The Most Despicable Thing That You Have Ever Done to Save Money

[Deactivated] on 28/07/2016 - 04:20
Last edited 04/08/2016 - 14:36

EDIT: Has someone change his/her name to Burger yet?

I recycle my stamps, I am not proud of it, but I do that. I also squeeze every last drop out of my toiletries. I even cut the bottle and spoon with my fingers the remaining.

There was this guy that posted self made McSpider, because he refused to pay 50c extra.

I know a friend who did as many trips as possible on Monday to save opal fees.

So what is the most embarrassing, despicable thing you have ever done to save money?
Maybe you reuse your underwear? Front to back, inside out…

General Discussion

Comments

    • Timothy-Mineworker on 02/08/2016 - 12:11

      "Hairdresser: decent haircut costs $20, u could save up to $200/year. I've been doing it since 2011." got a SO? buy some clippers and get them to cut it

  • imcold on 29/07/2016 - 14:12
    +1

    Well you can contact people you know for free on payphones via encoded messages. Just call a number without putting coins in and person your calling will get a ring. Have a system with your friends/ family. Eg 2 rings twice across two calls means, I've arrived, pick me up, call my number etc. I guess you could do the same thing with a mobile that's on long expiratory and you want to save credit. The receiver would just not pick up the call when it comes from certain numbers.

  • bargainy on 29/07/2016 - 14:12
    +1

    I strop my disposable razors blades on my wet forearm every time I use them. Result is I get 6+ months out of one three blade cartridge! Learnt the technique for this guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ADaRIqy0Dc

    • [Deactivated] on 29/07/2016 - 22:54

      It works?

      • [Deactivated] on 29/07/2016 - 22:55

        Would it work for kitchen knives too?

    • mrluke on 30/07/2016 - 14:45

      If you keep them in the shower they stay wet and never rust… I have used a single blade for over 6 months doing this…

  • usbc activist on 29/07/2016 - 14:38

    A few of my coellagues at various places I worked did these to save some bucks. They are legends I have to say:

    1. Retain the hungry jack's/mc donald drink cup and get refills as many days as possible
    2. Walk in to movies where it is easier to sneak in. Do not come out after watching just one movie. Just watch as many as you can and then walk out.
    3. At super markets, things like eggs, veggies, etc which are available in various price ranges, just mix them up, the premier to cheaper ones and get them cheap.
    4. have a look at meetup website to see for meetups around where you work. Most meetups will have complimentary food and drinks. Your lunch problems solved.
    5. Go to takeaways or restaurants that are at peak capacity. Claim random takeaways which were not yet claimed (not possible everywhere)
    6. Most offices give you milk, coffee and tea complimentary. An inventive colleague of mine prepared yoghurt from the milk provided, mixed it with rice and had it occasionally for lunch. How did he even get this idea.

    Will add more as I remember…..

    • imcold on 29/07/2016 - 16:17
      1. has been done to me before. Some bogan walked off with my order, they had to remake it. It was extremely busy and noisy.
      • usbc activist on 29/07/2016 - 16:48

        might be one of my ex colleagues haha

        • imcold on 29/07/2016 - 17:50

          Hmm it was at blacktown station maccers or Westpoint hj

    • fruit on 31/07/2016 - 19:15
      +3

      So.. theft?

  • Euphemistic on 29/07/2016 - 14:46

    Tailgating someone out of the hospital carpark through the boom gate to get out of slipping $4 in the machine.

    When my wife was in hospital with our newborn they had timed parking, but the boom gate opened up late at night. Backfired one night when it was shut and the machine wanted $50 to let me out. Eventually someone else came along and I followed them out - but stopped parking in there longer than the couple of hours minimum.

    • [Deactivated] on 29/07/2016 - 17:07

      I thought the boom gate closed as soon as there is a gap?

      The fact that hospitals charging people that much is a scam! It's despicable, disgusting, shameful, argghhh!

      Sick people needs visitor, and those despicable doctors taking advantage of that is disgusting!

      • J6 on 29/07/2016 - 17:19

        Nope, just tail someone. It works. It doesn't come down your car is there.

        • [Deactivated] on 29/07/2016 - 17:22

          Oh it comes back up is it? Like safety feature or something?

        • Euphemistic on 29/07/2016 - 20:46

          @fm: the particular one I was tailing through had a really long close time to allow the exiting car to wait for traffic to pass before turning out.

    • lemonato on 30/07/2016 - 16:25

      Used to happen a lot around the local shopping centres but now they have all installed double speed bumps at the exits to try and stop the second car from being able to do it. You still see some people doing it, so it hasn't stopped everyone.

  • [Deactivated] on 29/07/2016 - 14:48

    Keeping skeletal staff at work to save money and make short term profit/bonus over long term performance so I look like an efficient person to my superiors.

  • banzini on 29/07/2016 - 14:51

    Travel on train in Adelaide after 9am to go to work (thus getting in late and finishing late) to save $1.50 per trip to work (off peak ticket).

  • tqf8h on 29/07/2016 - 14:56
    +7

    Used to take all my shits at work so i didn't have to use toilet paper at home, apart from on weekends. On company time too.

    • cwongtech on 29/07/2016 - 17:07

      Get paid to shit?
      Top productivity there mate!

    • Adz81 on 29/07/2016 - 17:27

      I used to have an app on my phone where you could keep track of $ you earned while taking a crap, it was excellent :D used it until I got put on a day rate, then it became far less rewarding :D

      • love2buy on 01/08/2016 - 21:56

        There's also one benefit and that is you don't have to clean up after your own shit.

  • Hirolol on 29/07/2016 - 15:14
    +1

    Can i put things that other people did?

    These are all from 15+ years ago from when i was in high school.

    so the first one is some guy used to just hang around in the canteen and ask people if they had any spare change, like literally would ask EVERYONE.
    so you can imagine if every few people he would get 10cents here, 5cents there.
    then at the end of lunch time he would buy all the left overs for cheap- probably the most well fed in the school.

    Second one is REAL dodgy.
    So back in the day when there were video stores everywhere these guys from school would go to the local one and if they didnt like a particular person or weren't really good friends with them then they would pretend to be that person by just giving their name as they weren't that strict with that stuff back in the day, they did this with a whole bunch of different names, hiring a whole bunch of games.
    Fast forward to the store/victim realizing what has happened and the what caught them out was these idiots actually went in wearing their school uniform so as you can imagine it wasn't all that hard to track them down.
    and yes the culprits got in a LOT of shit, had to pay for all the games.

  • KaTst3R on 29/07/2016 - 15:27
    +1

    During my student days where most of us are poor, I used to buy 1 ticket and watch 4 movies throughout the whole afternoon. You basically just move to another theater after your current movie is done and find a corner seat where usually no one will pick. Occasionally, someone might come along and claim that you are on his seat. Just act innocent, take out your ticket (without showing them) and say "oh sorry, I made a mistake" and move to another unpopular seat far away.

    • [Deactivated] on 29/07/2016 - 17:03

      Surprising that you even buy a ticket…

      You can walk in, by showing any paper (can find them in rubbish bin, on the floor, anywhere).
      If the ask, just tell them you have been from the toilet…

      • KaTst3R on 30/07/2016 - 00:51

        I might be hard up during my uni days but not that hard up till I cant afford 1 ticket ! It is the least I could do to support the cinema.

    • kryptoz on 29/11/2016 - 22:06

      My friends and I used to do this regularly living in USA, all of the multiplexes I went to would have a candy bar and toilets inside the ticketed area, so you could get there around 12 with your lunch in a backpack, watch a movie and refill on popcorn, icecream, soda as often as needed. As here, US cinemas make most of their profit from the candy bar rather than ticket sales, so they seem to turn a blind eye to it, as long as you aren't obviously bringing in hot food from outside.
      I haven't tried it here, though.

  • [Deactivated] on 29/07/2016 - 16:53
    -2

    Fare evasions anyone? In my uni days I ride the trams without paying.
    If officer comes in, I try to get out asap, and pretend I don't speak English.

  • J6 on 29/07/2016 - 16:58
    +4

    fill up $20.02 worth of fuel and pay cash.

    • Hirolol on 29/07/2016 - 17:09

      Life goals right there bro

    • CVonC on 29/07/2016 - 19:39

      Why not

      2x10.02
      Or
      4x5.02
      Or
      5x4.02
      Or
      10x2.02
      Or
      20x1.02

      ?

      • Slippery Fish on 30/07/2016 - 09:34
        +3

        Lol 20x likely get you punched for 40cent.

    • IHateFrasierCrane on 29/07/2016 - 20:19
      +1

      Reminds me of this…

      https://youtu.be/rVPHfN0ETUw

      • Roqua on 02/08/2016 - 18:01

        LoL.

        Didn't Top Gear do a little thing about putting so puch petrol in, it's would go to $9999.99 then roll over to $0000.00.

        Free fuelz?

    • [Deactivated] on 29/07/2016 - 22:49

      I tried that, but after 4 cents discount, it becomes x.05….

    • fredcoy on 31/07/2016 - 00:03

      I think back then Costco was not invented. In SA, Costco fuel is generally 10c cheaper all year around.

    • fruit on 31/07/2016 - 19:16
      +3

      Why not just fill up with $0.02

  • Adz81 on 29/07/2016 - 17:45
    +4

    I saved the company I was working for at the time a cool $1,000,000 annually by rewriting a scope of work for the cleaners so that they didn't empty office bins (only bins in toilets and food areas).

    Oh, and another $120k/year by stipulating where they'd buy the UHT milk.

    I tried for another $48k/year by trying to change the type of coffee supplied in break rooms but this was shouted down after a month by HR. Same for the $12k/year when I tried to change the brand of t-bags…. this didn't even get to trial, this was also getting sent to HR, so I told my manager, "(profanity) it, don't worry about it."
    He just smirked and told me, "Adam, don't try to fight it, you'll just die tired." He was quite the motivator :D

    • fruit on 31/07/2016 - 19:16
      -1

      You are evil, wouldn't be surprised if there were more losses in productivity.

    • Baghern on 28/11/2016 - 19:51

      way wayy late…

      But have to say don't mess with people's coffee/tea… biscuits…etc In the long scheme of things 48k is nothing compared to the happiness of staff

      • Adz81 on 30/11/2016 - 16:05

        Bullshit.

        If you're not happy with the type of coffeetea/milk supplied, bring your (profanity) own.

  • CharityCase on 29/07/2016 - 18:36

    I do ground service for an airline, I always have my breakfast onboard when I meet the arrival of the flight, so free meal plus free water

    • [Deactivated] on 29/07/2016 - 18:38
      +4

      Viktor Navorski?

      • CharityCase on 31/07/2016 - 09:55

        I eat on board he eats in the terminal, yeah we both poor

    • Tasmaniac on 29/07/2016 - 19:23

      FrEe WaTeR ?!!!

    • kryptoz on 29/11/2016 - 22:17

      right so… is that the same 'free water' that comes out of the toilet tanks, that the aircrew refuse to drink??

  • Kempe on 29/07/2016 - 19:15

    Worked with a guy who took the light bulb out of his fridge, he also bought a house with a street light outside to save him putting his light on.

    Worked with a girl who lived not far from me
    She didnt drive and asked me to give her a lift home one night.
    While we were driving she asked me to go the other way and stop off at Target for 5 mins
    She went in and returned 2 tops she bought at the weekend for $10 each
    She pockets the $20 and goes inside and picks the exact same 2 tops off the shelf that were on special for $8 each.
    Goes to checkout and pays $16 all chuffed that I spent my petrol and time to save her $4, BTW she earned about 80k at the time

    • FW190 on 29/07/2016 - 19:35
      +4

      the important question is - did you got any action? :)

    • CVonC on 29/07/2016 - 19:42
      +1

      picks the exact same 2 tops off the shelf that were on special for $8 each.

      That's a typical ozbargainer move.

    • [Deactivated] on 29/07/2016 - 22:46

      This reminds me of a despicable 'friend' of mine. He nicely asked me to drive him around from place to place, just to hand out. But turns out I was being his personal chauffeur while his car is serviced.

      I should have ditched him at a petrol station somewhere.

  • Tasmaniac on 29/07/2016 - 19:36
    -2

    Ok so back in the day we used to "borrow" aluminium window frames from a local warehouse that used to leave them laying around unfenced. We'd then crush them up and take them to the local recycler where they'd pay us $1 per kilo. It wasnt the most ethical way to spend our afternoons but $200 was a kings ransom in high school, plus we were stupid.

    • johnno07 on 31/07/2016 - 14:04

      local warehouse
      local recycler
      $1 per kilo
      $200

      The local warehouse never checked down the road at the local recycler for the 200 KILOS of missing window frames?

      • Tasmaniac on 31/07/2016 - 15:21
        +2

        We never worried about that. We were just happy to be drinking something other than goon :).

  • FW190 on 29/07/2016 - 20:18
    +1

    this family I used to know

    • whenever the kids goes out with friends, they would always "forgot" to bring their wallet, or does not have more then $10 on them, expecting everyone else to cover for them, and of course you will never see your money ever again, eventually we just excluded them from any social gatherings

    • one local Chinese restaurant used to have this special deal for their hot food bar, where you can fill your plate for as much food as you want/can (only once), this family would usually just buy one plate's worth, and share it between their family of 4

    • each person in the family had their own nice flashy car, but they scab free lifts off other people every chance they get

    some guy I knew

    • he does not remove the clear plastic wrapping of his furniture from the factory, even 5 years after he brought them ("to keep the re-sale value")

    • instead of fixing leaky taps/joints, he uses buckets to collect the dripping, then flush toilets with the collection, two birds in one stone he reckons

    • same as above family, always scabbing free lifts

    back in the days of VHS/DVD rentals, there will always be vultures circling around you "have you finished watching it yet? can I borrow it?"

    some guy i know, has a well paying job, lived at home but does not contribute a single cent to the household, instead blowing his money on toys/gadgets/cars/holidays, until his parent had enough and kicked him out

    • [Deactivated] on 29/07/2016 - 22:40
      +1

      The furniture wrapping, reminds me of everybody loves Raymond, his parents are like that, lol

    • kryptoz on 29/11/2016 - 22:26

      I knew someone who did the same thing with his (hideous vintage italian style) lounge suite, kept all the plastic on to protect it's appearance — I don't know about resale on furniture, unless it's an original designer armchair costing $5,000+ or the like, you will be lucky to get a hundred or so for it second hand.
      I also knew a guy had the plastic on his new Toyota Crown car seats for over ten years until he sold it, apparently a collector paid a bit extra for that novelty value, though the plastic may have bonded to the seats by then.
      Plastic wrapping reminds me of Bad Boy Bubby…

  • Blottski on 29/07/2016 - 21:22

    I won't be giving Optus a cent for their English Premier League access.

    Take from that what you will….

  • 69dollars on 29/07/2016 - 21:30
    +1

    With the AFL footy tipping competition，I used to screenshot，copy and paste my voucher when I got all my tips correct to receive a free whopper from Hungry Jack’s. Sometimes I might buy a small bag of fries to not make it as obvious.

  • FW190 on 30/07/2016 - 01:15

    at my previous workplace, people were stealing tea bags, coffee (1 kg tins), sugar etc etc from the kitchen, whenever the supplies were replenished, it would be all gone within a day or two, eventually, management got the sh!ts, locked everything up, and ration them out in small amounts

    this guy at one of my old jobs were famous for stealing milk from the kitchen, he thought he covered his tracks well, but everyone knew about it, and people would randomly mention milk whenever they talked to him, but he still didn't get it.

    now, the most despicable award goes to:

    we used to run a social club thing where we sell Coke and chips for a small profit, which are put towards BBQs or pizza day, people started stealing from it, so we shut it down.

    after that, the theif(s) turned their attention to those charity fund raising snack box, one day, those charity people stormed into our workplace, told our receptionist that money has been short for the last few months, our management paid them the missing money but asked them not to come back anymore, for obvious reasons.

  • DryScissors on 30/07/2016 - 07:31
    +1

    I once tried to start a charity- Gave up after receiving 6k in donations, then donated the 6k to another charity for the tax deduction.

    • biltong2go on 01/08/2016 - 19:46

      This. Very clever, and not really despicable because the money still goes to charity.

      • biltong2go on 01/08/2016 - 20:50

        That's fantastic social commentary. Most charities I see are scams: approximately 70% of the donations go to the operators and canvassers; only 30% goes through to the intended cause. It's similar to those churches in the USA where the pastors own private jets! "Charity" has become a highly-profitable business.
        As a result, I now carefully scrutinise charities that approach me.

        • robertbruce on 02/08/2016 - 09:17

          5% is the nominated percentage that has to go to intended cause

  • tj101 on 30/07/2016 - 08:50
    +4

    Back in the days of expensive mobile calls, Optus had 20 minute free calls. So at 19 minutes we'd hang up and call back. Did that for years. You'd get a call and they'd say quickly, "are you on optus?".

    • kangaroo on 30/07/2016 - 12:06

      Not all mobiles had a call timer then, my friend will always ask for the duration, as my Philips mobile had a call timer!
      Think the 20 mins were provided after 7 PM…

    • xr06t on 01/08/2016 - 18:34

      man i remember that! Used to use it constantly as i was on an $8 plan with B mobile!

  • [Deactivated] on 30/07/2016 - 10:26
    -8

    Does having a threesome fall under despicable? :&

    • [Deactivated] on 30/07/2016 - 12:19

      So the act has to be "despicable" but not 'despicable'? Ok…

      I once picked flowers from a neighbour's front garden for my daughter. Then felt bad about it and went back and left a fiver with a note in their letter box.

    • FW190 on 31/07/2016 - 14:58
      +1

      if you did a runner and didn't pay the sex workers afterwards, then yeah it is :)

      • [Deactivated] on 31/07/2016 - 15:01

        No sex workers were involved. I was offered a substantial discount on a second-hand car if I joined in a menage a trois with the seller and his wife. I was a poor uni student at the time.

        • PVA on 31/07/2016 - 17:33

          so you were the sex worker then seeing you got paid with a discount.

        • [Deactivated] on 31/07/2016 - 18:33
          +2

          @PVA: That's one way of looking at it. I should add that to my resume :P

  • 00 on 30/07/2016 - 17:26
    +8

    Drill holes into floppy disks to get double data density.

    • fruit on 31/07/2016 - 19:19
      +1

      What?

      • 00 on 31/07/2016 - 20:51
        +1

        It was a thing back in the day. Look it up.

        • bargaino on 01/08/2016 - 09:58
          +1

          Not quite. But I remember clipping a hole in the jacket to get double sided.

        • Wallace on 01/08/2016 - 15:35
          +2

          @manic: You are refering to 5.25 inch disks while drilling holes refers to 3.5 inch disks.

          Both have been phased out long ago.

        • bargaino on 01/08/2016 - 16:23

          @Wallace:
          You punch, never drill. The plastic shavings would be deadly for the drive.

          And 3.5" disks came in DD 720k or HD 1.44m, which used different magnetic material. So trying to convert them by punching a hole did not work, not that thousands of people did not try. It did typically work to make the old 5.25" drives double sided though.

    • Cluster on 01/08/2016 - 16:19

      Ahh, I remember kids doing that. Only problem was, there was an actual difference in the media. Open the shutter up and have a look at the DD and HD difference. HD is lighter in colour and less opaque. It worked… until the bad sectors ruined your day.

  • ruddiger7 on 30/07/2016 - 19:23
    +2

    I once froze a loaf of bread till it was very hard and then I robbed a bank with it.

  • [Deactivated] on 30/07/2016 - 19:31

    taking home milk and tea from work :/

  • OpshopDiva on 30/07/2016 - 20:56

    Stole T.P from a public loo.

    I was living on $270/fortnight on Youth Allowance when the parents kicked me out of home. It was eat or not wipe. The 2004/2005 times when bread and milk were $5 plus each

  • captobvious on 30/07/2016 - 23:59
    +2

    cloned a parking card so i could park in the complex next to work for almost a year

  • syousef on 31/07/2016 - 00:26
    +2

    I'm sure petty theft and video piracy are far from the most despicable things some Ozbargainers have done. They're just the most they're willing to admit to. Especially as this forum isn't that anonymous.

    • [Deactivated] on 31/07/2016 - 16:28

      Exactly!

  • altomic on 31/07/2016 - 09:11
    +3

    I tried to blame my speeding offence on an overseas colleague who had unfortunately died prior to the offence.

    • [Deactivated] on 31/07/2016 - 10:30

      Tried?

  • SpendLess on 31/07/2016 - 13:19

    saved my crapping time for work only
    Weekends are a killer

  • Shiny Mew on 31/07/2016 - 13:25

    Folding electric side-mirrors inwards when safe (quiet highways in single lane) so as to reduce fuel consumption on long highways. Empirical evidence suggests fuel savings of ~2% owing to reduced frontal area.

    • fruit on 31/07/2016 - 19:20

      Properly pumped tyres save more, be sure to check them.

      • Shiny Mew on 31/07/2016 - 23:03

        I do that too, amongst other things, and routinely beat manufacturer mileage figures as a result. :) Evidence indicates optimum pressure in maximising fuel economy while maintaining regular wear patterns and safety for the average passenger car tyre is 40psi. It won't be the most comfortable ride quality, but I can live with that.

        • Shiny Mew on 31/07/2016 - 23:09
          +1

          Coasting smartly rather than coming to complete stops helps massively. Look also into fitting a partial grille block during the colder months and learning optimum acceleration (quite different between CVT, auto and manual and your average motorist's intuition) and driving with load and pulse and glide techniques.

  • Plug on 31/07/2016 - 13:59

    At an old job many years ago I found a way at work to allow friends and family to make overseas calls while my former employer got the bill. Used to call the first person and get them to tell me the number they wanted to call. I then used to just transfer the call to the dialled number and hang up. The call was still connected and my company got the bill. Worked for over a year before work realised there was no business need to make overseas calls and the facility got barred. No comeback either as they didn't have a clue what the calls were for and who made them. Memo went round asking if anyone had any information as the total cost was well over $2500.

    • FW190 on 31/07/2016 - 14:56

      lol you gotta be careful with that

      at one of my previous job, they also had the same issue, except they worked it out pretty quickly, as they had no business dealings with country X, and out of the whole company, there is only one person from that country………. :)

      • imcold on 31/07/2016 - 17:23

        could have been an elaborate setup.

  • skeaono on 31/07/2016 - 23:19
    +2

    Too poor to turn on the heater, I play some graphic intensive PC game to heat up my tiny room.

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