Sneaky ways to save the pennies

ceebeeby

ailz95 wrote: »

How not to save money:

We have no heating in the kitchen - didn't think it necessary with the heat from cooking. The pipes were frozen behind the washing machine. This morning they unfroze with water flowing freely onto the kitchen floor. I rang Homeserve, with whom I have a contract but they, of course, don't deal with frozen pipes, so I got a plumber - £75 - which I don't think is bad when you think it's Sunday, he was here within half an hour and he replaced a piece of pipe rather than bandaging it.

Arghhhh!!!

Perhaps we should start a thread on MSE sneaky penny savings ... that went wrong!!

I made an enormous fish pie using up carrots, green beans, cream and cheese sauce, Xmas Salmon and Mash potato ... should have been delicious ... was absolutely REVOLTING! We all bravely mmmm'd our way through the generous mash layer, but couldn't bear the slimy mess at the bottom!

DH asked what I wanted to do with the rest of it ... no matter how MSE I now am there was no way I'm feeding that to any of the family again! They heaved a great sigh of relief when I scooped the mash off to save, and threw the rest away (even the cat refused the salmon mush!)

... At least I saved the mash

Becky_2

ceebeeby wrote: »

Hi D&D,

This is the Old Style Forum Link:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=33

but you can find it a number of different ways by going up to the Forums tab at the top as well.

All the people on there are hugely helpful, and could help you make a delicious meal out of a mouldy banana if necessary!!! Seriously, they're very very good!


If you wanted to have a peek at mine specifically, here's how I've managed the past 8 days and planned ahead until the 17th Jan for the total of I think about £14 out of my £60 budget - and that includes the cat food, which is my most expensive thing at the moment!!!

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2176509

Thanks ceebeeby, I am determined to get better this year at using up what I have in the freezers and the cupboard. Having suffered from a really bad cold so far this year and having no energy at the moment, I have made a note in my diary to next weekend go through our 2 freezers (one in the kitchen and one in the shed) and write a list for each freezer what's in there. Then I shall make a list of what is in the cupboard. Then I be shall be ready for using up that food and not buying anymore for a while.:T

tara747

Becky 2 (and ceebeeby), what a coincidence! I have (finally!) made an inventory of the freezer! One of my NY resolutions is to be more organised at meal planning and to use up freezer stuff, so this is a huge step forward! Thanks to all for your tips and hints. I love MSE... And this thread is totally fab.

ailx95, sorry to hear about your pipes!

rosemary54

ceebeeby wrote: »

Arghhhh!!!

Perhaps we should start a thread on MSE sneaky penny savings ... that went wrong!!

I made an enormous fish pie using up carrots, green beans, cream and cheese sauce, Xmas Salmon and Mash potato ... should have been delicious ... was absolutely REVOLTING! We all bravely mmmm'd our way through the generous mash layer, but couldn't bear the slimy mess at the bottom!

DH asked what I wanted to do with the rest of it ... no matter how MSE I now am there was no way I'm feeding that to any of the family again! They heaved a great sigh of relief when I scooped the mash off to save, and threw the rest away (even the cat refused the salmon mush!)

... At least I saved the mash

poor Ceebeeby,I feel for you,families always remember the disasters for years to come.
I cooked a recipe from Febs GH mag(altered to suit of course) using up odd bits of bacon,carrot,onion,chicken fillet,chorizo,stock cube and a can of canniloni beans,did it in the oven as a casserole not on hob as recipe and it was ab fab and think it will adapt to use of any old bits and pieces:j...guess it will be on their website so worth a look
p.s poor cats did not get a look in as DH had a big bowl of seconds!

Quasar

Ok so this is cutting it fine perhaps, but I found a way to save £1 or more per month. I use Splenda sweetener in my tea/coffee (because it's natural and healthier than its artificial cousins), but it's not cheap, and I use two per cup, at around 3 cups per day, often 4 or even 5. The last two days I've run out and haven't had time to go and get it so I've had to do with unsugared/unsweetened tea.

Well, I'm taking this as an opportunity to start now using only one Splenda per cup, and eventually wean myself out of sweetening altogether. As I said it's a small saving, but I calculate it's about £20 per year. That's my summer gas bill paid.

Mrs_Thrify

Morning all, guess what? want to know a secret? well I said it to myself this morning - if when people get up and it is day light you can open the curtains and turn the light "OFF". I did this for 3 lights switched on this morning about 8.30am - 9am.

I am working on my freezer at the mo as I belive my Belco B rated, none frost free would be better changed to a A rated energy saving frost free one. Here's the "BUT" would it be saving the pennies? to get rid of a freezer that is working but frosts up as people leave the door not quite shut once or twice and the thing then ices over and trying to push the baskets back in the plastic fronts get broken.
I like the Hotpoint FZ150 @ £350.
What would you do?

BigMummaF

ceebeeby wrote: »

Arghhhh!!!
Perhaps we should start a thread on MSE sneaky penny savings ... that went wrong!!
....

Ask & you shall find It's here & makes for some good giggles & here is another with a Beginners Guide to OS.

[Deleted User]

julie_d wrote: »

Morning all, guess what? want to know a secret? well I said it to myself this morning - if when people get up and it is day light you can open the curtains and turn the light "OFF". I did this for 3 lights switched on this morning about 8.30am - 9am.

I am working on my freezer at the mo as I belive my Belco B rated, none frost free would be better changed to a A rated energy saving frost free one. Here's the "BUT" would it be saving the pennies? to get rid of a freezer that is working but frosts up as people leave the door not quite shut once or twice and the thing then ices over and trying to push the baskets back in the plastic fronts get broken.
I like the Hotpoint FZ150 @ £350.
What would you do?

We bought an A rated frost free fridge freezer two years ago and are pleased that we did. Even if you are not saving the pennies because of initial outlay, it is so less time consuming and messy that defrosting the freezer regularly. (Build-.up of ice can't be very efficient) .We sometime leave the door open a tiddle, but haven't had any problems pushing the baskets back in again. Perhaps you could pass the freezer on to someone via freecycle so it wouldn't be for the landfill.

tara747

I really can't wait to start meal planning.

Now, a question for you ladies who have limited freezer space (how I would love a huge chest freezer, ahhh maybe someday):

Is it better to have it (1) full of whoopsied meat etc
OR (2) buy the whoopsies, batch cook and freeze the meals
OR (3) a combination of both?

My freezer is full of whoopsies atm (mostly great meat bargains) but this makes it really hard to freeze batch cooked meals, which would be so handy on CBA days - so I am going to try to use up some meat and start freezing whole meals. What do you all do?

HariboJunkie

I do a combination of both tara. Depends what it is but I try to make whoopsied meat into a meal and then freeze.
Remember to repackage meat before freezing as a freezer bag takes up a lot less room than those plastic meat boxes.