Your random money saving tips?

Fastmover said:
This will be a weird one. I was fixing the bathroom and I stopped using the immersion realise I saved €10 per week so I joined the gym and now I don’t use my immersion and I shower in the gym… It’s effectively free gym membership
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My gym is frequented by angry-looking, shaven-headed, heavily-muscled types covered in tattoos.

I’ll shower at home thanks. Hang the expense.
 
Saved my €5 in Dunnes Stores this morning on my groceries......then went across the road to a chemist and paid €75 for a prescription...

It's hard to keep on fighting....
 
TrundleAlong said:
Saved my €5 in Dunnes Stores this morning on my groceries......then went across the road to a chemist and paid €75 for a prescription...

It's hard to keep on fighting....
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There’s a separate thread on prescription costs. Prices can vary significantly between different pharmacies. It can also work out cheaper if you get several months prescription at a time.

Thanks to a recommendation from @Sue Ellen i now get my meds from Pure Pharmacy which is significantly cheaper than my previous pharmacy - I got three months meds for the price I previously paid for two months.
 
MrEarl said:
I assume there are unwritten perks for staff travelling on Ryanair flights, such as being treated like a human
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It's not a Ryanair staff jacket, but one with lots of huge pockets to put in clothes. Won't get you treated like a human though.
 

There was a couple in this neck of the woods known by the nickname "Beef or Salmon" cos they used go to the afters of funerals (and dress up and go to big weddings too) for the free feed. A daring way of saving money! Apparently eventually confronted by one of the bridal party at one of the gatecrashed weddings!

But for the purists that protest at the refreshing comical turn of this thread. As a marketing practitioner for a good number of years, the truth is we have all been seduced into a consumer culture by a whole variety of marketing tricks to prioritise our wants over our needs most of the time.

What does one really need to survive according to Maslow? Food, shelter, company and purpose. Everything else is superflous.

I'm often intrigued by what are deemed "essentials" as opposed to luxuries these days. Most notably mobile phones and media/entertainment subscriptions aren't essentials. Neither is your "eating out" or your "couple of pints a week". Neither are weekly beauty/cosmetic/grooming treatments. or big name fashion/branded clothing. (all which seem to be frequently deemed essentials to or openly flaunted by those alleged to be living on the poverty spectrum) There is also a huge amount of unnecessary single occupancy car journeys done in this country from commutes, and runs to the shop to collect a couple of items, which could have been accomplished by walking locally or postphoned until later, to drop offs and picks ups where one could just wait and read or listen to audio (radio,music.podcasts) or exercise/walk while waiting to pass the time.

Again, to go back to marketing, the large chain supermarkets have your consumerism fined tuned and analysed to an nth degree (possibly better than you know your own habits) but there are considerable savings to be made by using their loyalty schemes, buying own brand, shopping later in the evening when some perishable items are marked down (and buying lots of these and freezing them). While living in the US I remember the advise given was when shopping in an average US supermarket, stick to the four outer walls which contained the "essentials", fruit and veg, dairy, meat, bread, etc. All the isles contained the more expensive and tempting convenience foods and consumer items (Similar here if you think specifically with regard to the "German" chains). Also, as pointed out above by multiple posters, it is farcical that loyalty is likely to cost you more for services here so that regular (12 or 18 month) changing of phone, electricty, gas, cable, etc is the best way to get the best deals.

Finally the less over the counter banking you do, the lesser the bank charges, or if you want to go to the extreme, cease dealing with banks altogether and deal strictly in cash to avoid bank charges and interest (But you will probably encounter other financial penalities for dealing in cash!)
 
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Mayo1969 said:
There was a couple in this neck of the woods known by the nickname "Beef or Salmon" cos they used go to the afters of funerals (and dress up and go to big weddings too) for the free feed.
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Maybe it was because they had a face like a horse.
 
Mayo1969 said:
stick to the four outer walls which contained the "essentials", fruit and veg, dairy, meat, bread, etc.
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I tried this. But the wily so-and-sos were ahead of me and had the wines along one wall.

Mayo1969 said:
What does one really need to survive according to Maslow? Food, shelter, company and purpose. Everything else is superflous.
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I'm reasonable well sorted. But anyone know any good deals on shrouds?
 
If you have private medical insurance, check if you have any cover for routine dental, and you might be able to get some money back.
Make sure the receipt details that it was routine dental checkup \ cleaning \ polish etc.
If you have PRSI cover, your first checkup of year is usually covered by that, but for subsequent visits it can be worth putting a claim.

Similarly for spectacles or contacts, even non prescription sunglasses (as they are generally advised by opticians for UV protection), you might be able to claim something back on your insurance via Optical benefit.
 
Mayo1969 said:
What does one really need to survive according to Maslow? Food, shelter, company and purpose. Everything else is superflous
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I fairness to Maslow's reputation he didn't actually say that. Those were among his hierarchy of needs. He was not an ascetic.
 
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