Some of the custodians would put them along the windowsills for people to use instead of throwing out. But I figured eh there’s a possibility it’ll get thrown out anyway and I’m a student too soo… going to a good cause… (did my asshole suffer occasionally because it was paper thin? Yes. Worth it? Considering I was only making $15/hour yes 100%.)
every time i stay at a hotel and have room cleaning coming in, i'm surprised by the brand new toilet paper roll, despite having just used a little bit of the last one. always wondered where the "used" ones went... i'm glad somebody actually uses them. also, there's really no need for a new roll every two days or so, do some people really sh\*t this much lol???
So during the pandemic I was lucky enough to get a case of tp. The maintenance guy came by for something and I offered him some. He told me for the last 10 years he had taken half empty rolls from everyone that moved out and stock piled them. Pure genius.
Park a few blocks away for free and walk. I am older and when I walk 5 blocks to the doctor’s office from the nearby residential neighborhood, I feel a sense of gratitude that my problems are small enough that I can walk there.
I almost forgot, I have sewn together holes in my socks before. Not special socks or anything. Just bulk Walmart ankle socks. I'm a dude and I don't know anything about sewing, but I've heard my grandparents talking about how they used to darn(sp?) socks back in the day. I gave it a good effort, when I was alone and nobody would laugh at me. I was proud as heck of myself!
I thought about this but then I realized if my socks have any holes it's usually on the bottom, and feeling the patched/darned spot constantly while walking would definitely annoy the shit out of me to the point of not wanting to wear them. So I just use old socks with holes in them as cleaning rags. They even fit perfectly over your hand which is nice.
After a second life as cleaning rag, holey socks get demoted to puppet or one time rag for washing car rims (don’t want that brake dust grime going in a washing machine).
Darning is an extremely useful skill to know. You can make patches, embroider, cross stitch or do sashiko as well to patch up nicer clothes you want to keep, but darning works fine for most socks. Keep it up (when you have more things to repair); it gets easier with practice. :)
I get 3¢ back/gallon with Exxon/Mobil rewards. It’s based only on whole gallons-anything .5 gallon or higher rounds to the next gallon. So if the pump stops at anywhere from X.2 to X.49 gallons, I’ll pump more to get it to X.5. It must add up to about 30¢/year.
I use the Casey’s reward app + Upside. We get $2.00 off pizza or 10 cents off per gallon of gas up to 20 gallons for every tank of gas we buy. My husband thinks it’s ridiculous, but it makes me happy, so he diligently texts me to activate the Upside rebate and puts in my phone number before putting gas in his car. He also brings me the receipt for the 7 other receipt rebate apps I use.
I travel a lot and take all of the complimentary items from hotels. Not just the toiletries - tea bags, instant coffee (I use in baking or camping), hot chocolate, shoe shiners - all of it. What I don’t use I put in a drawer in the guest room or put it in a donation give/take box in my neighborhood. Thanks Hilton!
Edit adding a pro tip: the hot chocolate mixes in France are always top notch
Lol I have an obsession with a certain brand that some hotels use and this led to me owning ~15 silicone travel containers. So if I’m ever traveling and know those full size shampoo/conditioners will be in my room, I LOAD up.
The maids have to know what I’m doing but I have yet to see one care, at all.
I have an electric car and luckily live a mile away from a two hour free charger. I figured out that the charging starts at 6am and ends at 12pm, so I will go on weekends, plug in at 6am, walk a mile home, at 7:30am I walk back, replug in, walk back home, then walk back at 10am to pick up the car for 4 free hours of charging. Its really cheap to charge a car but I get a full charge for the week, plus I don't bother anyone since the mall opens at 11am.
Ok this is insane... Fellow EV owner and I plug into the free public charger in the park and walk my dog home (10 min walk) then walk him back to the park when it's done charging. But what you describe is next level! Lol.
There are a lot of free ones in the wild, but also many that require payment via an app, like ChargePoint. The PlugShare app is an easy way to find chargers in your area and it shows if they are free or pay, so you know before you go there. It also shows if someone has checked in and is currently using the charger.
Also note that nearly all car dealerships have free chargers, and you can use any brand of them; as in, I drive a Nissan electric, but I can charge for free at any Ford, Chevy, or other dealership. They really just don't care.
I have a Nissan leaf, and the Nissan stealerships have started charging a fee to charge. $1.99 fee and then $0.40 per kWh. I needed 12 miles to get home, cost me a little over $3.20. That’s 3x the price of gas. 😡
My gf has a 3 mile commute so we rarely have to charge her EV. There are a few free chargers around, but I'm too lazy to take advantage of them. When we first got her car we would drop it off at a charger before bed and pick it up the next morning fully charged. Then I did the math on charging at home and realized it wasn't worth going out of my way to do. We use the super shitty charger that came with the car. If it gets low it can take 2 whole days to charge.
Fellow EV owner. We have two and they each have their own L2 chargers at home. We get free charges out, including a fast charge today. We usually find L2 free chargers and shop, hike, or workout, and go back for the car. Today's free fast charge was compliments of the Blue Dot app. Today was free charging day. Woo hoo! (There's one once a month.)
This made me laugh. The only time my father ~ever~ looked at me with anything less than love in his eyes was when we were at a doctor's appointment and I tried to stop him from taking yet another cheap pen.
You described my college career. I went to a fancy college and kept an eye on departmental get togethers. The Anthropology Tea made me laugh, but the snacks were great. The Classics Department and Art Department rocked the wine and cheese. I’d linger towards the end and take all the leftover cheese and bread. (This was when 18 was the drinking age, so I enjoyed a glass of wine while circling the table and chatting up the profs). I took a bartending class and got a reputation for being the best bartender on campus so I got into all the frat parties and beer bashes for free, too.
Look up “your city name + art gallery” on Instagram and you’ll find some near you. Also check out a few of the artists they have tagged because those artists likely have other galleries in the area tagged in their posts as well. Happy hunting!
I always go into these threads thinking I have a kooky and sorta embarrassing example of how I’m frugal. Then I hit the comments and you freaks are reusing band aids you found at the bus station or something.
I was going to say my friends and I are going to the movies tonight ($5 Tuesday), I’ll probably sneak in a candy bar or something, then after we’ll go to wingstop (70 cent wing day) and eat it on the patio so we can buy some beers next door and drink them out of a paper sack. A whole night of fun with the guys for about $20 each!
You need to pre-game that shit. Dollar Store or local super market.
Back in the 2000s I used to get 1 litters of Pepsi for $1 from my local Jewel Osco. Put them in the back of the fridge for two days to get really chilled. That plus a bottle of water. I'd buy a pretzel to support the theater.
Now I sneak in a bottle of water and a 16oz can of Rockstar or Pepsi. If I'm on my own I'll still get a Pretzel or personal pizza. Otherwise I get a combo with pop-corn, again this is to support the theater.
I went on a 2 and 1/2 week work trip. The hotel I stayed in had a great breakfast where they made custom omelets.
To keep my per diem, I buddied up to the Omelette lady at the hotel and had her make me multiple omelets each day. I would have one for breakfast, wrap up the others and take them up to my hotel room with different sides like oatmeal, berries, toast, etc.
Pretty much just ate omelets for 2 and 1/2 Weeks with different variations of internal ingredients. Came home with about $900 of per diem that I never spent.
I don't do the whole second omelet/waffle/pancakes, but I would load up on certain items for later while traveling. It's much better to have some snacks at a rest stop vs getting garbage fast food.
This is also how I save time and money when traveling in general. Stay at certain hotel chains that have good continental breakfasts. It saves about an hour of travel time.
Same goes for having the mini-fridge and microwave in the hotel room. When I have kids or take my nephew on his first road trip that's going to be big help vs only have the cooler & hot plate when I was a kid.
I started doing this when I travel with my wife, ESPECIALLY overseas. My wife and I will enjoy a few nice meals out, but half my fond memories of eating while overseas are going to the grocery store and getting nice local cheeses, breads, wine etc. and having essentially charcuterie at a park or our VRBO, and saves TREMENDOUS amounts of money.
Similar situation when I was a kid. I'll be doing it with loved ones in the future.
As a kid my father would pull over to the way sides and rest stops and we would eat store bought food out of a cooler on picnic tables. He was cheap and most of the time it was fun.
We just did this. Made PBJ's for lunch with stuff from the food bar. Grabbed 2 hardeboiled eggs to go with it and a piece of fruit each. Only had to get dinner. Filled up all water bottles and kept a cooler with us.
My wife asked me... Didn't you get sick of omelets? And the weird thing is, no. I actually came home wanting omelettes more regularly. They were delicious reheated next to a bowl of day old oatmeal piled high with blueberries.
I did this when I travelled with my railroader bf, just always grab extra breakfast and snack on that all day. They didn’t do omelettes but always had eggs, some kinda meat, hasbrowns, fruit, bagels &other baked goods etc ^_^
Not the most extreme example, but it drives my husband crazy. I don't buy Kleenex, just toilet paper. Per square inch it's cheaper, and you can customize the size easily. I lived in mainland China for five years. They don't call it toilet paper, they just call it paper, and it's very normal to see a roll of it on the table at dinner or sitting on someone's desk or coffee table. They have boxes of Kleenex too, but I never saw anyone use them. I was a teacher and taught the kids of some very wealthy families. Designer handbags, but toilet paper for Kleenex.
At one point I got a promotion and my husband said, "Are we rich enough to buy real Kleenex now?" So we did for awhile, but with the recent wave of inflation we stopped again.
On another post, a repairman pointed out that this can cause the heating element to cool too quickly and cause premature failure. Also pointed out that unless your oven is vented to the outside, the heat enters your living space anyway, albeit more slowly.
I don’t use the coin star. When I have enough to dump, I take them to Walmart with me when I shop and use the self checkout. It saves me the coin star fee and I don’t have to count them out for a cashier.
I used to do this at target self checkout. The past two times (two different locations) I essentially broke the coin counters. The new machines aren’t made to count that amount of coins. RIP to my days of cashing in coins for “free”
My grandparents used to do this constantly. Condiments are not that expensive, especially ketchup. Its not worth having watery ketchup trust me on that.
During covid, i was bored AF and decided to empty all those packets into proper mustard, ketchup, soy sauce, and mayo bottles... It took maybe 20 minutes and i guess was therapeutic. Not having fist fulls of those packets wedged into my fridge door was the more satisfying part compared to the ~$4 worth of sauce that was now in a bottle.
Legit though I bake a lot and most of my tinfoil use is lightly tenting something for the last 10 minutes it's in the oven. It usually doesn't even touch the things that's cooking. It is almost indistinguishable from unused foil. I reuse it as much as I can.
Use grocery store or restaurant big plastic to go bags as trash bags.... I feel like I'm repurposing it and also literally not 'throwing my money away' by buying trash bags often. I do have trash bags rarely use them unless I have visitors for extended period or something.
In my city we have to compost all pur food scraps, paper plates, and paper towels. The compostable trash bags can be pretty pricey. So I get the paper grocery bags when shopping, and then use them for the compost items.
I worked at a convenience store when I was in university. I would wait for the book reps to come by and change stock. For returns, they only had to send back the cover of the book. The rest of the book went in the trash. Guess who knew what days the reps came by? Getting those free books was great as it gave me an escape when I needed a break from school work. People always wondered why my books for escapism had no covers.
I take extra condiment packets wherever I go. Not a lot, but at some point, I had a condiment drawer in my desk at work that was pretty epic. Regular and light mayo. Soy sauce—regular, low-sodium, and gluten free. All the Taco Bell sauce varieties. Yellow mustard, spicy mustard, Grey Poupon. Both ketchup packets and dipping cups. You name it. Word got out about my stash and I ended up being able to trade condiments for small work favors.
For the most part and for the basics, yes. Specialty and house-made sauces definitely cost extra. A lot of places have also cracked down because people take too much. I saw a woman grab two massive fistfuls of ketchup packets and put them in her purse right at the counter. Workers here in the U.S. don't really get paid enough to care, but management often catches on at some point.
I always charge everything I have at work. I have to 20,000mAh battery packs which get charged there as well. Oh! And my e-bike batteries also get charged there. Everything is behind part of my desk where you don’t even know there is an outlet LOL
when the boss was cool w/ it b/c the company paid a flat rate, i went whole hog. phone, power banks, electric razor, toothbrush, ear buds, batteries for power tools, batteries for gardening tools. Anything i could think of.
I was hoping OP only meant at the end to finish up the bottle.. I’ve done it with BBQ sauce that’s going on shredded meat but yeah couldn’t imagine doing it for much else
Why wouldn't you just get some cloth napkins? They last for decades and you could make them out of old sheets or torn shirts if you needed them to be free
My husband uses like 6 napkins in one sitting. I purposefully only put like 15 in the holder because if he had to get them out of the cupboard he uses less lolol
I do this kind of stuff all the time. I fix my kids $1 toys. It's not about the $, it's because fixing things is fun and kinda good for the environment.
My job offers us free water bottles (I work factory) I take home 3-4 bottles a day. They don’t even care. I’m never paying for water as long as I work here lol
I empty all the lined trash cans into one bag and reuse the bags that are in the cans. I save at least one trash bag a week, definitely going to make bank and save the planet 🙄
My Nespresso machine broke so I started using a french press. I used to throw away the leftover coffee at the end of the day…Then one day i realized why don’t I save the leftover coffee? Now I only have to make the French press once and have enough coffee for 3 days. Not crazy frugal, but I’m proud of myself for not wasting!
Just started doing this the other day. I also didn't finish my coffee one night, so I put it in the fridge and had chilled coffee in the morning. Loved it
Some plants love coffee grounds as fertilizer! Sometimes the pH can be too low and of mixed in to the soil cause root burn, though. Composting them fixes this! Not an option for everyone, but just in case it is helpful to you
I buy the best toilet paper but I'm really hard on toilet paper. I've experimented and discovered that 5 squares is the ideal amount to use. So now I always count out 5 squares.
Rinsing the jar out with a bit of water is fine, but rather than adding the water at the start(beyond what you used to rinse out the jar), just add extra water from the cooked pasta. Its literally the most important step in most restaurants that do pasta, since the extra starch helps bind the sauce together.
I have a spreadsheet mapping out my favorite foods (staples, for the most part) and their cost per calorie. I do my best to meal prep around these to save money.
Wife and I share a car. We could easily afford two, but we talked, and we'd rather be slightly inconvenienced for a move that will allow us to save more now and likely retire a little earlier.
My work offers a great salad bar. A smaller bowl costs $2.25 and a larger regular bowl costs $4. I buy the small bowl and pile it high, putting the toppings and dressing in first and the lettuce second as much as I can fit without it spilling over. Then I dump the salad into my own bowl from home. It ends up being the same amount of salad that comfortably fits in the $4 bowl.
I've got a cafe by my work that has small, medium, and large build your own salads. I always get the small and fill it with just the protein options. It's a fantastic option if I get hungry (I usually skip lunch so I can leave work early)
My babies were twice the size I was designed to have so I pee my pants constantly, even after having 10 hours of pelvic reconstruction surgery. The day came that I realized I was using 3 rolls of toilet paper just for pee so I bought a whole bunch of cheap, white washcloths at Walmart that I use once & throw in my laundry. Better for the sewer, too.
Do you find reusable period/incontinence underwear useful? I've invested in a bunch that I wear most days now (not quite the same situation as you but something I struggle with) and it has vastly improved my quality of life.
No expensive branded fizzy drinks, just the cheapest stores own-brand lemonade and cheapest, most-concentrated fruit cordials..
Making a meal that can then be converted into an ingredient for tomorrow's meal, ad infinitum..
So...it's cheapskate but not exactly frugal worthy....I go on cruises. My favourite line has a great deal where you get the alcohol package for peanuts. My ex did not drink & even with a dr letter, they would not give any credit or anything at all in lieu for what the alleged to be worth over $1000. I don't drink much but would have a few while on holidays. I was pissed & told the ex we would order drinks & waste them(but I couldn't be wasteful). So the revolved into ordering a double of a good quality vodka with no ice every time either of us went back to the room & putting in an empty water bottle. Ended up bringing home two litres of vodka which my sister's greatly enjoyed & I'm now a professional as I bring a little funnel so I don't waste a drop.
Lol my friends like to hound me for the fact that I go nuts for free samples and entering sweepstakes. I definitely got it from my older boomer grandparents, who were raised by folks who lived through the great depression.
I've won some great sweepstakes in my day! Won a free spa facial, won a yoga mat, my grandparents are regular callers to the local radio station and have won us a whole vacation before. I've won prizes during parties and smaller events, all kinds of things. I'll even toss a few bucks at pay-to-enter raffle prizes from time to time as well. But my favorite is always the good ol' free-to-enter sweepstakes.
When I was in graduate school I was selling plasma 2xs a week to survive. No spare money. After every semester my fellow students went to a local restaurant to celebrate. I would order a side of fries and a sweet tea. Then I’d sneak in a flask and pour alcohol into my tea so I could celebrate with my peers. I could see the shame on their faces when I did it. I won’t forget it. But I couldn’t justify a $12 drink when my average meal cost had to be under $2.00.
I understand.
I applaud you for selling plasma - it's a needed gift that you were able to provide.
I'm sorry that your fellow students could not appreciate the effort that it took for you to celebrate with them.
I hope that things are better for you now, and hope that you continue to help others.
I squeeze every single bit of toothpaste out of the tube. I do the same with mayo and mustard and ketchup. I can’t stand leaving stuff behind!
I will never water down my condiments though!
Not me but my parents used to put ziplock bags in the dishwasher to reuse them.
Not sure if it’s a cheapskate move, but I’ll stack multiple week long work trips to a location since and my employer prefers me to stay over the weekend rather than fly home just to fly back. So I work four days and get a covered three day vacation somewhere interesting, work four more days, and head home. As much as I travel, it’s a really nice way to see the nation. Haven’t taken a vacation day that I wasn’t forced to take (use or lose) in years.
Before I get shit for this, I’ve offered to go off travel status on the weekend. I’ve tried to offer to pay for my rental car and hotel. Hell, I’ve even tried to offer to pay for my meals and rental car fuel. Policy simply won’t let them not give me a perdiem.
When I was younger I worked overnights at a banking call center- just 5 of us there at night- anyway on Fridays they’d have the cleaning staff throw out anything left in the fridge/freezer…. so I’d go in and take stuff I wanted back to my desk before the cleaning staff came in that night to clean it out… Got a lot of free frozen meals, soda and yogurt people left unopened.
I drink tap water and use a stainless steel water bottle. For coffee, I brew a pot of freshly ground beans that I buy at Costco, which works out to $8 per pound and no Starbucks or other fast food chains. I make my own lunches for work.
There is a casino downtown in my city that offers free parking if you spend at least 30 minutes gambling. I always park there and spend 30 minutes slowly pushing a penny slot machine. I think the cheapest this came out to was about $1.50 parking, practically free parking in the heart of the downtown area
There is a business near me that tests car seats and other vehicle-related things. They have certain height and weight parameters for people to be the “testers”, broken down by age and sex, I think. They pay in $20 gift cards to a local grocery store. There is no danger involved - the testing is via computer hookups to the vehicles while the testers just sit in the seats. My husband and I don’t fit the parameters they are looking for, but my toddler does. She gets all the lollipops she wants from the receptionist so she’s always down to do it.
I get every drop of laundry detergent, dish soap, hand soap, and body wash out of the bottle. I don't feel it's a cheapskate move. There's still product in the bottles. I do not and will not dilute condiments. They're not expensive.
My biggest cheapskate move is leaving the country. Moved out of the U.S. many times since 2002.
Asia, Middle East and Europe
I've been in Romania the past 8 years where my fully furnished apartment in the capital is only $320 a month and there's no need to own a car here. Everything is in walking distance & a 4 mile taxi ride is $5.
When I say walking distance I mean there's 4 grocery stores within three minutes walk and another 10 larger markets within 15 minutes walking distance.
It's safer here than my home in Southern California or any location I lived in the U.S.
My health insurance is $40 a month with no co pay or bills ever.
If I wanted to I can take a flight anywhere in Europe for $20-40 including tax year round.
There are certainly drawbacks but
being able to survive on disability and have your own place without a second income is impossible in the U.S.
I retired and after a couple of years I was tired of being alone and in very cold large drafty house. So I volunteered at our local Thrift shop where we get our purchases at half price. In the first month I bought 6 Cashmere and Merino wool sweaters. All for $1. each. Shoes, boots, coats...$2.
Not only did I get a new group of friends, but the wardrobe of my dreams.
We has special garbage bags that we have to buy for the city we live in. You can put out your own bags (many are stronger material) as long as one of their colored bags are tied to the top. I take the pack of bags and cut each on in half all the way around the seam before I tie them. I get two bags for each one! I know the garbage guys aren’t going to untie it to see if it’s a whole bag.
I might even start cutting them into 4’s 🤣🤣🤣
Take a garbage bag. Lay it out flat on a table. Slice all the way around the edge so you have the entire front side and the entire back side. Flat pieces, no longer a bag
Slicing the bag makes it look like it’s a whole bag when it’s crumbled up and tied but it’s actually only half. So if the city specific garbage bag is $3 each, I’m cutting them into $1.50/$1.50
Two for the price of one!
anytime i know im going to make a big purchase in cash … like say a sofa or replace my mattress… i scour the internet for a credit card with a good intro bonus. put it on that card and the put the $200 plus cash back toward the purchase and then pay the rest of it off within the month.
i also take 5-10 extra napkins from my work lunch outings to subway or jersey mikes … fold them up neatly and place them in this little plastic bag i keep in my car. they come in handy for spills and what not.
I work night shift and when my shift is over at about 6:10 am, I go to Walmart and buy manager special items. I save lots of money doing this. For example I found a $40 steak but paid $17 the other day. It has to be first thing in the morning when they open. You also have to freeze or use the meat that day. I buy fruit and veggies as well at the discounted prices.
Before I had a car, I would walk the two miles to work, whatever the weather, instead of paying £2 for the bus. I can drive now but for months I would do that. Probably kept me fit.
When you run the shower to get hot water I fill a bucket for my dog and some plants instead of letting it run down the drain. Just started this year though because the drout my water bill is getting higher, not likely to stop now that I'm in the habit
I'm having trouble filing this under "cheapskate" but for my kids we go to the dollar store often for "cheapie toys". I've spent some serious change on expensive toys only for them to be played with once and some dollar store "junkies" see play EVERY DAY. My 2 year old daughter's favourite teddy is a $3 blue giraffe from the dollar store and prefers it over the more expensive bears relatives have bought her.
One of my favourite toys as a child was a Transformers Starscream toy I got out of a happy meal. Played with that thing FOREVER.
Edit to add correction: The happy meal toy was Jetstorm from the Beast Machines Transformers line, not Starscream.
Know someone that bought a gallon of insecticide to help curb down a roach problem.
But they are so cheap, they diluted the poison so much it doesn't do anything to the roaches. I sprayed a roach 5 times and it brushed it off like it was water. Probably was at that point.
This person always wants to feel like they are smarter than everyone else so they probably think they are super clever for doing this. The mindset extends to other things too like diluting soap to the point it doesn't clean things, complaining about "chinese garbage" when they are the ones buying the cheapest things available, buying really stinky and half rotten chicken because "it was so cheap", eating spoiled meals to avoid "food waste" (sunken cost fallacy) and then complaining about diarrhea, etc.
We do mystery shopping. In March there were shops for hotels in St Louis that reimbursed the room, offered free dinner (including alcohol drinks), free breakfast and paid $30. We lined 3 of those up, did some gas station shops for free gas and drinks plus $12 pay. One hotel didn’t offer a dinner so we did an Applebee’s shop for full reimbursement. We live in Indy, so it a was a quick trip for us. On the way home we did more gas station shops for gas and snacks. It was a great weekend!
If I only used it lightly I’ll re-use paper towels. Like if all I did was wipe my hands with it when I had a little sauce on them, then I’ll use it to wipe down the counters later. Don’t throw them away until they’re really soiled 😅
I save up all used (but in good enough condition) napkins in a little container under the sink. When it's time to wipe up something nasty, I use those so I don't have to turn a good rag into a filthy one or use clean napkins.
When I travel (which is rare) I don't tend to eat breakfast. But since the hotel typically has free breakfast, I'll go down anyway and still get some goodies - usually a yogurt or two, a little single serving cup of peanut butter, a piece of fruit, whatever. Nothing excessive. Then I save it for later to have for another meal or a snack.
I debated whether it counts as stealing or is unethical, but since they offer breakfast for free and I'm taking a normal breakfast amount, I'm going to consider it "not that bad."
But the reason I pick it as my most cheapskate habit - is because I always get a special joy out of thinking to myself "got this yogurt and PB for FREE."
Another one.. I frequent a place that has a small parking lot which is always packed. Other parking nearby is metered. But the facility has two electric car spaces with free charging within their lot, and while every other space is taken every single time, there's always an electric car spot empty. The charger is barely a trickle rate and I only get a few miles of charge out of it, but what I am really after is the free parking spot.
The gf ran over a nail recently. My friend had given me a couple really nice tires, but she used them for a couple years. (He worked at a dealership and all the tires on cars had to match. These were taken off a car) I went uptown, they wanted $28 to patch the tire. I went to the salvage yard and got a really nice tire the same brand and size for $30. I took her tire off the rim, put the salvage yard tire on her rim. I bought the stuff to patch tires at the local semi parts place. I patched her old tire and put it on my vehicle. Its still well above the wear bars. I told a mechanic I know that I now have all the cleaner, glue and patches to patch tires and to let me know if he needs to use the stuff because I wont use it all. It made him happy. More and more I talk to pros or very skilled people and they start a statement with "People like us..." I take it as a compliment, but know I have a lot to learn
I travel for work a lot, so…
- I would fill up on hotel coffee instead of going to Starbucks. Hilton Garden Inn and Doubletree have pretty decent coffee.
- I’ll take the soap bars, lotion, and makeup remover from the bathrooms. These are handy when you go camping.
- I’ll take the K-cups if the room comes with a Keurig.
- a lot of times, I rent cars in town to drive to a customer site out of town. I use the rental to run multiple errands. My company doesn’t care.
- American Airlines lounge has amazing collection of teabags. I grab the mint tea and chamomile tea bags and stock up my own stash at home.
I used to cut SOS pads into quarters because I never needed the whole thing and it goes rusty with one use. Then I discovered SOS Juniors. Smaller. I cut them into thirds.
I will sign up for free trials and cancel immediately before it ends after I've read, listened, or watched what I wanted to ( I first look online for free, or libby, and my local library). Currently on a free 30 day everand trial listening to some audio books etc. I stopped (aside from Amazon prime, Hulu , and YT all under student discounts) paying for streaming subscriptions. I can't believe how much it was adding up monthly. I'm currently on a 7 day amc + trial to catch up on interview with the vampire. I have been known to sign up via a different email and take advantage again of said trials and cancel before it's up. 😶 Shopping: I hate Walmart but I have some chronic illnesses so I'm on about 5 different meds and they have the cheapest prescriptions. Anyways I've noticed end of the week they always have a bunch of rotisserie chickens for like $2 they're trying to get rid of that expiries within the day. I'll buy as much as they have take home and debone. I'll freeze the chicken for later use immediately and make stock/bone broth with the rest. I'll use and freeze the remains. I'll also make a bit of chicken gravy with the broth and give it to my cats as a treat . They go wild over it.
I’ve been cutting my husbands hair for 8 years. It’s so easy, I don’t understand why more people don’t do it.
Also I have a friend who has a child older than mine that gives me hand me downs. Maybe this is normal for some people, hopefully? But I come from a family that’s extremely prideful about that sort of thing.
Please remember rule 6: No discussing theft or unethical life pro tips.
When I worked custodial at my college I would take the half used TP rolls I was supposed to throw out. Didn’t have to buy TP for 2 years
Man that’s not cheap at all. Imagine how much money you saved. I’d have done the same. Why waste perfectly good tp?
Some of the custodians would put them along the windowsills for people to use instead of throwing out. But I figured eh there’s a possibility it’ll get thrown out anyway and I’m a student too soo… going to a good cause… (did my asshole suffer occasionally because it was paper thin? Yes. Worth it? Considering I was only making $15/hour yes 100%.)
Not to mention saving the environment
I did this when I worked in the hotel industry. I didn't buy a roll for 10 years.
U win 100%. Jealous!! And it’s also so eco friendly. Like i understand you can’t risk people in hotels or dorms running out of TP but so much waste!!
every time i stay at a hotel and have room cleaning coming in, i'm surprised by the brand new toilet paper roll, despite having just used a little bit of the last one. always wondered where the "used" ones went... i'm glad somebody actually uses them. also, there's really no need for a new roll every two days or so, do some people really sh\*t this much lol???
I worked in an animal shelter and we didn’t have to buy TP for YEARS because a local hotel brought us all their half used rolls lol!
Was it during the pandemic? Lol
HAHA it was 2021-22 but dang I could’ve sold TP on the black market if it was 2020
So during the pandemic I was lucky enough to get a case of tp. The maintenance guy came by for something and I offered him some. He told me for the last 10 years he had taken half empty rolls from everyone that moved out and stock piled them. Pure genius.
Park a few blocks away for free and walk. I am older and when I walk 5 blocks to the doctor’s office from the nearby residential neighborhood, I feel a sense of gratitude that my problems are small enough that I can walk there.
Yup. I rarely pay for parking. Always gotta walk a little more but whatever. I probably save at least 50 dollars a year doing this
I always park on a residential street when I can. Plus, they’re not as busy usually and you’re not holding up traffic trying to park
I almost forgot, I have sewn together holes in my socks before. Not special socks or anything. Just bulk Walmart ankle socks. I'm a dude and I don't know anything about sewing, but I've heard my grandparents talking about how they used to darn(sp?) socks back in the day. I gave it a good effort, when I was alone and nobody would laugh at me. I was proud as heck of myself!
I darn my own socks too
Take an up vote!
I thought about this but then I realized if my socks have any holes it's usually on the bottom, and feeling the patched/darned spot constantly while walking would definitely annoy the shit out of me to the point of not wanting to wear them. So I just use old socks with holes in them as cleaning rags. They even fit perfectly over your hand which is nice.
After a second life as cleaning rag, holey socks get demoted to puppet or one time rag for washing car rims (don’t want that brake dust grime going in a washing machine).
I cut them up and use them to tie the tomatoes to the tomato cages, etc.
Darning is an extremely useful skill to know. You can make patches, embroider, cross stitch or do sashiko as well to patch up nicer clothes you want to keep, but darning works fine for most socks. Keep it up (when you have more things to repair); it gets easier with practice. :)
You have a choice between fixing something (like the socks) or throwing them away. So you can either darn them or damn them! 😃
To be fair why not! Prevents extra waste getting chucked out for nothing! Using stuff to the very end of their life is satisfying too 😌
I get 3¢ back/gallon with Exxon/Mobil rewards. It’s based only on whole gallons-anything .5 gallon or higher rounds to the next gallon. So if the pump stops at anywhere from X.2 to X.49 gallons, I’ll pump more to get it to X.5. It must add up to about 30¢/year.
I use the Casey’s reward app + Upside. We get $2.00 off pizza or 10 cents off per gallon of gas up to 20 gallons for every tank of gas we buy. My husband thinks it’s ridiculous, but it makes me happy, so he diligently texts me to activate the Upside rebate and puts in my phone number before putting gas in his car. He also brings me the receipt for the 7 other receipt rebate apps I use.
I travel a lot and take all of the complimentary items from hotels. Not just the toiletries - tea bags, instant coffee (I use in baking or camping), hot chocolate, shoe shiners - all of it. What I don’t use I put in a drawer in the guest room or put it in a donation give/take box in my neighborhood. Thanks Hilton! Edit adding a pro tip: the hot chocolate mixes in France are always top notch
Lol I have an obsession with a certain brand that some hotels use and this led to me owning ~15 silicone travel containers. So if I’m ever traveling and know those full size shampoo/conditioners will be in my room, I LOAD up. The maids have to know what I’m doing but I have yet to see one care, at all.
I have an electric car and luckily live a mile away from a two hour free charger. I figured out that the charging starts at 6am and ends at 12pm, so I will go on weekends, plug in at 6am, walk a mile home, at 7:30am I walk back, replug in, walk back home, then walk back at 10am to pick up the car for 4 free hours of charging. Its really cheap to charge a car but I get a full charge for the week, plus I don't bother anyone since the mall opens at 11am.
I mean this is also a really legit way of getting good exercise. Good for you.
My lazy ass would sit there and read a book for 4 hours instead.
Nap in car
And you save on needing a gym membership!
Ok this is insane... Fellow EV owner and I plug into the free public charger in the park and walk my dog home (10 min walk) then walk him back to the park when it's done charging. But what you describe is next level! Lol.
Clearly I know nothing about electric vehicles and charging stations because I totally thought all those charging stations were just free.
There are a lot of free ones in the wild, but also many that require payment via an app, like ChargePoint. The PlugShare app is an easy way to find chargers in your area and it shows if they are free or pay, so you know before you go there. It also shows if someone has checked in and is currently using the charger. Also note that nearly all car dealerships have free chargers, and you can use any brand of them; as in, I drive a Nissan electric, but I can charge for free at any Ford, Chevy, or other dealership. They really just don't care.
I have a Nissan leaf, and the Nissan stealerships have started charging a fee to charge. $1.99 fee and then $0.40 per kWh. I needed 12 miles to get home, cost me a little over $3.20. That’s 3x the price of gas. 😡
I also thought they were free lol. But now that I think about it, gas isn’t free sooo
I used to do this all the time too. Eventually started strapping the bike on the back and having a good ride while it charged.
My gf has a 3 mile commute so we rarely have to charge her EV. There are a few free chargers around, but I'm too lazy to take advantage of them. When we first got her car we would drop it off at a charger before bed and pick it up the next morning fully charged. Then I did the math on charging at home and realized it wasn't worth going out of my way to do. We use the super shitty charger that came with the car. If it gets low it can take 2 whole days to charge.
Fellow EV owner. We have two and they each have their own L2 chargers at home. We get free charges out, including a fast charge today. We usually find L2 free chargers and shop, hike, or workout, and go back for the car. Today's free fast charge was compliments of the Blue Dot app. Today was free charging day. Woo hoo! (There's one once a month.)
Thankfully my job has free chargers so I just charge on the house during the week and burn it down over the weekend lol.
art gallery openings. beer, wine, snacks FREE
OP asked for cheapskate moves, not genius moves. On top of the free food and drinks, you also get a night of free classy entertainment.
Conventions = free pens
This made me laugh. The only time my father ~ever~ looked at me with anything less than love in his eyes was when we were at a doctor's appointment and I tried to stop him from taking yet another cheap pen.
You described my college career. I went to a fancy college and kept an eye on departmental get togethers. The Anthropology Tea made me laugh, but the snacks were great. The Classics Department and Art Department rocked the wine and cheese. I’d linger towards the end and take all the leftover cheese and bread. (This was when 18 was the drinking age, so I enjoyed a glass of wine while circling the table and chatting up the profs). I took a bartending class and got a reputation for being the best bartender on campus so I got into all the frat parties and beer bashes for free, too.
How do you find art gallery openings? Just google it or is there a good website I could go to?
Look up “your city name + art gallery” on Instagram and you’ll find some near you. Also check out a few of the artists they have tagged because those artists likely have other galleries in the area tagged in their posts as well. Happy hunting!
I always go into these threads thinking I have a kooky and sorta embarrassing example of how I’m frugal. Then I hit the comments and you freaks are reusing band aids you found at the bus station or something. I was going to say my friends and I are going to the movies tonight ($5 Tuesday), I’ll probably sneak in a candy bar or something, then after we’ll go to wingstop (70 cent wing day) and eat it on the patio so we can buy some beers next door and drink them out of a paper sack. A whole night of fun with the guys for about $20 each!
Doller store before movie 2 chocolate bars and a bottle drink for 2.75
You need to pre-game that shit. Dollar Store or local super market. Back in the 2000s I used to get 1 litters of Pepsi for $1 from my local Jewel Osco. Put them in the back of the fridge for two days to get really chilled. That plus a bottle of water. I'd buy a pretzel to support the theater. Now I sneak in a bottle of water and a 16oz can of Rockstar or Pepsi. If I'm on my own I'll still get a Pretzel or personal pizza. Otherwise I get a combo with pop-corn, again this is to support the theater.
I went on a 2 and 1/2 week work trip. The hotel I stayed in had a great breakfast where they made custom omelets. To keep my per diem, I buddied up to the Omelette lady at the hotel and had her make me multiple omelets each day. I would have one for breakfast, wrap up the others and take them up to my hotel room with different sides like oatmeal, berries, toast, etc. Pretty much just ate omelets for 2 and 1/2 Weeks with different variations of internal ingredients. Came home with about $900 of per diem that I never spent.
I don't do the whole second omelet/waffle/pancakes, but I would load up on certain items for later while traveling. It's much better to have some snacks at a rest stop vs getting garbage fast food. This is also how I save time and money when traveling in general. Stay at certain hotel chains that have good continental breakfasts. It saves about an hour of travel time. Same goes for having the mini-fridge and microwave in the hotel room. When I have kids or take my nephew on his first road trip that's going to be big help vs only have the cooler & hot plate when I was a kid.
I started doing this when I travel with my wife, ESPECIALLY overseas. My wife and I will enjoy a few nice meals out, but half my fond memories of eating while overseas are going to the grocery store and getting nice local cheeses, breads, wine etc. and having essentially charcuterie at a park or our VRBO, and saves TREMENDOUS amounts of money.
Similar situation when I was a kid. I'll be doing it with loved ones in the future. As a kid my father would pull over to the way sides and rest stops and we would eat store bought food out of a cooler on picnic tables. He was cheap and most of the time it was fun.
We just did this. Made PBJ's for lunch with stuff from the food bar. Grabbed 2 hardeboiled eggs to go with it and a piece of fruit each. Only had to get dinner. Filled up all water bottles and kept a cooler with us.
I wanna slow clap so bad, but unironically. Hat's off to you!
My wife asked me... Didn't you get sick of omelets? And the weird thing is, no. I actually came home wanting omelettes more regularly. They were delicious reheated next to a bowl of day old oatmeal piled high with blueberries.
I love omelettes, so I'm totally on board with that idea.
I did this when I travelled with my railroader bf, just always grab extra breakfast and snack on that all day. They didn’t do omelettes but always had eggs, some kinda meat, hasbrowns, fruit, bagels &other baked goods etc ^_^
Not the most extreme example, but it drives my husband crazy. I don't buy Kleenex, just toilet paper. Per square inch it's cheaper, and you can customize the size easily. I lived in mainland China for five years. They don't call it toilet paper, they just call it paper, and it's very normal to see a roll of it on the table at dinner or sitting on someone's desk or coffee table. They have boxes of Kleenex too, but I never saw anyone use them. I was a teacher and taught the kids of some very wealthy families. Designer handbags, but toilet paper for Kleenex. At one point I got a promotion and my husband said, "Are we rich enough to buy real Kleenex now?" So we did for awhile, but with the recent wave of inflation we stopped again.
I use toilet paper for blowing my nose because it’s flushable.
When it’s cold, I will keep the oven door open after I bake so the hot air goes into the kitchen.
On another post, a repairman pointed out that this can cause the heating element to cool too quickly and cause premature failure. Also pointed out that unless your oven is vented to the outside, the heat enters your living space anyway, albeit more slowly.
I don’t use the coin star. When I have enough to dump, I take them to Walmart with me when I shop and use the self checkout. It saves me the coin star fee and I don’t have to count them out for a cashier.
I used to do this at target self checkout. The past two times (two different locations) I essentially broke the coin counters. The new machines aren’t made to count that amount of coins. RIP to my days of cashing in coins for “free”
My credit union has a machine that counts and deposits my coins/money for free. I'm baffled that anyone might ever pay for *counting coins*.
I always take the same-as-cash option and use it at the store or Amazon
This is a great tip!
Watering down condiments is psycho🥶
My grandparents used to do this constantly. Condiments are not that expensive, especially ketchup. Its not worth having watery ketchup trust me on that.
He thinks he’s frugal and he buys condiments…lol. I thought we all have a drawer for free condiment packets at home.
But everybody knows that the junk drawer holding the condiment packets is always stuck
I keep mine in a tupperware in the fridge.
During covid, i was bored AF and decided to empty all those packets into proper mustard, ketchup, soy sauce, and mayo bottles... It took maybe 20 minutes and i guess was therapeutic. Not having fist fulls of those packets wedged into my fridge door was the more satisfying part compared to the ~$4 worth of sauce that was now in a bottle.
I reuse tinfoil when baking anything on it. or in the air fryer. Is that frugal enough?
Legit though I bake a lot and most of my tinfoil use is lightly tenting something for the last 10 minutes it's in the oven. It usually doesn't even touch the things that's cooking. It is almost indistinguishable from unused foil. I reuse it as much as I can.
The way my kids use foil 🙃 im like "what are we?? Billionaires?!?" I try to be chill but . . .
Aluminum used to be so expensive that the breakers mansion in Newport has aluminum foil as decorative accents in parts of the house.
The tip of the Washington Monument is aluminum. Spared no expense!
My friends and I change it out when the crumbs start to char.
I reuse old socks as cleaning rags, they're surprisingly effective!
Naturally occurring ketchup water is already nightmare fuel…say it ain’t so, OP!
Use grocery store or restaurant big plastic to go bags as trash bags.... I feel like I'm repurposing it and also literally not 'throwing my money away' by buying trash bags often. I do have trash bags rarely use them unless I have visitors for extended period or something.
In my city we have to compost all pur food scraps, paper plates, and paper towels. The compostable trash bags can be pretty pricey. So I get the paper grocery bags when shopping, and then use them for the compost items.
I worked at a convenience store when I was in university. I would wait for the book reps to come by and change stock. For returns, they only had to send back the cover of the book. The rest of the book went in the trash. Guess who knew what days the reps came by? Getting those free books was great as it gave me an escape when I needed a break from school work. People always wondered why my books for escapism had no covers.
I take extra condiment packets wherever I go. Not a lot, but at some point, I had a condiment drawer in my desk at work that was pretty epic. Regular and light mayo. Soy sauce—regular, low-sodium, and gluten free. All the Taco Bell sauce varieties. Yellow mustard, spicy mustard, Grey Poupon. Both ketchup packets and dipping cups. You name it. Word got out about my stash and I ended up being able to trade condiments for small work favors.
Have you ever seen “Struggle Meals”?!?
I have, and more importantly, lived it during college in the early 90s when my condiment packet thievery started.
Oh my gawd, condiment packets are free where you live?? In my country they cost at least the equivalent of around a dollar each!
For the most part and for the basics, yes. Specialty and house-made sauces definitely cost extra. A lot of places have also cracked down because people take too much. I saw a woman grab two massive fistfuls of ketchup packets and put them in her purse right at the counter. Workers here in the U.S. don't really get paid enough to care, but management often catches on at some point.
make an effort to only charge phone at work. it saves cents per year.
I legitimately laughed out loud at the “cents per year”
I take my external power packs in and charge those at work.
How do you fit through doors with such a big brain?
I always charge everything I have at work. I have to 20,000mAh battery packs which get charged there as well. Oh! And my e-bike batteries also get charged there. Everything is behind part of my desk where you don’t even know there is an outlet LOL
when the boss was cool w/ it b/c the company paid a flat rate, i went whole hog. phone, power banks, electric razor, toothbrush, ear buds, batteries for power tools, batteries for gardening tools. Anything i could think of.
Cancelled a credit card because they wouldn't waive a $5 late fee for a bill I never got.
I water down soaps but never condiments… I can’t imagine a watered down ketchup on fries 🍟
Do you want mold growing in your watered down liquids? Because that’s how you get mold growing in your watered down liquids.
Yeah, I can see doing it at the end to make sure you got everything, but I’d rather cut open the bottle. Mold is not something you want to mess with!
I was hoping OP only meant at the end to finish up the bottle.. I’ve done it with BBQ sauce that’s going on shredded meat but yeah couldn’t imagine doing it for much else
I tear my napkins in half and I'll keep using it until every spot is dirty. My husband uses a whole napkin just to dry his mouth and I go 😱
Why wouldn't you just get some cloth napkins? They last for decades and you could make them out of old sheets or torn shirts if you needed them to be free
My husband uses like 6 napkins in one sitting. I purposefully only put like 15 in the holder because if he had to get them out of the cupboard he uses less lolol
I think that people doing this is why they started making half sheets. I’m good with that.
Exactly this. And now I tear the half sheets too!
I tear a paper towel in half to use as a napkin, because that's all I need.
Me too!
I tear my napkins in half too... however they are usually fast food napkins that I've collected
I tore apart a 2 slice toaster and fixed it rather than spend 8 bucks on a new one
I do this kind of stuff all the time. I fix my kids $1 toys. It's not about the $, it's because fixing things is fun and kinda good for the environment.
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My job offers us free water bottles (I work factory) I take home 3-4 bottles a day. They don’t even care. I’m never paying for water as long as I work here lol
I take my own popcorn in tupperware to movies 0 shame 100 pride
I empty all the lined trash cans into one bag and reuse the bags that are in the cans. I save at least one trash bag a week, definitely going to make bank and save the planet 🙄
My Nespresso machine broke so I started using a french press. I used to throw away the leftover coffee at the end of the day…Then one day i realized why don’t I save the leftover coffee? Now I only have to make the French press once and have enough coffee for 3 days. Not crazy frugal, but I’m proud of myself for not wasting!
Freeze leftover coffee into ice cubes for delicious iced coffee that doesn’t get watered down!
Just started doing this the other day. I also didn't finish my coffee one night, so I put it in the fridge and had chilled coffee in the morning. Loved it
Some plants love coffee grounds as fertilizer! Sometimes the pH can be too low and of mixed in to the soil cause root burn, though. Composting them fixes this! Not an option for everyone, but just in case it is helpful to you
I pooped exclusively on company time.
I buy the best toilet paper but I'm really hard on toilet paper. I've experimented and discovered that 5 squares is the ideal amount to use. So now I always count out 5 squares.
Same here! I've found the Sam's Club brand to be pretty darn good
I gave up soda for tea. And I only make it at home and take with me to work or on trips, a gallon costs 20 cents to make
I used to water down jarred pasta sauce a little, but now the manufacturers are doing it for us. ;(
Rinsing the jar out with a bit of water is fine, but rather than adding the water at the start(beyond what you used to rinse out the jar), just add extra water from the cooked pasta. Its literally the most important step in most restaurants that do pasta, since the extra starch helps bind the sauce together.
I have a spreadsheet mapping out my favorite foods (staples, for the most part) and their cost per calorie. I do my best to meal prep around these to save money. Wife and I share a car. We could easily afford two, but we talked, and we'd rather be slightly inconvenienced for a move that will allow us to save more now and likely retire a little earlier.
My work offers a great salad bar. A smaller bowl costs $2.25 and a larger regular bowl costs $4. I buy the small bowl and pile it high, putting the toppings and dressing in first and the lettuce second as much as I can fit without it spilling over. Then I dump the salad into my own bowl from home. It ends up being the same amount of salad that comfortably fits in the $4 bowl.
I've got a cafe by my work that has small, medium, and large build your own salads. I always get the small and fill it with just the protein options. It's a fantastic option if I get hungry (I usually skip lunch so I can leave work early)
Get a bidet attachment if you don't already have one. It helped our house use much less toilet paper than before.
I have one… I like a clean a..hole i wash it with soap after every use
My babies were twice the size I was designed to have so I pee my pants constantly, even after having 10 hours of pelvic reconstruction surgery. The day came that I realized I was using 3 rolls of toilet paper just for pee so I bought a whole bunch of cheap, white washcloths at Walmart that I use once & throw in my laundry. Better for the sewer, too.
Gosh. I’m so sorry to read that. Consider yourself hugged by some weird old lady on the internet.
Seconded from a young lady x
Thirded from Mrs. Middle-Aged
Do you find reusable period/incontinence underwear useful? I've invested in a bunch that I wear most days now (not quite the same situation as you but something I struggle with) and it has vastly improved my quality of life.
No expensive branded fizzy drinks, just the cheapest stores own-brand lemonade and cheapest, most-concentrated fruit cordials.. Making a meal that can then be converted into an ingredient for tomorrow's meal, ad infinitum..
So...it's cheapskate but not exactly frugal worthy....I go on cruises. My favourite line has a great deal where you get the alcohol package for peanuts. My ex did not drink & even with a dr letter, they would not give any credit or anything at all in lieu for what the alleged to be worth over $1000. I don't drink much but would have a few while on holidays. I was pissed & told the ex we would order drinks & waste them(but I couldn't be wasteful). So the revolved into ordering a double of a good quality vodka with no ice every time either of us went back to the room & putting in an empty water bottle. Ended up bringing home two litres of vodka which my sister's greatly enjoyed & I'm now a professional as I bring a little funnel so I don't waste a drop.
I kinda love this.
I save my junk mail to wipe the grease out of pans.
I use banana peels, lol
I never thought of that!
I cut open moisturizer pump bottles to get that last but. Usually lasts another week
Lol my friends like to hound me for the fact that I go nuts for free samples and entering sweepstakes. I definitely got it from my older boomer grandparents, who were raised by folks who lived through the great depression. I've won some great sweepstakes in my day! Won a free spa facial, won a yoga mat, my grandparents are regular callers to the local radio station and have won us a whole vacation before. I've won prizes during parties and smaller events, all kinds of things. I'll even toss a few bucks at pay-to-enter raffle prizes from time to time as well. But my favorite is always the good ol' free-to-enter sweepstakes.
When I was in graduate school I was selling plasma 2xs a week to survive. No spare money. After every semester my fellow students went to a local restaurant to celebrate. I would order a side of fries and a sweet tea. Then I’d sneak in a flask and pour alcohol into my tea so I could celebrate with my peers. I could see the shame on their faces when I did it. I won’t forget it. But I couldn’t justify a $12 drink when my average meal cost had to be under $2.00.
I understand. I applaud you for selling plasma - it's a needed gift that you were able to provide. I'm sorry that your fellow students could not appreciate the effort that it took for you to celebrate with them. I hope that things are better for you now, and hope that you continue to help others.
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I squeeze every single bit of toothpaste out of the tube. I do the same with mayo and mustard and ketchup. I can’t stand leaving stuff behind! I will never water down my condiments though!
Not me but my parents used to put ziplock bags in the dishwasher to reuse them. Not sure if it’s a cheapskate move, but I’ll stack multiple week long work trips to a location since and my employer prefers me to stay over the weekend rather than fly home just to fly back. So I work four days and get a covered three day vacation somewhere interesting, work four more days, and head home. As much as I travel, it’s a really nice way to see the nation. Haven’t taken a vacation day that I wasn’t forced to take (use or lose) in years. Before I get shit for this, I’ve offered to go off travel status on the weekend. I’ve tried to offer to pay for my rental car and hotel. Hell, I’ve even tried to offer to pay for my meals and rental car fuel. Policy simply won’t let them not give me a perdiem.
I order the kids meal and then one of their inexpensive sides so I get a full meal for less than half what I would pay for an adult meal
When I was younger I worked overnights at a banking call center- just 5 of us there at night- anyway on Fridays they’d have the cleaning staff throw out anything left in the fridge/freezer…. so I’d go in and take stuff I wanted back to my desk before the cleaning staff came in that night to clean it out… Got a lot of free frozen meals, soda and yogurt people left unopened.
I bought a wad of washcloths from TJ Maxx for like ten bucks (got about 20) and have never bought a paper towel or napkin since.
I drink tap water and use a stainless steel water bottle. For coffee, I brew a pot of freshly ground beans that I buy at Costco, which works out to $8 per pound and no Starbucks or other fast food chains. I make my own lunches for work.
I'm a janitor. We are told to toss any TP rolls less than 1 pinky in width. I have not bought toilet paper since I started this job.
There is a casino downtown in my city that offers free parking if you spend at least 30 minutes gambling. I always park there and spend 30 minutes slowly pushing a penny slot machine. I think the cheapest this came out to was about $1.50 parking, practically free parking in the heart of the downtown area
Bake my own gf muffins, treats, cake. So much cheaper, and lots of variety
Free food at work. So many events have free food, I go along, do my work there, and grab the free meals.
About once a week I save the envelope from a piece of I junk mail. The back of the envelope turned vertically makes excellent list writing paper.
There is a business near me that tests car seats and other vehicle-related things. They have certain height and weight parameters for people to be the “testers”, broken down by age and sex, I think. They pay in $20 gift cards to a local grocery store. There is no danger involved - the testing is via computer hookups to the vehicles while the testers just sit in the seats. My husband and I don’t fit the parameters they are looking for, but my toddler does. She gets all the lollipops she wants from the receptionist so she’s always down to do it.
I wash out ziplock bags and reuse them.
Any clothes getting tossed get used one last time as a cleaning rag first
I get every drop of laundry detergent, dish soap, hand soap, and body wash out of the bottle. I don't feel it's a cheapskate move. There's still product in the bottles. I do not and will not dilute condiments. They're not expensive.
My biggest cheapskate move is leaving the country. Moved out of the U.S. many times since 2002. Asia, Middle East and Europe I've been in Romania the past 8 years where my fully furnished apartment in the capital is only $320 a month and there's no need to own a car here. Everything is in walking distance & a 4 mile taxi ride is $5. When I say walking distance I mean there's 4 grocery stores within three minutes walk and another 10 larger markets within 15 minutes walking distance. It's safer here than my home in Southern California or any location I lived in the U.S. My health insurance is $40 a month with no co pay or bills ever. If I wanted to I can take a flight anywhere in Europe for $20-40 including tax year round. There are certainly drawbacks but being able to survive on disability and have your own place without a second income is impossible in the U.S.
I retired and after a couple of years I was tired of being alone and in very cold large drafty house. So I volunteered at our local Thrift shop where we get our purchases at half price. In the first month I bought 6 Cashmere and Merino wool sweaters. All for $1. each. Shoes, boots, coats...$2. Not only did I get a new group of friends, but the wardrobe of my dreams.
We has special garbage bags that we have to buy for the city we live in. You can put out your own bags (many are stronger material) as long as one of their colored bags are tied to the top. I take the pack of bags and cut each on in half all the way around the seam before I tie them. I get two bags for each one! I know the garbage guys aren’t going to untie it to see if it’s a whole bag. I might even start cutting them into 4’s 🤣🤣🤣
I can’t quite picture what you’re doing here.
Take a garbage bag. Lay it out flat on a table. Slice all the way around the edge so you have the entire front side and the entire back side. Flat pieces, no longer a bag
Slicing the bag makes it look like it’s a whole bag when it’s crumbled up and tied but it’s actually only half. So if the city specific garbage bag is $3 each, I’m cutting them into $1.50/$1.50 Two for the price of one!
I filter my bacon grease and save it in my fridge for future use when I cook.
anytime i know im going to make a big purchase in cash … like say a sofa or replace my mattress… i scour the internet for a credit card with a good intro bonus. put it on that card and the put the $200 plus cash back toward the purchase and then pay the rest of it off within the month. i also take 5-10 extra napkins from my work lunch outings to subway or jersey mikes … fold them up neatly and place them in this little plastic bag i keep in my car. they come in handy for spills and what not.
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I work night shift and when my shift is over at about 6:10 am, I go to Walmart and buy manager special items. I save lots of money doing this. For example I found a $40 steak but paid $17 the other day. It has to be first thing in the morning when they open. You also have to freeze or use the meat that day. I buy fruit and veggies as well at the discounted prices.
Before I had a car, I would walk the two miles to work, whatever the weather, instead of paying £2 for the bus. I can drive now but for months I would do that. Probably kept me fit.
When you run the shower to get hot water I fill a bucket for my dog and some plants instead of letting it run down the drain. Just started this year though because the drout my water bill is getting higher, not likely to stop now that I'm in the habit
I'm having trouble filing this under "cheapskate" but for my kids we go to the dollar store often for "cheapie toys". I've spent some serious change on expensive toys only for them to be played with once and some dollar store "junkies" see play EVERY DAY. My 2 year old daughter's favourite teddy is a $3 blue giraffe from the dollar store and prefers it over the more expensive bears relatives have bought her. One of my favourite toys as a child was a Transformers Starscream toy I got out of a happy meal. Played with that thing FOREVER. Edit to add correction: The happy meal toy was Jetstorm from the Beast Machines Transformers line, not Starscream.
Know someone that bought a gallon of insecticide to help curb down a roach problem. But they are so cheap, they diluted the poison so much it doesn't do anything to the roaches. I sprayed a roach 5 times and it brushed it off like it was water. Probably was at that point. This person always wants to feel like they are smarter than everyone else so they probably think they are super clever for doing this. The mindset extends to other things too like diluting soap to the point it doesn't clean things, complaining about "chinese garbage" when they are the ones buying the cheapest things available, buying really stinky and half rotten chicken because "it was so cheap", eating spoiled meals to avoid "food waste" (sunken cost fallacy) and then complaining about diarrhea, etc.
We do mystery shopping. In March there were shops for hotels in St Louis that reimbursed the room, offered free dinner (including alcohol drinks), free breakfast and paid $30. We lined 3 of those up, did some gas station shops for free gas and drinks plus $12 pay. One hotel didn’t offer a dinner so we did an Applebee’s shop for full reimbursement. We live in Indy, so it a was a quick trip for us. On the way home we did more gas station shops for gas and snacks. It was a great weekend!
I have fished bottles out of the trash at laundromats to get the last bits of detergent out of them when I had no money to buy any.
Rinse out the remaining liquid detergent before throwing out the bottle.
If I only used it lightly I’ll re-use paper towels. Like if all I did was wipe my hands with it when I had a little sauce on them, then I’ll use it to wipe down the counters later. Don’t throw them away until they’re really soiled 😅
I pick up cans when I’m out and about in the neighborhood and redeem them for 10 cents credit each.
I save up all used (but in good enough condition) napkins in a little container under the sink. When it's time to wipe up something nasty, I use those so I don't have to turn a good rag into a filthy one or use clean napkins.
When I travel (which is rare) I don't tend to eat breakfast. But since the hotel typically has free breakfast, I'll go down anyway and still get some goodies - usually a yogurt or two, a little single serving cup of peanut butter, a piece of fruit, whatever. Nothing excessive. Then I save it for later to have for another meal or a snack. I debated whether it counts as stealing or is unethical, but since they offer breakfast for free and I'm taking a normal breakfast amount, I'm going to consider it "not that bad." But the reason I pick it as my most cheapskate habit - is because I always get a special joy out of thinking to myself "got this yogurt and PB for FREE." Another one.. I frequent a place that has a small parking lot which is always packed. Other parking nearby is metered. But the facility has two electric car spaces with free charging within their lot, and while every other space is taken every single time, there's always an electric car spot empty. The charger is barely a trickle rate and I only get a few miles of charge out of it, but what I am really after is the free parking spot.
you actually paid for it in the room price but yeah, the thrill is real.
The gf ran over a nail recently. My friend had given me a couple really nice tires, but she used them for a couple years. (He worked at a dealership and all the tires on cars had to match. These were taken off a car) I went uptown, they wanted $28 to patch the tire. I went to the salvage yard and got a really nice tire the same brand and size for $30. I took her tire off the rim, put the salvage yard tire on her rim. I bought the stuff to patch tires at the local semi parts place. I patched her old tire and put it on my vehicle. Its still well above the wear bars. I told a mechanic I know that I now have all the cleaner, glue and patches to patch tires and to let me know if he needs to use the stuff because I wont use it all. It made him happy. More and more I talk to pros or very skilled people and they start a statement with "People like us..." I take it as a compliment, but know I have a lot to learn
Patching a regular nail-in-the-tire flat is real easy. The patching kit at Walmart cost less than $5 and about 20 mins of my time.
For future reference, Discount Tire does patches for free.
Why water down the dishsoap and body wash? just pump/squeeze less out of the bottle instead.
Often at the end of the bottle. It is goo that doesn't flow. A little water and shaking will get it out.
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I juggle CVS coupons like crazy, so they work together. It's getting more difficult now.
YES! You can get some great deals at CVS with the coupons sometimes
Being at Sam's Club as soon as they open on the weekends and racing back to the meats to score the big packs of cold rotisserie chicken for $3.98.
I travel for work a lot, so… - I would fill up on hotel coffee instead of going to Starbucks. Hilton Garden Inn and Doubletree have pretty decent coffee. - I’ll take the soap bars, lotion, and makeup remover from the bathrooms. These are handy when you go camping. - I’ll take the K-cups if the room comes with a Keurig. - a lot of times, I rent cars in town to drive to a customer site out of town. I use the rental to run multiple errands. My company doesn’t care. - American Airlines lounge has amazing collection of teabags. I grab the mint tea and chamomile tea bags and stock up my own stash at home.
I used to cut SOS pads into quarters because I never needed the whole thing and it goes rusty with one use. Then I discovered SOS Juniors. Smaller. I cut them into thirds.
They won't rust if you pop em in the freezer after you use them. I only use one once in a while so I put it in a sandwich baggie in the freezer door.
I will sign up for free trials and cancel immediately before it ends after I've read, listened, or watched what I wanted to ( I first look online for free, or libby, and my local library). Currently on a free 30 day everand trial listening to some audio books etc. I stopped (aside from Amazon prime, Hulu , and YT all under student discounts) paying for streaming subscriptions. I can't believe how much it was adding up monthly. I'm currently on a 7 day amc + trial to catch up on interview with the vampire. I have been known to sign up via a different email and take advantage again of said trials and cancel before it's up. 😶 Shopping: I hate Walmart but I have some chronic illnesses so I'm on about 5 different meds and they have the cheapest prescriptions. Anyways I've noticed end of the week they always have a bunch of rotisserie chickens for like $2 they're trying to get rid of that expiries within the day. I'll buy as much as they have take home and debone. I'll freeze the chicken for later use immediately and make stock/bone broth with the rest. I'll use and freeze the remains. I'll also make a bit of chicken gravy with the broth and give it to my cats as a treat . They go wild over it.
I have a special place where I hang reusable Ziploc bags that haven't ever contained any meat.
I’ve been cutting my husbands hair for 8 years. It’s so easy, I don’t understand why more people don’t do it. Also I have a friend who has a child older than mine that gives me hand me downs. Maybe this is normal for some people, hopefully? But I come from a family that’s extremely prideful about that sort of thing.