I’m a person of convenience, usually. I try to do things in the most efficient and convenient way. I’m not always successful, but I can’t stand wasted time.

These few points are the reasoning behind why I do all the things that I do, even the ridiculous things. They make sense in my mind while I’m doing them, and then usually end in failure and/or regret. For instance:

• In January, I waited in a parking lot for an hour and a half between meetings instead of going home, just to save gas and time. The thing that made this unbelievably dumb is that I was only 7 minutes from home.

• I park three blocks away from school sometimes to save $3.50 on parking. I go to school in the ghetto. A girl went missing from my school in November.

• I put every last cent I spend on my credit card. Two reasons. 1) It’s easier to track 2) I get a 1% rebate on everything I spend. The thing that makes it ridiculous is that I will never carry cash because of this. Sometimes, stores have spending minimums on credit cards; if you don’t hit the minimum, they charge you a $.25 fee to use a credit card. I’ve wracked up a few of those (making the purpose of the card redundant) because I never carry cash.

• I’ve waited in a border lineup for almost an hour to save $10 on gas.

• I’ve tried to make pasta from scratch to save (on an already inexpensive food). I don’t have a pasta maker or a rolling pin, so it didn’t turn out well.

• I move into the ghetto, where we have crackheads for upstairs neighbours and my property manager, I’m pretty sure, is either: a) the crackhead’s daughter or b) an entirely unrelated but equally terrifying individual

• I once tried to cut my own hair. This might work for some people, but not me. I denied it to my hair stylist a few months later, but I don’t think she believed me.

• Instead of buying expensive cleaners, I use vinegar for everything. I used to mop my floor with it. It worked, but it always smelled horrible. I was too cheap to buy nice smelling oils. To be honest, this is less to save money and more to go green and because chemical cleaners are terrible for your health.

• One time, I spent half an hour doing a survey that only earned me $1. Then I did it again. I actually didn’t learn my lesson until the third or fourth survey, at which point my hand was so tired from clicking through questions that it practically cramped up.

• Instead of buying a new, cheap black T-shirt after an unfortunate incident with the bleach, I tried to color in the white splotches with permanent black marker. I failed and had to buy a new back t-shirt.

I have no doubt in my mind that I’ve done thousands of dumb things to both save and make more money in my short life. I doubt I’ve had much luck in actually saving, because most of these things ended up, or could have ended up, costing me more in the long run. 

So. Readers. What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve done to save money, or to make more money? This could be fun. 

Ridiculous Things I Do to Save or Make Money is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.