Here are a few of my Mum's tips for saving money.
1. Never buy a book. If my Mum reads of a book she fancies reading she rarely buys one. Instead she walks to Waterstone's in town and she can read so fast doing skim reading and various techniques that she can usually get through the book in about 15 mins, enough anyway to get the gist. The hazards are sometimes you get a Waterstone's employee hovering around, rearranging books loudly so you get the hint but she reasons they are a big company who make a lot of money out of people, including, on occasions, her.
2. Don't make stupid bets. My Mum was watching Eastenders on Sunday with us and a woman was about to have a baby. My Mum bet Connor £10 that the baby would be kidnapped by a woman for whom the first woman was originally acting as a surrogate. The woman had her baby and all looked well from Connor's point of view. However, suddenly the second woman started to dress up as a doctor and my Mum felt victorious, especially when she sneaked into the hospital room and picked up the baby. However, just as she was leaving the first woman shouted 'Stop Right There!' and then the closing credits rolled. We had to wait till the next episode to find out the outcome of the bet.
My Mum had a brief reprieve when it looked like the second woman had another chance to snatch her baby when the first took pity on her and let her have a look at the baby outside her house but suddenly the police arrived to arrest her for kidnapping and my Mum had to cough up £10.
3. Make chicken soup. We always have chicken soup make from the boiled carcass of the chicken we have had for dinner. Put in herbs, carrots etc. and it is a Jewish panacea for things like colds and flu, very nutritious. Add a french onion cup-a-soup for a bit of mono sodium glutamate.
4. If you run out of washing up liquid use mild shampoo and vice versa. It's all detergent.
5. Save on your electricity bill and energy and folding up any school clothes under a large pile of large books. In the morning the clothes will be crease-free.
6. If you get library fines on any overdue books never go to that library again.
5 comments:
Very helpful hints.
I used to use washing up liuqid to wash my hair, so that when people said 'You have beautiful hair, what shampoo do you use?' I could say 'Fairy Liquid' and enjoy their confused expression, because I'm very petty and have a strange sense of humour.
I noticed the first line when I was spying on you.
Get Waterstone's - free reading sounds great and I will be trying that. It will also be a useful hint for my friend Debi, who has problems with too many books syndrome.
Eleanor, you are a hoot and so happy to have stumbled into your blog via your comment on Frances'.
My favorite of your Mum's money saving tips is #6. So practical. So real. So...defiant!
Frances: yet again I first misread your comment, as follows, "I could say 'Fairy Liquid' and enjoy their confused expression, because I'm very pretty and have a strange sense of humour."
Debi - you are showing a worrying tendency to think positive things. This is a mistake, believe me.
Anyway nice to see you here. I think Eleanor (or could it really be her mother in disguise? the hippy magnet?) could be another one of us. She may have to move out of her blog to get away from the spies.
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