Thursday, 11 December 2008
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Some Crazy Things People Do To Save Money
This was a guest blog submitted by girlwithacoin
With all the talk of how to save money during this economical hardship, I figured there had to be people going to extremes to try and penny-pinch as much as they can. Well, I googled ways people saved money and it didn't take but three pages of "WOW - people actually do this to save money?" links to see that I was right.
The funniest was this blog article. I could not believe some of the real suggestions people sent in on how to save money. Here are some of the suggestions, to save you a click:
Save money on weddings by picking up the leftover flowers at a cemetery.
Want to save money on a car wash? One person said he washed his entire car using the squeegee at the gas station.
A woman confessed that she has the kids stuff their pockets with the free ketchup, salt and other condiment packets every time they were in a fast food restaurant.
To save money on an umbrella, one man suggests going to the lost and found department of any large public library. Tell them you lost a black umbrella. They will have several, from which you can pick the best one and claim it as your own.
Call people long-distance when you know they won’t be home. Leave a message for them to call. That way, they pay for the long-distance call.
Then the blog has a section of suggestions that are funny but not recommended (not that you should really do the above, either), as they were made up for comical value and not really sent in like the previous ones:- Don’t pay baby sitters! Get young couples who are thinking about having kids to “rent” yours for the evening. They get to see what it will be like, and you can get paid instead of paying for sitters.
- Turn off the TV and all the lights to save electricity. Tell the kids it’s a game of hide-and-seek.
- Train your dog to beg for food from strangers, so you won’t have to buy dog food.
- Rub pine needles under your arms instead of buying deodorant.
- Take extra napkins from fast food restaurants to save on toilet paper.
- Borrow your neighbors toothbrush instead of buying your own.
Have you ever done anything weird/crazy to save money? Which one of these would you do? Do you know anyone who's so frugal on money that they do something like this?
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- From: girlwithacoin@xanga
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Comments (179)
The umbrella idea is a very good one! I'd never actually do it, but it gets so windy where I live that I've had three umbrellas break in a year...
the napkins, condiments, etc thing.. is SO ASIAN.
this is just disrespectful (not the article, the concept.)
@J_Damask@xanga - LOL. i couldn't agree more!
@J_Damask@xanga - HAHA! My grandma has a habit of saving all that stuff when we get fast food... but she doesn't actually go and get more, just whatever they give us. That stuff piles up!
Can't say I know anyone who has done anything to that extreme. However, I once had a roommate who never contributed to anything as a mean of saving her money; she just waited for our other roommate and me to buy everything we needed for the apartment (i.e. toilet paper, cleaning stuff, etc).
I've saved up mayonnaise from a restaurant because I really wanted a single tuna fish sandwich, and all the mayonnaise jars in the store had a ton. Yeah, kinda silly and unethical, I know...
Taking flowers from another grave site is disrespectful. But, I'm never that frugal. Although I do take some napkins myself . . .
@laytexduckie@xanga - Yeah it is.
If I really need money that bad, I just *cough* borrow from a major corporation that won't miss it much.
ketchup package & napkin ftw :)
the umbrella one is so smart.
umbrella one is definitely cool. My mom has always taken extra ketchup anywhere she goes. I remember in college I stocked up on packets of equal from my school union cafeteria. I had enough to fill up 4 boxes, which was worth around 20+ dollars.
I grew so disgusted as the thought of borrowing someone else's toothbrush. Yeeeeesh.
- Rub pine needles under your arms instead of buying deodorant.
that's just straight nasty... & sounds pretty painful
yes, the flower thing is disrespectful. people should just steal them from people's yards.
in high school i always checked the lost and found.
LOL. Those are so funny. I really like the long-distance call one. But yeah... I know a lot of Asians that take napkins and condiments from restaurants. My mom has a bag of condiment packets in the fridge. There's actually a facebook group called "Asians who take too many napkins from restaurants" and I'm in it... lol.
I have to say, I couldn't top my one friend in high school. He showed me the console in his car between his 2 front seats and when he opened it up, it was stacked FULL of napkins... enough so that the lid wouldn't close anymore. On top of that, he showed me his glove compartment and it was full of napkins as well. And, on top of THAT, we had just got done eating a TGIFriday's and he went back in and stole a massive stack of napkins and put them in his car. It was weird, but pretty hilarious.
The farthest I've gone with this is taking utensils from the commons at school(the plastic ones) and also napkins. Also never buying plates or bowls, just using napkins and bowls instead. Haha. Oh and buying EVERYTHING possible with meal points. Like our school allows you to buy things like contact solution and shampoo with them, and my parents pay for it. But that's just logical too, because if budgeted correctly there is more than enough for a semester of food, and then some.
lolss... those are the things that people do when they're feeling cheap! :)
It's fun to read, but I wouldn't try them out. hahaha
Why not just go out and buy yourself a 1 or 2L ketchup from the supermarket instead? XD
And taking someone else's flowers from the grave is just mean and disrespectful. :|
I have definitely washed my truck with the squeegee at the gas station... it was totally a joke though! lol!
lost and found is a goldmine anywhere major, especially if its some bored teen behind the desk:)
Why would anyone rub pine needles under their arms? That just sounds like it would hurt. The library one is pretty good because umbrellas do end up dying. I've taken kethup from places so that isn't such a weird one.
The umbrella one is really smart.
My mom actually does save all the extra ketchup, honey, hot sauce, etc that we get at fast food places, but it's only the stuff that we grab from the cart and end up not using or the stuff we get in drive-thru bags and don't use.
CHEAP!!!
Wow that bad?
LOL it's funny because I was raised so that I didn't even know you could do that. Then my boyfriend in university comes along and he's from a less fortunate family--and TEACHES me all this stuff, like it's not weird at all! So now his housemates have been infected too.
(just the taking from fast food places thing)
The cemetery part pissed me off because I hate when people steal the flowers from my grandpa's grave. Go to the damn dollar store.
bahahahaahhahaha that first one is the worst!
and the umbrella one... i have definitely lost an umbrella that way! someone else took mine from the bin at a restaurant :(