Cheap habits

Everyone is aware of whistling as an cheap habit but how about other things like bumming a cigarette or eating ketchup bags? Or perhaps even a kicking a can?

My last job has 2 ways to get to work, both similar times but one was a longer. I frequently took the longer one to save stress even though the distance was longer so the travel time was the same.

I notice some people drink a free water at the water cooler every day.

At a certain point, you make enough money, you don't care, but this is a finance forum.

What are some of the cheapest habits you have that are really cheap and how much do they cost you?

DevilMonkey said: Breathing. Involuntary actions keep my mind free to find other schemes to make money. Plus air is free.

What are you going to do when T. Boone Pickens starts selling air as a utility, and therefore you have to pay for the air that you use? This will then go under "Expensive habits".

squid3 said: Picking my nose

- Burning calories
- Clearing nasal passages for better breathing
- Losing weight (less mass weighing you down)
- Keeps people away: less time wasted on unnecessary chit-chat
- Variety: like snowflakes, no 2 are the same

I figure I am actually making money (exercise + health improvement + avoid time-wasting + entertainment)

You forgot the added nutritional value....

CrackWhores and Discount Beer

Stealing toilet paper from my University

"some people drink a free water at the water cooler every day."

What? Drinking water is cheap? How about occupying space, consuming oxygen, using water to flush the toilet and wash your hands at work, and any other essential necessities?

germanpope said: if you do not flush the toliet after each use --- but wait until at least three uses --- you will save approxiamately $32 per year for your company Tried that...surprisingly they didn't look at it that way.

I always take extra napkins to put in my car when i get fast food. That way, I don't have to pay for kleenex.

Shaving soap instead of aerosol-style shaving cream

Ryan431101111 said: I know people that poop at work just to save on toliet paper.

If you are a family of two and have a septic tank at home, you can double the time between having it pumped out. Now if I can just get my wife to hold it til she makes it to the dollar store.

i don't know if this legal or not, but i live in nj, i buy my beer cans, coke cans, beer bottles, and i clean them, store them and when i go over to my parents house in long island, i (re)deposit them back in ny, which gives me $0.05 each bottle... so since i drink a 12 pack probably everyday with my roommate, i rack empty recycles and make money (or save on toll and gas) whenever i visit next state ny.

I have to bring my own TP (just in case) because that Costco Scott stuff they have is murderous.

Ryan431101111 said: I know people that poop at work just to save on toliet paper. I also know people that charge ipods, phones at work to save on electricity.

haha, i know it's cost-benefit, but if you are drinking anyway, why just throw away or even recycle in state-sponsored recycle program which will not give you any money back? actually, when i was really in dire need of money, i was even thinking of going to bars to ask for recycles and take it over the state line to ny and recycle-re-deposit for $0.05 a can, but then i would need to take into account toll, gas, labor so it wasn't worth it...

i was just saying that if your drinking, even coca cans, instead of throwing them away, recycling them, rinse them, store them and take them with you when you go to the states (ny one of them i think) to that give you money back for your deposit that you never paid.. it's just a habit we're talking about here right? not to make money..

for me, it works out because i "have" to go visit my parents every couple of months anyway who live in ny, and i live in nj where there is no 5 cent deposits to begin with.

going to olive garden and ordering an entree with the unlimited salad and breadsticks. get full on the free food and doggy bag the rest. we'll have some of the entree, but never can finish when the breadsticks start to expand.

bberryaddict said: going to olive garden and ordering an entree with the unlimited salad and breadsticks. get full on the free food and doggy bag the rest. we'll have some of the entree, but never can finish when the breadsticks start to expand.

and all this time i thought we were a country of chubbies where no one goes hungry...

Cheap habits? recycling & washing ziplock bags, using shopping bags as trash bags. substituting newspaper for paper towels.. (using newspapers to dry fish and meats prior to searing). Teaching the cats to use the toilet so i dont need to buy litter. Using toilet paper instead of kleenex. sharing unlimited metrocards with parents, neighbors.

reuv said: I have a habit of picking up change on the street

I have a habit of picking up banknotes on the street. Last time it was a twenty dollar bill.

I used to drink water out of the water cooler at work, one of those kind with the spout that people fill up their mugs with and probably sometimes touch their germy mug against. Then I got the flu and was out sick for a week, which used up a lot of PTO.

Now I bring my own water to work in a reusable bottle.

And no, I can't prove that I got sick from the water cooler, but it is a possiblity that I wanted to eliminate. Since I don't have much contact with people all day, and wash my hands like I have OCD, I figure it was at least contributing to my getting sick on a few occassions.

TxAggieJen said: I used to drink water out of the water cooler at work, one of those kind with the spout that people fill up their mugs with and probably sometimes touch their germy mug against. Then I got the flu and was out sick for a week, which used up a lot of PTO.

Now I bring my own water to work in a reusable bottle.

And no, I can't prove that I got sick from the water cooler, but it is a possiblity that I wanted to eliminate. Since I don't have much contact with people all day, and wash my hands like I have OCD, I figure it was at least contributing to my getting sick on a few occassions.

Getting sick from water seems hardly fathomable.

Do you use an extra paper towel to turn on/off the bathroom faucet? How about for the bathroom door? More likely to get sick from that. (you're not really OCD until you do this!)

Do you use shared office resources? Printer, photocopier, fax machine, etc? Much more likely to pick something up like that.

I'm good for taking a few extra sets of plastic utensils when I get food to go. I save them at home, and use them instead of real silverware whenever possible. I don't do it so much because it's cheap, but more because it's one less thing I have to wash.

When I want to read a book, first I check my library website.

Then I check the Paperback Swap website.

Then I check half.com or Amazon marketplace.

If it's not at any of those, I really have to want that book to buy it.