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naja naja

Money saving idea's

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Hey people, got a good money saving idea. POst it here.

You get those foaming handwash dispensers. Buy one once and save it. Then u buy the normal style, thick gel re-fills for the same price as the foamer refills, but u put 1/3 thick gel into the foaming hand wash dispenser and the rest water, fill to brim and gentle mix. and walla. u have lots more foaming handwash at 1/3 vthe price or even cheaper if u buy the refills, or dispensers of the thick gel when they are on special.

Peace

Naja

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Don't get into collecting/growing cacti. :P

On a serious note, whenever you buy food and get a voucher to save on fuel I always ask them to reprint the docket. Then I can you the same discount twice (this guaranteed works by the way, between my misses and myself we have a whole wad of those vouchers)

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prepare all your food at home and preferably in advance, can save so much cash never having to buy snacks or lunch etc

take a handful of nuts in a sappy for snacks, or fruit like apples, strawberry's etc, not the bananas, pineapple etc

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Nice idea for a thread. Recently I've noticed that being poor forces me to save money where I would have wasted it in the past when I was working more. I love how much more conscious of spending I've become - how I'll really ask myself whether I need something or whether I can make do without it (the answer to which is almost always yes). And using creativity - whereas I used to eat out a lot and things could sometimes just go off in the fridge, or I'd opt for something else and let them expire - now when I'm hungry I take inventory of what I have, what needs to be eaten soon before expiry, and what I can do with what I've got.

Food-wise, I think some things make a really big difference - I've recently started buying basmati rice in bulk - I paid around $10 for 5kg in a fabric bag. So I say get your cheap staples in bulk - buy rice, dry red lentils (Dhal on rice is ridiculously cheap) canned chick peas or whatever. Then work out what else you use heaps, what costs more, and what you can grow yourself. Things like cherry tomatoes are a great cost-saver to grow..whenever you need tomato for something just pick a few and chuck them in. Leafy greens, herbs etc as well.

Also work out what plants are useful for more than one thing - for example, some sweet potato cultivars are quite good for edible leaves as well as tubers, as I've discovered recently. Chilli leaves (another recent discovery) appear to be edible and quite tasty when cooked - and in small quantities (to avoid potential negative effects of alkaloids). I'm sure there's many others.

In the garden - work out how to do more with less. You can make a trellis for beans or vines to grow on out of sticks and branches you have lying around, clothes hangers, string etc - you don't have to fork out for the expensive crap at the hardware store or for wire or anything. Also, if you're not opposed to using a bit of elbow grease, you can do without some tools if you don't already have them. I never owned a mattock or anything, but I dug many garden beds just using a standard square shovel. Just try wet and soften the soil the night before if you can (if it's hard/clay soil).

I'll have a think and see what else I can come up with.

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Wrap your hot water cylinder in blankets and make sure the temp isn't up too high. I noticed a considerable drop in the power bill after doing this.

Also, pay close attention to your electricity bill and if they ever send you an estimate, check it against your previous bills to make sure they haven't hugely over-estimated. That happened to me last month and they had estimated that my power usage had jumped 800kw higher than the month before, so I rang up and gave them an actual reading, which saved me atleast $30. If I hadn't had looked closely at the bill I would have had no idea, and I bet this has happened a number of times before.

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Use lemon/cedar/orange essential oil to clean house/hands mixed with water or metho or both. Watch out for those anti-bacterial handwashes as the biocide in them is not safe. Essential oil is best bought by the liter to save cash.

edit - Ceres, you don't have to worry too much about estimated power bills because next time they do a actual read the amount you were overcharged will be subtracted from your bill. The problem gets bad if someone has a dog or fence that the meter reader cannot get past & you get estimated bills for a year or more. By the way estimated bills should be worked out as the previous bill + 10%, this is why multiple estimates get out of proportion.

Edited by Leaves
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dont drink beer or smoke :BANGHEAD2:

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This year me and the missus made heaps of jams chutneys and relish which save us a bit but the real savings will be at Christmas as everyone is getting a little collection of preserves and a little gift. Probably save myself over $100 :)

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^^Home brew & grow 52 tobacco plants or double if your a chain smoker or dipper.

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oh yes, home brewing can and does save ALOT of money!

i am testament to that lol.

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Preserving fruit is a favourite tactic of mine. If you go to local fruit and veg shops and talk to the owner you can often buy big boxes of seconds fruit for much much cheaper. Simply discard or chop out the extra mushy bits and for a relatively small amount of effort and $, you can have apricots, plums, passion fruit and many other summery delights all year round.

Also..

If you see fruit trees that are chocka full of fruit which doesn't seem to be getting harvested go knock on the door and ask if you can fill up a bag and maybe offer to trade them a few jars of jam or something.

It's amazing how much fruit goes to waste in the height of summer, many people just don't bother to pick it.

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Dumpstering.

If you've got thick skin, living in a squat.

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You can make your own all-purpose cleaner out of fermenting lemon peels. Add a heap to water after squeezing them for juice (leaving the remaining flesh and pith is fine) so that the water covers them, then leave to ferment. After a while you can strain off the liquid and use it as a cleaner. Add more peels to the fermented ones and cover again.

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^^Home brew & grow 52 tobacco plants or double if your a chain smoker or dipper.

this makes it very bad coz ya smoke more and drink loads more.. :wacko:

oh yes, home brewing can and does save ALOT of money!

i am testament to that lol.

look out!!

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Preserving fruit is a favourite tactic of mine. If you go to local fruit and veg shops and talk to the owner you can often buy big boxes of seconds fruit for much much cheaper. Simply discard or chop out the extra mushy bits and for a relatively small amount of effort and $, you can have apricots, plums, passion fruit and many other summery delights all year round.

Also..

If you see fruit trees that are chocka full of fruit which doesn't seem to be getting harvested go knock on the door and ask if you can fill up a bag and maybe offer to trade them a few jars of jam or something.

It's amazing how much fruit goes to waste in the height of summer, many people just don't bother to pick it.

i dont knock anymore :huh:

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i dont knock anymore :huh:

Fair enuf bullit! I especially like finding abundantly producing fruit trees in deserted areas, although I have been known to not knock too as long as I don't have to enter someone's property to gather fruit which would otherwise be wasted.. cause talking to strangers and asking you to give them their stuff simply cause you want it and they're not using it is nerve wracking sometimes ;)

There's an entire apricot orchard on the way to queenstown which was half flooded when they built a new damn, I remember going there as a kid and filling up several banana crates with perfectly ripe fruit.

Probably my favourite money saver and a total necessity where I live is the humble hottie!

I grew up pretty poor and we always seemed to live in cold, damp, draughty houses, so the hot water bottles were always hot, me and my dad always used to walk around with them under our tops and we would look like we both had little pot-bellies.

I suppose heating is not so much an issue in Australia tho. Cooling is probably more important right?

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Probably my favourite money saver and a total necessity where I live is the humble hottie!

I grew up pretty poor and we always seemed to live in cold, damp, draughty houses, so the hot water bottles were always hot, me and my dad always used to walk around with them under our tops and we would look like we both had little pot-bellies.

I suppose heating is not so much an issue in Australia tho. Cooling is probably more important right?

I thought you were calling yourself a humble hottie for a moment there.

Depends where you are as to whether heating is necessary or not. Australia covers a large latitudinal range. Winter in the south of the country gets cool enough to warrant heating.

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I get my mum to make me smoko cos she loves me :)

Edited by incognito
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I thought you were calling yourself a humble hottie for a moment there.

Depends where you are as to whether heating is necessary or not. Australia covers a large latitudinal range. Winter in the south of the country gets cool enough to warrant heating.

Hahaha! Now wouldn't that be the most contradictory statement a "humble hottie" could make?

Doh. sorry, I always make silly grand generalisations about Australia, but assuming a homogenised climate is pretty bad. It must be sleeptime.

Off to make a humble hottie now :lol:

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I get my mum to make me smoko cos she loves me :)

lol...we may as well add "taking advantage of loving relationships" to the list then :P

No point having a mum or a girlfriend or a boyfriend if you're not getting free products and/or services from it.

Edited by gtarman
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This would be great for someone with access to plenty of bees wax.

 

One could also use an oil lamp with olive oil or candlenut oil as a fuel source.

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Edited by Halcyon Daze
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speaking of humble hottie, that reminded me of a gaming savings.

https://www.humblebundle.com

the humble bundle, pay what you want for games. each week they have new sets of games. connects to your steam account.

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yo ceres i use to knock but the people @ home just freak out like im there to rob them lol.

i once knock on a door for a brug cutting and no one answered then i started to walk home with me dog and the cops pulled me over and hit me up bout break and enters i lol

any who i say dont drive ya car that will save fuk loads

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