How much is avoiding dental pain worth to you?

The cost of dental work can be quite high for many people. For those who do not have insurance, it can be outrageously costly. Even if you do have insurance, dental care can be expensive anyway.

Regardless, it’s something that’s important and we need to take care of our teeth for many reasons. Dental health has been shown to impact our overall health in numerous ways.

With that in mind, I’m facing a dental procedure that needs to get done. I need to get a wisdom tooth removed, which is not something anyone would look forward to. However, it has to happen, so I might as well get the time scheduled and get it over with. The only thing I thought I had to decide was when to make the actual appointment, but I found out that I have a new decision to make: how much to spend on pain relief for wisdom tooth removal!

Frankly, I haven’t really considered this type of decision before. Usually I’ll just deal with the medical care that I have to get, and will put my health above money – within reason of course. If things are truly optional, that’s obviously different. But if I absolutely need medical care or medicine, I’ve just gone ahead with it in the past. What’s the point of saving money if it impacts your health?

As I noted, this procedure must be done, so of course I won’t try to save by avoiding it. However, there are different prices for pain relief for this dental procedure. After getting an initial consultation, the office got back to me with the following 3 options for removing the wisdom tooth.

Local Injection

This apparently involves a shot (or shots) to the mouth and areas near the tooth. The idea would be to numb the area so I don’t feel as much pain as the tooth gets extracted.

Pain Relief: 3rd best out of the 3 options

Cost: $76 – least expensive of the 3 options

Gas (Nitrous Oxide)

This option, from what I understand, is intended to relieve your anxiety so that you really aren’t too bothered during the procedure. Thus, you may not notice the pain quite as much while the tooth is being extracted.

Pain Relief: 2nd best out of the 3 options

Cost: $115 – 2nd most expensive of the 3 options

IV Sedation

In this case, you are actually sedated. You’ll be out of it, and won’t be noticing what’s going on. Essentially, its like you’re asleep.

Pain Relief: best out of the 3 options

Cost: $338 – most expensive out of the 3 options

With all this information provided to me, the first thought that came to mind was this: “give me a shot, get that sucker out of there, and let me save some money!”  Then, I paused and thought about it for a moment.  Do I really want to do that?

The difference between a local injection and the gas is $39. That’s not much, all things considered, for something like this. So, I’m eliminating local injection as an option. The difference between gas and IV sedation, however, is $223.  That’s a little bit more noteworthy. I’m probably going to go with either nitrous oxide, or IV sedation for this treatment.

The decision: is $223 worth spending for a little more pain relief?

It’s money vs. pain? I wonder how many people even think of money in a case like this? I’m guessing there are people on both sides of the spectrum. Some might want pain relief no matter what, and there might be some tough characters that will save a buck at any cost. The things people will do to save money!

This also serves as a reminder of how important it is to have insurance and some financial resources. Some folks have no options.

But for those that do, I wonder how many would tough it out and go with the cheapest options. For some, losing money can be quite painful!

My Questions for You:

Which choice of the 3 would you go for?

Do you think of money in cases like this, or do you just want comfort at any reasonable price?

Have you ever faced a decision on any health care decision that was impacted by cost?

Financial Diet: Spending Until 80% Full

Fitness has been one of my goals for this year (as it probably is for many people, in a lot of years), but this time I’ve put forth more effort into it. Aside from the most important part – taking action – I’ve done a little more reading on ways to improve health.

Of course, as I say here periodically, health and money are interrelated. Improve one, and you can help the other.  Now in this case, I thought I’d actually do something a bit different. Here,  I thought of applying a health-related principle to money. That concept: Hara Hachi Bu.

From what I’ve learned, Hara Hachi Bu is an Okinawan approach to regulating eating. The idea is that one should eat until reaching the point of being 80% full. The result? People eat less, don’t gain unnecessary weight, and have better health. It’s been said that Okinawa has an exceptionally high percentage of centenarians compared to the rest of the world. Eating fewer calories, when paired with an active lifestyle, might really help longevity and the ability to live a healthy life to 100.

It got me thinking – why not apply the 80% concept to our spending?

If calorie restriction and eating until 80% full might play a role in longevity, maybe spending 80% of what we think we need can play a role in longevity of our savings as well. If we spend less, we can increase our income minus expense gap. This increased savings, with time, proper investing, and the power of compounding, can result in a substantially increased net worth and financial security. This extended life of our savings can help us live a higher quality of life for a longer period of time.

Now, I don’t think this is just a matter of taking a high level of spending and bringing it down by 20%. Rather, I’m talking about taking what would be a reasonable budget made by financially responsible people, and living on 80% of it.

This could entail spending (and living on) less as follows:

• Housing – moving to a less expensive area or living in a smaller home
• Cars – driving an older used car, or for a family getting rid of a second car
• Food – cutting out dining outside, and going the extra mile to make frugal dining choices

It’s almost like thinking about what you need to live comfortably, and then spending at 80% of that level. Maybe we can get used to that, just like the body gets used to living on less calories when stopping at 80% full.

Update: Just so everyone knows what I mean by 80%, I’m referring to 80% of current expenses. I’m not referring to spending 80% of income and saving 20%. Rather, I mean take whatever your expense level is and multiply it by 0.8. For example, if a family earns $100,000 and spends $80,000, they’re saving $20,000. By applying this Hara Hachi Bu concept, the family would take the $80,000 expenses, multiply by 80%, and spend the resulting amount instead: $64,000. In this case, savings as a percentage of incomes goes up from 20% to 36%!

My Questions for You

What do you think of the idea of living on 80% of an otherwise reasonable expense level?

Do you think that doing this could extend the life of your savings and substantially grow your net worth?

Much like the Hara Hachi Bu rule, do you think that this approach is one that would require a higher level of discipline than many of us are accustomed to?

This little financial mess kind of seems like it could have been preventable – college students taking advantage of unlimited food. No pun intended, but it’s almost like a recipe for disaster!

I recently heard about this story where college kids at a school in Vermont were taking advantage of an all-you-can-eat dining hall plan. It seems as though there was no extra money paid for additional servings of food. Now, how one defines the term ’taking advantage’ can be open to interpretation.

One might look at it innocently, meaning that college kids might just eat way more than they should. This can certainly happen, and I’ve seen it happen to some degree. Once, to ridiculous extremes.

Money Conscious Friend From College

Way back when I was in college (undergrad), I lived in a dorm during my freshman year, before venturing out into apartment and fraternity land.  In the dorm, we could get 3 meals a day – breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We could go through the line once, which meant just one of each hot entree, side, etc.  Once we had the meal card swiped, we walked into the cafeteria to get drinks and some other very basic side items. These ranged from cold cereal and junk bagels in the morning, to plain bread at lunch and dinner. These additional items were unlimited. This wouldn’t pose a problem for people, since those were low-cost to the school and not too interesting to the students.

Well, I had a friend in the dorm who viewed this ‘unlimited’ option with bagels, cereal, etc as being a free for all. He simply wanted to get the most of his money, as he was paying for college himself through a lot of hard work and prior summer jobs.  What he did, in the morning, was drink several glasses of whole milk, eat a couple of bagels, a couple of bowls of cereal, etc.  Again, all about getting the biggest return on his prepaid food investment. And keep in mind, these weren’t the real 1 per person ’entrees’ that were provided in the main line.

What was the result of his gluttony? After one month, he gained almost 20 pounds. All because he wanted to get the most out of his money.

Most people weren’t motivated by all you can eat of the afterthought food, but this guy was.  What was funny was the story he told about driving back home after that month to see his high school girlfriend who was then a Senior.  He said that she opened the door, and her big smile quickly disappeared as she looked him up and down. Her first words: “You’ve changed.”.

Oops!

The Vermont Free for All Story

What’s interesting about this recent story in the news is that the university in Vermont apparently offered all you can eat, unlimited food – period.  It’s all you can eat, and kids can even go back to get special to go meals later in the day after gorging on the unlimited meal in the dining hall.  If they stuff themselves with 2,000 calories a meal, so be it. It’s all included in the unlimited plan, apparently!

Well, it seems as though students took advantage of this in a big way. To the extent of carrying food out of the dining hall.  Yes, even bringing in tupperware containers to take food out and back with them to their rooms. Even things like salt and pepper shakers were missing.

Running out of food apparently wasn’t a part of the plan for the dining hall though.

Oops, again.

So, what was a next step: banning backpacks from cafeterias! Apparently, they had to resort to doing this to try to stop the kids from maximizing return on investment through this arbitrage opportunity.

It’s No Surprise, Right?

The problem, as it seems, is that students seemed take advantage of the unlimited food. It’s that something for nothing urge once again! Or, maybe better put, it’s the idea of getting maximum return on investment.

The thing is, it seems like wouldn’t be a surprise that eventually, college kids would find a way to take advantage of a situation like that.  If you offer somebody a potential ‘abitrage opportunity’, they just might take advantage of it.

What would I have done? Well, I might have been tempted to take some food out the cafeteria too, if it was truly unlimited like at the school in Vermont. I mean, when we’re talking about college students with very little money, it just happens. Right or not, some squirreling gone wild would happen!

As an adult, I’ve learned that just because you pay for unlimited quantities of something, it’s possible to go way overboard in taking advantage of the situation. Take what you need without causing long-term damage

My Questions for You

Do you think this is an obvious recipe for disaster, giving college students an all you can eat plan like that?

What would you have done in that environment? Would you have snuck some extra food out of there?

Have you ever gone overboard in an all-you can eat environment, simply because you had a chance to make the most of your money spent?

Pets can be expensive, no question about it.  When budgeting for household expenses, it’s often necessary to include a fair amount allocated for pet needs.  While many people naturally accept and factor pets into the budget, some others resist and even resent the amount they can cost.

The annoyance at pet expenses makes you wonder why some of those people bought a pet in the first place, but hey, to each their own, right?  Well, a recent story I saw on vet costs reminded me of a discussuion I had with guy I worked with some years ago. He was irritated about how much money he had to spend on pets for his family. Yeah, I know…on the surface he sounds like a reach charmer of a guy:) I almost can’t believe I forgot about this, so I’ve got to share it here as the 29th edition of Squirreling Gone Wild.

Backstory

As a backdrop, the guy was a cost-conscious co-worker.  I was younger, so I didn’t quite get his hangups then, but I totally understand now how he’d be watching expenses as he had a family.  That part I get, and think was perfectly reasonable.

Anyway, at lunch one day – with a group of us – he was complaining about the costs of taking his dog to the vet, and how these bills really added up. He didn’t want the dog at all in the first place, since he felt that they’re expensive and he would have rather saved the money instead since he had a family to care for. Again, I totally get that. I know some hard-core dog lovers might not, but I do understand.

Now, I have never owned a dog. With allergies in the family, we didn’t buy a dog when I was growing up – and I haven’t purchased on since. So, I was just curious how expensive the dog really was for him. He continued on about vet costs, but also talked about how the dog added wear and tear to their home, consumed a lot of expensive dog food, and so on. Fair enough, I got the picture. Even though it was a small and older dog (don’t remember what breed), it was costly. He also made it sound like he was pretty much made to buy the pet by his wife. The words I still remember his saying were “That damn dog”.

Bottom line: he couldn’t stop thinking about how much money that dog was costing him.

The Scheme

He then proceeded to talk about how his kids wanted to buy a parakeet. As he mentioned that, I recall an eye roll. Obviously, he had enough of spending money on pets.

Then, he smirked as he told us what he would do if he was forced to buy this pet as well: buy an old bird.

His reasoning was that if he got an older parakeet, it would die sooner and he would have to spend less money on it over it’s lifetime. A baby parakeet would mean a longer life, more seed, upkeep, etc. I don’t know if he realized that parakeets aren’t exactly a big source of vet bills!

Anyway, we were all chuckling and shaking our heads, saying things to the effect of “Come on, man!”

Now, when I was a young child, we did have a couple of parakeets as pets at home, so I remembered how to tell an younger bird from an older one. The way I was told is to look at the forehead of the bird, and see if it has bars (lines). If it has bars, it’s a younger bird that’s just a few months old. If it has no bars, and has a solid color, it’s a more mature bird. Maybe not old, but at probably older than a 3 months old.

With that knowledge, I actually shared that information with him and the group. At first, I could tell his reaction was mild amusement as he looked at me: “This guy had a parakeet when he was a kid. Who knew?”

Then, I could see the lightbulb turn on. His eyes got bigger, and he pointed at me saying “That’s it!. If I have to get a bird, I’ll get one with no lines on it’s head, so at least there’s a chance that it’s old!” He laughed as he said it.

Get the picture? He was talking about buying the kids an old pet that would die soon so that he wouldn’t have to spend too much on it for too long.

To be fair, I have no idea if he actually bought an old bird or bought any bird at all. I never heard about the topic again, and never asked. Maybe it was all hot air.

But it was a crazy and shameful idea on how save money!

Note: I’m sure you realize this, but I don’t condone intentionally tricking family members or that guy’s plan. Just in case you’re new here:)

My Questions for You:

Have you ever let the cost of a pet deter you or influence your purchasing decision?

If you do have pets, how much do they cost you?

Do you ever use any customer loyalty cards, at restaurants or other businesses?

I’m usually not too involved with such cards, but I do keep a few around. When I visit a place, and see one, I’ll pick it up as long as I think there’s an opportunity to go back again.

Recently, I found what an old friend of mine liked to call an “arbitrage opportunity”.  This story will be the 27th edition of the Squirreling Gone Wild series.

Background

I found a place in the area which offered a customer loyalty card that awarded a free sandwich after 7 purchases.  The place itself offered a quality, quick lunch,  and was close enough to where I’ve been working.  So, since I figured I’d go there again, I took the loyalty card that was offered to me.

As I took it, I was a bit preoccupied, so I didn’t really pay attention to what the guy behind the counter was saying about getting me “started” with stamp on the card.  Later, when I looked at the card, I realized what he meant was that he was giving me a card with a stamp on it already and he followed up by adding a stamp for my purchase. So, that was 2 stamps for one visit, on the first visit.  Nice. But, I didn’t think much about it after that.

The next visit, I was in line as he made that same offer to the customer ahead of me. I barely noticed, and wasn’t preoccupied with this loyalty card, but just remembered that I had the same experience. So, I remembered to pull out the loyalty card when I ordered.

First, he asked if I would like a loyalty card, and I said no thanks – I already had one. So, after I paid, he stamped the card.

The Discovery

As I was eating my sandwich, the thought entered my mind: had I not said anything, I would’ve gotten a new pre-stamped card plus another stamp for the purchase. That would have been 2 stamps for this transaction as well. Instead, I spoke up and said I already had a card, and got only one stamp out of this transaction.

For those of you keeping score at home, that’s 2 visits and 3 stamps thus far.

After I figured this out, I made a few more visits. The next time, I walked in and made sure I stood in line with the same guy there. Fortunately, he was working. Not sure if he even recognized me, but he again asked me if I wanted a loyalty card.

This time, I said “Yes”.  I repeated that same thing the next time I was in as well.  He never asked me I had a card, just if I wanted a loyalty card.

The Result

At this point, after those four visits, I was ready to try out my plan.  I walked in, and didn’t see that same guy there. No worries, let’s give this a try.

So, I ordered my lunch, and wasn’t even asked about the lunch card. No big deal, as I didn’t care. Rather, I pulled out the 3 cards that I had collected. Remember:

• Card #1 = 3 stamps from Visits 1 and 2.
• Card #2 = 2 stamps from Visit 3
• Card #3 = 2 stamps from visit 4

Total stamps: 7.  This is what was needed for a free lunch. Unfortunately, the stamps were on different cards.

Never mind that. I asked the lady if I could combine the 3 separate cards since there were 7 stamps in total.

She paused, thought about it, and said “yeah, sure”. And just like that, my sandwich was free!

The Benefit

Normally, 7 visits equaled 7 stamps. That’s what it should have taken to get the free sandwich.

With the stamp-happy guy, it would have been 6 visits for the 7 stamps. 2 stamps the first visit, one for each subsequent visit.

With the plan I hatched, it turned out to be 4 visits for 7 stamps.

Net result: 2 fewer visits for a sandwich. All due to some creative thinking.

OK, OK.  This isn’t a big accomplishment. In fact, I probably didn’t act my age in this one instance, and was perhaps scheming like a broke college kid here:) I know that.  Maybe it’s even along the lines of the guy I know who used delight in saving pennies at the gas station. 

It’s all good though, and in fun. The bottom line is, it’s just the thrill of using your brain to creatively think of ways to save, while simply asking for the discount.  It’s fun! Again, it never hurts to ask. 

My Questions for You:

Do you ever think of creative ways to save, such as the plan above.

Do you ever get a thrill out of small savings opportunities, even if minor such as this example?

If you’re reading a personal finance blog, you just might be someone who really likes getting value for money spent.  Perhaps this also includes buying things and using them for a long time, getting as much out them as possible without spending money on replacements.

Maybe, just maybe, you take particular pride in something specific you’ve bought for a deal and ended up getting a ton of use from it.  I’ll go ahead and call such things “Frugal Trophies”.

I thought of the concept of a frugal trophy when discussing some furniture I own and use. This furniture is actually a dining table set I bought brand new 17 years ago, before moving into an apartment for the 1st time.  The table set contains a table and 4 chairs. At the time, it was in style, and actually quite comfortable – and a pretty good deal as well! These days…well, it’s probably way, way out of style.  It’s a white/gray table, with chairs that are cushioned and have a back rest that is flexible and leans back. They’re comfortable to me, though I’m not sure they’d be too visually appealing to many others:)

Here’s a picture of one of the chairs:

This chair is so outdated, but what a deal it was!

It just hit me this weekend that this table set is not in tune with 2011, much less 2001. When I bought in the mid 1990′s, it was probably a little bit 80′s in style despite being brand new.

Something tells me that many folks couldn’t deal with having such set as a dining table. Frankly, I’d like us to get something new, and have considered spending on things at different points in the last 5 years.

However, this is a frugal trophy! It’s almost a point of pride, knowing that I’ve dealt with this table set for many years without succumbing to a new one.  There’s a history here, and the table and chairs have been there for different stages of my life.  At this point, I want to keep it all!

Don’t get me wrong, I do spend on things I want to spend on. Plus, I realize that sometimes we go through frugal fatigue. Experiences, travel, most importantly kids are areas where I’m likely to splurge a lot. But for many other things, I’m not too keen on spending if I don’t have to. Big surprise there:)

Anyway, I’ve had this thing for so long. It was a good buy then, and it’s cool to know that the investment from way back in the day is still providing value!

Yep…it’s a frugal trophy.

If I think about it enough, there are a few other things that have probably reached that status:) The one that comes to mind is the car I drove to over $220,000 miles. Yeah, I did get rid of it though. But that table….it’s still here!

My Question for You:

Do you own anything that you’ve kept for a long time and gotten way more than your money’s worth? In other words, do you have any frugal trophies?

When someone comes over to your home for dinner, don’t you want to treat them with hospitality? Conversely, when you visit someone else’s home – don’t you want to treat them with generosity by bringing something along with you?

For most of us, I’m guessing the answer is yes on both counts.

For some, the idea of social graces is simply a foreign concept. Perhaps we can write such people off as not having life experiences that provided them with good examples. Personally, I know very few people close to me that fit this description, which is fine by me. Maybe I’m fortunate that way.

For a select, small group of others, graciousness is not a foreign concept – yet they deliberately try to take the cheap, sneaky approach in pretending to be gracious. This 24th edition of Squirreling Gone Wild dives further into the depths of The Extractor and her family, who were introduced in the Squirreling Gone Wild #18 story.

As a brief review, recall that The Extractor was good at trying to get free stuff from companies, and her husband was skilled at avoiding sharing the bill at restaurants. I eventually concluded that crafting these tactics was practically like a form of art to them.  They are true outliers, unlike anyone else I have known when it comes to squeezing free stuff out of people. On the one hand it’s comical, yet ultimately it’s distasteful when they pull stunts on you!

Now, there are some times in life when you have to offer up some food or gifts to people, and that’s where the cheapness came out in a different way for them. Despite the otherwise innocuous behaviors they had, their cheapness would shine through in situations where people visited their home, or when they visited yours.

Cheap Hosts

One example of their cheapness was when we visited their house once. After sitting down, they politely asked if we wanted anything to drink. In this regard, they followed norms of behavior. It’s when food was involved, they apparently get freaky.  This visit was the classic case, as after getting my drink (I just asked for water), The Extractor asked me if I wanted something to eat. I politely refused (I was hungry though), at which point she played the game by responding with an offer of a snack.

Now, the snack you might expect at someone’s house might be mixed nuts, chips, pretzels, or something of the like. You get the idea. Instead, she offered me an ice cream cone.  Wow, I thought, that sounds pretty good!

Excited like a kid, I responded: “Sure, whatever flavor you have sounds great!”

She paused and said, “Oh, I don’t have ice cream – I have cones”

“You mean actual cones without the ice cream?” I said.

“Yes” she responded.

Now, these people weren’t hurting for money. Not wealthy, but middle class. I try not to be overly picky, but this seemed odd. I was beginning to question why I interacted with them in the first place. In statistical terms, they would be several standard deviations from the norm.

It was made clear soon after, by her husband, why they offered plain ice cream cones. The guy told me that they got the cones from a friend of theirs who owned an ice cream shop, and was getting rid of excess cones.  I took that as meaning old, stale cones, but it doesn’t really matter. They were hoping to serve me, a guest, sugar cones without the ice cream – because they got them free. They were basically trash to the original business owner.

I guess the mixed nuts or chips were too highbrow for me in their eyes

What was interesting was the way The Extractor’s face froze a bit, as she briefly shut her eyes, when her husband freely shared the source of the cones. It was one of those looks that screamed “I can’t believe he said that!” This, of course, confirmed to me that she knew she was super cheap.

You know, I do try to be thankful for whatever food I have. Many parts of the world would love to have any food that provides sustenance.  Additionally, part of being a polite guest is not being a burden on the host. I don’t want people to do anything special for me, there’s no need to at all. I’m just plain ole me. But in the context of the abundance these people (and many others) have, this was an uber-cheapo maneuver.

Cheap Guests

These people also proved to be cheap guests when the opportunity presented itself. The one example I have here is when they and their youngest daughter visited our place. The daughter is an adult, so I view her as an independent person, but she’s still in the same family. Thus, she’s influenced by Mr. and Mrs. Extractor, and has probably received graduate-level instruction in extracting pennies.

So, there was a gathering at my home, and was asked if the daughter could come over too. Keep in mind, this was before I figured out what these characters were like. Naturally, not thinking anything unusual about it, I said sure she’s welcome. Why not, right?

Anyway, the cheapskates didn’t bring anything with them, which I noticed but didn’t really care about. The daughter arrived late, and brought a bottle of wine in a wine gift bag. The thing is, the bag looked like it had been used before. No big deal, right? I wouldn’t give a shoddy looking bag, but as you probably know, I can appreciate some frugal choices so that was no big deal to me.

Ultimately, after the gathering was over, the daughter took a very large amount of food home with her.  She really cleaned up. Later, when they were all gone, I took a look at the bottle she brought:  it was a Charles Shaw varietal, of Trader Joe’s fame. “Three Buck Chuck”.  

Then, it occurred to me that she came over, pigged out, AND took home a staggering amount of leftover food – all the while bringing a very cheap bottle of wine.

The best part was what I noticed upon an even closer look:

1. The bottle had a short personal note on it addressed to her. Apparently, she had been given this ‘exquisite’ bottle as a gift by someone else. She didn’t bother to care that the bottle she gave us had that note still on it. It was a blatantly regifted bottle of cheap wine.
2. The used wine bottle bag I mentioned earlier had a gift tag hanging from it, where she (Extractor’s daughter) had written on it words to the effect of:  “Uncle XYZ, Congratulations on…..”  Thus, from what I can tell, she gave some wine to an “Uncle”, and then got the bag back from him – only to reuse it in a ‘gift’ to me.

Maybe I’m a little off base on my interpretation of these two situations. I’m open to that concept. However, it was all very odd. I chuckled about it, not quite knowing who I was dealing with just yet. I found out later, as detailed in SGW#18, with the tricks they later revealed. This was just a precursor

My Question for You:

Have you ever dealt with anybody that has been a super cheap host, or ultra penny pinching guest?

You can usually get a small discount at the drive-thru. No coupons needed, and nothing needs to be on sale. The discount usually doesn’t apply if you make a purchase inside the restaurant.

How can you get this modest discount?

Well, one of the earlier episodes of the Squirreling Gone Wild series focuses on the extreme frugality of a friend of mine from back in the old days. In this 22nd edition of the series, I share my own dive into the abyss – which was really for fun anyway.

So, in my quest to drop my previously excessive (in my opinion) caffeine habit, I decided to drop the usual suspects in my previous choices: soda and coffee.  To make that transition easier, I switched to one decaf coffee every few days in the month of January.  The strategy worked very well, as I’ll share in a future post. Anyway, I purchased the decaf coffee by making my way to the drive-thru.

The first time I did this, I ordered the coffee at the speaker, and was told the cost would be $1.07. As I pulled up to the window to pay, I noticed something bright and shiny on the ground. Looking closely, it appeared to be a coin!

While I had previously derided such behavior, when presented with the opportunity to pick up a coin, my instincts took over. The car door opened, I reached down to look at the coin, and saw that it was a dime.

Sweet!

I paid the $1.07, kept my shiny new dime, and drove off with my decaf coffee. It occurred to me that effectively, that was a nice little discount!

So, with that in my mind, I searched for change on the ground with purpose on my next trips. As I found change, I thought it would be fun to keep track of how much was picked up on each trip.

There have been 9 drive-thru decaf coffee purchases  in 2010.  Here are the results:

• Visit 1: $1.07 spent, $0.10 found
• Visit 2: $1.11 spent, $0.03 found
• Visit 3: $1.07 spent, $0.01 found
• Visit 4: $1.11 spent, $0.13 found
• Visit 5: $1.07 spent, $0.02 found
• Visit 6: $1.07 spent, $0.05 found
• Visit 7: $1.07 spent, $0.20 found
• Visit 8: $1.11 spent, $0.00 found
• Visit 9: $1.07 spent, $0.12 found

All told, the nine visits for coffee totaled $9.75 in expenses. The total money found totaled $0.66.  That’s a 6.8% discount.

Does this seem like a total cheapskate maneuver? Ok, I agree that it is. I became a real Squirreler here in 2011.

Maybe I enjoy these “arbitrage opportunities” (as a friend once called these) a bit too much. Why did I get a kick out of this gambit? I felt like Costanza on the Seinfeld series, with a scheme like this.

Doesn’t matter, it was all in fun. I felt like the ultimate cheapskate when I tried to pick up coin that was stuck to the ground in front of the drive-thru window on one of those visits. I looked up and saw a disapproving look by the lady taking the money at the window. Felt like I was being scolded by that look at hers.

“What a cheapskate!”, her eyes seemed to say, as I looked back up. I sheepishly handed over my $1.07, got my coffee, and drove off feeling busted.

I actually saw the same coin on a future visit, and opened the car door to grab it a second time, I’m almost ashamed to say. It was stuck to the ground. I wonder if it was there as a joke, like a coin that people glue to the ground so they can laugh at the misers that try to pick it up.

Before you wonder what I would do with that $0.66, here you go: I gave it away. Well, actually I gave away more, as  I walked back in the restaurant and dropped a $1.00 bill in a charity donation box. All the change was picked up at the restaurant’s drive-thru, so I thought I might as well throw the something in the box. Every little bit counts, right – even if donated?

Moral of the story:

It’s not that we should all rush to the drive-thru hunting for coins. Rather, it’s that it goes to show that literally and figuratively, sometimes there really is money just laying around, right there under your feet:)

What is the wackiest thing you have done to either save a few coins, or pick up loose change?

Love it or hate it, Costco has become a phenomenon in many ways. A big warehouse filled with produce, dry goods, and frozen food. And that’s just the beginning. You can get books, clothes, computers…and even glasses when you visit these stores.

I just yesterday visited a local Costco on it’s very first day in business, basically it’s grand opening to the public. Now, it wasn’t my first trip to a Costco; I had visited several other stores multiple times. In fact, I was once a member. This time, I visited the new store with my father.

This particular experience was especially interesting, due to the opening of a new Costco location. The place was absolutely packed. There were shopping cart traffic jams everywhere, as people tried to make their way through the store. Picking up bits of conversation along the way, it was clear that there were some first-time Costco shoppers there.

Along the way, I had two major observations:

1) Many people go absolutely hog wild over the samples.

While of course most people were civil and normal, there were some people who were swarming over the sample tables like hungry wild animals going after raw meat. I don’t know if these people were new to Costco, or were there partially (primarily?) for the samples, but they went nuts. I saw a few adults walking briskly, almost at a jog, to get to the next booth of goodies.

There were tables with chips and salsa, cookies, bread and olive oil, pizza, meatballs, chicken, Korean beef and rice, prosciutto, coffee, cranberry juice….you get the idea. Lots of stuff.

One woman and her daughter rushed over to a booth where they were handing out shrimp, only to be told that they were out. The mother’s reaction was: “You’re OUT! Awwww….!” It reminded me of seeing a little kid get disappointed that she couldn’t find a toy at a store.

I was at another station where they were cooking chicken, in preparation for putting sample pieces in these little paper cups with a plastic spoon. I stopped there too, and paused to look at the others waiting. There were probably 8 to 10 people there, all staring at the lady prepping the food. Their eyes seemed glazed over as they just waited for the food to be ready. They looked like zombies. I quickly realized that I was one of them if I stuck around, so I grabbed my cart and moved elsewhere.

Getting free stuff really brings out interesting behavior in people. Those of you who are regular readers probably know that I get a kick out of such observations, as seen in the Squirreling Gone Wild series.

2) Impulse purchase opportunities abound

There are so many things that one sees at Costco that you just won’t expect. Whether it’s “specialty” products (such as seasoned quinoa/rice packs), or regular products (such as tortilla chips) at low prices, it’s easy to get carried away when you go to the warehouse.

I once couple carrying 5 or 6 giant bags of the aforementioned tortilla chips. It made me wonder: just how many chips are they going to eat? Maybe it was for family that would be visiting over the holidays. Who knows?

Anyway, I think shoppers at Costco need to be careful with such purchases. It’s easy to get carried away and buy more than you really need, just because the per-unit cost is low. This can actually be costly, if perishable food is purchased. For example, I saw an absolutely enormous tub of yogurt for sale. Unless one has a large family, or eats mind-boggling amounts of yogurt, some of that is at risk for spoiling.

So, how did we do at Costco?

Well, the good news is that we walked out of there with just a few purchases. Bought a big tray blackberries, a 12-pack of single-serve Greek-style yogurt, and a small toy for my daughter. And that’s it. Impulse purchases were successfully controlled, except for that toy for her. Really, I just wanted to check out the new store, and I came out of there unscathed.

As far as the samples go….well, let’s just say that I walked in a little bit hungry, and I walked out with no hunger at all:) Yes, I had good intentions of not having any food there, but gave in to a cup of salted, mixed nuts. Then some pasta (good, though I have seen a better spaghetti sauce recipe). Then a sample of pizza.  Then….well, you get the idea. There was a little bit of ”Squirreling” going on. I almost became one of those people - but hey, I was civil and polite about it.

In other words, I wasn’t like the ravenous wild animals I described earlier. Maybe you could say I was like a hungry, domesticated pet instead:)

So, do you ever shop at Costco? How do you approach your shopping experience there, or at other warehouse stores for that matter? Please feel free to share stories and even advice.

Those of you who are regular readers might remember the story I shared about the big league ballplayer who lived with his parents while making a $400,000 annual salary. Reactions ranged from “it’s a great idea” to “it is time for him to move out and grow up”, with a variety of thoughts in between.

Now, along comes a story about a ballplayer who goes even further with his frugality – at least in my view (you may disagree). Yahoo! Sports had an interesting article about a major league player who took a money-saving approach when sent down to the minor leagues. He has since been recalled, but he clearly took measures to save himself some money while his major league career was on hold.

Apparently, the player had been on the big league club last year, and had leased an apartment for himself and his family (wife and daughter) in Pheonix. After being in the big leagues in 2009, and with the major league minimum salary at $400,000 this year, it seems that it shouldn’t be much of a problem for any player to get a nice rental in Phoenix that’s within his budget. On top of that, one would think that he would have plenty of money to spare, especially after earning a fat paycheck last season.

That may be the case, but nevertheless, Roberts was sent down to the minor leagues earlier this season, to the team’s Triple A affiliate in Reno, Nevada. At that point, it appears that despite having the potential to be called up to big leagues later this season -which did in fact end up happening – he seems to have pulled out all the stops to protect his cash flow.

What did he do? Well, since he already had that rental for his wife and daughter back in Arizona, he decided not to rent a place for himself in Reno. Yes, he was basically a homeless professional athlete – and by choice!

The guy apparently slept in the locker room when the team was in Reno. He had showers right there, and was able to make sandwiches from the supplies in the kitchen. Since he already had one apartment lease payment, he didn’t want to spend anything on a lease in Reno. When he was on the road, he stayed in hotels with the team.

That reminds me of a guy from my college fraternity, who described his living plans for one year as just “crashing on a friend’s couch”. Yep, no fraternity house (and fees), no apartment lease = no cash outflow for that guy. Ultimately, he moved back in to the fraternity, as one would have expected. He was actually a very smart guy, oddly enough. He just didn’t have the money, apparently.

That’s what makes this interesting to me.When a college fraternity guy won’t even do that, it’s interesting how a professional ballplayer, particularly one who spent a chunk of time earning a big salary, was able to take the step to do it.

Anyway, I think the ballplayer’s approach may have been over the top, as he might have been able to rent an extended stay hotel room instead, but I commend him for his frugality. At least he apparently realizes the value of maximizing your income minus expense gap, and is willing to make sacrifices to keep that going. In spirit, I think that’s pretty cool, even if he was excessive. Hundreds of millions of people live in far worse conditions. At least his wife and child were resting comfortably in their Arizona rental:)

What do you think? Is this a nice example of smart frugality?