Sarah Lonsdale offers 25 ways to save your household money this year.
This year, perhaps more than any in the past few decades, will be a year of belt-tightening and saving. But it won’t all be a grim struggle for survival. There are ways to reduce bills, be gentle on the environment and save money without having to don a hair shirt.
Many of the ideas set out below are from readers of this column, who over the past months have sent in helpful hints. Some are fond memories of what their parents, in a previous age of austerity, did. A big thank you to all those who have written and emailed, keep them coming!
Food and drink
1 Thanks to a lovely letter from a reader in Yorkshire, remembering how her mother, “a wonderful cook and housekeeper” was always trying to make ends meet and save money: “On Sunday she would make a large batch of pastry. Then, when the joint went in the oven for our roast dinner, she would start baking: apple pies, mince pies, sausage rolls, jam tarts, rock cakes, scones etc.
This lasted all week so she didn’t have to put the oven on again until next Sunday, when she would repeat the process.” Genius.
2 Make your own tonic wine/cough mixture with elderberries. One of the most prolific wild berries, elders grow both in country woodland, on field margins and also in cities, on vacant lots and building sites. The berries are juicy, tart and packed with vitamin C. Boil about 2lbs of berries together with cloves, cinnamon, a pinch of nutmeg and some finely chopped fresh ginger. Simmer for 10 minutes, strain and when cool mix in a glass of brandy for every pint of liquid. Bottle and keep in a dark cupboard. It lasts forever and is a soothing tonic for coughs and sore throats.
3 Thank you to an inspirational reader from Lancashire who sent in her mother’s recipe for mushroom essence, made with foraged field mushrooms, which adds dense flavour to meat dishes. Slice the mushrooms, layer with salt and leave overnight. Wash off the salt and simmer for an hour with red wine vinegar, finely chopped garlic and plenty of black pepper. When almost black, strain through a muslin, then bottle it.
4 Invest in a pressure cooker or slow cooker: these are the two most economical ways of cooking food and will start to save you money after very little use. You can also cook cheap cuts of meat such as neck or brisket and they’ll taste like the choicest fillets after a few hours’ slow cooking.
5 In early spring, harvest sorrel from woodland walks – it makes a delicious lemony soup. Boil potatoes in stock first then add the sorrel leaves; simmer for no more than two minutes; mix with yogurt or crème fraîche for a richer, silky texture.
Heating
1Thank you to a reader in Devon, who wanted to share his cheap solution to a draughty front door: “We had a new oak front door fitted into the uneven original north-facing Thirties frame last year. We wanted something discrete to fill the very visible gaps, and going back to my early days I remembered bent copper strip around the frames of big old school doors. It was reasonably easy to fit using the supplied brass tacks, and does an excellent job.”
2 Seal draughty gaps in floorboards with DIY plastic strips. This is a quick, fun weekend job with gratifyingly instant results.
3 A reader from Kent explains how she added secondary glazing to two north-facing bay windows, which let in vast gusts of chilly air. “So much cheaper than double glazing. The cheapest quote for wood-framed double glazing that I could live with was £8,000 for both bay windows – they are rather large. Instead, my carpenter made wooden frames for each bay section and inlaid a brush seal all the way around before fitting with laminated glass. Cost: £600 for both bays.”
4 Revert to wood heating with a wood-burning stove. A reader who relies on heating oil deliveries writes: “It feels so good to be able to heat even one room without having to rely on the oil-fired boiler. I know that if the delivery lorries can’t get through, at least we won’t freeze.”
5 Hunt down all those unexpected leaks in your home’s fabric with a thermal imaging camera. Many local authorities now hire them out, either from libraries or from their environmental departments. Alternatively contact your local community recycling/sharing group to see if someone locally has one you can borrow or swap for something else.
Cleaning and laundry
1 Gentle lotion for cleaning wood or delicate surfaces made from elderflowers: pick fresh elderflowers and bruise with a pestle and mortar. Pour over boiling water and leave to steep until the mixture is cool. Strain and add one part white wine vinegar to every two parts of elderflower water. Bottle in clean jars.
2 Thank you to a reader from Devon who swears by these little scented bags to freshen up her laundry: “I started washing clothes in cold water several years ago, for financial and environmental reasons. These sweet-scented bags, folded into washing as it dries in the airing cupboard help add freshness to the laundry.” Eight measures each of crushed coriander seed and powdered orris root; one measure each ground cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves; three measures of dried lavender and a cotton wool ball soaked in geranium or rose essential oil. Fill small cotton or muslin bags (ideally from fabric remnants) with the mixture and sew up carefully.
3 Home-made beeswax wood polish: melt together beeswax, soya wax and a little white wine vinegar; stir in briskly a handful of soap flakes and a small cup of boiling water to create an emulsion. Add a few drops of your favourite essential oil. When it cools, it should be a creamy consistency. Keeps a long time in a screw-top jar and, with plenty of elbow grease, and a duster, buffs wood up to a mellow shine.
4 “Eco-cloths” – Many cleaning product manufacturers now make these finely woven cloths; the weft is so dense that the fibres literally eat up dirt from smooth surfaces, obviating the need for expensive chemical cleaners. A drop of water and plenty of elbow grease is all you require to polish glass, mirrors and porcelain tiles. £4.99 from e-cloth.com.
5 Dry your clothes outdoors all year round with a rotary washing line cover – no need for tumble driers and no damp clothes hanging on radiators.
Lighting and electricity
1 Switch from tungsten to the new generation of LED bulbs. The first of its kind to be recommended by the Energy Saving Trust, the ledon bulb, lasts 25,000 hours and uses 10 watts of electricity to produce the same light as a 60-watt tungsten bulb.
2 Replace your ordinary shower head with the Ecocamel “Jetstorm”: it aerates water droplets to provide a powerful shower using a fraction of the normal amount of water – and electricity needed to heat it.
3 Rather than use a light in dark corners, install a “sunpipe”. Light from the sun – or moon – is illuminated and magnified as it is piped to where it is needed through mirrored ducts, creating a soft, natural and surprisingly bright light.
4 Towel-dry hair rather than use an energy-guzzling hair drier.
5 A reader from Wiltshire explains how she did away with her electric blanket, by replacing it with a hot water bottle: “After cooking vegetables such as carrots or broccoli in boiling water, I drain them and pour the used, but still piping hot water into a hot water bottle, which I put in my or my children’s beds. Don’t use the water from boiling rice or pasta – it clogs them up!” Another reader fills hot water bottles up from still-hot bath water before letting the plug out. You need to clean them out every few weeks.
Decorating and interiors
1 Organic wall paints are infinitely less damaging to the environment than vinyl ones. Any unused paint from decorating can be recycled into children’s playroom creations as they are safe to use. They also smell lovely – rather like playdough.
2 Next time you need to replace a pillow or duvet, go for a wool-filled one. British wool is making a welcome comeback and supports upland farmers. Organic wool mattresses not only help regulate body temperature but don’t contain harmful flame-retardant chemicals.
3 Enrol in an upholstery, tapestry or rug-making course this year, and learn how to mend and make furniture and furnishings; if you already know how, join your local “stitch 'n’ bitch” group to exchange patterns, ideas and gossip.
4 When cushion covers become more “shabby” than “chic” replace with fabric swatches or remnants from your local interiors shop – fashions in interiors fabrics change so quickly that those fabric swatch books rapidly become obsolete for designers – but provide perfect cushion-size squares of gorgeous fabric for you.
5 Chris Knipe rescues used wood and turns it into wonderful patchwork cupboards, tables and mirror frames, in his south Wales workshop. Help him end the scandalous dumping of millions of tons of perfectly usable wood in landfill.
Where to save: useful contacts
Jeff Howell returns next week
This lasted all week so she didn’t have to put the oven on again until next Sunday, when she would repeat the process.” Genius.
2 Make your own tonic wine/cough mixture with elderberries. One of the most prolific wild berries, elders grow both in country woodland, on field margins and also in cities, on vacant lots and building sites. The berries are juicy, tart and packed with vitamin C. Boil about 2lbs of berries together with cloves, cinnamon, a pinch of nutmeg and some finely chopped fresh ginger. Simmer for 10 minutes, strain and when cool mix in a glass of brandy for every pint of liquid. Bottle and keep in a dark cupboard. It lasts forever and is a soothing tonic for coughs and sore throats.
3 Thank you to an inspirational reader from Lancashire who sent in her mother’s recipe for mushroom essence, made with foraged field mushrooms, which adds dense flavour to meat dishes. Slice the mushrooms, layer with salt and leave overnight. Wash off the salt and simmer for an hour with red wine vinegar, finely chopped garlic and plenty of black pepper. When almost black, strain through a muslin, then bottle it.
4 Invest in a pressure cooker or slow cooker: these are the two most economical ways of cooking food and will start to save you money after very little use. You can also cook cheap cuts of meat such as neck or brisket and they’ll taste like the choicest fillets after a few hours’ slow cooking.
5 In early spring, harvest sorrel from woodland walks – it makes a delicious lemony soup. Boil potatoes in stock first then add the sorrel leaves; simmer for no more than two minutes; mix with yogurt or crème fraîche for a richer, silky texture.
Heating
1Thank you to a reader in Devon, who wanted to share his cheap solution to a draughty front door: “We had a new oak front door fitted into the uneven original north-facing Thirties frame last year. We wanted something discrete to fill the very visible gaps, and going back to my early days I remembered bent copper strip around the frames of big old school doors. It was reasonably easy to fit using the supplied brass tacks, and does an excellent job.”
2 Seal draughty gaps in floorboards with DIY plastic strips. This is a quick, fun weekend job with gratifyingly instant results.
3 A reader from Kent explains how she added secondary glazing to two north-facing bay windows, which let in vast gusts of chilly air. “So much cheaper than double glazing. The cheapest quote for wood-framed double glazing that I could live with was £8,000 for both bay windows – they are rather large. Instead, my carpenter made wooden frames for each bay section and inlaid a brush seal all the way around before fitting with laminated glass. Cost: £600 for both bays.”
4 Revert to wood heating with a wood-burning stove. A reader who relies on heating oil deliveries writes: “It feels so good to be able to heat even one room without having to rely on the oil-fired boiler. I know that if the delivery lorries can’t get through, at least we won’t freeze.”
5 Hunt down all those unexpected leaks in your home’s fabric with a thermal imaging camera. Many local authorities now hire them out, either from libraries or from their environmental departments. Alternatively contact your local community recycling/sharing group to see if someone locally has one you can borrow or swap for something else.
Cleaning and laundry
1 Gentle lotion for cleaning wood or delicate surfaces made from elderflowers: pick fresh elderflowers and bruise with a pestle and mortar. Pour over boiling water and leave to steep until the mixture is cool. Strain and add one part white wine vinegar to every two parts of elderflower water. Bottle in clean jars.
2 Thank you to a reader from Devon who swears by these little scented bags to freshen up her laundry: “I started washing clothes in cold water several years ago, for financial and environmental reasons. These sweet-scented bags, folded into washing as it dries in the airing cupboard help add freshness to the laundry.” Eight measures each of crushed coriander seed and powdered orris root; one measure each ground cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves; three measures of dried lavender and a cotton wool ball soaked in geranium or rose essential oil. Fill small cotton or muslin bags (ideally from fabric remnants) with the mixture and sew up carefully.
3 Home-made beeswax wood polish: melt together beeswax, soya wax and a little white wine vinegar; stir in briskly a handful of soap flakes and a small cup of boiling water to create an emulsion. Add a few drops of your favourite essential oil. When it cools, it should be a creamy consistency. Keeps a long time in a screw-top jar and, with plenty of elbow grease, and a duster, buffs wood up to a mellow shine.
4 “Eco-cloths” – Many cleaning product manufacturers now make these finely woven cloths; the weft is so dense that the fibres literally eat up dirt from smooth surfaces, obviating the need for expensive chemical cleaners. A drop of water and plenty of elbow grease is all you require to polish glass, mirrors and porcelain tiles. £4.99 from e-cloth.com.
5 Dry your clothes outdoors all year round with a rotary washing line cover – no need for tumble driers and no damp clothes hanging on radiators.
Lighting and electricity
1 Switch from tungsten to the new generation of LED bulbs. The first of its kind to be recommended by the Energy Saving Trust, the ledon bulb, lasts 25,000 hours and uses 10 watts of electricity to produce the same light as a 60-watt tungsten bulb.
2 Replace your ordinary shower head with the Ecocamel “Jetstorm”: it aerates water droplets to provide a powerful shower using a fraction of the normal amount of water – and electricity needed to heat it.
3 Rather than use a light in dark corners, install a “sunpipe”. Light from the sun – or moon – is illuminated and magnified as it is piped to where it is needed through mirrored ducts, creating a soft, natural and surprisingly bright light.
4 Towel-dry hair rather than use an energy-guzzling hair drier.
5 A reader from Wiltshire explains how she did away with her electric blanket, by replacing it with a hot water bottle: “After cooking vegetables such as carrots or broccoli in boiling water, I drain them and pour the used, but still piping hot water into a hot water bottle, which I put in my or my children’s beds. Don’t use the water from boiling rice or pasta – it clogs them up!” Another reader fills hot water bottles up from still-hot bath water before letting the plug out. You need to clean them out every few weeks.
Decorating and interiors
1 Organic wall paints are infinitely less damaging to the environment than vinyl ones. Any unused paint from decorating can be recycled into children’s playroom creations as they are safe to use. They also smell lovely – rather like playdough.
2 Next time you need to replace a pillow or duvet, go for a wool-filled one. British wool is making a welcome comeback and supports upland farmers. Organic wool mattresses not only help regulate body temperature but don’t contain harmful flame-retardant chemicals.
3 Enrol in an upholstery, tapestry or rug-making course this year, and learn how to mend and make furniture and furnishings; if you already know how, join your local “stitch 'n’ bitch” group to exchange patterns, ideas and gossip.
4 When cushion covers become more “shabby” than “chic” replace with fabric swatches or remnants from your local interiors shop – fashions in interiors fabrics change so quickly that those fabric swatch books rapidly become obsolete for designers – but provide perfect cushion-size squares of gorgeous fabric for you.
5 Chris Knipe rescues used wood and turns it into wonderful patchwork cupboards, tables and mirror frames, in his south Wales workshop. Help him end the scandalous dumping of millions of tons of perfectly usable wood in landfill.
Where to save: useful contacts
- Wool duvets and pillows from thewoolroom.com
- Handmade organic mattresses for cots and beds from abacaorganic.co.uk
- Wool bath mats from blackerdesigns.co.uk
- Find your nearest handcraft group at stitchnbitch.org
- Recycle any unwanted paint from decorating jobs at communityrepaint.org.uk
- “Sunpipes” – clear dome and pie kit from around £180 from monodraught.com
- Aerated shower head £49.95 from ecocamel.com
- LED like-for-like replacement bulbs from ledon-lamp.com/en
- Outdoor rotary washing line cover from rotaire.com
- To find your nearest community swap or share group try freecycle.org or streetsalive.org.uk
- Floorboard sealing strip £19.99 for a 40m roll from stopgaps.com
- Copper front-door sealing strip available through livesafe.co.uk from 24.99
- Slow cookers are available from most hardware stores; try Lakeland or buy used ones for around £20 from amazon.co.uk
- Chris Knipe sells his reclaimed wood creations through greenmanrecycledfurniture.co.uk
Jeff Howell returns next week
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