What are your top tips for being thrifty?

I have gone back to using a large box supermarket brand washing powder . It's much cheaper - use a marked measure so that you only add the correct amount . It's lasts ages. We have always re-used wrapping paper in the family with added ribbons or homemade decorations - almost a competition to see who recognises it from the last time ! Also find that birthday cards are much nicer and cheaper in the Charity shops, Oxfam and BHF particularly (and you are supporting a good cause ) Also just made 20 jars of marmalade ,but not sure I'm saving much but so much nicer

Do you have an interest paying bank account. it's easy to do and you can make very good, market beating interest,'on savings with banks like the Santander 123. Check you are getting the best energy and insurance deals.

Reuse tea bags, DB could make 1 teabag last all day. Iceberg lettuce, cut each leaf off at base as you need itwill then keep in fridge for days. When you buy berries or tomatoes don't wash them and replace lining of box with kitchen towel.they last much longer,just wash before eating. When eating out with D H order one meal but with 2 plates. Portions are usually too big and restaurants are surprisingly generous often. Cut J clothes and scotch brite in half. Dilute washing up liquid. Cut open tubes of toothpaste and handcream to get at the residue. Can't say I do all of this but should do.

I find wearing my fleecy, spotted onesie from Peacock's looks silly but keeps me soooo warm. I look at my bank account online, mentally take off the direct debits and then divide the remainder by the number of days to the next money coming in. So then if I overspend for one day, I know it's time to look to my cupboards/freezer for a few days. Credit cards, used properly, can save money, but pay off on full. Check energy suppliers every three months, think about changing your bank. Save your 50ps in a jar and 20p's in another. A month saves a LOT!

I am now 80 and care for my 92 year old DH. Shopping online in bad weather seemed such a good idea. Twice recently I did a large shop online from Waitrose. First one I was sent a lot of fresh fruit with mold on top and a bag of easy peel oranges which were so soft and rotten they almost fell apart. Second shop same thing happened with oranges. Also some items so close to sell by date that they are no real use unless you are free to cook in bulk. I returned the faulty shop the first time and got a refund, but had to get someone in to look after DH while I did so. Second time I phoned and told them that I was disgusted.
Just thought I would warn you all. If this happens do take the time to complain.
Thank you all for posting such good advice. I so enjoy reading you contributions.

Definitely signup to Martins Money tips. Just bought two pairs of glasses online for £19 with £15 Amazon gift card back if a friend buys a pair. This came from Martins email this week. I did buy a full price pair from the opticians for £150 so don't feel too bad about not shopping locally! As they are only for reading, need a oair in most rooms but the cheap ones are no good for my eyes unfortunately. Also any mistake lipstick buys, melt a couple together over hot water and make a suitable one! Just pour into one of those little plastic tubs you get from Poundshop.

Check energy supplies and change if necessary. Cook whole chickens and get lots of leftover meals and stock for soup. Enjoy your free time to walk and get free exercise. Cook for four and freeze half. Live on lots of soup. Get books from library, they need supporting and are very cheap (£1) to order books that you fancy, especially cookery books you can pinch recipes from! Good for borrowing books to read to granchildren too.

Above all, enjoy your free time and relish the pleasure of no deadlines each day. You have earned it!!

Make lots of visits to friends. You can turn off your own heating while you are out and enjoy theirs for free, along with cups of tea/coffee and maybe even cake. Then use their loo before leaving so you save on your own water usage.

Just don't let them twig what you are doing or you might soon run out of friends

[if there was a wicked sense of humour emoticon, I'd use it here]

I am hopeless at being thrifty, hopeless, always was. Usually shop at Lidl, which I think excellent value and pay bills by direct debit and look around for best deals on car insurance etc, but then spend too much on clothes and other things I can't really afford! But I do make soup!

Shop in supermarkets mid week there are more offers than on a Saturday. I only realised this after I retired.

A good article by AA Gill the other week. Never drink out of cardboard ,always sit down to a meal. Have the best you can. He does go on about linen table napkins but the essence is sound. Don't eat rubbish. It makes you value your food and appreciate what you're cooking.

Become a charity shop addict! We've bought many wonderful things in charity shops, including furniture. And you have the added bonus of supporting a good cause. All the family look for bargains as presents and will proudly report if a gift was a charity shop item. Also has anyone mentioned Freecycle or Freegle? Definitely worth using. We've given away more than we have "gained" and are delighted that stuff is being used, not thrown away.

I must confess I haven't read all the postings here but just to add in my little bit about money management as I'm not the best person to talk about thrift (!) but I manage the money we have through having an on-line bank so I can see our account and savings any time of the day or night and I use an excel spreadsheet to keep track of all bills and spends. I keep all the annoying receipts they give you in shops and don't destroy them until I have seen them come through on the bank for the correct amount. I have been with First direct ever since it opened about 20 odd years ago and they have never made a mistake with my account yet and have always been most helpful.

Great thread, great tips. A friend once told me that she thought loo roll could be over-used and was deliberately using the odd sheet less - I often think of her at - ahem - times.

Cooking twice as much as needed (mainly stews and casseroles) and freezing a spare meal is definitely time and energy saving.

Once bought a beautiful second hand Le Creuset frying pan for £5 at an outdoor market and the stall holder shouted out "cheapest birra La Crewsay you'll ever get". So true, it is and I love it. So yes great finds can be made at charity shops and second hand markets.

I always look in the cupboard and fridge before I go shopping so if there is anything lurking near a sell by date I incorporate it into the next meal and shop for it. I do just the same as everyone else really where budgeting is concerned. I upcycle furniture, try new recipes when there is a glut of fruit or veg, shop for Christmas all year round when I see things at a reasonable price.
It is however, I think, important to have a little of what you fancy so if you are too tough on yourself (unless of course you really have to be ) you probably won't stick to it for too long. For example, I have not given up my six weekly trip to the hair dresser and nai bar.
I did however give up my gym subsciption but more because the hardest part was the long drive thereand this put me off so I often did not go! I now do pilates every morning at home with U Tube. This is a big saving but if I had built up a good circle of friends ther I would have continued. I also joined a local walking group which is cheap and companiable.
All good advice from GNetters as usual - thanks.

Although I am not short of money I cannot get out of the habit of being thrifty. My late husband used to say I was economical to the point of meanness! I can only shop once a week in a town 26 miles away using the Dial a bus. Make a list and stick to it. Shop in Lidl, Bargain Buys and Poundland and Iceland. Super drug is cheaper than Boots. Frozen veg and fish are more economical than fresh for one person. I never eat out or have takeaways or ready meals.

I have just come back from town after buying all his years birthday presents in the sales 70% off in boots also bought two neutral outfits for babies due this year and good sale at Edinburgh woolen mill

If you've got a freezer and a store cupboard, then don't go shopping at all for a week now and again but make meals out of what you have in store. They may be a bit unusual but so what? I also put away whatever spare change is in my purse after shopping, pound coins in one container, 50p coins in another etc, and eventually there's enough there to give me a "free" week.

I buy toilet rolls and kitchen rolls in bulk from Groupon. Much cheaper if you have space to store them. I have tissues 'on the side' as they look more civilised, but I actually use toilet roll to blow my nose.

You can read library books and magazines online free. Check out your local library website.

I don't throw away any leftovers but prepare them if necessary and bag up for the freezer so I can use for future meals, for example I may have half an onion and pepper left so I slice ready for a fritatta or similar meal later. Shopping in Lidl/Aldi is also a big money saver!

You thrifty ladies make me feel ashamed of myself.

All my life I have watched every penny. Then I was ill a couple of years ago and realised I wasn't immortal, as I'd supposed myself to be.

Now we spend what we want. If we fancy a nice meal out, we have it..all three courses too, if I see some shoes I fancy, I'll buy them.

Not quite so much to leave for the kids but they'll have to do what we did, save up as they go along and buy what they can afford, it worked for us.

Make our own bread by hand not in a machine, it tastes fantastic and there are no additives. You can vary the type of flour and add seeds etc. We have to take a loaf each time we visit grandchildren as they ring up and ask! It goes within a couple of hours!
It's also very therapeutic and satisfying, all that thumping about and bashing the dough is good for frustration!!

phizz illness does pull you up short and make you think, but not wasting (or trying not to!) means we can have more of what we enjoy, eg holidays etc.

Use cash! Apparently you spend 30% more if you use a card. Certainly I find that if I have to hand over actual money I'm much more mindful about what I actually need to buy and much less impulsive.

I don't plan meals but base the weekly menu on what is on offer meat/fish wise at the supermarket. We grow most of our own vegetables but use the local market, which is fantastic, if we have run out by spring.

I do a lot of batch cooking to save on time and fuel and use up any bumper crops by making and freezing soup which we generally have at lunch time. Tip for tomatoes - apart from doing the usual chutneys and ketchup, I freeze a lot of whole tomatoes - as they defrost they separate and the skins slip off easily, so great for soups and sauces. after last year's bumper crop - about 60 Kg! - I made vats of spicy or herby tomato sauces and froze them. again a huge saver in time and fuel, and great for curries. Especially green tomato curry which uses up all the green ones at the end of the season.

I make as many clothes, upholstery, cards, presents as possible and always on the look out for anything reduced in the craft line.

Aldi and Lidl are wonderful for most things, especially skin care and make up, and all cleaning products. I go there first and then get the remaining stuff in an 'ordinary' supermarket.

Still feel impoverished but all made worthwhile as I am fortunate enough to have blue sky and sunshine most of the year, snow capped mountains, wonderful views and hot, hot summers.