Great 'Isn't it obvious?' MoneySaving Hunt revisited

kriss1977

I'm liking this idea of wearing two pairs of tights when you have holey tights - this a is great idea for the winter when it will also keep you warmer.

I cut the tops off holey socks and the feet off laddered tights and sew them together to make a brand spanking new pair of socks without any holes to make them stretch that little bit further.

They're also great socks to wear with new shoes at that stage when they're still a little tight and not been broken in yet as the tights material on the foot of your new socks is much thinner than regular socks and therefore your poor tootsies have a little more room to manouevre - it really makes a difference!

kriss1977

My friends live all over the UK so I spend time in the Summer travelling to see them a lot and have a great way to do it for free most of the time by using cashback sites and shopping discount sites.

National Express and thetrainline.com are especially good for this. Here's how my last spate of bookings went:

National Express:
1)Single Cardiff to Swansea @ £1.50 using Topcashback site for a day out.
2)Forward booking confirmation email to Shopper Discounts & Rewards to claim a £10 Monthly Member Bonus for making a NE booking on an existing Shopper discounts membership.
3) Receive £10 cheque from them within a week
4) Cancelled this membership before the 30 day free month trial is over.
5) Use cashback site and make booking for return journey Swansea to Cardiff @ £1.50.
6) Once second booking is complete, click on link and sign up for new Shopper Discounts membership.
7) Receive voucher promising £15 introductory sign up cashback on my next booking with NE.
8) Book NE single ticket Cardiff to London (for a friend's party) @ £6.00 using Topcashback site.
9) Email booking confirmation to Shopper Discounts claiming my £15 introductory cashback.
10) Book NE single ticket London to Cardiff (for return journey) @ £8.00
11) Forward booking confirmation to Shopper Discounts claiming £10 Monthly Member Bonus cheque.
12) Receive cheques for £15 and £10.
13) Cancel membership before 30 day free trial ends.

Total spent: £17
Total Shopper Discounts cashback received: £35
Total Profit: £18

and that's BEFORE you receive your regular cashback from Topcashback.co.uk

And so on. This can be repeated as much as you like as long as you don't have more than one Shopper Dsicount membership open at the same time. Membership costs £10/month but as long as you cancel before the end of the free trial, you will still receive cheques for any valid claims you have put in beforehand.

And if you use a cashback credit card to make the bookings you'll earn even more 'free' money on top. :T

Essentially I get paid to visit my mates for a weekend! Win-win! Awesome!! :rotfl:

kriss1977

Add a little hot water to sauce jars to get the last bit of sauce out and add to your pan and simmer.

With jams the same principle works and makes a nice fruity tea.

Cut the ends off 'empty' tubes of face creams, toothpaste etc to get at the last of it stuck to the inside. Then wrap a piece of cling film round the open end to keep the dregs fresh until it's all gone - there's always more than you think there will be!

kriss1977

instead of paying over the odds for a tiny bag of popcorn or a small limp hot dog once you're there.

(Use seefilmfirst for free viewings or the Orange 2-4-1 deal) for a cheap cinema trip - after all some films were made for the big screen! :cool:

Steve-o

unixgirluk wrote: »

Use bubble bath to fill up handwash dispensers, its much cheaper.

Not if you buy that £3.50 bubble bath from Asda, which smells like chocolate. I'd definitely recommend it though.

Buy a foaming soap dispenser (I've got a couple I picked up from Boots that contained a face wash), and then refill it with a mix of liquid soap and water. I find a mix of 1 part liquid soap to 9 parts water works fine, and makes your liquid soap last a looooooooong time.

Steve-o

hamsmith wrote: »

i see what you are saying. but a thermos surely is open to the same risks. reusable kids straws, toddler cups and spouts, measuring jugs. we don't sterilise anything really do we. probably scare-mongering by the bottled water companies. just like the potato seed companies say not to use the ones from the fridge and vodafone started the chain texts that were bad luck to not pass on.

i would concider the risks low.

The (potential) risks are more from the chemicals contained in the plastic leaching into the water. I've bought a BPA-free drinks bottle to bypass any risk.

tulip12

song_of_calliope wrote: »

I keep feeling like prefacing my comments in this thread with "obviously" but I guess it's in the title so I shall try to resist!

Anyway, don't make baked potatoes in the oven all by themselves if you can help it, but if you really crave a baked potato and aren't cooking anything else, make the potatoes in the microwave, then put into a hot oven for 10 minutes or so to crisp up the skin. Baked potatoes from the microwave alone are nasty but this makes them taste as if they'd been baked the whole time.

I do this when not using the oven when making baked potatoes, microwave them them until cooked then crisp up the skin by putting them under the grill for a few mins. I find this works fine and means I don't have to put the oven on at all.

oldMcDonald

lovebargainshatewaste wrote: »

If you find it difficult to control your spending on your credit card, freeze it. Seriously. Pop it in a tub of water and put it in the freezer. You can still use it, but you have to wait until it's defrosted, which gives you time to ask yourself whether you really need the item. Don't cheat and defrost in microwave though, as the card could get damaged.

Quick word of warning...

We froze our credit cards a couple of years ago having read this tip somewhere else - after a couple of months we had an unexpected and very expensive car repair that we just didn't have the cash for so we fished out the cards in their block of ice and left them to defrost. We discovered that the white signature strip at the back had pretty much disintergrated and that only one of the cards would work with chip and pin.

I now keep our cards in a sealed envelope that is taped to the bottom of a drawer! This makes me think twice about what I'm planning on buying as I remember why I put them there, but they are still available should I need them in a financial emergency!

sistercas

i buy value double concentrate squash , when i get it home i decant half into another bottle and top up with water . the kids will pour the same amount whether its double or not , so this saves me money
i also do this with concentrate fabric conditioner

stressedoutmother

I've been doing the Superdrug feedback survey for about 6 months now. It gives you 10% off everything you buy though you must spend over £10. If you buy own brand products you get 25% off. I use their own washing powder which is 99p before discount and 75p after! I have 4 boys, do a lot of washing and have found it's a pretty good product. You can do this survey after each shop using the receipt they give you. I do it once a month and buy most of my toiletries/cleaning stuff there incl bleach, plenty rolls, MUA make up, and shampoo etc. Plus they do have some good offers on and these are discounted too. It has saved me loads!

Does anyone use the dryer-balls - I've heard they speed up the tumble drying?