Sneaky ways to save the pennies

Alison_Funnell

My mum has decos that my gran used when she was a child - mum is nearly 68. My MIL has some cards from her childhood too, she will be 79 on Wed. They are gorgoeous, not expensive or 'collectable' per se but they are priceless to the families. There are decos I can remember helping my gran hang on the tree. Lovely memories.

piglet6

Re: Christmas decorations, my parents have decorations which they have had since they got married (41 years ago in March). They add a couple each year (usually purchased in the sales!), but their tree has things I made in playschool (I will be 37 this year) and decorations from practically every year since. Every item on their tree has real "meaning" - an angel I made in the Brownies in 1982, a china disc we bought on a family holiday to Disneyland Florida in 1989, cheap plastic baubles with "Joyeux Noel" and "Bonne Annee" which I brought home from the hypermarket during my year abroad spent in France in 1994. Its a standing joke that my parents' angel has one arm - she was a doll dressed by my great aunt many, many years ago (the great aunt in question died in 2004, and had given up dressing angels many years earlier, due to bad eyesight). My parents smile and say that they are proud to "employ" a disabled angel (no offence intended to those who are "properly" disabled (my husband included) - it is purely a "nod" to the PC brigade of the new Millenium! :rolleyes:).

I am working on a tree similar to my parents (decorations collected so far over 13 years of marriage in the January sales, plus additional delights handmade by friends and family, plus various godchildren, with varying degrees of professional-ism! :rotfl:). I only hope that in 20 years time, I have a tree with half the memories that my parents have...

Piglet
x

NualaBuala

I know there were some posts about boiling water and using flasks. I've got better at using the right amount of water and if there is anything left over, it goes into a flask for later. In this cold weather, I've found it useful for de-icing the bird bath.

Also, the water from the tap is very cold at the moment and so takes extra energy to boil it. So when I've emptied the kettle after boiling, I refill immediately as the hot element warms the water so it doesn't take as long to boil next time. And it protects the element of course.

sandy2_2

ceebeeby wrote: »

Ahhh, you've just given me an idea - our darling Angel finally gave up this year, and despite sellotape, string and staples couldn't be put back together again - so she's taken up retirement on the middle branches of the tree!!! However, this left our tree topless, as we couldn't bear to 'replace' the angel.

How about ebay? or an retired doll from charity shop (or pound shop) to give your existing angel a sister
My angel/fairy is several years old now, this year she had new wings curtesy of a net butterfly and in the sale I bought a length of starry gauze to make a new dress for this year.
Sandy

oystercatcher

Oh I love the sound of piglet's mum's disabled angel. I'm she can still make Christmas Magic with one arm !

When my boys were little there was an 'Action Man' who lost a leg somehow. Middle son rescued him from the bin and refused to part with him so my Dad made him a wooden crutch and the Action Man went on to have loads more exciting adventures!

I was a childminder at the time and we had to demonstrate how we taught the children equal opportunities so Action man was shown along with various other PC things!

exlibris

[QUOTE=consultant31;28437487-_are_ours_the_oldest_deccies_around?:rotfl:[/QUOTE]

NO! my 2 boys are now in their 40's and some of the decs are that old! Not all as some have been broken or crumbled.

There is a family history in our decs. We tell the grand children "Daddy made this at primary school" "WE got this for Daddy's first Christmas" etc.

We do have some new ones too. A leprachaun (sp) bought on our Irish holiday 2 yrs ago is a later addition!

Nicoll

Anthillmob wrote: »

we have found mops not to work, our current one looks the business like a vileda but its rubbish.

my fave is the use of of old towel [cut small size] and whatever your choice is inside of one of them squirt and go floor cleaning products. currently mine holds watered down flash. squirt and then mop using your leg as the mop ontop of the towel.

i know this sounds odd and probably looks odd but it works and i dont have to get on the floor.

I do this but use my rubber broom, which I sweep the floor with first, to push the cloth around.....probably doesn't look as amusing as the leg idea though!

edaniels1983

Nicoll wrote: »

I do this but use my rubber broom, which I sweep the floor with first, to push the cloth around.....probably doesn't look as amusing as the leg idea though!

i LOVE my rubber broom. i have had one for years as being a hairdresser they are perfect for brushing up hairs and perfect for carpets x

even flylady has jumped on the rubber broom bandwaggon with the rubber sweeper and the rubberscrubber!!

i have save loads in using a rubber broom for everything. its my mop, broom, window squeedgie etc

Nicoll

edaniels1983 wrote: »

i LOVE my rubber broom. i have had one for years as being a hairdresser they are perfect for brushing up hairs and perfect for carpets x

even flylady has jumped on the rubber broom bandwaggon with the rubber sweeper and the rubberscrubber!!

i have save loads in using a rubber broom for everything. its my mop, broom, window squeedgie etc

Brilliant for dog hair on the laminate floor downstairs and on the carpet in the bedroom, don't get the hoover out very often, just every now and then to get dust out the carpet....electricity saving alert!

candygirl

Nicoll wrote: »

Brilliant for dog hair on the laminate floor downstairs and on the carpet in the bedroom, don't get the hoover out very often, just every now and then to get dust out the carpet....electricity saving alert!

You're making me look at my rubber broom in a whole new light now;).I bought one and thought it was cr*p, now I will have to have another go with it:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: