Ishy ways to save money!!

[thesunflowergal]

Hi All

Hubby has started his new job, but our income has reduced by two thirds. The plus point to this is he now gets two and a half days off he used to get one day off.

I am now trying to save even more money were I can, living off benefits for 10 months taught me a lot. I am interested to how people here save money, so I can steal some ideas

Here are some of the things that we already do, I am sure I will end up missing some out:

- Second hand clothes for me and girls.
- Second hand baby equipment for new baba.
- We walk everywhere locally.
- Grow some of own veg and fruit.
- Cook everything from scratch
- Make own cakes, biscuits, jam, marmalade, lemon curd, chutney etc
- Homemade cleaning products.
- Energy saving light bulbs, caverity wall and loft insulation.
- Buy things in bulk i.e. loo roll, olive oil, white vinegar.
- Homemade cards and gift wrap.

These are things that we will be starting to do soon.

- Keeping chickens
- Make my own bread

Can't wait to hear everyones ideas.

Thanks Nikki

[ina]

- get rid of tv and "home entertainment equipment"
- read library books (or borrow off friends)
- switch off fridge and freezer - buy only what you need and keep track of what needs using (I throw out less when I don't use the fridge - having it on is too tempting to leave stuff until it's gone off!)


Edited to add: keeping chickens and making your own bread doesn't necessarily save you money. It's likely to give you a higher quality endproduct, though.

[Penny Lane]

What kind of equipment do you think you'll need Nikki?

You could try asking for stuff on freecycle?

[thesunflowergal]

- read library books (or borrow off friends)
- switch off fridge and freezer - buy only what you need and keep track of what needs using (I throw out less when I don't use the fridge - having it on is too tempting to leave stuff until it's gone off!)


Edited to add: keeping chickens and making your own bread doesn't necessarily save you money. It's likely to give you a higher quality endproduct, though.

I have a fridge and a freezer, but nothing gets throw away!!

I picked up 10 paperbacks today from a group for friends that I regularly swap with, yipeeeeee!!

What kind of equipment do you think you'll need Nikki?

You could try asking for stuff on freecycle?

ermmmm can't think now. I think I just need a baby bath, normally would not bother. But I had a C-section last time, so it was useful. I will deffinatley ask on freecycle for that, thanks Penny. Oh and some clothes might be a good idea, but I am hoping that enough will come from friends

[Thomzo]

Sell anything you don't use at car boot sales. (I really must get off my butt and take a load of stuff to a car boot sale - fancy sharing a pitch?)

Check that you are not paying too much for electricity and gas by going to a website such as U-Switch

Cut down on the cutting, whether it's your hair or the grass!

Cheers
Zoe

[thesunflowergal]

Sell anything you don't use at car boot sales. (I really must get off my butt and take a load of stuff to a car boot sale - fancy sharing a pitch?)

Check that you are not paying too much for electricity and gas by going to a website such as U-Switch

Cut down on the cutting, whether it's your hair or the grass!

Cheers
Zoe

Hi Hun

How are you doing??

Really sorry but we have totally car booted ourselves out, so have nothing left to sell. We cleared out the house, the gargage, the loft, the shed, garden when Kai wasn't working. We have always done really well at the link centre, the new one by the fire station isn't much cop!!

Will look at U-switch now!!

Thanks for the tips!! Have a fab weekend.

[Thomzo]

Thanks for the tip about the Link centre. Someone put me off it years ago but the great advantage is that you don't have to get up too early.

Cheers
Zoe

[prison break fan]

Does anyone else wonder where all the money we save with our ishy ways goes? Daughter and I are eating from the allotment, drinking home brew, wearing charity shop clothes, etc. but the bank balance doesn't look too good! pbf.

[Milims]

Does anyone else wonder where all the money we save with our ishy ways goes? Daughter and I are eating from the allotment, drinking home brew, wearing charity shop clothes, etc. but the bank balance doesn't look too good! pbf.

Keep at it PBF - it does work! I've found that a major part of being ishy is a change in consumer attitude. Now before I buy anything I stop and think about whether or not I really need it, where it comes from, how it's made, whats in it etc. The result is that I'm much more conscious about what I buy and most of the time don't buy it! I also try to make as much of my own stuff as possible - it may not be cheaper than what I could buy in a supermarket but it's much better quality and not full of crud! I also buy in bulk on line, for example the shampoo I use is £3.99 for 500ml in the shop but if bought in bulk it's £32 for 5 litres (quickly does the sums.....) that works out at £3.20 for the same thing! And I wait until I need enough to get the free delivery - therefore I save on the cost of the item as well as the cost of my transport to the nearest town to buy it - as well as cutting my carbon footprint. On of my biggest savings is on laundry soap, it's easy to make:
5 cups Water
2 cups Bar soap (grated) or soap flakes
2 cups Borax
2 cups Washing Soda
Pan and wooden spoon
Add ingredients to the hot water and stir until soap is melted. You can keep on low heat until soap is melted. DONT BOIL
Pour contents of the pan into a large, clean bucket.
Add 16 pints of hot water, stir until well mixed.
Store in any kind of plastic bottle/container after cooling, old laundry liquid bottles or pop bottles/plastic milk containers.
Allow to cool before pouring into storage bottles
You can use any soap but I prefer to use Oliva as there aren't the nasties in it and it dissolves better.

You could also try this, it's a free gadget for saving water with your shower:
http://www.eaga.com/showersmart.

The little things soon build up and make a huge difference to your pocket and the planet!

Ooohh - I forgor one of my faves - book swapping! I use the Read it Swap it site and for the cost of postage I can have a new book. The other good thing is that I have something lovely to look forward to coming in the post and it gives me much more of a buzz than spending the day in a shopping centre ever could!

[ina]

Does anyone else wonder where all the money we save with our ishy ways goes? Daughter and I are eating from the allotment, drinking home brew, wearing charity shop clothes, etc. but the bank balance doesn't look too good! pbf.

Well - the bank balance also depends on what comes in... And since nothing much has been coming into mine for a long time now, it's not looking too good, either!

[Flo]

Well sunflower gal if the next one is a boy, you sure as heck is going to find that the budget is stretched as he won't be using any of the hand me down toys.

But freezing down gluts of vegetables in the freezer, cooking in bulk for freezing and picking up the seriously reduced fruit and veg to freeze from the down all help to extend the budget. You should also find the mark down times around you so that you can pick up cheap items in bulk to freeze.

Can you be a happy hedgerow hunter - blackberries at the very least for freezing down in crumbles and pies? If there is an allotment society near you with a gardeners shop you might be able to join for a small fee (usually a couple of quid) and pick up cheaper vegetable seeds as well as discounted fertilisers and things.

How about doing bulk buys of staple foods over the internet say once a quarter? It saves you going into the shops where you can be tempted, you don't have to take the family and even if there is a delivery charge it may be cheaper than travelling there.

It's amazing how well you can do if you have a really good store cupboard. Mind you - I'm almost vegan so can stock up on pulses and beans which keep. I find it's sure cheaper than being a carnivore (though that isn't why I do it). But perhaps more vegetarian dishes would help on the budget? I'd also suggest that you grow the more expensive vegetables that you like. This at least improves the quality of your food.

[prison break fan]

Thanks Milims for the washing liquid recipe, I shall definitely have a go at that. Don't have a shower, but my Rayburn heats the water and that runs on almost free wood. Almost free because Son chain saws logs for me, which means petrol, oil, lunch and beer for later! pbf.

[thesunflowergal]

Flo, I have changed my ticker the baby is a little boy and I am over the moon about it I have a few friends with older boys so I am hoping for hand me downs that way.

Thanks for more fab ideas everyone!!

I love the term "happy hedgerow hunter", I normally just use rosehips and blackberries but this year I am using more.

Milims, I am going to have a go at making my own washing liquid.

[Milims]

The washing liquid works really well and costs much less than the other stuff. If you want it to smell fancy you can also add a couple of drops of essential oil

[eccentric_emma]

My mum uses the washing liquid recipe and it works great. She uses vinegar for fabric softener occasionally but recently we've just been using the 'gloop' (as we call it in our house) and there's no real need for any softener.