Name a Time When You Saved Yourself Money

[Zaddd]

You want context? Imagine if you accidentally broke a vase, but you fixed it using glue. Another example would be if you encountered a problem with your A/C, but fixed it using your own tools/assistance from family or friends without calling in an electrician. Even further, you replaced fluorescent lightbulbs with LED lightbulbs which reduces the cost on electric bills.

You saved yourself money.

Now express yourself one time you saved yourself money.

 

[Roni]

Most recent would be watching a Youtube tutorial on how to reattach chewed up wires, to help my partner who had her fan wires gnawed off by a rowdy dog. She was all set to call a technician in or buy new fans altogether lol.

Another one for just myself would be when I wanted a diffused light source for my webcam, and instead of ordering one, I just took a lamp I already had and taped tissue paper over the bulb. Worked perfectly fine~

 

[Sheep]

I feel bad saying that this hasn't been often? Unless there have been little things I managed to do myself that saved me money which I completely forgot about.. which is likely. Maybe learning to draw counts? :D There are still some things I can't/don't want to draw that I'd love to commission others for, but being able to draw animals/creatures decently at least let me bring to life some Pokémon art ideas I had myself without spending on commissions!

 

[Corrin]

I have a Tims card set to save me on Iced Capps when I get a certain amount of points. :>

 

[StCooler]

Not sure if those qualify:

• Buying a bunch of resistance bands instead of going to the gym. The primary goal was to not be too dependent on the randomness of anti-covid measures, but the side-effect was that it saved me money. I must admit that I miss barbells though.
• Using a delivery service instead of movers when I moved (400€ VS 800€). If you don't have furniture, movers are way too expensive.
• Buying a hair clipper instead of going to the hairdresser (25€ for one hair clipper VS 25€ per hairdresser session).

 

[moon]

wow i cant, i'm a big wasteful spender
help.

 

[Megan]

I've used the same prepaid card for about 20 years and only recently decided to get a new one (which is also a prepaid one). I've also always used phones that I got from others.

I've set my laptop up in such a way that it's already running into its tenth year of usage, despite daily use.

Been walking mostly for about half a year instead paying a ticket for public transport.

 

[RadEmpoleon]

When I bought my Shinobu cosplay, there were Halloween sales happening and both of the pieces I needed were on a huge sale. The costume itself was 67% off ($15 instead of $45) and the wig was about 50% off ($12 instead of $22). I don't think I'll be getting a deal as good as this one any time soon. I might be buying another cosplay soon, and it's on a decent sale too.

 

[Ivysaur]

One of my pastimes is collecting discounts. I'm the person who signs up to all sort of benefit cards from supermarkets, restaurants and apps. I get 5% of my power bill back in supermarket coupons and an extra 3% of the bill in cash back. I buy my videogames in a shop that gives me 18€ off in every preorder, meaning I've never paid more than 42€ for a game on launch day. Then I get an extra 2% back of it through a different benefit scheme, and then I get an extra 3% back from the money I've collected in said scheme by taking it in Amazon pre-paid codes. Just two days ago I got 30€ of cash back from paypal and I'm not entirely sure why (I sent 20€ to the Ukrainian Red Cross, might as well put them to good use).

 

[Tsutarja]

bought my dad an ssd for his desktop and installed it to keep his files sped up instead of just getting him another computer

 

[Roni]

Partner and I were supposed to go to a far and rather unfamiliar location today to get our booster shots, and planned to just taxi all the way. Thankfully, my partner did more research and discovered that a mall closer by is also hosting boosters. It's also way more familiar and very reachable through cheap and fast commute. Long story short, we saved a couple hundred pesos heh

 

[Orion☆]

One word: MercadoLibre. That's the South American equivalent of eBay, and there are always good deals there. You can't find everything, but at least you can find something.

I have also made my own Scrabble board and two sets of tiles (!!!) for it, and a set of Mahjong tiles for solo play, by recycling some old cardboard boxes I had hanging around. The latter in particular is impossible to come by here in Argentina, so I think I saved myself a lot of money on import taxes - same with my Windows Solitaire replica cards. Learning to make and customize my own board games was frustrating at times, but dang if it isn't a fulfilling and money-saving experience!

 

[Ivysaur]

One word: MercadoLibre. That's the South American equivalent of eBay, and there are always good deals there. You can't find everything, but at least you can find something.

I have also made my own Scrabble board and two sets of tiles (!!!) for it, and a set of Mahjong tiles for solo play, by recycling some old cardboard boxes I had hanging around. The latter in particular is impossible to come by here in Argentina, so I think I saved myself a lot of money on import taxes - same with my Windows Solitaire replica cards. Learning to make and customize my own board games was frustrating at times, but dang if it isn't a fulfilling and money-saving experience!

Import taxes in Argentina are completely bonkers, even buying foreign books was absurdly expensive. Good job on avoiding that.

This said, finding ways to save money is Argentina's second national sport (after football, obviously), from my experience living there.

 

[Autumn94]

Using my own reusable bags at the grocery store. Stores here in NY don't give out plastic bags anymore (which is definitely a good thing), but you do have to pay some for paper bags or for their own fabric bags, it's not much in terms of money but it probably adds up a lot over the year with every grocery trip. So I haven't had to buy a single bag in several years thanks to the ones I have used.

I also have a reusable water bottle so I haven't bought single use plastic water bottles in many years

I have bought a set of weights, resistance bands and yoga equipment so I don't have to pay to go to the gym (my apartment building has their own treadmills that are free to use so I'm good there)

Buying certain everyday household essentials at places like Family Dollar. Not everything, but little things like aluminum foil, parchment paper, etc things like that that don't have to be super high quality

I also buy generic brands at the grocery store, my grocery chain has some of their own generic brands alternatives, and usually it's just as good as the pricier name brands. Same with generic medications, CVS brand ibuprofen instead of Advil, etc.

 

[Roni]

Just recently. I was nearly all set to buy a new wireless mouse after my old one crapped out. But now I'm more inclined on getting it fixed instead, after researching the issue more in-depth and remembering that getting it fixed is far cheaper than getting a new unit altogether (like, almost 10 times cheaper lmao)

 

[Orion☆]

Import taxes in Argentina are completely bonkers, even buying foreign books was absurdly expensive. Good job on avoiding that.

This said, finding ways to save money is Argentina's second national sport (after football, obviously), from my experience living there.

Oh my! I'm sorry that was your experience here, but I'm also glad someone understands me on this. Everything is expensive here compared to the rest of the world these days, period.

Also, I'm saving that quote on Argentina's second national sport. :D

 

[Ivysaur]

Oh my! I'm sorry that was your experience here, but I'm also glad someone understands me on this. Everything is expensive here compared to the rest of the world these days, period.

Also, I'm saving that quote on Argentina's second national sport. :D

Oh, Argentina is a lovely place and I wouldn't have minded staying there for an extra year to get the nationality. But god I have never been more stressed when doing basic home accounting and tracking prices in my life.

 

[Zeostar]

Partner and I were supposed to go to a far and rather unfamiliar location today to get our booster shots, and planned to just taxi all the way. Thankfully, my partner did more research and discovered that a mall closer by is also hosting boosters. It's also way more familiar and very reachable through cheap and fast commute. Long story short, we saved a couple hundred pesos heh

Going to quote this for similarity.

I got offered my flu shot in a doctors office while simply picking up a prescription.

 

[Roni]

The motorcycle ride sharing service I used to love back in 2018 is back in business and I've been enjoying far cheaper commutes from my house to malls and back vs taxis~