Great Tips... one liners

moanymoany

Hi Thriftlady,
We clearly like the same threads! Thanks for that. I will be going past a chinese supermarket at the weekend and will go in and get one - or maybe 2! I make silver jewellery and I use white vinegar as a 'pickle' after soldering, then bicarb to scrub it.

becky_hardiman

Where can you get Stardrops from - I've never heard of them.

moanymoany

I read about menu planning on a thrifty meal thread. I did it and my shopping bill went down by half. I did two weeks shopping on the internet and it lasted three weeks. I've bought bread, milk type stuff but I can get that locally. I've decided to do this last week in January out of the cupboard and made the plan this morning. The last meal is mashed potatoes and baked beans! It leaves enough in the housekeeping to pay £150 off the mortgage. It's £2,000 a year extra in my pocket and I haven't noticed the difference!

Libraries are full of books on step-by-step cooking if you need to learn.

There are some recipes that are incredibly cheap (Martin is on LK right now :money: - all hail the money saving hero), you will find them on the cheap meals thread which was on a previous newsletter. Using value potatoes, oil, eggs, tinned tomatoes, beans, pasta (not all at once!) it is possible to feed two people for less than 50 pence for each meal. Value oats make 20 big portions of porridge for less than £1, I use 50grams per person.

ALWAYS MEASURE, it really makes a difference. I allow 100 grams of pasta each. If it isn't enough then top up with a slice of bread and increase to 120grams next time. If you want leftovers cook more, but I have learned that in my house I have to take it out before serving or it gets eaten.

By using one of the cheap phone call sites through Martin I cut my phone bills from £80 average a month to £20 including rental. Cut utility bills, used Tesco tokens for the car MOT and service and for holiday travel through the tunnel. All these savings have gone to fill the remaining mortgage shortfall after compensation payments.

I know I haven't put 10 tips, but I can say it in one - Learn from the Moneytips newsletter. All the advice I have used has been from there.

A penny saved is a penny earned:j

SusanCarter

fairy3 wrote:

8. Make your own butter when cream is in the sell off section at the supermarket, great fun if you can get others to help, good exercise too!

How exactly do you go about doing this? I guess you have to shake it but was wondering if you'd mind giving a bit more detail.

fairy3 wrote:

10. Do not tell anyone else what you are doing! they will want to interfere and foil all your good plans and lead you into extravagent ways.

We find that people can assume you are in a desperate financial situation just because you are being old style. Althogh we couldn't afford to be non-OS, I have no great desire for us to be able to afford not to as I wouldn't enjoy it and prefer being OS anyway but other people don't seem to understand that.

MushyPeas

Hello

Cool thread. Thought I'd add my tuppence worth (ok, just a penny, saving money )

1. Plan meals
As everyone else has said. Keep back-up breakfast/lunch/evening meals for when you have to run out of the house!

2. Vouchers / coupons / Try Me Free / BOGOF
Be a savy shopper and use vouchers, keep an eye out for Try Me Free food items. Often you can discover an exciting new ingredient this way!

3. Empty your car!
If you do have a car, empty the rubbish you don't need from the boot to use less petrol Also make sure you have a supply of 'car snacks' to stop you buying food from expensive motor way stations.

4. Food on the go
Invest in a good 1) flask to make your own hot drinks 2) hot drink holder (with a straw) great for when driving! 3) tupperware boxes keep sandwhiches, nuts in 4) soup countainer for um homemade soup and SAVE those plastic bottles you get for water, then you can take your own tap water with you!

5) Experiment
Do you like your washing powder? If you want to still use branded, try cutting the amount you use by half. Set yourself challenges, do you really need two tablets in the wash? What about only one?

6) Tinned tomatoes
I buy plum tomatoes (often cheaper) and then chop them up rather than buying the tinned chopped tomatoes. A whole penny saved!!

7) Tea bags - reuse
Use your tea bags twice! You can normally get two cuppas out of a tea bag.

8) Save things other people throw away
E.g. ketchup sachets (added this to pasta sauce the other night, yum), forks and spoons etc. from take-away places, oh and talking of take aways, if you do sucumb to having one try to go for the take-away that uses plastic boxes, great for then freezing and batching up your home cooking!

9) Challenges
Join in with the storecuboard challenges also the bathroom cuboard challenge is good one to do. I now get a strange sense of achievement when I use something up, rather than having 2 or 3 bottles of something on the go!

10) Aim for no spend days
Not sure if it is OS, but if you 1) walk to work, 2) make own lunch 3) read free paper 4) drink water all day this is possible!

Oh and enjoy the OS way

MPxx

Justamum

Cazzdevil wrote:

I know this is just one suggestion but it proved very good for me so I thought I'd add it:

Take care of your leather shoes - get your old favourites soled and heeled regularly to make them last longer. I wear out shoes really quickly and I've found that a really comfy pair are worth taking care of and getting fixed - as my cobbler says: Shoes worth wearing are worth repairing.

One tip I use when buying new shoes - before wearing them take them to the cobblers and get a sole glued on over the proper one, that way they don't wear down so quickly. I can't afford to buy shoes very often, and before I did this I used to get holes in the soles of my shoes (and have to just put up with getting wet feet because I couldn't afford new ones!)

Cazzdevil

Justamum - strange you say that because I bought a new pair from Ravel in the sale (£10.50 for lovely flat leather shoes - stylish too!), had them on 3 times for work and the heel had worn away to nothing! It cost me £10 to get them soled and heeled, but it still works out at a reasonable pair of shoes and I'll not need them done again for a good while.

cheapskate101

As a journalist you will probably have no need to be advised that you should always write a crisp letter of complaint to any company (clearly that includes Walker's) which has transgressed your hitherto pristine standards while purchasing its products. Clearly you should play fair in that the complaint should be justified.

If you work to a formula, it doesn't take more than 10 minutes. The result can be up to 100 times the outlay. And so it should be - for wasting your precious time in which you could have spent watching Eastenders or dreaming about what to do in the event of a Lottery win.

Be polite, include facts - where bought etc description of what is wrong, a slight tinge of shock that such a highly regarded company should let its exemplary standards drop ...end with a cheerful remark.

Example:Just sent off a packet of sweets that only held 3 sweets. Expect to receive at least box as a return, as usually there is around 12 in a packet.

As companies employ reasonably nice people to reply to you, your working conditions at home are reasonable and the pay-back is quite good.

TOP OLD FASHIONED TELEPHONE TIPS on dealing with poor customer service.

The story so far: You've stayed in all day with no delivery or the bank has made a mistake on your account.

Don't shout - and be polite and fair. Record everyone's names and job titles along the way.

The poor first customer service person that you speak to will usually not be able to do anything as they do not have any power. When the no-go point is reached, ask to speak to their supervisor.

Supervisor 1 will be bright but will usually have no authority to sort out the problem. Ask to speak to their supervisor (2) in turn. Cross your fingers that they are in a meeting or out. 75 percent of them will be. Probably enduring some idiotic customer satisfaction meeting or making their way up a rock face as part of a team building effort..

Express surprise at this lack of contact. Keep on asking the names of the next-in-line bosses until you get to speak to one. Sadly, this often means you have to end up asking for the name of area manager/ managing director etc. If they won't give it to you - ask why they don't know it - or if it's a secret.
Either answer is embarrassing to give and vital in your negotiations.

If you come to a dead end...
Re-dial go through the same process until someone knows the name of the area manager and his or her telephone number or e-mail. Speak to him/her or the secretary. Secretaries are usually quite sensible and may sort you out. They usually beat the supervisors hands down in customer satisfaction performance.
Give the names of those who have put you in this position. Usually around around eight at this point.

Result is almost certainly guaranteed as the problems you've had along the way are within an organisation that can't delegate. It can't - because this would mean supervisors sending out cash willy-nilly - or indeed to Willy Nilly, their nephew.

The area manager doesn't give two hoots about that £50 or so that you are asking for in compensation and has the authority to give it to you. Especially after you have told him/her that advisors and supervisors haven't got a clue what his/her name is.

However, if you come across a really dodgy company - go straight to the small claims court. They know where you live.

EagerLearner

CFC wrote:

My top tip!

Before you spend money on anything, try this:

How long do I have to spend at work to pay for this?

When I was not very well paid, I used to lust after Ben and Jerry's ice cream or something very similar. When I worked out that it actually meant that I had to work for three quarters of an hour to get it, I thought - no way is that worth 45 minutes of misery.

Once you equate your money to an amount of lifetime, you can see how much you either do, or do not want something. It makes you a lot more cautious about buying stuff.

Grated cheese in a bag? Work time X amount of minutes going to pay for it, at home with a grater 1 minute...it may help to keep you on the straight and narrow OS!

This is a great one - as I am now self-employed i do this alot! :T

GeordieBird

If you've a tendency to use too much of a cleaning product - dilute it

I think dilute it anyway cos that stuff is quite concentrated

And put it on the sponge rather than the thing to be cleaned cos you use less...

and CHARITY SHOP CLOTHES, specially at this time of year!

Also, markets over supermarkets EVERY TIME!;)