Lots more Sneaky Ways to save the pennies

cbsexec

I agree about keeping bananas in the fridge.  

SadieO

Do they make other things smell/taste like bananas though? I am not a huge fan but my OH likes them and sometimes chops up ripe ones and freezes them for use in smoothies. We were eating ice cream and it tasted of banana, I thought I'd accidentally bought the wrong flavour! But it was plain old vanilla ice cream that (in a tub obvs) had been in the freezer next to some bananas (in a tied-up sandwich bag). I don't know If I am over-sensitive given that I don't really like banana flavour, but it wasn't a placebo thing as I didn't know bananas were in the freezer when I tasted it in the ice-cream 

kimwp

Not that I have noticed, but they are not quite ripe, so don't really smell much at that point anyway. I am quite sensitive to and dislike very ripe banana smell, so I feel your pain.  I wonder if the smell of ripe bananas came out when the freezer door was opened and you "tasted" it because you could smell the bananas in the air. 

Gers

My late DM was fortunate to not live in poverty but always reused Christmas / birthday gift paper and ribbon. All gifts were beautifully wrapped without sellotape and she'd watch us like a hawk when we opened them to make sure that they weren't ripped apart. When she died two years ago the stash of over 50 year old gift wrapping was still in the cupboard along with all the various ribbons.

She was very frugal in all things, all down to her terrible childhood experiences during the war.

otb666

i put gifts in material pretty gift bags now with ribbon drawstrings at top Which i take back and re use. Its greener as well

basketcase

otb666 said:

i put gifts in material pretty gift bags now with ribbon drawstrings at top Which i take back and re use. Its greener as well

We use gift bags, but don't take them back.  The same bags circulate though.  Some have become old friends!  I don't think any of us can recall which ones we initially bought 

basketcase

Another thought
My ex and his sister used to swap Christmas cards - literally!  

They each found a card they both liked and wrote their greeting in pencil.  The following year the recipient rubbed out their sibling's greeting, wrote their own Christmas wishes (in pencil) and sent it back.  And so on.

London_1

basketcase said:

Another thought
My ex and his sister used to swap Christmas cards - literally!  

They each found a card they both liked and wrote their greeting in pencil.  The following year the recipient rubbed out their sibling's greeting, wrote their own Christmas wishes (in pencil) and sent it back.  And so on.

And why not I have the last Christmas card my husband bought for me in 2002, and every year I put it up with the others and he passed away in 2003 but its such a lovely card I couldn't bear to throw it away,little knowing it would be the last as he sadly died in the following July. 

I too save gift bags and reuse them the following year .This year I won't save them as I'm hoping to move in the coming spring so I'm using up my stash this year as I am decluttering  

JackieO xx

basketcase

I've still got the only birthday card my father ever got for my mother somewhere.  He died suddenly the day before er birthday and hadn't even written it.

He'd never bought her a card, so it was odd.  But - unbeknown to anybody - we found out from a diary that he'd had a test for his heart and had gone to another doctor than ours and had written "Test result. No change".  So he knew something we didn't and bought it 'just in case'.  Typical!

My mother put it out every year she was alive.  It'll be 60 years next year since he passed and, as I said, I still have it.

Slinky

I have the last  Christmas cards my Dad gave me, and also one from a friend who I knew had terminal cancer. They get put up with the rest, then stored with the decorations for next year.

I also have some actual cash which Dad gave me at Christmas and Birthdays; he said he never knew what to buy so would hand over a card with a wad of money in it. I keep it in his wallet. I've had to swap the notes as the old ones went out of circulation. Every now and then 'Dad' treats us to a meal out somewhere.  He's been gone 14 years.