Great 'ways To Cut Back' Hunt

Optimisticpair

frosty wrote: »

feng shui to save make sure toilet seat is down!!!!:rotfl:

This must be why I have no money,I have a house full of men who never put the seat down:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Not just the seat - you have to put the lid down - humm, start a leaving seat up = 20p forfeit fund to counteract the loss perhaps.

Sarahsaver

Hawthorn you CAN afford the better sausages just eat them less often;)

nancypearl I know some wealthy people who shop at those 'cheap european supermarkets' and i know they have taste. I would shop there more often if they did deliveries! some of us cannot afford to be brand 'picky'.

Premium ranges just have more fat/salt/sugar in them and different coloured packaging!

go on take a leap of faith and try some of the stuff at Aldi or Lidl.

quick-smart

It's a fairly extensive list here, so apologies if I'm repeating other suggestions!

Laundry balls from Lakeland actually work out cheaper than soap nuts - http://www.lakeland.co.uk/wash-it-laundry-ball/F/C/washing-laundry/product/5718
it lasts up to 100 cycles and comes with a stain remover. That's 8p per wash, or 11p if you need to buy it online. As it removes the need for conditioner it's very cost effective!

Also, if you tumble dry and use bounce or another sheet in there, you can use them in drawers etc once you've used them to fragrance your clothes.

http://www.saynoto0870.com is a brilliant site, I use it all the time when I need to call utilities companies, banks etc that all use 0870 or 0845 numbers - you get a geographical equivalant, and as most people now get inclusive minutes for national and local calls it can save a fortune in being sat on hold and then spending 20 minutes trying to explain to the person on the phone what you need!

If, like me, you're a bit of a Starbuck's fiend, I worked out it's costing me at least £15 a week having a daily latte there, so now I buy my favourite blend and make it at home, while still expensive, satisifies my caffeine addiction at a much cheaper cost! I then treat myself once a week to a 'proper' latte when my OH comes home from his job.

In the summer, turn the water on your boiler down, I've found (regardless of the boiler) that it doesn't need to be as high to produce water at a hot enough temperature.

Also, I've found that when beauty products are on 3 for 2, I buy three, my Mum and I have one each and I sell the 3rd online. Means I get my product cheaper than normal, and can make a pound or two selling it on e-bay at less than full price but more than I paid for it.

I'm great at these little money saving things, my problem is in actually making use of the savings to clear my debts or save, I end up just treating myself to new things!

Bargainfinder_3

nancypearl wrote: »

I went to one of those cheap european supermarkets once....... obviously I didn't recognise any brandnames so I wasn't prepared to spend any money on things if I didn't know if I would like them, because if i didn't like the food then I wouldn't eat it. However, I suppose once you get used to non-Heinz and non-Kelloggs products then that'll be ok. You do get what you pay for food-wise. The premium ranges of foods in supermarkets are what the food should taste like. Tomatoes in Sainsbury's are almost £2 a punnet, but they are actually ripe and taste like tomatoes. The budget range are underripe and hard. Duchy dry cure bacon vs the danish watery stuff. No competition.M&S oven chips and frozen sweetcorn are the best you will ever taste. Once you have had the best, it's a no-brainer.
I do eat food from the cheap european supermarkets when I go to visit my relations. I eat what they eat. And it doesn't taste as nice. Fact.

Do what Martin suggests and try going down a brand, don't jump from M&S to Aldi in one go! Try a Supermarkets own brand / then their basic ones.. not all things will work, but you will find that some things surprise you. Stick with your nice sausages if no others 'do it' for you! But then see if Aldi's potatoes taste as good as M&S... it's worth a shot, and it does save you money in the end... we now buy Morrisons Best Sausages with a sack of spuds from the market to do Sausage and Mash; save on the mash spend on the sausages!

quick-smart

Another good one is nuts, spices and rice - if you go to a corner shop that stocks indian food you'll find much larger packets of a whole range of spices at a much cheaper price. Pence for a bag full instead of pounds for a few grams at a supermarket!

My mum buys one litre of value washing up liquid and mixes it half and half with an own brand concentrate, my step dad's sight is not 20-20 any more so he uses way too much, this way it keeps the cost down!

Also, I give her my used coffee grounds for the garden, they're good for both compost (a little at a time) and spreading around your home grown veggies to stop unwanted attacks by slugs and snails.

I make my own bread, buy the cheapest largest bag of strong white bread flour, and do two things with it. If I want to make the flour go further, I use it in quantities of 3/4 bread flour to 1/4 SR flour. Still rises well, and is very light and fluffy. Will work in quantities of 2/3 bread flour to 1/3 SR flour. Useful if it's just before pay day and you've got some unused bread flour, but not enough to make a loaf.

Second thing, is rather than buy the bags of whole grain or multi grain bread flour, I buy a bag of mixed seeds and add a couple of dessert spoons to the dry ingredients, better for you, and cheaper than the pre-mixed bread flour.

Not sure if this counts, but I guess it could prolong the life of your saucepans.

If you have something really stubborn like a sauce, or something that has burned on the bottom of your saucepan, instead of scrubbing it, put a little washing powder and fill 2/3 with water, sit on the stove to simmer and let the bubbling suds do all the work. Even if it doesn't completely remove the food, you won't need anywhere near as much elbow grease to shift it. Just don't go and leave it, or you'll end up with a nice clean stove top as well!

I'm on a roll now. Never realised how many things I do to save money! Think it comes from my Mum, although she was born after, rationing was still in place when she was a child and that kind of frugal living became the norm.

Shaz

jenjade

freeze bread and water down the milk i buy blue top and water down instead of buying green. no one notices lol
it also saves on trips to the shops
walk instead of drive

megc_2

When making a cheese sauce, use half low fat cream cheese and extra mature cheddar- although the cheddar costs more, you will need a very small amount because the cream cheese will make the sauce very tasty (buy both from lidl or aldi, as cheaper, and in cooking you won't notice any difference in taste).

Hang things on the line outside first; even if they are not totally dry when you bring them in, it will reduce the time in the tumble dryer.

If you collect nectar points, consider using Sainsburys energy, or their other compnaies (insurance, banking, phone, internet etc) and go through the nectar online site before shopping on Amazon or ebay, for extra points (also many other online sites too). Obviously compare the prices for your situation, but sometimes it can be worth it.

If you need a big electrical item or appliance, sites like Tesco, Sainsburys, Boots all have online stores, and you can collect points for your purchase. On a cooker, or washer etc this can mount up- good for then spending on Xmas presents later on!

If you need a new microwave, consider a combi one, with a grill and convection oven too. It's cheaper than using your main electric or gas oven to cook small meals or snacks.

If you have a group of friends or family, and all eat foods like rice or herbs, etc- go to your local Asian foodshops, and buy big 25l bags of basmati rice, and share it out. You can each save a fortune instead of buying small packets from the supermarket. (if you buy the bags of broken basmati rice, it's even cheaper- and tastes exactly the same too!)

montillababe

I have started buying our groceries online, i am no longer tempted by the smells of the bakery section, hot chickens impulse buys etc. i have just got an asda credit card and we have decided to now do it fortnightly as £99 of groceries spent on the credit card means free delivery, plus i will get 2pence of petrol bought at their petrol stations when using it

EagerLearner

quick-smart wrote: »

I make my own bread, buy the cheapest largest bag of strong white bread flour, and do two things with it. If I want to make the flour go further, I use it in quantities of 3/4 bread flour to 1/4 SR flour. Still rises well, and is very light and fluffy. Will work in quantities of 2/3 bread flour to 1/3 SR flour. Useful if it's just before pay day and you've got some unused bread flour, but not enough to make a loaf.

Second thing, is rather than buy the bags of whole grain or multi grain bread flour, I buy a bag of mixed seeds and add a couple of dessert spoons to the dry ingredients, better for you, and cheaper than the pre-mixed bread flour.

Shaz

Great idea Shaz! I made my very first loaf last night - this was from strong white flour. However, I wasn't that keen on it as I am not hugely keen on white, but MrEL is, so I thought it was ok to experiment with a £0.69p bag of it. It went well, so next time as you suggest, at the dry stage in the beginning I will add some sunflower seeds chopped up - what other seeds would go? I have some walnuts for a touch of luxury...?

For other flavour combinations, say black olive and sundried tomato, would I add those at the beginning dry stage too?

But then the time after that i will get brown/wholewheat flour I think, prob a bit more expensive but I'll eat it with more gusto :T

jenjade

i cook up the veg pototoe etc peelings with some gravy and feed it to the dog he loves it saves on waste and saves me on dog food. he has the "roughage" about twice a week