What do you do to cut expenses down?

[Britesea]

Every little thing counts, @kemps When I started cooking everything from scratch, including making my own seasoning compounds and such whenever possible (I haven't made soy sauce yet, but I made a decent worcestershire) it cut our grocery bill by almost half! The down side is that I usually don't use coupons since they almost never have coupons for the staple items that I use.

I've been playing with the idea of using family cloth to cut down on the toilet paper usage in our house, but I haven't gotten around to setting it up (I need a covered can, like a diaper pail, to put the used cloths in until time to wash them, and a basket or something to hold the clean ones, and a secure place to put it so they don't get accidentally knocked into the commode).

 

[sumi]

@kemps Welcome to SS! I am a big Aldi fan myself, especially when they put "Buy for €50 and get €10 off" vouchers in the Sunday papers Good reason to stock up, especially on dry goods like rice and pasta.

I discovered thanks to Aldi and Lidl stores that bacon off cuts or "cooking" bacon is just as nice as the rashers and can cost up to 90% less, if you buy in bulk. Perfect for pizza toppings and heck, those chunky pieces of bacon with eggs in the morning… Another tip my mom gave me years ago, is to look at the price per kilogram/pound of meats when faced with a large selection.

 

[kemps]

@sumi are you in the UK? I admit I am not up on other countries money symbols . We don't get those coupons in America (at least in MN) sadly cause that would be awesome. I spend at least a hundred bucks a month there so saving 10 bucks plus would rock! I heard the same tip when I was younger from my mother. I always say growing up in poverty did have some benefit! Not only did I learn frugal recipes I learned how to use coupons before I was 8 and also learned that limiting yourself to one store means spending more on something. I shop, at the very least, at 3 stores (Aldi, Dollar Tree and Walmart). I am not the biggest fan of Walmart but I don't hate them either. I do find some amazing deals there and saving a buck or two is worth it to me. Because of our shopping practices we've been able to live comfortably, when it comes to food, off of very little.

Another rule I had when my husband worked outside the home always made him laugh. It saved us tons though. I always told him "Never say no to free food!!". They used to have free lunches on occasion and would offer food to the employees (he worked for a major bank). He would call me and ask me if I wanted him to grab some. I said ALWAYS!. We'd get free lasagna, salad, bread, cookies you name it. I'd freeze what we could and we'd eat the stuff we couldn't for dinner and even lunch the next day. I told him even if you think the stuff doesn't taste that great I can doctor it up and we got free food. Holiday dinners were the best. No one else ever wanted to take the food home so it was pretty much always ours. He once came home with enough ham to feed 20 people, potatoes, veggies, cakes etc. Even after freezing the food lasted us a week. It was epic stuff. I don't miss him working there as it was a soul sucking job but I admit I DO miss the free food!

 

[Denim Deb]

I've been known to take home ham bones and turkey carcasses from church and/or family dinners. Often there's enough meat on them for another dinner or two, and then I'll boil up the bones for soup.

 

[sumi]

@kemps I'm in Ireland. Do you guys not get the vouchers there? That sucks… We got them weekly for a few weeks and then Tesco caught on to the idea and said they will redeem the competition's vouchers as well. So we got a bit spoil over here lol I've learned to shop around myself and always, always keep an eye out for a bargain. I've found great bargains in filling station convenience stores even. A few weeks ago I made my DH laugh, we stopped for food and a break in the middle of a long trip and I ended up buying enough loo rolls at the shop to start and run my own public toilet for month LOL They were just too cheap to resist. We also get a lot of "Buy 2 for X" or "Buy any 3 for X" offers, which is great savings if you have enough space for storing/freezing the extra…

 

[kemps]

@Britesea I posted early..oops! Family cloth is my back up plan for emergencies. I went the lazy route and, instead of making them I bought baby wash clothes for a reasonable price at Walmart. The only reason it's my back up plan vs my current plan is I know the others in my house wouldn't do it if they didn't have to. I did actually just send a message to someone giving away a free diaper pail on CL and am crossing my fingers. I was gonna use a trash can or 5 gallon bucket but I like the idea of a free diaper pail better! As for the clean ones I saw someone hang a basket on the wall to hold them and I thought that was cute. I'd probably go that route. In the mean time, since I can't force the guys to do that I get tp pretty cheap actually and a 12 pk lasts us roughly 2 months which isn't too bad!

I primarily use coupons for paper products, fem stuff and the soaps and only along with sales and/or ECB deals at CVS. I don't buy name brand food (except for Ritz crackers cause off brand ones are gross) so I don't tend to see coupons for food I buy. If I can manage to get something for free though that is another ballpark. Free is my favorite word after all!

 

[kemps]

@sumi Ahh. How do you like it there? I've never been out of the US which bums me out. I've heard it's beautiful there.

We get Aldi ads but no money saving coupons or anything, which sucks. The ads really don't do anything as I can just view the sales on-line so I don't need a paper one. I still save so much there so no big deal.

I made my hubby both laugh and sigh last month. Aldi's TP 12pks were 50 cents cheaper so I got 6 of them (enough for our household for 8 months to a year). All to save 3 bucks. But we had the extra cash and not having to run out to buy tp is so nice. I have agoraphobia so I would rather not leave the home if we don't have to. I've also been known to spending our entire 10 plus bucks of ECB of dish soap or paper towels if on sale for a good price. We have such an amazing stock as a result. Some people like seeing their movie collection or music collection. I love seeing my well stocked pantry and stock of household products!

@Denim Deb I have done that too. I haven't had the joy of that in awhile but I always love getting my hands on some bones or carcasses. Nothing makes yummier soup and OMG does the house smell fantastic! It's like an air freshener and dinner all in one!

 

[goatgurl]

small world indeed, i to am an aldi too. love their fresh fruit and veggie prices. i have a love/hate relationship with walmart but they do price match aldi's so that is a good thing.

 

[Denim Deb]

The Aldi's I used to stop at moved. It's no longer easy for me to go to it.

 

[Britesea]

I used to shop 3 different stores regularly, but now I'm down to 2; the 3rd one just didn't have enough bargains to justify the extra time and gas going there. I rarely use coupons because I make most of our food and toiletries from scratch and you don't usually find coupons for flour or salt, and if there is one for say- milk- chances are the house brand will still be cheaper.