Lots more Sneaky Ways to save the pennies

pamsdish

I frequently eat it well past date.

Siebrie

Last October I sowed some sweet pea seeds in toilet rolls with growing compost, and only 1 germinated. Today, I have put new seeds in the toilet rolls and hope they will germinate soon. The saving pennies bit: I did not renew the soil, and did not buy new seed. Any seeds that germinate are welcome, I have plenty other non-sweetpea seeds to fill the garden.

Gem-gem

Siebrie wrote: »

Last October I sowed some sweet pea seeds in toilet rolls with growing compost, and only 1 germinated. Today, I have put new seeds in the toilet rolls and hope they will germinate soon. The saving pennies bit: I did not renew the soil, and did not buy new seed. Any seeds that germinate are welcome, I have plenty other non-sweetpea seeds to fill the garden.

I also reuse compost when seeds do not germinate.

PipneyJane

Yay!!! Lots More Sneaky Ways To Save The Pennies has been reinstated!!! I discovered that it had been removed, earlier this week.

- Pip (happy)

Uniscots97

When did this thread reappear? Loved this thread so much I started a new one when it went

Siebrie

Siebrie wrote: »

Last October I sowed some sweet pea seeds in toilet rolls with growing compost, and only 1 germinated. Today, I have put new seeds in the toilet rolls and hope they will germinate soon. The saving pennies bit: I did not renew the soil, and did not buy new seed. Any seeds that germinate are welcome, I have plenty other non-sweetpea seeds to fill the garden.

Not a single one germinated, and the one that germinated in October, died I will check out the local market for small sweet pea plants, as I do love them!

PipneyJane

On a daily basis, we don’t use a lot of milk; it just goes in breakfast cereals and morning coffees, so we regularly only get through a litre a week. However, it is considerably cheaper to buy fresh milk in the 2L bottle (£1.09 or 55p/L) than to buy single litres (75p, when I looked last week), so we normally buy the 2L bottle and freeze half. When the 2L container is down to the last inch or so, I’ll take the frozen milk from the freezer and defrost in the fridge. (It takes 2 days to defrost completely.). We normally buy skimmed milk so don’t have the problem of homogenised milk splitting back into its component parts, which often seems to happen.

For the freezer container, I recycle a 1L plastic milk bottle, brought when on yellow sticky. Wash well with hot water after use, ensure it’s fully dry before putting the lid back on and discard when it begins to smell of sour milk.

It’s an easy way to save 20p.

- Pip

WeegieWumman

My neighbour asked her sister for soap foaming dispenser bottles as a Xmas present. She reckons it has saved her a lot on handsoap showersoap and even shampoo.

Gem-gem

Last year neighbour was asking their empty plastic flower pots from the garden centre down to the tip. I asked them to save me them. This year I have used the bigger ones and the smaller ones l, with some others that I obtained, I sold at a boot fair for a £1 for a carrier bag full. I was happy because I have stopped some plastic ending up in landfills, I have used the pots for what I needed them for ( and will use them again for years to come and I made some money as well.
So when anyone offers me pots that they are going to discard, I always say ' yes please '.

PipneyJane

While we’re all in Bank Holiday Weekend mode, when it feels like the weekend will last forever, I thought I’d share some of the free/cheap entertainment we use:-

Podcasts

I listen to dozens. My iPhone is my portable radio, wherever I am and at whatever time. Many are from the BBC: Kermode & Mayo Film Review (great fun even if you never get to the cinema); The News Quiz; The Now Show; Infinite Monkey Cage; Moneybox; 5-Live’s Consumer Team with Martin Lewis; various documentaries, etc. I also listen to Knitting podcasts (Knitmoregirls, KnitBritish, Caithness Craft Collective), Freakenomics Radio, History Hit.

Kindle Books

Firstly, let me state that I prefer real, dead-tree books, that I can touch and flip-through. However, I am also a realist and electronic copies of books are very convenient. Back when I commuted by train, I was a voracious reader who always had to carry two novels with me - the one I was currently reading and the next one in the queue - because I’d inevitably run out of book, part way home from work. My life would have been much simpler if Kindles had been around in those days. Now that I drive to work, I’ll use the Kindle app on my phone for a quick read at lunchtime.

Although Amazon have a mailing list for 99p Kindle books, it’s pretty rubbish. The best source I’ve found is Bookbub. Bookbub lets you enter your reading preferences and everyday will send you an email listing free and cheap (<£2) ebooks listed on Amazon. Thanks to them, I have hundreds of books lined up.

Librivox

Want free audiobooks? Librivox is the place for you. Librivox books are all in the public domain (out of copywrite) and read/recorded by volunteers.

Some readers are better than others but nothing is more entertaining than hearing an American mispronouncing Warwick, while you’re driving down the M1 and can see the Warwick turnoff signposted in the distance.

The Local Library

I don’t know about your library, but ours has several apps which will enable you to borrow audiobooks and e-books for free. There’s a time limit (2 weeks for audiobooks) and also a limit on the number of books you can have downloaded at any one time. My husband listened to the entire Dr Who radio-play catalogue via the library-app when he was driving up and down the country for work.

And, of course, they also have real books that you can borrow...

What do you recommend for free/cheap entertainment?

HTH.

- Pip