Sneaky ways to save the pennies

Reverbe

Primrose wrote: »

Reverbe - that's an interesting cost calculation. In our County the libraries get their income allocated according to footfall (no of visitors) and number of items borrowed. So every time I visit, I walk in and out of the "visitor counter" screen at the door several times, and borrow as many books as I can, even though I know I won't have time to read them all.

Thanks. I gave them permission to use it in their publicity. LOL at you doing that. I admit it's the kinda thing i'd do. I know they ditch books if they havent been out for a while so every now and then I borrow some beloved ones and "save" them by getting them out and putting them in the chute. I used to do this a lot with a coupla associates books til they sold them. (i'd have bought them in the sale but they sold em without my ever seeing thme )

Primrose

If you eat Sutherlands/Shippams spreads or pastes and make your own jams & marmalades, wash the jars and lids and save them. Spray the lids with gold or silver paint to cover the printed brand name and fill jars with selections of home-made jams to provide mini breakfast portion selections. Wrap in coloured cellophone/paper and use as stocking fillers.

Unity

blueberrypie wrote: »

Ah, I've the baby in one arm most of the time - rare moments of two-hands-free get used for things that need two hands free LOL

I'll bet the main one will be knitting . Was it you who started the Ravelry group for MSE'ers - great stuff :T

cady

i have loved these threads!!!!! so far i have:

* dropped a brand on everthing
* using half the washing powder
* squeesed the last drop out of everything
* used all leftovers
* re joined the library

There just a few things ive done and i love it !!!! keep them coming

blueberrypie

Unity wrote: »

I'll bet the main one will be knitting . Was it you who started the Ravelry group for MSE'ers - great stuff :T

LOL -yes, that was me. Not knitting at the minute though, because there just aren't enough two-hands-free minutes in the day!

Anyone else interested in the Ravelry group can find it at http://www.ravelry.com/groups/mse-ravelry :-)

p00

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:
!

I buy semi skimmed carton milk from Aldi or Farm foods and it tastes just like fresh milk but at 39p a litre its much cheaper.

And we've changed to Morrisons value tomato sauce, put in a squeezy bottle, and no-one noticed any difference except its only 42p a bottle.

Also for gardeners - I cut the 'hanger loop bits' out of tops etc and use them as ties for plants as they are usually soft and a bit stretchy.

xxp00

savingqueen

stuck in doors with eldest who has "chicken pops" so have managed to read whole thread at last and feel must add a few nuggets (not chicken nuggets bom bom!) of my own. will post more later separately as I have a habit of accidentally deleting my typing!

part one: drying laundry

1. avoid tumble dryers at all costs & invest in lots of airers & radiator airers

2. if have to use tumble dryer & have enough room, put an airer in front of it with non tumble or indeed any clothes - warm air helps to dry them

3. get hold of plenty of radiator airers, even if you don't have radiators. As well as the obvious, these can be used in strange places to dry washing. We have 2 hanging from the end of our metal bedstead for smalls etc. A complex arrangement is hooked from the landing bannister rail - I can fit on 4 airers width ways and you can sometimes put a double row lengthways (ie hook another airer from the top airer) or buy the airers with 4 rows on instead of 2. Washing dries well as at top of house and doesn't take up valuable space.

4. hang shirts, tops etc from hangers and hook hangers from door frames. Again upstairs is better for drying and less in the way.

5. if you have a sunny room use this to dry washing on. Our front bedroom gets very warm even in winter midday and I often put surplus laundry on an airer there

6. washing dries quickest if spread out so I use lots of airers and spread washing over more than one bar to dry quicker

savingqueen

Toiletries
Tubes of facewash etc – get hold of top end furthest away from opening and bash the tube quite hard onto the middle of your other palm then give a good squeeze. If you perfect the technique you will find when you come to cut the tube open to get the dregs, there will virtually nothing left. If this doesn’t appeal just cut open the tube when its nearly “finished” and transfer contents into another container or just put the cut off “top” back onto the beheaded main tube.

Sometimes men’s toiletries can be cheaper than women’s … so women raid the bathrooms of the men in your lives. When my 17 year old nephew left home recently, he discarded several tubes of opened face wash, shower gel & hair conditioner simply because they didn’t have much left. I nabbed these and they lasted me for ages (see above!)

Wrapping gifts
If you have children, keep used wrapping paper even if crumpled & non-christmassy throughout the year – when it comes to Christmas use this old paper to wrap their pressies. My 2 & 4 year old don’t care about the paper and rip it off in seconds anyway. If you have small pieces, cellotape together rather than binning.

This can also work for adult pressies – I use my “best” wrapping paper for people I know appreciate fancy stuff and the used/cellotaped together variety for people like my Dad who couldn’t give two figs (where I get some of my OS habits from thanks Dad!). Another tip, I often buy OH his fav fragrance for birthday (too expensive to buy otherwise) and instead of wrapping put in a gift bag which he discards quickly & I discretely stash away til next year. I do have several bags (all recycled from presents I’ve been given) so I can rotate them in case he suspected though doubt he would even notice!

“Might come in useful for later” stuff
If you have room stash away anything that you think might come in useful but not quite sure how yet (eg the old jeans threads on MSE). Make sure you keep a list of stuff & where it is (another job I need to do yet!) and periodically look at the list and hey presto an idea or two might spring to mind and then you have a little project to do. Don’t just stash away for ever – I am guilty of doing this and trying hard to come up with ideas.

savingqueen

Think ahead for pressies – not just those you buy but also for those you receive. This might sound a bit mercenary but its practical. Some years I get asked by several family members what I/DH/DS1/DS2 would like for birthdays and I can’t always think of anything so sometimes end up with things we don’t really need. If people already have bought the present or have an idea that’s fine, but if they are stuck and asking for your help – help them out and get something you really like at the same time by thinking ahead. This also helps family members on a tight budget – I can suggest cheap but great pressies for our children so everyone wins. You could create a wish list in case anyone asks – also helps if you receive money as a gift as you can thank the giver swiftly and let them know what you intend to buy with the money. I love to know what my nieces/nephews have spent with any money we send them.

rhiwfield

savingqueen wrote: »

stuck in doors with eldest who has "chicken pops" so have managed to read whole thread at last and feel must add a few nuggets (not chicken nuggets bom bom!) of my own. will post more later separately as I have a habit of accidentally deleting my typing!

part one: drying laundry

1. avoid tumble dryers at all costs & invest in lots of airers & radiator airers

2. if have to use tumble dryer & have enough room, put an airer in front of it with non tumble or indeed any clothes - warm air helps to dry them

3. get hold of plenty of radiator airers, even if you don't have radiators. As well as the obvious, these can be used in strange places to dry washing. We have 2 hanging from the end of our metal bedstead for smalls etc. A complex arrangement is hooked from the landing bannister rail - I can fit on 4 airers width ways and you can sometimes put a double row lengthways (ie hook another airer from the top airer) or buy the airers with 4 rows on instead of 2. Washing dries well as at top of house and doesn't take up valuable space.

4. hang shirts, tops etc from hangers and hook hangers from door frames. Again upstairs is better for drying and less in the way.

5. if you have a sunny room use this to dry washing on. Our front bedroom gets very warm even in winter midday and I often put surplus laundry on an airer there

6. washing dries quickest if spread out so I use lots of airers and spread washing over more than one bar to dry quicker

We used to dry most of our clothes in winter months like Savingqueen. The risk you run is that unless you have a lot of ventilation you increase the likelihood of mould on walls that can cost you a lot to sort out and may pose health problems for you and your loved ones.

We now accept the need for an external vented tumble dryer at some times of the year but use very fast spin speeds to reduce cost of drying. We also moved the rotary washer to the most sunny spot in garden and improved paving around it so we can use it even if ground is wet but drying conditions are ok.