Sneaky ways to save the pennies

looby-loo_2

I agree. There are bargains but I've seen clothes at more that chain shop prices.

ceridwen

True - re charity shop prices. I'm glad the books in my local ones arent quite that expensive...but I do wonder about the prices of clothes in there and know what people mean by complaining that secondhand clothes can cost as much as cheapie new ones. I recall - decades ago now - working in a charity shop and I was frequently astonished by how much the stuff was undervalued and had a few bargains myself for just pennies. These days - they seem to have gone to the opposite extreme - so I rarely bother looking - as I tend to think "whats the point of spending several £s for something that has already had a lot of its "wear" used up?" Fortunately - I've had a pretty frequent source of supply of secondhand clothes anyway - my mother passing hers on to me. There was a time when most of my "wardrobe" consisted of pass-ons from my mother and clothes from jumblesales I was helping at anyway.

OddjobKIA

thankfully one of our local charity shops still has decent prices......

anyway....

those of you who work

Always go to the loo at the end of work use there water and paper..(okay not much saving on paper but 5 flushes a week ( or 10 if you wait untill you get to work in the morning as well) will make a differnce to your water bill

Gunna

Hehe thought of another one

I bought one of the washing sponges on a stick this one:

http://www.britishcornershop.co.uk/britishfood.asp?id=SGN0272

You fill it up with washing liquid and each time you use it uses a tiny bit of washing liquid so a bottle lasts ages and so do the pads, 3 refill pads are about £1.50 and they do about 2/3 months each pad.

Brilliant invention especially for saving valuable pennies on washing liquid.

Gunna

oh lol forgot to say.....i use Tesco value cosmetics(3 for £5.00) their shimmer powder is fab better than a brand i pay £10 for and lasts ages(i use as face shimmer and on my lips everyday).

Their nail polish and lippies are good too !!!!

Fozz

I bake most cakes in small bun tins rather than a big cake tin, most cake mixes seem to work this way. My DDs never get through a whole cake, and I end up eating it to save waste. This way it uses less electricity and I just freeze what's left for another day.
Re charity shops, one thing in their favour I guess is that they're more ethical, a lot of cheapie clothing is made by exploited workers, and doesn't last long anyway. I think slightly worn better quality clothes have more life in them anyway. However I do think some of them charge too much and have too much new stuff in, luckily my local one is brilliant and just around the corner!

Icewytch

I`ve noticed one disturbing thing among charity shops. Quite a few of them are refusing to take clothes in anything over size 14! A friend of mine handed in a few bags of extremely good quality designer clothes and was told to take them away as they `wouldn`t be able to sell them in that size`!
It`s also happened to other friends too.
Not only does that demean the person kind enough to donate to charity, but shows imo that more shops are buying into the ridiculous size 0 image and catering to that. :rolleyes:

DianneB

Fozz wrote: »

I bake most cakes in small bun tins rather than a big cake tin, most cake mixes seem to work this way. My DDs never get through a whole cake, and I end up eating it to save waste. This way it uses less electricity and I just freeze what's left for another day.
Re charity shops, one thing in their favour I guess is that they're more ethical, a lot of cheapie clothing is made by exploited workers, and doesn't last long anyway. I think slightly worn better quality clothes have more life in them anyway. However I do think some of them charge too much and have too much new stuff in, luckily my local one is brilliant and just around the corner!

It is almost impossible to find childrens better quality clothes where I live and it makes me fume to see the cheapie Primark/Asda/Mr.T stuff going for more than it originally cost, this stuff should cost pennies not pounds!! On another note I once heard a charity shop worker say she saved the Denby pottery for a man who resold it as it 'wouldn't sell around here' I wish I'd had the courage to challenge her!!!

bizzylizzy

We are very lucky here as our local charity shop has turned itself into a 'charity pound shop'! It does a roaring trade.....

brila

Icewytch wrote: »

I`ve noticed one disturbing thing among charity shops. Quite a few of them are refusing to take clothes in anything over size 14! A friend of mine handed in a few bags of extremely good quality designer clothes and was told to take them away as they `wouldn`t be able to sell them in that size`!
It`s also happened to other friends too.
Not only does that demean the person kind enough to donate to charity, but shows imo that more shops are buying into the ridiculous size 0 image and catering to that. :rolleyes:

I have to stick up for charity shops a little bit here. I used to volunteer in one and we only had so much space and had to prioritise what would sell both in the shop and in the back waiting to go out. Charity shops have to pay to have their rubbish removed and far too many just dump stuff on them that is complete unsaleable (I've opened bags full of torn and dirty clothing with buttons missing, broken crockery and even once a bin bag full off notepads full up with writing). Large size clothing does sell very slowly (did in my shop anyway) and if you already have a great deal of it, it can be challenging to turn it away without offending people. If you accept stuff you can't sell you either have to pay to store it or pay to dispose of it. I don't believe it is a statement against big people or pro-size 0 and media marketing - it is almost certainly a fact of life that big clothes are hard to sell in a charity shop. Secondly, charity shops have a sort of obligation to get the best they can for the donated items. Things often get sold straight to dealers where they would fetch a better price than 50p or so having sat on the shop shelf waiting to get knocked over by some free-range toddler. If you donate to a charity shop it is going to use your stuff to raise money for the cause - it is unlikely to have a mandate to operate for the benefit of local bargain-hunters.

Having said all that I do have big issues with charity shops, which is why I don't volunteer in one any more. A lot of the best stuff goes very quickly at a discount to staff and volunteers. At my shop several volunteers did one shift a week and made a living off eBay with their discounted purchases. Shops are becoming increasingly expensive and it hurts people trying to make a genuine living. A lot of secondhand bookshops and clothing agencies I used to haunt have gone now, as they can't compete. EBay, car boots etc. have made life harder for charity shops as they get fewer "quality" goods and have to sell new stock or overpriced tat to survive. In return, they are squeezing genuine traders out of the marketplace with unfair business operating mechanisms (free stock, free staff and often discounted premises). I don't think I can really accept charity shops as a "money saving" venue (around here, anyway). Jumble sales, car boots, free-ads papers and other peoples' skips are the places to get bargains now.