Third part in the series for this Sunday night.
Parts 1 and 2
I'll start us off: I used to spend several minutes scrapping the inside of the jam jar for those very last traces of jam, until I realized that they comprised about 1/100 of the container, which at the price I pay, equates to about 1.7c
I still do it, but now I use a spatula: does the same thing in about 10 seconds.
What yours?
I always 'activate' the offers but never buy the promoted junk they're selling, the 3x points on your highest shop always gets used though haha.
one doesn't use them for normal earn rates but bonus offers such as 1000/2000/5000/10000pts and especially like this :)
If you know the system well and every family member has a flybuys account you can save hundreds of dollars a year. You also need to understand the specials cycles and plan your shopping carefully. Yes, it takes time but it pays off in the end.
You mean there's a better way?
Waiting till Petrol gets down to the lowest price. At best you save 35 cents to $1.50 depending on the size of your tank waiting for the price going down a cent. Also you risk the price jumping 20-30 cents a litre.
At best you save 35 cents to $1.50 …
What? If you buy 40 litres of petrol when it's 20 cents cheaper per litre, you save 20 x 40 cents, which is $8.00. How did you come up with '35 cents to $1.50'?!?
I was talking about trying to buy right at the bottom of the cycle. If your one cent above the probably bottom don't fret if you need to fill up as you can never always predict when the price might go up or down.
spending a minimum $30 at coles/woolies, saving and looking after the docket to save 4 cents a litre at the equivalent petrol station. now i just fill up at any cheap petrol station.
If you have the woolworths reward card, you don't need to keep the docket.
I think Micoa means the whole process in general. 4c a litre with a 50L tank is only a saving of $2. You have to worry about spending at least $30, keeping the docket and then finding the equivalent petrol station. All that for $2
Yep. I used to buy stuff to get over the $30 limit just to get the voucher (why do you think they have chocolates and stuff right next to the cash register).
The Woolies Card is handy, but I didn't want to be locked into one particular supermarket, or have to carry yet another card in my wallet.
I haven't peeled a potato for years. Apart from mash, the skin is actually great. + As a bonus most of the nutrients are in the skin.
Yeh this is for mash :)
If you bake the potatoes for mash the skin slides straight off.
End result is much better too compared with boiling the potatoes.
It does, but usually I've got the oven going anyway for some type of slow cooked meat, so it's not too much of a hassle to throw them in.
I do prefer the end result much more though, so it's worth it, IMO.
Even with the skins on, the potatoes absorb some water when boiled, even more if you peel them first.
When baked they absorb no moisture, so they remain very fluffy - it also means they will absorb more milk when mashed, so they become very creamy if you want.
Potato in microwave for 5 mins. cooks / expands. Let sit for 2 mins (retracts). Cut in half, squash…. skin falls off.
Sweet, sweet hobo ass.
putting my car in neutral when rolling down hills.
figured I saved $50 over 20 years of doing this.
Lol
You actually use more fuel putting it in neutral.
In neutral fuel required to keep the engine from stalling.
Down a hill, in gear, the engine is turning over without any fuel.
Yep and more wear on the brakes too.
Not to mention the danger factor.
Life hacker did an article on this. It's actually bad for the transmission.
I have a friend who would only fill his car up half way with with petrol. He figured filling it up fully would make his car heavier and have to use more petrol. This may be true but I figure its not worth the dollar or two of saving to have to fill up double as much.
My brother does this. He only fills up 10-15 dollars at a time. I do too if price is high but always fill up when low. I think driving to the petrol station every other day plus not using 8c discount would level this out. But it is silly to have much weight in your car, neighbor has 30kg worth of dumbbells in the back of his car… not the brightest bloke…
In Summer, smaller amounts of fuel heat up faster and evaporate at a faster rate.
A lot of my old money-saving strategies died when I got a job and put a sensible dollar figure on how much my time was worth…
Tollways, Citylink.
Say $5 for tolls, on a good day, the non-toll route would take me an extra 5 minutes, on a bad day an extra 25mins.
I hate for sitting in traffic is more than the hate for paying tolls. More so now that I have a family to go home too. Previously, I use to stay back at work later which helps avoid traffic.
I'll use the tolls without hesitating, I'm on the road that much that I don't need to be on there longer..
Yep we stopped using the tollroads in peak hour. Honestly no faster and lightens my wallet.
Uh, you missed the point.
lol i really did, think i only got as far as "Say $5 for tolls, on a good day, the non-toll route would take me an extra 5 minutes, on a bad day an extra 25mins."
Then in my mind the conclusion was "Why pay tolls?!"
lol.. I should have said avoid tolls to save money.
drprox - which tollways is no faster in peak hour? I think peak hour is when they are most useful.
in Melbourne using Mt Alexander rd vs Citylink :)
I live in WA so we don't believe in toll roads. If you want to get somewhere you have to sit in traffic like everyone else #equality.
Actually if I think about it the most congested road out of the city is the one leading into the wealthier western part of town, where the road is really old and skinny and clogged with SUVs.
Same. Realised for most of my trips to/past the city (Mel), non toll would add an extra 15-25 mins. I"d rather use the toll and deal with the $'s than more time on road.
Try to avoid buying food sourced from overseas (especially China), although cheaper, I value my life/health more than the savings.
Used to never buy lunch.
That can actually pay off. If you spend $10/day it's ~$2600 a year. Although if you still eat lunch from home then the saving is probably half that.
My dad would pour the hot oil back into the oil container after straining it. The plastic bottle would be partially melted and there would be floaties in the oil.
I do this, albeit i let the oil cool! Oil certainly good for a few uses. Check out commercial deepfryers!
Used to fill up my cars to like "$25.02" or "$36.67"and paying cash in order to save the 2 cents from rounding down… now I just pay by card.
Guilty. I also lift and jiggle the cord to get that last drop of gas out.
Its like 2 drops but I can't get out of the habit of shaking out the last drops of petrol after I stop filling…
I do this too, but it's mostly so I don't drip petrol over my car, jeans or shoes, when I pull out.
Pulling out is definitely an effective method of saving money
I used to do this too.
Was hitting OzB to look at saving money but realised my eneloop stack growing.
So now I hold back on spending.
This is before DSE went bust.
Now this is true believe it or not.
I dont wear socks more than one time. Always a new pair.
I get $10 for 10 and realised the washing, drying and my time was costing me more money than it was worth. $200 a year. Counting work days.
I also have a Labrador and the socks always have some hair in them. Putting on a new fresh pair of socks in the morning gives me a happy feeling and saved me time and having stinking socks in the house.
True story.
Please don't judge me. I'm shunned by my friends and family. It to mention work colleagues who are either confused or deplored and think I'm worse than hitter.
Hitter was bad, but that Hitler bloke was a real jerk.
Turning off lights as others have mentioned. Although I get annoyed when others leave them on but not when I do. Do as I say not as I do, I suppose.
Hey I believe you. What do you do with them once your done with them? Do op shops have a policy against accepting crusty socks?
$7 a week for fresh socks every day and no need to wash socks is a cheap luxury.
its less than 2 coffees.
I'm assuming you don't wash new clothes before wearing them?
Gosh I have socks from 5 years ago that I'm still wearing. It was 7 pairs for about $2.50 on clearance at The Reject Shop.
do you do the same for your jocks?
If I could get the comfy tight trunk style ones (no idea what they are actually called) for a decent price, I'd totally do this. I love putting on brand new undies ☺
Some cheap non-brand (homebrand, black & gold) foods are not worth it, because they use more filler ingredients than good ingredients.
For example Relish & chutneys are big ones. Name brand will have something like 60% fruit & 40% sugar, where the non-brand will have 40% fruit and 60% sugar.
Some things though they are fine (bleach, Sugar, etc..).
Doing those online surveys… 10 mins of my time for like 20c. Quickly realised that my time is way more valuable than that!
I stopped taking other peoples driving infringement points in return for cash… it wasn't worth it in the end. https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/252338
What is your rate per demerit point?
Walking half an hour instead of taking a bus or uber. Now I'm much older, it feels like every minute of my life counts.
Walking is not time wasted, it will prolong your life…
Considering the other physical stuff I do for the week, there's enough there to prolong life. However from a meditative aspect, maybe! :D
Whenever someone says they do physical stuff, but isn't specific about what it is, I end up picturing something like this old man rockin to the beat
I currently walk about 8 minutes to get into the free transit zone in the city. The $ value does not pay off (equals about $12/hour) but at least I get a modicum of exercise in the morning.
Stopped taking up those supermarket "Spend $X dollars for 4 weeks to get a $x voucher". It's fine if you are spending the amount anyway, but we always used to go out of our way to get the spend amount.
If you don't activate them they'll send you ones with lower thresholds.
Cheap sheets, 1000TC sheets feel so much nicer, sheets last ages and you spend a lot of time in bed.
Also cheap snow gear, better to buy more water proof/better looking gear with more features than to skimp.
Cheaping out on nosebleed seats at sporting events. I figure if I am going to take the time to go I should enjoy it from a decent seat so I now pay the extra. Its worth it.
Heres another one from me: I no longer buy things on 'special' if the discount is small
If noticed that shops now are barely discounting things that are close to use by date. Take cooked chickens for instance: woolworths use to discount by 50% or more after 4 hours. Now, they knock 10 or 20% off, if that. To me, the loss of quality just isn't worth it.
Do you (and maybe your family) finish a roast chicken all at once? If not, won't there be loss of quality? Which could be similar to the ones that are now discounted less?
I switched over to buying raw chicken and cooking it myself after somebody here posted a bargain. It takes a few hours to cook, but the difference is night and day. Fresh cooked is juicy and delicious all throughout, supermarket chicken is dry on the outside and waterlogged on the inside.
Yes, there is usually a little bit of chicken left over that loses its quality, but we use it for sandwiches so the mayonnaise hides any bad taste. Still much better.
I stopped seeing cheap hookers ($90 per 30 mins) after I contracted genital herpes.
Now I pay a premium price and have been STD free for quite some time.
But do you get more bang for your buck?
I used to write out a full budget every month, now I just wing it.
Buying a lot of processed food simply because it was on special and very cheap. I saved my family a lot of money and was very happy with that. Then I took them overseas on a long holiday and ate a lot of very fresh and nutritious food and it changed my body, thoughts and how I looked. Now we spend more money on fresh and high quality food and have much more energy and happiness. Funnily enough I earn more money because my health is better.
Cheap criminal defence lawyers !
Guess where I am writing this from ?
No ! I am in the local library you pessimists.
Avoiding paying for internet, good ozb'ing
Go to carwash places then started washing my own car
Best thing to do in many ways. Car gets a better wash, cheaper and you get exercise and fresh air. It's win all round.
Have to agree with all these points, especially the fresh air bit plus any scratches are your own fault. Also the extra savings from not buying lunch whilst waiting the 1-2 hours for it to get washed. This was also before I bought a house so extra incentive not to waste money and my lawn gets a water at the same time.
100% the car wash product, mitten and microfibres cost the equivalent of 1-2 car wash at those cafes. I've also heard some horror stories about those car washes - things getting broken and they don't own up to it.
Check the clear coat on a car that has been machine washed for a few years against one that has been hand washed.
Use the 4c off at grocery servos… waste of time.
Especially if you have to travel extra to get to one of them.
But you pay more for your groceries to cover it… then the grocery servos are usually dearer.. so where is the gain?
I still think we are losing out on both ends
I still do flybuys myself, but I don't beat myself over it if I'm going to woolies over coles or vice versa. I just go to whoever has the cheapest specials at the time and claim points wherever I shop.
Still no point doing their offers when the most you get out of it is something like 10cts though.