Great 'ways To Cut Back' Hunt

cymrubaby

If you have small children like me and seem to get through lots of nappies, wipes and washing powder then buy multipacks or larger packs if available. I buy the biggest box of washing powder which gives 50 washes and it lasts for a while and is cheaper than buying lots of small boxes or several medium boxes. I also buy the bigger packs of nappies (I have 2 children in nappies at the same time) and I buy multipacks of wipes as they're a lot cheaper than separate packs. Another idea, if it's practical, is to use cotton wool rolls (99p in Wilkinson) and water when cleaning your baby's botty at home and only using wipes when out and about.

cymrubaby

My hot water tap takes an age to heat up and would normally waste a good few litres of water before it got warm so I leave the water run into a large empty bottle and then use the excess water for my plants (house and garden) and the kettle.

Tazz_2

Resist temptation when perusing around shops. If you don't already have it, do you need it?

EagerLearner

I saved quite a bit by stopping getting plastic bottle milk and buying 6 x 1 litre packs of semi-skimmed longlife milk instead. I can't taste the difference and it saves us alot of money and carrying the stuff - we order 12 packs of milk per Tesco shop and it lasts 8-10 weeks. In the fridge one pack easily lasts the week whereas normal milk would go off and be wasted.

We also make our own cleaning spray with vinegar, water and essential oil, however I have found I need to use less vinegar as the smell is something I am not keen on...

Doing the monthly Grocery Challenge here on MSE has saved us £80 a month comparing our spend to this time last year - recommend that thread to anyone.

bennyvdb

What proportions for the cleaning spray?

BigMummaF

Hi. Re:the vinegar spray....I use approx 4:1 water to vinegar, dissolving approx tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda in the vinegar first. I don't add any 'smellie' to a mix for the kitchen work surfaces but that is just preference, & any stubborn stains get a scrub with salt on a damp cloth first.

I have been an ardent follower of MSE for a couple of years, but have to admit that I still need to put most of what you folks preach into personal practice! But I shall persevere!

Fannyfanackapan

For all those thiings you have to have e.g. toilet paper, washing powder, etc., sign up to a discount warehouse like CostCo or similar and buy 3 or 6 months supply, store it in the loft or the garage it will save you a fortune.

I got back my membership fee (around £28) on the very first visit saving over 40% on the cost of toilet paper alone.:j

wordsfan

dawnylou wrote: »

If you cook from scratch how do you know if it is safe to freeze your meals??

Depends what you're cooking, anything with Dairy I'd say no more than 1 month, if you're doing soups that are better with cream, cook minus cream and add at reheating stage, if you do this you can freeze most soups up to 3 months. I'm vegetarian so most of my stuff ok anyway, but I know from my aunt that most things will last up to 3 months in the freezer, just remember to reheat THOROUGHLY, and do not re freeze ANYTHING :eek:

Hope that helps.:A

PS being Veggie much cheaper than eating meat and really easy these days.:T

wordsfan

bennyvdb wrote: »

Same idea,.
If you have a couple of greasy plates or so to wash, instead of turning on the hot tap and filling the pipes with hot water, before you get any, use the hot water that's left in the kettle.
Just a little squeeze of Fairy liquid and again you've saved quite a bit more than the egg!

My boiler's a bit weird anyway, so its easier for me to boil the kettle for dishes, I'm sure it saves leccy, why heat up a whole boiler just for dishes?:o

Gallovidian

Primrose wrote: »

If you are on a water meter, put "hippos" in your toilet cisterns to reduce the amount of water delivered with every flush. Your local water company will probably supply these free of charge.

We used to use a brick.