Sneaky ways to save the pennies

Confuzzled

arhino30 wrote: »

I telephoned our local council who supllied our green bins, and was told you can put in the hay/sawdust/droppings of any NON meat eating animals ie hamsters piggies rabbits into our green bins. Hope this helps
x

hmmm would that mean they are also safe to put in the compost bin? i shouldn't think their urine would be too strong (human urine is a compost activator) and it might help the compost hmmmmmmm

Confuzzled

p00 wrote: »

whats this about cashing in irn bru bottles?

xxp00

well the glass bottles of irn bru, sadly they don't do paid recycling of plastic bottles here like they do in the netherlands

you pay 20p (well last time i checked it's been at least 18 months since i've had any to return) on top of your price of irn bru when you buy it in the glass bottles (well actually, all barrs products in glass bottles) so it makes sense to bring your own back, but if you can find bottles just lying around then you can actually make a profit!

ex husband was previously an irn bru fiend so he'd save them up as his irn bru emergency fund, when times were really tight he'd return vast quantities of bottles and stock up on more irn bru and/or time it to conincide with sales of irn bru

Confuzzled

KiWi13 wrote: »

just wondering though - are people saving the pennies because things are already really bad or just in order to save wherever is possible so that it doesn't get to that stage?

well, for me personally at the moment things are desperately tight, however, if you've read my recent posts you'll probably realise i've been at this for some time

not sure how it happened but i have always been fairly practical. i certainly didn't get it from my mother, in fact i suffered as a child living in poverty for most of my childhood due to her unwillingness to let go of her upper middle class mentality when we were living on sub poverty level income.

i'd say about 35% of what i know/do is learned/aquired behaviour from reading forums and books, watching others , the rest i picked up on my own despite my mom's side of the family being such terrible snobs and spendthrifts

what i do has gotten me through some really tough times and has allowed me some luxuries i otherwise couldnt' afford (one of them was eventually working from home and home educating my child) some times i'm not as frugal as others and i know i could be much tighter on things if i wanted to (though only so much, i just don't 'DO' all those spendthrift things that many people do so i can't cut back that way) frugality has become a lifestyle choice because it allows me the opportunity to CHOOSE what i feel spending the money on is worth

for me it's being able to have less material things but not having to work outside the home 40+ hours a week and being able to grant my childs wish to be home educated. quite simply, we live with less by choice but TO US it means we get so much MORE LIFE overall if that makes sense

some only do frugal things because they have to for as long as they have to, some continue out of habit and some just do it because they don't like waste. overall you will save money, often time (i know some people will argue otherwise but frugal things tend to take awhile to show their full true potential including time savings) you'll do your part for the eco system, teaching your children some wonderful lifeskills ( being resourceful is one tool a LOT more kids and adults could really do with) but, best of all in my opinion is the feeling of self confidence it can instill. once you start picking up good frugal habits you realise you really could look after yourself if things got really tough and knowing you can rely on yourself is so important when the chips are down.

regardless of reasons for doing so, i believe that every attempt at frugality should be applauded. yes, some go 'a bit to far' in their attemps but the same goes for spendthrifts. we're always gonna have people like that so i tend to just smile and nod and i avoid them like the plague!

we all start somewhere and we all have our reasons and as long as living a more frugal or OS style of life makes your life better then that's all that really matters :T

Valli

Confuzzled wrote: »

hmmm would that mean they are also safe to put in the compost bin? i shouldn't think their urine would be too strong (human urine is a compost activator) and it might help the compost hmmmmmmm

I compost our pet's stuff - no problem!

Confuzzled

PHEW!!! 121 pages, i finally got through them all!

i'd like to give a big collective thanks to all the contributors of this thread, i've been inspired to tweak things just that bit further and hold my chin up (things are soooo tight financially right now). it's lovely having so many kindred spirits, and even better being thanked for sharing my experiences vs being stared at and having eyes rolled at me by spendthrift neighbours

**GROUP HUG**

ampersand

Dear confuzzled,
You have already lit things up here with your starburst input - so much, so soon and clearly loads more to share.
I'm really glad you have found a welcome home here - hugs shared indeed.
Have a lovely weekend.
#############
p.s. I think your post 2414 above is admirable, lucid and very sound. I'd like to think it could be food for thought to many and then the catalyst for a conscious choice to live differently, as opposed to existing numbly.
Good for you in every respect and Bon Courage!
[For what it's worth, I suspect I've known some of the thorny paths you tread.....barefoot:D]
We survive, but living and thriving is a hard-work choice.

Kelbell

I am only about half way through reading everyones hints and tips and loving them all!

A few tips of my own that i havent seen yet;
-If you have children that get in a mess when eating rather that wasting kitchen roll 2 wipe their hands and face keep a flannel in the kitchen instead and wash as required.
-When washing up put a tiny amount of washing up liquid (watered down of course!) directly onto your sponge rather than in the bowl, it will go a lot further!
-Always use half the amount of washing powder, conditioner etc than what the instructions say! They only say so much so u have 2 buy it more often!!
-To keep crusty or homemade bread fresh wrap it in foil and yo should get at least 1 more day out of it. Also if having the bread with a meal, stick it in the bottom of the oven for the last few minutes of cooking time and it will taste as if it was baked that day!!

Aril

This is another one from my Mum [can you see where my thrify gene comes from:D] She has in the past bought the wipes you use to remove makeup. I'm not advocating that you buy them but she has found that they can easily be washed and reused for all manner of things- most recently as hankies for the small person!
Aril

Confuzzled

Aril wrote: »

This is another one from my Mum [can you see where my thrify gene comes from:D] She has in the past bought the wipes you use to remove makeup. I'm not advocating that you buy them but she has found that they can easily be washed and reused for all manner of things- most recently as hankies for the small person!
Aril

i used cloth nappies for my daughter, normally i made homemade wipes in advance using baby oil, baby shampoo and water with cut up bits of flannel (made from old sheets) however when we would go out and about and to other peoples homes for visits i'd use store bought wipes.

i knew that the wipes were quite strong so since i was already washing wet nappies anyway if i used a wipe just for a wee then i'd toss it in the nappy pail (or special bag when travelling) and wash it along with the nappies. then i'd use the same solution to make up what looked like 'store bought wipes' for next time i was out and about

(i NEVER washed ones with poo, the nappies were strong enough to withstand that i didn't want to chance it if the wipes were!)

this saved me a fair bit in buying store bought wipes and i got less strange looks all around

ampersand

Welcome Kelbell - good newbie commonsense for your first post.
Keep 'em coming.