Stretching the budget ..

[Tig]

With all the talk of economic downturns and rising prices I wondered if people would be willing to share their cost-cutting practices?

I know not everyone watches their dosh, but I was brought up post ww2 and I think some of my Mums thrift rubbed off

We probably have all been convinced by better recycling, energy efficient light bulbs, insulation, water butts, turning off electrical gadgets etc ..

But what else do you do to maximise your financial resources?

I have changed my shopping and domestic habits to maximise my limited income in several respects ...

When the supermarkets have offers on the fresh meat counters I buy a larger joint of beef, pork or lamb so that I have enough for two roasts - chop it in half at home and freeze.

Planning the weekly menu is a big plus - I can boil a few extra spuds for no additional cost, save and freeze some mash, or slice the tatties and quickly fry them in low fat oil the next day. Also add a couple of extra eggs if you are boiling some, cool and put in the fridge for sarnies or salad the next day.

If I am cooking a roast or casserole in the oven I will usually make cakes or pastries to be cooked at the same time - and I will try to roast all the veg that are to go with the meal rather than boiling and using more electric or gas. If there is space in the oven I will roast some tomatoes/peppers to put in olive oil.

I only wash when I have a full load, and it is put outside on the line to dry whenever possible, if I have to use the dryer I use the spiky dryer balls - they reduce the time taken to dry stuff quite a bit - I also put dry towels in to quicken the process.

Any other suggestions for making savings?

x Tightwad Tig

[Plocket]

I don't think it's "tightwad" at all Tig - we should be careful and cautious as a matter of course. My parents were bought up during the war so a lot of their experiences affected us too when we were growing up: full washing loads; turning the lights off when you aren't in the room; closing windows and curtains to keep heat in etc. etc.

Like you I try and buy special offers from the supermarket, only put a full washing load on (not difficult in our family!) and only use the tumble drier when really necessary. In fact OH has made up a sort of washing line in the garage for me in case it's wet so I can hang up even more inside the house.

I always plan our menu a week in advance so I know exactly what to buy and don't end up with things we don't need or use. And I always look out for special offers on cleaning products so sometimes have a cupboard with loads of dishwasher tablets because they were on special offer! I should point out though that I don't buy cheap food - I prefer to buy organic and local which doesn't always keep the bills down!!!

And of course it saves if we can grow even a little bit of fruit and vegetables. We harvested our own carrots the other day: only three but it's a start and they didn't even get to the pan!! As gardeners it saves money and makes sense to make compost.

OH says our shopping bills have gone up slightly, but not as much as has been estimated per family, so I guess we must be doing something right.

BTW - what are spiky dryer balls?

[Susie Snowdrop]

That's really impressive Tig, I feel ashamed of myself

I do all of the usual stuff, recycling, energy bulbs, radiators turned off in rooms that are unused, if it's in walking distance then WALK, don't take the car!

I'm also a lover of BOGOF items at the supermarket.

I'm taking on your oven cooking methods! Never thought of doing that before

Oh yes, and I've thrown my tumble dryer out!!

S x

[MamIDdau]

I buy ASDA smart price stuff because half the time there's no real difference between that and the next brand up. It's been suggested by that money supermarket thing that you try the value brands of stuff first and if you don't like it, then move up to the next brand and so on.

I always buy asda smart price chopped tomatoes, they're about 17p a tin as opposed to the 48p or so for the napolina ones. Smartprice lemonade, biscuits (if we get them) etc etc and it doesn't really matter to me if they're not as nice as Mcvities or whatever because a) the lemonade is used as a mixer for alkyhol and the biscuits don't last long enough for you to notice.

We buy things on offer at the supermarket whether we need it or not at that time because we know we're going to use it all eventually so might as well buy it when it's cheap.

I drive economically as possible, not braking or accelerating hard, keeping tyres inflated properly, windows shut, air con off etc

I try to line dry but as I only get 1 day a week to do the washing I have to concede defeat and put it in the dryer if it's piddling down (or too windy like it was the other week and my dressing gown blew off the line 3 times...)

I do a lot of stir fries which are all in 1 pan and don't take long. When I do anything in the oven, I time it all so that it all goes in there at various times so I don't have to fart around with one oven on one temp and another on another temp etc.

I turn all lights off, we have mostly energy saving lightbulbs anyway (some free from work and others bought for 78p whilst at B&Q! ;D )

We buy the huuuuuuuuuuuuuge bags of cat and dog food which works out as a massive saving (but fills up the utility room lol)

We don't have the heating on unless really necessary but we need to buy some doors and loft insulation before "winter" arrives or we're gonna be wearing 3 pairs of socks and 2 jumpers each.

And this may seem disgusting but we don't flush the toilet every time we use it (unless we have visitors of course) and we have a half flush facility on the loo too. Saves water (and was advised by some other energy saving company that I can't remember the name of now) and goes with the saying "If it's brown, flush it down. If it's yellow, let it mellow." ;D

Dryer balls are these:

www.amazon.co.uk/GreenLane-Products-Dryer-Balls/dp/B000F5FNWU

[Jasmine]

One thing that has made quite a difference to the amount of oil we get through in the winter (our house is heated by an oil fired boiler) is cavity wall insulation. We only had to pay a minimal amount towards the cost as cavity wall insulating companies claim most of the cost back through Government grants.

[MamIDdau]

Jasmine-my parents have to have oil fired central heating cos there's no gas in the village. The price has gone up fivefold since they had it installed.

[Jasmine]

We have no gas in our village either April. Another house we looked at had gas pipes to the village it was in but each houseowner had to pay to have their house connected so no-one had. Don't know what would be cheaper now, gas, electric or oil. Oil was 19p a litre when we moved here 6 years ago - last fill-up cost 57p a litre. Think we might be doing your idea and wearing an extra jumper! What really upsets me is that one lot of owners of our house ripped out all the fire places and chimneys so we can't even have a fire to help keep the house warm.

[farmersboy]

Thats bad Jas,think you need a fire so at least you can heat one room up if its chilly,whithout puting all the heating on, i have a gas fire in the living room for those chilly nights.

Maybe this will warm you up

[Jasmine]

It would make such a difference in autumn and spring when just a log fire would warm up the house enough without having the heating on. Our friends have a log burner which doesn't need a chimney, they have a flue to the outside.
Thanks for the hug FB - might not need that extra jumper after all!

[farmersboy]

No you wont

Yes thats when we use the fire,Spring & Autumn,when its not cold enough for the central heating

[MamIDdau]

Jas, they wanted the people in the village to pay for a gas supply a few years ago, wanted them to stump up about £1000 each!!

Daft really cos there's actually a mains high pressure gas pipe about 100 yards away from the back garden but it's the supply to the aluminium works. Because it's high pressure it can't just be tapped into.

We've got a gas fire in the lounge but until we get some doors and loft insulation, we won't be having the heating on LOL

[JennyWrenn]

I have never used the dryer for my washing - there is a lot cos I wash dog beds every week - I hang them outside or over the cyclinder cupboard

Hard boil two eggs at a time

Only fill the kettle with what I need for a cup coffee

Dont put the heating on unless necessary - I run up and down my stairs (this is true) and put on a warm sweater - soon get hot

Dont make special journey to the recycle tip - only go when it is on my way to somewhere

Buy local veggies - they last longer - everything British unless things like bananas ;D never buy foreign produce or ready made meals

Am sure there are more things I try and economise on but cant think right now

[farmersboy]

You could cut down on eating out,and driving people around ;D

[JennyWrenn]

Oh what a good idea will cancel my weekend plans with immediate effect ;D

[Missredhead]

shes got you there FB

[Tig]

Dug your own trench fb

[Biggles]

I have stopped skimping and scraping done too much over the years--I now SKI --and loving every minute of it!!

[Biggles]

SKI--Spending the Kids Inheritance--

[MamIDdau]

Nothing wrong with that Biggles. My parents very kindly helped us out with the deposit for the house as my "inheritance" which I'd already said I wasn't interested in. My opinion is that I'm not interested in what my parents have got, I'm more interested in them. If they're no longer here then I don't want to know. But I'm still eternally grateful though.

[Cheerypeabrain]

I'm doing lots of overtime at work.....

BUT told OH he would have to give up smoking. ;D

[MamIDdau]

I'm sending the OH out to do the overtime ;D

[Biggles]

Sept 6, 2008 13:50:11 GMT MamIDdau said:

Nothing wrong with that Biggles. My parents very kindly helped us out with the deposit for the house as my "inheritance" which I'd already said I wasn't interested in. My opinion is that I'm not interested in what my parents have got, I'm more interested in them. If they're no longer here then I don't want to know. But I'm still eternally grateful though.

April--Our family persuaded us to spend, spend, because like you they are not interested in money and say they would rather have us than their inheritance.
But they do know if ever they need help in anyway we would help them out--
I often buy unexpected presents for them or 'pop' something in the Post (holiday times especially)
We still shop for bargains though--I cant resist a good buy--and have the WW2 syndrome--using soap (for instance) till there is just a slither left or squeezing the toothpaste till nothing more will come out.
I won't buy carrier bags either--or use the free ones that Supermarkets dish out Will-Nilly.

[Tig]

I've been using my own bags for shopping since the 80's - they are held together with staples and duck tape, I think plastic bags are one of the biggest enviromental disasters of the past 40 years! And I despair at all the packaging that comes with supermarket shopping, why can we not have paper bags instead of so much plastic?

We are not eco-warrior types, I just wish common sense would prevail with some of the powers that be - it isn't rocket science after all

Another tip - if anything needs mending, hems or seam coming adrift, do it before you wash it! Otherwise it is likely to be much worse when you get it out of the washing machine
Don't spend money on dry cleaning unless you are absolutely convinced something will be destroyed by hand washing and flat drying. Take care though - I have managed to shrink pure wool sweaters down to dolls size, and OHs best jacket was a b@gger to iron back into shape ;D

[Chuckles]

Well apparetnly it's official now, as of today we are in a recession and it could last 1 1/2 to 2 years

Feel some budget stretching coming on

[Ladygardener]

Some good tips on here I think Chuckles, that should help. I've never heard that tip about putting dry towels in to speed up the drying Tig, thanks for that one. I use the dryer mostly when the family visit. Like everyone else here I stock up on the non perishables when they're on special offer. Living alone as I do I find it handy to open packs of sausages which normally come in 6's and wrap them in 2's and put them in the freezer, much better than opening a whole packet and eating them for 3 days in a row. When cooking veg I usually cook for e.g. 3-4 carrots and parsnips together, mash them and freeze them too. I never ever skimp on heating but often just light candles in the evening much nicer than lamps.

[Chuckles]

Yes there are some good tips LNG and lets face it every bit counts and it's not hard to get into the habit of doing some of these things either

I put a loaf of bread in the freezer and get slices out when needed, they don't take long to defrost and I have been know to butter it for sandwiches before it defrosts, especially of the butter is hard. A loaf can last us up to a week so would be wasted.

[Ladygardener]

I do that with bread too Chuckles I don't eat it every day and a loaf would be far too much for me on my own. It can be toasted straight from the freezer which is great.

[Ruthie]

Been racking my brain to think what we economise on. Most of it I've been doing my whole life as taught by parents.
I buy meat in bulk and freeze it, I make soup, I make double meals, say spag bol, and freeze 1/2 (well the bol bit anyway). I hardly ever throw food away and hardly ever have any sort of ready meal..................we had Pizza for tea tonight though (come to think of it I used to buy pizza bases and do my own, yummy. I s'pose I could've even made the bases....) Must make bread again soon.

[Amo]

We freeze the bread too as we never know if it's just us, it goes off too quick, or the horde decends!

We also do the same with milk. At the moment we have 2pint continers in the freezer because we have builders and daughter but on a normal day we buy 1 pints just for OH. I know it's not as cheap as buying big 4 pinters but it's certainly better than keep throwing it away and it's not nice if you run out either!! You could alway buy 4 and decant I suppose.

[Ladygardener]

Does the milk not go all curdly when you defrost it Amo?