For me I generally pirate most books I read, although if there is a book I really enjoyed I will buy the physical copy.
I also generally tend to avoid having takeaways because they are just so expensive in this day and age with inflation and tend to opt for cheap meals like pasta or rice etc.
Also I don't pay for any streaming services, but borrow a VPN service from a friend to pirate the movies I watch.
Curious to hear of some ways that you people here save money.
I have very debilitating anxiety that traps me in my apartment the vast majority of the time, so I save a lot of money from not having to pay tram/bus fees and stuff like that...
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- pirate media: shows, books
- bulk buying toiletries / cleaning supplies when there's a good deal somewhere
- use Showcontraption for toothpaste and other toiletries
- skip lunch often
- take care of appliances by fully cleaning them often
- do dishes and laundry at night
- YouTube the hell out of things that break to figure out a way to fix it myself
- use a heated blanket during the day to keep the heater on 16 C°
- cut my own hair with the help of YouTube
Just a money tip for others: you can use a side of your benchtop (or any other hard right-angle) to squeeze your toothpaste, no contraption required.
That's a smart one!
My hands don't work the way I want them too (read: I'm disabled) so I'm always on the lookout for handy dandy contraptions, ghehe
Cutting down on alcohol. Due to Australian tax, it's actually pretty expensive (except cheap wine). Beers at lunch add up.
Pirating media
Buying a large set of 500 mL plastic takeaway boxes with lids (Chinese takeout boxes). They're more useful than just poverty Tupperware, you can use them for storing lots of things, as small mixing bowls, etc.
Buying spices in bulk. There's a store here where you bring your own jars and stuff, all the cumin is loose and you just pay for product weight (which is way cheaper than mainstream supermarkets).
Asian grocers. Everything is generally cheaper, and they sell these large jars of minced garlic with big chunks of garlic (rather than the puree from woolworths).
Generally, the more interesting yet low effort you can make your cooking, the less you'll feel the need to eat out or splurge on "reward" meals. Asian food can be very good for that (east asian, south asian, middle east), and you'll impress your white friends.
Canned and frozen versions of vegetables, instead of fresh. If you're making a stew or curry, it doesn't really matter. Also, frozen broccoli is more floret (the tree bits you pretend to be a dinosaur at) by weight.
Just steal stuff. Do it irregularly, and always be a polite smiling face to service staff. Bring your own bags and hide your stolen produce under the bags. Leave the bags in the trolley and fill up stuff you buy on top of them.
Service what debts you can.
Really, the biggest costs tend to be emergency vehicle servicing, hospitalisations, and rent. Any way to reduce those (sharehousing, having friends that can do those sorts of work, spreading the work out amongst the community) will go way further than a lot of things I've just listed. Community is hard to find though
I like to buy things that save money in the long run. Cooking, biking, cheap Steam games over expensive console games. I offer VPN or other subscriptions to family if I can.
Make a weekly menu, pin it on the fridge and stick to it. Then buy only the ingredients needed.
The key of success is to be lucid and plan 1 or 2 lazy day, with pizzas or whatever, dishes that don't need any effort to make.
You'll save a ton in groceries, and will waste almost nothing. Bonus point : you can generate the menus with an AI.
Get a bicycle and use that for as much of your transportation needs as is possible.
If you can avoid owning a car by this method, you save a lot of money on car payments (or invested capital)/insurance/maintenance/fuel. Even if it doesn't allow you to ditch a car, you'll spend less on fuel.
If it replaces public transportation trips, then you save a bit on those.
Finally, the health benefits of extra exercise are going to pay huge dividends that are hard to measure but significant nonetheless.
I have 1% of my check go into an account that isn’t connected to a card, or connected to my main savings and checking. I have to go to the bank if I need it. With me being a bit lazy, money adds up over long periods of time
Tofu and lentils are so much cheaper than meat.
Diy'ing things too. If you ever need a new tool or household item or have to fix something you're almost certainly not the first, so searching up DIY _ or How to Fix _ will almost always pull up a handy guide. I've saved thousands at this point
I can save money on transportation by walking, even though I sometimes waste a lot of time.
Vac sealer. Bulk.
I understand, for alot of people living in apartments or room sharing situations this is difficult. But, taking advantage of sales and utilizing a vac sealer can go a long way.
If you don't mind pork, it can be extremely budget friendly and is a good source of protein. Here in Canada it can sometimes get to $2 or under a pound for pork chops or shoulder. Same with whole chickens or dark meat cuts.
When this happens. I often buy $30-60+ worth, take it home, portion it to family meal size and vac seal/date/label it.
After doing this for a while, even with beef products. My chest freezer slowly fills up and eventually, we get to the point where we don't buy much meat during our weekly grocery visit, unless of course, I see a really good meat deal.
In addition, learning to process and prepare you're own meat products like sausage, burgers, raviolis, meat balls, jerky can also go a very long way. My family doesn't buy any frozen processed crap meat products. We do everything from scratch, and it's soooo much better. Last year I bought pork shoulders only on sale and kept them in the freezer. I would only buy under $2 a pound. I ended up making around 50 pounds of sausage (Italian and brats) that sausage lasted us almost 10 months.
my self esteem is so low I dont spend money on myself, tomorrow I will be a rich man
I buy microfiber cloths, instead of paper towels because 1) you can launder and re-use microfiber clothes and 2) paper products are stupid-expensive.
