For me I generally pirate most books I read, although if there is a book I really enjoyed I will buy the physical copy.
I also generally tend to avoid having takeaways because they are just so expensive in this day and age with inflation and tend to opt for cheap meals like pasta or rice etc.
Also I don’t pay for any streaming services, but borrow a VPN service from a friend to pirate the movies I watch.
Curious to hear of some ways that you people here save money.
I’ve got a system going with library cards from various cities I’ve lived. I’ve got the max ebooks on hold on each so I have constant queue of books to read. It’s free and I’m supporting the usage stats for a public service.
We used to bounce around with all the meal delivery services when they were offering good deals. I’d quit one, try another, and soon the first one would have a good “come back to us” discount. That dried up so we just use the recipe cards and buy the ingredients ourselves. Saves some of the cognitive labor of hunting down recipes every week and we can cook in larger amounts to have leftovers throughout the week. I don’t know how some of you skip meals regularly, I’d be a mess.
Get a bicycle and use that for as much of your transportation needs as is possible.
If you can avoid owning a car by this method, you save a lot of money on car payments (or invested capital)/insurance/maintenance/fuel. Even if it doesn’t allow you to ditch a car, you’ll spend less on fuel.
If it replaces public transportation trips, then you save a bit on those.
Finally, the health benefits of extra exercise are going to pay huge dividends that are hard to measure but significant nonetheless.
sometimes i pirate groceries at self-checkout
On paper I buy a lot of bananas
does the door alarm not go off? ive always been paranoid to try just incase i somehow end up in jail over a candy bar or smth
When the door alarm goes off, most people keep walking - and the store employees often don’t care.
Most places, the store employees are trained to do nothing. Several stores I worked at specifically state with a lot of emphasis to never engage a shoplifter. They might have a gun or attack you or who knows what else. Plus the cost of prosecuting someone for shoplifting is often greater than the value of what was stolen, so the small time thefts are largely ignored. Instead preventitive measures are used like visible cameras and engagement. So if you’re ever at a store and you find employees are repeatedly asking if you need help with anything, there’s a good chance someone thinks you are shoplifting (but not always!)
they don’t place alarm markers on the food i buy: box of cereal, fresh fruit, bag of rice, can of beans…
in IL, they might put markers on liquor but IDK bc i quit years ago
4011
creative ways to save money: STEALING
My always on buy two get one free discount
Make a weekly menu, pin it on the fridge and stick to it. Then buy only the ingredients needed.
The key of success is to be lucid and plan 1 or 2 lazy day, with pizzas or whatever, dishes that don’t need any effort to make.
You’ll save a ton in groceries, and will waste almost nothing. Bonus point : you can generate the menus with an AI.
Bonus point : you can generate the menus with an AI.
Didn’t AI make up a recipe for chlorine gas for someone? I’m with you 100% up to the bonus point though.
I like to buy things that save money in the long run. Cooking, biking, cheap Steam games over expensive console games. I offer VPN or other subscriptions to family if I can.
I can count on one hand the number of games I’ve bought not on sale from steam in the last 5 years. It also does help that you can get the poor man’s demo so long as you keep a close eye on time played.
Foraging. I’ve just started getting into it more. So far I have been loving pine needle tea - high in vitamin C which can replace the need for expensive fruit from the grocery store.
I made sumac “iced tea” which was excellent and also nutritious.
Looking forward to spring to forage dandelions for salad, since the store price is unrealistic for me. Apparently wild greens are more nutritious anyway.
Dandelion flower makes for a good syrup, too
Cutting down on alcohol. Due to Australian tax, it’s actually pretty expensive (except cheap wine). Beers at lunch add up.
Pirating media
Buying a large set of 500 mL plastic takeaway boxes with lids (Chinese takeout boxes). They’re more useful than just poverty Tupperware, you can use them for storing lots of things, as small mixing bowls, etc.
Buying spices in bulk. There’s a store here where you bring your own jars and stuff, all the cumin is loose and you just pay for product weight (which is way cheaper than mainstream supermarkets).
Asian grocers. Everything is generally cheaper, and they sell these large jars of minced garlic with big chunks of garlic (rather than the puree from woolworths).
Generally, the more interesting yet low effort you can make your cooking, the less you’ll feel the need to eat out or splurge on “reward” meals. Asian food can be very good for that (east asian, south asian, middle east), and you’ll impress your white friends.
Canned and frozen versions of vegetables, instead of fresh. If you’re making a stew or curry, it doesn’t really matter. Also, frozen broccoli is more floret (the tree bits you pretend to be a dinosaur at) by weight.
Just steal stuff. Do it irregularly, and always be a polite smiling face to service staff. Bring your own bags and hide your stolen produce under the bags. Leave the bags in the trolley and fill up stuff you buy on top of them.
Service what debts you can.
Really, the biggest costs tend to be emergency vehicle servicing, hospitalisations, and rent. Any way to reduce those (sharehousing, having friends that can do those sorts of work, spreading the work out amongst the community) will go way further than a lot of things I’ve just listed. Community is hard to find though
I’m working a job at a low salary to force myself to develop frugal habits.
Last time I made a lot of money my life went to shit AND I didn’t save any of it.
Skinner meme:
Should I learn to budget my money?
No, it’s earning money that’s wrong.
I have a champion mountain bike, world class, light and funky that I ride around town with, or to work.
It’s from 1996 (I think) and it cost me 100€ + 2x50€ for counti pro MTB tyres plus some 260€ four-five years later to renovate it top notch (gears, 2 rims, break stuff). It’s good to roll another 15 years with minimal costs.
I buy microfiber cloths, instead of paper towels because 1) you can launder and re-use microfiber clothes and 2) paper products are stupid-expensive.
my self esteem is so low I dont spend money on myself, tomorrow I will be a rich man
Fascinating how many answers are that just straight up stealing is a “creative” way to save money… O.o
Moral quandaries aside, I’m not sure that I would describe shoplifting as “creative”.
Funny how people the same folk who put themselves on a moral pedestal and preach about how “its everyone else thats greedy” are the same that have no quandries about theft.
Stealing is one thing - lazy.
When I was fresh in my career:
- I worked in restaurants for decent money, girls, and free food.
- Roommates save lots of bling.
- Someone always has a connection or a discount.
Decent girls? In the industry? Don’t lie to people.
Waiting tables at a casual+ restaurant? Yes. The ratio is mostly girls- in their 20s. The turnover is high, so there’s always new people coming in. You’re around each other constantly so it’s not awkward to strike up a conversation. Plus the parties were pretty fun.
I don’t think you’d have the same luck at McDonald’s, or in management, but serving at decent places I always had good luck.
Oh I know, the joke I was making is that none of them were “decent”.
Having cheap hobbies
Hiking
Hiking is really only the cost of something to hold water and passes (that you think you’ll use) for the year.
People will shout, “But you need the right shoes!”
You just need comfortable well fitting shoes. I hiked in my every day running shoes until I literally walked through the soles. Somewhere north of 5000 miles of walking in 5 years is what they got me and they cost me about $100.
I didn’t buy dedicated shoes for hiking, those were just my normal shoes.
Biking
I got a used bike for the low low price of “is that a bike frame in the bushes?”
After about $200 in replacement parts I’ll ride it until it breaks.
It’s easy, it’s cheap, and it’s good for you.
The bike I had before I got for $50 at a garage sale and I rode that thing for 2 years until it got stolen. It was a good bike, I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did.
Photography
Fun fact about photography: if you have a phone with a camera you can get into it.
Seriously, “The best camera is the one you have on you,” is a common saying in the photography world.
And editing pictures is also super cheap.
You can do very basic edits on your phone but if you want to edit on PC (trust me you do) then you can get great software for free to do it. GIMP is a great alternative to Photoshop and Darktable is a great alternative to Lightroom. And did I mention both are completely free?
And sometimes (though rarely for me) people will want to either buy pictures from you or pay you to take pictures for them. So that can subsidize the costs for delving deeper.
3D Printing
No I’m not joking.
The barrier to entry can be high but all my printers have paid for themselves at this point and in 2 cases at least twice over.
And I don’t just mean in terms of selling prints I also mean in terms of saving me money on replacement parts.
Reading
Personally I have a local library card and use apps on my phone to listen to audiobooks.
I do this rather than pirate books because it’s super easy IMO.
And that’s it for hobbies really, though I do have a few more those are really the ones I typically orbit the most.
Also cooking as much as possible vs eating out. I still eat out once a month with my friends but I cook almost every other meal I eat. Some are frozen (I’m not perfect) but even then it’s cheaper than picking up takeout.
And not drinking alcohol anymore. I couldn’t believe how much I was spending on alcohol until I quit drinking. Though I avoided drinking at bars (holy shit it’s expensive) those bottles weren’t cheap.
Brewing my own tea and coffee also saves a lot of money. It blows my mind how much some people I know spend on coffee simply because they don’t brew it themselves.
Maintaining my car rather than upgrading it every 5-7 years. Also doing what I can myself (or with friends) rather than going to a mechanic. My car was made in 2007, I plan to drive it until I can’t fix it anymore. Then I get another used car to maintain as well.
There’s a lot really but that’s just a brief… (looks up) briefish list
I save so much money with my 3D printer. Broken parts are easy for me to design and print, and I’ve kept a lot of appliances out of the trash when they just need some little plastic part.
Local library for entertainment - free ebooks, free streaming of movies, passes to museums/state parks etc.
Eat at home, cook in bulk and eat leftovers to save time/money.
Ad block for watching YouTube/network tv without annoying ad breaks
Bodyweight fitness, walking, and at home yoga for exercise - no need for a gym membership
Use Facebook marketplace to get free/cheap furniture
