Lots more Sneaky Ways to save the pennies

PipneyJane

Siebrie said:

DDs use hot water bottles at night, and I empty them in a watering can that's just outside the kitchen door. I use this watering can to clean the guinea pigs' cage every day. In a pinch, we could use the watering can to flush the loo.

That's a clever way to save not waste water, @Siebrie.  

- Pip

Elisheba

I've just posted this in my diary, but I'm also posting it here as I think it's useful for people to see.

I was just reading in The Tightwad Gazette about how money saving dried milk is.

I've done a few sums, and that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. Maybe things were different in the 90s, or supermarkets selling milk as a lost leader evens things out here compared to the US.

Anyway, the sums are below. Using T3sco own brand dried milk as the standard, all own brand fresh milk is cheaper by pint. Some economies of scale apply if you bulk buy milk powder, and then it ends up very slightly cheaper. 

Milk Maths 

Tesco dried milk - £2/6 pints from a 340g tub (33.3p/pint)

Fresh milk £1.15/4 pints (28.75p/pint)

Fresh milk £1.60/6 pints (26.6p/pint)

25kg bag of Arla dried milk online for £84.50. Assuming you need 57g to make up a pint, as you do with the Tesco dried milk, that works out at 25p/pint.

So if I drink 12 pints a week, that's 624 pints a year. 

Annual cost 
Fresh £162.24 pa
Dried £156.00 pa

So £6.24 saving per annum.

You'd have to be super keen or drink a heck of a lot of milk to make it worthwhile, that's all I'm saying  

cbsexec

That’s interesting about the milk cost and just shows how things can change.   I suspect the farmers would say that is evidence of how little they are paid for their milk now!

wondercollie

Milk is expensive in Canada.  The price also fluctuates.  I've seen a 4litre jug as high as $5.27 and as low as $3.99 in my area.  You don't want to know what it costs in the Arctic.

We have a milk marketing board to protect Canadian farmers from cheap American milk

Siebrie

Elisheba, thank you for doing the math! I remember that from reading The Tightwad Gazette: the constant math to make sure she was paying the absolute minimum for everything. I loved the ideas and the inspiration, but sometimes I just thought 'my time is worth more than the 2p I save after doing the math for 15 minutes!'. I am in the position where I don't have to calculate every 2p savings, and can do more good by taking those 15 minutes to prepare an extra meal, for instance.

Primrose

Interesting debate about milk costs.  I think in the past it has been sold dirt cheap as a loss leader abiut which I felt very guilty.  We,re not so hard up that saving a few pennies on milk means the difference between eating or heating and those cheap prices came at the cost of hundreds of small dairy farms going broke .

  Some of them had been family owned for two or three generations and when I watched on tv a dairy farmer weeping at the loss of his animals who were being sent to slaughter and his family losing their land and home I reminded myself that too often we end up seeing the cost of everything yet understanding the value of nothing. Sometimes the supermarkets, using loss leaders in this way hold us as hostages to practices the public don,t always understand the consequences of 

Good  that we have a Canadian contributer on here.  Always nice to compare what happens in another country.

p00

The price difference between dried and fresh is interesting.  I do this sort of financial maths also. Unfortunately dried milk is quite expensive now and it  can be an acquired taste to drink sometimes but depending how much you use milk it can have a higher saving simply by being available to use when you want it as it's in the cupboard. Handy for cooking or if the weathers bad and you dont want to go out for fresh milk. Or maybe you dont use much milk so not viable to keep buying it fresh. I look on it as more of a convenience item than money saving.
P00 x

-taff

I think a couple of  packets of UHT milk in the cupboard would do the job as well as dried. I don't really like the taste of either but I can put up with the former in tea at a pinch. Luckily, we have a milkman, so it's only on the odd occasion we don't actually have fresh. Not eactly money saving but you picks and chooses yer battles. And who benefits directly sometimes.

p00

-taff said:

I think a couple of  packets of UHT milk in the cupboard would do the job as well as dried. I don't really like the taste of either but I can put up with the former in tea at a pinch. Luckily, we have a milkman, so it's only on the odd occasion we don't actually have fresh. Not eactly money saving but you picks and chooses yer battles. And who benefits directly sometimes.

I remember buying the small carton things of UHT. Took them on a picnic and when I tipped them in my tea they were curdled. Only had enough for that one brew too.
I do buy carton milk from Aldi now as theres only me and its only 50p litre, plus I buy a box of 12 at a time. Helps me because I only go shopping when I need/want to. I have some out of date dried I use for bread and cakes. I dont think it goes off :0)
p00 x

Naomim

My MiL has complained about a 4pint costing more than £1. I did point out I don't mind paying more if the dairy farmers are going to get more.  I was looking to find a dairy delivery service but all I can find is Milk & More and not keen on them.