Money is a tricky subject, and with the rising cost of living I'm sure many of us have tried to cut back our spending and swap out certain lifestyles...
So, when u/GotTheC0nch asked people to share the boldest thing they've seen someone do to save money, we decided to roundup some of the best answers:
1. "I'd say the most audacious behaviour I've seen was from my former roommate and ex-friend 'Sarah'. She used her then-friends to get a job, a cheap place to live, borrowed furniture, and even food, while also quietly stealing from us."
2. "I had a friend who would go to farmers' markets and wait until the end of the day, then go up to people and offer to buy the leftovers at a discount. Not terribly exciting, but bold."
3. "My younger brother decided to be a train hopper for roughly half the year so he doesn't have to pay for rent."
4. "A student was living in Los Angeles, in an apartment with a rent he could afford, but wanted to get a master's degree in engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. Because the Bay Area is one of the areas with the highest cost of living in the United States, the student decided to continue living in LA instead, and flew a roundtrip at least three times a week."
5. "My father-in-law is a contractor. Thus, he has to buy lots of supplies. He buys gift cards first, then buys thousands of dollars worth of supplies on the cards. All so he can get the gas points."
"But, because he has to buy so much for his business, it adds up hugely. He hasn’t paid for gas in years. He also has to drive quite a bit so it’s a big money saver."
6. "I've seen a TV show episode where she fed her ex-husband and friends canned tuna meant for cats because apparently it's cheaper than those sold for humans."
7. "My neighbours stole my electricity while I was away for a week. I found a poorly buried extension cord running from an external outlet to their house."
8. "A guy in Chicago 15 years ago or so had created an apartment under a bridge overpass. He had spliced into electrical cables and everything."
9. "My college professor and his wife lived in a tent while he built a house. However, because he taught full time AND was working on his PhD it took many years to build the house in the tropics, full of venomous insects and snakes."
10. "A woman I know does cat-sitting alongside her 9-5 job, but she is a live-in cat sitter, so she moves about every week, lives off a suitcase, but does not actually pay any rent."
11. "Someone recently told us about a coworker they had that moved out of his house and was living at the fire department. They did 24-hour shifts and each employee had a bedroom."
"This particular employee would just pick up as much overtime as possible, use the bedroom for sleep, the laundry room for his laundry, the kitchen to cook, etc. All of his personal items were kept in a truck. This lasted about four months before his coworkers caught on."
12. "My dad emptied out my savings account when I was a teenager because he thought I had forgotten about the account I was putting money into every week. He acted shocked when I told him I needed that money to pay for college."
13. "I work corporate for a large Australian supermarket retailer and I am pretty sure one of the programmers works for multiple start-ups. He comes into the office on a Tuesday and he sweeps the kitchen of all office food. I'm talking dumps it in his backpack and walks away."
14. "I knew a guy who refuses to buy nappies for his children and would make them use the toilet from a month old onwards."
H/T to u/GotTheC0nch and AskReddit for having this discussion!
Note: All submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
Do you have anything else to add? Let us know in the comments below.
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