The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: Sandy on May 14, 2011, 06:54:46 pm
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Hi, I have always been economical but I do waste stuff as well, just now I notice that being poor makes you more creative and posibly less costly re waste etc, we can all buy stuff we do not really need!! that £1 shop gets me every time ::) Anyway, I just love the tips on super scrimpers and thought, I bet others on here will have loads of money saving ideas, after speaking to my brother about how much some people spend on toiletries he said,, he used to go to the hairdressers bins (I know it's illegal) and take out the expensive shampoo bottles as they always had a bit left in them!! mind you, gone are the days of skip diving!!!!! SO, what things do people do to save?????
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When shopping, try some of the supermarkets economy range of foods. Some great some not so. Try food shopping in places like Lidl or Aldi or something along that line.
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I now have an electric oven so I plan when I am using it and I make sure I cook meals for the freezer, bread, cakes all in the same. I make cottage cheese instead of buying it (milk not quite boiling and lemon juice). We make meals for work instead of buying anything which actual saves over £2000 a year. We make all our own homebrew. Reuse any food containers as plant pots or if they have lids for storage. Save bottles for homebrew. Make fuel bricks from shredded paper I get from work or use the shredded paper for animals bedding. mend all clothes until they can't be mended any more old jumpers normally get recycled into cushion covers or bags. I use bicarbonate of soda for tough cleaning around the home and mix it with salt if I need a scrub, and lots lots more
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WOw, trouble is with baking loads of cakes is I eat loads of cakes but I used to make loads of meals that had to go into the oven, then freeze the spare ones, I also use the cheapest washing powder, I have for a long time, also the cheapest fabric conditionet and I know Steve waters it down. I saw the cottage cheese on Super scrimpers and loved that one, another one was some porrage in the mince to make if go further, my brother said that porrage in mince can be slimy, not cooked any for ages. I also made some cheap puds when my children were little by making jam sandwiches and coating them with egg and frying, eggy bread with jam but they tast a bit like jam puffs. I also used to save the remains of smelly candels and melt them into one of those gravy mix cardboard tubs as you can peel them out. I hate all the wipes you get these days and always have used ripped up square bits of material for stuff. We put smelly stuff in the hoover and also sometimes behine the rads. I keep bicarb in for wet matresses as it soaks up the moisture.
Looking forward to some more, love to save on cleaning stuff!
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My first port of call at Morrisons is the fish counter - there are always bargains to be had there as they sell fresh fish and any that's left over is really reduced, that goes in the freezer as soon as I get home. I also watch out for any special deals, like two fish and chips in one pack for £2, since there's just me that's two meals. Next place is the meat and prepacked reduced counter - also lots of stuff there that can be frozen straight off. Then I head for the bread counter where there are often reduced buns/bread/cakes (not bought now though), and just beside that is the counter fro odds and endsbashed tins etc - often good bargains there too, as well as sauces/chutmneys almost at sell by. The manufacturers have extrmely short 'sell by's' tehse days because we live in a 'sue them' culture these days so they can actually be used for quite a while. Often find shampoos/soaps/air fresheners there too.
I buy vinegar and lemon juice to clean windows with.
Morisons dog treats are £1.25 a pack, but if you buy two it's £2 so 50p off. I watch out for cat and dog food bargains too, and now only feed my dogs Purina Breeder pack. I also get cheaper layers pellets now from Colin - c.m.c on here. Almost £2 cheaper a 20kg bag than from two other places I used to shop and I need a bag a week (usinng the recommended guidelines of amounts to feed per chicken/duck per day)
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This is a strange one, but we've started getting Wisemans Dairies to deliver milk to us three times a week. It's slightly more expensive than in the shops, but it cuts down trips to the shops to buy a pint of milk (and invariably coming out with a bag of things you didn't intend to buy!) which saves loads. The best thing is that the bottles are reused so it has cut our recycling down by half and is much better for the environment. Everyone who comes for a cuppa enthuses over 'real' milk bottles too.
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instead of buying lemonade just pop 2 full lemons into a liquidiser with ice and cold water (sugar if you want) and whizz for 10 seconds, strain through a seive into a pitcher and drink keep in the fridge for a few days if it last that long. I try to reuse all bath and dish water for the plants. Use lemons skins to clean benches and leave a lovely smell. Make mayo in the liquidiser a couple oil of the girls eggs, teaspoon of mustard powder and pour veg in until it goes thick. Lemon curd is really simple to make and tastes much better than the shops. Grow veg in pots next to the kitchen door so that you can reach out and get them it makes it much more likely for you to eat healthy and save money. Clean leather shoes with banana skin and polish off. use left over veg from sunday dinner into bubble and squeak on monday and serve with a fresh leave salad from the pots outside the kitchen or if still a bit cold keep salad leaves growing on kitchen window sill. Bulk out cheese savory with grated carrot. Buy the best meat you can afford as you don't need as much for flavour and don't mess around too much with it so you can enjoy the flavour. To clean the dishwasher and washer use washing soda and run a short cycle. use washing soda to unblock kitchen sinks.
Gosh I sound like a skin flint saddo :o
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i don't buy conditioner for clothes any more and I try to air dry clothes. I also use eco balls for doing most of my washing - save a fortune on washing liquids and save the earth!
I am not proud - I raid other peoples rubbish when I think I can make use of it! I tear up OH shirts (he still hasn't realised this) and use them as rags for cleaning. make my own winter logs from waste paper during the summer. Preserve everything I grow or get given. (Got given leftover coconuts from the local fete and I spent all day husking and chopping and drying!). Always look for second hand things rather than buy new if I can. Barter goods I make for people with skills or machinery I don't have.
other less hands on tasks are such things as looking properly at Uswitch for power prices. Not afraid to change the way I have done things forever if I save doing it! Dure I will think of some more later...
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I remember going to the local corner shop with a list from my mum for groceries like washing powder, bacon, cheese, maybe some tins etc, he would pack it in a box and his delivery boy on a cycle bring it to you, my brother did that job for a while, then a women came around every week with veg but we also had an allotment, Butchers once a week and bread from the bakers etc, SO, I bet all that shopping wold have fit into a large cardbord box with very little wrappings or waste, that was for at least 4 of us but often more as we had lodgers who also ate, now I bet, even on our tight budget we buy more for a weeks shopping and have heps more rubbish. I keep forgetting to try the bannana for the shoe trick!!!
We have a neighbour who knows when each supermarket put thier deals out, some more on Tuesday evening some on Wednesday etc etc, Asda have also some good deals, in Alloa they keep them at the bottom of the store in the chill cabinate and Tesco at the top also in the chiller, you can sometimes get a nice tea, from the co op, I got 4 small bags of mixed veg for 20 each so made a veg curry.
I worked with a man in Glasgow who traded in Barrowlands :o, he had a large van and circled Glasgow for stuff that was left out to be collected and then either sells it or keeps it and he IS a rich man!! THat was something I found interesting on moving to Scotland, TV's, furniture, cookers etc can all be seen outside schemes on the pavement and in the morning, as if by majic, they are gone!
We are not skin flints, its amazing how much some people buy for themselves each week, we have done in the past and its not necessary at all.
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A good way to save money is to make a weekly menu and stick to it
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Lists!!! ::)
Lists for everything from our food, animal food, to-do lists etc
Sounds very OCDish, but we live 2 miles away from the "local" village shop & it's a 15-mile round trip to pick-up the animal feed. With the price of petrol :o it's really costly to have to "pop out" for some forgotten essential ???
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Planning every outing to make the most of the fuel being used - Monday nights I go out to run a drumming class so Mondays I go past the recycling centre, 2 local shops and with a short detour can meet a friend at Pillars if I have any wanting coffee out these days! If I'm going to Glasgow I now go by train and use that time to read or plan, and I pick up diesel and go to Tesco on the way home - unless there is a 5p/litre off in which case I go to Cupar as the Perth petrol station by Tesco isn't a Tesco one! And if I'm in Perth for a visit (or Glasgow or Edinburgh or Dundee) I try and pack in a full day of things and meetings whether they're social or practical tasks. And other days I don't go out - the nearest town is 3 miles so I can pop in for milk if need be but will ensure I post letters, go to the bank or something while there too!
I also rarely throw any clothes out, they go from fit to wear in town to fit for house only to layers for winter outdoors and then direct to the fire as kindling. Don't bother using them as cleaning rags cos I don't clean that often other than hoover and spray kitchen/bathroom surfaces so a pack of J cloths lasts a long time anyway and are quite cheap by multipack ;)
I gave all iron-needy clothes to the charity shop so I never have to iron now :D I don't own a tumble dryer so the washing goes out on the line or on an airer in the bath in winter, and if I'm using the oven I try and fill it and maybe the hob while I'm at it and freeze everything I can for future use rather than let it rot.
Stack up on special offers but only of things I use regularly like cat food (12 can packs where available, 6's if not and always the cheaper ones the cats will eat eg Kitekat rather than cheapest Tesco they won't always eat or expensive ones I don't want to pay for!), washing powder, good ground coffee etc. And horse wormers too as they're often cheaper in 20+ lots ;) I have things I'll buy only if on offer and not the rest of the time, and I have weaned myself off buying bargains of things I won't use even if they're BOGOFs.
Oh and I don't buy many cleaning products, no makeup/cosmetic products and only the bargain shampoos, no conditioners etc..
Local hairdresser rather than city salon, swaps rather than money where possible for therapies and massages, and own brand chaff for the ponies if needed, from a trusted local farm supplier.. And cos I like films I rent DVDs on a monthly package through winter rather than pay for Sky Movies or purchase individual films I will probably only watch once - the subscription is about £10 a month and you can get 2 "holidays" a year so I usually take one over the summer July-August and another at Christmas when post is often delayed and TV has better offerings. It means I can also catch up on previous seasons of favourite TV shows without buying box sets. The less clutter in the house, the less cleaning too ;)
And finally, carboots, Freecycle etc - amazing what folk want and don't want, but again the trick is not to buy things you don't actually need just cos they're a bargain ;)
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I'm loving these posts!!!!!! Most of my purchases, clothing, etc are either free or second hand, I have some nice designer stuff as well as some nice furniture. As we have a B&B I looked around one night to see what people could steel, apart from towels, nothing else is worth much, only this comp and my MP3 and the dogs of course. Because of the B&B I do have to keep cleaning stuff, the aromatherapy stuff in the hoover makes the place smell nicer usualy and I tend to wear old stuff to clean and dust with whatever I am wearing!!!!!!!
I buy the cheapest mild in bulk and put it in the freezer and the same with bread, like Anne said, often you can get a loaf for 40p or less and its just the same as the ones well over £1, I did sometimes make bread but not ideal for toast in the B&B. I freeze a lot of my bargains and recently had a pack of mackerel for 40p, there were 5 in there and so the dogs had them!!!! I do my hair myself (it shows ::)) and buy £1 shop make up if needed that lasts me for ages and ages, my biggest extravegance is deoderant, usualy not more than £1 a time but I don't always use it as I have a nice smelly shower and due to not working do not feel the need, I also have NO perfume :( although I love to smell nice I occasionaly use a cheap spray!!!
One thing I do not like to buy cheap is Tea or Coffee!!!!!
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Really enjoying this topic! I am interested in the idea of making "logs" from paper (price of oil is scary and around here where we have no mains gas, wood is going up too), is it difficult Greenerlife/Ellisr? Do you need special kit?
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Really enjoying this topic! I am interested in the idea of making "logs" from paper (price of oil is scary and around here where we have no mains gas, wood is going up too), is it difficult Greenerlife/Ellisr? Do you need special kit?
You just need a press from amazon or similar and a large bucket. A space to dry the logs and some patients. I use shredded paper from work and home office and it works a treat
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THat sounds a great job for all the family!!!!! nicer if you can get loads of paper though, you should see our fire grate, very big opening so it burns heeps, we still have quite a few logs but still awaiting permission to forrage for more!!
After a lye in today, I discovered staying in bed saves money ;) Good idea not to shop too often either, I bet we all can go into a shop for one thing and come out with 10!
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Really enjoying this topic! I am interested in the idea of making "logs" from paper (price of oil is scary and around here where we have no mains gas, wood is going up too), is it difficult Greenerlife/Ellisr? Do you need special kit?
I have one of these presses - my son gave me it for Christmas when I had the woodburneer installed. To be honest, it's a bit of a faff, and he did warn me I must admit. I think if you soak torn up bits of newspaper or shredded stuff in a bucket, then take it in handfuls and squidge it as dry as you can, maybe shape it into log shapes, it would probably work just as well. I put the paperbricks on my radiators to dry off, an airing cupboard would work too.
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When I do my paper logs I admit I don't soak the paper for three days which is what the instructions told me to do - I just wet them and then press with a whole sheet of paper as liner. it works just as well and the whole sheet saves it coming to bits when dry! you don't need a specialpress really - you could just squish them. as long as they dry out anythung goes! it can be a faff, but I try to get into the habit to do it regularly so it doesn't get too boring, and whilstthe sun is out so they can dry outdoors. Solar power is great! ;D
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I have a solar panel that runs various small electrical devices instead of the mains. The batteries I store the power in came from the junk batteries pile in a boatyard.
During the winter months I use a 'passive fridge' (an old chest freezer (freezers have better insulation) with a large plastic water container filled with rainwater, and a convection circuit built into it). It sits outside the back door, the water provides a thermal mass which slowly freezes when the ambient temperature is below freezing, and slowly melts when it's above. The convection circuit carries heat out of the box when it's cold outside but doesn't carry the heat back in when it's warm. I used this from the beginning of last November (when the weather turned cold) to the end of march
I use a wood burner for heating and hot water during the cold months - fired using wood harvested of the land.
in the summer months I use a solar water heater I made from an old central heating radiator painted black and put in a box constructed from salvaged timber and covered with polytunnel plastic. Getting the hot water into the tank automatically does require a bit of technical know how though, and it only provided hot water on very sunny days - usually I have to top it off with the immersion. Still reduces the immersion running time by 2 though.
I splashed out on a modern economical vehicle for work (2nd hand - from the car auction). This car uses less fuel 'urban cycle' than my old van used on a motorway cruise. cheaper to tax too. When I worked out how much I was spending per year on my old van, I realised this car would pay for itself in less than two years.
And the piece de resistance:-
This one's rather dependent on who you know and how much they trust you, but I live in a house rent & council tax free - the owner lives elsewhere, but by letting me live here he gets free on-site security and the property is maintained. The downside is that one day I will get my marching orders, and will have to buy my own place - but I should have a decent deposit saved by then :) .
Question:
does anyone have an idea how to turn twigs into a useful fuel?
I have piles of hedge trimmings and it seems a waste to just make a bonfire out of them, and breaking them up small enough to go in the woodburner is VERY time consuming. I have a small wood chipper but that's as slow as snapping them by hand and makes chips that are too small.
m
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Wonderful post meb, I want to live like that!!! we use twigs etc for starting our fire or using outside (when we get outside again) in our chimenea, then we bar b que on it when its hot, twigs are also good for keeping it going if you leave the fire unattended....thats the bad thing about fires, you have to keep tending to them and today, we went for a walk and the place was stewn with logs but miles from the car and all I had was 2 plastic bags for weeds for our chickens!! so maddening!!!
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great thread! anyone got any idea of costs for homebrew? At the mo, OH drinks Asda lager at 20p a can, 2% alcohol and says it's not bad!
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My brother said that, he should post on here he has managed with NO income for over 10 years!!!! he has saveings and he recons they will last him until he retires. I told him about my home brew plans and he told me about ASDA!!!
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I make fruit juice wine and it's VERY cheap. Depending on the strength you make (ie using 1 carton or more) it can be about £1 for 6 bottles. Using your own fruit later in the year or from the freezer works out even cheaper.
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great thread! anyone got any idea of costs for homebrew? At the mo, OH drinks Asda lager at 20p a can, 2% alcohol and says it's not bad!
Nettle or dandelion beer just costs for sugar and yeast and a bit time and apparently doesn't taste to bad. I am doing elderflowerh champers just now and will be making hedgerow red wine later in the year as well as cider and strawberry cider in autumn. The wine will take a year to mature but should have enough of other stuff going to get us through. 1 thing with homebrew is it has no food miles (except sugar) and you don't get drawn into supermarkets to buy it so don't spend money on other things whilst there. All my equipment is recycled except the airlock and is very basic and easy
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Have you tried MoneySavingExpert?
They have a forum that has lots of different flavours of moneysaving. There is a Greenfingers moneysaving forum too.
Best regards,
John
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Dont know if anyone else does this but when my Mum took down an old window blind (slated type) we cut it up and used it for plant labels
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Ellisr, your tips are fab. :) Is there a book idea lurking around..? When it comes to bicarb for cleaning, I never know the quantities of powder to liquid and it's never really worked for me. Could you enlighten me please?
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I normally use it sprinkled on the cloth and hot water to rinse, washing soda is good for general cleaning especially the kitchen and oven and that is a handfull to a bucket load. I don't know if there is a book it is just what I was taught by my grandma she grew up on a farm in war time and had a frugel way of life until she passed away.
Maybe I should write a book ;D
My OH when he first moved in a long time ago used to laugh at me as I would cut up bedspreads that were past there best to make dressing gowns or little blankets for the kids he said that one day I would have enough money not to recycle everything I could but TBH I think if I won the lottery it wouldn't change as it is the way I am I cannot be wasteful.
At the moment I am making pretty storage tins from old coffee tins and pretty papers to store my beads in and planning to decoupatch my old bedroom furniture as it is looking very tired but is perfectly fuctionable.
Last week I was making kiddies aprons from tea towels goodness knows what I will be doing next week.
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Maybe I should write a book ;D
That's what I meant but I didn't word it very well! :D Thanks for the info.
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Now you have given me an idea, but who these days would want old fashioned ways even if it did save money.
I was just looking through a magazine and all these fancy cloches, I use pop bottle bottoms over cabbages etc and go to junk shops and buy old net curtains for cabbage butterfly nets over the crops and old tights to store all my pots in or onions and tie a knot between each.
People these days want purpose made things and not make do and mend.
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just a small thing, I buy most clothes off ebay and in charity shops.
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Our best money saver at the new place has been to buy a formerly unoccupied farm that has a very similar name to another nearby farm so that the water board get confused and refuse to bill you 'cos they can't believe that you actually exist.
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Now you have given me an idea, but who these days would want old fashioned ways even if it did save money.
I think you'd be surprised - probably more so now than ever before. This ercession wasn't bothering me too much before but it's getting harder by the minute.
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I reuse envelopes, jiffy bags, carrier bags for used cat litter. We only buy what we need for that day as my OH picks things up on the way home from work better than doing a big shop and wasting food. Love the charity shops and e-bay. As I am outside working a lot during the day I switch off the heating unless its very cold like winter.
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Barter its great, i've just had my downstairs light fixed by an electrician for 1/2 dozen eggs and to allow his 4yr old daughter to come round to feed and collect eggs from the chucks ..... Bargain !!
I am also moving the kids out slowly :wave: :wave: ;)
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Wonderful!!!!!! The thing most of us have in common is the love of bargains, I get far more enjoyment from charity shop, E Bay or Car Boot shopping than from any High Street shops!!!! I get the things I want and need rather than the things others tell me I need !!!
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Good point Sandy. I've found that getting rid of the TV has been a huge money saver - not particularly the license fee, but more that we don't end up watching lots of adverts that suddenly make us think we 'need' things!!
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We don't watch too much TV and I avoid big glossy mags, they make you want food, nice bodies, nice homes, nice families, nice clothing, nice flowery gardens, nice cars, nice hubbies or wifes or lovers ::) SO I avoid as they are all difficult to get!!!
I read an article in a waiting room yesterday and it said how nowdays we wash our bedding far too much,,,,so, don't change the beds until at least 10 people have slept in them ;) ;) No, I actualy do wash our B&B sheets but not so often ours....I thought about my mums shopping when I was a child...1 Box of Daz lasted ages and ages, now we all have those huge ones!!
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Now you have given me an idea, but who these days would want old fashioned ways even if it did save money
People these days want purpose made things and not make do and mend.
I teach Adults in the Community :wave: my last course was titled "Grandmas ways for Modern Ways" after Diana Peacocks Book (with her permission of course)
http://www.facebook.com/home.php# (http://www.facebook.com/home.php#)!/pages/WEA-Grandmas-Ways-for-Modern-Days/175557169148602
We made Rag rugs from feed sacks and old t shirts, plant pots from newspapers http://youtu.be/_gTyAmH1LAk (http://youtu.be/_gTyAmH1LAk) , I had them making butter with left over cream, using empty plastic milk bottle as a churn, then we made soda bread with the left over buttermilk.
My learners range in age from 18-80 and they LOVE IT!!!!
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I never throw used compost onto the garden as so many gardening books tell you. I save the compost from pots and grow bags that I have grown veggies in and reuse it to start off the seeds the following year. I have had no problems with doing this and would enrich it with some rotted animal manure if necessary.
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Now you have given me an idea, but who these days would want old fashioned ways even if it did save money
People these days want purpose made things and not make do and mend.
I teach Adults in the Community :wave: my last course was titled "Grandmas ways for Modern Ways" after Diana Peacocks Book (with her permission of course)
http://www.facebook.com/home.php# (http://www.facebook.com/home.php#)!/pages/WEA-Grandmas-Ways-for-Modern-Days/175557169148602
We made Rag rugs from feed sacks and old t shirts, plant pots from newspapers http://youtu.be/_gTyAmH1LAk (http://youtu.be/_gTyAmH1LAk) , I had them making butter with left over cream, using empty plastic milk bottle as a churn, then we made soda bread with the left over buttermilk.
My learners range in age from 18-80 and they LOVE IT!!!!
I am making a rag rug at the moment I never thought of that as money saving it is something I have always done. I also make all my own soft furnishings and a lot of my clothes as they fit better more than price.
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Go on a diet. No crisps, alcohol, biscuits, sweets, juice in the shopping basket. I feel better, my belly's shrinking and the shopping's cheaper ;D
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and life is not worth living without the odd indulgence of what takes your fancy or any fancy :yum:
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Go on a diet. No crisps, alcohol, biscuits, sweets, juice in the shopping basket. I feel better, my belly's shrinking and the shopping's cheaper ;D
Or make them instead won't make your belly shrink though
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We used to live across the road from Sainsburys (until we found the right place to live!) and got a bit lazy with popping across if we didn't fancy whatever was in the cupboard, although my OH did kind of work out when the best time was to go and get the reductions - loads of fresh fish, meat and bread went in our freezer.
Now we are living in the middle of fields we have had to make lists of what we need and make sure we stick to it - we have saved loads on our shopping bill! Tescos is near our sons school in town so we try to plan for what we are going to do to make sure we can make one trip rather than jumping in the car unnecessarily like we used to.
Now we have more hens we are able to trade stuff - the farmers who store hay, corn and straw in the barns next to the house swap us for eggs and us keeping an eye on their stores, so we never have to buy hay, corn and straw! They love that we have dogs who bark whenever anyone comes near cos they feel their stuff is more secure.
Best swap of all is that the local icecream man has fallen in love with our eggs - he pops by every weekend and buys as many as he can, and always give us all free double 99s with lots of sauce and nuts. Yummmmy!
Apart from that we are gradually cutting down on what we spend, and enjoy spending the savings on fun stuff!
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do not live with teenagers :o :o I am buying more tights in a month than I bought for myself in all my 40odd years ::)
ebay, gumtree, freecycle, freegle, moneysavingexpert forum, grow your own, especially expensive veg like salads and courgettes....combine journeys, car share Tesco deals (shame on me but they pay my RAC membership mostly on petrol alone), find out the times supermarkets reduce their fresh food or raid their bins if you are brave ,barter and swap :&> :wave:
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Toothpaste!!!
Pumps, whitening toothpaste and Colgate "Total" toothpaste is twice :o :o the price of normal toothpaste in a tube.
As long as there is flouride in the toothpaste then everything else is superfluous and hasn't been shown to make any difference.
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http://thyroid.about.com/cs/toxicchemicalsan/a/flouride_2.htm (http://thyroid.about.com/cs/toxicchemicalsan/a/flouride_2.htm)
I did not let fluoride toothpaste near my children after the school nurse told them not to rinse but to swallow. One has never had a cavity since (nor me in the 20 odd flouride free years) and the other just eats too many sweets. Flouride free does the same job . :&>
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Well today I have been tidying up around the place and found some fleeces from last years shearing so I am going to wash them and start felting slippers and boot liners for winter I normally manage to sell some and barter so that gets me things I may need.
The chicks are just hatching in the inci so my new egg layers for next year and some for sale to pay for costs. I have found you can get things that balance out financially so that you may not be in profit but you haven't lost money and do gain in food stuffs
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Well NFD - if I was given that advice I would do exactly the same!!! :o :o
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Had a wonderful posh tea tonight that was sooo cheap, Salmon en cruit!!! Fish always gets reduced in supermarkets and so do salad leaves!!!
I used my twin tub today again, that is money saving too as I filled it, washed the white stuff then spun, put things to the side, put the coloured stuff in and then pumped the soapy water over the yard that our four Labs use and so cleaned it and then wrinsed and spun stuff nearly dry and used only one wash...great things twin tubs but not to use for dog bedding as the last time I did that it blocked the pump!!! Old can be good ;)
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I agree , Sandy. Any washing machine I bought second hand lasted longer than when I thought I needed a real new one! Anything that can or could be fixed we tend to keep (at least for a while), that's why our house looks like a scrapyard - not to mention the garden... :&>
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I fix my washing machine myself with a little help from the web. I really can't afford the ridiculous prices the proffesionals charge just to come out never mind fix it. I have a dishwasher that has broken down and I am still searching for a way to fix it as it is a god send to me as I work full time and run the holding as well as my craft projects.
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I admire the fact that you mend stuff yourself, I try but dare not do too much with electrics and motors!! Our newish washing machine died durring the winter as the water pipe broke and leaked onto the circuit board, we are hopefuly getting my brother in law to put a new one in but to get us washing i was sold an old washing machine thats OK but takes a lot longer to wash as the old one had a 30 min cycle, of course as it was in the garage it also was unusable for ages but then, just after christmas and the horrid weather, I found a twin tub, that way I can still wash in the garage when its freezing as it can be filled with a bucket. I love gadgets of all kinds but they seem to cost far more to keep them going than they are worth!! So, back to my thoughts that not haveing an excess of money makes us all more economical in our homes and in our world!!!! the government then ARE doing thier bit to reduce the carbon footprint!! ;)
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always look at the bright side of life dodo dodo dodododo dodo ;D ;D ;D ;D :&>
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;D ;D All you can do ;D
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I belive in good investments and buying the best quality I can. With the money I save with living a bit more frugal I can normally afford a luxury item a couple of times a year. My next goal is a new sofa as the one I bought from a charity shop 5 years ago is now a bit worse for wear, I suppose I could get the sewing machine out and recover it but it is a bit saggy now.
I have just found some very very cheap teatowels in a cheap shop and thought they would make idea shopping bags (wouldn't dry my dishes with them) as they are 4 for £1 that will work out at 50p per bag with a bit of additional thick webbing I have in my craft box.
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Wow, I had a free sewing machine that was hardly used but a cheap model and it fell to bits and I could not get it back together so gave it to someone else!!! We bought some sofas a few years ago from Ikea, trouble is there is nothing wrong with them at all but I would love some different ones, those sofas will last and if we downsize we will end up taking them and not our huge chesterfiedl chairs and red chesterfiels sofa!!! Sometimes things last a bit too long!! I love the Salvatin Army furniture shop on DUmbarton Road in Glasgow, there were often huge expensive pieces of furniture and sofas for around £30-£40, too far for the shop to deliver so you needed to hire a man and van to collect, trouble is, its a bit far for a trip just to see whats in the shop but certainly good for furniture!!
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I used to make dresses for my little one out of cotton teatowels I used to find pretty pink with polka dots and 2 could make a dress much cheaper than buying material
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Hi,
There's some good tips on here. BUT if you want to save thousands. Buy a Haynes workshop manual for your car, you can do a full service for about 15quid. Do your own plumbing you can do the whole job for the cost of their call out charge, learn household electrics and repair all you own stuff. I grudge paying someone handsomely for something I can (with a bit of research and effort) do myself. I have NEVER put a car in a garage for work. Never had someone fix a household appliance. I have installed central heating in my house. Rewired it (and my daughters) For example if I need something welded I bought a welding machine once it's been used a couple of times (I made all the lintels for a house extension) it's paid for itself. I never scrimp on tools and equipment, like I said, once used they are free to use over and over. I've re-roofed two houses, built a barn, built stables, I must admit it's a bit of an obsession of mine to do everything myself, but I do hate to be ripped off and taken for a ride. I suppose I'm obsessively independent. It's probably a condition :-[ :-[ I have honestly, literally saved many tens of thousands over the years. If in doubt do it. Get stuck in. Just do plenty of reading first.
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I'm more from the "every man to his trade" school of thought and supporting the local economy ;D
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I'm more from the "every man to his trade" school of thought and supporting the local economy ;D
Okay if your a multi-millionaire like you. ;D
A little example: I have an old 300tdi landrover for a cambelt replacement kit and fitting 250quid at the dealer.
DIY 70quid for the kit, zero to fit it, just a mornings work
Just saved 180quid in one morning. (more goodies for the horses or a weekend break somewhere) just for getting my hands oily.
A heating firm quoted me 6500 to install heating in my house. I did it for 1200 even picked up the new boiler in the horse trailer. I have an excellent book on domestic heating to turn to when it got a bit complicated.
It's soooo rewarding when you finish a job like that too, it did take me four weeks for the heating though. I don't want to hand my money over to someone else. Where's the fun in that? This is serious money saving. I'm not the fastest in the world, worry a lot about getting started, often get cold feet but once I get into it, it's all forgotten and very satisfying.
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Okay if your a multi-millionaire like you. ;D
If only - too busy spending money at the garage. I have a Highland and a Shetland pony - they don't need treats so are moneysaving (explain THAT one to Dan)
I really admire you - but all I'd end up with is a pile of bits and a bigger bill. There is no book on the planet that would enable me to put in central heating ;D
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Okay if your a multi-millionaire like you. ;D
If only - too busy spending money at the garage. I have a Highland and a Shetland pony - they don't need treats so are moneysaving (explain THAT one to Dan)
I really admire you - but all I'd end up with is a pile of bits and a bigger bill. There is no book on the planet that would enable me to put in central heating ;D
Nor me, and my time is better spent with my animals and book keeping skills anyway. Maybe that's why I'll never be a multimillionaire too ;) ;D
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I now do a supermarket shop once every 2 weeks instead of every week, and if I run out of something, I just go to a little local store. That way, because of their higher prices, I only by the really essential items. Our supermarket is around 20kms away, and I drive a gas guzzler, so any savings on fuel are worth while, and it means I dont buy extra treats.
Also, when I make my list, I try and stick to it. If I see any "bargains" at the shops, I stop and ask myself "now do I really NEED this". Then I go away and think about it before putting it in the trolley. Ive also started saving money off coupons, which is something I didnt do before.
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Some bargains are just money stored in the cupboard I agree, although I will buy reduced stuff that I would normaly eat anyway. It is good to work your way through the freezer being creative as otherwise, the stuff you buy that was a bargain just gets left!!! I bought 2 THick sliced loaves this week for 10p each, we have a B&B so sometimes need white bread!!!!!
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I've been enjoying building stuff from recycled materials over the last couple of weeks. Our duck house used to be one of the local church's table tennis table. A couple of massive crates that were used to deliver lab equipment to one of our member's work have been turned in to a 8'x5' goose house. Today we made a cold frame from some leftover bits of wood and a shower-cubicle door which makes a perfect hinged glass roof!
I like nothing better than when one of our members rings me up and says "You'll never guess what I saw in a skip today on the way home..."
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I think creative recycling is a common thread on here!!! I also look at stuff for other uses!! my brother turned his old fridge into a small raised garden, I thought you could do the same with a small or large if you want, old wardrobe....I used some ladder type things to make a frame for a chicken run and it withstood all the gails we had!!!!!
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We used my sons old wardrobe as a salad/herb/strawberry planter, just tipped it over and took the door off and it has done the job. And we went to Suffolk show yesterday and my son and hubby had a competition to see how much useful free stuff they could get, came home with 2 dozen cotton shopping bags, umpteen pens, 3 packets of colouring pencils and crayons, 4 childrens activity books, lettuce and sunflower seeds, 5 pencils, a piggy bank, stapler and staples, a toy bus, dog, cat, guinea pig and chicken food samples, a nice little wallet (for sons pocket money) and a really nice calendar. Also went into the food tent, and sampled lots of food and drink, by the time we had come out we didnt need any lunch (mind you we bought some foodie bits that cost more than we would normally spend on them so that balanced out). We had a great day and Luis will spend all day today sorting his pencils and doing his activity packs that he got ;D
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Thats my idea of a good day out......amazing how many people can push you out of the way on a food stand!! Reminds me of going to a County Show, I walked around with my daughter and her children and my husband went off with her husband, they disapeared and as we walked between stands we saw them sat at a mock up of a french style cafe sampling wine!!!!!