What are your best cost-saving ideas??

[HerMajesty]

OK - since I think most would agree that things are expensive most places (I'm from US, and now live in UK, so am familiar with both) how about we post some of our BEST cost-saving ideas here......

I will start with a one of mine:
Put any leftover veg in a container in the freezer. Add to it daily till it is full, then make yummy veg soup or add to stew. The various seasonings you put on the veg originally (if any) actually combine beautifully!!

[somersethedge]

get someone else (in my case Pam) to pay for everything



*starts running before she reads this*

[somersethedge]

Seriously tho

As we attend auctions we look out for albums of mint stamps, if we win them we have a ready supply of stamps for our postage at way below face value (our last lot we bought for just over £80 and got just over £450 worth of stamps plus some that we can list for sale)

[FairMaiden]

The biggest bags of cat / dog biscuit you can find

[ubuyit]

Having holiday flats...lots of cleaning...one day I ran out of usual 'brand name' cleaning stuff.
I mixed up some bleach and washing up liquid with water....Just as good for most jobs , and £££'sss cheaper.
Not all that good for cleaning really dirty ovens though !!.
I have not bought any 'brand name ' cleaning stuff for years now...thanks to my 'mixture' !!!.
Also to make the flats / halls etc , smell nice , I mix lenor or comfort ( with water) in a spray bottle , and spray about on carpets , curtains , furniture etc. ,
Also good when ironing anything.

[TiasTreasures]

For cat owners with litter boxes: I got really tired of my cats walking by their litter box, filled with clean and expensive commercial cat litter, and using my flower beds instead. So, I decided if they really like dirt that much, that's what they'd get.

I bought a bag of soil and dried it out, then started using it in their litter box. It works! They now use the litterbox, not the flowerbeds.

It costs about one-fourth as much as the commercial clay, so well worth the trouble. I think I know the secret. They make that clean, scented, even-textured stuff to please the humans who buy it. Cats prefer good old dirt. It clumps almost as well, absorbs the smell, and isn't any harder to clean.

[mainlypostcards]

Buy perishable goods (dairy, meat, fruit, veg) on a very regular basis (if at all possible daily).
It stops you from buying too much and ending up binning some of it.

[TexasAda]

Having holiday flats...lots of cleaning...one day I ran out of usual 'brand name' cleaning stuff.
I mixed up some bleach and washing up liquid with water....Just as good for most jobs , and £££'sss cheaper.
Not all that good for cleaning really dirty ovens though !!.

I have a nice new self-cleaning electric oven. I've run the cleaning cycle once or twice but it didn't remove grease spattered onto the glass door. I read somewhere to use straight, undiluted vinegar on a clean rag, to scrub the glass. It worked great! So far, I've used it only on the glass portion, but maybe it would work on a non self-cleaning oven's walls too. Much less dangerous than commercial oven cleaner.

[TiasTreasures]

I've been using vinegar and baking soda to clean things for years. They're the cheapest and safest cleaning agents around and they do no damage to the environment.

If one or the other doesn't work alone, try them together. Sprinkle on some soda, dribble some vinegar over that, wait for the bubbles to subside, and wipe everything off with a wet cloth. The fumes are not dangerous. The two interact and loosen dried-on dirt. Try it the next time you have crusted-on stuff in a frying pan or kettle. Or is that something that only happens to bad cooks?

[ejean9]

i stopped using cat litter and replaced it with fine shredded paper (cut cross shredder)..costs me nothing except the time to shred paper..i havent used brand name cleaners for years..and am in the process of making a "super dooper cleaner" from a link i found on the web..if it works ill let you know the recipe...made myown fertiliser from a recipe on web too..and it works great..nettles and water and steep for 3 weeks..superb stuff..cat food savings i use an online site and bulk buy when they have offers on, i use cashback (tc) at the same time and get money back too..