Budget Living
- Of course there’s the standard Ziplock bag washing, and hitting the $1 bin at the liquor store. But my identical twin/roommate and I have really saved a lot by sharing a profile for our on-line dating service.
- Eat peanut butter and jelly sandwich, with a glass of water, for lunch every single weekday for several years running (and no lunch on weekends).
- Shower at the gym to save on shampoo.
- I make up aliases on Craigslist when I want to buy something. I propose a ridiculously low amount, say ½ their asking price, for the item using an alter-ego. Then I e-mail as myself, propose a more reasonable, yet still largely-discounted price. That way, the seller thinks he’s getting a better offer from me and is more willing to sell.
- I used to stalk people with full drinks playing pool or darts in crowded bars. Would wait for them to set down their drinks, look away, and then steal the drinks. Sad, I know, but true.
- At Burger King, I order a plain Whopper then ask for a packet of BBQ sauce. Instantly, I have a specialty burger but at the Whopper price.
- Drink on an empty stomach.
- For one period of my life, I lived off of those huge bags of soft pretzels from Costco that cost something like $4 for two-dozen. Pretzels with BBQ sauce, pretzels with spaghetti sauce, pretzels with sugar and cinnamon for dessert, I did it all. It saved time, too—just 10-20 seconds in the oven and they were ready.
- Ask cab drivers to let me off a few blocks early to save 50 cents or so.
- Last year, I packed 10 bottles of Charles Shaw (2-buck Chuck) wine in my backpack and brought it as a carry-on when I flew back to New York City from Los Angeles.
- I temped at a huge arbitration/mediation firm in San Francisco where the judge would order these individually wrapped, gourmet sandwiches for the lawyers and clients. One time, I clandestinely took like nine of the leftover sandwiches home with me, and put them in the fridge. I was living with my girlfriend’s grandparents at the time.
- I ate New York City Chinese food almost exclusively for a month. It was usually a pint of vegetable lo-mein for $2.80.
- At Albertson’s Grocery, they now have self check-out, so for produce you have to key in all of your items. Organic bananas at conventional banana prices!
