How far do we all go to save money?

Adrasteia01

There are quite a few things I do to save money..

*Pick up coins (as well) - sometimes
*Drink coffee/water/tea, make use of breakfast cereal and make lunches at work (or use subsidised canteen) depending on where I'm working
*Email and charge up MP3 player at work
*Use loo at work (yeah, I know..)

*If work is going to throw out anything cool and/or useable, ask to keep it (one of my previous offices moved and they threw out SO much stuff - I retrieved all sorts of stuff including xmas decorations, plush toys and nice seagrass and wooden boxes they were skipping). Any time one of the neighbours has a skip bin I look in (and let me note, look in and not rummage) and if my husband is with me he looks SO embarrassed. He's asked me not to do that - it seems to be something Aussies are quite comfortable doing but the Irish aren't.

*I only use 1 washing powder tablet instead of 2 for a regular wash - the clothes come out fine, and it's not as harsh on your skin.
*Face wipes are good for cleaning in the bathroom - I use them for cleaning the sink etc. Comes up great.
*I sell stuff on ebay and sometimes buy and sell stuff on ebay. Then if I buy stuff for myself (to keep) it often comes out of money I've brought in so essentially doesn't cost me anything.
*I get vouchers through pigsback - you can get them for a bookshop here, so I use those to buy magazines. Others I get are boots or pizza hut. Very handy.

*I signed up recently to tesco clubcard - very cool. Free food, and I got vouchers, converted them to deals and ended up with 20 euro vouchers to spend at Insomnia. I love their coffee and their food isn't too bad, so I quite enjoyed spending those.
*I send emails instead of regular letters, txt instead of ring (if I expect to be kept on the phone a while)
*I start buying for xmas about 6 months early, so I can get presents when they're on sale.
*I try not to overspend on presents or xmas. It's only one day a year and passes quickly.

*I sometimes buy stuff from charity shops (occasionally to ebay - yes, I know some people disapprove of that). I also buy things for myself there though - the odd bit of clothing, handbags etc. Sometimes you can get a good bargain.
*I try not to buy too much in sales (except for xmas or unless I need something and would have bought it anyway). It's so easy to buy junk you don't need just because it's cheap. It's better to spend more to get good quality stuff and buy less (at least, I find).

*If you're going to use a lot of stuff, buy it in bulk when it's cheap (e.g. buy one get one free).
*Never buy dvds from shops (I'm tempted to add books to the list, but I can't stick to that). They are SO much cheaper to buy online.
*A friend in the Uk had a card for a wholesaler and used to get her food there - it was SO cheap. If you have the means to get one, it might be worth checking out if you're willing to buy in bulk.

*I buy padded envelopes (for ebaying) from tesco in multipacks as they are decent and work out cheaper than buying them individually from stationery shops. Large bookshops also aren't too bad for them.
*Haggle. I had to buy a washing machine yesterday (the motor went in my other one) and I haggled with a guy from an electrical place on the phone (he actually told me he could do a better deal on it!).. so it's worth a try. I ended up saving about 30 euro (and their prices were already decent), so I was quite happy with that. A lot of people like that are on commission so don't mind haggling a bit.

*Shop around if you're going to be spending a lot of money on an item. It's worth the effort.
*Do stuff yourself where possible rather than paying someone else to do it for you - i.e. cleaning, washing, cooking, etc
*I also switched to the same mobile phone provider as my husband as he's the main person I call so I get 5c a minute calls to him as long as I put on 20 euro credit a month. I never use up that much, and most of what I put on I use pigsback rewards for. It's mostly paid for my phone the last 6 months.

*I don't have a car, mostly because I don't need one but I can see how expensive they are to run/maintain/park. If you can use public transport then I'd say do it, unless you absolutely NEED a car.
*I bag up my change and take it to the bank, and on the buses here you get 'refund' tickets if you give them too much in change. There's one place in the city centre where you can change them back over to cash, and you can't use them on the buses. So I accumulate a pile and take them in and change them. It's worth the effort. I've also noticed a few change receipts laying around on the bus before so picked them up. Hubby would disapprove, but it's just money laying there. I saw one laying on a seat for 60c the other day. I am sure they wouldn't have left it if it was coins sitting there.

*I also am under the belief that the less you spend the less you have to work to pay for it! Which suits me fine, although I have stuff to pay off. It helps to steamline your lifestyle so you need less stuff. You can also make good money by decluttering on ebay.

Just a few thoughts.. well.. more than a few,
Tamara

happy_chick_3

i get to work early and put my books sold on amazon in the post tray!

Adrasteia01

I kinda wrote more there than I thought!

rlm_3

I womble - I collect other peoples' Tesco receipts from trollies, etc. that have unclaimed points on them and take them to Customer Services to claim them.

ecoelle

That has made we nearly wet myself! I have tears in myes and am struggling to type! thank you rlm

painted_lady

I do many of the things mentionned and a few others, including,
- wash at night, on 30 deg quick wash
- only use a tablespoon of washing powder, always come clean so far
- no longer own a tumble dryer - hang out or dry inside
- always use food up, even if it means throwing it all together in a pan and boiling with some herbs
- where possible, park for free or if going to Leeds, I park about 15 min walk away, its much cheaper and I get some exercise
- get my OH to wash car
- keep the heating on timer, if I am still cold, it extra blankets
-shake the petrol pump to get those few extra drops that would normally spill (do this at begining of filling up too, so that you get it from the previous person)
- always check the advantage card machine for extra points in boots
- get credit for phone in boots to get points, especially good if using a total spend voucher
- ebay what I dont need and buy what I do on ebay
- do my best to get books at library, also get DVDs there 50p - £2.20 for a weeks rental there, depending on how recent the film is, videos are all 50p for week, or 3 for £1 (although I can be bad at taking them back and get fines!!!)
- everything in my cupboard is white label
- use washable nappies on baby (most days), however, wash them at 60 deg to kill germs

splishsplash

Adrasteia01 wrote: »

I kinda wrote more there than I thought!

All good stuff though! I don't know if you've been on the Boards.ie site, but they have a 'bargain alert' board and freebies thread in the biz/consumer section? Might have some useful stuff for you (I'm in Ireland also:j )

Ches

happy_chick wrote: »

i get to work early and put my books sold on amazon in the post tray!

Be careful as someone I used to work with got the sack for doing this. Its fraud.:eek:

cumbrianmum

I do a lot of what everyone else does plus spend my entire life swtching off lights and equipment every other member of the family leave on or on standy by:eek:

Shortie

painted_lady wrote: »

- wash at night, on 30 deg quick wash

Quick questoin if that's okay....?

I use bio powder, and I thought the enzymes needed to be at 37 degrees to 'activate' so thought the I had to wash at 40 degrees - is 30 degrees okay for bios?