Great 'ways To Cut Back' Hunt

momisa

ginger_spice wrote: »

The problem is that you have to pay for each item on a prescription currently about £7 each,

Hi Ginger Spice

I have 2 prescriptions per month to pay for as I'm not exempt. If I were to pay for each prescription each month I'd pay; £6.85 x 2 x 12 = £164.40

Being able to get 3 months of prescriptions at once means I pay an annual cost of; £6.85 x 2 x 4 = £54.80

I'm paying substantially less than I would normally be even taking into account the cost of the prepayment certificates. A 12 month prepayment certificate costs £95.30.

If you need prescriptions make sure that you're not exempt from paying.

KittyBoo_2

Going back to what Frugal referred to (LETS scheme).
I am a member of something similiar called the Time Bank where the "currency " is 1 hour of your time. So if I wanted someone to do a bit of DIY for me I can then contribute an hour of my skill into the Time Bank. I walk someones dog for them and also take other members to their hospital appointments etc. Great way of getting jobs done and we also have social evenings and fundraisers for charity.

Taadaa

Impomdasp wrote: »

We suffer from very hard water here. Does anyone know of a cheaper alternative brand or a cheaper old-fashioned alternative please?

I'm not sure how you could work this, but the absolutely best thing to remove limescale is white vinegar. Its about 69p a bottle. Put it on the affected area, leave it a little while, rub it off. It works, I use it on my draining board, shower head and kettle. It's cheap, and it's chemical free too.

Taadaa

And another thing....

hoover the coils in the back of the fridge/freezer once in a while, if they get dusty they don't work as well and they use more electric.

KittyBoo_2

My Gran used to stand all her sauce bottles/shampoos etc upside down so that all the last dregs would come to the top. She would rinse the sauce bottles out with vinegar to get the last bit. My Mum does this and so do I. I went round my student son's house earlier and the mango chutney jar was turned upside down! What a family tradition.

comping_cat

Taadaa wrote: »

I'm not sure how you could work this, but the absolutely best thing to remove limescale is white vinegar. Its about 69p a bottle. Put it on the affected area, leave it a little while, rub it off. It works, I use it on my draining board, shower head and kettle. It's cheap, and it's chemical free too.

Doesnt have to be white vinegar, you can use normal malt vinegar and the supermarkets own value range is even cheaper. For stuborn marks, sprinkle on bicarb first, then add the vinegar - stand back and it works wonders!!!!

dollydaydream07

if you have a Mach3 power razor, dont buy the Mach3 power blades, just buy some normal Mach3 blades, they fit perfectly and DH says they are a good shave if not better, and they cost less
Mach3 power bladesfor a pack of 4 - £7.49
Mach3 blades for a pack of 4 - £4.99

smartcat04

Buy your fruit and veg from a local market. Went this afternoon and spent less than a tenner. The stall holders often don't want to drag every thing back home with them and often there isn't another market for a few days so instead of it going "off" they sell it off cheap at the end of the day.

cazbarfeatures

Before I started a family I used to withdraw £50 cash each time my purse ran out of money, 'just in case' money. I think when you are buying the odd lunch, bag of crisps, sweets, book etc £50 in your purse/wallet seems like a lot and will last but it's amazing how fast it goes.

Now I have a family and every penny is important I only withdraw £10 and I find I am much more careful about what I spend it on.

Another thing I do is collect all my coppers, found and ones of my own and use them in the Post Office stamp machine (the one that issues one at a time). One of the few machines that accepts coppers and it also gives you silver in change.

shelovestobuystuff

momisa wrote: »

Hi Ginger Spice

I have 2 prescriptions per month to pay for as I'm not exempt. If I were to pay for each prescription each month I'd pay; £6.85 x 2 x 12 = £164.40

Being able to get 3 months of prescriptions at once means I pay an annual cost of; £6.85 x 2 x 4 = £54.80

I'm paying substantially less than I would normally be even taking into account the cost of the prepayment certificates. A 12 month prepayment certificate costs £95.30.

If you need prescriptions make sure that you're not exempt from paying.

I get a short term prepayment certificate.£34.65 for 4 months.Build up a stock of your medicines.I use 2 types of inhaler and another medication often so this is cheaper for me anyway.I also order repeat prescriptions every 1-2 weeks while my prepayment certificate is valid so that I end up with hopefully enough in reserve to last the full year.If there is a particular time during the year when you are ill more often, e.g. flu in winter or hayfever in spring or summer, then buy your certificate to tie in with this and make best use of it.