Comments on: 8 Unique Ways to Save Money

By: SS

SS — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:25:02 +0000

Whenever I said I was a PhD student, I would receive a quizzical look of :”Why is this disgusting parasite alive”? Given that gentle society treats me as subhuman, I hardly consider myself bound by the mores of that society. Maybe it is morally wrong to take more condiments than you need, but isn’t it worse to treat a hard working (and extremely good) student as the scum of the earth?

By: Lia

Lia — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 02:27:59 +0000

Always ask if there is a student discount… you’ll be surprised how many times they an establishment will say yes! I’ve saved money going out to shoot pool, for a slice of pizza, and even at some clothing stores. And yes, even the Salvation Army thrift shop offers a student discount, so always ask, “do you offer a student discount?”
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Credit card companies charge a store a certain percentage of the bill (usually 2 – 3%), so ask the store if they will give you a discount for paying in cash.
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Ask for a discount in every store anyway. Just say “Is there any way that I can get a better price on this?” You have nothing to loose, because if the store refuses to give you a discount, you won’t be required to pay anything extra as a penalty for your wanting a special price
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See what you can get used. Check garage sales. Try thrift shops. Check with the city’s waste department to see if they have “free garbage” weekends (Ottawa does this twice a year – people put out “good” garbage that you are supposed to take!)
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Look at the flyers in the weekend paper.to get sale prices on your food for the week, instead of walking up & down the isles grabbing things that look good and may cost you more money.
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Always eat something before you grocery shop — too much junk food goes into the grocery cart when you shop on an empty stomach.
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Why pay $10 for a chicken breast, a wing, and a drumstick, when $8 will get you a whole chicken (that’s TWO breasts, TWO wings, and TWO drumsticks for less money).
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Don’t have room for a whole chicken? Shop with a friend and split everything.
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Grab coupons whenever you see them. Keep them in an accordion folder.
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Try to use coupons with items on sale (the product manufacturer pays the store back for the coupon) and sometimes you can get stuff for FREE (I once had coupons to get $2 off of frozen pizza… the pizza was normally almost $5, but was on sale for $1.95, so the store paid me 5 cents to take the pizza away!)
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Try and buy foods that will do double-duty (eg. if you make baked potatoes & ham today, tomorrow you can turn it into fried potatoes with ham omelettes … and chicken leftovers from tonight can be turned into homemade soup tomorrow by chunking the chicken with some carrots, onions, and celery, and putting it all in a pot of water with powdered soup stock).

By: SingleGuyMoney

SingleGuyMoney — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 01:44:12 +0000

I’ve been out of college for about 8 yrs and I still love Ramen!

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 04:15:32 +0000

Some pretty good tips. But I have to say, I think the best alternative for saving money on food is to cook it yourself. Seriously, it’s a win-win situation. You get to eat healthier and save money while doing so. Not to mention, it really impresses the ladies win you cook for them rather than taking them out for dinner (and you saved money by doing so). I didn’t know how to cook a few years ago, so I learned, and it was well worth it. Sure it takes a hour to cook dinner tonight, but you cook more than enough, throw it in the fridge, and you have lunch and dinner for the next 2 days. Did you know that for the price of 1 meal at Outback, you can have London Broil with caramelized onions for 3 days in a row?

By: Broke Grad Student

Broke Grad Student — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 19:21:12 +0000

Excellent point, Carol. I definitely do NOT condone stealing, and after reading over my condiment tip again, I see where you’re coming from. I’ve reworded the tip to avoid any confusion between saving what’s given to you and taking something that’s not free.