Great 'Embarrassing MoneySaving tips' Hunt

clairecymru

My husband and i have only once bought each other a christmas card, birthday card and valentines card. We reuse that card every year but each year write a new message in it. We have been married ten years. I suppose we will buy news ones when there is no space left but it is nice to look back on and see what we wrote year after year.

Kerfuffle

LolaLemon wrote: »

yes it is cheaper - to both your purse and the environment.

edit: oh p.s. i started this when i had £13000 sitting in my current account. i was not skint. i was not doing it to save money, just trying to reduce our, well my, chemical consumption.

shandyclover wrote: »

With all this talk about alternatives to toilet paper...

Hi LolaLemon and shandyclover,

great posts! and I think the more people talk openly and share this kind of information then the less it will be :eek:

This is something I had been previously considering and this thread has given me the impetus to act. So I've cut up some yellow facecloths into quarters and stitched the edges and these will be used on my face instead of cotton wool. I've also cut some old blue towels that were given to me for cleaning cloths into similar size squares (as the yellow cloths) and these are going to be used as (wee) wipes. Once again colour coded blue = loo

Ages ago I downloaded a pattern for homemade sanitaryware from a link that was somewhere on this site and so that's something I'm going to have a go at.

Thanks for sharing.

Toodles

Gers

I really liked the idea of the toilet shower which is common in Middle Eastern countries. It's just a small shower head on a long hose attached to the wall and is used for washing/cleaning oneself after using the toilet.

Even public toilets had these in Dubai where paper was also available. All the cubicles had drains in the floor and the floors had a fall to the back so the water wasn't flooding the place. And the water is warm so no nasty shocks.

stilernin

Gers wrote: »

I really liked the idea of the toilet shower which is common in Middle Eastern countries. ......................

All the cubicles had drains in the floor and the floors had a fall to the back so the water wasn't flooding the place. And the water is warm so no nasty shocks.

Unfortunately, this makes it not very MSE. Water + heating = ££s

prosaver

by eating only on every odd day Ive halfed my food bills and go to the toilet less, so save on toilet paper.

larmy16

Well you have all just given me a great idea. I can unpick my home made S towels and cut them up to use as wee wipes, but shhh don't tell anyone!

stilernin

prosaver wrote: »

by eating only on every odd day Ive halfed my food bills and go to the toilet less, so save on toilet paper.

......... and half the hot water for washing up. Aswell as half the soap and water to shower/bath with and half the wear and tear on towels, carpets and the sofa as you lose weight :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

miggy

polkadot wrote: »

I would plug my hairdryer in in the kitchen and use the microwave door as a mirror as it had one of those silver finishes.

We somehow never managed to organise a downstairs mirror, but I often see the teenagers checking their reflctions in the microwave door, which they have to pass on the way out...

This is not really embarrassing, but all the tips on recycling cards as gift tags reminded me that I rarely use gift tags. Stocking fillers get wrapped, and each person has a different wrapping paper. The same style is then used for main presents later. It saves a lot of hassle and a few pounds. (A snippet of the paper is then pasted in a notebook of what I've given each person. Over the years it's helped me check who's given what and evoked happy memories).

Asiacat

A guy drives up to a pawnbrokers in central London and asks to borrow 500 pound for two weeks as he was off on holiday that afternoon and needed some spending money.

The pawnbroker informs him that for a two week loan the interest rate would be 2% but as he didn't know the man some security would be needed. Would my car do he says pointing to the Rolls Royce Corniche outside.

"How do I know it's yours?" asked the pawnbroker. So the man shows him the ownership documents with his name on and also shows him his passport which he naturally had on him as he was off on holiday.

The pawnbroker was convinced and handed over the 500 pound. With a 50k car as security for a 500 pound loan it was hardly a risk and after all business was business.

Two weeks later the customer returns paying back the principle of 500 pound plus 10 pounds interest.

Out of interest the pawnbroker asks the man why he needed the loan as he didn't seem to be poor.

"Do you know anywhere else I can park a Rolls Royce Corniche in central London for two weeks for just 10 pounds" he replied.

miggy

jumblejack wrote: »

I am even saving up my own shed hair from combs to make my own hair 'rat' as the Edwardian ladies of old used to. You save enough to roll onto a fat sausage shape. You then ce a colour matched hair net around it and sew it in. Voila: a hair rat. You then use it for hair styles that require lift, in rolls etc. It is perfect for gripping with bobby pins and it is perfectly colour matched to your own hair (obviously!).

What a good idea! When you think how much extensions cost, you can use your own hair for free... I wonder if you can make your own extensions, too - I tried (have long hair anyway) but couldn't get the waviness to co-ordinate and don't like straighteners. I bet trendy people with straight hair could do their own, though.