Cheapskate things you did in your life

[Wiffles]

My family is like a roller coaster ride of financial stability. We once had a 5 bedroom house and stuff, but problems with forclosure, my dad's mental breakdown, mounting debt, and a plethora of other things forced us to take extreme measures to be super frugal. Do you have any stories? ^.^

*We once collected ketchup packets whenever we went to a fast food place and use them at home

*I used to collect cans and sell them to the recyclers, for extra cash. I remember making $20 from a sackfull of empty soda cans

*We once diverted our rain gutters into big barrels to collect water so we can use them to water the lawn, wash the car etc

*Stealing the neighbors unsecured wi-fi

*No more home heating on winter

*Eating only at work, because they had free food

*eating cheap things like 50 cent ramen all the time, when no ones watching.

Most of the people I knew thought I was loaded tho, because Id still drive around alot when gas was $4 a gallon, and treated some of them to pizza or coffee from time to time.
I used to feel ashamed thinking about this, but I find it funny now ^.^

[Tadao]

Get drunk before I go to the bar.

[Dimnos]

Get drunk then forget to go to the bar. :\

When I was a teenager my grandparents kept two refrigerators in their garage. One was turned way down and was more like a deep freeze. The other was packed full of soda and beer so they always had drinks for guests. When I first moved out of my moms I would regularly creep in there at night, because they would go to sleep around 8, and jack food and beer from them.

[Tadao]

When I lived on my own, I used to grocery shop in my parents cupboards.

[robo_rob]

The first time I was in college, I regularly stole toilet paper from the bathrooms (figuring i paid for it anyway). I also snuck ziplock baggies into Ryans and took home food.

[Tadao]

I've gone to the food bank a great many of times.

[Fathom Zero]

We cancelled gas and cable, ate ramen, and eliminated birthday presents. With all of that, plus my mothers $11.80 paycheck and my $6.80, we worked it out.

Now the government's paying for the majority of my higher education.

[Kitsa]

I just got some sort of poor-disabled-person bus pass from the county. The trouble with that is, they were just like, "Here's your pass" and didn't bother to explain what exactly it meant. I don't know if I get free fare, reduced fare or what.

Even more confusing, this comes just a couple of months after they sent out a letter saying disabled funding for the buses had been cut and if we wanted to travel the prices were now ridiculous (I can't remember what, exactly, but it was a substantial part of my income).

[Shrubfest]

Never eat any form of condiment. Including butter, gravy and custard.

Always opt for the 80p pasty, instead of the splash out £1 pasty.

Keep all your coppers. And anyone elses.

Whenever possible, stay in town until your mum is driving home, and get a lift.

STUDENT!

[stevetothepast]

When I used to go to the grocery store on pay day, i wouldn't buy any products priced over 3 dollars. ended up being mostly ramen noodle, mac n cheese and rice. the rest of the pay cheque was mostly on indian ciggs and cheap rum. I was a janitor at the time and they pay was shit.

[Kitsa]

Unless it's something I can't find anywhere else, I look for my books at thrift stores. My favorite, the St. Vincent DePaul in Wisconsin, has books for around 20 cents ea. I can fill a shopping cart for $20 if I want.

[Guitar Woman]

I make my own wine sometimes :lol :(

[MLE]

Protip: putting grape juice in a wine glass doesn't make it wine.

[Guitar Woman]

Yeah, you have to mix it with yeast in an old milk jug, stick a balloon over the top and hide it in the toilet cistern for a month

[Chojin]

My family is like a roller coaster ride of financial stability.

My dad used to own a construction company and when I was born my family was living in this huge mansion he'd built

Five years later, both my parents were bankrupt and divorced and they were living in lower-middle-class apartment complexes

Now, they're both doing reasonably well for themselves and at least own their own houses

AMERICA

[Zomboid]

I financed my new laptop! :eek

[b_squared]

We rented a room from another family where myself, husband and two young kids were all sharing one room. Most the cash went to baby food and diapers. We ate alot of mac and cheese and bought alot of whole chickens when they went on sale for 90 cents a pound, cut it into portions and froze most of it. After a while living with another family got a little too much so we bought a used camper and put it on the truck and lived out of that for a while. Thank god we both got into good paying jobs. lean times are good

[Babs]

Get drunk before I go to the bar.

Fucking amen to that. I also remember being out of toilet paper and no money and going to the bar and stealing rolls of that rough ass toilet paper.

Edit: And taking the free tour on porn sites and having no intention of paying.

[Tadao]

Some of these things I would call being a cheapskate, just survival.

[stevetothepast]

mostly survival from what I've read, it's not like any of these things described are situations of people with loads of cash on hand and just not willing to pay. That's a cheapskate in my books.

also the free tour on porn sites is like Internet 101. Never pay for porn.

[Dimnos]

I could buy my own tp. However sometimes I work late just so that when everyone is gone I can steal it from the office. :\ Oh and batteries too.

[RaNkeri]

I drink Pepsi max instead of Coke light and save roughly 0,50 €

[LordSappington]

Whenever I go to lunch with my friends, I always ask for a water, and fill the cup with soda.
I've also made four LIVE accounts by now.

[Tadao]

no ice in my soda hahahah. I haven't done that one in a long time.

[robo_rob]

One time at a con, the hotel had free fountain drinks (and beer at happy hour). I walked across the street to a Target, bought a cheap plastic pitcher, and drank soda from that fountain all weekend (and even took some home).

[LordSappington]

no ice in my soda hahahah. I haven't done that one in a long time.
I always do that, too, but not just for more soda; I hate watered down soda. >:

[DougClayton4231]

*Currently bootlegging cable
*Regularly forget meals (Saves time and money)
*I trade fixing things for food and other comforts
*Steal crap off the internet

I'm still suffering through college though. Junior year FTL.

[Kitsa]

I "forget" meals all the time. Especially on weekends, 'cause what's the point? I might grab something in the morning and eat something in mid afternoon that's linner or dunch or whatever you want to call it. I am having a hard time bringing the bf around to this philosophy; he would prefer three formal meals a day. I don't mind the effort as much as I do the price. Groceries are expensive.

[10,000 Volt Ghost]

Order a glass of water with a lemon. Then add two sugar packets, stir it and voila. Free lemonade.

[executioneer]

i've bought cheapo zip-loc bag knockoffs and used them as water balloons. sometimes they're even re-usable :eek

[Fathom Zero]

Yeah, you have to mix it with yeast in an old milk jug, stick a balloon over the top and hide it in the toilet cistern for a month

It's better when it's in the sun, you know.

[Fathom Zero]

I eat on less than $4 a day now.

[Kitsa]

We just decided not to do holiday lights this year because it seems to tack a ridiculous amount onto our electric bill.

Just as well, because I need to decide if my hockey player display would now be a Senator goalie or just a random Blue Jacket.

[10,000 Volt Ghost]

I never got to see your hockey lights display from last year Kitsa. I was always at work when I remembered to look at it. Images normally don't display for me at work.

[Kitsa]

In progress:

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn199/kitsa_for_imockery/pazzy1.jpg

Daytime:
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn199/kitsa_for_imockery/xmaspazzy.jpg

Nighttime:
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn199/kitsa_for_imockery/pazzyatnight.jpg


I'm a little disappointed because the lights were really something, but they just took way too much electricity. I might go ahead and put him up without lights, or maybe just the hockey net and not the big lights on the house. Then again, it's getting harder physically for me to do this stuff so it might just be a year without.

It is nice to have things lit when it's so dark and depressing outside, though :(

Edited to add: Yes, I know that looks like a green turd on his jersey. The perspective was weird and I screwed up the Jackets logo so much that I decided to do a stylized Christmas tree instead, but it tended to appear as a turd to most people.

[stevetothepast]

I don't have electricity, costs so much these days.


EDIT: btw I like the display Kitsa Kat.

[Kitsa]

thanks, steve.

Of course, Leclaire would get traded right after I did this.

[robo_rob]

I cut my own hair. Which isn't as bad as it sounds, I've shaved my head for the past few years and now that I've let it grow back, I take a pair of clippers and generally buzz it all over to a short level.

I don't know if that's me being cheap, or just knowing there's no reason to pay for something so simple.

[stevetothepast]

I do the same thing.

[10,000 Volt Ghost]

Kitsa, I'm still at work so its still not showing me how awesome it is. Can you send me a PM after 5:00 to remind me to check it out when I get home?

[stevetothepast]

I'll send kitsa one to remind her to send one to remind you k?

[Dimnos]

Fuck buying a boat. :\

http://8hl6fq.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pLUg7gmPH9uCmgdQ2hA6-dcYbaqUnAveh7SHxovfGFYXrw9oPkfSvNJdQXqGU81fDOWkLja cREI73_1pAJoMNjte1IRCdmyLU/DSC00271.JPG

[Kitsa]

If my damn internet will stay up for any length of time, I will.

[captain516]

Speaking of internet, my grandpa refuses to pay for it, and always goes to the library whenever he needs to look something up.

[Babs]

Hahaha Kitsa

I wish you were my neighbor

ps. I love the your Christmas tree in place of the Blue Jacket.

[10,000 Volt Ghost]

Finally got to check out the christmas hockey pictures Kitsa. I'm only like a year late but they're awesome :)

[Kitsa]

Thanks :)

The original plan was to make a whole scenario, but my energy left me after I finished the goalie.

[Blue Fox]

hmmm...
well we lived in a cardboard box pretty much. :D it had no heat or ac and was in the middle of nowhere. but i don't think that makes us cheapskates, more like poor white trash. :') memories...

having a shit-hole house is actually kind of nice in a way (at least when you're a kid). Besides the not being able to have uber cool parties, you can trash the place and no one cares.

[LordSappington]

I frequently take things I find that are free. Love bulk trash day.

[Zhukov]

I just got back from holiday and my bag is full of free shampoo and soap.

I don't drink alcohol, so I can save a shitload when going out for dinner. I enjoy my food, and I don't mind paying for it, but sometimes you can end up paying something like $50 on drinks alone. I get water, not because I am cheap but because I like it.

I don't smoke either. Don't drive a car... these things save me a lot of money I figure, so I can spend it guilt free on other things pretty easily.

I reapair anything I can rather than buy it new. Electronics I get fixed. I hold on to receipts for warranties.

[Fathom Zero]

I basically live by everything Zhukov does. Especially the repair part, as well.

I am the only one in my family who fixes "things" instead of throwing them out. Scavenging what you can is important, as well. I try not to be too bad about it because it makes me a bit of a pack rat.

[Blue Fox]

my mom worked as a secretary for the buisiness/eviction center of a project,

she used to come home and bitch about how they got cable tv and had such great lives living off the gov. One time Horhay went there to see her and was politely advised by several LARGE men not to interfere with a man beating his wife a little ways down the street.

Anyway, whenever someone got evicted, we always got new stuff. :)

[LordSappington]

I don't follow on your story.
I've gotten into the habit of switching around game stores frequently, and buying a game, beating it, and returning it in a week or so, saying it sucked. I've been using the same $60 for a while now. :)

[comicracy]

Sneak candy into the movie theater, then punch the guy texting in the back of the head.

[Kitsa]

I called the city to get on the list for "special trash day" so they could take away an old cabinet we had that was broken. That was apparently standard operating procedure and I wanted to do things right.

The woman told me they wouldn't take anything but "intact" pieces of furniture. What the fuck? It's trash. The regular trash won't take it and the recycling won't take it.

And what was with all the specific questions about what sort of cabinet it was? I bet we're furnishing someone's house.

[10,000 Volt Ghost]

That's crazy, tape it up then.

[executioneer]

or smash it into small enough pieces to fit in the regular trash, i guess

[Kitsa]

well the whole point of this special fucking trash day, so I thought, was getting rid of stuff that wouldn't ordinarily fit on the truck, like old sofas and big stuff like that. You're supposed to call a number and give them your address and tell them what you have. I assumed they wanted to know what you had so they could factor truck space and manpower.

Apparently when you have a cabinet they want to know what kind, what color, how old, whether it's a kitchen or bathroom or storage cabinet, and so on, and then when they find out it's already been disassembled for easy removal they don't want it because it's not INTACT FURNITURE.

I bet you anything someone working for the city's got a Sanford and Son thing going where they're hoarding people's old furniture and just enjoying first pick of the freebies.

[Colonel Flagg]

Tell them you have an old, intact outdated washer that doesn't work. THen just substitute the cabinet when the trash guys come to pick it up. Oopsie, did I say "Washer"? Oh well!

[Wiffles]

cool, didnt know there were alot of economicaly disadvantaged people here too. I tend to embrace poverty and simplicity nowadays, it seems to be a better way to live. Less things to think about and work for and more time to do the things you love. Like picking flowers or watching trains :)

[LordSappington]

Even when I do have plenty of spare money, I do what I can to save as much as possible, unless it's TOO inconveniencing. It just makes sense.

[Dixie]

if someone i don't like is at my house and they bring over pot, i pinch their stash.
i also collect clothes that people leave at our house and sell them to consignment shops.

[LordSappington]

I've been known to steal clothes from lost and founds.

[robo_rob]

Yeah, the past year I've been unemployed and went back to school. Being a cheapskate is esseintially caalled, how do I keep the lights on right now.

[Kitsa]

We paid a dollar for a loaf of cheap bread (bakery thrift store wasn't open today, otherwise it would have been 25 cents) and went to feed the fish at a private lake. It was worth a dollar of entertainment.

[LordSappington]

I like to buy cheap cereal and take it to the duck pond. :)

[kgp4death]

I buy the dollar store alka-seltzer and feed it to the birds they love it.

[Kitsa]

Wow, you're extreme.

[Evil Robot]

Once I got a bunch of baby rabbits and set them on fire with crumpled up newspapers instead of gas because this was when gas prices were really high.

[executioneer]

i make sure to never carry change with me so i don't get tempted to give money to grifters

of course its actually mostly because i'm allergic to nickel, but hey ADDED BONUS

[LordSappington]

I was wandering around ACL last weekend, and some guy came up to me and asked if I had any spare money. I took one look at his ACL wristband and told him to fuck off.
AND THAT'S WHY I HATE PANHANDLERS

[Kitsa]

Here's a cheapskate thing- you can now watch Battle Royale in its entirety on Google Video.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4036233620196000189&ei=UcrUSs3GH4rolQfDjbSnDQ&q=battle+royale#

This is my favorite asian extreme film ever. Ichi the Killer and Ebola Syndrome are great, but I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for Battle Royale.

[Zhukov]

I guess I'm what people might refer to as a country bumpkin, but when I first went to a big city in the guise of Glasgow a few years ago, I was appalled and shocked by the homeless and jobless people begging in the streets. Recent visits to Sydney and Melbourne have had the same effect. I can't help but give money to people. I feel really saddened, I gave away a lot of money, which is easy to do when their pound coin is worth double and a half an Australian dollar. It's twice as sad to know that a large percentage of the people I gave money to would spend it on booze or drugs.

There are no homeless people in Hobart, or at least not in the streets sitting around begging, and I know that they have somewhere where they can get meals and a bed.

[Kitsa]

We've got a few here in our little town. There's one man who'll trail people walking on the square and if they throw something in the garbage, he'll dig through the trash can to see if it was anything good. And due to growing drug use everywhere, it's no longer that uncommon to see crackheads digging through garbage for usable lighters and stuff.

We have a soup kitchen in town, and one winter I got it in my head that I wanted to donate to it. I don't have very much money as it is, but the plan was to get stuff from their online wishlist from a warehouse club and drop it on the front porch so it could be an anonymous donation. That was promptly shot to hell, as there was a sign saying that no dropped-off donations would be accepted. Then I had to call the parish house and bother the priest to see who could accept the donation.

The person who was supposed to never showed up, and I couldn't physically carry the items all over the place, so I had to go bother the priest again. He made it plain he'd had just about enough of me. He didn't lift a finger to help, other than to unlock the door and point. And when he saw that it wasn't a truckload of food, he said very sarcastically, "Thank you so much for the generous donation." That really pissed me off, especially because the whole plan was to drop it off and not solicit thanks in the first place (sardonic or otherwise).

I decided after that, no more dealing with that parish or that soup kitchen ever again.

[Colonel Flagg]

You may have interrupted his latest sodomy conquest.

[Kitsa]

I'd never go that far without proof, but it bothers me when those who are supposed to be pledged to a life of service behave like regional royalty. I've been through charter school and a long tenure working at a Catholic hospital, and that's always chafed.

[Colonel Flagg]

I'd never go that far without proof, [...]

I, however, have no such moral rectitude. :p

[executioneer]

hahaha rectitude