July competition is now out
July 6, 2008 – 10:29 amThe july competition is now out http://www.peazyshop.co.uk/july-2008-competition.php
Avoiding the supermarkets can sometimes save you money
June 17, 2008 – 10:29 amAlthough these days most of us do most of our shopping in the supermarkets, even though they have huge buying power, they’re not always the cheapest place to buy food from.
Shopping around can save you money in two ways. Firstly, it can often bring the actual cost of the item down - this is the obvious saving. A loaf that you pay 2p less for saves you 2p. The less obvious saving is that often items bought from other places will last longer meaning that you waste less of them, and therefore save money in the long run even though per item you may pay the same amount or even slightly more.
A good example of the first and most obvious saving method is market shopping. This is particularly good for things like fruit and veg, but can save you money on other things you might buy in the supermarket too. Buying later in the day can also add to the savings as when the market stalls are nearing their shut down time they will often sell off what they have left for even less than they normally sell it for. I’ve been lucky enough on many occasions to be able to take advantage of this and buy things like three bunches of grapes for £1 or 3 honey dew melons for £1 - these can be well over £1 EACH in the supermarkets so the saving here is quite large. Obviously this is best done with things that you can either use a lot of very quickly, or which you can freeze - grapes for example freeze quite well lose on a tray and can then be removed and eaten when wanted. Other fruits like apricots or plums for example can be cooked and then frozen in small quantities ready to make crumbles, pies and other fruity puddings.
The second form of saving - the hidden saving - comes when by buying something fresh from the butcher greengrocer or baker for example it lasts longer. A loaf of bread from the supermarket might be 5p cheaper, but if you have to throw several slices worth away because it doesn’t keep as long, you’d actually be saving money by buying the more expensive loaf from the baker which will keep an extra day and therefore create less waste. This will vary from item to item and location to location obviously, and you’ll need to shop around and make notes for a few weeks, but it can be very worth while doing so, as it really does help you to learn who’s bread/cake/meat/bananas/cold meat etc. keeps the longest.
One fatal mistake many people make is to go for the ’special offer’ in the supermarket believing it to be saving them money. buying 2 melons for £2 isn’t worth while if you’re going to throw 1 of them away, you’d be better off just buying 1 but paying the full price of £1.40 for it - ok you’d have paid more PER melon, but if it’s not going to keep for long enough for you to eat both then all you are really doing is wasting 60p.
Save Money by Making Things Last Longer
June 9, 2008 – 7:38 pmWe all want to make our money stretch as far as we can and with prices going up and up, it’s getting harder and harder to do so. Making the things that we buy last longer will mean we don’t need to buy them as often and will therefore save us money.
Shampoo, conditioner, liquid soap and washing up liquid are all things that many of us use far more of than we actually need each time we use them. A simple way to cut down on how much you use without having to really think about it each time is to add water to the product when you buy it. Tip 1/3 of the bottle into an old bottle you’ve saved and top up the now only 2/3rd’s full bottle with water, give it a shake and pop it back on the cupboard. So for every 3 you used to buy, you now only need to buy 2!
Razors can be costly especially if you use the disposable sort - paying a higher price once for a reuseable one, that you can buy new blades for could save you money overall especially if you pick one where the blades are generic not specific to that razor. Another tip is to make sure that you rince and dry the blade after each use as this will extend the life of each blade or set of blades.
The life of your mattress can be extended by simply flipping and rotating it regularly. Once a month either Flip it over, so the top becomes the bottom, or rotate it so that the foot end becomes the head end. If you write on the calander which to do when, you’ll never get it wrong and your mattress will wear more evenly and in this way will last a lot longer.
Freezing food as we all know is a great way to preserve it, but don’t forget that just because you didn’t do it on the day you bought it, doesn’t mean you can’t do it still. If you find yourself with 3 packets of cold meat in the freezer that are only a day off their sell by or use by date, seperate them into individual portions and freeze them. As long as you make sure that you note on them that they only have a 1 day life span when you remove them from the freezer, you will be able to defrost them one at a time and use them before they go off. Less waste, and therefore less cost for you. (This can also be done for things like fruit and veg, if you blanche it you can then freeze it and extend it’s useable life).
Did you know that a good chunk of the wear in your clothes comes from washing and tumble drying them? Well it does, so if you are wearing once and then washing everything you could be shortening the life of your clothes considerably. Obviously for undies we only want to wear them once before we wash them, but for outer wear, wearing it a couple of times before you wash it, and then hanging it on a line or airer to dry it rather than putting it in the tumble dryer will not only save you money on the amount of washing and drying you do (think of the cost of all that electricity and water), but it could also extend the life of your clothes by as much as a third.
These are all small things, and I’m sure there are more that other people can add (do feel free to use the comment box to do so!), but each one of them added into a routine will save you money without really adding much to your workload.
Fathers Day - Spending Time Not Money
June 3, 2008 – 8:53 amMost of us want to buy or do something nice for our dad on fathers day, after all it’s our dad, we want to celebrate him. Doing this without buying into the hallmark holiday attitude of spending a fortune and getting very little for your money can be quite hard to avoid though.
Here are 5 ideas of things for your dad, or do with him that won’t cost a fortune, will show you care, and (hopefully) make him feel good and loved!
1) Cook him a fathers day meal
A really lovely meal that you can share with your dad to show him how much he means to you. This one is really one for all ages, you can make it a bit special by decorating the table, and if it’s mum helping the kids to do this for dad, then get them to join in with the cooking, and maybe make his seat into a thrown with a bit of red cloth and some glitter and sequins you can do a lot and in so many different ways that you can really personalise it.
2) Make him a special moments album
Again another one for any age to do, kids and adults alike can put together a scrap book of events that you as a child and he as dad have shared together using photos and writing little reminders like ‘remember when you took me to play football and we got so muddy mum made us shower in the garden! Didn’t we have fun together!’
3) A personalised photo gift
Lots of the online photo companies now offer lots of things other than straight snap shots, from mugs to mouse mats, posters to placemats. Gather together some pictures of the two of you together and get them turned into a really special personalised gift that he will be able to use over and over again.
4) Take a trip together
why not plan a day out for you and your dad. Maybe he’s a fan of motor cars and you could take him to watch the banger racing, or perhaps he loves the beach, June is a good month for trips to the seaside. There are lots of museums and places of interest to visit up and down the country that don’t cost a fortune to do, and actually putting our regular lives aside and stopping to take time to be with someone we care about is something we don’t do enough of as a nation. (Remember the song by Cat Stevens - Cats in the Cradle!)
5) Have a special photo taken
Not the cheapest option, but a very special one indeed, how about booking a session with a photographer and getting a really good picture of you and your dad taken.
Most of these ideas don’t involve spending lots of money, they do however involve giving your time. The most precious gift we can ever give someone is ourselves. Sounds corney I know, but you think back to your own childhood and think about the memories that really stick in your mind, and 99% of the time you’ll find they involve people and the time you spent doing something with them rather than the gift they bought you!
