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I really enjoy saving as much money as I can. I shop from Schoola (check out this post for a HOT deal) , I review products on Amazon and try to find creative ways to cut costs down.
In this season of life, I don’t think I go overboard. I don’t chase every deal I find. Mainly because there was a time I did go *slightly* overboard.
I used to be a little crazy when it comes to my couponing ninja skills.
My former coupon binder in all its glory:
Breakfast stockpile would frequently look like this:
I cannot eat Pop-Tarts STILL!
Shopping trips like this was the norm:
*Please note that during all of this I was pregnant with my daughter. I may have possibly been nesting. Or crazy.*
Today, I’m not as nutty with couponing. I don’t have the time or energy anymore. I do still try to find the best deals but I limit myself.
I do have a few tricks of how to save money but I have my limits. I’ve recently remembered the show “Cheapskates” and thought about the ways I DON’T save money. And I won’t use them.
So, without further adieu….I present:
8 Strange Ways To Save Money
*I am not trying to offend anyone who may use some of these methods. If you do, that’s great for you. But it’s just not for me.*
- Reusable toilet paper. NO NO NO. It’s just not going to happen.
- Stealing extra condiments/napkins/ect. from restaurants. I’m all for saving what they give you in the bag at the drive through but it’s not morally worth it to me to take extra ketchup packets to fill up my containers at home.
- Refusing to use indoor plumbing. Yes, there are people who CHOOSE to use bedpans. And use their “collection” to fertilize their yards. Nope. I’m not that desperate.
- Dumpster diving for food.
- Digging through neighbors trash for cans. Just make friends with them and ask them to save them for you. It’s a lot cleaner.
- Eating roadkill.
- Using newspaper, magazines, ect. for toilet paper. Can you imagine the paper cuts?
- Filtering urine for water. I’m sure it’s a handy skill to have in a survivalist situation. But in every day life? It’s just not happening in my house.
What are the strangest ways you’ve heard to save money?
It started early on because I had to stay home with our son and DH wasn’t earning much. Now that the kids are grown and on their own, these are habit. Cloth napkins. Reuse bread bags to store bulk purchased meats. Reuse dry aluminum foil. Wash out zip lock bags. Using clean up rags instead of paper towels. Yard saling and hitting the thrifts. Keeping a small garden. Canning. Making flower jellies and wines. That kind of stuff.
Truth be told though, I am a bit of a sucker for the more bohemian “curbside gleaning”. Maybe this is over the top for some. But it’s amazing what people toss. We got several pieces of wood furniture, a hose reel and a compost bin that way. Audubon’s “The Birds of America”. A barbell set for our oldest son, just sitting there, with a “FREE” sign on it. A very cool enameled sign for a now defunct phone company. A box of antique blown Christmas ornaments, shared with a fellow “huntress”. Massive amounts of scrap wood, hinges, nails, roof shingles, used to build the kid’s “tree house”. A rock tumbler with a mess of rough and smooth rocks and various grit sand, later given to a rock collecting kid we knew. Art supplies. An antique doll bed.
With the advent of freecycle, this kind of pursuit became a bit more civilized. Offering it online legitimizes the whole transaction. Don’t fear, our house doesn’t look like “Hoarders”. Still, if a trash pile looks really, really promising when we drive by, I yearn to stop and just take a peek.