Sneaky ways to save the pennies

Primrose

My supply of little notepaper pieces in their 3" cubed block container is now running low so I'm now cutting up all the envelopes which arrive through the post into 3" x 3" pieces to replenish my supply. It's a nice relaxing occupation to do while I'm listening to the radio or watching TV and they would otherwise go into our paper recycling bin.

givememoney

Primrose wrote: »

My supply of little notepaper pieces in their 3" cubed block container is now running low so I'm now cutting up all the envelopes which arrive through the post into 3" x 3" pieces to replenish my supply. It's a nice relaxing occupation to do while I'm listening to the radio or watching TV and they would otherwise go into our paper recycling bin.

We do the same with junk mail. Turn A4 sheets over and they are blank the other side so can be cut up for notes.

You can also turn the envelopes you receive with junk mail inside out and use again. You have to stick them though.

Gunna

Hiya Everyone !!!

Super Douper thread lol well after taking over a week to get through it !!!

Some seriously helpful tips and ideas to try:T

Anyway here is some of my tips:

1/ Jojoba oil is a godsend i use it for this..... eye make up remover, it gets rid of everything and i use lots of thick waterproof mascara and eyeliner on my eyes plus it is super moisturising so it conditions your eyelashes and delicate eye area skin, my eyelashes are thick and super healthy when i use it, plus a 100ml bottle is about £3.50 and lasts a whole year!!!
i also add a few drops to my shampoo and conditioner a sit makes it super moisturising for my hair, the result super shiny healthy hair.
Use it neat on your hair to super super deep condition it.....warm a tablespoon and apply to halfway down then warp your hair up and leave on for as long as you like preferablly all day or overnight, do this once, twice a month and you will notice super hair !!!, You can also use Avocado oil this is even more rich and moisturising.
I use Jojoba oil as shaving oil to help keep irritation down and give me super smooth healthy skin.
Also add a few drops to body lotion or bath water again to make your skin like silk.
Hmm can't think what else i use it for but that 100 ml bottle does all that for ages and ages and saves a fortune plus a lot of expensive products have only a few drops of Jojoba in it !!!!!!!

For removing makes up you can use these oils.....

Avocado
Apricot
Peach kernel
Almond
Olive
Jojoba
grapeseed

The list actually goes on but these are the most common and the cheapest by far is almond oil and it is a really great oil !!! They are all quite cheap and you can use them for most skin uses as they are naturally absorbed and a real treat for your skin.

2/ i used to buy the posh moist toilet wipes as OH said he felt cleaner after using them 80p a pack did a week, now i but Tesco baby wipes £1.02 a packet for 5 times as much and they do a brilliant job, plus they are great for removing marks from the sink and wiping over the toilet seat etc in the bathroom, and getting rid of the oily residue form my jojoba make up remover.


3/ Natural oils i mean,
LAVENDER OIL(my number 1 oil) did you know that massaging neat lavender on your womb area on a period actually helps to slow the spasms down and make you feel more relaxed.....i can comfirm for 10 years my mum and me swear by it, mum has a painful time and rubs it on her womb area and back and feels a lot better for it plus the relaxing smell helps her sleep at night.
Also a few drop in a bath(once it has run as it will evaporate otherwise)is excellent for you add some chammomile drops as well and watch your troubles soothe away as you feel so relaxed and calm.
LEMON OIL....super for putting in an oil burner to freshen the house or pot pourri, put a few drops in a cup of water and microwave it to blast the microwave with steam that is a degreaser and deoderiser, also brill in a bath or mix with orange and grapefruit oil then dilute with almond, jojoba oil and you have a super rich luxury moisterising body lotion/bath oil that wakens you up and tightens skin and supposedly helps cellulite(hold your breath lol)
YLANG YLANG....lovely soothing romantic oil ad to your fave bath foam/oil etc or body lotion and smell gorgeous and feel really sexy, plus it has aphrodisiac properties.
Oils are really really cheap and good, orange and lemon you can get for about £1.50 each and last forever in allsorts of things,buy more expensive oils such as rose absolute and jasmine in tiny bottles they cost a good bit but one teeny tiny drop is all you need to make the most stunning and luxurious body products and perfumes(simple perfum....almond oil mixed with jasmine oil a dab on your skin well rubbed in makes a long lasting natural gorgeous perfume and you will feel so special lol).

OMG the size of my post lol i have loads more i will add later:T :T :T

EagerLearner

Hi all I wanted to add that olive oil is also very good for moisturising, you can add it to soap, or on its' own as a body treatment in the shower and then rinse off. I do use jojoba alot as mentioned in above post, it's wonderful too.

Also, I have saved money by getting oils from ebay, to put in my marble/stone oil burner (one nightlight, small amount of water, few drops of oil). This saves on buying expensive fragrance sprays etc and no chemicals which is fab.

I bought these luscious floral exotic smells from ebay:

- Jasmine (10ml)
- Honeysuckle (5ml)
- Tuberose (5ml)

Worked out £10 inclusive of postage which is great for pure oils.

I guess you could add them to water in a spray bottle to use as a room freshner too (I do this with lavender, for the bedroom and helps when I can't get to sleep).

We have used oils like this for 2 years, combined with bicarbonate of soda mixed with the oils as a carpet freshner, so has prob saved us alot in 'home fragrance' costs...

Gunna

I forgot to add that Jojoba also doubles as a frizz treatment for frizzy locks(rub a small drop of 2 between your palms to warm it up then very very sparingly work through your hair concentrating on dry frizzy ends), it also adds excellent shine to your hair making it look really healthy and conditioning whilst it is on.

Totally agree with you EagerLearner about oil burners, i have loads and use them daily to make my house smell yummy, best oils i have found are:

Bodyshops £3.00 a bottle but a few drops is enough and the smells are really really good(last christmas they did spiced plum and a cranberry one and these were out of this world, sadly they havent brought them back yet )

Asda does a double pack of their oils these are £1.79 and are just as good as bodyshops especially the Bamboo one and Frost, 2 bottle for that price is great plus they are nice and strong(get rid of the dog and cat whiffs lol) and.....

my poor pooch seems to have a reaction to airfreshners so i was having to buy those expensive hypoallergenic ones as even carpet stuff makes him flare up but with the oil burner i can have 5 on full strenght and his skin is fine phew which is great plus(more lol) on a cold night all those lovely little candles look so warming and at the same time they are making my house nice scented(just remember to top water up of they might explode oil all over like mine did lol).

OOOh i am on a roll here with my tips lol.....

The new Ariel gel is fantastic stuff !!!! Honestly i am raving about it, my clothes are uber clean,whites are spotless and even after up to 7 days sat in the airing cupboard they still smell yumtastic(OH loves it lol) but at nealr £3-4 a bottle for 18 washes it is pricey stuff- Oh no it's not !!!! i use half the amount or even less and no softner(sometimes) i am 2/3rds down the bottle and just about on wash number 40!!!!! i paid £1.88 in Tesco for my bottle but next time it is on offer i am stocking up big time.

I must admit i am defo going to give stardrops a go though lol it sounds like a cunning plan to me

ok food now hmm

i have got in to the habit of not buying loads of chicken breasts to make curries,sezchaun,cajun chicken etc.....no way £4 a bag for 4 breasts hmm instead a nice fat plump chicken costing about £3.50 cooked and shredded every available bit of meat to make my meals, it goes a lot further as it is shredded and instead of several big chunks you get a thicker and what loks like more meaty pot of food.
The bones make stock plus there is leftovers for my kitties and the dog.

Or even still i will look for offers on the fresh or frozen thighs and drunsticks as the meat on them is nice and succulent and it does the same thing for a fraction of the price lol.


With regards to pet food....
I have 3 indoor cats that are greedy buggars lol they only like now Purina pro-plan and at £40 for 15kg it is pricey but it is an excellent food containing a lot of whole chicken meat but still it is expensive and that bag does me 3 months plus i supplement them with sachets of meat(gets to working out quite pricey over the year) now however i am buying a few boxes of Tesco premium catfood(£4 for 5kg) i mix about 2/3rds pro-plan with 1/3rd Tesco's in a big plastic container and leave all the flavours to absorb each other...well so far the girls are eating it with minimal fuss(they dont usually touch anything cheaper lol)if i can keep padding it out like this i could save a nice bundle in a year as i won't need as much pro-plan(or maybe purina will be a darling and put a bogof on or another good offer to save my pennies).

I have already for ht epast month started my christmas shopping(i have a strategic list lol)if i see it on offer and it's on my list i buy it if not i don't buy it yet, it would really get me angry if let's say i bought some Roses at full price to buy in and then 3 weeks later they were on a bogof so i could save one as an extra prezzie.......so if you are buying tins and stuff in just see if it is on offer or wait another week etc as you will kick yourself if you have loads in but find you could have had double in lol.

Like wise if i see something on my weekly shop on a bogof i put one away to stock up for christmas, if i am careful all the christmas stuff does me and my OH well into Feb next year so we don't need a lot lol.

Just a final thing(phew my hand is dropping off lol) if you are making a pot of chilli or pot of soup, make the biggest batch you can at the one time to save money on cooking and also if offers are on the ingredients every tiny bit helps.

The 3 for 2 on at the minute in Woolies is super douper, i went yesterday and got 2 latest Bratz dolls with their own perfume or whatever they were originally £19.99 each but reduced to £9.99, good good so walked about and found the Bratz with her horse original price £29.99 on offer half price £14.99 got the 3 but only paid for 2 !!!! so got £70 worth of Bratz for £25 i was buzzing all the way home lol plus they had the Bratz and Barbie limos etc all half price form £70 to £35 etc what a super super saving when buying 3!!!!!!! I just thought i had to let everyone know as it saved me a good bit on my neice!!!!!!!!!

I still have my thinking cap on as i am a reasonably frugal person and try my best to save those precious pennies and i am sure there is more i do hmmmm think think think lol

Well i hope someone finds my stuff helpful at least.

Unity

Gunna wrote: »

I forgot to add that Jojoba also doubles as a frizz treatment for frizzy locks(rub a small drop of 2 between your palms to warm it up then very very sparingly work through your hair concentrating on dry frizzy ends), it also adds excellent shine to your hair making it look really healthy and conditioning whilst it is on.

Totally agree with you EagerLearner about oil burners, i have loads and use them daily to make my house smell yummy, best oils i have found are:

Bodyshops £3.00 a bottle but a few drops is enough and the smells are really really good(last christmas they did spiced plum and a cranberry one and these were out of this world, sadly they havent brought them back yet )

Asda does a double pack of their oils these are £1.79 and are just as good as bodyshops especially the Bamboo one and Frost, 2 bottle for that price is great plus they are nice and strong(get rid of the dog and cat whiffs lol) and.....

my poor pooch seems to have a reaction to airfreshners so i was having to buy those expensive hypoallergenic ones as even carpet stuff makes him flare up but with the oil burner i can have 5 on full strenght and his skin is fine phew which is great plus(more lol) on a cold night all those lovely little candles look so warming and at the same time they are making my house nice scented(just remember to top water up of they might explode oil all over like mine did lol).

OOOh i am on a roll here with my tips lol.....

The new Ariel gel is fantastic stuff !!!! Honestly i am raving about it, my clothes are uber clean,whites are spotless and even after up to 7 days sat in the airing cupboard they still smell yumtastic(OH loves it lol) but at nealr £3-4 a bottle for 18 washes it is pricey stuff- Oh no it's not !!!! i use half the amount or even less and no softner(sometimes) i am 2/3rds down the bottle and just about on wash number 40!!!!! i paid £1.88 in Tesco for my bottle but next time it is on offer i am stocking up big time.

I must admit i am defo going to give stardrops a go though lol it sounds like a cunning plan to me

ok food now hmm

i have got in to the habit of not buying loads of chicken breasts to make curries,sezchaun,cajun chicken etc.....no way £4 a bag for 4 breasts hmm instead a nice fat plump chicken costing about £3.50 cooked and shredded every available bit of meat to make my meals, it goes a lot further as it is shredded and instead of several big chunks you get a thicker and what loks like more meaty pot of food.
The bones make stock plus there is leftovers for my kitties and the dog.

Or even still i will look for offers on the fresh or frozen thighs and drunsticks as the meat on them is nice and succulent and it does the same thing for a fraction of the price lol.


With regards to pet food....
I have 3 indoor cats that are greedy buggars lol they only like now Purina pro-plan and at £40 for 15kg it is pricey but it is an excellent food containing a lot of whole chicken meat but still it is expensive and that bag does me 3 months plus i supplement them with sachets of meat(gets to working out quite pricey over the year) now however i am buying a few boxes of Tesco premium catfood(£4 for 5kg) i mix about 2/3rds pro-plan with 1/3rd Tesco's in a big plastic container and leave all the flavours to absorb each other...well so far the girls are eating it with minimal fuss(they dont usually touch anything cheaper lol)if i can keep padding it out like this i could save a nice bundle in a year as i won't need as much pro-plan(or maybe purina will be a darling and put a bogof on or another good offer to save my pennies).

I have already for ht epast month started my christmas shopping(i have a strategic list lol)if i see it on offer and it's on my list i buy it if not i don't buy it yet, it would really get me angry if let's say i bought some Roses at full price to buy in and then 3 weeks later they were on a bogof so i could save one as an extra prezzie.......so if you are buying tins and stuff in just see if it is on offer or wait another week etc as you will kick yourself if you have loads in but find you could have had double in lol.

Like wise if i see something on my weekly shop on a bogof i put one away to stock up for christmas, if i am careful all the christmas stuff does me and my OH well into Feb next year so we don't need a lot lol.

Just a final thing(phew my hand is dropping off lol) if you are making a pot of chilli or pot of soup, make the biggest batch you can at the one time to save money on cooking and also if offers are on the ingredients every tiny bit helps.

The 3 for 2 on at the minute in Woolies is super douper, i went yesterday and got 2 latest Bratz dolls with their own perfume or whatever they were originally £19.99 each but reduced to £9.99, good good so walked about and found the Bratz with her horse original price £29.99 on offer half price £14.99 got the 3 but only paid for 2 !!!! so got £70 worth of Bratz for £25 i was buzzing all the way home lol plus they had the Bratz and Barbie limos etc all half price form £70 to £35 etc what a super super saving when buying 3!!!!!!! I just thought i had to let everyone know as it saved me a good bit on my neice!!!!!!!!!

I still have my thinking cap on as i am a reasonably frugal person and try my best to save those precious pennies and i am sure there is more i do hmmmm think think think lol

Well i hope someone finds my stuff helpful at least.

I'd been thinking of trying the Ariel stuff so I'll probably give it a go. I normally just use either Aldi or Sainsbury's liquid for coloureds and cheap bio powder for whites.

I use oil burners too - but only metal ones as they don't have the same explosive qualities as pottery ones.

Have you found any sites for getting catfood cheaper? I've been looking into this for a while - it's supposed to be cheaper from agricultural suppliers - but I haven't found any cheap as yet. One of my cats is 'pleasantly plump' because he doesn't get out any more. He had two car accidents (one where we really thought we'd lose him as his back was squashed and he suffered multiple pelvic fractures) and the vet said it was obvious he just wouldn't learn so we've had to keep him in. I'm feeding him on the dried Aldi stuff in the red bags for senior cats as is supposed to have fewer calories, but I'm sure he just eats more :eek:.

EagerLearner

Really fancy making my own liquid soap for handwash - will any soap do, grated into 2 litres of water then heated? I know that in Tesco / Pound store some soaps are really really cheap, but I could always add jojoba to moisturise and counteract the cheap soap!

Also, how to make my own washing up liquid? Would normal soap work as above?

Gunna

EagerLearner i wonder if the washing gloop would do the job ?? It is soap after all and perhaps watered down to a thin consitency would do, you could then add things like pure Tea tree oil and lavender or lemon oil to add to de-greasing properites an also with the tea tree to add to anti bacterial properties hmmmm worth thinking about and i wonder how much you would save(loads hopefully lol).

Unity the only website i have found cat food cheaper is:
http://www.berriewoodwholesale.co.uk/cgi-bin/sitewise.pl?act=sect&pt=159&s=160&id=berrie

but only fractionally cheaper, i was thinking of finding a local argricultural supplier as i also have heard these can be darned cheaper but it is where there is one near me, other than there i usually wait till pro-plan is on bogof or i have £3 off vouchers i use them it still works out pricey though.

I was looking at Aldi's premium catfood the other day it works out cheaper than pro-plan per kg but i wondered what the meat was used it said meat meal or chicken meal i think which would mean not as good quality and i tbh prefer my girls onj pro-plan with the Tesco stuff mixed in as at least i know they are getting 2/3rds of a good food but i wish i knew a food out there cheaper that was just as good as i do feel i am paying for the name as well.
CSJ do cat foods and they kindly sent me some samples theiur cheap stuff was £15 per 15kg and the girls didnt go near it at all lol and they super expensive stuff(worked out nearly £60 for 15kg with discount) they didnt want to touch either they starved happily for 2 days .

They love Purina one as well which is cheaper than pro-plan and pretty much the same stuff(just it is supermarket quality) it works out cheaper but i cannot get it any bigger than 3kg bag for £11.50 and with my £3 voucher pro-plan works out at that price any way.........this is really annoying me lol i will just stick to the tesco food plan and see how it goes.

EagerLearner

Thanks Gunna - we use dishwasher for most things but the occasional time washing up liquid gets used as well, so I wondered whether the homemade liquid handwash would also do the trick, maybe with different essential oils as you say.

I think the handwash itself, I would add jojoba oil for moisturising, and a few drops of honeysuckle maybe for scent.

Then the washing up liquid I'd use the same soap, but maybe lemon verbena if possible as I love that... just have none at home!

Sian_the_Green

Can I ask where you buy this fabulous Jojoba oil from? I am very allergic to most beauty products which are stacked with fragrances and paraben preservatives so I am totally up for trying new things