24 Say Thank You. When people give you something, do a favor, pass on a tip or whatever, say thank you. People like that. It's what sets us apart from the animals. That and our need to spend money on crap we don't need. Maybe...just maybe...SEND a thank you note in the mail. You remember the mail, right?
25 Negotiate. Make a counter offer. Make it with a smile or a wink or a scowl. Whatever suits your fancy. You can't get a lower price if you don't ask about one. A used car salesman has NEVER said "hey, wanna pay less for this car and still get the undercoat?" Recently I asked for a break on a price at a thrift store. The item, a super cool rocket stove, was missing a part. Not a part I really needed but a part. It was being sold as "new in the box" which it was except this one bit was gone. I got 30% off. I donated that much to the animal shelter because this thrift store supports the animal shelter. I do want the puppies to eat but I also wanted to practice negotiating.
26 Think. Stop and think before you buy. If it's not on the list, then you probably don't need it...see the previous editions of this series for the importance of lists. If you really really still want to buy it, figure out how soon you will use the item, how often it will make life easier, etc. Like the rocket stove noted above, it wasn't on the list because I didn't think I'd ever see one in a store or garage sale. BUT there it was and I'd seen it around on the internet or something similar. One thing that was tough, I didn't know how much it would cost new or on the 2nd hand market. I don't have a smart phone or an wifi device on me at all times like many people, so I couldn't check. I did know I'd wanted to make a rocket stove and this cost less than the parts I needed to get to make a rocket stove. So, I bit the bullet and risked it and asked for a discount which helped keep the price down low where I could stand it. I would have waited a few days if I thought it would have stayed in the thrift store but like a dehydrator...it was not going to spend much time on the shelf.
27 Know your local market. I mean the 2nd hand market. I know that in this area, there are offgridders all over the place and you don't dare leave handy solar powered items or camping type items in a thrift store to think about them. So, I think about what I could resell it for if I decide I don't want it. I also know which thrift stores are cheaper on which items. One has cheap canning jars, another cheap work clothes, and the hospice one is a goldmine for scrubs and little skid-proof socklets. I know about what to pay for things 2nd hand. Garage sales are often a better deal, BUT they are inconsistent and I'm not often in town on garage sale day and the extra gas would cost more than most savings.
28 Just don't do stuff. I just don't get my hair cut. Not since 1989. Think of the savings. I honestly have no idea what people spend on haircuts. I don't use makeup. What have I saved? I have no idea. I gave up shaving the legs and pits ages ago. Turns out I don't have leg hair or pit hair anyway so what was I shaving? People at yoga have mocked me about hair removal and I'm tempted to make pit wigs just so they buzz off. If you are doing things that bring you no joy, add no value to your life, but society seems to want you to do them, try just not doing that. Maybe you don't really give a crap about coffee. Then don't buy fancy coffee drinks or latte's or whatever. I don't like the taste of wine. So I just don't buy it. That probably saves something.
29 Pick hobbies that save or make money. My hobby of making mustard is now an accidental mustard business. I'm not sure it's making money, but it's not losing money. I like to cook, can food, ferment stuff (hmmmm....I like food). I've taken up gardening, chickening, beadwork (not great beadwork but some beadwork) and other things. These have resulted in gifts, trade-able items and occassionally income. They are also great for networking.
In fact, I got 2 more chickens today...Bonnie and Clyde. They will get their own blog post later. Since I have a coop (Coop 3.0), I can say "yes" to chickens and keep a hobby going. Haven't bought eggs since May and have had eggs to share since June. I share eggs with the lady down the road and she shares seeds and manure and stories with me. I also like to fold boxes and seed starter pots out of random bits of paper. I use them or share them. Make my own envelopes and sometimes give them as gifts or write thank you notes and send them in fancy home made envelopes. I save money on gift boxes, seed starter pots, and envelopes. Other hobbies result in gifts.
30 Support local business. I know during the 'rona lots of us are shopping at big chain stores that can do more curbside business or ordering online from the enormo-business I shan't name that has so many accusations of worker abuse that it's not a joke. I'm avoiding those as much as I can. Local businesses MIGHT cost more now and then, but the keep people in the community employed, they are more likely to help you out once you establish a relationship, and to remember what you want or need and be willing to stock it so you don't have to have it shipped from some abusive warehouse far away. Recently I went to the local hardware to get canning jars for my mustard business (see above). I had a coupon. Because the dude behind the counter knows me, he got out his own membership card and scanned it so I could get the member discount. A dozen jars for 7.50$!! That's a good price. It saved me money and I made more on that batch of mustard sales. He would not have done this if I didn't shop there regularly. It's not that I routinely pay more in that store, I don't. I compare prices or call ahead and when I can, I purchase there. I remember that gas and shipping cost money and going down a rat hole of targeted ads and links on the internet can also cost me money. If I just need 2 bolts and a washer, walk over to the local store and get them. Maybe you'll spend and extra quarter that day, but you'll save more later. AND they usually take returns and exchanges.
31 Learn to cook. If you take up no other hobby, skill or thrifty interest, learning to cook will save you a mint. Ingredients are cheap. Prepared meals are spendy. Restaurant meals are prohibitive. Learn to cook. You don't have to do fancy crap like on the TV. Learn to make eggs, pasta, and soup. Learn to fry a burger. Maybe someday, refrigerator dough bread. Granola...here's the recipe: Mix up rolled oats (old fashioned oatmeal), whatever nuts are cheap or sunflower seeds (not in the shell, dufus), a few tablespoons of oil, a few tablespoons of sugar or honey if you have it, and toast it all on a cookie sheet in the oven. Then put it in a jar or covered bowl or cool it off and put it in baggies. It's CEREAL and you'll save about 3$lb on it compared to bagged/boxed cereals and a buttload compared to store bought granola. You can throw in raisins or bits of other dried fruits, cocoa nibs, chocolate chips, a few spices and herbs. WHATEVER. Now you know how to cook and have a snack to take with you so you don't have to buy crap on the road (though I do love buying crap on the road). Those are the direct savings. The indirect savings include better physical and mental health (less crap in the diet helps with those and any move toward self sufficiency helps with the mental health). You also avoid some trips to the store because you can cook with what you have. Fewer trips means fewer impulse buys.
32 Learn to eat new stuff. The Ultimate Cheapskate (Jeff Yeager) wrote a few books on saving money and living how you want on less rather than earning more to live how other people want you to. One of his sayings has stuck with me: A dollar a pound, all year round. That's his rule of thumb for food shopping. If you buy the cheap fruit and veg, whether or not it's organic, you will eat what's in season all year round. I've made a habit of checking the local grocery store flyers to see what I'd be eating if I followed that. This week I could have potatoes, onions and carrots (you can almost always get those veggies for under a buck a pound), cantaloupe and bananas for fruit and veggies. There wasn't an advertised meat under a buck a pound, but two types of chicken were under a buck fifty so I'd go for those and check the reduced for quick sale. Also: Dried beans are usually right at a dollar a pound and cook up to 2 or 3 pounds per dry pound so are a super good deal in general. Same with dry lentils and peas. With the dollar a pound, try to pick stuff with nutrients not just off brand soda. Anyway, while doing this, I end up trying new fruits and veg. Whatever is cheap if I haven't tried it, or not lately, I try it. I learned to eat greens when they were cheap. They aren't always! So then I learned to grow them. I've always LOATHED bananas. Banana bread good. Bananas...puke in a skin. BUT they are cheap, nutritious, usually available and low on the pesticide warning lists. So, I learned to eat them. Still can't gag them down raw but since I learned to cook (see above), I make banana-egg pancakes about once a day either in a skillet at home or in the microwave at work. Add some cinnamon and nutmeg (bought in bulk on sale) and it's like banana bread for breakfast. You can also add a tablespoon of cocoa and it is delicious and high in fiber and iron.
33 Learn to grow stuff. I'm hearing on the interwebs that some urbanites are feeling pressured to garden and like they can't during the 'rona. Well, no. But you can sprout! I've done it when living in a camper without any propane or electricity. I've done it in the wee shed. I've done it at the office (yes, like Creed Bratton)
You can grow a few herbs in a pot. Herbs and spices cost a lot of money per ounce and pack a giant nutrition punch. Same with sprouts. Cheap to grow, expensive to buy, worth eating.
35 If you go out to eat,get a doggie bag. Don't worry about looking tacky. You're cheapskate. That wait-person will be retired if you go back and who the hell cares what random waitstaff think of them anyway? Restaurant meals in the low/mid cost range tend to be HUGE and salty. You're better off splitting them into a couple of meals anyway.
36 Tip the waitstaff. Don't be a dick. Tip the waitstaff. They are not wealthy and those tips are assumed when their wages are set. This is not the place to be cheap. AND if there IS somewhere you eat out now and then, the staff can let you know what is worth ordering or which new item is worth tasting, etc. This saves you sending back food or not enjoying food you paid for.
37 Enjoy what you have. Remember to look at the food in the house before you decide to go out. Maybe there is something you forgot and love to eat and will be a treat so you can skip the trip. For me it's usually clothes. I get sick of my clothes because I buy good quality and wash them carefully and they last FOREVER. So, soemtiems I rotate things into longer term storage. When I get bored again I try to remember to check the back catalog of shirts and pants. Usually I find something that I haven't work and remember liking and can rotate it back in and send something else out. I do the same with books and movies. Since I live small, only a few are in the living space. With the libraries closed for the 'rona times there, I wasn't getting different books and movies. I stopped by storage, found the box of flicks and swapped some out. Ran into some books I want to reread so swapped those out as well.
38 If you don't enjoy having it, pass it on. In the aforementioned clothing swappage, I ran into a caftan that I theoretically love but in reality do not wear. I don't like baggie clothes that twist around while you wear them. Caftans SEEM comfy but for me they are super irritating. I have a friend who was mooning over caftans so I passed it on to her. It's a lovely batik one from thrift. She won't mind that. And she might wear it. If not, she'll do something with the fabric. Now I don't have to store it or be annoyed by it. By the time I left her place today she'd loaded me up with some lamb sausages and free lumber. Oh...and those chickens. I never get ahead of her with the swapping so it's nice to pass something on.
39 Drive slower. I used to carefully hyper mile when I had to commute further. Now I try to remember to do that. It helps. Gas mileage is MUCH better at 55 than 70. If you live in the flatlands, try the cruise control. Here with the windy and the hilly, I do better gas mileage wise without it and being aware and trying to hyper mile. When I was devoted to it, I could save 10-20% on gas.
40 No Spend Days. Each month I set a goal. It's a number of days with zero spending. I have to remember to gas up the cars on days I'm shopping for groceries or paying bills or something. I find that days I stay home it is MUCH easier to not spend. If I stay home I rarely spend money. Before I had the wifi, I never spent money at home. You can just shift all the spending to other days, but the "no spend" days are a challenge to use/eat/enjoy what I have and they make me stop and think before purchasing something that occurs to me. No spends at work got easier when I started and office pantry.
41 Office Pantry. Keep a few things to eat at the office. Saves eating out, running to the store, and can facilitate the no-spend days. I keep eggs and bananas for the banana egg breakfasts. A few spices. Often a jar of dry oatmeal or cracked wheat so I can make that if I'm doing a no spend and forget to pack lunch. Or some granola which can be hot or cold, dry or wet. If you don't have access to a fridge and microwave, then even DIY oatmeal packets, granola, or energy bars will help avoid snack runs (and the intestinal runs from when the snacks go awry).
