Great 'Embarrassing MoneySaving tips' Hunt

jumblejack

Someone mentioned breast pads. I used to use the really cheap panty liners cut in half (the cut half at the top when in place). Saved me a packet.

I also use hubby's bath water myself after he's done with it.

A chicken carcass gets boiled up and turned into a broth after a roast.

I always save soft drinks bottles to refill when we go out for the day to save pennies.

(My mum's mantra used to be either: "Waste not, want not" or "Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves"


I always save junkmail with clean sides for the kids to doodle on. They are kept in a paper tray in the craft cupboard.

Old clothes are kept for decorating in along with old slippers and an old hat (yes, I get covered when I paint!). Otherwise they are used as rags and dusters (once I have saved the buttons and zips of course!)

Even old scouring sponges are reused for touching up paintwork instead of getting my brushes dirty for a tiny area. I just dip the sponge bit into the pot and it's enough to cover grubby fingermarks on the wall.

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!).

I save used yoghurt pots, toilet rolls, etc, for craft activities




Old sheets are used as dust covers.

craftycrafter

dawnteabag wrote: »

I save all the pre-paid envelopes that come with bills - I pay online - and use them to send my son's school dinner money in to school.

I also do this, my children get the embarassment, I get a laugh at their expense!

jumblejack

....And throw them down the toilet instead of flushing as often. My mum adds soap and bleach to the water to make sure the toilet is clean![/QUOTE]


We are in a water meter so we tell the kids that if there are no guests in the house then "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down!". We also have one of those bags in the cistern so that it reduced the amount of water used in each flush.

anguk

choogirl wrote: »

I always re-use gift bags, if the tag has already been written on I just replace it with a new colour co-ordinated one.

Me too, they're quite expensive so I always re-use them.

Catwoman103

My council gives away free bags for recycling so, whilst I do use these for recycling, I also buy the cheapest black bags I can and line them with a free bag to make them strong.

quintwins

jumblejack wrote: »

Someone mentioned breast pads. I used to use the really cheap panty liners cut in half (the cut half at the top when in place). Saved me a packet.
.

reusable breastpads are the way to go can pick new ones up cheap on ebay and suprisingly old ones sell well aswell

novo_2

ivorysky wrote: »

There's no need to buy sandwich bags as the supermarkets give them away for free in the fruit & veg aisles

I think that's called stealing, actually. And it's not for free anyway, we all pay for it through the price of their products.

yeldarb

When I was a child my father used to take me to the golf driving range and I used to sit quietly whilst he hit the balls. Then, if it was quiet, he would send me out with the bucket to pick the balls up so he could hit them again.

My father has a George Foreman grill from which he collects the fat (there's a little tray at the bottom that does this) and pours it into an empty jam jar, adds a wick and uses it as a candle. All his candles are made like this.

He used to take us skiing when we were little and we would have to take extra bread rolls from the hotel at breakfast time, wrap them in a napkin to eat for lunch on the slopes. We were told to pretend we were younger than we really were in order to get the cheaper ski lift passes.

He used to take us to play golf as kids - we were never allowed to play the first whole because we could be seen from the clubhouse. We usually started from the second or third hole so he could avoid paying the fee for us to play.

I could go on.

Mynxmox

Ladyhawk wrote: »

My colleagues all think that I am completely batty because I have bubble wrapped my bathroom windows.

I don't get it - why would you do that??

moorhen_2

I find hardly anything here remotely embarassing!