Great 'ways To Cut Back' Hunt

BOGOF_Queen

When making a cheese sandwich, grate the cheese instead of cutting slices - less calories too.

Make your own wine from foraged elderflowers and elderberries, all you need is a bag of sugar and a teaspoon of yeast. Lots of recipes on the internet and try freecycle for a demijohn or two. Saves a fortune and tastes good too.

curlytop12

katsu wrote: »

If you like reading magazines, go for a walk around town and collect the free ones in:
John Lewis
Specsavers
Boots
Superdrug
Asda
Tesco
First Great Western trains (umm, on your way to the shops by train?)

Anyone know any I've missed?

I enjoy vegging out with magazines so this mixes moneysaving, healthy exercise and fun.

agree!
and the mag from RBS is good-Colin Firth interview this month!:)

curlytop12

Trinny wrote: »

Hi There

1. Use exactly half of what you would normally use for everything, creams and lotions, washing up liquid, washing powder, perfume etc etc

2. Dilute where you can - shampoo, bath foam

3. Buy one of those foam soap hand dispensers, refill with whatever cheap liquid soap you have and water it down by 2/3 so that the consistency is right

4. Forage - including windfall apples, blackberrys, elderberrys, nuts, nettles for a good spinach substitute - the Richard Mabey food for free book is excellent for novices

5. Turn off the heating a little earlier, and turn the thermostat down

6. Give up tumble dryers and fabric softener. dry in the air or over the bath

7. Fold dont iron - it works for a lot of clothing

8. Use vouchers - two for one when eating out, money off coupons

9. Get a freecycle slow cooker, bread maker etc, and on the subject, freecycle is great for large white goods, and smaller items

10. Car share - use the tips on here to drive economically and walk all short distances

11. Reduced to clear sections of supermarkets at the right time of day!

12. Join a MSE challenge so you start saving £2 or cutting your grocery budget, or stop buying toiletries until your stash is used up

13. Buy clothing from charity shops in well off areas - make a point of going in regularly, not at the weekend, when most of the good stuff has already gone. People give away clothing that still has the shop tag on it sometimes - ive done well on M&S clothes this way

14. Bargain recipes - check out OS - where you can learn from the experts how to cook, bake, ( take it from a fledgeling cook)

15. Keep a storecupboard inventry and freezer inventry, menu plan and only buy what you need to complete a meal.

HTH

Trin

thankyou for all these great ideas!
one more-use cashback sites for things like car/house/life insurances,breakdown recovery,online shopping etc.:T

elephant50

just joined the forum thanks for all helpfull tips and info :j

forwardplanning

Stop going to the supermarket - order online, go to the green grocers/farm shop butchers or costco. We do a quartlerly shop at costco for things like rice, washing powder etc... even if it works out the price as the supermarket (it is usually a bit cheaper) it is cheaper than going to the supermarket and buying those 'extras'.
Dilute washing up liquid, bleach and cleaning stuff. Vingear to clean windows is much cheaper than window cleaner and it comes up a treat.

Meal plan
Stock take what is in your cupboards/ freezer and work out meals for a no spend day/week! go to bbc food for some ideas you can type in what you have and will come up with some recipes.

Ebay - buy for cheaper and sell stuff that you don;t want
check your local paper for bargain things - only buy what you need though
freecycle - it's free!

ElmerFudd

Charge phone at work
Neat trick I saw on TV yesterday (not sure how true it is but plan to test it). Fill up "empty" freezer space with crunched up newspaper - supposedly that makes the freezer work less as it doesn't have dead space to work with (time will tell this month if this gem works!).

Asiacat

Eat a packet of cheap biscuits instead of a meal now and again.

Get off the bus a couple of stops early exercise plus a cheaper fare.

Rather than buying newspapers and magazines visit their websites.

Visit moneysavingexpert on Saturday afternoons rather than the shopping mall.

If you must go to the pub make sure you know when happy hour is.

Go to a jumble sale at least once a month often there are things you either need or can sell on ebay for a profit.

Whenever you need to buy something but a "________" wanted posting on Internet message boards that cover your particular geographic location. I live in Pattaya Thailand and can often find something a lot cheaper by putting a wanted ad on one of the local websites.

Use a simple mobile phone. You will never need any of those extra features anyway.

Learn to service your own car.

Hand wash your undies and socks.

Always ask for a discount in department stores - they can only say no.

short_bird

It's never too early to start thinking about Christmas! :xmastree:

Whether it's negotiating what you will - or won't! - spend on people
looking at what worked for you last Christmas
starting handmade presents if you're crafty
looking for stocking fillers
looking for bargains
sorting out all the spare present bags and wrapping paper
starting a Christmas Fund so it isn't such a shock later in the year...

soxxxxy

1.If your not to sensitive buy value baby wipes to remove make-up 18p from sainsburys compared to £3.00 for most branded ones. 2.Invest in a clothes maiden/airer rather than tumble dry. 3.Make your own shoe/trainer deouderiser with cat litter and an old pair of tights.It really works wonders !
4.Make a list of all the birthday cards you need to buy for the year and buy them all at once.Only one trip to the shop and a lot less temptations.Also some shops do special deals ie 5 cards for a pound
etc.
5.Buy one extra large roll of plain wrapping paper and a pack of plain gift tags that will do for any gift.

Bambywamby

rachaelamy wrote: »

Although...my dad is a washing machine repair man and he NEVER uses liquid detergant and won't let us either. He said it coats the inside of your machine in a sludge that gets thicker and thicker until eventually your drum won't spin. He has lots of calls about this. Just thought you'd like to know that, as if that does happen it's not cheap to get it sorted out.

I have a friend that owns a small white goods shop and also fixes electrical items like washing machines.
He says that the powders are more likey to clog up the machine - especially as we don't use such high temperatures to wash clothes these days - the powders don't always get fully dissolved.
He recommends using liquids and gels as they dissolve straight away when the water (no matter what temperature) mixes with them.
Also, you can water down liquids making them go further.

I guess it is different horses for different courses.