General Chat

Been to Netto this morning becaus eladdo eats loads of Apples good for him but can get expensive

they have apples half price this weekend ok only one sort but he eats them and they are 74p a bag so stocked up on them.

Tesco at moment are doing Chicken Dippers for £1 for 15 but Nettos have a big bag of 67 for £2.99 so if the children eat ehm (which mine do ) is a big saving.

Those dispenser type toothpaste packages where you press the top and a measured amount comes out make the toothpaste loads more epensive than using a tube.They dispense more than you need too.

n

Jenny - Mummy long legs are you there? Just reading the thread and see you've said your pasta sauce is out of this world.
Can you give us the recipe, I have tomatoes coming out of my ears (well not literally of course, but you get the picture)
Cheers

n

Come round for tea Mac; but you will have to share a spoon and fight off the other four diners !
Joan - just cutting up the free local paper into squares.............

Oooooh I am feeling all Frugal now........... Just got back from shopping. The bill was £61.03 and I paid £3.36.
I used the shop money back coupons, cashed in my loose change from the money tin and used the vouchers to get a new shopping bag and points towards my next shop.

Now.............what shall I make for tea ?

LOL Mac, nope, just not long out of my student scrimping days. I could lament you with the delights of 9p smartprice noodles and 29p pasta in sauce mixes too if you like? LOL

Netto at moment have 4 tins of Branstan Baked Beans for 99p I dont like them but eldest and boyfriend eat them, their lunch is usually Beans on toast so use 2 tins.

Also had 6 Muller corners on offer for £1.45 and Activia 4 pack for 99p

did get packs of reduced chipolatas 16 in pack for 50p so bought 4 packs as tiddler and laddo love sausages and we are quite partial to a sausage sandwich, also got a couple of steak and kidney pies for hubby at 25p all gone in freezer .

Think most of the stuff in my freezer has reduced stickers on lol

Want to keep this near the top, lots of good tips on here.

Ann
Glos

Sainsbury's own baked beans are Heinz Baked Beans with a different label.

Oh missed you again, night Mac, sleep well,

Lizxx

Keep a track of things as they're running out and add to your weekly shopping list rather than waiting until they've all gone and you have to do a special trip for them.

Do ONE big shop a week/fortnight, write a list and stick to it.

If you find yourself buying loads of unnecessary items when all you went for is bread and milk, buy a weeks supply of bread and milk and freeze them. Saves petrol and the money you'd spend on stuff you didn't need/want.

If you find you throw half your bread away because it goes mouldy. Split it in two when you buy it and freeze.

Defrost food rather than cooking from frozen. Cuts cooking time and thus saves energy.

Energy saving light bulbs (straight forward)

Only put enough water in the kettle as you need (if there's only one of you then don't fill it unless you're going to use the water for something else - like with the washing up tip)

If you don't "need" it then don't buy it.

Leave your cards at home and only take enough cash shopping as you need to buy the things you're going for.

Plan your shopping route so that you're not driving back and forth around town. (Not so easy when the town you live in has a stupid one way system with roads closed for roadworks.)

I agree with Liz, if you don't have room to store it then you won't buy it...usually LOL

I'm sure there are more but I can't think of them off hand.

(Oh Jenny... remember our mistaking the big M of the metro for Morrisons LOL)

Hi Jenny, the most obvious way to stop hoarding food and believe me, I know all about hoarding lol, is to sell one fridge by using as much as you can out of it and pushing the rest of the food in the others, then unplug it and put it in garage while you advertise it on Gumtree or ebay /whatever. Do the same with another as you adjust to having less fridge space. Two freezers isn't bad but you could eventually aim to have only one. I am sure two fridges is ample, most people only have one. We have a very good fridge/freezer.
I go to our local Somerfield, just 5 mins walk away around 6pm and get lots of bargains to use or freeze.
Will be trying to use some of the older stuff out of the freezer this week and next while I am having to cook for o.h. The week after he is on lates so just needs stuff to pack up which he mostly organises, so I can buy fresh stocks and have salads and things I prefer while I am on my own and restock the freezer as and when I see the bargains.
Good luck with the economising folks,
Lizx

Our housing association want us to have central heating and we really can't see the need. They have well insulated the loft and had the wall cavities filled and fitted double glazing.

I had the Parkray taken out because it was in the way and so efficient that we would have had to sat somewhere down the garden had we lit it.Ther fireplace is filled in so there are no draughts from anywhere. Two small convectors are more than enough for our entire house. If we don't turn them both off completely at night it is too warm to sleep.

Having grown up in this house when the draught was enough to cut your legs off it seems to me that the best way to save heating costs is to eliminate draughts.

Jenny I can relate to your shopping trips we need to stop buying specials at a faster rate than we use them !Do try to buy items we use when they are on special but I think we carry it to the extreme Two of us ! you think we were still feeding the family If freezer fails would need to invite the whole neighbour hood
Margaret

My s.i.l grows no end in her flower gardens, she tucks in cabbage plants etc all year round in between her flowers. Her garden still looks pretty but has her own veg as well, which is good as veg. is so expensive now. Everyone could do it.
Hilary.

I meant the room temperature thermostat for the central heating. So the radiators don't have to heat the room to 20 degrees but 19 degrees. That saves money. It is in all the energy saving tips that you see.

Ann
Glos

I'm probably being thick, but doesn't the thermostat just stop the process of heating when it has reach the required temperature, it heats at the same rate..

We have also cut down the time the boiler is on and haven't noticed any difference in the availability of hot water. Also try and keep the thermostat lower than we used to have it in the winter for the heating.

Ann
Glos