Any "embarrassing" money saving things you do?

WeeMidgie

-It's sad to read that someone on this thread has condemned charities as paying their top staff six figure salaries.... what a sweeping generalisation, this is simply not true for many charities and non profit organisations. I work for one, not a cause that is glamorous or given much time by the media, and it does work on making the kind and very precious donations stretch as much as possible

E.g.I pick up rubber bands off the street to use at work, and any freebie pens go into work... MSE at work as well as at home! My boss is certainly not on a huge salary, and this doesn't prevent her, or any of us being utterly committed to the people we are helping.

We do not have fundraising staff, so any fundraising is done voluntarily, usually by the families of the adults and children we help, we do not ask them to do this, they do it out of the kindness of their hearts . And they usually have an event which involves sponsorship. Without their sterling efforts, and the generosity of people who sponsor them, we would not be able to keep going.

So please don't despise the sponsorship, many a mickle makes a muckle, and your wee mite might just help keep an unsung service going, in these days of continuing cuts to non statutory funding.

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver2

Some great ideas here.xx

VfM4meplse

'Tis the season to be foraging.

I've had a smallish haul of good quality pears so far, plenty more where they came from in the coming weeks

ash28

WeeMidgie wrote: »

-It's sad to read that someone on this thread has condemned charities as paying their top staff six figure salaries.... what a sweeping generalisation, this is simply not true for many charities and non profit organisations. I work for one, not a cause that is glamorous or given much time by the media, and it does work on making the kind and very precious donations stretch as much as possible

E.g.I pick up rubber bands off the street to use at work, and any freebie pens go into work... MSE at work as well as at home! My boss is certainly not on a huge salary, and this doesn't prevent her, or any of us being utterly committed to the people we are helping.

We do not have fundraising staff, so any fundraising is done voluntarily, usually by the families of the adults and children we help, we do not ask them to do this, they do it out of the kindness of their hearts . And they usually have an event which involves sponsorship. Without their sterling efforts, and the generosity of people who sponsor them, we would not be able to keep going.

So please don't despise the sponsorship, many a mickle makes a muckle, and your wee mite might just help keep an unsung service going, in these days of continuing cuts to non statutory funding.

I have to agree with this and although I don't regularly donate to the large charities mainly because of some of their fundraising methods, I do donate to a couple of smaller charities and one large charity - the RNLI.

I donate to the RNLI because my OH and I used to dive and you never knew if you might need them....all of the diving club's fundraising activities were related to the RNLI and we continue to make a small donation every month. It's the only large charity we support on a regular basis.

Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance is a another one that gets a small monthly donation - we live in a rural area and the air ambulance could be the difference between life and death, it costs £2.1m a year to run....worth every penny.

Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team is another one who gets a regular small donation, last year my brother in law was found and his body recovered by CMRT after going missing on Fleetwith Pike, Buttermere. It costs £60k a year to fund the team and again worth every penny.

Our village swimming pool is another small charity we support as it benefits the children in the village, a lot of people in the village fund raise or support the efforts to keep the pool open.

These are things that are important to me personally and I certainly don't mind supporting them even if it's in a small way - every little helps.

moneyistooshorttomention

Ladykernow wrote: »

I was working in another store the other day which was straight across from Sainsbury. I was desperate for the loo and no one had come to open up shop yet, so I unravelled some toilet paper to take home with me. It seems so silly, but we go through a lot of toilet paper in our house!

This sort of suggestion is likely to receive the same reception as "re-using" an already used postage stamp. Most of us on here believe embarrassing is one thing - but theft is quite another.

VfM4meplse

I have a pair of white Privo shoes for years that I rarely wear, and certainly not when it's raining, to keep them clean looking. So I was a bit annoyed when the inside sole came away during a particularly long walk last week, leavind me with a blistered sole. I didn't want to give up on them, so bought a pair of memory foam insoles for £1. Instant relief!! I've used them to walk extensively since (I estimate 6 hours of walking, as opposed to standing) and the foot bliss continues. It occurred to me that it would be a shame to bin the trimmings, as they can be used as chiropody felt for small areas of friction.

Obviously, the smaller your foot, the more trimmings there will be!