Turning a new leaf on our thriftyness

jamars

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

We make papier mache logs .... and use them to help get the woodstove lit when we run it through the winter. Just saving landfill space, saving us cash and using up something we've paid for, only common sense isn't it?

I like that idea! I think I will be pinching your idea to use up our surplus newspapers. . . only those that do not enter the bathroom though.

Toomuchdebt

Wouldn't using newspaper clog the toilet up?

jamars

Toomuchdebt wrote: »

Wouldn't using newspaper clog the toilet up?

Not that I have noticed so far.

purpleshoes_2

I wouldnt put newspaper down the toilet. I'm old enough to remember the school greaseproof loo paper but to me that and newspapers are a completely different texture. You can get loo roll so cheap in places like b and m.

purpleshoes_2

I think there's thriftiness and there's suffering. If you get to certain supermarkets on reductions time you can buy bags of food for a few pounds. My local Asda reduces food around 6.30pm and once a week visit with minimal top ups is enough to keep me going.

You've spoken about this venture, but you've said very little about where the savings from the not spending is going.

Surely if you reduced spending on your gadgets you could increase spending on food slightly.

Also, I get with the natural cleaning products but how can you use bicarb as shampoo? Maybe you can but as a female with a certain type of hair I wouldn't be able to cut out certain products.

Do you use bicarb as toothpaste as well?

jamars

purpleshoes wrote: »

I think there's thriftiness and there's suffering. If you get to certain supermarkets on reductions time you can buy bags of food for a few pounds. My local Asda reduces food around 6.30pm and once a week visit with minimal top ups is enough to keep me going.

You've spoken about this venture, but you've said very little about where the savings from the not spending is going.

Surely if you reduced spending on your gadgets you could increase spending on food slightly.

Also, I get with the natural cleaning products but how can you use bicarb as shampoo? Maybe you can but as a female with a certain type of hair I wouldn't be able to cut out certain products.

Do you use bicarb as toothpaste as well?

The savings from gadgets and food shopping are going towards saving for more land, eventually pigs and goats are on the agenda!

The bicarb shampoo that we use is 1 part bicarb and three parts water, mixed into a cream, with either lavender or mint added, the other half says her hair has never felt better as the added chemicals from the shop bought shampoos tend to frizz up her hair and damage the roots.

And yes, we also use bicarb as toothpaste - a little mint is added for freashness, however the vinegar mouthwash takes some getting used too!

Every time we go into asda's to look at the reduced section we come away empty handed as there is never anything that does not contain lots of processed food, or that we don't have growing / stored from a previous harvest. It's very really that I have seen coffee reduced

Really appreciate your thoughts as it is always great to review our methdology and take into account things that we have not / may not have considered.

Justamum

jamars wrote: »

Yeew that grease proof paper - I remember that from primary school.

I see now't wrong with using news paper - it's free. Why pay for something just to throw down the drain!

You can't flush newspaper down the loo though, so I assume you have a long-drop in your garden or are using a composting toilet, or you'll put the used paper in a bin (I wouldn't fancy the smell personally)

[Deleted User]

We always used to flush newspaper down the loo, not whole great sheets of it as it was cut/torn into pieces the same size as toilet paper, threaded in a piece of string and hung up behind the door in the outside loo. I don't remember it ever being a problem and blocking the loo. When we make our paper logs we soak the paper first in a barrel of water and it becomes very soft and mushy, leave it long enough and it becomes a porridgy mush so I guess newspaper flushed away would do the same.

Justamum

Papier mache is made of newspaper torn into small pieces. It doesn't break down the same way as loo paper. Anyway it's not my plumbing bills!

[Deleted User]

I'm not saying we do it now!!! It's something I remember from childhood in the early 1950s when folks were as cash strapped or more so than we are today and products that we have available now weren't even dreamed of and we were still in rationing after world war 2.