20 weird ways to save money

The weirdest 1 is #6: Make more than what you spend.

http://aol1.bankrate.com/AOL/news/cheap/20031024a1.asp

use frequent shopper, otherwise known as loyalty cards, issued by retailers like grocers. It's a total scam, plus all of your purchases are tracked. All to help who?: the retailer. You can get the same values going to stores that don't have the card, though their numbers are dwindling. Boycott these things. Am interested in seeing what others think about having to show your papers before you can get the best price. Any thoughts?

Of COURSE they are a scam - EVERY CARD FROM EVERY STORE IS THE SAME. Like you said, they just want to keep track of you and the way to do it was force you to pay outrageous prices if you don't have the f***ing card. It's getting harder and harder to find stores that don't "track" you.

is www.nocards.org. A group called CASPIAN is devoted to telling the truth about this racket. What's scary is that people basically don't care that their purchases are being tracked, and that that information, despite what retailers say about it being kept confidential, can fall into the wrong hands. Saw a recent survey - the 2003 Survey of Manufacturer Promotional Practices, that found just 5 percent of respondents said they would only shop at retailers without loyalty cards so that their purchases aren't tracked. If they think they're saving money, they'd give up their first born I think.

that someone knows or concerns themselves as to whether I buy cat food and tampons?

If you don't value personal privacy, and don't object to being forced to pay a higher price if you don't agree to share, then I guess you shouldn't.

But applying that to my marketing habits is just plain absurd. I'm a young adult woman, people assume I use a fair amount of hygiene products. I have cats, someone must know that I feed them and change their litter.

There are no purchases I make at a supermarket that I'd be the least bit ashamed to detail in an open court.

From my perspective getting worked up because a marketer might know that the cats prefer fish-flavoured tins rather than the esoterically-named 'mixed grill' has nothing to do with privacy. In fact, if they want to tell other folks that I buy a lot of cat food, I don't mind that either.

I think it's helpful to the consumer ultimately, if people who have opinions and specific tastes DO use these cards. There's only so much space available in a supermarket and I'd just as soon they filled those shelves with products I actually want to buy.

I think what's worth getting worked up over is the larger issue - that our personal buying behaviors are being catalogued, regardless of whether they might ever be used against us in some way. Very simply, it's no one's business what I buy. A merchant can track what's sold and make purchasing and merchandising decisions without having a database full of purchasing history tied to a person's name, SSN, age, address, e-mail address, etc., information card applications routinely seek. I don't like being enticed enticed with bogus savings to give up any personal information to a merchant. It's a totally one-sided proposition - they get the benefits of precious information, the consumer gets nothing he can't get a non-card store. Bottom line, though, this is the way it's heading. Showing your papers with a loyalty card is the wave of the future.

but all of the loyalty cards I have, 3 in total, ask only for a name, and address and a phone number. They don't care if the name is bogus, I gave them my cats,' the phone number has been defunct for over a year and that was the last time I lived at the address in question.

And I still don't have a problem with buying decisions being catalogued. Not a small scale and not on a grand scale. It's demographics, -the only way to opt out is to become a hermit and deal only in cash and barter.

is to just not buy anything. That might be the ultimate solution. I hope it doesn't get to the point where we can't be anonymous consumers. In any event, peace.

my sister-in-law's phone number

I could give a crap what they do with the information. I am not that convienced itis all that valuable, private, or new.

I mean, they can stand at the checkout and count the men and women, ages and what they buy. Who cares? Do you wear a disguise when you shop>?

I am more concerned about cameras recording my every move everywhere.

If you can't grasp the ramnifications of this further down the road, I'm not wasting my time. If you're cool with strangers knowing how many tampons you go through every month, that's cool, but you're the first woman I've known who doesn't care...

pork roast on sale, or tri-tip on special, milk, the occasional lunchable for the kid, and household cleaning products.

In fact I like that perhaps MY choices, off the mainstream, might make them scratch their heads...

I think what I don't buy at the giant markets is more telling than what I do buy there.

I make a diligent effort to shop local retailers rather than the chain stores, especially LA's famous Farmer's Market, and the local daily farmer's markets here and there. But you can't get toilet paper and paper towels in those places... or Orange Cleaner, or the kind of window cleaner my housekeeper likes.

I don't buy anything shameful at the supermarket.

I'm aware that the information is useful to them, but I don't see how it's harmful to me. I guess if they said to themselves, "we move this product okay, but it's because one guy comes in once a month and buys it all, so we should stock something with wider appeal", I'd be pissed if I were that guy. That's the only drawback I can see.

#1 you dont have to put your name on it and number two, when they ask you ifyou have it, say no you left it at home, and they will scan a blank card for you

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

I've seen that before. I bit bizarre, but doable I guess.

to use the toilet? I would not recommend it. It's a long story. I'll just tell you the ending. The cat won and he now has a big, roomy litterbox with a hood.

I guess it's a leftover cheerful habit of my youth -- I FOUND A NICKEL! I FOUND A NICKEL!!

I haven't bought ketchup in years.

Taking the flowers from the cemetary is also asshole behavior IMHO.

There are legitimate ways to save money, published in the Tightwad Gazette and similar journals. You don't have to rip off other library patrons.

(I like #6 myself, but it's pretty hard.)

it is reusable.

Just saw it. It made the second one look good.

I'm tired now. I'll give a much fuller critique tomorrow.

Long life batteries don't last forever in your portable CD player, but don't throw them out. They've still got enough electricity stored in them to run a clock for a year.

I always feel guilty about throwing batteries out. The label says, "Dispose of Properly" but it never says what that means. I just toss 'em in the garbage.

probably takes them. I used to throw away dead batteries too, but they corrode and leak acid. Better to recycle.

because at my aunt's funeral (just before Mother's Day) some ghoul actually stole an arrangement practically right out from under the casket, BASTARD!:mad: :grr: :nuke: That was about 15 years ago and it still upsets me. ;( I wonder if the mother the arrangement was given to would have enjoyed flowers stolen from a dead woman's funeral!

It sounds like satire. The whole piece does to tell you the truth.

Stealing graveside flowers is tacky, tacky, tacky.