lmartin999

"Ask for a cup of hot water. Okay, this might be a little drastic for some of you, but I think it's brilliant. While my friends buy $5 lattes at coffee shops, or spend even $2 on tea, I just ask for a cup of hot water and bring my own tea bag. That way, I can still go out and be social with my friends, but I don't have to spend any money doing it."



Nothing wrong with being careful!

iaink

Remember to take a small ziploc baggy too to put the tea bag in afterwards, then you can reuse it later without it staining your pockets

ireland2canada

Oh heck, I did that every day at work before moving to Canada. I only wanted a morning brew, not a mochachocafrotha concoction made with hand scrubbed beans from Columbia. So I brought a tea bag and purchased a 15p cup of hot water. I should point out that I was saving hard for the move to Canada while also renovating a house, I'm not a complete miserly git.

lmartin999

Ah, but you purchased the hot water. I think that is a bit of a cop-out.

ireland2canada

I see what you are saying, but I assure you, I made full use of the milk and sugar on offer and sometimes I even snagged a paper napkin to set the soggy tea bag on. Ha, that'll teach them with their elitist coffee.

Zoe Bell

I've taken to stealing plastic bags when the cashier isn't looking , now that they charge 5 cents for them, my supply of garbage bags has nearly dried up

lmartin999

I do think it's great that you were saving towards living the dream

ireland2canada

Absolutely. When you put your mind to it the sky is the limit and, with hard work and determination, you can reach your goals.

Tuppence

I'm so pleased you are doing this for the future of your children

ireland2canada

*Chokes* Catch yourself on, woman!

Atlantic Xpat

At some time in the future, you will have to sit down with your daughter and say: 'Honey, we chose the life of plaid for you. Forgive us.'

Tuppence

Hopefully she will have made good use of the passport and gone off to be a dental surgeon or something in the US, and is keeping us in the manner to which I would like to become accustomed

London Mike

Do people really recycle teabags other than my (slightly mad) mum-in-law? She places them on the side an absolutely forbids anyone to throw them out! Grim ...

Anyway, I have a new travel mug for coffee refills. That saves a buck or two here and there

Joe_Sleepy

I save all of the girls hair when I cut it & use it to stuff the cushions I make from the hand towels I steal from friends bathrooms.

Syphoning gas from the neighbours cars can save a fortune & they never miss the odd log from their woodpile, the trick is to limit yourself to just three or four logs per neighbour per week..

Feeding the dogs roadkill saves as much as $40 a month..

I always pay for coffee but I do make a point of stealing all of the toilet paper from the washrooms..

ireland2canada

All fantastic advice! I wonder why no one consulted BE before writing the article in the Star? I think this should all go in the Wiki.

On a serious note, I did once steal toilet paper because I ran out and payday wasn't for another few days. I nabbed it from college because it presented the least chance of being caught.