The recession is going to hit those of us who are already on benefits first and the hardest, so how does a family who are already below the breadline tighten their belts even further?
There are many blogs and websites out there already covering some of the problems being faced, or will soon have to be faced, by millions of people who have grown up in a world where when something breaks, you throw it away and buy a new one. Very soon they are going to discover they can no longer just go out and buy a replacement, no matter how many ads encourage them to do this.
So, periodically, I thought I’d write about some of the things I do to save money, and hopefully give someone else a chance to save a few pennies here and there too.
So where to start?
Well yesterday my husband, who has become quite expert in filling out forms over the years, helped a friend fill out his council tax form, who in turn gave my husband a nice professional hair cut in payment. See? If you have a skill, offer it in exchange for a skill you don’t have. Okay I hear you say, why don’t I cut hubbies hair for him? Well the truth of the matter is, hubby doesn’t trust me to do it properly, and after the first time I did it for him, I don’t trust myself not to just start cutting at the nape of the neck and carry on straight through to the adams apple! (if you get my drift!)
This morning after my shower I cut my own hair. Yep I actually do that.
It is the third time I’ve done it and the first two times worked out so well I feel like I’m becoming an old hand at it (got to wait for it to dry to see if it worked as well again this time, but so far it looks good.).
Now I know many women will shudder in horror at the thought of cutting their own hair for fear of messing it up, and I was one of them, no honestly I was, but it got to the point where my hair was a total mess, and there just wasn’t any money to spare for the £30-£45 my hair dresser charges for a cut and blow dry. And then I read online a tip and in desperation I tried it, and to my amazement it turned out better than anything my hair dresser has done in the ten years I’ve been using him!
“So what do you do?” I hear you ask, well to start you wash your hair, but don’t dry it at all, to do the cut you need it to be dripping wet. Now tip your head forward until your nose is pointing towards your knees, (I generally sit in the toilet for this bit) and comb or brush your hair forward. Make sure your head is really tipped forward or you may find your fringe is cut way to short, depending on the length of the hair you are working with, mine is about shoulder length. Then choose a line to cut and start, keep brushing and cutting until you feel you have the length you want. This cut provides a lovely layered cut that frames the face, and yet keeps the length long enough even for my husband’s tastes. (It’s the old story, he likes long, I like short lol).
Today we woke up to snow. Yes it is actually snowing here in London, heavy enough to do Scotland proud, and has been doing so for nearly four hours so far! So what am I going to do about heating the flat? The first thing is shut all the doors to the rooms that will not be used, so I won’t be wasting the heat where it isn’t needed.
The next thing I am going to do is have a baking day. My husband loves chocolate chip cookies, so I’ll make up two batches of those (it always has to be two batches as the first batch disappears as soon as they are out of the oven!), and some bread and may be even a cake. The heat from the oven should provide enough warmth for the rooms I have left open; and the food needs to be cooked anyway, so today is the perfect day for it. I’ll also whip up some extra cookie dough and freeze it for quick cooking when husband finishes this lot.
Why do I make my own biscuits? Well for one thing, they taste nicer than the shop bought ones, they are cheaper too, and they don’t have any hidden ‘nasties’ in them either. So it’s an all-round win-win strategy.
Here’s the recipe, in case anyone wants to try making them, I use a mixer, but it’s an old recipe so I’ll write it as it’s written.
Chocolate Chip Cookies (one batch)
100g/4oz butter or margarine, softened
100g/4oz Demerara sugar (or brown sugar)
1 egg slightly beaten
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
50g/2oz sultanas
175g/6oz self-raising flour
50g/2oz plain or milk chocolate chips
Heat oven to 160c (325f, gas mark 3 (gosh you wouldn’t believe how long it took me to look up the alternatives!) Lightly grease two baking trays. Cream the butter or margarine with the sugar until very soft, light and fluffy. Gradually add the egg, beating continuously, then beat in the vanilla essence. Stir the sultanas into the creamed mixture together with the flour and chocolate chips.
Drop heaped teaspoonfuls of the mixture, sufficiently apart to allow room for spreading, on to the prepared baking trays and flatten slightly with the back of a fork. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden. Leave the cookies on the trays (I normally have to fight hubby off at this point!) for a few minutes then cool on a wire rack.
Makes 30
So total saving for today will have to be an estimate, but…
£30-£45 for a hair cut.
Heating for the day approx £3
Biscuits bought would cost 79p a packet, one batch of home made = two packets = £3.16
Margarine – 16p
Sugar – 22p
Egg – 14p
Vanilla essence – 3p
Sultanas – 12p
Flour – 5p
Heating of oven – £1.20
Total expenditure today; £1.92 compared to the £36.19 I would otherwise have spent!
Now I’m off to do some baking!