Money Saving Tips!

@Dextrous63 - or you could just take laundry to the river and beat it on stones until clean then spread over bushes to dry!

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Well is seems to work in other countries. Makes one wonder whether we need soap quite so much at all.

Maybe Iā€™ll sneak down to the Mersey, the Bridgewater Canal or even the ship Canal one evening with an old pair of undies and try it out

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Our butcher sells Steak Onglet, might be the French name for Flank. Google says Hanger Steak.

Absolutely delish when quick fried, served pink. Either that or stew it for hours.

Looks like this with a tough bit of something removed from down the middle:

I havenā€™t used hot water for laundry for decades, I have mentioned it before - I havenā€™t even connected the hot tap to the machine. Years ago they brought out a power for cold water but now all powders and liquids claim to to be. I didnā€™t think anybody used hot water to wash clothes, total waste of money and makes them shrink.

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Not many washing machines seem to have a connector for hot water nowadays, which means they rely on heating their own water.

I Googled earlier about cold water washing. Soap manufacturers talk about 20 and 30 degrees as a cold wash, which may be tepid/lukewarm, but it ainā€™t cold!!

Thanks for sharing your experience. Iā€™ll find appropriate products over here. :+1:

Hi

Australia generally has a higher ambient temperature than the UK

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Good point.

Edit - have found a product on Amazon which says it works down to 15 degrees, which would mean room temp should be ok for overnight soak?

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I wash almost everything on a 15 minute cycle which I believe is 20 degrees .
We arenā€™t that dirty !

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Thatā€™s an interesting point - I just checked the temperature out of the cold tap, it is 15Ā° I donā€™t think it varies that much from season to season.

It is colder than the sea which is about 19Ā° :wink:

The cost of fuel is going to put up the cost of cooking from scratch and I know people using Food Banks are asking for food they can eat cold

Cooking a roast dinner is going to cost over a fiver in power. Iā€™ve got one of those halogen ovens somewhere, much cheaper, Iā€™ll have to dig it out

I think people will use their microwave, air fryer and halogen ovens more

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Quite scary isnā€™t it the price rises

Food and fuel to cook it are essentials - telephones, mobiles, and broadband are not - they are luxuries and will be the first to go from my house if push comes to shove!

Another one of my tips (depending on what you think of eating it) is to eat more steak :lol: It takes a few minutes to cook, whereas cooking something in the oven can take an hour or more - that every day can rack up!

Iā€™m on a carnivore diet atm so steak fits in very well - and itā€™s so convenient, no more slaving away in the kitchen for hours :003:

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I didnā€™t know this. I mean I have heard of chitterlings, mainly from novels but I have never come across anyone eating them. Mind you there are no butchers on high streets any more and if they do exist they are very ā€œgentrifiedā€ and expensive.

Funnily enough I am planning to make a roast chicken in the air fryer for this reason. Itā€™s not the same but maybe it will be quite nice (if I donā€™t cremate it!)

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I recommend pan fried mackerel. Very nutritious and cooks in minutes. Also still cheap to buy. Very nice with a simple salad and a squeeze of lemon.

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10 posts were split to a new topic: What cookware do you use?

Refill spray bottles using your own mix (plenty of recipes online which use stuff you might already have around the house), or if youā€™ve got a big bottle of eg flash, dilute this down for a general surface spray cleaner.

Judging by recent purchases, supermarket suppliers have already taken this idea to heart.

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I use soapnuts for things like laundry, dishes, and general cleaning. A mixture of this and lemon juice in an empty schooshy bottle does the job and smells lovely. Kitchen and bathroom floors get a going over with diluted bleach, and windows get done with vinegar.