What's the most frugal thing you have done?

outback · 28 April 2009

Julia said:
If my dogs swim a lot they get ear infections. Instead of incurring $70 vet bill each time for consultation and medication, as soon as there's the first sign I just put a drop of peroxide in the ear and it clears it up.

Doing your own pool servicing saves about $50 per time.

It's good not to get obsessed about saving though. My mother used to wash and re-use Gladwrap!!

Now that's frugality at its best.

helicart · 28 April 2009

sam76 said:
i find my pr0n for free on the internet rather than buying it from the service station, lol

HAHAHAHAHA....yeah but everyone does that so it is hardly frugal, in a relative sense. how about going one step further and getting your chicks for free (to quote dire straits)

Timmy said:
Haircuts. Cost money and time! I used to get my hair cut at Gowings for $5. When the price went up to $10 I started going to a local place instead. Then I bought some clippers and now either do it myself or with some help from my wife.

Same.....been using electric clippers on me since I was 38 and couldn't disguise the receding hairline further. I figured I've saved $2800 pre tax. for an outlay of $50. cagr = 40%pa

Tysonboss1 said:
I have designed my living habits so that I spend less than $250 / week, That includes everything, meanwhile I earn over $100K a year.

Do you run a car and include depreciation for when you have to replace it?
Care to fill out the budget planner in this spreadsheet? Seriously, I'd be interested.

prawn_86 · 28 April 2009

Thats quite a nice budget spreadsheet Helicart.

Thanks

GumbyLearner · 28 April 2009

Back in the Bachelor days at the end of a big night, I would pop into
the local pizza joint and get delivered home with a large capricciosa.

Saved on taxi fare and enough left ready for breakfast in the morning.

helicart · 28 April 2009

prawn_86 said:
Thats quite a nice budget spreadsheet Helicart.

Thanks

Thx, it's been a work in progress for 4 years, and I am pretty sure I have all the bugs worked out......but let me know if you find anything suss.

Several schools and community groups use it for teaching budget planning.

The funds available for investment rely on running solver addin with a macro....if you don't have it installed in excel, you might get an error when you hit the solve button. the solve function just determines how to split investement +CF between two partners on different salaries. if you haven't got a partner just ensure it is on 100% and don't hit solve.

I haven't put 09's tax tables in yet either....

trillionaire#1 · 28 April 2009

i also now cut my own hair with clippers
ive stopped buying premium fuels
ride my bicycle or walk/catch a bus more often
trimmed my food bills(actualy bullsh..i just got 3 atlantic salmon steaks from the market)oh well toast for dinner tommorrow night.

Tysonboss1 · 28 April 2009

prawn_86 said:
Do you live at home still? And do you have any fun??

I live rent free in a flat that is at the rear of my business premises.

yes I have fun, But I choose things that are low cost.

The reason I can live so cheaply is mainly because,

I have no rent to pay,

I don't pay for fuel, (I haven't paid for fuel for my car in 18months, because one of the suppliers to my business gives Caltex reward cards and woolworths gift cards if you sell a certain amount and I average about $400/month of cards)

a big chunk of my food bill is covered by the woolworths gift cards, and I resist Buying take away or other expensive foods.

But also I am very frugal in spending in general,

Tysonboss1 · 28 April 2009

helicart said:
[

Do you run a car and include depreciation for when you have to replace it?

Yes I run a car it's a 97 commodore I paid $10,000 6 years ago, But as I said in my last post I don't pay for fuel, and all maintaince comes out of the $250/week... I also don't believe in buying new cars.

prawn_86 · 28 April 2009

That makes sense then. Rent and food are my biggest expenses. I believe in eating well; good quality etc. One has to enjoy something in life, its not all about saving money

Tysonboss1 · 28 April 2009

That is a nice spread sheet heli, I will have a play with it later.

I prefer to use the claytons budget myself where I just put $500 a fortnight into my credit card and thats my spending limit, if there is no room on my card, I don't buy anything.

And all the rest of my money goes into investments.

kincella · 28 April 2009

used to know this bloke at tennis....he did not turn on his electicity....think he ran candles...got to the stage if he invited the players around for drinks after tennis...they refused to go.....another female did similar..so she could afford to travel overseas once a year...
of course they did not use heating or cooling...??? could not be bothered asking if they cooked or had a fridge....
that is too extreme....
I like to live in comfort....I dont waste electricity...that ad with all the black balloons is scary...I turn everything off when I am finished.....long life globes etc....buy whitegoods with the highest star rating....use the egg timer for showers....to save water
its the grog and ciggs I can save a heap on.....food costs are reduced on my current water diet...but thats not a big deal anyway

kincella · 28 April 2009

BBC radio this morning talking about training the afghanistans to become policemen....said they had to teach them so much stuff... including personal hygiene, like having a shower, shave and learning to use a toilet....

guess they live a frugal life....but little or no education

theasxgorilla · 28 April 2009

GumbyLearner said:
Back in the Bachelor days at the end of a big night, I would pop into
the local pizza joint and get delivered home with a large capricciosa.

Saved on taxi fare and enough left ready for breakfast in the morning.

I like that one!

aaronphetamine · 28 April 2009

I cut my own hair and I buy my alcohol from the bottle shop and get smashed before I head out clubbin and I live at home while I'm at uni so that cuts down my costs heaps!

helicart · 28 April 2009

Tysonboss1 said:
That is a nice spread sheet heli, I will have a play with it later.

I prefer to use the claytons budget myself where I just put $500 a fortnight into my credit card and thats my spending limit, if there is no room on my card, I don't buy anything.

And all the rest of my money goes into investments.

I just updated the tax formula to FY09, but Rudd will probably change it in the next Budget.

Old Mate · 28 April 2009

GumbyLearner said:
Back in the Bachelor days at the end of a big night, I would pop into
the local pizza joint and get delivered home with a large capricciosa.

Saved on taxi fare and enough left ready for breakfast in the morning.

That's the best idea I've ever heard

helicart · 28 April 2009

GumbyLearner said:
Back in the Bachelor days at the end of a big night, I would pop into
the local pizza joint and get delivered home with a large capricciosa.

Saved on taxi fare and enough left ready for breakfast in the morning.

Kudos+++ Gumby.....If you applied for a job with me and told me that, the job would be yours on that alone.

ColB · 28 April 2009

A mate of mine would take half a dozen beers around to a friends place when we would go there for dinner. He always left them in his esky so if he didn't drink all of them he'd take them home. I thought it was just common courtesy to leave what you didn't drink with your host considering they'd gone to all the effort and cost to usually prepare a really nice meal.

It got to the point where myself and one of the boys would empty his beer into the fridge just to take the p##s out of him. The irony is he is worth quite a few bucks and isn't that quite often the case. The ones with the money quite often find it difficult to part with it.

Prawn sums it up....Quote: "One has to enjoy something in life, its not all about saving money."

Gumby, you definitely win hands down, but if you were 'really frugal' you would have gone without the pizza

GumbyLearner · 28 April 2009

ColB said:
A mate of mine would take half a dozen beers around to a friends place when we would go there for dinner. He always left them in his esky so if he didn't drink all of them he'd take them home. I thought it was just common courtesy to leave what you didn't drink with your host considering they'd gone to all the effort and cost to usually prepare a really nice meal.

It got to the point where myself and one of the boys would empty his beer into the fridge just to take the p##s out of him. The irony is he is worth quite a few bucks and isn't that quite often the case. The ones with the money quite often find it difficult to part with it.

Prawn sums it up....Quote: "One has to enjoy something in life, its not all about saving money."

Gumby, you definitely win hands down, but if you were 'really frugal' you would have gone without the pizza

Well in the strictest sense of the word 'frugal' your correct ColB.

But I wonder if the Government would recognize this as innovative and
offer the consumer some carbon credits for such an endeavour?

I'm certainly not going to drive after I've been to the pub. I could use a taxi which I could either wait, hail or call. The phone call of course involving the use of energy.

If I order a pizza to my home, this would involve the business transporting the product to my abode anyway.

Surely turning up at the shop, ordering and requesting that I accompany my meal home does seem to cut down on time and energy/resources.

Mmm..carbon credits? I wonder if I could claim a deduction for such activities. Probably not, even though I'm using the same service to achieve the same goal.

As the message under nomore4s avatar says, "Common sense isn't that common". Too right!

tech/a · 28 April 2009

Got rid of my first wife.

The second thing was getting rid of No 2

The third thing was finding No 3 She was wealthier than I!

What's the most frugal thing you have done?

outback

helicart

prawn_86

Mod: Call me Dendrobranchiata

GumbyLearner

helicart

trillionaire#1

Tysonboss1

Tysonboss1

prawn_86

Mod: Call me Dendrobranchiata

Tysonboss1

kincella

kincella

theasxgorilla

Problem solved... next bubble.

aaronphetamine

E for Electro

helicart

Old Mate

helicart

ColB

GumbyLearner

tech/a

No Ordinary Duck

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What's the most frugal thing you have done?

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