So How Do You Guys Do It?

BitterAndTwisted

butterfly72 wrote: »

Making cleaning products sounds interesting! Do you have anymore info or links to relevant threads?

thanks

You can clean most things with "laundry gloop". I used some the other day for some glasses that had lime-scale stains on plus a manky old Pyrex dish from a charity shop and they both came up like new.

Also, I made another 15 litre batch of gloop the other day for about three quid or so

oldtractor

try incorporating one simple evening meal and 2 vegetarian days a week. eg pilchards on toast for the simple meal; HM veg soup for the veggie dinner and veg and chickpea casserole for the other.

butterfly72

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

You can clean most things with "laundry gloop". I used some the other day for some glasses that had lime-scale stains on plus a manky old Pyrex dish from a charity shop and they both came up like new.

Also, I made another 15 litre batch of gloop the other day for about three quid or so

Whats gloop!!!? I like the sound of it!

camNolliesMUMMY

i know people say dont mix products, but i have used this for 3 years now with no problems.
Empty spray bottle, fill not quit to the top a glug of stardrops and a tiny amount of zaflora disinfectant-antiseptic, i love the smell of it and their you have an anitseptic disinfectant cleaner for surfaces-bathroom do not spray inside a microwave as it could cause corrosion, i use the zaflora mixed with wash liquid to wash and clean the floors. thats it i use it for my house and its just as clean as anyone elses but cost me nothing.

if your worried about zaflora use lavender essential oil-natural antiseptic and lemon cuts through grease and disinfects too so i believe.

i ahve nothing else in my cupboard, a bottle of stardrops cost around 80p in home bargains and lasts our house a year, saves £1 a bottle branded cleaners.

Gloop- found this thread? https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/356520#Comment_356520

bossymoo

I use zoflora too! Instead of dettol spray. I splash a little in a used spray bottle, add a squirt of washing up liquid and fill with water.

I use it as kitchen cleaner. I find the washing up liquid helps it cut through grease better than on its own.

Tiny bottle so not loads to store, cheap and lasts ages. And a choice of fragrance.

Aldahbra

I was exactly the same and really struggled to bring my grocery budget to below £500 per month. Now I have to get all the house keeping out of that money, including school dinners, school milk and children's clubs and pet food/care etc.

The one thing that has made a huge difference in my ability to do that is using the website mysupermarket.com.

I have to plan all the meals in advance, making a shopping list and running the shopping list through the website mysupermarket.com. This site tells you which is the cheapest supermarket for your shopping. I have found that I have to compare all of the 3 supermarkets by going to the shop as it's instant comparison does not take account of any offers. Now I would not shop any groceries with out using it.

I plan a weeks food at once but only shop every week and a half. At the moment I am finding that when it comes to it there is always enough food in the house to cover those un planned days. When the freezer/store cupboard is more depleted I may find that doesn't work.

I have found the book "how to feed your whole family a healthy diet with very little money" by Gill Holcome very useful.

Furrtiv

Am I winning? I feed myself, OH and three cats for around £70 per month, and that includes loo-rolls, toiletries, etc. And I usually just shop at Asda for most of my stuff, apart from meat which, because I have concerns over animal welfare, I get from the local Co-op whenever they have offers on. We don't eat much fish, which is often more expensive than meat, and I have lots of cupboard ingredients like Worcester sauce and fish sauce, etc, which I buy cheap on offer and it lasts for ages. Adds flavour to meat and veg when used as marinades.
I also find that learning to mke a basic white sauce, or roux, is a blessing, and tastes nicer than store-bought packet sauces. Butter or marg, flour and milk still work out cheaper per fluid ounce than powder sauce.
As for cleaning products, we rely on bleach, washing up liquid and anti-bacterial spray. That's it. Shampoo and conditioner are the cheapest supermarket own brands, as are soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes. It beggars belief for me that people are happy to spend up to a fiver on a tube of toothpaste!

spinningsheep

I have also become way more savvy in how I shop for food. I don't always buy the cheapest brands and I don't always buy fresh, however, I do always buy my meat from the butchers, or the whoop shelf at my local co op, and I go to 2 meat men. These guys are amazing. There is one who is a wagon who parks up in the market square in Newcastle under Lyme where I work, and he does all sorts of deals from the wagon with a microphone on his head! Also I use a place called The Meat Man in Oswestry, he had weird opening times but I got some brilliant deals on bacon, mince and chicken. I always portion up and freeze them. Same goes for batch cooking. I have 2 smaller chest freezers, one was free from a friend who no longer had space after moving house and the other was about £80 reduced in my local Euronics centre about 6 years ago, and they have saved me a fortune. I never pay full price for most of my food, always bought on reduced and popped in the freezer!

Wood.Justin

Hi Folks,

It has been a while since I ventured back into these parts of the forum. I'm now on a quest to make money go further when it comes to grocery shopping.

We used to spend probably £300 minimum per month on shopping at ASDA, we fully converted to ALDI and made a meal planner/shopping list and have stuck to it for almost 6 months now! We are down to approx. on average £150 per month for two adults.

Typically I make a months worth of meal plans and have a big shop once a month for all cupboard staples and meat for the freezer. Then it's just topped up with the fresh stuff on a weekly basis grabbing and marked down red label stuff when it appears and stocking up then adjusting shopping needs for the next weeks shop.

What steps do you think I could take to make further savings on our shopping bills?

SpikyHedgehog

Have you tried http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/index.html?opt=p1m1 Weezl's meal planner? When I used the vegetarian version, I got the shopping down to £150 a month for 1 adult, 1 teenager, 1 8 yr old, the cat, & I included the toiletries etc in the shopping.