r/frugaluk

It’s time to share your frugal wins from the past week.
They don’t need to be impressive. Small wins absolutely count.

Did you:

• Save a few pounds on your food shop?
• Avoid buying something you didn’t really need?
• Use something up instead of replacing it?
• Cook a cheap, cheerful meal?
• Cancel, downgrade, or rethink a subscription?

You can also share:

• A near-miss (something you nearly bought but didn’t)
• A habit that’s starting to stick
• A small mistake that taught you something useful

If it made your week a bit cheaper or a bit smarter, it belongs here.

Drop it in the comments and let’s normalise the small victories.

A few weeks ago I found some tins of Tesco tomato soup at the back of the cupboard. The BB date was 2022 so I opened one carefully to check it and it was fine so I have been working my way through them since then. My dad brought me up not to be wasteful and tinned food is usually fine for a long time after the BB date so it was no problem.
I later discovered that a few of the tins had exploded in the cupboard. Fortunately there wasn't much mess at all, just a dark, almost caramelised, sticky residue on some of the cans. I hadn't had time to clean that up before today but got it sorted this afternoon. All of the exploded tins had lost their internal pressure so opened easily. I emptied them down the sink, washed out the tins and put them in the recycling.
That is, until I got to the last tin. There was nothing apparently different about it so I opened it in the sink, just as I had with all the others. As I pulled the ringpull, there was an almighty BANG and suddenly tomato soup was EVERYWHERE. Up the walls, on the ceiling, on the cupboards, on the table, the floor, the chairs, me! You get the idea. To add salt to the wound, my kitchen and walls are white, so the tomato soup spots and splats made quite the contrast.
So I spent the next couple of hours cleaning up, which is not easy in any circumstances but especially being a person with disabilities, chronic fatigue and a vestibular disorder (meaning that I'm always dizzy and my balance is awful). But it's done now (mostly), thank goodness, and I've learnt a lesson that being frugal by eating those tins of soup rather than disposing of them might have not wasted money but ended up costing me quite a bit in terms of effort and energy.
I've still got a few tins left; needless to say those will be opened in the garden in case of any further incidents 😅
I'd love to hear any other frugal mishaps like this!

EDIT: To clarify, I have never eaten anything from a damaged tin. The tins I did consume from were not damaged in any way (including dents, I know to be fussy about those) and the lids were intact and fully airtight.

However, some of your comments have scared me enough to raid my cupboards for all out of date tins (turns out there were quite a few) and they're all now in the dustbin awaiting collection in the morning. Fingers crossed the dustmen don't reject my bin for being too heavy!

It’s time to share your frugal wins from the past week.
They don’t need to be impressive. Small wins absolutely count.

Did you:

• Save a few pounds on your food shop?
• Avoid buying something you didn’t really need?
• Use something up instead of replacing it?
• Cook a cheap, cheerful meal?
• Cancel, downgrade, or rethink a subscription?

You can also share:

• A near-miss (something you nearly bought but didn’t)
• A habit that’s starting to stick
• A small mistake that taught you something useful

If it made your week a bit cheaper or a bit smarter, it belongs here.

Drop it in the comments and let’s normalise the small victories.