Lots more Sneaky Ways to save the pennies

aau1

gambledandlost wrote: »

Ive been reading the board and love all the great ideas, so thought I'd add my ideas:
1. Turn the heating off and watch TV in the dark snuggled on the sofa with a duvet
2. Shower by candlelight
3. Nick tea-bags from work
4. Shop at 2am
5. Electricity monitor
6. Dump the hubby and sell the kids

I know this is tongue in cheek but I would never recommend point #3 even in jest. Stealing from your workplace is never a good idea

The closest i would come to this is when I'm in a coffee shop I always take a sweetener/sugar and a stirrer away with me.

That's because I personally never add anything to my coffee but its handy to have these for when people visit and I figure it's built into the cost of the coffee anyway. Also my mum is a teacher and she uses the stirrers in her arts and crafts classes to mix paint

I see nothing wrong with this because I'm paying the same for my black coffee as someone who gets milk/sugar and needs a stirrer to mix them together

And as for point #4, if I shopped at 2am then i wouldn't get any whoopsies. Like last nights haul that included all my meals for today:
breakfast - croissants for 5p
lunch - chicken sandwiches using a 1p loaf best before tomorrow and a 10p pack of chicken that was use by today (left over bread is in the freezer, left over chicken is in the cat)
dinner which is an Indian meal for 2 that cost 50p (2 curries, bombay potatoes, samosas, naan bread, pilau rice)
dessert - yorkie chocolate mousse for 5p

The above cost 71p and I got a lot of other stuff to freeze that will see me fed for a long while. All paid for using a gift card that I was given by the supermarket when I had prior cause to complain so my weeks food shopping is going to be pretty close to zero

For that reason I always shop at 830pm whenever possible (which is great because the wife is usually watching some home renovation program or diet show on Ch4 and its a perfect excuse to escape)

Uniscots97

Thought I'd resurrect this thread as I think we could all do with a few more tips to help money go further (for whatever the reason).

my latest is:-

- instead of buying hot cloth cleanser I bought Aqueous cream (huge tub for £1.50). I massage this into my face and use a face cloth dipped into warm water to remove. This tub will last me ages (hot cloth cleanser £7, lasts me a month)
- when running the water to wash my face the water after is hot enough to go into my hot water bottle. Just a perfect temperature for helping keep my feet warm (I have bad circulation) without it being too hot.
- for intensive conditioner, I comb through a 5p blob of conditioner onto dry hair before I go to bed. Give it about ten minutes to dry before you go to bed. When you wake up your hair will feel hard (as the conditioner has dried), wash and condition you hair as normal and your hair will be supersoft.

sparrer

unixgirluk wrote: »

Thought I'd resurrect this thread as I think we could all do with a few more tips to help money go further (for whatever the reason).

my latest is:-

- instead of buying hot cloth cleanser I bought Aqueous cream (huge tub for £1.50). I massage this into my face and use a face cloth dipped into warm water to remove. This tub will last me ages (hot cloth cleanser £7, lasts me a month)

Thanks for resurrecting the thread unixgirl, was always one of my faves til I ran out of ideas! But you're right, we need it now more that ever. Would just say that if you have a £1 shop nearby you can get aqueous cream for - wait for it......£1! :rotfl: hth

Uniscots97

Thanks Sparrer, our Pound shop used to have but when I start to run out (in about a year!) I'll check out others.

Uniscots97

I can't claim this one as my own I got this one from a friend. She had a lipstick that was too dark for her so melted it down and added a little of a lighter colour she had got as a sample and put it into an old vaseline tin. After that it was a shade she would actually wear!


I like to feed the birds that come into our garden but grudge paying the prices some places charge for suet balls. When cooking mince I pour the fat that comes off (when browning) into an old yoghurt pot (or similar) and put a piece of string in the middle. I sometimes add sesame seeds if I've bought sesame buns as the seeds end up all over the worktop so I save these and put them to one side to add to the fat balls. Once the fat balls have set I put them out for the birds. They never last long.

sparrer

Funny how one word can spark something off in your mind - in this case, mince. I like to buy a 3lb 'bargain' bag of minced steak from the butcher, when money permits, and divide it into 3oz (approx) portions for the freezer. When I've got it all bagged up I take a little pinch from each bag and can usually eke another 3 or 4 portions from it.

Uniscots97

Sparrer, I think we're playing 'tip' tag

Now thats one thing (mince) I've never asked my butcher how much he charges. I tend to buy square sausage there which is not only much nicer but much cheaper than the supermarket. Some butchers will also let you haggle as well, especially if you're buying a lot.

Be careful if you buy multi-packs of things (i.e. drinks) they aren't always cheaper! I always compare the price of individual vs multi-pack.

Skint_yet_Again

Dunno if this counts, or if its been posted before (probably), but I have started to use the numerous charity bags we get as bin liners. We get 2 or 3 a week. As our bin men will not take household rubbish in charity bags "in case its donations" I crush everything as small as possible and then put in cheapest black sack i can buy. Probably not very environmentally friendly bu have managed to reduce waste to 1 black bag per week.
We occasionally have macdonalds or KFC and I always ask for extra napkins and use instead of kitchen roll.
I have stopped buying multiple cleaning products and just use a splash of stardrops and a squirt of bleach.

Living_proof

I have been saving the netted containers for lemon and oranges for some time, knowing I would eventually find a use for them (and the urge to clean my hob with them has passed!). Today the very opportunity - I needed some kind of netting to put over my jar of to-be-sprouted chickpeas. I doubled up the yellow netting, tied up with a length of wire tie (which I can re-use), job done!

building_with_lego

Last week I melted down the stubby little wax crayons that the children had left at the bottom of the pencil tin and poured the wax into (Lego figure shaped;)) silicone ice cube trays. Voila, lovely new-looking crayons that put a smile on their little faces