Not sure where to pop this thread but here goes.

Since we are now in a double dip/depression, lets talk about uow to make valuable saving, please forgive me if there is already a similar topic.

We have no car since the instegated crash so save lots there.

We also converted our cooker to LPG, rejetted here jets in the lathe drilling slightly larger holes to take the yigher pressure, tuned the flames via the mixture screws behind the knobs. Two 47kg bottles last us a full year and work out at 1.80 per week, only 5% tax too, not the normal 20%.

Dry our washing in the greenhouse when its raining, leaving the roors open slightly for a through draught.

Run a large allotment, with all year round vedge program.

Boil the kettle on the stove and fill a flask to have hot brews most of the day.

Binned all insurances and our telly.

Eat in the kitchen where its warmer in winter, set most other rads on frost setting only.

Buy flour, rice, oats in bulk bags, still using them many months later.

As many know we make our own shoes and cloths from bulk buys, cloth, spin and knit all our woolens, socks etc, made the spinning wheels.

That will do for now, you's?

Great ideas there!

Have a refill cup instead of buying a new cup every time you go into a C store saves a lot, and you can actually use a 52 oz for coffee they don't complain in most places.
Will think up more good ones

Great thread idea and list App.

A few more

Address what you actually need rather than want.
Co-operate with your community and get giving/receiving
Self employment
Grow yer own weed
Rather than throw things away, dismantle them and stash things away that can be reworked into other things (wood, screws etc)
Learn basic mechanics/diy

dubmeup wrote:
Very good idea there for bicycle parts also

We are in the process of making internal wooden shutters for the main windows.

Use heavy curtains behind the external doors, made from old army blankets.

Lifted the upstairs bedroom floorboards and inserted a layer of free kingspan insulation to keep the heat downstairs, works really well.

dubmeup wrote:
Tops Dubs.

Buy a gouple of manual singers, we have several, great machines.

We have three of those old station waiting room brass aladin mantle lamps for just in case, these babies throw out 2.7kwh each and give you all the light you could ever want, all parts still available, our fost us 20 quid from the car boot, great assets to have.

mikey mikey wrote:
Cheers,

We place our shoes on top of the radiators for instant comfort in the morning.

Ever heard the old saying, Heat is Half Meat, meaning if you can keep warm all day, you can less food to warm you from inside.

Oh yeah on the subject of radiators. Sticking something reflective in behind them helps their efficiency and if they are beneath a window, a little shelf on top of them forces the heat out into the room too.

dubmeup wrote:
I collared some thin kingspan from a skip a while back, guess where that's going tomorrow, yay

You can actually buy dedicated panels to go in behind rads, I put in hundreds of the things when I had a contract with the Council. I'll bet if I could be bothered to look it up, they aint cheap. So it's a real example of looking to use summat else that you can get your hands on either free or for pennies. Your example being a good one. Cardboard faced with foil is another.

You hit upon another one for the list

Skips
I also trawl fly tipping sites Often find a good bit of scrap metal in skips and dump sites too

Forgot to mention we don't use a fridge any more, we are lucky to have a great cold store that lies on an outside wall, we fitted a few thick slate shelves in there, keeps everything fresh bar milk on the very hottests days of the summer, I know, I hear you all saying, what summer.

Got our electric bill down to around a fiver a week.

can you guys go fish or hunt? i save so much $ on meat

batou wrote:

We live minuites away from a good trout river and the true wilderness is only seconds away. Last year Mrs pheasant layed right in my raspberry patch. The farmers willingly let us ferret their land for rabbit, but we are not keen on them since the Mixy came.

You can however find their nests and take a few young and rear them yourself, they put on weight much faster than they do in the wild, fed on kitchen waste etc

And eye's an even happier bunny today.

Just been given an Arrow 5 multi fuel stove and flu today, minus the heat bricks/liners, then I remembered I still had a 25kg bucket of ready mixed Victas refractory cement to make the liners myself.
All I need to make is a wooden frame/mould and cast the plates/liners myself, let them set, pop em out and fit em, things is the ready mix only cost 40 quid, and there is enough to make at least a dozen, ready made kit is 75 quid for 3.

The register plate to seal off the chimney opening normally cost 30 quid, I have an old fish tank lid from stainless which is right for the job so no costs there either.

Looking into the rules and regs we see that there is no laws that say any competent DIY'r cannot fit the fire themselves, as long as one follows part J of the building regs and fit the system correctly, then the relevant authority comes to ok the job afterwards.

This only thing we have to pay for is the chimney being swept and smoke bomb tested, costing 50 quid, total savings 550 quid, nice one. We have enough timber follected from skips and old projects from this year to last the winter.