Crazy things you've done to save money

I was thinking this thread would just be your mom jokes but so far it's turned out awesome.

I used to live in D.C., which is a very small city if you spend your life in the NW, and I would just run to and from bars all the time. The only time I stepped in a cab was to oblige a girl who I didn't think would be down to run from 14 and P to 10 and Kenyon. We found a sleazy place that did open bar from 10-11 all Saturdays, so we'd just hammer it there and then go somewhere more fun. Apparently that place, Muse at 7 and H is still doing it. Protip for you D.C. folks.

Quit buying good coffee & switched to cheap stuff from Macfrugals. The coffee was 3 lbs for 2.99 and tasted like hell.

I have not had to spend any of my own money for years. When I run out of money, I will turn to occupying some wealthy guy's place of business.

Love coffee wrote:

Quit going to Starbucks for coffee, started making my own at home. Did you know that if you buy your coffee in bulk and use self-check out, you can tell the machine that you are buying something else in bulk like a dinner roll, and pay $1.50 instead of $8.50 which is what the coffee would have cost?

I don't know where you shop for your groceries but, where I shop, the attendant who's in charge of the self-checkout area can go to a screen on her computer and watch what one of the customers is scanning and what it's coming up as on the screen. You might get away with cashews vs. peanuts or different kinds of chocolate chips, but coffee vs. dinner rolls will likely result in you getting busted sooner or later.

Also, I assume that you pay with your debit or credit card, so the attendant will just wait until you pay and then, it won't help you to run if they confront you. I've never actually seen anybody busted for this yet, but I assume it happens. It would be far too easy to steal at self-checkout booths if they didn't have these kinds of security measures.

I have done the following crazy things to save money:

I don't have cable/satellite/netflix/etc.

I don't have an iphone or an expensive data or texting plan

I pay all my bills on time and don't put things on a credit card that I wouldn't be able to pay off at the end of the month

I don't have any debt except for a mortgage

I live within my means

I went to school, worked hard, applied for a job, and continue to work hard

Oh, I also have a savings account where I put most of my money. And I have a retirement fund.

Wow, I am crazy.

In college three of us rented a house, but after a couple months of high water bills, we made a rule that we could only take dumps on campus, and at home we could only piss in the sink. Our water bill was reduced dramatically - but was it worth it? Questionable!

I ate beans to save on bubble bath.

'That, and, been a one car family'

They should set up a charity for that

Outsourced 5000 high paying manufacturing jobs to Africa and paid my Senator to cut unemployment insurance. Who needs the overhead?

Blitzkrieg wrote:

I had a friend who used to hit up a hotel's free continental breakfast on his walk to class once in a while. I considered doing it, but then read a story in a paper somewhere about a guy who got caught doing it. He was charged with theft.

if you got caught, couldn't you just pay for the cost of food, or even a nights stay and then just not do it again

seems like 70$ would be a lot better than some charge on your record

Bartholemew McCutcheon wrote:

In college three of us rented a house, but after a couple months of high water bills, we made a rule that we could only take dumps on campus, and at home we could only piss in the sink. Our water bill was reduced dramatically - but was it worth it? Questionable!

Why would you piss in the sink? Why not just piss in the toilet and only flush once a day? Really? Piss in the sink?

Love coffee wrote:

Quit going to Starbucks for coffee, started making my own at home. Did you know that if you buy your coffee in bulk and use self-check out, you can tell the machine that you are buying something else in bulk like a dinner roll, and pay $1.50 instead of $8.50 which is what the coffee would have cost?

this reminds me - something I'm not proud of, I did in college when money was tight

I'd write the wrong plu # on what I was getting, so it'd be cheaper. IE granola was like say $3 a lb but oatmeal was $1 a lb.

I cut down from 2 bottles of $500 wine per week to about 1 bottle of $200 wine. So I save about $800 every week! See, the thing is times are tough even on us and we too have downsized on our expenses but you so-called 99% just don't get it.

whatajoke wrote:

Why not just piss in the toilet and only flush once a day? Really? Piss in the sink?

Yeah, we were boorish slobs, I admit! But every flush saved really mattered - or so the theory went... those were the days!

Bartholemew McCutcheon wrote:

Yeah, we were boorish slobs, I admit! But every flush saved really mattered - or so the theory went... those were the days!

Did you rinse the sink after each piss? One flush per day would cost you what, maybe 5 cents? I doubt it's even that much.

Bartholemew McCutcheon wrote:

Yeah, we were boorish slobs, I admit! But every flush saved really mattered - or so the theory went... those were the days!

So when you peed in the sink did you use water to wash it out? If not, that is super gross. If so, why wouldn't you just pee in the toilet and not flush it? Or just pee in the yard.

I used to occasionally pee in the sink. Not to save money, but because I thought it was fun.

scaruba wrote:

So when you peed in the sink did you use water to wash it out? If not, that is super gross.

We would run the faucet for like 3 seconds tops, so probably 1-2 gallons per month. ...and this was before the days of low-flow toilets, so each flush would be like 5 gallons. Multiply that by the # of flushes per month, even if just once a day, and the savings was massive in terms of quantity.

We were too lazy to go outside to pee - and this was in the northern midwest when it would be below zero/snowy much of the year... and also we wanted the toilet to be clean and not full of dark yellow accumulated piss, on the off chance that we had a girl visit!

It is all relative, and we were poor college students when every dollar mattered! I guess that fits the thread title of "crazy things"... because yeah, looking back on it I'm sure we saved $20 per month, split 3 ways - haha, big bucks!

If it's yellow (pee) let it mellow (don't flush), if it's brown (poop) flush it down... This was a water saving slogan that was used to help conserve water...I drink lots of water and take about 7 pees from when I come home from work to the following morning - unless I go #2, I just flush before I go to work...