Sneaky ways to save the pennies

sabretoothtigger

Confuzzled wrote: »

i agree that's why i use the dodgy old thing that came with the flat vs the sleek new one that came with my bt broadband package

old one still works and at least it's not rotary :rotfl:

If you switch to EON which has cashback I think, they give you a free electric readout . You can find out how much everything is costing in watts / pounds per hour, day, etc
Might be a surprise how much the old freezer is using up, etc

geordie_joe

sabretoothtigger wrote: »

If you switch to EON which has cashback I think, they give you a free electric readout . You can find out how much everything is costing in watts / pounds per hour, day, etc
Might be a surprise how much the old freezer is using up, etc

How does that work? I thought they just supply your house with leccy and have no way of no way of knowing what it gets used on once it passes through your meter?

I be more than a little worried if I switched to eon and they knew what appliances I own and use. Even more worried if they knew when I used them and for how long!

Patchwork_Quilt

Just posted this on another thread but it's a good tip so here goes -

Buy a load of clothes from the charity shop that you like but which don't necessarily match. Dye them all the same colour. Voila! Mix and match outfits.

Also, I smarten up my jeans by redying them periodically. They look like new but of course, it has cost very little.

Claire_Bear

Stephen_Leak wrote: »

Tell them where the "fashion" comes from. It's US prisons, and indicates that they - how can I put this delicately - "take it up the *rs*". :eek:

I heard it originated from 'gangsta' culture in Los Angeles, where lads would wear hand-me-downs from their bigger brothers. The bigger and baggier the clothes, the bigger and tougher your brother was, they wore them as a sort of pride thing.

But anyway! I've read through this entire thread in the past few days, and can't believe how great some of the tips are, I would never have thought of loads of them. Will definately be using some of them myself :T Especially like the ones about putting cheap watered down shower gels and shampoo into soap dispensers, I saw this in a hotel we stayed in recently and thought it looked really posh and nice, who would know you were actually being thrifty and spending less that way? :rotfl:

I have a slightly sneaky one, when making mashed potato, I found that if I hadn't made enough for everyone I would pop some Instant Potato flakes in with a splash of milk and it bulked it out nicely without taking away the nice taste. Don't know if it works out any cheaper doing it this way but it's good if you're caught short.

Confuzzled

sabretoothtigger wrote: »

If you switch to EON which has cashback I think, they give you a free electric readout . You can find out how much everything is costing in watts / pounds per hour, day, etc
Might be a surprise how much the old freezer is using up, etc

thanks! actually i'm with scottish hydro electric and i have to ask permission from my letting agency to change suppliers which i'm seriously considering. SHE actually offered me one of those and told me they were sending one but never have, though they sent me a letter asking about it, cheeky gits! i'll have to get on them about it again

i'm very curious to see how much each computer uses. i've decided that we're going to do a personal energy consumption challenge. i'm on the computer far too much each day and i think we watch too much tv so i'm going wean us down to no more than 4 hours a day on the computer for me and 2 for my daughter (we home educate and i do some work from home so i can't cut it down any further than that) and no more than 2 hours a day of tv total for us both (i do use some programmes for their educational properties) i believe that should help out a lot.

i took a meter reading when i got up this morning and i'm going to figure out our average daily usage, right now off the top of my head, i think we're using 4.6 units a day (we'd been doing so well before the computers arrived, *sighs*) i'm going to see if i can pare that down to just 3-3.5 units a day...wish me luck!

my computer is my only true form of entertainment so this will be hard but i look at it this way; the garden will have less weeds, the house will be cleaner, we'll have better meal planning (which will work well with the store cupboard challenge i'm giving us now) and i'll spend more hands on time with my wee girl so that can't be bad right?

anyway wish us luck, and hopefully in a few months we'll have settled well into things, just in time for needing lights on nearly all day long in winter *sighs*

Confuzzled

geordie_joe wrote: »

I be more than a little worried if I switched to eon and they knew what appliances I own and use. Even more worried if they knew when I used them and for how long!

erm... i thought THOSE sort of appliances ran on batteries...correct me if i'm wrong!


sorry, couldn't resist!!!! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

this is a unit you connect to your own devices and can be connected either to the meter (if i understood correctly) or to the socket so you can check the entire house and/or a specific items usage

moneysavinglaura

Hi, I've seen many people mention Approved Foods - I'd never heard of them before. Are they cheaper than the supermarkets or is there anything they are particularly good at? It seems that they charge postage so doesn't that make it more expensive? I am only shopping for me and my OH but willing to do monthly shops, so would it be helpful do you think?
Any advice welcome!
Thanks

cyclingyorkie

love this thread! Haven't managed to read it all yet but will keep popping in!

My tip? I have porridge for breakfast and am saving milk...and calories by soaking the oats in 200ml of water overnight. By morning the oats are really soft so I add a glug of milk andf cook it as per normal.

At the moment I throw soft fruit in everday - best bargain - whole punnet of strawbs for 25p at local Coop!

Primrose

Porridge or oats in any form are an ideal breakfast. Not only do they provide a cost-effective meal, oats have medically been proved to be good for your heart in helping to reduce cholesterol, so they're a double saver! If you have one of those mini food processors, throwing in a handful of oats with fruit (fresh or dried) and some yoghurt makes a filling and tasty smoothie/cold breakfast cereal which is sufficient to last for two days.

E.ON_Company_Representative

Hi geordie joe, :hello:

As sabretoothtigger says, you can get a free Electrisave energy monitor if you sign up for E.ON’s Energy Saver tariff. :j

The monitor will belong to you; you won’t have to return it, so E.ON won’t have any information in regards to what you use.

The monitor has a display unit and a transmitter unit. The transmitter is connected to the meter cables and sends information to the display unit.

The monitor will then display how much electricity is going through your meter as you use it, you can try turning everything off and trying one appliance at a time to learn how much each item uses.

The monitor itself won’t save you money, it’s the actions you take from the information that will lower your usage and help reduce the amount you spend. :think:

It’s a great tool and can potentially save you a lot of money in both the short term and the long term. :money:

Any more questions let me know.

Brian