them separately for each cup, so for the first cup I put in the correct amount of ground coffee or whole beans, for the second cup, I put just half and it will be added to the coffee grounds of the first cup.

If I buy a container of coffee I don't like (I do like to try out new brands), I mix it with a brand I do like (for instance Aldi beans with proper brand espresso beans). I only need a few espresso beans to overpower the taste of the Aldi beans.

[Deleted User]

I am contemplating buying a coffee grinder ,would you say the Aldi beans are worth it I normally use their ground packaged coffee Siebrie ?

[Deleted User]

JackieO wrote: »

I am contemplating buying a coffee grinder ,would you say the Aldi beans are worth it I normally use their ground packaged coffee Siebrie ?

The Aldi Beans are great. Good value too.\Ikea do a grinder for £9.90.

VfM4meplse

JackieO wrote: »

I am contemplating buying a coffee grinder ,would you say the Aldi beans are worth it I normally use their ground packaged coffee Siebrie ?

Deleted_User wrote: »

The Aldi Beans are great. Good value too.\Ikea do a grinder for £9.90.

I saw a beautiful vintage coffee grinder in a chazzer a couple of weeks ago. It cost all of £1.

Not for me as I happen to like instant coffee

Siebrie

I didn't like the Aldi beans on their own, but mixed with Aldi espresso beans (75%/25%) they were fine. It really is personal taste. I now ask for specialty coffee beans for my birthday and other special events, or if I have to buy something (for instance, when shopping with a spend-thrift friend).

More penny saving: when shopping with this friend, I buy just a small bag at a shop where they roast the beans on the premises, and I try to plan this halfway the shopping afternoon. I make a bit of a show about selecting and buying them, looking at everything in the shop, maybe trying some tea. And the coffee will be the only thing I buy, while my friend goes into a 100 shops and buys some at every single one (that's an exaggeration, by the way ). We have a lot of fun, and I'm not sure she has caught on that I'm unwilling to spend the money; she calls me 'selective'

I use these trips as 'reconnaisance', for later when I do need something.

DavidJonas

I expect this is mentioned every Christmas, and too late for this year anyway, but..

Save on Christmas Card postage by buying a job lot of discount stamps online. You can get 20% off the face value. Old 57p stamps are perfect for current second class postage and you can get them for 46p each, probably less if you look around.

Stamp dealers buy them up in bulk at auction. A shame to think they were once presumably part of someones collection..

Uniscots97

Buttons, zips and hooks/catches on old clothes that you've finished with....save them, you never know when you'll need a button etc and much cheaper than trying to buy them. As for the old clothes they can be used for cleaning cloths or patches for other items

Stoke

I have a bean to cup machine for coffee that I pinched from work (actually, they were throwing it out because the seals had blown, but a set of seals was about £5 delivered, all replaced, been fine ever since).

Bean coffee is great value in my opinion and tastes great.

PipneyJane

Mmmm..... Coffee....!!!!


Like many others on here, I like a decent cuppa. In my old job, I bought in a small cafetiere and a regular supply of ground coffee, sometimes freshly ground (when we had beans in stock at home). In the current job, I don't have a desk to call my own, so I bring in a small tub of good quality instant and make do.


At home, we have good quality instant during the week and filter coffee at the weekend. Instant has to be at least freeze-dried own brand "Gold" but beyond that, I buy on price. (NB: Costco usually sell huge jars of Douwe Egberts at a decent price about once a quarter. I use their jars as storage.)


My current ground-coffee-of-choice is Carrefour's value brand version of "Cafe Molu". It comes in packs of four 250g bags and is cheap at €3.50 a pack. Whenever I go to France, I bring back several packs.


One of the best things I ever did was to go to a coffee tasting. This was 20+ years ago at the Monmouth Street Coffee Shop in London. For a small fee, they gave you different roasts and different blends to try. Interestingly, the most expensive coffees were not necessarily the best tasting, while really cheap instant coffee often tastes burnt. (I don't know if they still do them.)

Gem-gem

Uniscots97 wrote: »

Buttons, zips and hooks/catches on old clothes that you've finished with....save them, you never know when you'll need a button etc and much cheaper than trying to buy them. As for the old clothes they can be used for cleaning cloths or patches for other items

Today I cut up a stained t-shirt of my hubbies, which I will use to clean the windows and mirrors with.
I also remove buttons and my pockets from jeans which I use to repair hubbies pockets with.