The Year of Thrift

Since everyone seems to have been affected by this credit crunch (my credit has been crunching for years) I thought I'd share some ideas on how to save pennies. Some, I appreciate, are sheer folly (others down right dangerous) but they may just save you a packet.

1) walk to work (doesn't apply if it's over five miles and involves crossing a six lane motorway)

2) take a pack lunch (it's cheaper and safer - the spotty guy from Subway didn't sneeze in it)

3) leave your purse at home (it's hard to pick up lunch hour bargains when all you have for currency is a five year old packet of Polos and handbag lint)

4) share a bath (great with your partner/crap if you get the end with the taps and/or dripping showerhead - fun with kids/not so much fun if they poo)

5) visit the library (even if they have to order in the book you want it will only cost you twenty pence - it's also quiet if you're hungover and not full of as many tramps as you'd think)

6) bank your pennies (raking around down that back of the sofa may not be your idea of a good time but a good coin scrounge can sometimes reap £80 in spare change)

7) throw a clothes swapping party (this doesn't work if all your friends are size ten and you're . . . well . . . NOT - but fab if you're bored with your accessories and you have richer friends who shop at nicer stores)

8) walk to the supermarket (you can only carry so much -although I have tested the limits of human endurance - so you spend less)

9) eat out (not false economy if the 'out' happens to be parents house and you called 'to see how they are' around dinner time - can also apply to parents-in-law)

10) colour your own hair (do the math - Saks = £40 vs Boots = £4.99 + free shapers bar with the advantage card points - do not sue me if it goes green, you chose the colour not me)