Anyone fancy joining me in a challenge.. Champagne lifestyle on a lemonade budget

Tater

Have you tried making your own liquid soap? It's really easy to make and saves you an absolute bundle.

All you need is:
Cheese grater
2 Tablespoons of Liquid Glycerin
1 x 8 oz bar of soap
1 gallon of water

1: Grate the entire bar of soap
2: Fill a pan with 1 gallon of water and add the soap shavings.

3: Add 2 Tablespoons of liquid glycerin and heat on the hob medium/high and stir until the soap dissolves.
5: Leave it alone to cool for at least 10-12 hours. It begins to cloud up after 3-4 hours
6: After it has cooled completely around 12 hours later it will harden and look like liquid soap.
7: If the soap is harder than it should be you can take some beaters and blend it while adding just a little bit of water until the consistency is more like liquid soap. If it is runnier it may be because you are using an extra moisturising soap (eg Dove), if this is the case just heat it up again and add more grated soap.

Use can use this as hand wash and shower creme and it works amazingly.

You can even use a plain soap then add drops of essential oils to make your own smells. If you put it in old bottles branded bottles then no one will ever know!

Happy saving!

Tater

Also the shop Home Bargains is amazing - branded products, groceries and toiletries, at a fraction of the price. For example, I bought Simple suncream in numerous SPFs for £2, cereal is half the price as are crisps, cakes, biscuits etc

Tiggy10

What a great thread!
As a student im constantly trying to live the champagne lifestyle on value lemonade budget!
But ebay is what gets me through. If i see an item of clothing i really want in a shop, u can bet ebay has a used, second or even new at a fraction of the price.
The same goes for makeup. I buy benefit makeup, new, for 60% less!

notatvstar

Tiggy10 wrote: »

The same goes for makeup. I buy benefit makeup, new, for 60% less!

... really!!!

Damn.... (heads off to ebay...)

mooomin

Long-time lurker on this thread, first time posting

Just to say, beware of buying on Ebay for makeup as there are a lot of fakes out there, and it can be hard to tell the difference. I've been stung a couple of times, but thankfully always managed to get my money back. It just worries me to think what might be in the eyeshadows etc if they're not genuine :eek:

Governor

Find a washing up liquid that suits your hands - probably something expensive like Fairy. Buy it when it's on special offer. When you come to use it, DON'T SQUEEZE THE BOTTLE. Turn it upside down and let gravity allow a small amount to escape - it's so easy to control the amount you use this way. Your bottle will probably last more than twice as long - practice to see how little you need. This way, you'll have champagne product at lemonade value!

The following tips will also help:

Always rinse food off plates / pans / cutlery with COLD water as soon as possible after use.

Soak mucky pans in COLD water overnight before washing.

Invest in bicarbonate of soda - cleans everything safely from sinks, baths, mucky pans, etc. No need for Flash, Jiff, etc. And it doesn't hurt your hands or scratch delicate surfaces. Cheapest place I've found to buy it is from supermarkets.

:money::T

indianabode

I've found the best place for loo rolls is Farmfoods. Two packs of 9 rolls for £4 - works out at just over 22p a roll. It's not so cheap and nasty that when wet "your fingers go through" - as my mum puts it!

vodkawitch1

Re toothpaste I use the smartprice toothpaste and add a little bicarb soda. Works a treat.:T

little_miss_moneysaver_3

wildthing01 wrote: »

my version of champagne lifestyle on lemonade budget is a bit different to OP's. i don't do the 50% thing - too much maths for me. i have my 'base price' for everything (the cheapest price i have found for an acceptable version of the item having done the downshift challenge). if i ever see a higher-branded/ upmarket version of the item for about same or cheaper, then i stock up. so if i usually buy own-brand beans at 25p a can and see Heinz for 25p a can or less, i buy the Heinz.

this is also what I do. Certain things I have my price like 10p a wash for washing powder although now I'm seriously considering making gloop. The main things though are "luxury" things like crisps or items such as yogurts as its easy to be wooed by brands and before you know it you're paying 50p for a little tub of flavoured cream!

We make butties the night before here. I'd rather have the extra 5 mins in bed in the morning.

My dad used smart price/value toothpaste all the time. He told me that his dentist told him that it was a lot better than expensive ones as it had less chemicals and cleaned the teeth well. I guess expensive ones have the whiteners in etc as well as getting teeth clean. How true that is I don't know though.

ianboz

Skintslimmer wrote: »

...
My supermarket shop tonight was... interesting
Highlights:
...

Quilted loo roll - £6 for 16, RRP was 9.99 so not quite 50% off. Wanted to got to morrissons for a true BOGOF but they had shut
....

If you have a branch of Farm Foods near you, you may find they stock Nicky loo roll, usually 2x9-pack for £4. We find it much better than supermarket's own, and cheaper too.

As a bonus, there are three or four colours, so we can even match the colour scheme!

Kitchen roll is cheap too in the same brand, but can't remember the price.

All the best with your challenge.