Spill the beans ... what's the most embarrassing MoneySaving thing you do?

mrbrightside842

I've given away tickets for parking, and I've had them given to me, but tbh if someone asked me to buys theirs for half price it would make me feel really uncomfortable and I'd decline.

seaglass4

Sorry if been said before ( newbie here EEK!)

Has no one else ever bought a coffee at a restaurant & then proceeded to get your own food out for the children? My nana used to do this all the time & because you are drinking eating some of their food they tend not to say anything, Also if we are having a day out we take a picnic & if it rains we ask if ok to eat somewhere inside, they invariably say yes.

Oh & I sometimes go to IKEA for a free coffe while the children are in the free creche

and when I am going on a day out, I will quite often ring the place beforehand & ask if they know where I can get any money off vouchers.

Maybe my first post shouldn't be quite so revealing.

miss_corerupted

no one judge me now but....

where I work we get quite a lot of flytipping (I have quite a lot of nasty words about these people) anyway part of my job is to search through to find evidence but sometimes they tip really good stuff which they could easy sell/freecycle/charity shop so I keep the good stuff

Currently I have a kitchen island on wheels (IKEA £70), 5 wooden venetian blinds (£30 each from IKEA), Panasonic surround sound speakers, 200 5litre plant pots and loads of clothes

I just don't get why people dump esp good stuff

katieowl_2

Beetlemama wrote: »

We use value nappy bags for dog poo bags, but try to get unscented as a pocket full of little bags also helps when you wander across a blackberry bramble or crap apple in the park.

I do that too... :rotfl: Yes because nappy bags are about £1 for 100, and dog poo bags are about £1 for 25!

Beetlemama wrote: »

We also stuff toilet rolls with paper and I pour used kitchen fat over them as firelighters.

LOL :rotfl: I do that too....do you think we are secretly related!

Kate

claireyrosey

When buying prepacked cheese in the supermarket - it comes in a set weight e.g. 250g (with a big e next to the weight) its roughly 250g - some packs will weight more and some less. So i take my prepacked cheese to the fruit&veg isle and weight it to check I get a heavy pack. (i found one pack which should have been 250g only weighed 190g - which swiftly when back on the shelf) I've only been doing this a few weeks, so still feel embrassed that people might look at me weighing my cheese.

Fruball

claireyrosey wrote: »

When buying prepacked cheese in the supermarket - it comes in a set weight e.g. 250g (with a big e next to the weight) its roughly 250g - some packs will weight more and some less. So i take my prepacked cheese to the fruit&veg isle and weight it to check I get a heavy pack. (i found one pack which should have been 250g only weighed 190g - which swiftly when back on the shelf) I've only been doing this a few weeks, so still feel embrassed that people might look at me weighing my cheese.

I sometimes do this with pre-packed mushrooms and other things :o:o

Justamum

claireyrosey wrote: »

When buying prepacked cheese in the supermarket - it comes in a set weight e.g. 250g (with a big e next to the weight) its roughly 250g - some packs will weight more and some less. So i take my prepacked cheese to the fruit&veg isle and weight it to check I get a heavy pack. (i found one pack which should have been 250g only weighed 190g - which swiftly when back on the shelf) I've only been doing this a few weeks, so still feel embrassed that people might look at me weighing my cheese.

A pack weighing only 190g is nearly 25% short of the weight - that's not 'roughly' 250g, it's way off! Surely there's some legal maximum variation (say 5% either way).

NualaBuala

Justamum wrote: »

I had to chuckle at this - my son who is 12 - is very good at finding dropped coins and is always presenting me with the odd penny or two he's found. I tell him to keep them and put them in his moneybox, but he knows we are always skint, so he gives them to me. Bless him.:A

Awwwww, that is just lovely! What a sweetheart! :A


Just a word of caution for anyone making their own beauty products: if you add water then you run the risk of microbial contamination (moisture provides the right conditions for bacteria etc to thrive). So you either need to add some sort of antimicrobial preservative or else you could just make very small quantities that you will use up fairly quickly (say within a week or so) and keep it in a cool place (ideally the fridge).

GreyQueen

Westywoodpecker wrote: »

We do this all the time but don't ask for anything in return for our ticket. It gives me a "feel good" factor, a bit like giving blood for nothing.

Trust me, it's a nice feeling

About 15 years ago, I was standing beside the ticket machine on a carpark sorting thru my change when another motorist who was driving out wound down his window and handed me his ticket.

Being pretty hard-up, I accepted gratefully and lived to regret it; when I came back to my car a couple of hours later I'd been stung with with a £25 fine. The car park attendant had seen the exchange. Wish I'd not accepted that particular freebie.

katieowl_2

Re weighing stuff that is prepacked in supermarkets.

I ALWAYS do this!!! As far as I'm aware the product just has to be over the declared weight to be legally sold.

There is often a huge difference in weight between individually priced items - a cabbage for instance, it's a no brainer to make sure you get as much cabbage as you can for your money.

A week or so ago the baking potatoes were on special in Mr T at 50P the declared weight on the package was 750g - some were about 800-900g but others were as much as 1400g!!! That's a LOT of extra potato!

Things like value carrots are often cheaper than the loose ones, and the last time I checked the 'family' pack of mushrooms was cheaper than loose...but you have to check every time.

I've been helpfully told by other customers, that the item I'm weighing is individually priced...but when I've pointed out what I'm doing and why, I think they have all had their own light bulb moment.

And Re cheese, if any of you are shopping in a Mr T with a deli counter, check for what's on offer there before you stick that pack of value cheese in your trolley...most times there is an offer on a deli cheese that makes it cheaper than the value packs. Take you calculator with you...because I think the way they mark it up is designed to confuzle.


Kate

PS not the slightest bit embarrassed by doing this. I'd be more embarassed to NOT do it!!! It's my money after all!