5. If you're big on streaming services but don't watch that much on any particular platform, consider just keeping each one for a few months at a time, watching everything you want to see, then switching over. While you might not get to see things right as they come out, this saves money and also allows you to take advantage of free trials.
"The number of streaming services out there means that many people are paying $100+ per month for multiple services, which is kind of wild. My wife and I had Netflix, Prime, Hulu, HBO, Apple, and Peaco*ck. However, we realized that we’d typically just watch one or two series, maybe a movie here and there, each month, and certainly weren’t using all six at once.So instead we canceled all of them (except Prime, since we use the delivery, like most people) and instead decided to keep each service for two to three months at a time.
"We’d watch everything we wanted to see, then cancel it and start on catching up on what was on the other services. Kind of a 'have your cake and eat it too' situation, since it’s saved us $80 a month but we haven’t felt like we’ve missed out on anything."
6. "The best gift advice I've ever received is to buy an expensive version of something that's normally cheap. A $20 shirt is just a shirt, but a $20 pen is a pretty solid pen."
"Take your budget, divide it by four, and find something in that price range. Then browser/BuyItForLifeand find a really nice version. Pick something the recipient wouldn't normally splurge on but would use every day. This works for any budget. Here are a few examples:
$2 glass bottle of co*ke or craft root beer
$10 chocolate bar
$15 flashlight
$15 water bottle
$20 notebook
$20 Prismacolor colored pencils
$20 outlet-powered battery brick
$20 pen or mechanical pencil
$50 leather belt."
20. Along those lines: "If you can/are able to, learn to sew. It doesn't need to be amazing techniques, it just needs to be enough to fix that hole in the ripped seam of your sleeve at the armpit instead of getting rid of it to buy a whole new shirt. YouTube and Google are your friends when it comes to looking up how-to videos, and buying a $1–$2 spool of thread and needles is much cheaper than buying a whole entire shirt."
"If you can't salvage the shirt, unseam and cut it into squares or rectangles to use as rags for dirty work like dusting, cobwebbing, and wiping dirt off surfaces, especially outdoors — things that can be cleaned dry without needing much absorption — instead of buying new dry rags. You can wash the shirt rags just the same. My dad's old stained shirts go in a pile in the garage, and he uses them either as dirt rags or as fabric to wipe off motor oil or grease when he works on the cars. Then he can dispose of them without wasting money on single-use towels."
—Dane Broflovski
28. And if you're looking for another way to bring your heating bill down, find a cheap way to insulate your windows.
"We just moved into a new place, and I couldn't even hold my hands outside the covers at night, I was so cold. It didn't matter what temperature we had the thermostat at, either, there was always a cold draft.
"So I bought a 10-window box of insulating window wrap and figured I'd just do a few rooms. My boyfriend was skeptical because...well, it's like plastic wrap. And looks tacky. Fair.
"But holy crap, the place is downright balmy now. We did every room. Turned the thermostat down to 65 for the night, and I actually got TOO WARM.
"When I'm cold at home, I have a hard time doing other stuff, like work, hobbies, whatever. I hope this helps someone cozy up their house this winter and lower their heating bills.
"This is what I bought; I think they're all probably pretty similar. Covered five standard double-hung windows with a little left over; I assume they're counting each pane as one."
33. And finally, "If you need food, go to a food pantry. Periodt."
"Too many people see questions about whether or not they 'should' go to a food pantry, and they internalize an impression of 'Food pantries are for people who arenot like mewho need food more than I do.' Well, that internalization can't be more incorrect. Community members are giving to this pantry or this soup kitchen in the hopes that YOUR life improves because of it.
"Food banks do not care how much money you make, what you drive, where you live, whether you're single, in a marriage, in a dorm, living with a roommate, or if you have 15 children. They don't care if you have nice pots and pans or if you are using tinfoil over a burner to heat up your food. They do not judge and theydo not care.
"You do not have to be in misery to qualify for a food bank or for your local soup kitchen. If getting food will help you pay your rent or your utility bill, go get food. If getting food means you can buy a birthday present for your kid or your dad that you would otherwise be unable to buy, go get food. If getting food means you eat three times a day instead of two, go get food. If getting food means you can actually put some money away in an emergency fund this month instead of skating by yet again without preparing for the future, go get food.
"And if you go get food and you still feel that it's something you don't deserve or that you're taking from someone else, then give back. Find a place to volunteer your time to ensure that someone or something else in your community gets a brighter future, even if it's just one day every few months. Use the resources that your community offers you to help provide you with some breathing room, and use that momentum for a better tomorrow."
