I’m sure almost all fo us have been through periods where money was tight (students, young couples etc), so we found ways to be thrifty, to stretch our dollars and make the most out of our money and situation.
So, aside from the obvious like clipping coupons or shopping around for the best deal, or going generic brand, what are some of the funniest/weirdest/freakiest ways you’ve heard of saving?
I’ll start–my parents used to rinse their bounty tissues and reuse them.
I know someone who will wash their paper plates.
I remmeber seeing one dude on TV who took his wife to McDonalds on their honeymoon…and he almost always filled up his ketchup bottle with thos efree ketchup packets u get at fast food places.
Ill be honest, I take lots and lots of straws from those fast food places…cz i can.
I used to eat Ramen noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Because they only cost 10 cents a packet.
I never ate out unless it was super important and I had to.
Regulated my gas and travel expenses, lunches, etc.
Put myself on a spending diet. I figured out how much money I spend on the important things and cut the rest out.
I found hook ups everywhere or made them if I didn't know anyone. The printing center at school so I never paid for any copies I made, the library, student activities center and YES even the cafeteria.
Walked everywhere I could.
The cheapest thing I have ever done:
One of my bosses when I was in school was super cool. He would let me take toilet paper/paper towels/coffee/etc for free from the office supply closet. Sooo embarrassing but whateva! It helped!!!!
Yup, 10 cents a pack when you went to the suburban grocers...in the city it was more. I always grocery shopped on the weekends when I went to see my parents.
I know a software engineer who was pretty new in US and who was saving dollars to buy car , furniture etc used newspaper as dasterkhawaan for a long time
Do you want them to put all those packets in vending machine and make you drop a quarter to get one ? :halo: That is an original patentable idea. I will try to sell it to some fast food chain.
Interesting you should say that, because when it comes to budgeting, the “money experts” usually recommend that you dispense a set amount of cash, allocate it to each area of expenditure you have (groceries, travel etc), put that money in separate envelopes and stick to spending only that for a set period of time (like a week).
Having said that, i hardly ever have cash on me, i use my cards WAY too much, and at the end of the month when the credit/debit card statements arrive, i have no idea when i spent what. People could do credit card fraud on me and i wouldn’t notice
My tip: Rely less on public transport/cars (it does add up) and walk more. It’s healthy and it costs nothing!
don't have any funny story...but always shop at the international food stores! they're so much cheaper and their stuff is so much fresher. when you're trying to save money only buy fresh stuff.
I used to eat Ramen noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Because they only cost 10 cents a packet.
Story of my life-
I lived in dorms for school- and sometimes i would even skip meals because I was so sick of Ramen noodles and couldn't buy decent meals. and then had to tell ammi that I forgot to eat dinner.
I also bought them from BJs, its $2-3 for like 30 of them!
I can live VERY frugally, my parents are sometimes amazed when i tell them my expense for the month. I eat three meals only when i'm home and its because ammi wouldn't leave me alone otherwise I almost always skip lunch and have an early dinner (5-6ish p.m.) On the other hand, I can also live royally ;)
I agree if you want to spend less, don’t use a card. Take out cash and keep it separate for each kind of expense.
Ok the funny bit I did was to take a tram from uni to supermarket on the days I didn’t pack lunch and buy something from there as everything from uni’s cafeteria was bit more expensive. Also from a bit of survey I knew which thing was cheaper at which supermarket so on weekend my grocery trips would not be limited to one supermarket. I’d go to different ones for cheaper purchases
btw if you are thinking of travel cost, we had a semester ticket which worked for all buses/trams
when I was married and expecting I was having much financial trouble so at that time I never bought anything to eat from outside. I had craving for fruits & mithai so I just stick to the fruits my mom used to send me and had mithai only once that my parents gave me with my eidi . My dad continued giving me my pocket money even after I got married (which was not a big amount) and I used to spend my whole month on it. Saving the salary portion I had for my medicines , tests & upcoming hospitalisation as my insurance did not cover enough & did not pay for medicines.
Now , I stick to spending only 25% of my salary every month. I try not to let my expenses go beyond that.
*As others have said - buy with cash - it makes the purchase more real as you are physically handing over your cash. I find with a card I can go crazy and buy loads because I don't actually feel like I'm paying when I don't have the cash in my hand!
*Meal planning
*Using leftovers and not letting them go off in the fridge or chucking them away
*Trying out the cheaper brand from the one we would usually buy (although this doesn't apply to Heinz products as my brother won't eat baked beans or ketchup that isn't Heinz.)
*Eating smaller portions
*Eating out less/only for treats
*drinking tap water (I never buy bottled water, because the quality of our tap water is excellent and because I feel it is an unnecessary luxury)
*Eat before doing your grocery shopping
*Use clothes/cosmetics/beauty products that you already have at home before allowing yourself to buy more.
*Use coupons - for money off restaurant meals/cinema tickets/days out etc
That's all I can think of right now...
Even though money isn't tight my rules when buying something are - Do I really need it? Will I use it? Can I afford it?
That is an original patentable idea. I will try to sell it to some fast food chain. 
