i frequent samurai sushi a lot cuz i can buy some salmon and rolls and it will last me at least 2 meals

damn those house rolls are as big as a fist

well the point was to see how much you can squeeze out of your money,.. with $2, you can get 4 hotdogs at ikea :)

A rice based meal from Aberdeen Center with a nice cold milk tea for under $7 and split the meal into 3

yes 3.

I am still gaining unwanted pounds eating that....FML.

^ Damn, you beat me by a few minutes. Many places you can eat for cheap.

Boys and girls, if you want to save money, you have go after the big fish. No point trying to save $2 when you're bleeding $300 elsewhere.

My family does several things to save a few bucks. The trick is consistency. Let's see if I can get my mind rolling. Our family has a reputation amongst our inner circle but honestly I don't think we're even that hardcore.

1) When my sister goes home, as she walks up the alley she peers into people's blue bins. Maybe our neighbourhood is nicer but people around my area are too lazy to return empties to the liquor store. Each week we make about $5, which subsidizes my beer runs. :)

2) I do the same thing as my sister with electronics and computer equipment people junk. Some even stick a "Free" tag on their stuff. If I think I can do it, I flip the items on Craigslist. Free money. :D Sometimes the stuff they chuck is actually NICER (West Side ftw :D)than the stuff we are using at home, so we get free upgrades as well. :) Or sometimes a $200 item is junked because a $5 part broke. Again, easy money.

3) Don't drive like an ass. Never use more than 1/4 throttle, look far down the road to anticipate stops, and time your speeds so you avoid red lights. This is known as "hypermiling". By consistently doing this (it's now a habit) I can easily get 50-100km more per tank than my buddies who have the exact same car. That's probably another $20/mo right there. And of course my brakes and tires last WAY longer too! Oh, and you save a tree or two. :D

4) Speaking of cars, DIY your oil and brakes. Sure you get your hands a bit dirty but that can easily save $100-400 a year depending on what car you have. Example, buddy had his brakes done for $2000 at the dealer; I had mine done (same car) for $700 in parts and a couple of hours of elbow grease.

5) Buy depreciating items used. A 1 year old computer probably cost only 40% as much as the new one. I'm even more extreme; my computer is always 3-5 years behind the technological curve. In return I've only spent about $300 (compared to $3000+ for some of my friends) in computer equipment in the last 8 years. And my rig is fast enough to play Modern Warfare 2. :D My friends chuck so much computer stuff so often that I just offer to dump their junk for them, and take whatever parts I need along the way.

6) Eat all the damn food on your plate. Why people piss away food money is completely beyond me. Pack it up in a doggy bag if you can't finish the portion!

7) Make rich/spender friends. :D I hate to say it, but those are the people who make much of the list possible. You need friends who dump stuff all the time and don't mind you freeloading off them.

8) Cut your data plan. I noticed recently that 90% of my friends have data. If I ever need something looked up, I can just ask one of them to do it for me, and they don't mind at all. $45/mo saved. In fact, I didn't even bother picking up a smartphone for the exact same reason. Of course this assumes you have friends that don't suck.

9) Turn your lights off when not needed, and lower your heating by a couple of degrees. Sounds like common sense, but tons of people I know leave 80% of their lights on 24 hours a day for some stupid reason. This is probably $400/mo saved for our household. You get used to the colder temp after a couple of weeks anyways. Our house is 17C on average and I still sit around in a T-shirt. It's actually not bad at all. If you feel cold and don't want to put on a sweater, use a small space heater instead and close your door. Heating up a room is way faster/cheaper than heating your entire house.

10) Cut your cable packages. Do you really need all 500 channels when 50 will do? Everything I want to see (ie Top Gear) is on YouTube anyways, with no commercials :D Easily $30-50 saved a month.

11) When you travel, go backpacking or live in a 3-star hotel instead of 5-star. I can easily go on vacation for 1/3 the price of my friends who do the whole "packaged tour" crap, AND see more stuff AND have more random fun.

12) Carpool with your buddies to go hang out. I have a good friend 3 mins away; we take turns driving out. Cuts your non-essential fuel consumption by half. Same with errands; string them together by location. Why go out to get 1 thing done when u can do 4.

13) If you're a good driver, crank up your deductibles! Autoplan buddy taught me this. My deductibles are $2500 for comprehensive. Back then I (stupidly) left them at $300 and never used them in 10 years. $4000 (probably more) in extra premiums pissed away. Even if I had been in an at-fault accident during this period, it still would've been way cheaper to pay the larger deductible. Hit and Run deductibles stay at a maximum of $750 at ICBC, so that's what you'll pay even if your comprehensive is higher than that amount.

14) Use calling cards/Skype for long distance. Apparently some people out there still pay 5c/minute or whatever. It can add up if you have relatives in a different city.

15) Use rechargeable batteries. I know some people who go to 7-11 and buy 2(!) batteries for $11!? I can get a box (no-name alkalines) of 40 for the same price. For items that drain batteries regularly (such as my mp3 player), using rechargeables has already paid for itself several times.

16) Go cheapo on movies. Those $8 tickets people sell here and there are awesome. Eating at the Old Spaghetti Factory with that Movie combo is even better. $40 for the 2 of you includes the 2 movies. White Spot downtown also has a similar awesome deal. Of course there's also BitTorrent but we're keeping things legal in this post. ;)

17) Pack your own lunch. This can easily save you $200/month. Usually my sister and I make a big batch, then put them into 5 containers each.

18) Owe as much credit as you can, then pay it off at the deadline. A good example is income tax. Anyone who wishes for a big return is a retard. That just means you gave the government an interest-free loan for the year! Of course, this only works if you're not an irresponsible douche. I love receiving letters from CRA saying I need to make a payment of a few grand at the end of a tax year. :D

19) If your job has benefits, spread them out over the years. For example, maybe fix your top teeth first, then do the bottom teeth the next year. Depending on your plan, that may mean you can claim dental TWICE, which is advantageous if you have a yearly limit. Sure your teeth might look wonky for another year but would it be worth it if you could save $3000 as a result?

i agree, but that take out method is actually pretty healthy as you get to choose which stand to purchase from and the quality of food is pretty good compared to fast food, pizza, instant noodles. Yes the kitchen is probably not as clean as yours at home and yes the produce isnt as fresh as organic stuff you buy from Capers, but it's still quite healthy and you're not saving $2 a meal, you're saving $10 a day :D

That's what I did -D. Also on my way to work I sometimes go to McDonald's to get some ketchup in packs. Well not to save or anything but sometimes I bring fried chicken to work and I just need to eat them with ketchup lol.

The best way to save money is to not go out at all. Go home right after work. These days a computer can provide hours of fun. You can download movies online, steam TV on line(no cable TV is needed), play games. Use online phone(skype so you can reduce your phone bill). Get those freebies at malls, go to the food bank and get food.

somebody said it before here...

go to fancy restaurant with your pet rat. Then you order something and eat it. When the bill comes you put the rat on the table and complain to the server and simply walk away.

another way to save is get P90x rather than go to the gym. It's awesome!

It won't save you that much money... considering the initial start up fees of buying the DVDs + equipment for the exercises + the nutritional things they want you to get. Besides, this work out plan is suppose to be for 90 days only. Even if you got it pirated.. dumbbells are what 1dollar/pound on average? + all the other stuff they want you to get.

Many of students probably have cheaper alternatives of just going to a free school gym.. although I'm not saying that's completely desirable.

Either way, this thread is making me have a strange craving for fast food-like chinese food. Is Duffin's still serving their chinese stuff right now? :haha:

srsly?? how much can you save by cranking up deductible?? i haven't had an accident thats my fault in 5yrs (since i got my license) and my deductible has been at $300 this whole time :eek:

shit you can save 400+ per year??

Use COUPONS!!!!! There, I said the obvious.

Somewhere around $350 for me. Of course, it depends on your discount and which car you own.

you dont necessarily have to do the nutrition plan, i dont. Most people that go to the gym dont follow a nutrition plan anyways. And the perfect dumbell for this is that total gym adjustable one. $300 its awesome. Or you can use bands which i use as i travel alot with the system. It doesnt limit you to do 90 days only, you can do the system again and again. Thats how you get massively ripped. 90 days will get you fit but not a body like that trainer.

Dump your gf's and go see hookers!
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I don't lease an expensive Mercedes or BMW

I work at starbucks end of the night I get all the unsold food for example all the Sammy, yogert, fruit abd cheese plates, abd anything els lol :pthat saves some money for lunches and snacks
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Took the words right out of my mouth. I've saved over three grand with coupons in the last ten months. :D

I try to work as much as I could, since my jobs usually cover me meals.

And since I don't have much free time on my hands, that also mean I have less time to spend money!

Epic post man. Thanks.


My own contribution: Don't MOD your car! In reality, essentially pissing money away. But I guess if you enjoy it enough. Expensive hobby for sure.

lol mooch

agreed. epic post!

Slammer111 hit it right on.

Alot of people I know especially when living at home leave their lights on all the time time. If you're not using your lights then turn them off.

The temp in my house is always under 20. If it get a little chilly then I'll put on a sweater or some sweats but most days I can get by just wearing shorts and a t shirt.

Eating at home cooked meals is probably the next biggest money saver next to coffee/energy drinks. I eat at home during the weekend and treat myself out on the weekends only. Its hard but you save a ton of money. It helps that my gf cooks everything :lol

Coffee/energy drinks - These are the biggest waste of money. What ever happened to drinking water? I'm not talking about filtered water. I'm talking about good old tap water. I drink coffee like twice a year. The reason people need these useless drinks is because they dont get enough sleep and wake up tired as shit (for people with 2 jobs, kids, other priorites that just can't manage to get enough sleep, I feel for you because you dont have a choice). If you were to go to sleep earlier and have a nice cold glass of water when you wake up then you'll feel the same. I'm talking about all the people that have the luxury of going to sleep earlier but stay up and play video games, surf the net or whatever they do when they could go to sleep and get up feeling good without the need for caffeine. You need to train your body to not depend on this junk.

Carpooling - Gas is expensive as shit, carpool, save yourself some money, nuff said. Also fill up on sunday evenings. I find that gas is always the cheapest then.

Don't buy retail unless you have to - With a little patience, you can search your local craigslist, rs, kijjijji, ebay, redfladeals etc for the exact same item that you're looking for. I've bought tons of stuff online and saved a ton. Its not called being cheap, its called being smart

like that episode of top gear where they had that POS car and dumped $30k in to it and it had virtually no improvement to lap time.

i say the biggest money saver is to not go out. i tend to spend the most when i go out with friends. instead do things at home with friends, either watch movies at home, play video games, poker, card games, etc. everyone saves money. why go out and pay $5+/drink when you can just buy a case of something for a fraction of the cost

agreed. i have friends who always say they are broke but still go clubbing 3 or 4 times a month.

this thread gets my approval