1. Waste not, want not – you have to think about this for a while to understand its true deepest meaning! But, only buy what you need, use what you’ve bought and nothing is wasted.
2. Don’t buy – borrow! If you need a piece of equipment or special tool for a DIY job, don’t buy it so that after you have used it once it’ll sit in the shed or garage for the rest of eternity, ask neighbours, friends, colleagues at work if they have what you need. If all else fails, contact a tool hire shop, but try all other ‘free’ avenues first.
3. If you’re not satisfied with a product, write and complain, 9 times out of 10 you’ll get decent money off coupon or voucher to spend in store.
4. Prolong the life of your carpets, take off your shoes as you enter your home, and get visitors to do the same too, saves getting the carpet dirty and saves on wear and tear too.
5. Don’t throw out old bed sheets or towels etc, cut them up into decent sized squares and use for cleaning cloths.
6. Clean windows with warm water and a splash of vinegar, wipe off and buff up with a sheet of newspaper, watch them sparkle.
7. Always write a shopping list for the weekly groceries, but not on new paper – check out any junk mail you’ve received, bet the backs of letters are blank for you to use?
8. Use envelopes from junk mail too, use a sticky address label to cover the printed address on the envelope – great free envelopes.
9. Use a tube squeezer to get every last drop of toothpaste from tubes (any tube products really) and then when you think its empty – cut open the top and sides and scrape out the remaining contents.
10. Never throw anything away before thinking of alternative uses.
Saturday, 7 November 2009
Thursday, 5 November 2009
Being a Frugal Dougal and a Wiser Miser
One of my aims is to be totally frugal in all aspects of my life; it certainly helps being a miser as well.
There is a distinct difference though, so I feel I will never truly be one or the other to the exception of anything else. So if I can strike a balance between the two I’ll be happy.
To be frugal means looking at what you are spending your money on; do you need the product or service? And if so, is the asking price the cheapest you can find? Can you do it yourself, better and cheaper? It’s all about getting the most from every pound, making it work the hardest it possibly can do. Living a frugal life doesn’t mean living in poverty either, it may mean actually living better than you did before, because you are conscious of ‘How’ you are spending your cash, so may have more of it for the more important things in life that you ‘want’ to do.
To be a miser on the other hand means trying not to spend anything – period! I do begrudge spending money on ‘stuff’ that doesn’t really add any value to my life. I find that if something takes my fancy and tell myself that I simply must have it; I walk away and tell myself to think about it, what would my life be with and without this product? Can I justify spending £x on this product? Generally, I come to the conclusion that I don’t really need it after all, it was just a ‘want’ rather than a true need, and ‘wants’ easily pass, thus saving me money.
By the way, no one should become solely obsessed with becoming a miser ‘a hoarder of money, a stingy person’ as this could lead to becoming ‘Miser-able’ and being unhappy is not my aim. So I’m aiming for somewhere in the middle between
Frugal – Miser
A happy, quality life whilst spending the least amount of money possible.
There is a distinct difference though, so I feel I will never truly be one or the other to the exception of anything else. So if I can strike a balance between the two I’ll be happy.
To be frugal means looking at what you are spending your money on; do you need the product or service? And if so, is the asking price the cheapest you can find? Can you do it yourself, better and cheaper? It’s all about getting the most from every pound, making it work the hardest it possibly can do. Living a frugal life doesn’t mean living in poverty either, it may mean actually living better than you did before, because you are conscious of ‘How’ you are spending your cash, so may have more of it for the more important things in life that you ‘want’ to do.
To be a miser on the other hand means trying not to spend anything – period! I do begrudge spending money on ‘stuff’ that doesn’t really add any value to my life. I find that if something takes my fancy and tell myself that I simply must have it; I walk away and tell myself to think about it, what would my life be with and without this product? Can I justify spending £x on this product? Generally, I come to the conclusion that I don’t really need it after all, it was just a ‘want’ rather than a true need, and ‘wants’ easily pass, thus saving me money.
By the way, no one should become solely obsessed with becoming a miser ‘a hoarder of money, a stingy person’ as this could lead to becoming ‘Miser-able’ and being unhappy is not my aim. So I’m aiming for somewhere in the middle between
Frugal – Miser
A happy, quality life whilst spending the least amount of money possible.
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Bonfire Night – The Stars Are Bright (and very expensive)
It’s nearly here again, bonfire night, although a great event and tradition, celebrating the defeat of the gunpowder plotters, it’s become yet another commercial excuse to part the unwary from their cash.
When I was a kid, fireworks were only available on sale a week before the event (or so it seems) and disappeared the day after, fireworks were only for bonfire night, now it’s any excuse for goodness sake!
Rockets, bangers and the like have been going off around us for the past week or so, where do these people get all the money from? Because they certainly aren’t cheap.
I’ve nothing against bonfire night, I’ve nothing against fireworks, and I’ve certainly got nothing against people having fun, but I’m not paying upwards of £100 for a paltry box of fireworks that last 10 minutes, if you’re lucky, and then what?
There’s generally a free bonfire and firework display in all areas (some paid for by the council tax payers) so there’s no need to buy your own, they will be paying whether I watch or not, so I may as well enjoy the free show. You can even just stand in your own back yard and watch the neighbours’ displays, because they’ll go up in the sky for the entire world to see anyway.
Have a safe and ‘free’ bonfire night.
When I was a kid, fireworks were only available on sale a week before the event (or so it seems) and disappeared the day after, fireworks were only for bonfire night, now it’s any excuse for goodness sake!
Rockets, bangers and the like have been going off around us for the past week or so, where do these people get all the money from? Because they certainly aren’t cheap.
I’ve nothing against bonfire night, I’ve nothing against fireworks, and I’ve certainly got nothing against people having fun, but I’m not paying upwards of £100 for a paltry box of fireworks that last 10 minutes, if you’re lucky, and then what?
There’s generally a free bonfire and firework display in all areas (some paid for by the council tax payers) so there’s no need to buy your own, they will be paying whether I watch or not, so I may as well enjoy the free show. You can even just stand in your own back yard and watch the neighbours’ displays, because they’ll go up in the sky for the entire world to see anyway.
Have a safe and ‘free’ bonfire night.
Monday, 2 November 2009
Cooking from Scratch – Healthy Cheap Meals
Cooking meals from scratch is a great achievement when it is so much easier to succumb to supermarket pressures and buy ready meals.
But done correctly, cooking at home from scratch is both healthier and more cost effective than processed rubbish.
The secret is to plan ahead:
Keep the freezer topped up with ingredients, don’t run it on empty or partially empty (or partially full whichever point of view you may have), as it’s a waste of energy and cost.
Cook extra portions and freeze the spares so that you always have an odd meal in for days when it’s not practical to cook for only one or two people.
Fill the oven when cooking too, eat and store according to your needs and menus for the week.
When cooking always use the correct sized saucepan and don’t have the flame licking up the sides (if using gas that is, if there’s flames and you’re using electric I’d call the fire brigade). Also, put pan lids on when cooking to speed up the process and save pounds.
Pressure cookers are great for saving both fuel and time (and again money)
Slow cookers are brilliant, but clue in the name ‘slow’ can take 8-10 hours to cook a stew, so you have to start at breakfast time to get an evening meal – but oh boy! Is it worth the wait! A fantastic way to use cheaper cuts of meat and uses only the equivalent of an electric light bulb – fantastic value.
It’s not always possible, but I try to ensure everyone is having the same meal at the same time so I’m not having two (or more) lots of cooking costs and reheating costs etc.
But done correctly, cooking at home from scratch is both healthier and more cost effective than processed rubbish.
The secret is to plan ahead:
Keep the freezer topped up with ingredients, don’t run it on empty or partially empty (or partially full whichever point of view you may have), as it’s a waste of energy and cost.
Cook extra portions and freeze the spares so that you always have an odd meal in for days when it’s not practical to cook for only one or two people.
Fill the oven when cooking too, eat and store according to your needs and menus for the week.
When cooking always use the correct sized saucepan and don’t have the flame licking up the sides (if using gas that is, if there’s flames and you’re using electric I’d call the fire brigade). Also, put pan lids on when cooking to speed up the process and save pounds.
Pressure cookers are great for saving both fuel and time (and again money)
Slow cookers are brilliant, but clue in the name ‘slow’ can take 8-10 hours to cook a stew, so you have to start at breakfast time to get an evening meal – but oh boy! Is it worth the wait! A fantastic way to use cheaper cuts of meat and uses only the equivalent of an electric light bulb – fantastic value.
It’s not always possible, but I try to ensure everyone is having the same meal at the same time so I’m not having two (or more) lots of cooking costs and reheating costs etc.
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