What's the most ridiculous way you save money?

[Passacaglia]

For those of us out there who are penny wise and pound foolish -- what's the most ridiculous way you save money?

I've got some ideas for me. I'm pretty obsessive about the price of milk and coke, but these are more specific:

Kitty litter. I could just pick some up at the Walgreen's right around the corner. Instead, not only do I schlepp out to PetCo, but I also bring these refillable jugs with me to save a couple bucks. Since I rarely make a special trip just to buy kitty litter, I usually end up carrying these jugs around with me everywhere I go. I guess it helps the environment, but I know I'm doing it two save two bucks.

After Christmas Sales. I know, you can get some really good bargains this time of year -- and it's easier for me, since I don't celebrate Christmas -- I don't have to tear myself from family gatherings to go. While it's true that I buy stuff that's 50 to 75 percent off the regular price, what do I buy? Candy. Tons of candy. I save a buck or two on each bag, and I buy so much that it lasts for months, and a lot of it goes old before I can eat it.

Anyone have any others?

[bbor]

I only feed my wife every other day:D

[bbor]

Dola....and she only gives me sex once a year:(

[Samdari]

Dola....and she only gives me sex once a year:(

You have sex every year??

Wow.

[PackerFanatic]

haha...nice

[st.cronin]

I have a change jar. Every day I empty my pockets, and dump the loose change in the jar. When it gets full, I take it to the bank and put it in savings. I have no idea how much money that turns out to be, but it's probably 100-200 dollars a year.

[FrogMan]

For those of us out there who are penny wise and pound foolish -- what's the most ridiculous way you save money?

I've got some ideas for me. I'm pretty obsessive about the price of milk and coke, but these are more specific:

Kitty litter. I could just pick some up at the Walgreen's right around the corner. Instead, not only do I schlepp out to PetCo, but I also bring these refillable jugs with me to save a couple bucks. Since I rarely make a special trip just to buy kitty litter, I usually end up carrying these jugs around with me everywhere I go. I guess it helps the environment, but I know I'm doing it two save two bucks.

After Christmas Sales. I know, you can get some really good bargains this time of year -- and it's easier for me, since I don't celebrate Christmas -- I don't have to tear myself from family gatherings to go. While it's true that I buy stuff that's 50 to 75 percent off the regular price, what do I buy? Candy. Tons of candy. I save a buck or two on each bag, and I buy so much that it lasts for months, and a lot of it goes old before I can eat it.

Anyone have any others?
I do buy lots of candy right after Halloween... I'm also pretty obsessive about grocery shopping, doing three stops every week when doing the groceries for the week... The three stores are pretty close one to another so the "you gonna pay it in gas" argument doesn stand...

FM

[FrogMan]

I have a change jar. Every day I empty my pockets, and dump the loose change in the jar. When it gets full, I take it to the bank and put it in savings. I have no idea how much money that turns out to be, but it's probably 100-200 dollars a year.
I do that too. Goes even faster with our $1 and $2 coins :)

FM

[Passacaglia]

I have a change jar. Every day I empty my pockets, and dump the loose change in the jar. When it gets full, I take it to the bank and put it in savings. I have no idea how much money that turns out to be, but it's probably 100-200 dollars a year.

I do that, and I think I can one-up you. I roll the coins myself, THEN take it to the bank. For all I know, the bank might not charge me anything if I just gave them the jar, but that's what I do.

[Passacaglia]

I do buy lots of candy right after Halloween... I'm also pretty obsessive about grocery shopping, doing three stops every week when doing the groceries for the week... The three stores are pretty close one to another so the "you gonna pay it in gas" argument doesn stand...

FM

I go to a couple grocery stores often -- both are on my way as I walk home, so I don't have that problem. Have you ever gone to Store A, then Store B, then decided that you really wanted to buy the thing from Store A in the first place? That one I've never done.

[FrogMan]

I do that, and I think I can one-up you. I roll the coins myself, THEN take it to the bank. For all I know, the bank might not charge me anything if I just gave them the jar, but that's what I do.
Oh, I do roll the coins myself. Don't trust them sharky bankers :D

FM

[WSUCougar]

I try to cheat with coupons. Like if it's a coupon for NEW NACHO CHEESE CHEEZE-ITS ONLY and I am buying the regular ones. This always makes my wife nervous, too, like the Coupon Police are gonna gallop up and beat us with rolled up coupon circulars.

Silly wife.

[FrogMan]

I go to a couple grocery stores often -- both are on my way as I walk home, so I don't have that problem. Have you ever gone to Store A, then Store B, then decided that you really wanted to buy the thing from Store A in the first place? That one I've never done.
Guilty as charged. The grocery stores which are in between work and home are too small as I work in woods (or about) so I go about 4-5 miles out to where the 2-3 stores are so it makes sense to do one big shopping run and come back home.

I also check the fliers a lot. What I hate the most is when we plan what we'll eat for dinner on a Saturday on something that's in special at one store and for some reason, that's the last store on the run, and they're out of it. Grrr...

FM

[cartman]

I can't believe it hasn't been said yet...

By switching my insurance to Geico.

:D

[Raiders Army]

I save my change too...but in a different fashion.

When I get in my car my change always spills out of my pockets and into my car. I never bother to pick it up then. On my annual car cleaning, I'll find probably about $20 worth of change to put in our change jar inside our house.

[Kodos]

I try to wait until games hit the greatest hits price before getting them.

[cartman]

I hadn't cashed in my change jar in a long time, probably since 2000. I went to do so a couple of months ago, and while sorting it, all of the Euro and British change I'd accumulated in my time over there added up to over $400! Too bad no currency exchange places take coins.

[Ksyrup]

I go to a couple grocery stores often -- both are on my way as I walk home, so I don't have that problem. Have you ever gone to Store A, then Store B, then decided that you really wanted to buy the thing from Store A in the first place? That one I've never done.
We do the same, except the money goes into our kids' savings accounts. Right now our eldest has $45.09 saved up for college.

[sterlingice]

I do buy lots of candy right after Halloween... I'm also pretty obsessive about grocery shopping, doing three stops every week when doing the groceries for the week... The three stores are pretty close one to another so the "you gonna pay it in gas" argument doesn stand...

FMAmateur! Don't you know that there are 4 candy holidays: day after Halloween, day after Christmas, day after Valentines Day, and day after Easter. We have one of those big popcorn tins filled with candy pretty much year round because I'll spend about $15 after each holiday and get enough candy to take over Switzerland. However, there's a big gap between Easter and Halloween so around August it starts looking a bit thin :( Strangely enough, everyone loves when I have that sitting out, particularly this time of year ;)

SI

[sterlingice]

I go to a couple grocery stores often -- both are on my way as I walk home, so I don't have that problem. Have you ever gone to Store A, then Store B, then decided that you really wanted to buy the thing from Store A in the first place? That one I've never done.Similar to that, we have 2 major grocery stores within a mile from our apartment. Plus, we get ads from both, so we will pick and choose what we get at each to maximize saving money.

SI

[FrogMan]

Amateur! Don't you know that there are 4 candy holidays: day after Halloween, day after Christmas, day after Valentines Day, and day after Easter. We have one of those big popcorn tins filled with candy pretty much year round because I'll spend about $15 after each holiday and get enough candy to take over Switzerland. However, there's a big gap between Easter and Halloween so around August it starts looking a bit thin :( Strangely enough, everyone loves when I have that sitting out, particularly this time of year ;)

SI
no, not amateur, disciplined older dude :p I restrain myself at buying enormous amounts of candy to only one holiday because no matter how many I buy, it never lasts very long and since I'm the only one eating them, I pay the price around the belly area ;)

FM

[Ryche]

By investing it in the typewriter industry.

[Radii]

We buy the entertainment book every year, $25 for the book, even if we're forgetful about using the coupons religously we still save at least $100/year in stuff we'd normally do anyway.


For some reason after reading some stuff on grilling chicken in the new grilling book my wife bought me for Christmas i've gotten stuck on the idea of learning how to cut up a whole chicken to save a few bucks. I haven't gotten around to trying it though.

We don't do a change jar at home, but we're in bank of america's "Keep the Change" program where they round every charge you make up to a dollar and put the extra into a savings account for you(ie you spend $5.25 at the store. bank automatically moves 75 cents into savings). After... not too long we have like $85 in there and haven't seriously missed the money yet. The bank also does some minimal matching on that money.

[oliegirl]

We buy the entertainment book every year, $25 for the book, even if we're forgetful about using the coupons religously we still save at least $100/year in stuff we'd normally do anyway.


For some reason after reading some stuff on grilling chicken in the new grilling book my wife bought me for Christmas i've gotten stuck on the idea of learning how to cut up a whole chicken to save a few bucks. I haven't gotten around to trying it though.



He failed to mention the fact that he is the only one in the house that will eat the dark meat, and that the vast majority (basically all) of my chicken recipes are for boneless and/or skinless chicken breasts.

Also, I roll my eyes at him every time he mentions this b/c I don't see that it would save much money since we usually buy the chicken breasts in bulk to begin with, so we get a good price.

[BuffaloHuskey]

I shaved my head so I can cut my hair myself and not have to pay.

Not really the reason I did it, but I love seeing the look on peoples' faces when I tell them that

[Icy]

I save my change too...but in a different fashion.

When I get in my car my change always spills out of my pockets and into my car. I never bother to pick it up then. On my annual car cleaning, I'll find probably about $20 worth of change to put in our change jar inside our house.
LOL i do that too, but i leave in the car anything that drops from my pockets. It saved me a lot of times when i needed some coins for the parking etc and i hadn't any in my pocket, then i look under my car's sit and i always find some.

[FrogMan]

We don't do a change jar at home, but we're in bank of america's "Keep the Change" program where they round every charge you make up to a dollar and put the extra into a savings account for you(ie you spend $5.25 at the store. bank automatically moves 75 cents into savings). After... not too long we have like $85 in there and haven't seriously missed the money yet. The bank also does some minimal matching on that money.
Never heard of that one before, pretty cool way to go about it :)

FM

[oliegirl]

Never heard of that one before, pretty cool way to go about it :)

FM

It's great...for the first 3 months they are matching at 100%, our 3 months are up next week, but then they match at 5% the rest of the time. They only deposit the matching funds once a year, which kind of sucks, but will be nice when we get a deposit in our account next October...plus it's a free program, which makes it even better!

[Raiders Army]

We don't do a change jar at home, but we're in bank of america's "Keep the Change" program where they round every charge you make up to a dollar and put the extra into a savings account for you(ie you spend $5.25 at the store. bank automatically moves 75 cents into savings). After... not too long we have like $85 in there and haven't seriously missed the money yet. The bank also does some minimal matching on that money.
Somehow that scares me more than it makes me want to do a program like that. It also reminds me I need to log onto USAA.com to see if they're doing anything funny there.

[Eaglesfan27]

Somehow that scares me more than it makes me want to do a program like that. It also reminds me I need to log onto USAA.com to see if they're doing anything funny there.
What about it scares you? I assume it is an optional program. I wish our supermarket had something like that as we do the change jar which is a pain to cash in.

[Fidatelo]

I don't understand the idea behind 'saving' change in a jar. Putting it in a jar just means you're going to break more bills than you normally would have, leading to more withdrawals from the bank and possibly additional service charges. Plus, you are not earning even the minute amount of interest a savings account gives when that change is sitting around in a jar at home.

[Raiders Army]

What about it scares you? I assume it is an optional program.
The fact that you don't miss $85. Maybe I'm reading a little too much into it, but I could see it happening ala Superman III/Office Space (you don't miss the bank rounding your money down and taking it away).

[st.cronin]

I opened an accout with BOA last August, but as soon as I was able to I left them. All sorts of undisclosed fees and penalties... that was definitely my worst banking experience, by far.

[oliegirl]

The fact that you don't miss $85. Maybe I'm reading a little too much into it, but I could see it happening ala Superman III/Office Space (you don't miss the bank rounding your money down and taking it away).


It's not like that. We can go online and see our checking account and all the charges from the day...then at the end of each day there is a transfer from our account to the savings account for the total of all the "fractions of a dollar" (for lack of a better term). We also can access the savings acct online and see the deposits into the account and verify the totals match up right.

I've checked it a couple times and it always adds up. Plus, we have access to the money, we can pull it out of checking and it doesn't affect the matching from the bank.

[oliegirl]

Dola:

When he said we don't miss it, he meant that it hasn't affected our budgeting at all...

[Passacaglia]

I hadn't cashed in my change jar in a long time, probably since 2000. I went to do so a couple of months ago, and while sorting it, all of the Euro and British change I'd accumulated in my time over there added up to over $400! Too bad no currency exchange places take coins.

Whenever I'm in Canada (not often, but enough times), I try to spend as many bills as possible, and take back as much change as I can -- I don't know what it's like in Texas, but in Michigan, and even Chicago, Canadian change can be spent like real money.

[Passacaglia]

I don't understand the idea behind 'saving' change in a jar. Putting it in a jar just means you're going to break more bills than you normally would have, leading to more withdrawals from the bank and possibly additional service charges. Plus, you are not earning even the minute amount of interest a savings account gives when that change is sitting around in a jar at home.

For me, the idea is that I don't want to fish through my pockets for change -- I'd rather just pull the bills out of my wallet, dump the change in my pocket, and stick it in a jar at the end of the day. Personally, I don't equate it with saving money, rather time.

[Raiders Army]

Dola:

When he said we don't miss it, he meant that it hasn't affected our budgeting at all...
I thought so. In my case, however, I'm not that perspective when it comes to balancing the checkbook. That's what worries me a little. :)

[Anthony]

For those of us out there who are penny wise and pound foolish -- what's the most ridiculous way you save money?

I've got some ideas for me. I'm pretty obsessive about the price of milk and coke, but these are more specific:

Kitty litter. I could just pick some up at the Walgreen's right around the corner. Instead, not only do I schlepp out to PetCo, but I also bring these refillable jugs with me to save a couple bucks. Since I rarely make a special trip just to buy kitty litter, I usually end up carrying these jugs around with me everywhere I go. I guess it helps the environment, but I know I'm doing it two save two bucks.

After Christmas Sales. I know, you can get some really good bargains this time of year -- and it's easier for me, since I don't celebrate Christmas -- I don't have to tear myself from family gatherings to go. While it's true that I buy stuff that's 50 to 75 percent off the regular price, what do I buy? Candy. Tons of candy. I save a buck or two on each bag, and I buy so much that it lasts for months, and a lot of it goes old before I can eat it.

Anyone have any others?

if you buy so much candy that a lot of it goes bad, are you really saving money or throwing it away? wouldn't it make more sense to buy candy on-demand?

[Passacaglia]

if you buy so much candy that a lot of it goes bad, are you really saving money or throwing it away? wouldn't it make more sense to buy candy on-demand?

That's what makes it ridiculous. Perhaps it should have been called "What are your most ridiculous attempts to save money?" -- but I think everyone gets the idea.

[sterlingice]

How does pre-packaged candy go bad? Ok, so we stumbled across an old Easter bag that was over 2 years old once and it was kindof bland. But, really.

SI

[stevew]

My parents have never had the touch tone option added to our phone line. Supposedly they save a couple bucks a month this way. Imagine trying to access the internets, and hearing click click click click as it dials each digit. Took like a minute for it to dial all the numbers.

[Draft Dodger]

I do that, and I think I can one-up you. I roll the coins myself, THEN take it to the bank. For all I know, the bank might not charge me anything if I just gave them the jar, but that's what I do.

hey, I can even top that! we fill the change jars, and never turn them in. I'm worried they might get annoyed at me if I bring all the loose change in, and my time is too valuable to roll all that change!

[Radii]

I thought so. In my case, however, I'm not that perspective when it comes to balancing the checkbook. That's what worries me a little. :)

Oliegirl and I both independantly log in to the bank's website fairly frequently. Any charge one of us doesn't recognize the other is asked about it, we've caught a couple of subscription renewal type things that we had cancelled, and would catch any unexpected charges very quickly. We dont' balance a checkbook either.

I like Bank of America, but I've been with them for about 7 years, and Oliegirl longer so we both have very good histories with them and haven't seen the fees some others complain about.

After some HR changes in the past few months at my job, we are able to join a credit union. I need to look into that and see what kind of benefits they offer, perhaps we should just open a savings account there to stash some money away, just an 'in' to let us take advantage of better loan rates down the road.

[Mac Howard]

A friend of mine used to boil the kettle, make his cup of coffee/tea and then pour the rest of the water into a thermos flask. For the rest of the day he would make his other cups of coffee/tea from the flask. The tea was awful! :(

[BrianD]

hey, I can even top that! we fill the change jars, and never turn them in. I'm worried they might get annoyed at me if I bring all the loose change in, and my time is too valuable to roll all that change!

I have seen a number of banks that won't even take rolled change. They claim that they would have to unroll all of it to put it in the counting machine so they will only take it loose. Of course that could just be small-town bank employees being lazy.

My big plan for saving money is to really cut down on fast food. Fast food meals will be between $5-$7 per meal. Making sandwiches and such can easily drop the per-meal price to $2-$3.

[JonInMiddleGA]

hey, I can even top that! we fill the change jars, and never turn them in. I'm worried they might get annoyed at me if I bring all the loose change in, and my time is too valuable to roll all that change!

Do none of the grocery stores in your area not have those change conversion machines (or whatever the heck they call them)? Basically you dump in your change, it sorts & counts it mechanically & then it spits out folding money like an ATM.

[st.cronin]

Do none of the grocery stores in your area not have those change conversion machines (or whatever the heck they call them)? Basically you dump in your change, it sorts & counts it mechanically & then it spits out folding money like an ATM.

I have seen machines like that that charge a percentage.

[Easy Mac]

I was planning on going to 3 grocery stores tomorrow morning. They're all within a quarter mile of eachother, so that's nice. Probably head to Costco tomorrow and buy 73 pounds of microwaveable biscuits. I clip coupons each week, but then i forget them at home. I try to buy milk when its cheap, but then I never use it.

[DaddyTorgo]

I have seen machines like that that charge a percentage.yeah. the typical percentage is 8.9 cents on the dollar. So you're losing $9 out of every hundred. Not a bad deal, considering the time and effort it takes to roll all that money. I guess it comes down to what your time is worth. I find my time to be worth more than that, so to me it is no big sacrifice, but since this is a "cheapskates" thread I expect I'll be in the minority

[st.cronin]

yeah. the typical percentage is 8.9 cents on the dollar. So you're losing $9 out of every hundred. Not a bad deal, considering the time and effort it takes to roll all that money. I guess it comes down to what your time is worth. I find my time to be worth more than that, so to me it is no big sacrifice, but since this is a "cheapskates" thread I expect I'll be in the minority

Well, considering my bank does it for free, I guess I don't see the point. All you're saving is whatever time you have to wait in the teller's line.

[oliegirl]

I have seen machines like that that charge a percentage.


The ones around us charge 7% which seems really high.

If you are using the "change jar" and have kids - do what I do, use it as a learning tool for your kids. I'd have Anthony sort through it and divide it into Quarters, Nickels, Dimes, Pennies....then tell him how many of whatever it would take to fill up the roll and have him count out that many, by counting by that denomination. He is great at making change now and loves to go to Papa's to help him count change every couple of months. :)

[DaddyTorgo]

Well, considering my bank does it for free, I guess I don't see the point. All you're saving is whatever time you have to wait in the teller's line.lucky you for having a bank that does it for free. mine would laugh in my face.

[oliegirl]

I was planning on going to 3 grocery stores tomorrow morning. They're all within a quarter mile of eachother, so that's nice. Probably head to Costco tomorrow and buy 73 pounds of microwaveable biscuits. I clip coupons each week, but then i forget them at home. I try to buy milk when its cheap, but then I never use it.


I was at BJ's today (like Costco) and bought 16 bars of soap b/c radii told me he thought we were out (I don't use regular soap), only to find out this evening we still had 8 bars under his sink...so now we have 24 bars of soap!

I love shopping at those places and for the most part use everything we buy, I've found it's especially great for pet supplies...a 7 lb box of dog treats is like $6.99, and the regular size maybe 1 or 2 lb box at the grocery store is close to $4.00 :)

[pennywisesb]

I have a change jar. Every day I empty my pockets, and dump the loose change in the jar. When it gets full, I take it to the bank and put it in savings. I have no idea how much money that turns out to be, but it's probably 100-200 dollars a year.
I do exactly the same thing, except mine totals around 75-100 dollars a year.

I also make my own lunch everyday rather than going out which probably saves me about 20-30 dollars a week.

[Passacaglia]

The ones around us charge 7% which seems really high.

If you are using the "change jar" and have kids - do what I do, use it as a learning tool for your kids. I'd have Anthony sort through it and divide it into Quarters, Nickels, Dimes, Pennies....then tell him how many of whatever it would take to fill up the roll and have him count out that many, by counting by that denomination. He is great at making change now and loves to go to Papa's to help him count change every couple of months. :)

Watch out...if you keep doing this, when he grows up he'll be that weird guy who rolls his change and gets mocked for it all over the internet!

[Passacaglia]

A friend of mine used to boil the kettle, make his cup of coffee/tea and then pour the rest of the water into a thermos flask. For the rest of the day he would make his other cups of coffee/tea from the flask. The tea was awful! :(

That's a good one! I'll use the same tea bag if I'm going to have 2+ cups of tea in one night, but what's he need to conserve water for?

[Joe]

Watch out...if you keep doing this, when he grows up he'll be that weird guy who rolls his change and gets mocked for it all over the internet!

"you expect me to roll 6,000 of these? what, should I quit my job!?!?!

[DanGarion]

I don't understand the idea behind 'saving' change in a jar. Putting it in a jar just means you're going to break more bills than you normally would have, leading to more withdrawals from the bank and possibly additional service charges. Plus, you are not earning even the minute amount of interest a savings account gives when that change is sitting around in a jar at home.
If you are removing the money from your own bank and they are charging you to do it, you are with the wrong bank. I've saved my change for years. I purposely use bills just for the sole fact of getting change back to then save in my jar. I'm able to save about $100 dollars every 2-3 months. It's not money I would normally have in my savings so I'm not really loosing any interest and even if I was it would be a slight amount of like 3 or 4 bucks. Plus it's more fun to save it up this way.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I've found it's especially great for pet supplies...a 7 lb box of dog treats is like $6.99, and the regular size maybe 1 or 2 lb box at the grocery store is close to $4.00 :)

Now if only you had a dog ... :D

[oliegirl]

Now if only you had a dog ... :D


That would be a funny comment, except we do have a dog! Leo...he is my baby until we have a baby, except he's about 40-45 lbs now so I can't really carry him around with me, or pick him up for that matter. But he is spoiled rotten and rules the house :)

[Poli]

I do that too. Goes even faster with our $1 and $2 coins :)

FMHow do you say it...Oones and a toon?

[Poli]

I try to cheat with coupons. Like if it's a coupon for NEW NACHO CHEESE CHEEZE-ITS ONLY and I am buying the regular ones. This always makes my wife nervous, too, like the Coupon Police are gonna gallop up and beat us with rolled up coupon circulars.

Silly wife.I had the coupon police stop me in the store once. The cashier actually, but she did throw the BS flag.

We were penalized 15 yards and a loss of down.

[Joe]

If you are removing the money from your own bank and they are charging you to do it, you are with the wrong bank.

Well, all banks charge you a fee ($3 here) for withdrawing from an ATM that belongs to a bank other than their own. That's probably what he was talking about.

[lungs]

To save money I smoke GPC cigarettes and chew Grizzly tobacco.

[FrogMan]

To save money I smoke GPC cigarettes and chew Grizzly tobacco.
to save even more money, I don't smoke at all...

FM

[FrogMan]

How do you say it...Oones and a toon?
loonies and toonies actually :)

FM

[Mac Howard]

That's a good one! I'll use the same tea bag if I'm going to have 2+ cups of tea in one night, but what's he need to conserve water for?

Saves him the cost of boiling the kettle again :rolleyes:

But if you've ever tasted tea made from water at around 90 degrees C then you'll know why I always asked for coffee when I visited :)

[sterlingice]

loonies and toonies actually :)

FMThat describes Canadians quite nicely, too ;)

SI

[Craptacular]

I also make my own lunch everyday rather than going out which probably saves me about 20-30 dollars a week.
This is something I've tried, but I just get sick of it.