Strange Ways That People Save Money

People are strange.  And when it comes to budgets, people have some really strange things that they do to save money.  Most of these ideas don’t really result in much monetary savings.  In fact, many of these ideas are so strange and petty that they are probably not worth doing.  With that said, people will always take irrational or unconventional approaches to solve their problems.  Let me give you some examples of what I’m talking about.

When it comes to strange or extreme ways that people save money, there are lots of examples out there.  Personally, I don’t think that anything with too much extreme in it is productive.  For example, you have the extreme couponers who spend hours each day searching, printing and clicking coupons.  They spend hours each day finding coupons.  Then, they spend hourse each day driving around to all of the stores to shop.  In the cases I’ve seen, they usually end up with pantries, cupboards, closets and even garages full of stuff they can’t use.  They take it to such extreme levels that they end up being counter productive.  In retrospect, if a person were to use coupons wisely, and shop frugally, they could probably still save a lot of money and not have to spend so many hours per week.  Those hours spent couponing could then be used for something productive.  A job maybe?  A hobby that they could earn money with?  Or at least something that is more valuable than the time spent clipping coupons.

As this example shows, most odd ways to save money can save you money, but at what cost?  I’ve spent the last half hour or so thinking about the strange or silly things that I have done to save money.  Either I haven’t done any, or I’ve done them and haven’t thought that they were strange (probably the latter).  So, to find some really strange ideas to save money, I’ve gone out and searched the web for other’s experiences.  Here’s what I found.

First, I ran across a post from Tina at Carrots ‘n’ Cake.  She uses the following odd methods:

  • I buy clothing and accessories at drugstores and dollar stores. I buy fashion staples (neutral color tank tops, t-shirts, socks, etc.) at places like Walgreens, Ocean State Job Lot, and dollar stores. I also buy tights, flip-flops, and sunglasses at these places. I also find fun home and holiday decor there!
  • I use every last drop. When my bottle of shampoo, conditioner, face wash, body lotion, etc. is just about gone, I tip the bottle upside-down and make sure to use every last bit. A lot of people do this, but I go one step further: I cut off the top with scissors and make sure to use it all. If there’s a lot of product left over, I’ll use a plastic baggie and an elastic band to cover the contents so it doesn’t dry up. With face wash and lotion, this makes the product last at least a week or longer.
  • No food goes to waste in my house. I’m sort of obsessive about making sure everything is used up. For instance, a wrinkly pepper goes into pasta, a bruised apple is made into apple crisp, a nearly rotten peach is saved by cutting off the bad part and tossed into a smoothie….

The rest of this article can be found at weird ways that i save money.  While it does seem strange to buy clothing at Walgreens, the ways to not waste food don’t seem all that strange.  I guess it’s not common to be that frugal anymore, but when I grew up our family did everything we could not to waste food.

Do People Really Eat Dog Food?

Now for something as silly as it is strange.  We found a post from Steven Gillman at Street Directory, which discusses these silly money saving techniques:

  • Eat dog food. (According to this contributor, the dry dog food is better than the canned.)
  • Tell everyone you’ll be out of town for Christmas, so you can shop the after-Christmas sales for presents.
  • Ask your friends to save the labels for you off any new products they buy, so you can put them on your thrift-store purchases when you are buying gifts.
  • Run around the house and close the heater vents in all the rooms except your bedroom before going to sleep.
  • Encourage mice in the house by leaving crumbs around – so your cat will have a free food supply.

You can find the rest of these strange ideas at funny ways to save money.  I have to say these are some really silly ideas.  In fact, all of them seem completely ridiculous except for closing the vents at night.  That is actually a really good idea.  Eating dog food to save money seems really odd.  It seems to me that you can buy rice and noodles in bulk that are actually cheaper than dog food if you wanted to.  Oh well, at least the list is entertaining.

Have you seen anyone use a really strange idea to save money?  Or have you done something yourself that you care to share?  Leave us a comment.

{ 3 comments… add one }
  • sundcarrie June 5, 2012, 1:07 pm

    Wow I am not that crazy but my chickens and my dog get a lot of our food that we don’t eat so there is not a lot of food waste in our house. I am never eating dog food no matter how broke I am I can tell you that even the good stuff smells nasty.

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  • S.O. Price June 10, 2012, 6:21 pm

    I’m going to say the same thing. Wow! I hope I never stoop to eating dog food! I have to give the people who think of such things some kudos just for being original though. 🙂

    As far as the more serious content, I also use every last drop out of a bottle. If it is shampoo, I just put water in the bottle and pour the whole thing over my head. That last little bit get washed out and is usually more than enough to lather my hair. I also have some face wash that comes in a tube and when I can no longer squeeze it out, I cut off the top and scoop out the rest with my fingers. Sometimes I get several more face washes using this method.

    I love articles like this because it really get me thinking about how I really do try not to be wasteful. I don’t think that’s a bad characteristic to have at all.

    Reply
  • LoveSanta October 15, 2012, 10:45 pm

    I pretty much agree with the first list you had there (why not get everything out of a bottle or buy clothes cheaply if possible – mind you, I have no idea what Walgreens is like so it may be weird!) but most of that second list is off my radar – except closing vents.

    Loyalty rewards sometimes get people doing silly things – “OH, look, I can get this $150 thing for free if I spend anpther $2,000 in theri shop – quick, what can I buy to save $150?”

    Back when I was a poor Uni student, I sometimes hang some clothes over curtains at night to keep heat in – it was effective and logical but looked a bit weird 🙂

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