Keen to hear ozbargainer's stories in relation to their efforts to save money.
Get sharing!
What Lengths Have You Gone to to Save a Little Bit of Money?
bargainhunter87 on 24/08/2018 - 15:19
Comments
@Darren Brake: Yes, but personally I'm a sole user of Cashrewards. There are others such as Shopback, but I haven't considered using them.
Keep track of what you spend too.
I'm with you. Yes, points are good (and I've collected them for years, enjoyed business class flights), but credit cards do make it a little tricker to understand where you sit financially, and one little mistake boom you're charged $200+ in interest.
I always pay at Aldi in cash because of their stupid card fees.
Anyway the other day I bought some pizza bases for 2.99 and got my $2 change.
Then I was distracted and ending up throwing the receipt in the bin with the $2 wrapped inside.
So now I think I need to spend $400 at Aldi in cash to make back that $2.
Why dont you pay with savings
You only pay fees for credit cards and tap to pay. Just use a inserted debit card, pay with savings and NO FEES! Voila!
We are currently using sandwich sized snappy bags as bin liners - after they have had a sandwich in them.
You know you can use them without having to put a sandwich in them first. Seems like a waste of food ;)
Either you have LARGE sandwiches or tiny bins?
I just rinse my snap lock bags out after using them and hang them on my knife set to dry. I might lose one occasionally but I haven't bought a new box of snap lock bags in years and waste way less plastic.
Offer to buy colleagues lunch whilst out using their coin. Use entertainment a book app, eat free.
Drive 3km further to next train station, to get in a different zone for th fare which is a lot cheaper
That's a real dick move and unsure why people voted this up.
The train is a good idea though.
I don’t really understand why that’s a dick move. The colleague spent just as much as he would have for the lunch, but got it delivered to his desk. Win win.
If you don’t understand, let your workmates buy your lunch more often.
username checks out.
i do poop at work place, 10 mins a day means you get pay 1 week for throwing shit.
grocery in bulk aka costco
use lock fuel app to save money on petrol
get a lunch deal food and heat up for dinner.
throwing shit
Do you throw it at the wall or something?
You should hang those buggers, not throw them!
The worst I've heard was someone taking back ALDI bags for a refund.
I wonder who that was. I heard they ripped the bag and then asked for a refund.
That's disgusting, must've been a real Scab to do that.
Yeah remember that one. The guy was pretty much just a really low effort thief wasn't he? Ripping a product intentionally then inferring they broke my themselves? Unless I am thinking about something else?
Check OzBargain religiously.
I love that thread.
Things I need to know:
- what ingredients did he have in his cart?
- Did his risotto spoil due to the prolonged shouting match with his neighbours?
and did anyone of the neighbors wee on the BBQ in secret for extra tangy taste..
I remember this one too, what a doofus
I use a keep cup religiously to get 50c off my work coffee. I have coffee at a place that gives you a free coffee after buying 6 coffees. I always by small coffees and then just a giant coffee for my free one.
And no, I can't just give up coffee or go blend 43.
Buy 7eleven coffee. At $3 difference per coffee, the savings are $15/week, $60/month $660/11months. That's a bit.
Yeah I tried, but as I said, can't drink blend 43 and that is what the 7eleven coffee is.
To be honest, if I need a second coffee in the day I go to the local place that has a happy hour which is slightly better than 7eleven coffee for $2.
Have you had 7eleven coffee? It's excellent for $1. I prefer it over the "real" chain coffee places in my building (and I'm a bearded Melbourne coffee (profanity) working up the Paris end…)
I don't know why you'd think it's like instant coffee? Fresh coffee beans poured in every hour or so at my local! It may be a fully automatic espresso but they've done something right!
@camtraband: totally agree. I get free coffee at work because I run a cafe and I still stop at 7/11 for coffee most days.
Yes I have tried it. Milk and even black and I really wanted to love it. Not something I wanted to try again.
711 coffee is not very good mate, rather pay and have something I love and enjoy than just purely for saving and hating it
What Lengths Have You Gone to to Save a Little Bit of Money?
Oh, you wouldn't even want to know.
Yes we would.
I convince a co-workers to get subway for lunch when they have the bogof offer running. Being a nice bloke I offer to goto the shop to buy it with their money and use the coupon to get mine for free.
Throw everything in the bank account
Spend what you need.
Whatever is left is considered "savings"novel idea!
Ever since I was a kid collecting stamps, unmarked stamps were like 'gold'.
Now when I get one I feel like I have won the jackpot!
I know that it sounds really scabby, but, 'yes', I reuse unmarked stamps.I discretely charge my Eneloops at work (seriously).
Discreetly
Cook extra for dinner and take leftovers for lunch.
Novated lease on the car (made sense for me but do the calcs)
Changed home loan lenders to get a 50bps better rate, this meant losing my offset account but was worth it.
Flybuys and register for bonus flybuys offers where available on the app, link anything you can to flybuys account.
Using Amex card to pay for most things for the points as well as for the Amex offers on ozbargain.
Using eneloops instead of disposable batteries this is good for the environment too
Buying stuff second hand on eBay where it makes sense to, selling on eBay when I no longer need itMinimise break usage where possible in the car to reduce ware and tare on the breaks.
Avoid aggressive driving and maintain a constant speed in the car where possible to reduce petrol consumption.
Spend extra time looking for free parking at uni instead of paid parking.
Whenever filling up petrol, I make sure I put an extra 2c over an even amount and pay cash so I effectively get 2c of free petrol. e.g $50.02 is still 50$ cash.You should pick the pipe up and empty it into the tank for more than 2c worth of fuel. The pipe always comes from the ground up, imagine how much fuel is sitting in the bend.
Has anyone tried this? Thought the flow is blocked from the nozzle.
Yep every time. I actually do it to avoid the drips at the end but there's always some in there.
I had a friend that got around Europe back in the 70s/80s just by collecting the last few drops from each bowser into a bottle to top up his 49cc scooter.
Brakes.
Wear and tear.
Wow that’s embarrassing. Thank you for the corrections.
Don't forget the tap the last few drops out of the pump too after pumping.
I keep the car fueled up, and then budget a minimal amount for needs/wants . Then use the fuel to drive for free coffee, free food, etc .
Gets me out of the house also …
Drive almost everyday for free coffee/tea/hot chocolates (through hey you app, and maccas app also) . Will pick up a coffee, couple of chai teas, banana bread or toast, then take away and sit on grass overlooking the beach . Costs me nothing, but petrol to drive there (and my time of course) :)
Because I can basically eat/drink for free atm, I am trying to save, by filling fuel, allowing $100/week of my disability pension for discretionary spening, then saving the rest. I have debts to pay off, so need to save .
Whatever is not available on some promotion for free, I generally will wait and get for half price or less . Like big macs, I dont feel like 1 very often, but if I do feel like a big mac, I would buy it at $3 sale (which I think is on atm) .. For my phone credit, I just buy the sim starter kits when they are 50% off (or usually less) and stock on some items when they are on some awesome deal.
Some of my friends think I am silly for being so frugal, but I explain to them, if you get everything for half price, you can have twice as much, and/or put the saved $$ towards other needs and wants . Plus it is a fun hobby for me personally, its not about saving that couple of $$ or whatever, it is more about the joy of like a 'win' of sorts , like people feel when they gamble and win I guess, but without the horrible feeling when you lose :(This sounds like so much work who can be bothered everyday
It is a hobby and it is fun. Plenty of people 'bother everyday' with wasting what little $$ they have on poker machines.. With bargain hunting, you always win ;) . Worst you get is 'break even' like when I ordered 4 cases of beer for $12 each, then was cancelled as pricing error.
Im very central also, so nothing is ever far from me. I open hey you coffee app, and have 3km to free coffees/teas (and $5 free fries) or 5km other direction to free coffees/teas (and usually go for $5 free banana bread, and go eat at the beachside there, then walk along beach esplanade for exercise)just seems like you can spend time doing more productive things in life and not mentally have to worry so much as it is kind of a stress mentally worrying about that stuff… lifes too short mate
@boostpak: No worry or stress tbh, if anything, bargain hunting is therapeutic and fun :) .
Sure, could be doing something for someone else' benefit "productive" but then so could you as you reply ? Hobbies are not meant to be 'productive', not everything needs to be 'productive'. As long as it is not destructive :) Such as is gambling .@ozzpete: sounds more like a mental obsession rather than a hobby. you mentally can't spend that's the issues, a hobby is something you absolutely love and don't even need to think about
I walk from Sydney airport domestic terminal to Mascot station to save about $14 on public transport. It works out at about $1 saving for each minute walked.
I do this with bus route for 400
We do this to Wolli Creek. The airport line is crazy expensive!
if you dont have a lot of luggages, why not?
Plus brisk walking is great exercise and good cardio and weight loss. And can always multitask ie. Be on phone etc while walking (or even better, chat to friend you're walking with) .
And on the way home, an Opal card with a couple bucks credit, scan it at the gate entering the airport, it will open and card goes into negative balance
I spend extra 10 seconds @ woolworths / coles self cheak out to save 2 cents in each of the transaction
never knew this, handing over my Ozbargain membership now :(
You save 2 cents per item at self-checkout?
each of the transaction.
If you do one item per transaction then you can save 2 cents on each item.
The central heating in my house runs on diesel fuel (old house), but it costs around $1.7/L to have diesel delivered to my house via a tanker, so I take a drum out to costco every week or two and fill it up with diesel for about $1.4/L, and then siphon it out of the drum into the heater with a garden hose.
Have you seen these?
They are designed to fit a 20L drum and easier than using a hose.https://ebay.com.au/itm/GO-KART-FUEL-PUMP-BATTERY-POWERED-BU…
Opened a 6c term deposit for a year to see if would round up to 7c. Was years ago when interest rates were 9 percent to make the return 6.54c
Didn’t work though
Term Deposits almost always pay interest monthly, so if anyone wants to succeed with this scheme, deposit enough money to earn at least 1c per month.
You could even try for 0.5c/month, they might round up…
I try to buy certain groceries at 50% (or special) off. You are essentially saving half the money.
That’s what 50% off generally achieves, saving half the money
Downside is, you've also gotta spend half - essentially :/
Unsubscribe RSS ozbargain
Remove OzB bookmarksHundreds saved daily. Too bad it's impossible
I am pretty good at not going overboard and using my time efficiently when saving money but I still get OCD like how I forgot to use the rewards card for a free movie and wasted like $10 buying a full priced movie ticket when I would usually buy them discounted. I literally have been thinking about it for the past 2 whole days.
your time is surely worth more than $5 a day, relax.
chill dude its just a couple of bucks, not anything life changing
Delete all email accounts, cancel all phone contracts, fill mailbox with concrete, remove stomach and use iv for sustanenance, revel in solving life’s problems.
*sustenanenance
reuse those toothpick things
I managed a winter season without heater or doona piled a heap load of clothes on the bed and slept underneath it. Had no extra jackets and was wearing few layers of clothing. Slept through the day and was awake only in the evening missing out on breakfast and lunch
living life to the fullest!!
Why didn't you just move to Queensland?
I would love 2, pays are crap though.
I did this as a student. But I had a doona! Was still cold!
I’d like to say cycling to work saves money, but the amount I’ve spent on bikes and parts is probably well inexcess of the fuel I would have used.
Put drinking straws from maccas in the dishwasher, then back in the drawer, ready for reuse
Have fun drinking the toxins from the plastic which are released due to temperature in the dishwasher.
Maybe do some research on why plastic water battles should not be reused if they have been exposed to heat.Interesting
What about plastic dink bottles when they are transported in a truck or train? The temperature in those gets a hot as a dishwasher when it's a summer day.
Or when the plastic is made/melted at high heat. Do the dangerous toxins not get created then, or are they only created the second time plastic is exposed to heat?
What about the plastic built in the dishwasher or the Tupperware containers?
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/why-not-re-use-plas…
https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/reuse-plastic-water-…
https://www.thesun.co.uk/living/1466504/this-is-why-you-shou…
https://www.healthyfoodguide.com.au/articles/2008/august/ask…
If you google the issue you will find many, many articles about this.
So long story short, unless you know something is BPA free, do not risk it. To be safe, use glass bottles (metal bottles are not great either as metal could be released into the water).
And you completely missed the point.
Refilling a bottle is not dangerous and the water in a refilled bottle have no more BPA than the water in an unopened bottle.
Not to mention that single use drink bottles are mostly made from PET.
PET does not contain BPA.BPA free drink bottles are largely scaring people into buying something to avoid coming into contact with something that was not present in the thing they are replacing.
there are no public health and safety concerns at the levels of BPA people are exposed to in food
http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/chemicals/bpa/Pages…
metal bottles are not great either as metal could be released into the water
You do realise that there is metal naturally occuring in water?
Or when you cook with metal pots/pans some of that transfers into the food. Fun fact, using cast iron cookware is a good way to add extra iron to your food.
But if it was a cast iron drink bottle I suppose it would be bad?No, I did not miss the point. Heating up plastic again can actually release BPA into the water in the bottle. So, yes, I would not buy water from a shop that has been placed in the sunlight as that will also do it.
And what are McDonald's straws made off - do you know the ingredients? Granted, I do not know them either but to save 0.01 cents I would not gamble.
That is the point here.
Feel free to reuse those straws and keep reusing cheaply made plastic bottles - natural selection I suppose. ;-)Also, yes, metal is naturally occurring in water. But of course, too much of a good thing is not necessarily a good thing.
Too much iron is actually bad for you. Too much Zinc can be very bad for you.And Calcium (mineral) is the most "fun" substance: a bit hardens the teeth but too much of it can make them brittle.
And by the way: I did NOT neg you but I believe there is a good chance you negged my post with the articles in supposed "retaliation". :-)
So, yes, I would not buy water from a shop that has been placed in the sunlight as that will also do it.
What about when it gets hot during transport?
Do they not release BPA? Or do you just not know if they got hot so don't think about it?
Water bottles dont have BPA in them as they are made from PET.And even if they did there is only so much BPA that can be released before the bottle stops releasing BPA.
And what are McDonald's straws made off - do you know the ingredients?
Polypropylene (which doesn't contain BPA)
So where is all the BPA? BPA is primarily for the production of polycarbonate plastics (a hard plastic)
It is a great plastic to make things like drink bottles and baby bottles because it doesn't easily shatter.Or it was until people got scared of something they didn't knwo existed and isn't going to harm them.
I would not gamble.
The lowest threshold of toxicological concern value for non-genotoxic substances is 0.0015 mg/kg bw/day for people who do not work with the chemical. (If you do work with the chemical the value is much higher at 0.0100 mg/kg bw/day)
At worst BPA is released into room temperature water at the rate of 1 nanogram per hour (it's actually a big range form about 0.2 to 0.7 nanograms but 1 is an easy number).
In boiling water this happens 15-55 times faster.
So if you take the absolute worst case then a BPA bottle that is being boiled will release 55 nanograms per hour.If you weigh 85kg then the TTC threshold for your BPA intake is 1.275mg/day.
So taking the worst case BPA leeching values form before that is 1,275,000 hours for a room temperature BPA containing water bottle to reach your lowest TTC threshold.
To put that into perspective, that is 145 years.What about boiling it?
That means you constantly need to boil the bottle for 10 years (best case) or 2.6 years (worst case).But nobody will boil a bottle for that long. So if it site in storage constantly at 50 degrees you are probably going to be dead before that one bottle has leeched enough BPA into the water to get to your low threshold for that day.
But again water bottles dont have BPA in them as they are made from PET.
And by the way: I did NOT neg you but I believe there is a good chance you negged my post with the articles in supposed "retaliation". :-)
I hadnt looked at the votes so dont worry.
But I'm not retaliating, however those articles are just creating alarm.
And all the limits you mentioned are absolutely certain and tested, right?
Sorry, still not gambling. And yes, I do not drink water from bottles that were exposed to heat. No matter what.Did you know that it was not too long ago (in the grand scheme of things) where science did not think that x-rays were harmful? In fact, there were attractions at fair.
I do not trust your numbers at all. I know a few people with PhD in chemistry and working in the industry - they would not refill plastic water bottles once they have been exposed to heat and if they would not do it being experts, I am certainly not doing it.
Plus, the effect of chemicals on a body can be very different. One person can smoke one cigarette a day for 6 months and get lung cancer while another can smoke a pack for 30 years and then stop and not have lung cancer at all and live until 100. I would not take such risk at all.As I said, you can do it if you like. I will stick with water bottles made of glass, or in an emergency BPA free ones but only if they have not been heated up either (as we still do not know everything about all the other chemicals and their effect on the human body).
And, to conclude, it still comes down to the question: would one gamble with health just to save 0.01 cent?
@Darren Brake: Cashback is something you can get when you shop using websites like Cashrewards. They have a 1 minute explainer which goes through the process. It's very simple.