Amusement parks can be fun for kids and families! What a classic way to spend a summer day. Of course, a day at the park can be expensive for the family as well.

This edition of the Squirreling Gone Wild series will share a story of a friend of mine who discovered a way to maximize the return on his investment of time and money at the park. Just keep this in mind: don’t shoot the messenger who’s sharing this story, this wasn’t me:)

Anyway, first of all, let’s talk about the friend. He’s someone who likes to save a buck or two. I’ve known him a long time, but don’t see him as often in recent years since we’re both busier. Anyway, he’s a good guy – let’s establish that up front.

We were on the phone the recently catching up, and he started to tell me about his visit to a major amusement park earlier this year. I haven’t been there since I was a kid, but would like to take my own kids sometime in the future. So, I asked him what it costs to visit these days. He proceeded to tell me how expensive the park is, counting tickets, food, etc. Plus, they stayed multiple days as they made a  vacation out of it. Needless to say, he shelled out a fair amount of money for this trip.

Then, he started laughing as he told me that he found a workaround for visiting the park that could save time and money, if someone had the guts to do it. The idea is to complain to customer service in order to board rides immediately.

The Problem

Here’s how he figured this out. First, they had arranged for something called a fastpass, which apparently allows you to “reserve” a time window during the day in which you can visit a certain ride and stand in an express line. The way he described it, you could get fastpass at say, 11:00am for a certain ride. The fastpass will have a window of 1 hour later in the day, say 2:00pm to 3:00pm, where you could go back and have a shorter wait. For comparison, he indicated that if a ride’s normal line might be 45 minutes, the fastpass line might be 15 minutes. So, you end up saving time by scheduling your ride ahead of time.

So, they went to that ride at their allotted time, and got into the fastpass lane. They were excited to have a relatively short wait in this express line! Well, unfortunately as they got in line the ride wasn’t working. They didn’t get to go on that ride, even though they had planned around it with their fastpass scheduled time. Bummer, right?

The Customer Service Response

Well, he wasn’t happy about it. His next move was to go to see customer service and complain about it. Not something I would have even thought about, actually, but he went and did it. Lo and behold, they gave him some kind of special pass for immediate boarding on one other ride! So he got something for his family’s inconvenience, after all.

He went to another ride and bypassed the long line and boarded immediately with his new, special pass. He mentioned that it was great walking right on, bypassing not only the massive wait in the regular line, but also the shorter wait in the fastpass line. Essentially, he didn’t wait at all!

The Scheme

Then, he had a thought come immediately to his mind. Apparently, he liked the convnenience of immediate boarding so much that he went to complain to customer service again, saying that he was unable to board a ride. Now, this wasn’t exactly the case. He just wanted to board another ride without waiting.

So, he got the special immediate boarding pass and went to another ride. Later in the day, he did it again. Complain to customer service, then get immediate boarding on your next ride – that was his formula.

Then, the money saving aspect came into the conversation. He assessed that yes, one could cut out an extra day of visiting by compressing more rides into one day. Then, there’s no need to stay an extra day because you’ve experienced all the rides. You just have to complain a bunch of times, get immediate boarding passes, and get it all done in less time. That means one day less in the park, which means less money spent overall – including hotel, food, etc.

Savings by complaining: Hundreds of dollars and a day of your life!

The Post-Mortem

So, would he do it again? No. The reality is that he only complained those few times I had mentioned above, and that’s it. He felt guilty about it, and didn’t think it set the best example for anyone. Plus, seeing everyone standing in the other two lines (regular long line and fastpass line) while he boarded immediately made him feel bad. He just got carried away in his enthusiasm. He just had the lightbulb go off in his head, got fired up, and took advantage. But he has a conscience and won’t do it again. Like I said, good guy.

That didn’t stop us from laughing about it though, and talking about the money savings opportunity that it presented:)

Two takeaways I had from this story:

1. It seems like the park’s customer service might be pretty good. Kudos to them.
2. Don’t actually do this. Rather, be honest.

My Questions for You:

Have you (or anyone you know) ever schemed to save money at some kind of entertainment venue, be it a theme park, concert, sporting event, movie, etc?

Ever do something along these lines that seemed funny at the time, but you might not do again?

Ah, the joys of being a first-time homebuyer.

The whole experience is exciting. Each step along the way can be exhilarating: deciding that you want to buy your own place, searching for the right neighborhood, touring homes for sale, making an offer on a home you like, and finding out that the offer was accepted.

Of course, when the offer is accepted, there are a few other details to go through. Among other things, you’ll want to get an inspection done and have a final walk-through before closing. By that point, there shouldn’t be any big surprises if you’ve gotten a good look, right?

Well, that’s what one couple apparently thought as they were in the process of closing a purchase of their first home. However, these first-time homebuyers were dealt a fun surprise, which I’ll share in this 23^rd installment of the Squirreling Gone Wild Series.

So, the homebuyers were a classic couple: single in their late 20’s, living in the city as young professionals, they met each other and fell in love. After a few years, they got engaged, and then they got married.  Soon after marriage, they decided to buy a home in the suburbs. I didn’t ask, but my guess was that this was in anticipation of starting a family.

Anyway, the wife wanted to live closer to her parents, and the guy agreed to it (or just dealt with it, which again wasn’t something I asked!).  They picked a subdivision in this suburb which was a bit older, and a few miles from her parents’ house. Naturally, the home was a bit older as well, but appeared to be in good shape. Surprisingly good shape. They did note that the sellers had interesting choices in furniture and placement of furniture, but wrote that off as unimportant, since as buyers they of course would be having their own furniture.

After having their offer accepted, the couple had an inspection done on the house.  The inspection revealed a few things that didn’t catch their eye originally, but could have if they looked carefully. I don’t recall what those were, from the original story, but I remember that it did make them wonder about the sellers. This was exacerbated by the sellers’ “nickel and dime” approach in dealing with the maintenance issues. However, the couple really liked the house, and they were so excited about it that they settled for what the sellers were willing to do. Besides, during these times, real estate had been steadily increasing in value.

Eventually, they were set to move in. They just had to go through the “formality” of the final walk-through before closing. Everything seemed taken care of, but it looked like the owners still hadn’t moved everything out. Some of the furniture was still in place, particularly in the family room. It was still in the same awkward layout that it had been before, though most of the rest of the house was empty. It seemed strange, but they were assured that it would be gone upon move in. They didn’t think anything more about it.

Then, they closed the sale, and got the keys. They got to their new home, their first home, and walked in to find…..a living room with massive stains all over the carpet.

The lightbulbs went on in their heads right away. These stains were the reason why the furniture was in such a strange layout, and was still present upon the home being sold.

Apparently, the stains were from pet urine. Lots of it.  TONS of it. 

As I recall the story, they eventually pulled out the carpet and found that the pet urine had seeped under the carpet into the floor boards. It was all over the room, right where the furniture was awkwardly placed. Messes were even elsewhere in the house, though apparently it was covered up in a less obtrusively. Now, I’m allergic to dogs and cats, and probably have less tolerance for pet disasters than the average person – so to me, this sounded disgusting. At least it didn’t smell, but that indicates that the stains were probably quite old. Maybe years old.

The prior homeowners were so cheap, that they couldn’t even replace the carpet when they lived there. Rather, they covered it up and dealt with it. Not only did they just deal with it, they stayed cheap as they strategically positioned furniture in such a way that the buyers had no idea that there were big problems.

Can you imagine being that sneaky, that shameless, just to save a few bucks up front? It reminded me of the people from Squirreling Gone Wild #10 who saved a few bucks by serving spoiled food.

From what I remember, the buyers thought that the sellers were moving up to a newer, bigger, more expensive house. So presumably they had some money….they just didn’t want to spend it, and weren’t transparent with the sellers.

I have to admit that I think it would have been kind of funny to see the looks on the couple’s faces when they saw the carpet. I can only imagine the wife’s face when she saw those stains J

Still, I did feel really bad for them, as they were jerked around by the bad cheapskate owners. One can be a good cheapskate, but they were bad cheapskates for sure!

Lesson learned: If anything seems suspicious in a home sale, then be suspicious and do your due diligence.

My questions for you:

1. What would you have done in their situation?
2. If you’ve ever had a home inspection done, have you encountered one where there have been red flags? Maybe you’ve heard of such situations as well.

Flattery, as we know, is an age old tactic to gain favor with people. Whether it’s for business purposes, to win over a date, or to curry favor with someone you want to impress, flattery is often used in order to reach a specific outcome.

This edition of Squirreling Gone Wild, the 19th in the series, is about a waiter who used a little flattery to obtain a nice tip from his customers. Much like the Crafty Waitress from Squirreling Gone Wild #16, this person employed some George Costanza-like methods to earn a few extra dollars from paying customers.

This story comes via a friend of mine, who recently went out to dinner with his wife. I have known them both for many years, him a few more. Needless to say, I know them pretty well.

He recently sent me a random text, which he does on occasion. They tend be on sports, stocks, careers, or other random topics of interest to him aside from his main interest: his family. This time, however, the text was related to his family, specifically his wife.

The text read: “Waiter asked Elaine to see ID, I told her it’s just for more tip. Would you ever say something like that?”

I smiled when I read that, because it sounds just like him. First, I told him no, I probably wouldn’t say that. I might think something like that, but would probably keep the thought to myself.

The next time we talked, which was a few days later, I asked him what exactly happened.

Apparently, when the waiter came by to take their order, they ordered cocktails. The guy asked Elaine (not her actual name, but let’s go with it here) for her ID. Now, Elaine is in her late 30′s. She does look younger than her age and is a very fit, active, nutrition-conscious person. But someone in his or her late 30′s will not look like a borderline-21 year old person. I don’t know any contemporaries that do, and have yet to meet one. We all age, it’s natural and normal.

According to my friend, it made his wife beam with pride. She was teasing him how she was carded and he wasn’t, though she’s a few months older. That’s when he told her that the only reason the waiter did that is in order to flatter her so he can get a bigger tip.

I of course started to laugh when I heard that, because I know my friend and how he can be direct, a bit competitive….and have the ability to accurately assess situations. So, he said that to her. Personally, I wouldn’t have said that, and would have let her enjoy the moment, no matter how delusional. But hey, we’re all different.

Then I asked what she said, and he evaded the answer a bit, changing the subject to what the waiter ended up doing. Apparently, the waiter went to a table of two guys in the booth adjacent to them, and took their drink order without asking for IDs. The guys seemed like a father-son duo according to my friend, about 55 and 25. The son was a younger looking guy, but was not carded. My friend’s wife, who is actually well over 10 years older, was carded.

Needless to say, this fueled my friend’s suspicions even further. He told his wife this again, teasing her, and she talked some smack beck at him. All good natured, I’m sure.

He said that they later both noticed a different larger table of women, seemingly out for a “girls night”, get carded by the same guy. Then my friend’s wife started to buy in a bit, but still rubbed it in his face that she was carded and he wasn’t.

Later, when she got up to use the restroom, the bill came and my friend told the waiter that the guy made his wife’s week by asking for her ID. He also said that it made her happy to see that she was carded and he wasn’t, in addition to the younger guy at the adjacent booth.

So my friend, while bantering back and forth with the server, joked with him by asking him “If it works”. The waiter apparently paused, thought about the question for a second, and said with a gleam in his eye and a smirk on his face, “I’m in the business of making people happy”.

When Elaine got back to the table, my friend said he was looking at the bill and trying to figure out a tip. She told him to give him an over the top nice tip.

Well played, Mr. Waiter. Like a squirrel trying to find a nut, he kept at it and ultimately got his modest prize.

My friend dutifully did what his wife asked him to do, and gave the guy a good tip. I’ll give him credit for admitting it. I didn’t ask what percentage, but he felt that the waiter deserved credit for being smart, and besides – his wife told him to do it:)

Have you ever experienced anybody – be it a sales person, vendor, waiter – flattering you in an obvious way to try to get money from you?

Do you ever complain about bad service at a restaurant? Do you contact a company if you purchase a product that doesn’t live up to your expectations?

If so, maybe you just want to let the business know your thoughts, or perhaps in some cases you want a refund. This edition of Squirreling Gone Wild will focus on a unique type of individual who goes beyond complaining and likes to suck free goods or services out of a business as a vampire likes to suck blood. It’s frugality run amok.

Now, some of us do complain more than others, and there is a wide spectrum of fussiness among consumers. Personally, I’m on the lower end of that spectrum.  I’m likely to take action by making a different purchasing decision next time. If it’s incredible rudeness, gross incompetence, or something of the like, I’ll gladly complain. But that’s not frequently the case.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are people who will complain at any dissatisfaction they have with food, service, or product. If they don’t like what they paid for, they will let the business know about it loud and clear. Whether it’s wanting to get out frustrations, or simply trying to get a refund every time they’re unhappy, these folks like to take a stand.

Then, there’s that unique type of individual I referred to earlier. The best way I could characterize this person is with this title:

The Extractor

I had the pleasure of knowing one these individuals, and it was quite interesting. On the surface, she and her husband were nice, gentle people.  I got to know them a bit through a friend, and eventually spent some time with them on occasion. They had some good qualities as people, no doubt.

However, when it came to spending money, they were penny pinchers extraordinaire. This would manifest itself when going out to dinner with them.

Invariably, there was something wrong with the food or service. Maybe the food isn’t warm enough, perhaps it isn’t spicy enough, or maybe the water doesn’t have enough ice. There was always something to complain about. And complain she did.

I recall one time when we went out for pizza, there was someone in our group that was thirsty, but didn’t get a glass of water for about 10 minutes. Otherwise, it was a good evening out for all, with good pizza and good fun. I didn’t think anything of it.

The next time I saw The Extractor, she told me that she called the pizza place the next day, complained about the service, and scored a credit for free food up to $20.

All for a glass of water. And she wasn’t the one who had to wait for water!

Another time we went out with The Extractor and husband (and there weren’t that many times), I recall her complaining about the quality of a vegetarian sandwich that was ordered. “Could they have really messed up something made of veggies?!” is what I thought. But then I remembered who I was with, and thought “That’s just her. We all have our quirks”

Of course I gave her the benefit of the doubt. And, of course, she turned around and complained even more, to the point where they gave the sandwich for free. I began to see a pattern.

I then noticed, in a few conversations on different occasions, that she would talk about different instances when she complained about products she purchased. One was ice cream that she said had too many artificial ingredients in it for her taste, so she called the company to complain. A coupon for free ice cream was sent. A similar complaint was made with a bag of salt and vinegar potato chips. A coupon for a free bag of chips was sent.

I first thought, “If the food product was so offensive that a complaint was necessary, why eat a replacement that’s exactly the same?“

Then I quickly concluded, “She’s not really complaining. She’s just trying to get free stuff.”

That was it. It was all about getting free stuff.

I recall visiting their home, and seeing a letter sitting out on the coffee table. I didn’t want to be nosy, but when The Extractor and her husband stepped into the kitchen, I peered from the corner of my eye at the letter. The letter began something like:

“Dear Mrs. (Extractor), we are sorry that our product did not meet your satisfaction……”

I smiled. Even thought I didn’t think it was good form on her part, it was kind of funny, if for no other reason than it was so blatant.  I thought, “Well, this is kind of weird, but at least they’re not hurting me. And besides, they’re nice in other ways.”

Fast forward to later on that year. We were out to dinner again, this time at a nice place downtown that was fairly pricey. It was a fabulous meal, with nice views of the of the city to boot. Fun experience to be sure.

Then, as we were nearing the end of the meal, I saw her husband’s eyes notice something, and he immediately got up. I turned, and noticed that he was going to the bathroom. The next thing I know, the waiter walks up to our table with the check. He handed it directly to me.

First I was like “What the…..”. Then,  quickly realized what was going on. Mrs. Extractor was married to another Extractor!  Very slick, that ”to the bathroom when the bill’s on it’s way” move.

All of a sudden, it’s not as funny when you’re the one being extracted from!

 That was long enough ego, but needless to say, I don’t see Mr. and Mrs. Extractor anymore.

I had done this once as a college kid, trying to score a free pizza. It worked, and I felt bad afterward, as shared in a previous story here. But these were grown adults doing this type of thing on a regular basis. Not my type:)

Have you ever met anybody like this, who takes such extreme measures to get free things?

On a warm day, doesn’t an ice cream cone just hit the spot sometimes? A nice cold, flavorful treat can do wonders to break the heat.

Well, we had experience with something close to ice cream – gelato – which did a great job in cooling us down from the heat on a warm day a few years back. Nothing remarkable about that, right? Well, that’s certainly true, but the fact that we did not spend even a penny for multiple flavors of gelato made it even sweeter! This 15th edition of Squirreling Gone Wild explores how we got the gelato for free, and the merits of this approach.

First off, I have to say that gelato can be pretty darned tasty. I had never had any of it until I was fortunate enough to visit Italy some years back. After getting a taste of it in one Italian gelateria, I was hooked. It got to the point where I was having a scoop twice a day. One day, I had a double scoop in both the afternoon and evening.

Anyway, I don’t get gelato like this on a daily basis, here at home:) Mostly fond memories from a trip abroad. That said, a few years back – while vacationing within the U.S. – we came across a place that had gelato for sale. It was one of those types of days when you want a cold drink or an ice cream cone to break up the day, so this place was a welcome find.

The place was more like a free standing kiosk, shaped like a rectangle. Picture gelato being sold on each side of the rectangle, in the cold refrigerated displays, with a mini “wall” dividing the two sides of the kiosk. This divisor contained supplies, such as cones, cups, and other items. Essentially, if you were a customer or employee on one side, you couldn’t see what was going on over on the other side.

As we approached the mini-gelateria, we went off to the left side of it, and peered into the display. Lots of good flavors were there, and we couldn’t decide what to get. So, we asked for a sample “taste” of a flavor. Then another. Then, yet another.

At that point, you almost feel obligated to get something. At least I would. One sample is ok, but three means you’re serious:)

So, what did we do? We decided to go to the other side, just to see if there were any new flavors. There weren’t, as it was basically the same selection as on the other side. There was a different person working on the other side, however.

While on the other side, we decided to try out one more flavor that we saw initially, but didn’t try. That’s four total samples at this point. You just have to get something now, don’t you think?

Then, we looked up at the price: $6 for a scoop.

Yes, it was $6 for one scoop. $12 for two. Just for this glorified ice cream. Sure, the samples were good, but $12 for two scoops? Are you kidding?

At that point, I thought “Hmmm….you know, I have had enough of the gelato already. Why pay so much when the taste buds were satisfied by the samples, and I’m cooled down now. Besides, the guy here on this side only gave us one sample, so we won’t get that look that we would after walking from four samples….let’s just walk away?”

That’s what we did: we walked away. The net result: $12 in tasty (albeit overpriced treats), for ZERO! Not bad.

Now, I have to say that it wasn’t my intention up front to get free gelato and then to walk away without buying. The intentions were good, and totally legitimate. It’s just that the price was so shocking, that we walked away. That’s how I can rationalize it – I never would have paid that kind of money for the dessert if I had known the price.

While I didn’t do this intentionally, many folks do this with no problem. Anyone who has been in a Costco has seen people swarm to the free samples that are given away. They go from station to station, and eventually try to come back for more if they like what they sampled. There are plenty of other places where samples are offered – and some people take them without intending to even consider a purchase.

What do you think? Do you ever go for multiple samples with the idea that you can get a mini-meal for free? If yes, where do you draw the line?

It’s often nice to enjoy nature, even the simple aspects of it. Green parks, proud and majestic trees, meandering streams and rivers – they’re all examples of the outdoors that can be admired within the confines of many urban and suburban environments. The great part is that it doesn’t take much money at all to simply appreciate some of these parts of nature.

There are some individuals, however, who try to take matters into their own hands, and are a bit too “overzealous”. In this 14th edition of Squirreling Gone Wild, I’ll share a recent scene that I encountered where some people tried to take frugality just a bit too far when enjoying nature.

The experience I had with these characters started innocently enough. I was driving down a suburban boulevard on a recent warm, summer day. This was a four lane road, with a median in between both sides of traffic, and was not heavily trafficked. The median, as the road approached the traffic light, was very nicely landscaped. Highlighting the landscaping was a nice arrangement of flowers that was on a slightly elevated grade. I’m not a flower expert (don’t know too many guys that are), so I couldn’t tell you what kind they were. What I do know, however, is that the flowers were yellow, red, and very vibrant.

So, as I approached the stoplight, I met a yellow light about to turn red. Naturally, I stopped at the light. Then, to my left, I saw a car pull up. Immediately, the passenger door next to me open, as did the backseat door on the other side of the car. Two women scurried out of the car, and made their way to the median.  One looked to be in her 50’s, the other in her 20’s. Perhaps a mother and daughter.

In the blink of an eye, they were furiously pulling flowers. I sat there amused and stunned. They just pulled and pulled and kept on pulling. I kept the window rolled down, and could hear them speaking to each other in excited, hurried tone while they accumulated flowers. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, as it didn’t appear to be English. Regardless, they clearly getting a kick out of this. They had these mischievous grins on their faces as they kept pulling flowers.

Finally, a man in the car waved to them as the light was about to turn green. They each carried an arm full of flowers to the car, tossed them inside, then got in. At that point, the light turned green, and they took off.

It all happened so fast.

I drove off after that, and chuckled at how sneaky those people were. Then, my humor turned to a more realistic view of what these clowns did.

They took flowers that were intended to be for the public, paid for by taxpayer dollars, and took them for themselves. They had absolutely no regard for the right thing to do in that situation.

So, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that these people absolutely knew that they were doing something wrong. They had those naughty smiles as they accumulated flowers at a dizzying rate.

What could I have done differently? This was the thought in my mind as I kept on driving. Maybe I could have used this new smartphone I bought, and taken a video of them along with their car’s license plate number. Perhaps the local police would have liked to have seen it? I would guess that it’s against the city’s ordinance to take public property like that. Or, maybe I could have just gotten out of the car and asked them to stop doing it.

Alas, I was just sitting there stunned as I had previously watched them, so they got away.

I wonder what they did with those flowers. Did they put them in a vase in their home? They could have filled several vases the way they were going.  Or perhaps they’re going to some function and want to take a bouquet of flowers. Maybe someone they know had a tragedy and they wanted to brighten the person’s day?

Regardless, it was frugality run amok, what those frugal flower bandits did!

Have you ever seen someone do something so blatantly tacky? Have YOU actually done something tacky like this? As you know, it’s safe to confess here:)

Every now and then, typically on a city sidewalk, I’ll find a penny. Occasionally, but much less frequently, I’ll find a nickel, dime, or quarter.   While finding one coin may not equate to winning a lottery, much less using a $1 off coupon, it’s still a nice surprise that makes me feel like a kid again, for a brief moment. It’s kind of neat.

Of course, we are all different, and there are some special folks that take particular pleasure in finding these small treasures. This 12th edition of Squirreling Gone Wild explores just how excited some people can get to find very small amounts of money.

First, as I mentioned up front, I do find loose change here and there and it puts a smile on my face. Lately, I have been finding a few coins per week, usually just pennies. When I do find a coin, I instantly think “YES!”. Not that a few pennies are a fortune; in reality, finding three pennies per week equals $1.56 over the course of the year. Additionally, I’ll just give this loose change away anyway. If I get small amounts of money unexpectedly, I figure I can donate it.

That said, it’s a very small thrill that reminds me of how fun it was to be a little kid finding coins. In particular, I recall jumping into a mall fountain with a friend as an 8-year old, trying to pick up pennies that people had thrown in. It seemed like free money to a kid. Our parents, who rightfully expected good behavior out of us, yanked us out in a hurry and told us that we shouldn’t do that!

Now, aside from our exploits as kids, the only other time I had (until recently) seen someone get fired up about finding a small amount of money was a college buddy of mine who found $10 in a parking lot. He spotted it, picked up the bill, then held it up admiring it while quickly saying “YES!”.  He was truly excited to pick up that $10.

Recently, however, I noticed someone getting just a bit more excited to find a coin on the pavement.

In this situtaion, there was a heavy downpour occurring which could almost be characterized as monsoon-type rains. I was at a bus stop shelter, barely protected from the rain as it was, when I saw a lady drop something that fell on to the street in front of the bus stop shelter. That part of the street in front of the shelter had collected quite a bit of rain water, and was a dirty puddle at that point.

During a rainstorm like that, when most people are scrambling to get indoors or under shelter, if I drop a coin into a deep and muddy puddle I’m probably not going to worry too much about it.

This lady clearly didn’t see it that way.

She lunged out toward the street, out of the covered bus stop shelter. She bent down to look in the puddle, and then started wading her hand through the water, looking for the coin. The water was dirty, as it collected in a sunken part of the road. Getting soaked by rain, she spent what seemed to be 20 seconds fishing for the coin.

Then, she found the coin she dropped, which appared to be a quarter. She held it up as she turned back toward the shelter, and yelled “YESSSS!”.

Once I heard the “YESSSS!”, I just froze a little bit. My instant reaction was: “Wow, that was a little weird how excited she got and how she said ‘YES!”

It was funny to the point of wanting to laugh right there, but I didn’t. I did, however, keep my head fairly still as I quickly glanced out of the corner of my eye at the other bystanders who were also waiting. Most kept a straight face, but one person made eye contact with me as he smirked. That confirmed to me that it wasn’t just me who noticed how funny this was.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-bsf2x-aeE&feature=search

The way she exclaimed her joy reminded me of a scene (below, from YouTube) in the classic romantic movie “When Harry Met Sally”, where Meg Ryan’s excitement caused another diner to say “I’ll have what she’s having”.

I’m guessing she must have really needed that quarter for the bus ride!

This brings me to the question: Just how much happiness does it bring you to find loose change on the ground? If you get as excited as Meg Ryan. I’m not sure I want to know:)

But more seriously, I’m curious if it brings you a bit of child-like excitement,  or do you just not care much about finding a coin?

This post was included in the Carnival of Money Stories at Intelligent Speculator

Being someone who occasionally takes a train to work, I usually experience a scene that’s pretty quiet and uneventful while taking that mode of transportation. Sure, you often people sprinting with laptop bags in tow, trying to catch a train they’re late for. For the most part, however, most people are quiet and behave normally while on the train.

Note the word most.

While the majority of the people are quietly reading, working on a laptop, emailing/websurfing on their smartphones, or even sleeping – some people provide a little bit of flavor to the whole scene. This typically shows up as not-so-personal conversations that adjacent people can hear, or general excitement at the end of a workweek. On occasion, there is some especially unique behavior on display that gives us a snapshot into different ways people handle things – including spending money.

In this 11^th edition of the “Squirreling Gone Wild” series, I’ll share some interesting tactics I recently observed one passenger employ in what I believe might have been a deliberate attempt to save money by doing some acting.

When it comes to paying for a ride on this train, there are four primary options:

1. Buy a monthly  pass
2. Buy a 10-ride ticket
3. Buy a single ticket at the station
4. Buy a single ticket on the train

When the train conductor walks by, he asks “Tickets, Please!” in a loud voice. At that time, most commuters bring out their monthly pass, 10-ride ticket, or pre-paid ticket, and set it out for the conductor to look at or hole punch, depending on ticket type. If someone has no ticket, they buy one at an inflated price from the conductor.

So on the day in question, the guy sitting next to me in the upper level, a much older gentleman, opened his wallet and started fumbling through it looking for what had to be either one of the first 3 options I listed above, or money to buy a ticket. He seemed to quickly assess that he didn’t have one. Then, he sat quietly. A few minutes later, he closed his eyes and leaned over against the window, head slanted to the side and pressed on the window.

Within a few minutes after that, the conductor walked in and asked for tickets, as per usual. “Tickets, Please!” he said.

He made his way through the aisle, then looked at the guy who was sleeping.

“Tickets, Please!” he said while looking right at the guy.

The guy didn’t move. With his eyes closed and head leaning up against the window – away from the aisle – it looked like it would take a persistent effort to wake him up.

“Sir – I need to see your ticket!” exclaimed the conductor, with frustration.

The man didn’t flinch. He looked like he was out cold.

The conductor stared at him for a few seconds, then shook his head as he turned forward, and proceeded down the aisle.

The sleeping guy was never charged. He was going to be riding for free.

After the conductor opened the door to go to the next train car, an interesting thing happened: the sleeping guy woke up! He opened his eyes, and pulled out reading material for the rest of the commute.

Now, call me a cynic in this case, but I have a hard time believing it was a coincidence that he just happened to fall asleep right before the conductor was going to come through, and then woke up very alert just as the conductor left.

It sure looked like he pretended to be asleep to get out of paying!

I immediately thought to myself that I will not feel bad anymore if the conductor happens to accidentally skip me, as has happened before. To me, it looks like there are people that deliberately try to get out of paying by resorting to such crazy schemes.

I don’t support this behavior at all, and wouldn’t ever try something like that. But the way I see it, I reserve the right to laugh at those who actually do such things!

It seemed like something out of Seinfeld, that George could possibly do.

Have you ever seen anybody play games like this to save money? Have YOU ever done anything wacky like this? If so, it’s ok to come clean:)

We have all seen people who go to extremes to save money. Ok, I’ll admit, I have taken part in the sport of frugality on occasion:) 

That said, I do have some ground rules for saving money. I often talk about not taking advantage of others when trying to save – very important in my book. Additionally, I won’t intentionally make life hard just to save a few bucks, and this includes anything which compromises health.

Of course, we are all different - which is why there are occasional examples of people employing, shall we say, “interesting” ways to save money. In this 10th edition of Squirreling Gone Wild, we’ll explore the idea of eating food that has seen better days!

The first example that comes to mind, and the one that got me thinking about this article, was a guy I worked with earlier in my career. This guy was a very bright individual, carried an MBA from a top program, and was respected for his quick mind. He was also quite quirky, and this extended to saving money.

One day, at lunch ironically enough (as I would find out), he was talking about being frugal. I think the rest of the table thought it was a weird topic, except me of course; I enjoyed hearing him talk about his money saving ways. As he kept talking, his quirky side came out. While he lost the rest of the table long before, he lost me when he talked about ways to avoid spending on his kids. He proudly told a story about how he had some yogurt that had expired, and had a cottage-cheese like consistency and some “fuzzy” stuff on top. He didn’t want to waste it, so he scraped off the fuzzy growth and gave the kids the spoiled yogurt.

Blechh! I just can’t play that game.

Another example comes from a person with whom I worked some years back who was telling a story about having his inlaws over for a barbecue, but  noticed the day they were to arrive that the meat that was a bit spoiled. Mmmm, rotten hamburger! Anyway, he didn’t want to go to the store and spend any money on new food. He claimed to have used a marinade for the burgers, grilled them very well done, and loaded them with condiments to mask the taste.

He served them the spoiled meat. He claimed that he didn’t know for sure whether or not his inlaws felt a little bit sick afterwards or even noticed, but he was giddy with excitement over not having to throw away the spoiled meat. What a son-in-law.

Can you imagine doing things like that, serving kids or anyone, for that matter, spoiled food? Are you kidding me? I’m guessing (hoping) most of us wouldn’t ever engage in such nefarious practices. I certainly wouldn’t.

This got me thinking – while these examples sound bad as they involve others, how closely do all of us actually follow expiration dates when it comes to ourselves?  Not necessarily extreme cases like the above examples, but even food that is just past the expiration date.

Personally, I don’t like to eat or serve food that’s past the expiration date. Now, I’m not talking about the “sell by” date, but the “use by” date. If food is past that date, I’m not eating it.

Now, I realize that’s probably a strict approach. Frankly, there are people that might think that I’m wasting food by taking this approach. Not so frugal, they might say!

Well, not so fast, I say! When taking a big picture approach, I don’t think it’s worth the health risk to eat food that’s past expiration dates. Let’s say, for example, that you may be ok 99 out of 100 times. Fine, but that 1 time may be a very unpleasant experience. And I know that when I’m really sick, I don’t care about money or anything else, I just want my health.

What do you think? Do you eat food that’s past the expiration date? Have you gone as far as to follow the example of the characters above, and serve food well past the expiration date to others?

This article was selected as an Editor’s Pick in the Carnival of Money Stories #61 at Out of Debt Again

One of the things I strongly believe in, when it comes to frugality, is being fair to others. In other words, I’m all about saving money, but it can’t be at the direct expense of someone else in a way that directly takes advantage of others. Do unto others as you have them do to you.

That said, there are some situations that aren’t black and white, but in shades of gray instead.

This 9th edition of Squirreling Gone Wild covers a recent situation where this gray area came into play. Some of the most popular installments of this series focused on prior coworkers or old buddies, but this time it’s me who’s at the center of the story.

So here’s the deal: I now commute to work by train, from the suburbs to into downtown. As a part of the commute to this new position, I have to have a ticket for the train every day. It costs $5 for a one-way ticket if I buy it on the train going downtown, and $8 if I buy it on the train going outbound. I just discovered this $3 premium while on the train the other day, so that motivated me to search for other ways to save while buying tickets ahead of time. As it turns out, one option is buying a monthly pass, but I’m not ready to commit to that as I will do some driving as well. The option that caught my eye was a 10-ride ticket for $40. This way, I spend $8 for one day of commuting vs $13. Clearly, that can add up, so needless to say I was happy with that discovery.

So how do you use these? Typically, the conductor walks by, and looks at each person to see if they have their ticket/10-ride card/monthly pass. If the passenger has the ticket or monthly pass, the conductor nods and moves on. If the passenger has the 10-ride card, the conductor hole-punches it for that ride. If the passenger has no ticket, the conductor sells it on the spot.

So, the other day, I board train and within a few minutes hear the conductor walk into our train car.  These conductors, by the way, look the part – full uniform, conductor hat, etc. Anyway, the conductor proceeded to say the customary line in the customary booming voice: “Tickets, Please!”

At that point, all the other passengers, including myself, brought out our respective fare denomination, whether ticket, 10-ride card, or monthly pass. We dutifully waited for the conductor to come by, as per usual.

As the conductor made his way down the train car, checking fares, he stopped at the person next to me and chatted him up loudly and with laughter. It was clear this person was a regular passenger. I was reading something at the time, so I just held my card up and figured the conductor would grab it when done chatting, while I continue my reading.

As it turns out, the conductor was so engrossed in his chat with this person across the aisle, that he moved on while continuing to look back and finish his conversation. In his state of being preoccupied with his conversation, he walked right by me and never checked my ticket. I didn’t fully realize this until he was a bit further down the aisle.

At that point, I the first thought that came to my mind was – I just got this ride for free. YES!!!

Then, my mind started doing the calculations: a free ride meant 11 rides for $40, which meant my rides were now $3.64 each instead of $4.00 each, for this 10-ride ticket. Then, I started thinking about the possibility that this actually happens once in a while, where the conductor misses you at no fault of your own, and you aren’t pretending to be asleep or something of the like:) Maybe the savings could really add up!

Let’s go back to my opening paragraph – Do unto others as you have them do to you. This is what entered my mind next. Should I feel guilty? Should I have gotten up out of my seat, approached the conductor, and told him that he passed me? Would that have been the right thing to do? Or, since it was his mistake and I was not paying attention as he walked past me, should my conscience be clear? Or, is this just a part of the disjointed commuter train experience, where you get the occasional “gift” to balance your frequent inconveniences – like delays, crowding, and the like?

I go back to the sleep well at night theory. Not that this is a tragedy or anything, but if the same type of situation arises again, I would feel better about tracking the conductor down and paying up. I suspect I might be idealistic here.

What do you think?

This article was included in Festival of Frugality at Nerd Wallet.