I was glued to the TV last week when I saw an Extreme Cheapskates marathon on. My jaw dropped at least once every single episode.
While I live on a pretty darn low budget and have done some of the things portrayed on the show there are other things I couldn’t dream of doing.
Here are three things I will and won’t do to save money – unextreme style!
Three Things I’ll Do to Save Money
Use Secondhand Furniture/Clothes – I have a DIY hobby so finding a dumpy looking wooden piece of furniture on the side of the road gets my heart pounding. I have a stockpile of stain, paint, and sanding paper always on hand. And as far as clothes go, I’ll hit the consignment shops. I feel like my money can go so much further by purchasing quality secondhand clothing rather than purchasing mediocre clothing brand new.
Buy Almost Expired Food – I am a fan of K-Mart for the sole fact that hardly anyone in my town shops there. A couple weeks before food hits the expiration date they’ll mark it 50 – 75 percent off. If there’s anything that I think will be eaten fast I buy it.
Run the Air Conditioning as Little as Possible – Last winter I was hit with electric bills hovering at around $500. In an effort to get the bills down I swore to use my heating and air as little as possible. And that’s what I’ve done. It’s not always comfortable but it keeps my bills closer to what I can afford.
Three Things I Won’t Do to Save Money
Eat Food Out of a Dumpster – To me this was one of the most shocking “money saving tactics” displayed on Extreme Cheapskates. I can’t imagine eating food that came out of someone else’s trash.
Not Flush the Toilet – Do I need to explain this any further?
Reuse Paper Products – I’m not going to lie: I like paper towels. I also like disinfectant wipes. With two small kids I can’t imagine going without or trying to reuse either of these.
Are there any extreme things you’ll do to save money?
I’m totally with you on both ends. The last two slightly different though. I would use heating/air much less than my hubby prefers, so I deal with it (and just bought a nest to try and bring us back into the realm of reality). I also am not a huge paper towel user (hubby is) but don’t mind having them on hand for certain occasions.
I think the most extreme thing we’ve done is participate in several research projects. The longest one I did was for an HIV vaccine, which paid the most but I was also doing it for personal reasons since my uncle was one of the first to pass away from AIDS. It was a hassle over several months and multiple blood draws, but the money went into our first home.
Installing our washer/dryer by myself, when hubby was in Afghanistan, felt pretty extreme but I was proud of doing it.
I think that is very noble of you to do the research projects. And kudos for installing the washer and dryer by yourself. I had to get my brothers to install mine. I felt like that one was a little over my head. I did do the tiling in my bathroom though which I was pretty proud of.