Money-saving tips! What helps you cut costs?

66Mustang

@chiarieds it is interesting that you can save money by growing your own food. We used to have an allotment and found that, after paying for the allotment, buying the seeds, equipment, materials to build protection to keep animals off etc. it was just as expensive to grow your own produce as to buy it in the supermarket, albeit it did taste nicer!

chiarieds

@66Mustang - The seeds I buy are not F1hybrids, which means you can save the seeds for the following year, so with many, it's just the initial cost of the first years seeds. I buy from the following website, & they tell you how to save the seeds. https://www.realseeds.co.uk/  Also, if you indicate you're on a low income, they reduce the postage. I've been buying from them for 5 years (I keep trying new things), & can't fault them.

The only animal I have problems with is my cat......she scratched up 2 lots of filet beans, & they're my favourite type!

My one luxury was getting my joiner to build me a small greenhouse. I used to just start seeds off in my lounge as it's south facing, but not practical to do now with a cat about! However, I rarely go anywhere, so my garden helps a lot in other ways, & my cat is really rather lovely (most of the time). 

And, as you say, homegrown, well, you can't beat the taste, & no air miles.

Chloe_Alumni

Ross_Scope said:

It would help me save money if Terry's Chocolate Oranges weren't always on sale for £1

Too true @Ross_Scope!    

I struggle to chop things so tend to buy pre-chopped onions and veg if I can, but this can be more expensive which is fustrating.

If I'm at home I can get someone to chop things in advance so I have a freezer full of different things that have been chopped. 

66Mustang

@chiarieds sorry I missed your post when you posted it. That site looks good and I like that they allow you to state you’re on a low income to reduce postage costs. 

That is interesting about the lack of animal trouble you had. If we didn’t completely cover things up on the allotments they would get eaten mercilessly! Even if a small hole appeared in one of our protective shields or netting, that would be it for the plants, so we would have to keep an eye on them to make sure they stayed in good shape. Do you use any products on your plants to deter animals or, I guess, perhaps they are just less commonly found in a garden?

On the topic of greenhouses one thing that we did do which worked well both as protection and as a makeshift greenhouse was cutting those large 5L water bottles in half and growing the plants under them! Not particularly attractive but very effective. A family member was able to get an endless supply of empty bottles from their office which was good.

I can definitely understand that a garden helps a lot when you rarely go out. I found it quite therapeutic working on the allotment when we had it.

chiarieds

Hi @66Mustang - the only problem I have had is with slugs, as they've had more lettuce than me before. 

My next door neighbour is a chef in our local Sicilian restaurant, & their wine is delivered in large plastic bottles. He saved these, & gave me some that he'd cut the tops off, which I used outside. Yes, they are effective. In my greenhouse, I put clear, pierced poly bags over my seedlings, & use these as a miniature secondary greenhouse for a week or 2.

The website I mentioned really is good, as are their seeds. My next door neighbours & I often exchange seeds, but I can't save seeds from them for subsequent years, & my veg often seem to fare that bit better, altho he has taught me an awful lot about growing tomatoes!

leeCal

I struggled to grow a dahlia this year and eventually found that every new growth was being eaten by a slug, so cut a water bottle in half and place it over the growth area and prey hesto, job done. Now it’s a bit late for dahlias but never mind. The plastic bottle trick is a good and effective one.

Ross_Alumni

Chloe_Scope said:

Ross_Scope said:

It would help me save money if Terry's Chocolate Oranges weren't always on sale for £1

Too true @Ross_Scope!    

I struggle to chop things so tend to buy pre-chopped onions and veg if I can, but this can be more expensive which is fustrating.

If I'm at home I can get someone to chop things in advance so I have a freezer full of different things that have been chopped. 

I've started doing the same, I find it takes me too long to chop an onion, peppers and mushrooms so I've cut down that time by getting chopped onion and mushroom so I just have the pepper to sort. It's annoying that you have to spend more but for me I think it's about finding the right balance between finance and convenience. 

Whenever we do the shopping, we always find ourselves saving a few pennies by checking the section where they put things that are nearly past their best before date. You get so many bargains and some of the things can be just shoved in the freezer and preserved.

66Mustang

@Ross_Scope we always check that section as well. We often go into the shops later in the evening when the stuff from the bakery is going cheap plus often there is the fridge with cheaper products as well.

In Waitrose (I don’t go in there much) they sometimes give the stuff that’s close to its sell by date away for free! I guess they are too posh to reduce the prices the staff sometimes come up to you and ask if you want a certain product which I find really nice.

Ross_Alumni

Yeah it's always best to go in the evening @66Mustang, there's always a higher chance of getting something yummy  

And yeah I've never been to Waitrose either, so I can't comment on how things are there. Although free stuff sounds great!

Chloe_Alumni

Definitely @Ross_Scope! It saves a lot of time and energy doing it that way. Also a fan of the clearance section.