Tight people and the things they do to save money
Discussion
kev1974 said:
Otispunkmeyer said:
Packed lunch thing gets me every time. You can spend £5 a day on a meal deal for a floppy, half filled, processed sarnie, some pop and some crisps. Or, you can spend £10 on a gammon joint and a loaf of bread and do proper sarnies for the next 2 weeks nearly.
Forget the pop and the crisps altogether, you don't need them, they're not good for you. Some water or a cup of tea and some fruit. Aldi apples and bananas are dirt cheap. At Uni the snack bars would sell you a banana for 50p, at Aldi you can get a bunch for that!
We often buy a whole chicken for a Sunday dinner. Roast it, I have some breast, Mrs has a leg. The rest then gets cut up and the meat does for sandwiches, cat treats. The carcass gets boiled up and a load of veg bunged in. Hey presto chicken soup that will nearly do 2 peoples lunches for a week.
Same goes with Beef joints. Ok you can't make soup out of the left overs, but you can slice whats left for sandwiches. Proper top side in your butty, not reformed or pressed scrapings from the abattoir floor.
What you're missing there is time. When time is short, it has huge value! Forget the pop and the crisps altogether, you don't need them, they're not good for you. Some water or a cup of tea and some fruit. Aldi apples and bananas are dirt cheap. At Uni the snack bars would sell you a banana for 50p, at Aldi you can get a bunch for that!
We often buy a whole chicken for a Sunday dinner. Roast it, I have some breast, Mrs has a leg. The rest then gets cut up and the meat does for sandwiches, cat treats. The carcass gets boiled up and a load of veg bunged in. Hey presto chicken soup that will nearly do 2 peoples lunches for a week.
Same goes with Beef joints. Ok you can't make soup out of the left overs, but you can slice whats left for sandwiches. Proper top side in your butty, not reformed or pressed scrapings from the abattoir floor.
I don't have time for all that Aldi visiting and cooking and washing up and sandwich assembly stuff, when the cafe near the office knows what I like and has it made almost as quickly as i can get from their entrance door to their counter!
But, the chicken soup thing takes no time, I mean you do it whilst preparing sunday dinner and you let the thing simmer in the pan for ages. Then just ladel it out later.
Sarnies maybes take 10 minutes on a morning. Some bread, some mayo/butter, some meats and cheeses. Pop em in a tuppaware. Job jobbed. Less than an hour a week preparing food for lunch, and you have to go food shopping at some point regardless.
Granted, if you're earning a good hourly rate it may be better using that hour to do work!
Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Friday 6th March 17:02
Otispunkmeyer said:
kev1974 said:
Otispunkmeyer said:
Packed lunch thing gets me every time. You can spend £5 a day on a meal deal for a floppy, half filled, processed sarnie, some pop and some crisps. Or, you can spend £10 on a gammon joint and a loaf of bread and do proper sarnies for the next 2 weeks nearly.
Forget the pop and the crisps altogether, you don't need them, they're not good for you. Some water or a cup of tea and some fruit. Aldi apples and bananas are dirt cheap. At Uni the snack bars would sell you a banana for 50p, at Aldi you can get a bunch for that!
We often buy a whole chicken for a Sunday dinner. Roast it, I have some breast, Mrs has a leg. The rest then gets cut up and the meat does for sandwiches, cat treats. The carcass gets boiled up and a load of veg bunged in. Hey presto chicken soup that will nearly do 2 peoples lunches for a week.
Same goes with Beef joints. Ok you can't make soup out of the left overs, but you can slice whats left for sandwiches. Proper top side in your butty, not reformed or pressed scrapings from the abattoir floor.
What you're missing there is time. When time is short, it has huge value! Forget the pop and the crisps altogether, you don't need them, they're not good for you. Some water or a cup of tea and some fruit. Aldi apples and bananas are dirt cheap. At Uni the snack bars would sell you a banana for 50p, at Aldi you can get a bunch for that!
We often buy a whole chicken for a Sunday dinner. Roast it, I have some breast, Mrs has a leg. The rest then gets cut up and the meat does for sandwiches, cat treats. The carcass gets boiled up and a load of veg bunged in. Hey presto chicken soup that will nearly do 2 peoples lunches for a week.
Same goes with Beef joints. Ok you can't make soup out of the left overs, but you can slice whats left for sandwiches. Proper top side in your butty, not reformed or pressed scrapings from the abattoir floor.
I don't have time for all that Aldi visiting and cooking and washing up and sandwich assembly stuff, when the cafe near the office knows what I like and has it made almost as quickly as i can get from their entrance door to their counter!
But, the chicken soup thing takes no time, I mean you do it whilst preparing sunday dinner and you let the thing simmer in the pan for ages. Then just ladel it out later.
Sarnies maybes take 10 minutes on a morning. Some bread, some mayo/butter, some meats and cheeses. Pop em in a tuppa-wear. Job jobbed. Less than an hour a week preparing food for lunch, and you have to go food shopping at some point regardless.
Granted, if you're earning a good hourly rate it may be better using that hour to do work!
Small price to pay for the meal in the day I look forward to most after 6 hours at a computer.
p1stonhead said:
Otispunkmeyer said:
kev1974 said:
Otispunkmeyer said:
Packed lunch thing gets me every time. You can spend £5 a day on a meal deal for a floppy, half filled, processed sarnie, some pop and some crisps. Or, you can spend £10 on a gammon joint and a loaf of bread and do proper sarnies for the next 2 weeks nearly.
Forget the pop and the crisps altogether, you don't need them, they're not good for you. Some water or a cup of tea and some fruit. Aldi apples and bananas are dirt cheap. At Uni the snack bars would sell you a banana for 50p, at Aldi you can get a bunch for that!
We often buy a whole chicken for a Sunday dinner. Roast it, I have some breast, Mrs has a leg. The rest then gets cut up and the meat does for sandwiches, cat treats. The carcass gets boiled up and a load of veg bunged in. Hey presto chicken soup that will nearly do 2 peoples lunches for a week.
Same goes with Beef joints. Ok you can't make soup out of the left overs, but you can slice whats left for sandwiches. Proper top side in your butty, not reformed or pressed scrapings from the abattoir floor.
What you're missing there is time. When time is short, it has huge value! Forget the pop and the crisps altogether, you don't need them, they're not good for you. Some water or a cup of tea and some fruit. Aldi apples and bananas are dirt cheap. At Uni the snack bars would sell you a banana for 50p, at Aldi you can get a bunch for that!
We often buy a whole chicken for a Sunday dinner. Roast it, I have some breast, Mrs has a leg. The rest then gets cut up and the meat does for sandwiches, cat treats. The carcass gets boiled up and a load of veg bunged in. Hey presto chicken soup that will nearly do 2 peoples lunches for a week.
Same goes with Beef joints. Ok you can't make soup out of the left overs, but you can slice whats left for sandwiches. Proper top side in your butty, not reformed or pressed scrapings from the abattoir floor.
I don't have time for all that Aldi visiting and cooking and washing up and sandwich assembly stuff, when the cafe near the office knows what I like and has it made almost as quickly as i can get from their entrance door to their counter!
But, the chicken soup thing takes no time, I mean you do it whilst preparing sunday dinner and you let the thing simmer in the pan for ages. Then just ladel it out later.
Sarnies maybes take 10 minutes on a morning. Some bread, some mayo/butter, some meats and cheeses. Pop em in a tuppa-wear. Job jobbed. Less than an hour a week preparing food for lunch, and you have to go food shopping at some point regardless.
Granted, if you're earning a good hourly rate it may be better using that hour to do work!
Small price to pay for the meal in the day I look forward to most after 6 hours at a computer.
Staple food as a kid; cheese and ham sandwiches. Could murder one any time of day. I still love Heinz beans and sausages on toast/bagel as well, even though the sausages could be described as anything but!
besides the main reason for packed lunch is i'll be f
ked for something to eat unless I waste nearly me whole lunch time traipsing to co-op (its the nearest shop at nearly 10 mile round trip). The joys of working in the middle of the country side!Otispunkmeyer said:
kev1974 said:
Otispunkmeyer said:
Packed lunch thing gets me every time. You can spend £5 a day on a meal deal for a floppy, half filled, processed sarnie, some pop and some crisps. Or, you can spend £10 on a gammon joint and a loaf of bread and do proper sarnies for the next 2 weeks nearly.
Forget the pop and the crisps altogether, you don't need them, they're not good for you. Some water or a cup of tea and some fruit. Aldi apples and bananas are dirt cheap. At Uni the snack bars would sell you a banana for 50p, at Aldi you can get a bunch for that!
We often buy a whole chicken for a Sunday dinner. Roast it, I have some breast, Mrs has a leg. The rest then gets cut up and the meat does for sandwiches, cat treats. The carcass gets boiled up and a load of veg bunged in. Hey presto chicken soup that will nearly do 2 peoples lunches for a week.
Same goes with Beef joints. Ok you can't make soup out of the left overs, but you can slice whats left for sandwiches. Proper top side in your butty, not reformed or pressed scrapings from the abattoir floor.
What you're missing there is time. When time is short, it has huge value! Forget the pop and the crisps altogether, you don't need them, they're not good for you. Some water or a cup of tea and some fruit. Aldi apples and bananas are dirt cheap. At Uni the snack bars would sell you a banana for 50p, at Aldi you can get a bunch for that!
We often buy a whole chicken for a Sunday dinner. Roast it, I have some breast, Mrs has a leg. The rest then gets cut up and the meat does for sandwiches, cat treats. The carcass gets boiled up and a load of veg bunged in. Hey presto chicken soup that will nearly do 2 peoples lunches for a week.
Same goes with Beef joints. Ok you can't make soup out of the left overs, but you can slice whats left for sandwiches. Proper top side in your butty, not reformed or pressed scrapings from the abattoir floor.
I don't have time for all that Aldi visiting and cooking and washing up and sandwich assembly stuff, when the cafe near the office knows what I like and has it made almost as quickly as i can get from their entrance door to their counter!
But, the chicken soup thing takes no time, I mean you do it whilst preparing sunday dinner and you let the thing simmer in the pan for ages. Then just ladel it out later.
Sarnies maybes take 10 minutes on a morning. Some bread, some mayo/butter, some meats and cheeses. Pop em in a tuppaware. Job jobbed. Less than an hour a week preparing food for lunch, and you have to go food shopping at some point regardless.
Granted, if you're earning a good hourly rate it may be better using that hour to do work!
Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Friday 6th March 17:02
I can stick a can of soup in the micowave, do a couple of bits of toast and have a rather nice lunch in like 5 min, I stick the soup in and go for a pee in the loo next door whilst its warming up, a can of Aldi soup, which is suspiciously similar to Heinz (try it, I put it off for ages but it tastes the same to me, the label makes it look not as good though) is 39p, couple of rounds of bread, 10 p, bit of butter, few p, nice hot lunch for under sixty pence, I get the fresh ones as well, they are a quid or so.
Also, I sometimes make sandwiches for a couple of days whilst I have the stuff out, its easier to make four rounds then two twice, stick them in cling film and put them in the fridge, it isnt like the shops down have them sat around for a few days.
I take the porridge sachets for breakfast or a couple of rounds of bread to toast, maybe a bagel or some fruit, the porridge works out to 11 p a sachet from Aldi, use works milk (nobody cares) and you have a healthy, enjoyable breakfast for 11p, hadn't worked it out before but that is very cheap.
Quite easy to do your days work food for a quid, 11p breakfast, 60p lunch, add in a banana and a satsuma, maybe a crunchy bar and you are done.
I reckon if you can save money in places like that, you can splurge a bit more elsewhere, we had Fillet Steak the other night, £5 each and it was fantastic, bit of salt and pepper, show it a pan for a few seconds, serve with a baked potato and salad, total cost about £30 for five of us, still not bad, but the trouble is they wont eat any other kind of steak now !
I eat up stuff that has gone out of date, used to throw it if it got near, yoghurts taste the same for a while after, butter lasts for ages, crisps arent great, bread that has gone a bit stale is great for toast, milk is ok, I have rediscovered sniffing stuff to see if its ok rather than an arbitrary date that is a general guideline that is more for the shops to sell more or protect them from any possibility of any illness, if it doesnt smell right, dont eat it.
I ran out of porridge the other day, found an Asda one in my drawer from when we used to get their home delivery, at least three years ago, nearly binned it but was more interested than being tight, it wasn't really very nice but I survived, so anythign up to two years old is probably perfect.
Dog Star said:
- won't maintain property so that eventually it ends up almost falling down and costs more to rectify, with the added disadvantage of having to have lived in a falling down property.
- same person - getting a car the same as his GFs company car and swapping wheels and spare over
1) that doesn't make sense as you say. A stitch in time etc.- same person - getting a car the same as his GFs company car and swapping wheels and spare over
2) well she's only going to curb them anyway!
I like to think I strike a balance between 'thrifty' and 'miserable'.
I won't waste energy or water for example - stopping the tap whilst brushing and turning on to rinse. I turn lights off as I move from room to room. I'll buy non-perishable items in bulk when they're discounted such as toilet roll, toothpaste, deodorant, shower gel etc. I'll make a note as I travel about where the cheapest fuel is, I'll look for discount codes for anything I buy online.
I have my heating at a reasonable level though (usually about 18degC), I don't want to be cold and shivering in my home.. Life's to short to be miserly but prudent frugality that isn't of detriment is just plain common sense.
I won't waste energy or water for example - stopping the tap whilst brushing and turning on to rinse. I turn lights off as I move from room to room. I'll buy non-perishable items in bulk when they're discounted such as toilet roll, toothpaste, deodorant, shower gel etc. I'll make a note as I travel about where the cheapest fuel is, I'll look for discount codes for anything I buy online.
I have my heating at a reasonable level though (usually about 18degC), I don't want to be cold and shivering in my home.. Life's to short to be miserly but prudent frugality that isn't of detriment is just plain common sense.
In my experience those who are tight and miserly in most cases are not generous to others. For example, those who flask up some boiled water will be huffing and puffing if you were to ask for a biscuit when visiting, or the loan of some item. Fine if they struggle to get by, but generally not individuals you want to socialise with.
berlintaxi said:
Gareth1974 said:
My mate has a reputation for being tight ... he paid his mortgage off by the age of 40 ... he's accrued c£400k in savings, and is packing in work at the end of the year.
Hmmmmt than truth.Most people would find it difficult not to spend that level of disposable income of things like flash cars (I would), he's happy with a crappy Hyundai i10 which he'll run into the ground.
Edited by Gareth1974 on Friday 6th March 19:03
Edited by Gareth1974 on Friday 6th March 19:03
Its funny isn't it, there seems to be a lot of people who can't comprehend why there are wealthy people who are careful with money. The simple fact is that a lot of these wealthy people are wealthy BECAUSE they are careful with money.
The same people also question what is the point in being wealthy if you don't splash the cash, another simple answer. Freedom. You can't put a price on it. (and old habits die hard!)
The same people also question what is the point in being wealthy if you don't splash the cash, another simple answer. Freedom. You can't put a price on it. (and old habits die hard!)
Kermit power said:
RB Will said:
in their house the toilet is only flushed if someone has a crap, with 2 parents and 4 kids it saves quite a bit compared to flushing away 20+ wees a day.
With two adults and three kids in the house, my preferred method of saving money there is to refuse all suggestions from the water company that I might want to consider fitting a water meter! 
The last letter they sent - which was entitled "See how much money a water meter could save YOU" - showed that even by taking their own doubtless parsimonious consumption estimates, our current bill was equivalent to two adults and about two thirds of a child on average metered consumption.
I recently gave up diet Coke.
I didn't do this particularly to save money, but more because I read an article quoting a study which showed that caffeine doesn't actually make you more alert or awake, but just restores you to where you would've more or less been anyway if you didn't drink caffeine.
I can't stand tea or coffee, and I don't really like diet Coke either. I was only drinking it for the caffeine, so I thought I'd try this theory that I could just stop drinking it, and it's true. I feel just as awake as I ever did whilst I was drinking the stuff.
Three bottles a day, three days per week in the office, 47 weeks a year, £1.25 per bottle... Put the tax and NI back on, and that's the equivalent of a £900 payrise!!
Now, if I can just find three or four similar little things that add up like that...
I didn't do this particularly to save money, but more because I read an article quoting a study which showed that caffeine doesn't actually make you more alert or awake, but just restores you to where you would've more or less been anyway if you didn't drink caffeine.
I can't stand tea or coffee, and I don't really like diet Coke either. I was only drinking it for the caffeine, so I thought I'd try this theory that I could just stop drinking it, and it's true. I feel just as awake as I ever did whilst I was drinking the stuff.
Three bottles a day, three days per week in the office, 47 weeks a year, £1.25 per bottle... Put the tax and NI back on, and that's the equivalent of a £900 payrise!!
Now, if I can just find three or four similar little things that add up like that...
rgv250ads said:
Lets be clear and separate tight ass' s from genuine hard up folk scraching a living. Tight ass' s deserve what they get in terms of poking fun at them !!
Lets be clear. I have a reputation for the former, but in my defense, I perfected it during then later. I used to be genuinely hard up, and was therefore very tight. It is difficult now it is habit.
Otispunkmeyer said:
Packed lunch thing gets me every time. You can spend £5 a day on a meal deal for a floppy, half filled, processed sarnie, some pop and some crisps. Or, you can spend £10 on a gammon joint and a loaf of bread and do proper sarnies for the next 2 weeks nearly.
How do you make bread last two weeks?Otispunkmeyer said:
We often buy a whole chicken for a Sunday dinner. Roast it, I have some breast, Mrs has a leg. The rest then gets cut up and the meat does for sandwiches, cat treats. The carcass gets boiled up and a load of veg bunged in. Hey presto chicken soup that will nearly do 2 peoples lunches for a week.
I often do the same, don't seem to get leftovers though.Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff