Great 'ways To Cut Back' Hunt

thecornflake

I don't know if this has already been posted but a while ago due to only having just enough for the food shopping left we had to add up the items on a mobile phone calculator to make sure we didn't get to the checkout and not have enough to pay (the idea terrified me!)

The saving was massive - when you are typing in each and every price into a calculator and watching it add up it makes such a difference.
We dropped our monthly shopping down to £160 from £220 doing this and then switching to a different supermarket has got us down to £120/month.

lazy&indebt

I worked out recently that I can get 80 miles out of £10. My car is a Peugeot 206, 1.1 and I drive 'about town' (would prob get 100miles out of a tenner on the motorway) and I paid 93.9pence per litre.

rchrisp

go to your local pound/priceless store for washing powder... got some ace Norwegian "Dynamo" last week - 2 kilos for £1.25!

switch to cloth pads - http://www.clothmadmummy.wahmall.co.uk/

make sure you claim back any bank charges/store card/credit card charges. visit http://www.consumeractiongroup.com to find out how.

rchrisp

just had a bit of a think when cleaning out my pantry (two bags of food wasted :mad: )

when frying, reuse the oil (let it cool then pour it into a glass jar to use next time - we do this when making our own chips with rapeseed oil)

wait for 5p listing days when listing loads of ebay

visit Chinese supermarkets for oriental food, especially good if you use a lot of rice.

befriend your local butcher. you end up getting decent quality meat, prepared just how you like it, and cheaper than the supermarket. mine even gives me samples of sausages...

JollyNolly

lazy&indebt wrote:

I worked out recently that I can get 80 miles out of £10. My car is a Peugeot 206, 1.1 and I drive 'about town' (would prob get 100miles out of a tenner on the motorway) and I paid 93.9pence per litre.

That looks good to me. I've just done 200 miles on £25 of petrol (at 95p/litre - that's the best around here). Mind you, I haven't been sticking to my resolution about keeping my speed down on the motorway - I think I need to leave home earlier so that I don't have to break the speed limit to get to work on time! BTW, my car's a Ford Focus 1.6 LX. Looks like I should be changing to a 206!

Bambywamby

Just a few of my fav penny pinching tips.

1) Don't put nail varnish remover on cotton wool, it acts like a sponge and soaks in far more than you need ~ use tissue.
2) Any water based beauty product (shampoo, conditioner,shower gel, cleanser, toner,etc) will go alot further and be just as effective if you add water to the product when the bottle is half full.
3) If you have a packet of old cereal that has gone a bit soggy pop the cereal (not the box) in the microwave for 45 seconds. The waves will remove all the moisture and you will have crispy cereal again.
4) Use over ripe or black bananas instead of margarine or butter when making a cake or buns. The sponge is really moist and so much better for you too.
5) Don't leave any electrical appliances on stand by, you can reduce electric bills upto 10% by ensuring everything is turned off properly (and don't forget to turn your printer off and mobile phone charger too they are often over looked when not in use)
6)If your mascara has gone hard or cloggy in the tube just pop the wand in a cup of boiling water for one minute and you will have oddles of smooth liquid mascara ready for use.
7) If you have to throw away nail varnish because it keeps going thick, the bottles are getting to hot (do you keep them near a radiator or a window sill?) store them in your fridge to give a longer shelf life.
8) Start growing your own seedlings from tomato seeds, apple & pear pips etc
9) If you buy full fat milk and water it down in equal amounts (1 pint of water to 1 pint of milk) you will get a milk that is as rich as semi skimmed milk but for half the price.
10) Stop taking sugar in your tea and coffee ~ if you find it too difficult to go cold turkey start to reduce the amount you use, after a while you will find you dont miss it.
11) Take a jar of expensive coffee and a jar of cheap coffee and mix the two together ~ for some reason the cheap coffee takes on the full bodied flavour of the more expensive coffee yet you get twice as much.
12) If you still use bars of soap and get left with endless little slithers slit open a body sponge at the top, pop the soap in and you will be able to have plenty of bubbles on the sponge and you will used up those last pieces of soap.
13) Make dog food go further buy adding oat mulch. This is oats that have been soaked over night in water and then drained.
14) Buy plenty of rice, pulses, pastas, cous cous, lentils and legumes from the dry produce aisles. They are cheap, make loads of meals, are fantastically good for you and can bulk up meals when you want to use less meat or replace it.
15) Buy smaller sized eggs they are usually cheaper and you will not really notice the difference particularly when cooking and baking. (Go for free range...say NO to battery eggs).
16) If you are using cooking chocolate freeze before you cut it or grate it, it will go further.
17) Don't sell ebay items so they go off between 7pm and 8.30pm during the week as many people are watching the soaps at this time so you will miss alot of potential customers.
18) Pram power walking is the latest craze for mums ~ get fit for free and get out of the house for some fresh air with the kids. Brisk walking around the park or "safe" street areas is a great fat burnerand you can have a gossip to your friends as you go.
19) Google in the word FREEBIES for hundreds of sites that give links to free samples.
20) Book your holidays last minute ( one to two weeks before you are due to go) you are likely to get a cancellation and can save hundreds of pounds.

sara2323

1) Shop around, especially if you have several stores/supermarkets within walking distance.
We have kwiksave, Asda, lidl, farmfoods etc within very close proximity and I have found that not all the products I want from any one store are cheap for example today I bought milk which was £1.60 in Farmfoods wheras in ASDA it would have cost me £2.10, bread which was 50p in FF was 82p in Kwiksave etc.
2)Try to borrow toys from toy library (https://www.natll.org.uk) or buy from Car boot Sales as new toys are so expensive, I only buy new toys for Special occasions birthdays etc. As my kids play with used toys at nurseries, schools etc so nothing wrong with playing with them at home.
3)Mix soda crystals with cheap washing powder.
4)Use stardrops for everything!

pottybeaver

Hit me with a wet fish if this has already been suggested (!)

I buy supermarket own brand washing powder and mix it with a bag of soda crystals (about 51p). Soda crystals can be used to wash delicates and can be added to the machine drum if clothes are muckier than normal. This way I spend about £2.00 every two months and by using less powder on lightly soiled items, it costs me about a tenner a year (still with 3-4 loads a week).

Feef_2

My first post! If you have a top up mobile phone why not get a boots or tesco club card too? If you top up at boots you will get 4 points(worth 4p) per £1 worth of top up or 1 point (worth 1P) per £1 worth of top up at Tesco. I mean its extra on top and if you already shop at these stores then its wee bits towards the whole total.

Also if a Tesco clubcard holder, join their clubs, ie healty club or food club. You tend to find they send you loads of vouchers for stuff you would normally buy anyway.

xXx

JollyNolly

Feef wrote:

Also if a Tesco clubcard holder, join their clubs, ie healty club or food club. You tend to find they send you loads of vouchers for stuff you would normally buy anyway.

xXx

Great tip, Feef, and welcome! I've just been off to the Tesco site to sign up for anything that says "club", and I'm now looking forward to getting my vouchers!