In a world where things are just WAY too expensive, every penny saved makes a difference. But how do you save anything when there are fees on fees on fees for seemingly everything? Loopholes, dear readers. Loopholes.
Reddit user Mackedeli asked:
What's a clever way you have avoided paying for something?
Bust out your notepads, folks. These reddit users are about to school you in the grand art of being a cheapskate - in the most clever possible ways.
A Year At The Movies
Parking permits for my university were ridiculously expensive since it was in a downtown area. I'm talking like $700 a year minimum. I only had class three days a week so it didn't make sense to pay for a semester long permit.
Right next to the university is a movie theater with it's own parking structure, parking is validated with the purchase of a movie ticket. This particular movie theater has a deal for university students on weekdays, $3 movie tickets if you show your student ID.
So instead of parking at the university lots, I would park in the theater lots, buy a $3 ticket and then just go to class. I'd get my parking ticket validated and go home. I'd estimate I spent about $250 each year doing this. After a while, I signed up for some sort of point system the theater offered that got me an insane amount of perks since as far as they knew, I was watching three movies a week at their establishment.
Essentially I saved $450 a year and got multiple free movie tickets and merch out of it.
Cancellation Fees
If you try to cancel an appointment during the time in which there's a cancellation fee, ask if you can re-schedule for a later date to avoid the fee. Then once they give you the new appointment date outside of the cancellation fee required period, then ask to cancel said new appointment. Boom roasted.
Book Fair Brilliance
Giphy
8th grade school book fair with a buy one get one free sale. I had $20 and wanted four books. Two books cost $11 each, the other two cost $8 each. With these sales they ALWAYS make the two cheaper items free so I would've ended up spending $22 which I knew I couldn't afford. So, I took the two $11 books up and paid for them so one of them was free. Then, I pretended to "discover" the two $8 books I also wanted and paid for those. I ended up with enough left over to buy myself a cool eraser on top of it all.
The Lost Ticket
When my son was about to be born, we had to stay a while at the hospital and the parking time bill racked up really quickly. Been there for 4 to 5 days so that was about 15-20$ per day ... But you only had to pay a 20$ fine to get out if you lost your ticket.
Lets say I played the "I lost my parking ticket I'm so sorry" game.
Salary
I pay my wife a salary from my company to avoid the tax on the earnings, and the higher rate of tax that I would have to pay if the money went to me
It's legal.
Contests
Entering competitions and contests used to be like a serious hobby and little income stream of mine.
Didn't pay to see a film at the cinema in years and went regularly. The phone I'm writing this on? Won it. Trip to Sydney? Thanks MTV. Concerts, DVDs, CDs, magazine subscriptions, books - heaps of random things all for free. Even won an axe once!
- Maccas75
The Internet Provider
I've been with my internet provider for like 15 years, and I have no intention of switching. But now and then their competitor in town knocks on my door and offers me a really good deal if I switch, so I call my ISP and pretend like I'm going to cancel my service and switch. They start throwing all kinds of discounts and upgrades at me, like a bald fat loser begging his GF not to leave. By the end of the call, I'm paying half price for better service.
I don't really feel bad about this scam, though. We're paying $160 a month for service Europeans get for $20. Paying $80 a month for a six-month deal is still a rip off. But oligopoly and all that.
- Thudly
Visa Gift Card Trials
Sometimes I use those visa gift cards, I use up the money and then use the empty card for any free trial you have to use a credit card for. It lasts until payment is due and then it just cancels the account.
- LilEgg0
Chuck E. Cheese
Giphy
When my kids were young Chuck E. Cheese had a club you could join that offered coupons. The bonus coupon to sign up gave heavy discounts on tokens. It made it affordable to go on a regular basis. Just needed to keep signing up for new memberships. I would make a new throwaway email every week.
No Membership
Buying gift cards at Costco does not require a membership
Using gift cards at Costco allows you to shop there without a membership, even if your gift card is only for 5 $
Step 1: Buy a bunch of gift cards without membership for $5 each
Step 2: Shop at Costco without membership, but with at least 1 gift card
Step 3: Profit
- SEI_Dan
Airplane Snack Hack
You can use a cancelled credit card on airplanes for snacks. As long as the expiration date isn't passed. So say you cancel a card and report it stolen or whatever. Credit Card sends you a new card number. The old one wont work anymore.
However, on a plane, they cannot connect to check if a card is good. It automatically approves in their system. So you use the cancelled one. They give you food and shit. Then after you land and get off, they run the cards and it gets declined. Not worth it to them to go after you. Free food in flight.
JC Penny - Doin' It Right
When you sign up for JCP rewards they will occasionally send you a $10 off $25 or more coupon. Can be used multiple times until it expires. I have used the same coupon once 7x in one day to get my stuff over 50% off. When you add it to whatever sales they have when the coupon is active, you can save a lot of money.
Kid's Cup
Places with Free refills, ask for the smallest cup possible, get a kid's cup of you have to. I'd rather save $2-3 and get up a couple times then spend the price for a Large cup.
- reefgod
Wait It Out
Giphy
When my wife and I were looking to buy our first home and wanted to look into mortgages, my wife had a car-repo on her credit (from years earlier) that needed to be settled up on, so we went to the bank where the loan was originally from and sat down with an associate to see what we could do.
She pulled up the info, said what the outstanding balance was (something like $4,000) and that we could either set up a payment plan or....(as she looked around to make sure nobody could hear her and leaned toward us)....if we could wait 2-3 more months, it would come off her credit history automatically since enough time passed.
We stood up, shook her hand and thanked her, and went on our merry way.
Failure To Swipe
This isn't my story, but my friend told me this just a few hours ago.
He goes to a really high end university, and they're cafeteria food is super expensive, but the restaurants around are just as expensive. They just use refillable meal cards, and he has a few meals on there, but the magnetic strip on his card doesn't work, and the cashiers that work there are so miserable and careless that they never check it, they just swipe it and send him away. They don't even pay attention to their computer or anything, so he eats for free constantly. Only a few times has one of he cashiers typed in the numbers after trying and failing to swipe.
Completely Non-Enforceable
Private car park company fine.
Turns out, unless it says "civil enforcement" on it, its completely non enforceable by standard law. What you receive is technically an invoice.
You'll get debt letters threatening to make the smallest contribution, and unless you're a repeat offender, very little chance you'll ever see court.
- tifauk
Soup and Sandwich
When I was in hospital after having my son I'd choose one of everything from the menu and then I'd eat the soup and the sandwich and my husband would eat the main meal . He never had to go to the canteen and buy food and I only wanted the soup and sandwich.
Guerrilla Gardening
Instead of buying succulent plants, my friends and I have about twenty varieties of succulents between us that we propagate and give away. We propagated the parent plants from leaves we found on the ground at garden and hardware stores, and from healthy plants growing outside. We all already had containers and soil, too, so the only money spent on the now one hundred succulents produced from the original twenty is money spent on the water bill.
Wi-Fi Cell Phone
I don't pay for cell phone service. I downloaded an app that gives you a phone number. The catch is you have to have wifi so sometimes it can be a little bit of a problem but many places have free wifi these days so I can usually find a Starbucks or a store near by if I'm not at home.
The Hard Drive Hunch
I had an external hard drive stop working/loading, not sure what happened to it, but my whole life was on that drive. I took it to one of those places that can recover your data. They took my drive and said they would call me after testing to see whether they could recover the data on the drive or not. They called me back the next day and said it was an issue with the loading software and it was possible to get my files but I would have to pay $500.
In my mind I was thinking, "Well if they were able to see my files then they must have had to fix the loading software to see them?"
So I just said "Nah that's too much, I will come pick up my drive." and of course the drive worked perfectly when I got home and I paid nothing. To be honest I would've just paid them to fix it if it was reasonable (I used to do photo recovery when I worked in a photo lab and we charged $50 so I was expecting something in the range of $50-100), but $500 for that is just extortion in my opinion. If my hunch was wrong I was just going to take it to another place anyways.
The Donut Vice
Giphy
Unlimited free donuts from krispe kreme.
I literally just signed up on the app 1000 times with fake accounts. They don't even require email confirmation.
For each account I make, I get 12+ donuts. One for joining, one for my birthday (which is always conveniently on the day I sign up), 7 for reccomending 'friends' to join the app (Spoiler alert, I used more fake accounts, I don't have friends lol) and 3 more for my 3 precious children, Burp, Vorlock and Stalin.
I don't even eat most of the donuts. I just like getting free stuff. It's actually become a really bad vice I need help lol.
- Apps2000
Intruder
"I was 14, alone at my grandmas house around midnight."
"She was across the street at the bar she owned."
"I was playing games on her computer, about 15 feet from one of the windows facing the backyard."
"All of a sudden the glass from that window shatters, and I ran to one of the bedrooms."
"I can hear my name being called."
"Eventually I see my grandma's ex-boyfriend enter the living room where the computer is."
"He keeps saying my name."
"I’m scared sh*tless, but I walk out and confront him."
"He says my grandma stole his ID and that’s what he came for, as he’s taking money from my grandmas purse."
"He looks f*cked up on something."
"I forget how he leaves but when he does I call the bar and people come over looking for him."
"They didn’t find him."
"About a year later he did it again, and I was once again alone there."
"Except this time instead of breaking a window he decides to try to kick the side door in."
"I’m just there chilling when out of nowhere I hear the loudest bangs coming from the side of the house and I instantly knew what was happening."
"I immediately called the bar and they sent a bunch of people over before he could make it in."
"He apparently tried to jump from one of her sheds into the alley next to her house and broke his leg."
"He went to prison."- nfreshn
They're coming right for us!
"Two bison charging right toward me down a narrow wooded path in Yellowstone when I was 12."- pcc2
Open Range Running GIF by Reconnecting RootsGiphyUncomfortable in new surroundings.
"My sister has mental health issues."
"We were in a foreign country, driving across mountains on a one lane dirt road with no guardrails."
"She had a complete mental breakdown and threatened many times to drive off the edge."
"To this day, my mom swears my sister wouldn't have done it."
"All I say is, 'you weren't in the car'."
"'You have no idea'."- BlorengeJulius
Lost in the woods.
"Getting lost on 350 acres of woods in southeast Georgia."
"Was found about 6 hours later."
The dog found me hours before the people did.- No_Regrats_42
Scared Woods GIF by Brat TVGiphyA near death experience.
"Was working as a linemen tasked to replace a 16m wooden power pole which requires climbing up to untie the lines from the isolators."
"I checked if the pole had any rot beforehand, climbed up, untied the lines, climbed down, as I was packing my tools up , the pole fell from its own."- LimaRadek
He wasn't who he claimed to be.
"A man claiming to be a meter reader was in our yard and tried the back door AFTER trying the front."
"It was unlocked because there was a field behind us and our gate had a lock, that he somehow got by."
"The meter reader man was nearly eaten by our Great Dane who was dumb and peaceful, except for when she laid eyes on him."
"Our other dog also wanted to kill him and he was up on our trampoline begging us to call the dogs off, which we, my then 11 year old sister and I, refused to do and went to get our dad, who worked from home."
"The guy escaped while we got our dad and my dad let the police know what happened."
"The real meter reader man came the next week."- Applesintheorchard
Dog Bouncing GIF by AFV PetsGiphyHad no idea what they were witnessing.
"I guess watching a loved one have a seizure when I didn’t understand what it was."
"Legit thought I witnessed a death."
"Scary stuff."- Peppapigisgodly
Always look both ways.
"I got hit by a car while in a crosswalk a few months back."
"Had a split second where I saw him coming and realized what was about to happen."
"I thought I was going to die."- jolalolalulu
Big Sister to the Rescue.
"Saved my sisters life."
"We were boating and my parents just kinda assumed we’d be ok with them only out a couple hundred feet."
"I was about 17 and she was about 7."
"I’m laying there chilling and see her slip and fall into the water and just straight up sink."
"Ran over, dove in and pulled her to shore."
"She spit up a bunch of water and was fine but that experience rocked me to my core."
"Not a super crazy story but almost seeing a sibling die has always stuck with me."
"I’ve broken almost every bone in my body, I died one time and was in a coma for a little bit but for some reason this one stuck with me."- Present-Trip5231
Often, an experience that left us scared does make for a good story down the line.
Though whether it was a good enough story to make having gone through the experience worth it, is debatable.
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Waiting tables was always the bane of my existence. Customers are rude. Staff is rude. It never ends.
Filthy Hours
Fail Just For Laughs GIFGiphy"Trash men. They’re looked down on as dirty and uneducated, but they do a hard job that is absolutely critical to our public health."
kirkl3s
You're Out!
"Youth sports officials. I umpire baseball as a hobby and the way parents act is deplorable."
kennsing75
"The parents on the other hand deserve loads of hate sometimes. I was a coach for soccer and volleyball while I was in the Air Force. You would have loved to be a sports official for our leagues at our base. If a parent got sh**ty they are immediately ejected, no questions, and reported to whoever is their higher authority. It almost never happened."
DaniTheLovebug
Behind the Counter
"Any customer (client/patient) facing job. They get the abuse that stems from managements decisions, mistakes and incompetence."
HighlyOffensive10
"I did customer service for automotive companies at a call center for years. People get so unhinged, between dealerships, management, people calling into the wrong department, angry customers who were itching for a fight over a rental car. The job paid for five free therapy sessions a year, but honestly, it would take every ounce of restraint not to break some days."
"You aren't allowed to defend yourself or hang up, you can't transfer them to supervisors for a call, you technically work for a third party company that exists to keep the customer from ever actually speaking to the corporation. It was the worst job I've ever had, and that's coming from someone who used to work at a seafood processing plant."
Bromelia_and_Bismuth
I'm Hungry
"Food service. The workers have to eat too, you know."
stinky_cheese33
"Working fast food sucked. Not because the job was hard. But because people were *icks. For like, no reason. Working in an actual kitchen also sucked. Not because the work was hard, but because you never did it quick enough and your boss was a *ick for like no reason. But at least you didn't deal with customers."
thedankbank1021
Too much stress...
Jim Carrey Omg GIFGiphy"Defense attorneys. People hate them because they defend violent criminals. However, as one lawyer put it, their job is not just to defend these people; their job is also to make sure that the cops did their job correctly."
TomoyoHoshijiro
I've always wondered about defense attorneys. How do they reconcile their morals?
They're Smart Too
will birth control GIFGiphy"I live in Germany and currently in my (hopefully) last semester of university to become a pharmacist (4 years of university, one practical year and three exams of state required). A lot of people here think pharmacists are only cashiers and don’t know we get a scientific education. And God help me if I question a doctor's decision."
this_is_lune
Hard Hours
"I usually just lurk as a guest, but I made a Reddit account just for this. Cooks for public schools. They are constantly overworked, underpaid, and disrespected. Most schools have only a few ovens and microwaves, so school chefs have to either jam unsafe amounts of frozen food into ovens and microwaves, which is a giant fire hazard, or work non-stop from early morning."
Clingitty
Green Thumbed
"Plant breeders and plant geneticists. Imagine you're a plant nerd and you spend your life studying genetics so you can figure out how to improve food crops. Like, to make them yield more, taste better, be healthier, survive drought, etc. But on the internet, you're apparently trying to poison the world and control the food supply."
kjhvm
Heartless
"Veterinarians. My doctors CONSTANTLY get yelled at or called heartless when, for instance, we refer them to a hospital more suited to care for the animal than us. Like bro we didn't just tell you know we are giving you options and trying to ensure you seek the proper care. Don't call me a heartless b**tard for that crap."
Zfullz
No Fun Involved
Angry Neil Flynn GIFGiphy"Janitors. Trash-related work. Sewage workers. Plumbing."'
SubiWhale
I feel for everyone in these jobs. They deserve better.
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In other states, you and your ladies can live a more peaceful life. Here in Florida, it's A Song of Sweat And Fire Ants.
Ever get tiny little jellyfish stuck under your side-boob? Happens here all the time.
Bikinis should come with a "Sand Lice, Your Titty Crease, And You" informational pamphlet.
Wanna jog? Hope you accounted for the fact that the air is soup and will chafe and cauterize your nipples.
Know what limits your field of vision, making you more likely to accidentally step on a snake and/or gator? Boobs.
Know what slows you down as you try to escape the angry reptile from the above paragraph? Also boobs.
Reddit user Saibotnl1 asked:
"What's the most negative thing about having boobs?"
Now take all this stuff they said sucked, and then put it inside of a steam oven filled with mosquitos. That's Florida.
And Florida is incompatibile with breasts.
Cardio Is Hardio
GIF by VIASWEATGiphy"I love them but running can be a nuisance even in a good sports bra."
- [Reddit]
"When I go to work, there is a woman that usually runs on the shoulder of the road. I gasp at how much her boobs bounce. Isn't that doing damage to tissue? Painful?"
- notanotherbreach
"Yes! I literally always hold mine when going up/down stairs so they dont bounce. Running is uncomfortable even with a good bra :/ "
- k_g94
"If it's a sports bra that holds you, it's so tight that it's impossible to get into or out of without a whole team of people like a pit crew."
"If you can comfortably get into it, it won't hold the girls for long."
"Cardio is just not worth all this."
-[Reddit]
"As a kid I wasn't fit enough for jump rope, but now that I'm older and have the big boobies it feels even more impossible to ever indulge in."
- PoiLethe
Literally In The Way
"They get in the way!!"
"Lately I've been getting frustrated with exercise. My personal trainer will say to hold something a certain way and I'll try but it's so uncomfortable because my boobs are completely in the way."
"She has small boobs so she doesn't account for them being in that space right in front of your chest."
- J09Lynn
"My English teacher in 10th grade was drinking water one day when a few drops landed on his shirt. He then complained about getting older and how he never stuck out far enough to get his shirt wet."
"I just sighed."
"4th grade. 4th grade is when I stuck out too much to avoid drips."
- wheredMyArmourGo
"So very much this."
"I refuse to do mountain climbers when my trainer suggests it, she started to get mad saying it's a great exercise. My retort was that I'd really rather not knee myself in the breasts as part of my workout."
"The lady has small boobs and replied that she had never thought of that!"
- Pauliester
Growing Pains
"Probably growing them."
"It hurts, and if you get big boobs young and quickly, it’s both physical and social agony."
"It hurts to grow them, first of all, your chest aches and bumping them against anything really hurts - and since they’re a sudden, large addition to your body, you’re ALWAYS bumping them on stuff."
"But the social aspect is worse."
"Your female family members comment on them slyly and smirk at your response."
"Your male friends look at you weird and you have to realize they see you as more sexual than girls with smaller chests, even though you literally cannot control this."
"Other girls can be nasty and jealous."
"Eventually I learned to manage all this and I like having breasts now; but from like 11-16 I was so frustrated and upset that I had developed them at all."
- Individual_Ad_7523
Two Volcanos
rachael ray boob sweat GIF by First We Feast: Hot OnesGiphy"The sweat and itch!"
"Also that they're like two volcanos, which isn't especially practical during summers or when you're a constantly hot temperatured person anyway."
- Queen-of-meme
"No matter what I try, the skin under my boobs never cools down!"
- Local_Masterpiece_
"Boob sweat is the bane of my existence when it's even a little bit hot outside - and sometimes even when it's not lol..."
- PleasuredMeatStick
"I hate the feeling of sweat on my boobs. I just put tissue between and underneath my boobs to hopefully absorb the sweat so it won’t start to itch and drip."
- LuckyBugHarley
Technological Advancements
"I STILL am not able to remove them after a long day. Why?!"
"Why can't I just set em aside for the night, all done. Why hasn't technology advanced to this possibility yet??"
- IAmNotLookingatYou
"Absolutely they would. The relief we would get ... oh my god it sounds divine."
"Maybe I wouldn’t be so b*tchy."
- Object_Prize
"I’d honestly probably only wear them for ren faire, and leave them at home the rest of the year."
- AbbyNormalKnits
Double Trouble
"The double standard of girls with small chests and big chests."
"If you have a big chest no matter what you wear or do it's sexual. But for girls with smaller chests they can get away with crop tops or v necks or even swim suits."
- BigBunsLittleBunbun
"Lol the bigger girls who spent their entire grade school years getting sent to the principal's office for breaking dress code will agree with you."
"Loose shirts will tent and billow up in the wind as you walk-- dress coded."
"Tight shirts that don't tent but cling to your chest-- dress coded."
"And don't even think about anything but a crew neckline, or you'll be dress coded again."
- cryptic-coyote
"Exactly!"
"I always got in trouble for wearing dresses in school, but skinny Minnie wearing something even worse gets by no problem just because she doesn't fill it out the way I do."
- APD2269
Expensive
Happy Music Video GIF by DJ MustardGiphy"They're expensive."
"Bras are expensive and you need regular bras, sports bras, probably something special like a strapless or low back if you have a special occasion or something."
"And don't even get me started on women's healthcare ..."
- SailorSpoon11
"Stage 4 breast cancer patient here, and it costs me about an extra $5000/yr to stay alive if everything goes well."
- insertcaffeine
"I just stopped breastfeeding and none of my bras fit anymore."
"I’ve just been wearing sports bras every day because I don’t even know what cup size I am anymore and I don’t want to spend a fortune replacing all of my bras."
- kaytay3000
"Plus if you choose not to wear bras for any number of reasons, you’re treated as deviant or an acceptable target of inappropriate attentions."
- letsjumpintheocean
Getting Comfortable
"Laying on your stomach can be tricky."
- ChadweenaThundervag
"Laying on your back can be tricky as well."
"And on your side."
"Just laying in general with big boobs is a hassle."
- Skkaj225
"Am guy."
"However women in my life have found it difficult to get a decent back massage because of this. I've seen plenty of massage tables with head holes, but none with boob support..."
- DeluxeWafer
"Semi-suffocating yourself on the beach while trying to get some sun on your back is fun."
- Miikami
Either Or
"The fact that I look like a walking refrigerator if I wear a loose fitting top, as it billows shapelessly around my body in an odd fabric rectangle."
"But if I wear something form fitting, I look like a lady of the night and am treated as such."
- batchofbetterbutter
"OMG this !!"
"I feel like all my girlfriends around me have such a fashion sense and can wear things with such grace but I always look as you’ve described. Like either I look like a couch pillow or Jessica Rabbit."
"Sometimes I just want to cut them off honestly."
- octokisu
"Yeah I’ve been wanting a reduction since a was a teen because of the back pain and catcalling, and many people I know with a bigger chest feel the same way."
- didithedragon
"I had no idea women hated their boobs so much! It honestly is shining a light on an idea I have never thought of."
- Peter_the_pear
Attempted Murder
Black Woman Breast Cancer Awareness GIF by Know Your GirlsGiphy"They might try to kill me."
"Breast cancer runs in my family and I have to have my first mammogram this year at 36."
"My mom was negative for both BRCA genes but there are 6 others they’ve discovered since she had cancer that we haven’t been tested for."
"Insurance won’t cover me to test unless she tests positive for one."
- Outrageous-Proof4630
"Fun fun fun."
"My mom died from breast cancer at 46. I started getting mammograms at 34."
"Luckily, I took the BRCA test and was negative."
- lil_ho_on_da_prairie
It's Constant
"Constantly being sexualized."
"I’m the least sexual person but people assume I’m super sexual because of my body. And I hate it"
- Plus_Bison_7091
"Yup, I'm ace and I honestly just want them chopped off to be rid of the constant sexualization of my body."
"It makes me really uncomfortable."
- zapsquad
"My friend in elementary school had a condition where she went into puberty super early and had large breasts by 3rd grade."
"We would walk together to elementary school every morning and get cat called a lot, but we were too afraid to tell our parents because we thought they wouldn't let us walk together anymore."
"She would have teachers make comments about them."
"When we were older she talked about how insanely awful and alienating it made her feel growing up. Her younger sister had the same condition, but went on puberty blockers for it."
- gentlybeepingheart
Destroyed
"These pendulous bags of hell have destroyed my back."
"Even a decade after a reduction surgery, I remain in daily pain. And now as an added bonus they get to be misshapen, scarred horribly, and completely useless for raising a baby."
- Originalluff
"I didn’t realize how heavy they are until I got together with girl with big boobs and woooooow they are heavy!"
- I_love_pillows
"I got C cups in fifth grade and those f*ckers went all the way to G by senior year."
"My posture was/is awful and I've felt like an old woman since I was a teenager. I don't even want babies, so they're never actually gonna be useful either."
- Rozeline
See what I mean?
They're kind of awful once they hit a certain size, and that size is pretty much ANY size if you're in Florida.
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