Ridiculous things you've done to save money?

[TsRocket]

Sorry but I have one it is impossible to pretend you are poor if you drive a Tesla.

And how about getting your water from the tap? It is perfectly safe an essentially free.

OH YEAH !! agree agree ... And i'm a tap water er too.

 

[AudubonB]

I'm unclear on how that saved you money. As for the "ridiculous" part, I'll let her take that up with you...

I thought the tenor of this thread has been penny wise and pound foolish. At least some are responding as such....

 

[ggr]

Sure, my reply was tongue-in-cheek too. ;-)

 

[nakedsushi]

My husband likes to make fun of my "penny poor and pound foolish" tendencies, especially after I've bought a Tesla. But my reasoning is: after a big splurge like this, I _have_ to save pennies where I can. So things like:

- Driving around the block looking for parking because I don't want to pay for metered parking (this is more of a principal thing because it's ridiculous how expensive metered parking in some places is, and I don't want to worry about the meter expiring while I'm away!)

- Same thing with valet parking. If there is free street parking nearby, no way am I going to pay a valet to drive the car 10 feet to park it.

- Making my own granola b/c store bought is way more expensive

- I refuse to buy lemons at the store. (It's ridiculous to spend $0.50 on a single lemon when there are tons of lemon trees in my neighborhood that I can just pluck from! -- with the permission of my neighbors)

- Same thing with herbs that I can forage for instead of paying $1.50 for 3 sprigs of rosemary.

 

[CHG-ON]

I spent $110,000 to save a few dollars on gas. 

Me: 130K for the same damn thing (and because I'm in LOVE)!

I cut my hair too.
I reuse EVERYTHING!

I'm a Yankee. It is physically impossible for me to waste anything. If I do, I'll explode (which would be too expensive to clean up).

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I think he's moonlighting and that is paying for everything else (taxes?)...

Tesla Model S P85+. There is nothing else.

OK, now serously...

I used to rinse, dry and reuse my paper towels in college in the 70-80s. I couldn't afford towels. Any towels! But I was FLAT broke. Hungry all the time. Living on baked potatoes, tuna and water for a whole year, basically. Now I still do whatever I can. Like doing essentially all the contruction on my house/yard. But I have found, as I have hit my late 50's, with career and all, that I finally have broken down and hired people to help me do stuff in the last year. Finally, after all these years, I finally gave in and hired a house cleaner. It was a hard decision for me. But I'm a CFO in Silicon Valley. Enough already! It's the aforementioned Yankee in me.

For almost all my life, my belief has been that if I can physically do it, then I will learn and do it myself: construction, landscape, electric, plumbing (I HATE plumbing), gas lines, all auto work except the most difficult (I have done every oil change since I was sixteen, without exception, and used to rotate my tires myself [a total PIA]), whatever it took. It has allowed me to live at a much higher standard of living than almost all I know who make a similar income. And it's been really fun! I know all this stuff because of it!

But on Miss Tess, no compromises. I'll only use the best people to care for her, though I will ALWAYS be the ONLY person to wash her, as with every other car. It's a spiritual thing for me. Sooo enjoyable to do.

 

[lorih]

I skimp on my asthma medicine. If I used as directed it would cost $78/month, so I use it regularly if my lungs are acting up, then stop totally until I have issues again. It means I pay $78 about 3 times a year instead of 12x a year, but I cough more.

(before we get into discussions about insurance, I do have premium drug coverage, it is just that I can no longer use standard medicine the insurance would like me to use so copays are higher)

Edit: thanks for the PM concern. I only admitted this here because the title was "Ridiculous" things...ok, in my case, "stupid"...

 

[dsm363]

Me: 130K for the same damn thing (and because I'm in LOVE)!

I cut my hair too.
I reuse EVERYTHING!

I'm a Yankee. It is physically impossible for me to waste anything. If I do, I'll explode (which would be too expensive to clean up).

- - - Updated - - -



Tesla Model S P85+. There is nothing else.

OK, now serously...

I used to rinse, dry and reuse my paper towels in college in the 70-80s. I couldn't afford towels. Any towels! But I was FLAT broke. Hungry all the time. Living on baked potatoes, tuna and water for a whole year, basically. Now I still do whatever I can. Like doing essentially all the contruction on my house/yard. But I have found, as I have hit my late 50's, with career and all, that I finally have broken down and hired people to help me do stuff in the last year. Finally, after all these years, I finally gave in and hired a house cleaner. It was a hard decision for me. But I'm a CFO in Silicon Valley. Enough already! It's the aforementioned Yankee in me.

For almost all my life, my belief has been that if I can physically do it, then I will learn and do it myself: construction, landscape, electric, plumbing (I HATE plumbing), gas lines, all auto work except the most difficult (I have done every oil change since I was sixteen, without exception, and used to rotate my tires myself [a total PIA]), whatever it took. It has allowed me to live at a much higher standard of living than almost all I know who make a similar income. And it's been really fun! I know all this stuff because of it!

But on Miss Tess, no compromises. I'll only use the best people to care for her, though I will ALWAYS be the ONLY person to wash her, as with every other car. It's a spiritual thing for me. Sooo enjoyable to do.

What a cool way to live life. Trying new things is harder but probably learn a lot and fun at times too all while saving a lot of money.