Lots more Sneaky Ways to save the pennies

ailz95

I use soap nuts for the washing machine.  15 - 20 shells, 2 litres of water, boil for 10 minutes then transfer to herb size bottles, which will do 2 not very dirty washes.  We then freeze the used soapnuts and the liquid.  The soapnuts can be used 3 or 4 times then I leave them around and we use them for washing hands.  You need to freeze it as they go mouldy quickly as they are the shells of a plant

For the dishwasher I use washing soda and sodium perconabate (think oxy clean), 2 washing soda to 1 perc., add a citrus essential oil, put in a jar with one of those dri-pack things that seem to come with everything these days, add about a tablespoon to a dishwasher - don't use for silver cutlery as it goes black.

Herbyme

ailz95 said:

I've only just started reading this thread so I don't know if this one has been mentioned.  We used to have a problem with the toilet blocking if too much loo roll was used.  I learnt that if you press it so that it's oval instead of round then children, who are likely to just spin the roll, use much less toilet paper.  I always used to water down cordial as well as they poured half a glass no matter what.

And a plumber told me the cheaper the toilet roll, the less likely it is to block the toilet.
Another one: if like me you have pets and have to clean out litter trays/hutches, you can buy disinfectant spray from Pets at H for about £5 for 500ml. Or you can buy some concentrated stuff called F10 SC Vet disinfectant which costs about £10 and dilutes to at least 25 litres, more if you don't need it to destroy the worst bugs. 

And if you live with anyone who insists on squeezy bottles eg honey instead of jars, a 900ml jar of honey is under £3 and fills up 3 bottles of honey which cost about £2 each. I use a funnel to minimise the mess. I know, they could use the jar but can you imagine the mess when they add honey to a smoothie?!

Primrose

And the cheaper the toilet paper, the thinner it is and you need to use two or three times as much to get yourself clean !

betony

Primrose said:

And the cheaper the toilet paper, the thinner it is and you need to use two or three times as much to get yourself clean !

Not always, DH got some original Andrex instead of our usual stuff from Wilkinson's, for a couple of quid more and it's really thin and not very nice to use. Don't conflate price with quality!

stay_at_home_mum

Rosa_Damascena said:

Gem-gem said:

I am in My 40's and I stopped dying my hair 6 months ago. 

£40 every eight weeks plus £5 for the month in between. £135 saved so far. 

My DM stopped dying her hair in her 70's. 

£270 per year. 

20 years - £5400 saved
5 years - £1350 saved
25 years - £6750 saved

That is approximately how much I will save, not taking inflation into account. Woo hoo! A great way to save at least 675,000 pennies!

That's brave! I'd love to ditch the hair dye although I'm never 100% happy with the result or the hassle factor, there's always silver poking through. My solution is to buy at a good price and use just a little at a time in the right ratio, thus eking out a single pack over the course of several months.

i have been watching the following newsreader with interest, my age and greying gracefully, she still looks fabulous:

Theres a great facebook group called grey and proud which is really  motivational. Kicked my habit over a year ago now as even the salon dyes never lasted long before the grey crept in! 

Mistral001

Primrose said:

And the cheaper the toilet paper, the thinner it is and you need to use two or three times as much to get yourself clean !

The  thinner it is the more you get on a roll.  Half as thin, then twice the length you get on the roll.  

Mistral001

Elisheba said:

babyshoes said:

wik wrote: »

Also when buying clothes , when they say do you want the hangers I always say yes! especially the clippy trouser hangers. They are great for not only trousers but also smaller things like flannels, pair of socks - one pair on each clip
wik x

And for hanging recipes / recipe books in the kitchen! Keeps them off the counter where they get in the way and get stuff spilled on them.

I'm aware this was from 7 years ago!  I'm just working my way through the thread though, and  with the new system is easy to quote and comment on things.  I am trying to imagine how I could hang recipe books from trouser hangers in my kitchen...  Where would you hang the hangers : ? 

All my recipe books are dirty and smudged with food.   I have had a few comments from visitors such as "I see you use your recipe books".   So I am not not hurrying to keep them clean.  I am a bit sad really and see that as praise!  It could mean that my visitors just use their recipe books for decoration after getting them as unwanted Christmas presents or as impulse buys.  It might not impress the really good cooks. 
 
However as a nod to keeping recipes clean,  I put print outed recipes from the internet in  those plastic sleeves for individual sheets of paper you get from stationery and budget stores.  

PipneyJane

Mistral001 said:

Elisheba said:

babyshoes said:

wik wrote: »

Also when buying clothes , when they say do you want the hangers I always say yes! especially the clippy trouser hangers. They are great for not only trousers but also smaller things like flannels, pair of socks - one pair on each clip
wik x

And for hanging recipes / recipe books in the kitchen! Keeps them off the counter where they get in the way and get stuff spilled on them.

I'm aware this was from 7 years ago!  I'm just working my way through the thread though, and  with the new system is easy to quote and comment on things.  I am trying to imagine how I could hang recipe books from trouser hangers in my kitchen...  Where would you hang the hangers : ? 

All my recipe books are dirty and smudged with food.   I have had a few comments from visitors such as "I see you use your recipe books".   So I am not not hurrying to keep them clean.  I am a bit sad really and see that as praise!  It could mean that my visitors just use their recipe books for decoration after getting them as unwanted Christmas presents or as impulse buys.  It might not impress the really good cooks. 
 
However as a nod to keeping recipes clean,  I put print outed recipes from the internet in  those plastic sleeves for individual sheets of paper you get from stationery and budget stores.  

You aren't sad.  I think the same.

 Any recipe that I print out, I also print to PDF so that I can replace it if the original goes "walkies".   It also means that I don't have to rely on it being published on the original site, in order to print it again.  (The BBC used to have a permission to publish recipes from a series for (I think) a year and then had to them down.)

- Pip

Katieowl

You should see my most used cake cook book LOL

Rosa_Damascena

Katieowl said:

You should see my most used cake cook book LOL

I would imagine a well-used cake manual would emit a cloud of icing sugar like fairy dust every time it is closed shut