Crazy/Dubious Money Saving Tricks/Tips Official Thread

[Mgmny]

So, someone tried starting this same thread a year and a half ago, but it took a turn towards fraud/illegal activity, so i wanted to start another one where people share their dubious/not well known/outlandish/extreme/crazy frugality hacks/tricks/tips that are legal.

For example: In a northern climate, you freeze water bottles outside and put them in your fridge to cool your fridge for free.

Instead of paying for garbage collection, drop your garbage at the gas station in the bins near the pumps.

What tips do you have that are "out there"?

[Davnasty]

Instead of paying for garbage collection, drop your garbage at the gas station.

If you mean using their dumpster, then you've already crossed the line into illegal. If you mean dumping small enough amounts that it fits into their trash cans, I suppose that would be legal. They provide the cans and there's no rules as to what you can and can't out in them that I'm aware of. So unethical, but legal.

I like the idea of freezing water for the fridge. I've always found it frustrating that we heat our home and then use more electricity to cool a small space inside of it.

Contribution: I use toothpaste from a small plastic bottle because it's easier to dispense the right amount, but if you buy those little bottles they cost more than a tube and hold less. So I refill the bottle with a tube. Transferring from tube to bottle is not an easy task, but hey, I save ~$4/year.

[Free Spirit]

I work in a restaurant. A former coworker would take leftover food from tables and box it up to take home with her. At first I just figured it was for her dog, nbd, a lot of people do that, but then I saw her eating out of the boxes and was totally squicked out. My managers told her to stop because it's disgusting and putting herself at risk for illness, plus using up company product because she was taking home stacks of boxes each night. She kept it up for a good 6 months before being laid off. I definitely consider that extreme and would never resort to eating off other people's plates but I wonder how much money she saved on groceries last summer.

Along those same lines however, because I work in a restaurant I often get free food so I will use it to my advantage. The chefs will make us a family meal before or after shift so I really only eat a big meal at home on my days off or after a crazy busy night where I feel like I've just finished a marathon. I haven't calculated what that saves me in groceries but maybe I'll start!

[PoutineLover]

My best trick is being part of a trading group on Facebook. I have gotten rid of so much unwanted stuff, and received so much useful stuff in exchange. It's a great way to build community and live more sustainably and save money

[HPstache]

When you fill up your vehicle with fuel, notice the little flap that the nozzle goes into when you hang the nozzle up when you're done.  When this flips up, there's a little switch that tells the pump you're done so that it can ask if you want a receipt, etc.  Instead of doing this, push the flap with your hand first, then pull the trigger... there's like an ounce of fuel left in the nozzle that you get FOR FREE.  Boom!

[bigblock440]

I like the idea of freezing water for the fridge. I've always found it frustrating that we heat our home and then use more electricity to cool a small space inside of it.

But you're heating your house anyway, so that heat from the fridge is still just being recycled and isn't wasted.  The real trick would be to put the fridge near your thermostat so the heat from the fridge lowers the need for heat.  Psychologically, you'd see the higher number on the thermostat and be hesitant to turn the heat up, but you'd also get used to the few degree colder room temperature so it wouldn't fell any colder than before.

[afox]

when there is a big meeting at work with a large coffee pot volunteer to clean up, save the leftover coffee that would otherwise go down the drain in water bottles and then freeze it in ice cube trays for quick and easy iced coffee for free. 

[Alternatepriorities]

Contribution: I use toothpaste from a small plastic bottle because it's easier to dispense the right amount, but if you buy those little bottles they cost more than a tube and hold less. So I refill the bottle with a tube. Transferring from tube to bottle is not an easy task, but hey, I save ~$4/year.

I do a version of this too. We buy toothpaste in big tubes but travel enough that we use a substantial amount from small tubes... So once or twice a year I transfer toothpaste from large tube to small tube... I started when I was really broke but still liked to travel (hitch hiking is nearly free) and never quit. It's absurd at our current net worth but DW got on board with me doing it and just tells me when her small tube is low...

[Alternatepriorities]

I like the idea of freezing water for the fridge. I've always found it frustrating that we heat our home and then use more electricity to cool a small space inside of it.

But you're heating your house anyway, so that heat from the fridge is still just being recycled and isn't wasted.  The real trick would be to put the fridge near your thermostat so the heat from the fridge lowers the need for heat.  Psychologically, you'd see the higher number on the thermostat and be hesitant to turn the heat up, but you'd also get used to the few degree colder room temperature so it wouldn't fell any colder than before.

We keep our thermostat at 55 degrees and use our wood stove to (mostly) keep the house comfortable. It's very Mustachian until I calculate my hourly rate for cutting firewood based on the natural gas we saved... that quickly moved it to the dubious category. Fortunately I enjoy cutting and splitting wood.

We lived in a small Alaskan village where electricity was 57 cents/kWh for two years. I kept out freezer on the back porch (unheated) to save power in the winter and keep it out of the sun in the summer. I played around with the idea of freezing milk jugs of water for the fridge but decided it wasn't worth the effort and took up too much space.

That was where I picked up the wood stove strategy and it wasn't dubious there. We were told to expect to spend $3500-$4000 on heating oil per year... We only spent about $275 a year and I sold the chainsaw and some extra firewood for the original price of the saw when we left.

[the_fixer]

Our local Einstein bagels offers a coupon for 3 free bagels if you fill out a survey. I fill out the survey and the receipt for the 3 free bagels comes with a survey for another 3 free bagels...

So for 1 purchase and your time to fill out a survey you can get infinite bagels for free 3 at a time!

The shop is right across the street from work so a short walk once a week and my bagel needs are fulfilled

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Vulturing at work - we have training classes most weeks and they always order too much food. I take good care of the admin so she stops by my desk to let me know the class is done so I get free lunch a couple of days a week :)

Another 2 days a week I travel and they pay for my food.

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Fancy foaming  dish and hand soap - buy a bottle of foaming soap and when it runs out we just dilute some standard dish soap or hand soap with water and it works perfectly fancy style soap for cheap.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Alternatepriorities]

Our local Einstein bagels offers a coupon for 3 free bagels if you fill out a survey. I fill out the survey and the receipt for the 3 free bagels comes with a survey for another 3 free bagels...

So for 1 purchase and your time to fill out a survey you can get infinite bagels for free 3 at a time!

The shop is right across the street from work so a short walk once a week and my bagel needs are fulfilled

——————-

Vulturing at work - we have training classes most weeks and they always order too much food. I take good care of the admin so she stops by my desk to let me know the class is done so I get free lunch a couple of days a week :)



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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Please tell me this means sharing your free bagels with her!

[Frankies Girl]

I have a Target card and use their app. The card gives you an automatic 5% off, and the app allows you to scan any bar code in the store and will show you special deals/sale pricing that may not be marked (and matches the online price if lower).

If you don't use either T card/app for your purchase, you can later scan the receipts to get 1% cash back in app. It give you a bar code that acts like a coupon for $ off the next time you go shopping. Apparently there are tons of people that don't have a T card or care about the app's discounts. So I check the ground going in/out and near the registers for receipts and I've made over $6 in the last month... just for picking up litter on my way in and out. ;)

I am also a member of their special secret product review group. I've gotten thousands of $ in cool things free in exchange for an honest review, that I either use or give to someone that needs them.

I am also addicted to thrift store shopping. My city's Goodwills offer color of the week discounts, but the best deals - 75% off - are only 1 day, so guess when I go browsing?

[moneypitfeeder]

@Frankies Girl, do tell, what is this special secret product review group? I'd be game to write some reviews if they are still accepting new members!

[Frankies Girl]

@Frankies Girl, do tell, what is this special secret product review group? I'd be game to write some reviews if they are still accepting new members!

It's called Hey, Bullseye, and it is invitation only and I honestly can't remember how many reviews I wrote before they reached out to me to send me an invite. Can google a bit about the program to see if anyone else has hints to get invited.

https://www.target.com/c/hey-bullseye/-/N-xa8op

It MIGHT be a benefit to register as a Bullseye Insider to take a bunch of their surveys and such. I can't remember for sure, but I think it might help: www.bullseyeinsiders.com

If you get an invite, then they have you fill out a profile with family #, ages, interests, clothing sizes, etc... and then they will pull when they have testing groups and shoot a mass email alert to go get your items and usually you're given 1-3 choices per grouping. It may be months between emails and then I get like 3 within a week. It is basically a race to get the "best" stuff which can mean you don't get anything if there are some prime offerings as it is first come, first served til they're gone.

I ADORE Target and this is one of the reasons why. And if you don't have a T card or use their circle app, you may want to consider it for the savings. Sure, they track you, but I don't care if they know I buy certain food/cleaning products or occasionally stock up on cat litter. It's totally worth it for me. (they also price match, and for the T card folks have free shipping, free ship to store for pickup, 5% off all purchases, earn bonus % for filling scripts there, everybody gets $5 for getting a flu shot... )

[moneypitfeeder]

Thanks @Frankies Girl I'll look into it, they have seriously upped their vegan offerings in the grocery aisle (at my location) so I'll be shopping there more frequently!

[Morning Glory]

I have a Target card and use their app. The card gives you an automatic 5% off, and the app allows you to scan any bar code in the store and will show you special deals/sale pricing that may not be marked (and matches the online price if lower).

If you don't use either T card/app for your purchase, you can later scan the receipts to get 1% cash back in app. It give you a bar code that acts like a coupon for $ off the next time you go shopping. Apparently there are tons of people that don't have a T card or care about the app's discounts. So I check the ground going in/out and near the registers for receipts and I've made over $6 in the last month... just for picking up litter on my way in and out. ;)

I am also a member of their special secret product review group. I've gotten thousands of $ in cool things free in exchange for an honest review, that I either use or give to someone that needs them.

I am also addicted to thrift store shopping. My city's Goodwills offer color of the week discounts, but the best deals - 75% off - are only 1 day, so guess when I go browsing?

Don't forget to scan the receipts into fetch rewards too. My husband used to pick up receipts by the self checkout at Walmart and run them through savings catcher. Too bad that is no more. I am not at Target often but I will have to keep my eyes out for stray receipts next time I go.

[AnnaGrowsAMustache]

My neighbours are elderly and have large fruit trees. Every year I get up precariously on ladders and strip the trees for them in return for pounds and pounds of fruit. Then we all make sauces or preserves out of essentially free fruit. The thing that makes this crazy is that I'm quite scared of heights. Turns out that free stuff overrules fear, well free stuff and a good deed! I dread the entire enterprise every year, but I do like have a cupboard full of preserves!

[Mgmny]

Generating electricity using the water pressure supplied by your city water supply.

[Alternatepriorities]

Generating electricity using the water pressure supplied by your city water supply.

Running the water through a radiator with a fan instead of running the AC because water is fixed fee and electricity is not...

Note this actually works very well in areas with cold ground water. One particularly hot summer my father thought it up and I would be willing to bet he had the only house with AC for a couple hundred miles... Fortunately his house is on a well and he was pumping for his garden anyway so it was actually nearly free to cool his house.

[Frankies Girl]

I had to come find this thread to bump it.

I went to Target last night for some stuff and found a crumpled up receipt in the cart. I uncrumpled it hoping to score a few cents by scanning it into my Target Circle app.

It was for $1,350+ dollars. Over one thousand American moneys.

They bought things like fancy baby gates for $75 each, 5 or so instapots for like $300, and many other items - electronics I think (I seem to have discarded it after scanning it in - must have just blacked out at the idea of spending that much in a freaking Target).

They did not use a rewards card. They did not use the free Circle app to score the 1%. They LEFT THE FREAKING RECEIPT IN A CART. This person is stuck with store credit if they need to return anything and that is just bizarre and stupid and wasteful.

WHO LIVES LIKE THIS? WTF.
(yeah, free money in many dollars for me just for uncrumpling paper, but again: WTF)

[terran]

They bought things like fancy baby gates for $75 each, 5 or so instapots for like $300, and many other items - electronics I think (I seem to have discarded it after scanning it in - must have just blacked out at the idea of spending that much in a freaking Target).

Who buys 5 instapots? It was probably a stolen credit card and they were buying things that are easy to resell.

[joe189man]

This seems penny wise and pound foolish to me, wouldn't your time be better spent optimizing the big ticket items where small percentages in savings have big cost savings, like moving closer to work to eliminate a car and all associated costs vs freezing water to keep your fridge colder?

Too each their own and have fun,

The target app and savings there make sense to me if you are already shopping there

[Gremlin]

They bought things like fancy baby gates for $75 each, 5 or so instapots for like $300, and many other items - electronics I think (I seem to have discarded it after scanning it in - must have just blacked out at the idea of spending that much in a freaking Target).

Who buys 5 instapots? It was probably a stolen credit card and they were buying things that are easy to resell.

This...

I imagine that you specifically DON'T want the receipt in this situation.

[Frankies Girl]

I did recall a few other baby/kid related things, so very likely could have been someone buying a home setup for corralling a kid that is now unable to be in daycare (the electronic items I realized are kid entertainment/early childhood games) and threw on a bunch of instapots for gifts/friends/family due to the whole pandemic/cooking at home situation.

Really hope someone didn't get their card stolen, but I think it's a 50/50 chance as I've seen lots of crazy buying - multiple cartfuls of stuff that obviously was business as usual for those people. Just never occurred to me how much their bill was since I didn't waste my time adding up the purchases, so this one was pretty shocking.

In any case, too late - had already scanned it in. If they come after me (which I guess they can since they have info relating to the email attached to the circle acct) they can see on camera me finding the receipt in the cart and scanning it since I did it just a little ways from the entrance where all the security is (wasn't hiding or anything) and my acct has many random found receipts recorded over the time they've offered this perk. They can of course remove the reward credit if someone reports the transaction as stolen. Not sure how that would work, but they have that option anyway.