Best Money Saving Hacks, According To People Who Grew Up Poor

Apr 26, 2024

"I did it a lot in my city. After a few times, I learned you could also be super brazen about it if you were confident."

BuzzFeed Staff

—u/jospeh68

"I'm shocked to see how many of us have lived on rice + protein.

For me, it was rice with an egg on top, a little pepper, and salt. Sometimes a chopped piece of spam stirred in if things were going a little better.

I basically grew up on that stuff. My parents did their best but didn't have much."

—u/SikritAkkat

—u/mjsmore33

"You can also shave with conditioner."

—u/Skele_again

"Also, before you pay to have something repaired, watch YouTube and see if you can fix it yourself. Try to borrow the tools to do the job. Clean the tools before returning them in a timely manner, and it’s more likely they’ll lend them to you again." —u/FatesOnTheNod

—u/No_Finish_2144

—u/These_Bicycle_4314

—u/954ranger

"Even better, rather than topping up at the end where you have a tiny bit of soap in quite a bit of water, keep topping up with water periodically while you're using the soap. Keeps the soap-to-water ratio higher, and you can eek it out much further."

—u/reppers

—u/uxorial

"Oh man, I did this a lot in my city. After a few times, I learned you could also be super brazen about it if you were confident. I remember a staff member approaching me to ask what art I was interested in and I said, 'Oh, I'm just here for the free drinks and snacks.' then we both laughed at my hilarious 'joke,' and she carried on to pester someone else while I grabbed a bunch more canapes and some wine."

—u/MagicBez

—u/Typhus332

—u/K_Xanthe

"A layer of plastic sheeting that they sell to seal windows for cold insulation will also increase the ability to 'keep cold in.' Bad physics explanation but consider the reflective foil plus the extra insulation for maximum help. Even better, fewer windows although that sucks."

—u/delicioustreeblood

—u/Handball_fan

"Can confirm, even the more spendy thrift shops here are less than half the price for new. I can fill my closet with thrift store shirts for what it would cost me to buy three new shirts."

—u/Fredlyinthwe

—u/TheAireon

"This one came around for me big time.

Back when life was still good, I would occasionally give my neighbors a little pot of what I was cooking because I always ended up making too much. Then one day, a neighbor came over unannounced and saw that I was eating a bowl of plain rice for dinner, and immediately she could tell I was hitting on some hard times. I ran out of money because my business tanked during COVID, and losing my dad made me too depressed to get a job.

I was ashamed of people finding out how far I had fallen, but they did, and their reaction was not at all what I expected. Now they keep asking me every now and then how I'm doing, and I end up joining dinner sometimes. Life is slowly getting back on the rails again for me, thanks to my sweet neighbors having my back during tough times.

Point of the story: Be kind to others and you shall receive kindness in multitude when it matters. Caring is an investment."

—u/SikritAkkat

—u/AgreeableTree1943

—u/548r1n4

—u/National-Use-4774

—u/jackfaire

"We got lucky one time, bought a can of tuna, it didn't ring up at all, we were like, 'There wasn't a price on the shelf, but the other types were this price', and the cashier was just like, 'You know what, if they can't be bothered to make sure this stuff rings up at a price and put a price up I'm not gonna be bothered to call a manager to deal with it, you can just have it.'"

—u/OneGoodRib

—u/Mister_Moho

—u/Enoch-Empire

"You’ll need: Your preferred pasta (I go with penne). Tomato paste. 1-2 cloves garlic. Salt and pepper. Dry and/or fresh herbs (optional).

KEY: Add more water than usual to boil pasta. Salt the water, do not add oil — it does nothing to help cook pasta. As long as you occasionally stir the pasta and have enough room in the pot, the pasta won’t stick together

A few minutes after adding pasta to boiling water, in a separate pot or pan, add a little olive oil and/or butter and fry diced garlic over medium-high heat for just a minute or two (garlic burns quickly so be ready!!). Then add tomato paste (a small 6 oz. can per 1lb pasta should do). Then add maybe 2-2.5 cups (a few ladles full) of the pasta water to the garlic and paste. Stir until the paste is incorporated. Add a little salt and pepper (and garlic powder, thyme, oregano, and basil if you have them).

If the sauce is too liquidy after adding water, blast heat to reduce. If you grow your own basil, some fresh basil at the end will make that rusty fork feel like a silver spoon.

I usually drain the pasta (2-3 minutes before the recommended cooking time) and then add the pasta to the sauce and let it cook together for a minute or so

This works out to be less than $3 total to feed 3-4 adults."

—u/vongolezio

"I just made this. I didn't have fresh garlic (used garlic powder instead), and I would make this again! Better than some of the fancy stuff in a jar, IMO. Thanks!"

—u/readitlateracct