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

calleyw

GreyQueen wrote: »

I'm happy as Larry but a burglar wouldn't be very impressed.:rotfl:

Grey Queen are you sure they might not take pity on you and bring you some new stuff :rotfl:

I always say if I got broken in to they would feel sorry for me because of the mess and tidy up for me :j.

Any how. My one obvious tip is to put washing up liquid/shampoo/shower gel etc in to pump dispensers so go further.

Sainsburys do a Baylis + harding funky farm bath and shower gel 1L for £1.50 with a pump dispenser. It is with the childrens stuff. Has farm animals all over it:rotfl:. Got one for a someone I know as they would just tip half a bottle of bubble bath in at time and then moan that it was all gone.

Yours

Calley

Bambywamby

Some of my obvious/less obvious money savers include:

- Spreading marg on the flat side of Ryvitas and cream crackers so the marg doesn't sink into holes so you to use less. Less calories consumed too.
- Buy smaller apples/pears/bananas etc so you get more pieces of fruit for your money.
- I Frequently cook with a metal steamer, so most meals can be made on one hob ring. If you find the vegetables are taking longer to cook, just cut them smaller of slice them thinner...simples.
- Have your flat screen TV on saver mode. So should you fall asleep in front of the TV it turns itself off within an hour.
- I bulk the dogs meals out with chicken skin, fruit peelings, sausage fat, left overs, oil drained from canned fish etc
- Rinse out and save jam/coffee/sauce jars to make into pickles/jams/chutneys in the autumn or for whenever you get a glut of fresh produce.
- Turn things off rather than leave things on standby. After a while it becomes habitual and you can't believe that you ever let that amazingly expensive source of energy just leak away.
- Use less cooked meat in sandwhichs by adding home grown leaves. Mixed salad leaves are sown and grown within 3 weeks and cost alot less than lettuces and mixed leaves in the shops.
- Use Stardrops to wash whites on 40 degrees. My DPs shirts sparkle after a wash in Stardrops and you only need 20mls at most.
- Use up 'past it' veg in veggie sauces and semi-manky fruit in smoothies or even homemade sorbets.
- I made some gorgeous and incredibly cheap home made faggots the other day (like meatballs in gravy for those that don't know) using up a tidgy 150 gms of minced beef, one slice of torn up bread soaked in mild, one egg, one small grated onion, salt, pepper and 1/2 teaspoon of milk chilli. You mix all the ingredients together, make into approx eight balls. Brown both sides of faggot/meatball in a frying pan (takes 10 mins) and then gentley simmer them in a pan of left over gravy for 25 mins. It made enough for two and they were incredibly rich.
- Walk/cycle everywhere rather than use the car especially as the weather is getting better and fuel is extortionately priced.
- Car share.
-If you get your groceries delivered - don't have them delivered at peak times as the deliveries can be as much as £1.50 moe expensive. Between 8am - 10am in the morning it's £5 but between 4pm - 6pm it's £3.50.
- Make sure you are getting the most from your shopping by using http://www.asdapriceguarantee.co.uk/ or https://www.tescopricecheck.com/PriceCheck/Pages/StoreCompare/Default.aspx
those cash back vouchers all add up.
- Growing strawbs in hanging baskets keeps them slug free.
- Make homemade cloches for your lettuces and salad leaves by chopping the tops off see through plastic bottles and putting them over the young seedlings. the two litre bottles are a good size for young lettuces and will deter birds, slugs and butterflys from snacking.
- Soak pasta in cold water for 60 minutes before cooking, the pasta rehydrates and only needs a quick 5 minutes on a heated ring to cook through.

Bams x

oldtractor

Try to make everything do twice. EG if going on a car journey to visit friends go to the local supermarket for your shopping. Use freecycle as much as possible. Take cuttings and plant seeds . grow your own veg. re use old clothes by making them into something else. put fleece blankets behind the curtains in winter. use a thermos flask instead of repeatedly boiling the kettle. was clothes on a low temperature or cold wash. never assume,always find out the true price of everything. wear a hat and socks in bed. add blankets or quilts to keep warm. use a hot water bottle.
if it isnt reduced dont buy it. save for a rainly day so you dont have to borrow.

RAS

Really basic.

If you allow soap to age, it gets harder and then it lasts a lot longer. Put it away for at least 6 months.

theonlynuttytart

i buy dilute orange, vimto etc when on offer and use tesco or asdas value and smartprice sparkling water to make the fizzy variety instead of adding still water to it.
my son loves it and i also have used the smartprice or value no sugar lemonade to dilute the cordial.
i make jam with bargain fruit and leave it in the fridge in a large preserving jar (poundshop do fab ones as do home bargains) even if its a bit runny you can make your own fruit corners with cheap natural yogourt. i also use it to make upside down cakes. put the jam at the bottom of a cake tin, make a 4 ratio sponge mix and put it on top, bake and serve with custard. Delicious and cheap! i have a litre of plum jam on the go at the mo!:D

fizzking

Not the cheapest initial outlays but less of a hair shirt approach than some others, whilst still saving money.
1. I use an electrically pumped liquid soap dispenser for Hand and WUL in kitchen and in the Cloaks for Hand. Can adjust it and the minimum quantity is OK. Another advantage is in being non-contact, which is good if your hands are dirty. 500ml of liquid soap lasts about 4 months. Use rechargeable batteries not one-shot ones. I get about 2 months per charge.
2. I have an electric bike, which I use a lot. Great for doing 1 to 2 miles to shops/library/post office and parking is wherever you like.Less sweaty than a push bike and sometimes faster....I have been known to overtake pedallers! I raced against my car from town centre to home, about 1 mile, and won easily because I could avoid bottlenecks and right hand turns into traffic. ( I did not break any traffic laws, incidentally). Recharging takes about 1hr and I use a timer to switch it off at 1hr, to minimise juice. Cost of recharge is minimal.
In fact the prob now is that the car sits unused for days at a time.
3. The oven is used once a week now (Sunday roasts), since I bought a halogen cooker in Aldi. It does chips to perfection and generally is quicker. Not only saves juice but prolongs the life of the oven element, which tended to fail every 15 months or so ( don't ask!) Even a DIY replacement was £35 ( a task well within the scope of a DIYer) and a site visit/replacement around £100.
Various TV channels sell halogen ovens but at twice the Aldi price and 1/3rd the warranty. They all appear to be the same.

gelato_cat

You could put them in a little plastic bag (one of those ones with a zip lock if you want to be really careful) before freezing. That way, if you find yourself really desperately needing the cards, you can defrost the block with warm water and the plastic bag would go some way to protecting the card.

"Warm water is not very MSE!" I hear you cry! Don't fill the sink or run the tap, just take the block into the shower with you :rotfl:

Suze

oldMcDonald wrote: »

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!

gelato_cat

Patr100 wrote: »

Also your local library online may have free access to the paid for online versions such as the Times.

Never thought of that! Do libraries only offer this on the computers on their premises? Or through their online services which you can access from home? I do miss The Times Online!

Patr100 wrote: »

Don't buy Radio Times etc use free online listings or the RT's own site.

Or, if you have a smart phone and Internet tariff (some say this is not MSE, but it works out pretty cheap for me), and also have Sky+ (again, MSE-ness debatable), then download the free Sky+ app and you can decide what you want to watch and set reminders/record it. (Then you can do the MSE thing of watching recordings instead of renting DVDs.) The search function has its advantages over the one on the Sky+ box too.

[I want to get Lovefilm and ditch Sky Movies but the hub won't let me... yet ]

On the subject of smartphones and Internet access, only turn on the connection when you actually need it. I have an Android phone with Google Maps already loaded so I don't need to connect to the Internet to use them. I don't need to know what my friends are doing every hour of every day so I don't allow Facebook and Twitter to download feeds throughout the day, I just have a quick check during my lunch break or when I'm on the Tube and then switch the connection off again. This means I'm not whittling away my 1Gb/month allowance when I'm not using my phone.

I also don't use my mobile connection at home as we have a wireless network at home (as many people do) so I just connect my phone to that.

Even if you have limitless Internet allowances on your tariff, using the mobile connection less conserves the battery life too, which also saves electricity as you charge the phone less often (altho I charge mine at work whenever possible).

The below travel tips mostly revolve around London transport and Oyster...

When I am out and about I try to save money on public transport by planning my week, so if I need to go into town for errands I'll do it on the same day I am planning to go into town to meet friends. I am in London and use Oyster Pay As You Go, so if I make several journeys in one day I know the maximum that will come off my card is the equivalent Day Travelcard cost. It therefore makes sense to make all the journeys on one day (where poss) rather than spread them through the week.

I have auto top-up so I never have to worry about finding somewhere to top up my card etc.

If I am ready to leave the office after working late and it's between 6.30pm and 7pm I just stay at work until 6.50pm which means I touch in at the Tube after 7pm and therefore pay the off-peak rate.

It may sound obvious but if you are buying a season ticket, make sure it a) actually saves you money and b) covers the zones you want. I know a few people who only go into Zone One occasionally but buy a Zones 1-3 travelcard when a Zones 2-3 plus a bit of PAYG would get them through the week/month/year. One girl lived in Zone 2, had a Zones 1-3 travelcard but only ever got the bus to work. A bus pass plus a few quid PAYG or auto top-up would have saved her loads of £££. If you only make two trips per day then don't assume a season ticket is cheaper than PAYG.

On the subject of buses and travelcards, if, for example, you work in Zone One and live in Zone 4, don't buy a Zones 1-4 travelcard if you can quickly/easily get to Zone 3 by bus. Get a Zones 1-3 Travelcard which allows you to get the bus to Zone 3 and then change to the Tube/train there. Saves you at least £300 a year (closer to £375 if you buy weeklies).

If you can make your journey either via Tube or National Rail, check the cost of both journeys before travelling. Don't assume they're the same price - sometimes Tube is cheaper and other times NR. Changing between Tube and NR in the same journey can cost £££ more than just using one mode too.

Suze

gelato_cat

Little_Miss_Moneysaver wrote: »

Buy a bodyshop bath lilly when on sale - sooo much better than all the others and you use less shower gel. Even my other half has one since i told him to stop nicking mine

That's true actually - I chuck mine when they become all unravelled, which doesn't seem to take long. However I do have a Body Shop one that a school friend gave me when they were first launched in about 1993 (they were called Body Kiss) and it's still going strong!!! I put mine in the washing machine with the towels!

It's never actually occurred to me that that thing is almost 20 years old

I'll have to buy Body Shop ones from now on!

Little_Miss_Moneysaver wrote: »

Keep all vouchers in a compartment in your purse with your loyalty cards - save the 'ohhhh s@$t!!!' moment when you realise you've left them all on the kitchen worktop at home.

Have you seen Extreme Couponing? The people on there have ring binders full of coupons, all fully catalogued and compartmentalised... I can imagine they'd go postal if they realised they'd left anything at home!!!

Suze

marmiterulesok

rachbc wrote: »

Not buying stuff you don't need! And having a strict definition of need!

You've really hit the nail on the head there!I do manage this SOME of the time.It's a work in progress...

I've finally got through the whole thread.Lots of great ideas,and some new ones to me.I like the suggestion of buying small pieces of fruit and veg.

These are some of my tips,though a lot have already been mentioned:

I always take a packed lunch to work.

If I'm going to be out for a while I take a drink and sometimes a snack.It saves buying a drink/snack at an inflated price.

I shop with a shopping list and also plan meals in advance.I also batch cook.

I read the paper online.

I don't leave things on standby.

When having a shower I only have the water on to wet my body and to rinse.I turn it off in between.

Please keep your suggestions coming in.:cool: