Sneaky ways to save the pennies

Primrose

Teenagers! Perhaps the answer here is for parents to do a kid swap for a week every so often. Might be an enlightening experience for everybody.

blueberrypie

Primrose wrote: »

Teenagers! Perhaps the answer here is for parents to do a kid swap for a week every so often. Might be an enlightening experience for everybody.

We kind of did swop - we took part in an exchange programme in which a 12yo French boy came to stay with us for six months, and then my 12yo son went back to France with him to live with his family for six months.

Result: two teenagers who are fully bilingual, who have experienced life in a different family and a different culture, and who have benefited in lots of other ways too.

That 12yo is now 14, and he's a great help around the house :-)

beautiful_ravens

Olliebeak wrote: »

I'm not sure about using tea light holders, BUT one place that I worked in used 'castor cups' (the things that you put under castors on furniture so that they won't mark carpets/laminate floors etc) for individual portions of butter/jam/marmalade/honey etc for breakfast time.

This type of thing: http://www.wilkinsonplus.com/invt/0159396

Thats just reminded me that one place we lived we used coffee jar lids as castor cups, so I suppose you could use clean lids from jars/bottles for the butter portions.;) Tomato Ketchup lids? Maybe theyre too small..?!

beautiful_ravens

Lilith1980 wrote: »

I just had to report that I did it! I put value ketchup into a Heinz squeezy bottle and DH didnt even bat an eyelid!!

First time I bought value ketchup I didnt disguise the bottle and DH turned his nose up saying he didnt like it, so last night was the big moment and he happily dipped his chips into it!

Just goes to show that some things are psychological

LOL! I just did this to my OH - Ive put UHT whole milk in a cleaned out 6 pinter - and hes not said a word. If he'd been poring it from a UHT carton, I could bet a gazillion pounds he would have said 'Oh, its gross!' by now!! teehee:rotfl:

Just remembered another thing - My mum discovered (yonks ago) that fabric conditioner actually works quite well as hair conditioner (think she watered it down a bit), we had to resort to it in times of desperation, although I wouldn't want to use it all the time...not sure why, just wouldn't!

siaoeh

Primrose wrote: »

We have a problem rationing butter consumption in this house (at least one of us does!) . I'm thinking of using all those little empty aluminim type containers that candle tea lights come in, cleaning them out and using them for butter portions.

how about those little IKEA bowls? I love the tiny ones, http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/30081467
5cm in diameter, comes in glass or stainless steel. I know its not totally MS seeing you have to buy them.. but at 4 for 2 quid, if it saves you butter money in the long run, might be worth considering? and they look so posh to serve up too!

Lilith1980

beautiful_ravens wrote: »

LOL! I just did this to my OH - Ive put UHT whole milk in a cleaned out 6 pinter - and hes not said a word. If he'd been poring it from a UHT carton, I could bet a gazillion pounds he would have said 'Oh, its gross!' by now!! teehee:rotfl:

Just remembered another thing - My mum discovered (yonks ago) that fabric conditioner actually works quite well as hair conditioner (think she watered it down a bit), we had to resort to it in times of desperation, although I wouldn't want to use it all the time...not sure why, just wouldn't!

That's a fab idea about the milk, I will have to try it. It would work especially well as DH opens milk and then tends not to use much of it so it goes off before he's halfway down the bottle. Next stop to Tesco is for some UHT milk ha ha! :rotfl:

I don't think I'd use fabric conditioner in my hair either to be honest, I'd be frightened it would be too strong and make my hair fall out :eek:

beautiful_ravens

Lilith1980 wrote: »

That's a fab idea about the milk, I will have to try it. It would work especially well as DH opens milk and then tends not to use much of it so it goes off before he's halfway down the bottle. Next stop to Tesco is for some UHT milk ha ha! :rotfl:

I don't think I'd use fabric conditioner in my hair either to be honest, I'd be frightened it would be too strong and make my hair fall out :eek:

Heehe;)
I was thinking about your ketchup thing - what would happen if you put heinz sauce in a value bottle and served it up - would he hate it? Or if you gave him value and told him you'd replaced it with heinz when you hadnt, would he (or anyone) like it or not? I too am pretty sure most of these things are in the mind!

Last week I decanted some value lemon curd into another empty jar, so it looks home made, and put a label on of my own, and even I think it tastes better!!!

My brother once thought a pork pie had gone past the use by date; he ate some, and said 'err, no its off, tastes funny'. I looked at the date, and he'd got it wrong, it was before the use by, :rolleyes: so...yep - I reckon its all in the mind.

Uniscots97

When cleaning my laminate floor now I don't use expensive laminate cleaner I use 2 spray bottles, one 1/4 full of stardrops and topped up with water and the other just plain water with a dash of vinegar. I very lightly spray the stardrops solution (I use this spray to clean my worktops and everything else too!) on the floor (about 6 sprays does my whole medium sized kitchen), mop round, then lightly spray with the vinegar spray and mop round again. Very quick and saves the floor getting soaked and much cheaper than using the laminate cleaners and the vinegar gives the floor a nice shine.

kerik4

unixgirluk wrote: »

When cleaning my laminate floor now I don't use expensive laminate cleaner I use 2 spray bottles, one 1/4 full of stardrops and topped up with water and the other just plain water with a dash of vinegar. I very lightly spray the stardrops solution (I use this spray to clean my worktops and everything else too!) on the floor (about 6 sprays does my whole medium sized kitchen), mop round, then lightly spray with the vinegar spray and mop round again. Very quick and saves the floor getting soaked and much cheaper than using the laminate cleaners and the vinegar gives the floor a nice shine.

I've seen stardrops mentioned a few times but Mr T's website doesn't stock it - where can I get hold of some?!
Thank you!

Akom

I get mine from Mr A.