What thrifty things do you do that you're surprised no one else does?

Any tube that contains conditioner, shampoo, eye cream, face cream, hand cream etc always gets cut in half. The residue can often last a week or more from what looks like empty tubes.

I don't fly mostly I don't holiday abroad but if I do its Europe by train. And I have given up my car because I live in London and get free public transport.

Granny bags I do the very same. I freeze left over wine in the ice cube tray and store it in bags for when needed for certain recipes. I’ve bought older furniture from charity shops or car boot fairs, paint them because they generally are made better and I hammer paint tin lids back on and turn the tin upside down, so when you open the tin again the skim of paint is in the bottom of the tin. I’ve bought lovely bentwood dining chairs for £10 each, I still have them and love them. We should have a forum on household tips/cleaning/maintenance etc?

Lots of my tips already posted. I remember my Grandma used to not only boil up the chicken carcass for stock, but afterwards, when the carcass was completely stripped and dry, my Grandfather used to grind it up for bonemeal for his garden (never tried this myself). My garden tips would be the usual inside of toilet rolls to make little seed pots (especially good for sweet peas that need a deep root) plus saving the plastic containers that mushrooms and other veggies come in to grow seeds (the clear plastic ones that have a plastic lid are also really good as a propogator).

I suppose batch cooking is my best economy in terms of food waste and time spent cooking. Overall I am not very thrifty having grown up with very little now that we are better placed I enjoy some luxuries but we still save.

I only use half a sheet of kitchen roll at a time, which I can sometimes rinse and re-use.

For all the hand washing I am doing these days I am using a load of old face flannels as towels and putting them in the washing machine after use to go with the next load.

I am another who uses left over bread or crusts for crumbs in the freezer. Great for topping, coatings and individual portions of bread sauce.

I save used envelopes and use as scrap paper to write lists or notes. I put my chicken carcass in the slow cooker with an onion, carrot and herbs and water. Use for soup and stock. We get large plastic bags through the door for charity collections so I save those for bin bags or charity shop donations. I get White Company botanic candles as a gift from time to time. They’re expensive so rather than throw them out, when burnt down I put a tea light in and it gives a similar effect.

Glenfinnan would your water trick work in a hard water area? Our tap water is apparently as hard as it gets so I always buy ironing water.

I too cut across an ‘empty’ tube eg toothpaste. It’s amazing how much is actually left inside. You can use the bottom bit of tube to recover the product end by squishing one inside the other.

I go though my cards before throwing them out after Christmas and cut suitable bits up to make gift tags for the next year. I use a hole punch to make a hole in one end and thread through a bit of contrasting embroidery thread.

I cut the ends of tubes of hand cream etc to scrape out every last drop.

Take the tops off shampoo, bath stuff etc and run under the tap to get the last out of those. It's amazing how many bubbles you get when it looks empty!

I only use my tumble dryer in the winter or if we have a spell of really bad weather. I drain the water from the condenser store it in bottles and add a drop of lavender oil and use it in my iron. I would never buy ‘ironing water’

From!

Haven’t bought new clothes or shoes for 5 years but now really missing charity shops.
I’ve also covered the cost of an short city break by selling vintage things I’ve bought on eBay or in my Etsy shop. I have been know to ‘rescue’ items from the tip, my best being some curtains which sold for £150 !

I put a few drops of water into empty soap dispensers to get the last few mls of soap fro the pump

I cut fronts from greetings cards and use them as postcards. Also use cutouts from cards as gift labels.

I make breadcrumbs out of bread crusts to freeze for topping gratin or fish Provençal dishes.

Buy veg and fruit when really cheap ( 10p a go) in supermarkets and use to make chutney or kimchi or if fruit chunk up and freeze for crumbles.

Buy supermarket herbs in pot and divide up then plant you’ll. have herbs all summer.Even in a pot these are great.

pasta not past

Soften the end of a soap bar and squeeze it onto a new bar.

I decant a small amount of washing up liquid from the full new bottle into the old empty bottle, and put the new bottle out of sight at the back of the cupboard. Its a natural tendency to use smaller squeezes of liquid when you, or others, think you are nearing the end of the bottle, to 'make it last'. Ive noticed that I and my family will squeeze out a larger squirt from a brand new and full bottle.

Use a pressure cooker to cook potatoes/rice/past.
Use on hob until up to pressure [boiling] then turn hob off and wait normal time and they're cooked using 50-70% less electric. Might not be much per day, approx 7 minutes but a penny saved

I've always had to make every penny count and hate it if I inadvertently waste food.

I do sometimes raise my eyebrows however, at friends who also claim to be thrifty - but happily confess to having 20 or more pairs of shoes, or handbags in their wardrobe. Or who insist on changing their decor to the "latest" trend.

I always look to buy "pre-used" if there is a suitable product - why cut down a tree to make yet another table when there are plenty already made. This type of thrift helps both my purse and the planet.

(I am, however, unable to be thrifty about chocolate).

I boil a full ketttle in the morning and decant the boiled water into a flask and use this for tea throughout the day, my Grandparents always done this and i never gave it any thought and just automatically done it.

Oh and I have tried using the chicken carcass for stock. Used it for a risotto once and a soup and I must be doing something wrong because I (shamefully) prefer stock pots . Any tips?

I make chuckitin soup and chuckitin curry - I look in the fridge and chuck it in. Yesterday I made soup out of some broccoli, asparagus, celery, leek, spinach, lettuce and stilton cheese - it was yummy