What's your best OS moneysaving tip?

parsonswife8

Lalaladybird wrote: »

Of course. This house revolves around our little pampered princess:rolleyes:, worry not

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Actually, young lady, I've changed my mind.
You deserve more then hot chocolate, you deserve a medal.
It is so refreshing to see a young mum trying to do her best for her family and making sacrifices towards having a better future and having your own home.
Well done you.
:A :A :A

RAS

if you have stored hotwater (tank), then check out the thermstat on that.

They are often set very high, and it is quite safe to turn them down to 60 degrees. All you need is a large srewdriver that fits the slot in the dial.

I would however thing twice about the candles. If you are only using energy saving lamps, they cost about 1.5p per evening to run. I sispect the candle costs more?

painted_lady

Lalaladybird, you are doing so well. I can second a lot of previous suggestions, I mostly use washable nappies on DS, I use washable sanitary pads (you can even make your own out of old towels if you have a sewing machine). I use muslin squares as reusable baby wipes, but you could use old towels (this week had no choice as DS had bad nappy rash and the disposable wipes were hurting his bum).
I do have to use my heating a fair bit as I am disabled and in the hosue a lot at the moment, but always put jumpers etc on first. I have heating on a timer so I cant forget to turn it off, on minimum needed to keep me warm.
I bulk buy stuff when on offer, this week I stocked up on enough essentials to last until christmas.
Can you grow any of your own beggies anywhere? There are a lot of things you can grow inside, including salad leaves, spinach and herbs. I have grown potatoes in large pots in the garden and they take minimal looking after and taste lovely. Is a good project to get baby involved in too (my DS was 8 months when I planted potatoes and he loved feeling the soil, even though he didnt understand it all properly, he was still involved and he is getting good eating habits) A few years ago I grew blueberries, cost me £4 to grow loads and loads, would have cost me much more than that for them in shops.There are huge wild blackberry bushes near me, I pick them.
Look on the greenfingered board for ideas.
Do you freecycle? Can get stuff you need for baby, especially clothes and might pick yourself up some stuff too.

Lalaladybird

parsonswife8 wrote: »

_______________________________________

Actually, young lady, I've changed my mind.
You deserve more then hot chocolate, you deserve a medal.
It is so refreshing to see a young mum trying to do her best for her family and making sacrifices towards having a better future and having your own home.
Well done you.
:A :A :A

That is such a lovely thing to say, thank you parsonswife, you have made my day

Lalaladybird

painted_lady wrote: »

Can you grow any of your own beggies anywhere? There are a lot of things you can grow inside, including salad leaves, spinach and herbs. I have grown potatoes in large pots in the garden and they take minimal looking after and taste lovely. Is a good project to get baby involved in too (my DS was 8 months when I planted potatoes and he loved feeling the soil, even though he didnt understand it all properly, he was still involved and he is getting good eating habits) A few years ago I grew blueberries, cost me £4 to grow loads and loads, would have cost me much more than that for them in shops.There are huge wild blackberry bushes near me, I pick them.
Look on the greenfingered board for ideas.
.

I'd love to do that. I don't have a garden outside (we're in a flat) and I didn't know I could grow stuff inside but I will now I could put pots outside for potatoes, would that work at this time of year though?

painted_lady

Some great tips on here, many I already do, such as using a bit of laundry detergent.
I also cook an extra portion and either eat it for lunch next day, or use it for DS tea or freeze it as a ready meal for another time.Getting right into habit of this. If OH and I leave a few mouthfuls of tea, it will go in fridge and be used for DS lunch.
Using washable san pro and nappies.
Bulk buying stuff, only when its on offer or from wholesale or the asian shop that has opened up in my town.

painted_lady

This year I planted the potatoes in late Jan and they were ready by June onwards, but they were an early variety. I used seed potatoes I got for £1 a bag in £ shop. You could always plant an early variety and then a regular variety at usual time to plant them (April) and get a longer season out of them. I put them in the largest pot I could find and will be doing it again.
Salad leaves and herbs will grow inside all year round.
I know someone who grew loads of tomatoes inside, he had a window that faced the sun all day so his kitchen was like a greenhouse, that would be something to do in the spring too.
I am no expert and suggest you go onto the greenfingered board, the Royal Horticultural Society website is good too. You can also get books like "the container garden" etc for people who dont really have any space to grow anything, for example, you can grow berry fruits in hanging baskets. A lot of stuff might be to plant in a few months, but worth thinking about now and acquiring any items needed via freecycle. Grow herbs inside now to help with your confidence?

champys

Hi Lalaladybird - cheers to all your excellent efforts, but don't get too obsessed by it! Some of my own top money savers are:
Yes, I also water down the washing up liquid (Lidls), and I use an olive-oil drizzler rather than squirting it straight out of the bottle. Once you get the consistency just right that it runs out of the drizzler, it lasts forever.
To keep warm both DH and myself use long underwear around the house (cheap yoga pants are wonderful) - my winter trousers are half a size bigger than what I normally wear to accommodate them.
I wash everything at 30°C and it's absolutely fine.
If you make cottage pie, try doing it with half mince, half baked beans. Not subtle like lentils, but really nice actually.

there's probably more, but this comes to mind. Lots of good luck!

wrinkled_english_rose

I don't squeeze the washing up liquid bottle but just let the liquid dribble out but I do use a "good" wul.

hollydays

wul?..........................