Here I am heating my apartment with my gas stovetop, purely because the gas isn't individually metered so is included in our rent. It got me thinking, I wonder what the tightest thing ozbargain users do on a regular basis.
What are your worst tight-arse habits?
You can wash your white sneakers to make them white again.
Either wipe down/scrub with soapy water or remove the inner sole and submerge them.
You soak non white shoes in bleach? wouldnt this make all the colours go funky?
Ps. I'm getting some great tips from this thread!
Whenever I go for a meal I always take a small container or piece of al-foil in my bag for the resturants or pubs that don't do doggy bags.
Next meal then already sorted!
Good on ya. Meals are too big anyway. I don't like them taking my food back to the kitchen. I would rather pack it up myself.
When I worked on cruise ships I would go past the onboard duty free store every morning and spray some of their most expensive aftershave on me every morning instead of buying my own.
Now I can only do it when passing an airport duty free store.
LOL I always do that when I am at a Myer store.
haha me too, no need to buy cologne.
i used to work on the loading dock at DJ's and always started early and would use a different tester every day. best smelling dock working in melbourne.
wouldn't they have recognized you on the cruise ship? Just wondering :)
I controlled their TV, phones and internet so they did not dare challenge me.
A friend of mine goes to the local shopping centers, public toilets etc and takes the rolls of toilet paper.
I don't think he's bought toilet paper in years!
Argh - it feels like sandpaper - pass!
Wow, no thanks! Quilton Gold 4 Ply for me.
The difference is night and day.
Apparently it loves my bum…
lol yeah, you've read inside the cardboard too.
"Quilton Loves Your Bum"
I thought it was a bit creepy.
stealing's not the same as "tight" !
How is that stealing…?
The shopping centre has put it out for use, except the guy is just using it at home.
ethics
It's stealing because they put it there for individual usage for individual visits to the bathroom. Him taking whole rolls is actually stealing. That's the difference.
Rofl.
theft =/= being a tightarse. Thats just being a stingy low life rat. What happens if someone was bustin for a sh1t and theres no dunny roll?
Scumbag move.
Remembered some more things…
We don't buy synthetic clothes. Apart from the fact they make us sweat and itch, later we can tear our worn out cotton clothes up into rags for cleaning the house/car. Have also used rags as rope at times for tying things like tomato vines, or the car boot lid down when carrying something oversize.
I'm currently sitting in the dark with a small LED light thingy on that runs on 3x AAA eneloops - the kind you buy in a pack of 3 to put in a cupboard - and press it to turn it on. It's to save electricity of course and light up my black keyboard (although I often forget to turn the lights off and it on).
Buy a pressure cooker. The last few years there's been a slow-cooker fad. I don't understand why. Apart from the fact nearly everything is made in China and I wouldn't trust a chinese appliance on all day in my home unsupervised… they take hours to do what a pressure cooker does in minutes. About one third of normal (non slow-cooker) cooking time they claim. You've got to check its operating pressure before buying though. There are cheap and nasty ones that have a low pressure. You may as well just cook in a casserole dish in the oven instead of buying one of those. It needs to be up around 14psi I think it is. Anyone interested, look up "Fagor Duo", which is fairly cheap but still at the right pressure. Do a beef roast in one - and the gravy later in the same pot - best roast meat I've ever tasted!
We bought the same quality Wahl hair clipper barbers use. Myself or my wife cuts our children's hair. Wife cuts mine. I cut hers (just with scissors, because she has really long hair, it's just a straight line). So guys… TELL your woman to grow long hair, and tell her it's so she never has to go to the hairdressers EVER AGAIN - and she'll thank you for it! No, really!!! Plenty of how to videos on youtube. A boys short clipper cut is so EASY, I can't believe we used to pay for it.
Potatoes… buy them unwashed in bulk (10kg) and ask at different veg shops until one gives you a hessian bag. Keep the potatoes in the bag in the dark. (We keep them under the laundry sink.) They'll never go off before you finish them again. Same with onions. Because you're buying 10kg, you'll pay less per kg too.
I've been cutting my own hair for the past couple of years too.
It always turns out better since I know exactly what I want (and it isn't just a simple buzzcut either).
Probably saved a couple hundred bucks already.
Cheap and lazy way -> shave every 4 months and say its for cancer support.
Grow it out and shave again :D
How do you do that??? I am willing to learn from you!!
It involved a lot of trial and error, and it also depends on the hairstyle you're going for.
There's a guy I've seen online do it. Darn, can't think of his name. He's a rep for Andis products in the USA. I think on youtube he's called "clipperguy" - so maybe look that up, then find his site that way. The video was on his site, or maybe in his facebook comments. It's for a product that is basically three folding mirrors. He was promoting it by using the different reflections to cut his own hair.
I do this randomly too.
If you can, buy one of those layered scissors from ebay or something. It seriously makes it easy, and very pro looking. Also even if you slightly mess up its not too bad because it hasn't cut 'all' the hair in that section.
I have friends who go for a wash and cut every 1.5 months. Thats $30-35. Crazy, especially the wash since i need to shower afterwards with due to the itchy hair bits anyway.
i have not had my hair cut in 2 years by a hairdresser and the time before that was 2 years prior. 1 hair trim in 4 years….
Sure i have long hair so its not for everyone, but think of the cash ive saved…
Think of how much extra shampoo you have used if you had short hair. :-)
Yeah, I hate that… Get a haircut and you forget and keep pouring too much shampoo in your hand. By the time you finally adjust the amount, your hair is getting long again, grrr…
We don't buy synthetic clothes. Apart from the fact they make us sweat and itch, later we can tear our worn out cotton clothes up into rags for cleaning the house/car. Have also used rags as rope at times for tying things like tomato vines, or the car boot lid down when carrying something oversize.
Couple of things.
If you want the best tomato ties. Get old plastic bread bags, cut the bottom off (so it's a tube), run the scissors down one seam only (so it's like a piece of paper), then cut it into 2cm wide strips.
I think synthetics are good for outer layers anyway, they're not on your skin, and they dry out much quicker (saves on drying during winter)
we always save buckles, ropes from bags etc before throwing them out. that way every time you need an odd bit of rope for tying x job, you just reach into the draw and pull out some rope. As for the buckles/clips, when a bag breaks you can replace the clip quickly
But the onion idea I have been doing for ages, ever since onions went up to $2 for a 1kg bag at coles. I said they just onion, why the hell are they $2-3 per kg. Went to some f&v shops on sydney road, scored a 10kg bag of onions for $4. I give em out to family etc. and the rest I use for day to day salads and watever. When they start to seriously age Ill slice up em all up and cook em in a big pot and make caramelised onion jam with balsamic vinegar ($2.50 @ coles/aldi) and some brown sugar. Add them at the same time to caramelise the onion. Then you just add whatever herbs/spices you like and cook it to a stew like consistency. I love pepper and cumin so thats what I put in mine, with a bit of olive oil to cut the vinegar 'edge'.
try something called a thermos cooker… something like this
http://www.raysoutdoors.com.au/Product/Traveller-s-Thermal-C…
the thermos cooker comes with a removable pot
you put all your ingredients in like you would a slow cooker or pressure cooker… heat the pot toll it boils, then place inside the thermos.
close lid and voila many hours later… food is cooked and tender without much electricity or gas.
the one I have.. if I placed boiling hot soup in it…and left it in the thermos overnight for like 6-7 hours… in the morning.. it would still be too hot to drink.
AHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Hey OP, just spend a few hundred dollars and buy an unflumed gas heater off ebay. Either get some type of T adapter, or just disconnect the stove and plug in the heater. imo a dedicated heater with shut off valve etc is a lot safer than using a stove top to warm the house.
I dont or hardly buy overprice coffee that sell for $3.50 for a small cup.
One exception for me is when Starbucks had pay 1 for 2 offer.
I bought an aldi pod machine for the office.
whilst pods are 36cents each I get coworkers to drop 50cents into a jar.
the thing has paid for itself in 6 months (paid for iteslf in 2 months actually) and the extra money goes towards chocolate biscuits. back stock of pods in the cupboard is up to 120 pods whilst pod holding buckets hold a similar number.
aldi pod machine. the coffee is ok. beats the crap out of instant. not as good as the fresh ground espresso that I used to make on my little breville machine using de bella beans, but I'm not certainly not complaining.
We can start OZBARGAIN 101 online class with this thread!!
CUT empty two and three litre plastic milk and juice bottles in half. Wash them.
They make excellent:
Drawer and box organisers - my drawers and boxes are full of them each with sorted, easy to find items.
Great for men to put hot water in when shaving - you don't need to waste electricity by running the hot tap.
Excellent for storing make up and bathroom items.
Much cheaper than tupperware etc
You will also reduce landfill
ALL Stored items are easy to find
clear plastic juice bottles are best because you can see what's inside from the top and the side.
cut a 2 or 3L milk container in half (on an angle). The handle end can be used as as a scoop
http://images.meredith.com/bhg/images/plant/p_jugscoop_09280…
.use it to clean leaves on the roof gutters - the best tool. remember safety first as any DIY.
For our gutters an old egg lifter is the perfect size.
Aren't the edges sharp…
You'd probably tape the edges.
Recycled gift wrap for drawer liners. Store bought Xmas puddings come in a plastic bowl that's good in the kitchen to whip up a couple eggs in or use to apply hair colour with a tint brush. Remember the old silver insulated drawstring bag coolers that were filled with bean bag beans? What were they called? The Frig Bag? They hold a 2 litre milk bottle full of frozen water to take to the beach, make a great pillow (with the bottle in it) while catching some rays, and ice melts to give 2lt of icy cold water- your daily requirement. Large Jalna yoghurt buckets to hold soapy water for household cleaning.
The Frig Bag?
Lol, i think it was the 'Frij' bag. Frig is something else haha
I using a 2-3 year old laptop atm… its a shit computer but it also acts as a heater during winter - does the job lol :p
run prime95 on the really cold nights
IntelBurnTest all the way bro, along with MSI Kombuster. Very good for winter but even having my pc on in summer is horrible.
Hope you haven't got that thing on your lap - could be 'cooking' your chance at any future children!
The OzB vasectomy.
If being an almighty tight ass isn't birth control enough.
on a serious note, a hot computer can increase scrotal temperatures and reduce your sperm count.
not if said computer stays on a desk/away from lap.
They can count!? Well, I guess my wife did get pregnant twice on the pill… so I always knew mine were clever dicks.
a hot computer can increase scrotal temperatures and reduce your sperm count
Yeh, reduce it everyday, ifyoucatchmydrift
i normally just run my desktop and close the door keeps room nice and cosy
Halogen lightbulbs heat up a room quick too!
Only 2-3 years? I've been using the same laptop for the last 6 years and it's still working fine. A relative of mine is still running Windows 98 on a 17 year old computer.
Lol a 2-3 year old laptop? Mines 7 years old. Still works fine, Pentium M, Windows 7, and great for Uni. =D I want to upgrade, but all of my stuff is on here; and it is so durable.
My Inspiron 1520 is still going from 2007. Its starting to show its age a little but I love it.
newbies…gave my dad an IBM 386 back in 92, he still fires up win3.11 just to play solitaire.
even more of a bargain, he doesn't require a virus scanner. (he does ask from time to time)
Bookmarkleted (word?) This is going to be a VERY useful topic!
perhaps bookmarked is the word you're looking for??
No..No, that's not it.
I do not know if this fits the definition of tight but it is still something I suggest all Ozbargainers do.
When you receive a credit card offer in the mail you can put the enclosed reply paid envelope to good use. Dispose of any other junk mail you received that day (that do not have your personal details on them) in the reply paid envelope and post it to the credit card company at their expense.
ROFLMAO - excellent.
Lol i reply with F"&k Y$u in big black texter on the form and send it off!
Maybe this should into "the meanest thing you do on a regular basis" thread. :)
They sent me unsolicited junk so I return the favour by sending them some right back. What is mean about that? Maybe they collect expired dominoes vouchers and are happy to receive my return mail.
Seems like a waste of energy to me. I just put the letter in the shredder and reuse the free envelope.
Cannot economincally reuse a REPLY PAID envelope, as it costs money for whiteout to get rid of the existing address LOL
Hahaha, when did I say anything about using it to send letters? Envelopes have other uses. In fact these days I maybe buy a couple of stamps a year.
Surely turning on the shredder is a waste of energy when all you have to do is tear out the portion with your name and address on it.
I actually toss it in the shredder at work since they recycle paper there. I didn't buy a shredder for home, waste of money. Next thing you'll say waste of energy carrying the paper to work. :)
Keep the stamps you get from other mail and soak them in boiling water for a bit then remove them from the paper.
my dad used to work for a recycling company taking the trucks to the dump, he used to pick up all sorts of things
massive boxes of envelopes
diary's
jewellery boxes
the things people throw u wouldn't believe
dont remember the rest but we still got those envelopes
I thought I was a tightarse until I saw this thread.
Soooo True!!
My ex husband's grandfather takes the watch battery out of his watch while he is in the house. Apparently he never pays for anything when the family goes out either.
And the old gent puts water on his morning cereal.
My partner is a serial shopper, has absolutely NFI about saving money. It's made me into a bit of a scab, because otherwise we couldn't pay the mortgage, bills, etc.
The most tightarsed thing that I do almost every week is to go to the local shopping centre, walk around and check all the clearance areas (K-Mart is good), all stock reductions, specials, etc. Check all the shops, Aldi, etc - takes me a few hours…
…then I walk out without buying anything = WIN
I'm surprised you can find anything worthwhile in KMart to buy. We didn't go there for months. Then when we did, they're suddenly selling all this JUNK. My wife bought three pairs of shoes. They all came unglued in the first few minutes on her feet. Bought a can opener the same day. It worked 3 or 4 times if we were lucky. Another time we bought a bunch of stationary… the lead in the pencils was cracked right through so it just kept falling out when sharpened. The ink in the pens didn't work. The drawing tools (compass, etc.) were so soft they were completely unusable. The rubbers (erasers for those Australians that talk yank) were also too soft. They melted into nothing after a few short rubs. I think KMart really now just wants to be a landfill supplier.
Yep Kmart sells a lot of cheap junk.
KMart's MD just bought a $8m house in Caulfied North, Vic. They must be doing something right to make money!
One: Yep Kmart sells a lot of cheap junk.
Two: KMart's MD just bought a $8m house in Caulfied North, Vic. They must be doing something right to make money!
Three: See One.
I also do that when I have time.
Otherwise I just look at all the catalogues online, only problem is you miss out on all the clearances.
Ah, catalogues - reminds me of another cheapskate tip. A few years ago we decided we "owned enough". So we started throwing the junk mail out without reading it. Might have to start doing that again, methinks.
lol, i do the same thing
Just go to places like NQR and other local clearance warehouses. Saves you that few hours walking.
The milk bottles reminded me of more things we do. (We do so many savings things, I forget they're not "normal" for other people.) Anyway…
A. We buy powdered milk but add 20% more water than the packet says. Forget $1 per litre milk. 1kg costs $5.99 and is supposed to make 10L. We extend that to 12L. So that's 50 cents per litre. Skim tastes better than full cream. You get used to the taste, but even if you can't, still use it in cooking/baking. Never taste the difference then. People would comment on the taste until we started keeping it actual 2L milk containers. They don't notice it tastes different anymore, LOL.
B. When we empty a box of corn flakes, weetbix, etc. - my wife now washes and dries the plastic bag. Then when we buy meat in bulk, she uses the bags to separate the meat before freezing.
Am I the winner yet?
C. Dented cans at the supermarket - ask for a discount. (Haven't done that for a while though. I think too many people saw us do it and get to them before us.)
D. The one thing we do the most is buying in bulk when on sale. UBank is only offering 5.51% now. So when I see something marked down that we normally buy anyway, I work out if the sale price means we make more by leaving the money in the bank, or, by buying the bulk item.
For example:
A few months ago Bi-Lo (Coles) had these large 300g red tubes of toothpaste (from Europe!?) for $1. We track all our groceries in a spreadsheet. So we knew we buy one 300g tube of $1.19 Aldi toothpaste per fortnight for a family of 4.5. We check if there's a use-by date on the product, and/or decide how many months of it we want to store. Because they were more than double the size, 12 months of toothpaste at one tube per month = about 13 tubes.
E. When deep frying, overheating the oil ruins it. So we bought a $12 oil thermometer from a kitchen supplies store. You can look up the smoke point of different oils online, then never heat oil above that temp. Then the oil can be used several times instead of just once or twice. We filter used oil through a clean tea towel too.
BTW… I mentioned pressure cookers earlier. Aldi is selling one atm for about $50. Had a look at it today. It's build quality is far from wonderful, and I think the sealing ring is made of rubber instead of silicon. But for the price… It's highest pressure is 12psi. So at least it's in the vicinity of the ideal 14psi. I wouldn't buy it myself. I'd be concerned about finding a replacement gasket when needed. And even the pressure valve was pretty poor in design/quality. So I would still go with the quality Fagor Duo which you'd probably never need to replace. But there are ozbargainers reading - so…
I like the part about the cereal plastic. It would be good as a go between. We only buy a couple of boxes of cereal a year and they don't really get eaten.
My mum uses unused stale cornflakes in recipes tastes the same when cooked
Or put the bag up to your mouth, suck out all the air, and then twist & seal with a rubber band and into the freezer to keep for ages.
BTW. We make our own bread (do yourself a favour folks and buy a Panasonic). It's ridiculously easy to make. Literally 20 seconds to put in the ingredients and press one button. But if someone doesn't want to make their own bread and they see some marked down - do the same as with the cereal - into the freezer. When you thaw it out, it lasts nearly the same length of time as it would have from the shop. And it stays soft and fresh too. You wouldn't think dry stuff would freeze, but it does. We've even frozen torn bags of flour. So I think it must be the moisture in food that creates all the ice buildup you see.
Find milk marked down - into the freezer too. If it had 2 days left on it, write "2" on the bottle and use it in two days when you thaw it out.
Yoghurt doesn't work quite as well (especially diet - it separates or goes lumpy), but if you mix it after you thaw it out, it's bearable. We see easiyo yoghurt makers in op shops all the time for $2-$4. Buy one of the smallest container of plain yoghurt and make your own with a couple of tablespoons of yoghurt and skim milk powder (instructions found online). It doesn't always work for us, but that's because we don't do it that often. If you don't like plain, chop up some fruit, squash and put blueberries in, the leftover juice from canned fruit, a small tin of passionfruit pulp, etc.
We use the freezer a lot to save. Make biscuits, cakes, old bananas to be used later in cakes… all into the freezer.
If we buy something like apples and they start to go off, my wife makes something from them - like apple pie. All the recipes say to use granny smiths (I think because they stay harder). But we've used different types. Some of the other varieties were the best apple pies I'd ever tasted. (The worst, softest, failure of a home-made apple pie is still better than those filthy homebrand things that only contain applesauce.)
Someone was giving away chokos the other day because no-one knows what to use them for. She chucks in half apples, half choko. The choko absorbs the flavour of the apple so you can't tell the difference between the two, apart from the consistency if the apples are softer.
Anyway - if she's making one, she makes two - or three. It halves the amount of electricity used to cook them too. Into the freezer again.
Ice cream - my wife recently found out how to make vanilla ice cream from skim milk powder and a little bit of white vinegar I think it was (of all things). Probably find that online too. No ice cream machine needed - just a mixer - but a machine would probably make it easier, because I think she has to mix it twice. It tasted somewhere between homebrand and more expensive types.
Spring onions (supermarkets call them shallots, but I think it's purple onions that are really shallots). We buy them and only get to use a quarter before they go limp, brown, and mush. We send the kids outside to literally just shove them in some dirt. Tip some water on them, then in a couple of days they recover and you can use them again. Actually, even if you use them - and cut them down to say a cm above the roots, you can regrow that little bit the same way. They regrow fast too.
Gravy… Forget buying gravy powder - look up how to make your own from pan juices of roast meat/chicken - DELICIOUS!
Can use an onion that has started to sprout as a stand in for spring onions instead of chucking it out, just let them grow until the bulb has expended itself. Shallots to me are a bulb Allium cepa aka French shallots easy to grow plant the smallest for best results don't need to be fussed over.
My family does the exact same thing with spring onions :)
We do eat a LOT of spring onions! (Korean food) So its good
You are definitely the winner Imo. Keep posting your tips. I am loving them.
i do that with my $5 thongs