23 Ridiculous Money Saving Tips

Here at Sensible Reviewer, we’re all about great money saving advice, as long as it’s adding value to your life. For example, we’d never advise making your own shoes to save money; we’d advise buying a solid pair that you like the design of from a reputable company for a price you’re comfortable with. Know why? Because if you’d made those shoes I guarantee they’d fall apart after a few days, leave your feet aching, and have you walking in what feels like giant puddles. Then you’d have to pay to make them all over again. Buy a good value pair though, and they’ll hopefully last you a good couple of years, saving you money in the long-run.

Sounds pretty obvious right? Well, maybe to you and me, but there are loads of people who follow ridiculous money saving tips like this all the time. And that’s not even the funniest example I could’ve picked. I absolutely love reading money saving blogs, but as I’ve mentioned on the site before, some of them just take things too far. So here is 23 funny and ridiculous money saving tips. And if you follow any of them… well… we feel sorry for your friends and family.

I’m going to warn you right now – some of these are disgusting, and we definitely aren’t promoting them. Try at your own risk.

23 Ridiculous Money Saving Tips

• Stop paying people to come out to repair your home appliances/plumbing/car and do it yourself! – What could go wrong? I mean, they’ve only spent a good chunk of their life learning their craft, but watch a few Youtube videos and you’ll be an expert at fixing burst boilers right?

• Make lipstick out of crayons – And honestly, you will look and smell just fantastic. No one will know the difference

• Leave Tupperware at work to take any free company meals home with you – And everyone in your office will applaud you not eating your share and saving it for your food at home, don’t worry about getting any weird looks, they’re just jealous they didn’t think of this themselves.

• Get a gym membership so you never have to shower at home again – Now you’re saving money on your water bills at home and forcing yourself to go to the gym. I completely agree that when you go it makes sense to shower there, but if you’re getting a membership just with water bill costs in mind you’re doing something wrong…

• Find out the dates and times of local gallery events to get free food and drink – Absolutely none of the art-lovers there will judge you. They’ll probably think you’re a part of the exhibit, perched on the edge of the food table and taking in the views with a sausage roll in hand.

• Separate your toilet roll into it’s two separate parts to make it last twice as long  – I don’t even know where to start with this one, but I’ll try. 1. You only save £7 a year doing this. 2. How long are you wasting doing this to every loo roll? More than £7 worth I’m willing to bet. 3. How thin are those pieces? If you’re that desperate to cut back, surely just count each not yet separated square. 4. Where do you put all this bog roll now that you’ve done the separating? Do you spend the time wrapping it back around the centre-piece?

• Knit with animal fur instead of constantly buying new supplies – This is so popular there are BOOKS WRITTEN ON IT. Take a moment to let that sink in. If you were looking for funny money-saving advice, you found it. And once you see it, it can’t be unseen.

• If you want to buy a new fancy TV, get a payday loan – No. Just. No. Have you ever seen those interest rates on the adverts? They’re over 1000%! So please, don’t. Worst decision you’ll ever make (and how does this even save you money?).

• If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down – Ugh. I warned you about this list. I warned you, and then you read the knitting with cat hair point and STILL continued down to this. Some people don’t even flush anything for a week. Let’s just move on…

• Reuse plastic cutlery, and if you can, grab more of it from cafes – Firstly, no, please don’t take more cutlery than you need for something you’ve bought from a cafe. That’s essentially stealing. Secondly, just buy some actual cutlery. It’s not like it only lasts a few weeks, it can literally last for years, so what’s wrong with you?

• Use vouchers and discounts on dates – Your date is going to think you are just the absolute best when you stop the waiter and ask them about a discount voucher you’ve got in your pocket. No, but really, if you’re going out with someone you’ve known for quite a while that you can have a laugh with, they’ll probably appreciate this one. But if you’re going on a first date with someone you want to impress, this really isn’t the way to do it.

• Return all gifts you’re given, and find them cheaper online or in sales – Not only would this take a ton of time and effort, but you’d literally be making money from friends and family. How does that feel?

• Reuse paper towels – So basically; clean up any spills, hang out to dry, use again tomorrow. Do the people who do this know anything about hygiene?

• Live without toilet paper – I almost couldn’t bring myself to type this one, but here goes. One woman from a TV show in America has sworn off bog roll altogether, and instead uses soap, water and her hands. She saves around £3 a month; £3 I would happily spend on never having to do this myself.

• Stop using taps and collect your own drinking water – Work how much you’d be saving and how much time you’d be spending doing this, then tell me if it’s worth it or not. Unless you’re within walking distance of a running stream, you’re probably using petrol to get there too.

• Don’t buy mints for your dinner party, make them out of toothpaste – No, Carly, this is not a fab idea. This is a ridiculous money saving tip. And if you can’t afford to buy mints for your dinner party, don’t throw a dinner party in the first place, that’s the real money saving advice here.

• Eat other customer’s leftovers at restaurants – Luckily for everyone involved here, restaurant’s and cafe’s will usually kick you out if you try to do this. Because it’s disgusting, unhygienic, and a tad creepy…

• Sleep in the airport – Honestly, people are suggesting you shouldn’t book a hotel or hostel when you go away, you should just sleep in the airport. Don’t worry about privacy, security, hygiene or comfort, you don’t need them on your trips away! This one did make me chuckle a little, and is one of the more funny money saving tips I found.

• Fast one day a week – Think of the money you’d save if you only needed to buy food for 6 out of the 7 days a week! No seriously, this could be dangerous if you have certain health conditions, and it just sounds like a huge drag. Unless you have a good reason to do this that isn’t money related, your health should always come first no matter the cost.

• Wear clothes for at least a week before washing – Are you starting to get the image that all these extreme money-savers are sort of unhygienic? Yeah, me too…

• Use extra virgin olive oil to take off makeup instead of normal makeup remover – Ok, so, normally part of your makeup routine is foundation; used to cover up any facial imperfections. Then you literally smother your face in oil to take it off. And you don’t think that’s going to cause spots, clogged pores, etc?

• Use old crisp packets as wrapping paper for gifts – I kind of get that the design on some crisp packets would look alright as wrapping paper, but this just sounds like so much effort and a bit gross. You’d have to save a bunch of crisps (and if you didn’t eat them you’d be saving more money than just a wrapping paper fund) and wash them all thoroughly, then stick them all together. Too much effort for something other people will find pretty strange.

• Send E-Cards instead of physical holiday / birthday cards – This is great on the environment and your bank account, but it’s just not the done thing just yet and you’ll end up insulting family and friends. A better money saving option is to buy Christmas cards straight after Christmas when shops try to sell them cheap, and to buy all other greeting cards when they’re on sale.

That’s all 23, found from a variety of sites like Student Beans, Business Insider and Skint Dad. If you spot anything while you’re reading any money saving blogs then do let me know in the comments, or over on our Facebook or Twitter and I’ll add them to the list. Would you / have you ever tried any of these? 

SEE MORE: Find Out Some Of Our Surprising Money Saving Tips >>

Picture credits: tujirou @ Flickr
Crafting With Cat Hair by Kaori Tsutaya