Are you broke?

[Stewart]

- we all don't live @ vaul towers with solid silver toliet seats and a butler called Jeeves you know

Anyway - if you can get for cheaper/free then why not take advantage. I for one am a sucker for a bargain and buy normal as well as "generic" branded goods from the supermarket.

Anyway can't stop - the tea bags have finished their spin cycle and need putting into the dryer for use tonight

Well, because there is a difference between saving a few pennies on a buy-one-get-one-free offer and covering holes in your shoes with patches of hard skin scraped of the sole of your foot.

My Mom is obsessed with those two for one offers and the like - but tea bags... she'd never buy home brand and expect to survive the night. Tetly or PG are the only ones we'll drink and as I and my Dad drink about 30 cups a day, each, we can't be doing with Mr Fosters Really Amazing Tea Bags, at 40p for 580.

Bread as well - can't be eating anything not thick sliced, Warbutons or Hovis. That stuff that falls apart when you try tro butter it gets right up my nose (and all over the floor).

And (Peter Kay style) she'd never buy Rola Cola or any other cheap Coke - I've finally got her to grasp it after years of shouting - when I ask for a 'bottle of Coke' I mean a bottle of Coca Cola, *nothing else woman!*

[Zak33]

we can't be doing with Mr Fosters Really Amazing Tea Bags, at 40p for 580.

waster just cos you need 16 teabags per cup to get any colour, and THEN the water won't fit

[Swafe]

Bloody studenty style scummers, the lot of you.

Do you hang tea bags out on the line?

your the scummer ! us students do more work that you vaul



as for hanging tea bags on the line hell no ! thats reserved the drying the babies nappies out...

[Nick]

I've got a better idea, how about you quit?

Yep, that is SUPERB idea!

So superb in fact that I have already organised to give up... and I'm going to be sponsored for it for Comic Relief!

So now you've brought it up you can all damn well dig in yer pockets and sponsor me to put myself through hell in the name of a good cause!

[0iD]

Yep, that is SUPERB idea!

So superb in fact that I have already organised to give up... and I'm going to be sponsored for it for Comic Relief!

So now you've brought it up you can all damn well dig in yer pockets and sponsor me to put myself through hell in the name of a good cause!

OK, I'll subscribe to that.

[ACiD303]

Relocate to another country where everything is cheaper.

Of course, you would probably wanna take quite a substantial amount of UKP with you so u dont need to work and probably earn the equiv of 50p an hour.

So yeah, wait for retirement

[Knoxville]

Now mate, this is wear (wear, get it? Not a typo, a joke! Honest!) you might be going too far; this isn't the third world, its HEXUS; a place infested with white, middle class males. I mean, if you've got holes in the bottom of your shoes - buy a new pair of shoes. Money saving or not, using fag papers and spit to cover them is a step too far on the money saving scale.

Never had a favourite pair opf shoes? Or maybe your shoes give way and you've gotta wait till pay day before you can get some new ones?

[Shorty]

Absolutely and utterly....

Cut up those cards. You don't need them and they do you nothing but harm.

I don't possess a CC and I don't want one. They are just a license to owe money. Great when you are earning but bad when you suddenly yourself short, your card maxed out and letters start coming through the door...

All the advice in this thread is awesome.. Il just throw in one more.. think before you buy ANYTHING.... consider every little purchase. Is a pint down the local after work every day... essential?? That £2.20 sandwich you always get from the trolley dolly... essential?

[Nick]

Another one from me...

Make the most of ALL your skills... and don't be ashamed/afraid to charge people for them!

I've built a few PCs for people, charged them a little something for my trouble. Ok, it might not be a huge amount, but a little here and there saves having to take money out from your main salary.

I've set up a network for a small business, I hire my cheffy skills out in the evenings to private parties... all skills I've either deliberatly learned as a career, or I've learnt as a hobby...

I know it sounds mercenary, but ask yourself if the 'favour' you're doing a friend of frined's aunty's next door neighbour is actually something you should charge them a small fee for. And don't feel guilty about it, they'd have to pay far more if you didn't do it... and they know that too!

[Nick]

And in a cheeky money saving vein...

Ring up someone you want to talk to, then hang up after one ring... they'll call you back at their expense, I guarantee it! (works with my mum everytime, anyway...)

[Stewart]

Never had a favourite pair opf shoes? Or maybe your shoes give way and you've gotta wait till pay day before you can get some new ones?

I just relegate them to some other use. Say my favorite boots are starting to look a bit shoddy, I use them when I walk the dog instead, and buy some new ones.

[ACiD303]

Il just throw in one more.. think before you buy ANYTHING.... consider every little purchase. Is a pint down the local after work every day... essential?? That £2.20 sandwich you always get from the trolley dolly... essential?

Thats a good one, I excercise it quite often . . . started off with my vinyl addiction . . . got to the point where Id do my usual listening to and making a "to buy pile" . . . wander around them for a couple of minutes in my hand . . . then count how much I would have to pay . . . felt great everytime I walked out the shop knowing I saved £50

I now do it with clothes, items inthe supermarket . . . anythiing.

[ajbrun]

Shop close to closing time and check out the reduced products the supermarkets need to get rid of (but at the same time make sure they are actually a bargain).

Like others have said - I too work at Sainsbury's. Just don't go too late at night. The one I work at closes at 10 PM, and as you can imagine, most people would have been and gone by then. Therefore, I find the best time to go is about 8 PM.

One or two people have discussed buy economy food. If you like your lemonade, get down to sainsury's and buy theirs at about 19p. It sounds too cheap, but it's not. TBH, I prefer that to other brands.

Anyway, I got about 4 years wear out of them, cracking value I reckon even though they cost me £70.

I like quoting Rave .

Anyway. I've had my £30 trainers (can't remember exact price, but that's probably about right) for about the same time WITHOUT the need for "fixing". If you shop around, then you can usually find VERY good deals on trainers. There's no need to go over £40 IMO.

One from me now - my Dad goes waaaay over the top with this IMO. He works in Leeds, therefore he has brilliant access to Leeds market. He often comes home with snack size mars bars at about 10p each. Yeah there might not be much choice - mars in somedays, snickers in others, but it's cheap. If you have a market near you, go take a look. I would go to York market, but it's only small, and although it's good for somethings, they're mostly not for me .

[Swafe]

my current shoes only lasted about a year so far, but there cool AND they were only 20 quid

worth it imo, and i get a lot of use from them too

then my last pair of DCs lasted 6 months and cost me 60 notes never again

[joshwa]

what you want is a pair of stride trainers, like these ones, from schuh (sp?) - i've had them for 4 nearly 5 years now and the soles are so massive that they just last forever -

[Apex]

get a highly paid job too...that helps i'm told.

No it doesn't, cos each and every one of us lives to our means.

if you earn 10k a year thats waht yuo will spend

if you earn 50k a year thats what you will spend.