tell me your frugal ways

I keep margarine cartons, yoghurt pots etc to store cooked food etc in the fridge or freezer. Especially handy now when I don’t go shopping and can’t get any extra containers.

I snap the dishwasher tablet in half to do two washes.
The water left in the washing up bowl waters the plants.
Wrapping paper reused and cards cut into gift tags with crafting scissors (I do enjoy that!)
One teabag is stretched to make another mug or two.
Saved a fortune over the years colouring my own long hair, but now I have highlights, it’s a different story. However, have realised during lockdown that I can keep my highlights colouring my roots following a YouTube video. The dye is £1 a box ?

I and freeze butter wrappers then use them to grease baking tins .

Saving jam, honey and pickle jars with screw top lids is my latest idea. Actually I got it from my DS.

They are ideal for keeping leftover bits and storage of small amounts of things (nuts, dried herbs, etc)

The advantage over tupperware is that when you store leftovers in them in the fridge (a) they take up less space because they are upright, rather than flat (b) you can see what is in them immediately (c) when you put them in the dishwasher, they dry completely using their own heat, unlike plastic, which always needs an extra wipe with the teatowel because it cools off so quickly and the last drops don't evaporate.

I know the re-using of screw top jars is as old as the hills, but I wish I'd started doing it before I went to any tupperware parties back in the 70s and 80s.

I use old tea towels for cleaning and then wash to reuse. I find myself buying the biggest bottle of all purpose cleaner and using it for everything by topping up previously saved spray bottles. Washing soda for adding to washing for water softener, cleaning smelly waste water pipes when necessary. Washing and reusing food bags, mending clothes and shoes.

Saving wrapping paper and gift bags to reuse, making preserves using old jam jars etc. Turning off lights and other electrics, turning the heating down and wearing extra clothing to keep warm.

Buying secondhand books, games and clothing (natural fibres). Reupholstering furniture if I can. I still have my parent’s 1950s G Plan chairs that are in their 4th reincarnation.

A lot of this was learnt in my childhood and more recently I do my best to reuse and recycle because of my environmental concerns.

I like to repurpose security envelopes. The patterns inside are too good just to be put in the recycle sack. Great for art projects with lots of inspiration to be found on Pinterest. One simple idea is to make smaller envelopes or pockets for storage and gifting. These are good for gifting seeds of annuals collected from the garden.

I keep little bits of soap to myself and put a new bar of soap in the shower room when my Bubble will be coming.
A was watching one of those TV progs about a filthy house and the expert cleaner advised saving used teabags in water and using the amber infusion as a cleaner that cuts through grease.Yesterday I began to save teabags and will clean the cooker top , work tops and shower room when I have made enough of the acid liquid.

JackyB That’s what I do! ?

My father always pressed the remains of the last bar of soap onto the new bar. I thought everybody did.

I re-use the freezer bag fasteners again and again, until it’s often just the wire left, which then prick my fingers.

Chop up empty loo rolls into the compost bin.

I turn "empty" containers of body shampoo upside down and put them behind the bath taps. There is usually enough left in them for at least four more showers. The same applies to shampoo bottles.

I re-use empty freezer bags for putting messy or wet rubbish into, or for using when cleaning the cat's tray.

My grandmother rendered down the soap slivers in a jam jar placed in a saucepan of water. Made quite good soap that way

Used washing up water is used for cleaning the kitchen bin or washing the fire surrounds,

Lemon....I’ll loiter outside later and investigate!

Do you think a chimpanzee family live there Fishpie??

I walk past a house every day that has a very small strip of garden in front of it...about 8 foot by 2. The ground is covered with banana skins. I can’t say it’s a good look,no matter how beneficial it is to the soil! I’m just pleased the dog isn’t partial to banana.

I add a few drops of water to the dregs of shampoo, conditioner and washing up liquid bottles and squish them around to get another wash (or 2) from them. I also cut tubes in half to get at the last inner contents and the 2 halves then fit together well, as one overlaps the other to keep it from going dry.

I compost all greens etc. and add to flower beds once a year. I very rarely throw any food away and either freeze the excess or add to another meal. If I buy the larger tubs of plain yoghurt and am having fruit with it, I eat the last portion straight from the pot so I can scrape out the last contents!!

If the cat is being fussy and leaving food, I will mix in some from a more expensive flavour she likes or add a bit of tinned tuna and then she devours the lot!! If I am going swimming, I will put my costume on underneath my clothes when I get dressed to save having to use 2 pairs of clean pants that day!!! I stay in bed later in a morning or sleep in my dressing gown to save on heating as I have a large house to heat. I draw the line at reusing slithers of soap or wax though.

Absolutely loving this thread ! We try to be frugal with our food with use up soups and lots of barley. Bubble and squeak and everything " guzzin " curry !

left over wine?.. no. sorry. i don't understand

Someone on the tv the other day was saying the spoon in the neck thing doesnt work. I was shouting that it flipping well does at the tv so much that dh came to see what was wrong.

Hetty58

I bought a cheap, £2 glass jar with a chrome 'pump' top to put the washing up liquid in (as I thought it looked so much nicer on the sink) - and, since then, I've hardly bought any more. I can dispense just a few drops and waste none - winner!

It's funny how we were criticised for over peeling the veg, and now we don't peel at all!

Slightly off topic, but this reminds me of my friend’s husband who is a terrible practical joker. She announced she was going to switch from ‘own brand’ washing up liquid to the one that keeps your ‘hands that do dishes as soft as your face’ to see if it would last longer. Unbeknownst to her, he was surreptitiously refilling the bottle a wee bit at a time, so she was telling all and sundry her great discovery! It was weeks before she twigged.

aggie

I used a bucket to catch the shower water before it was warm , but this was in the hot summer , we kept the garden growing while there was no rain

Yes, I did too, it's amazing how much water goes down the drain before the shower runs hot!

I used a bucket to catch the shower water before it was warm , but this was in the hot summer , we kept the garden growing while there was no rain

A friend with a water meter told me to put a basin in the shower to catch the water whilst it was heating enough to shower.

I don’t do any of these things to be thrifty but to recycle because I think we all should and I like reusing and making a thing into something which it wasn’t

Must admit ‘left over wine’ is an oxymoron in our house but I’ve been known to make Champagne last the whole of my birthday weekend using a wine stopper. Nothing quite like a glass of Buck’s Fizz ?each morning for setting me up for the day!

In my defence, I’ve never thrown a chicken carcass away without boiling it for stock first.

lovebeigecardigans1955, the majority of my garden shrubs grew from cuttings. It's amazing what you can 'find' when out for a dog walk - with sturdy nail clippers and a plastic bag in your pocket.

Collecting locally means you choose plants that thrive in your soil.

One day, taking the bins out, I found a chap taking Hebe cuttings. He apologised for not asking. I said 'Don't worry, I do it all the time!'