Extreme Saving article on Yahoo!

[Karenj2]

An article about "extreme" saving was just on Yahoo... Don't most of us do this already?

 

[JaxJags08]

I have never heard of "slugging" before! Interesting...though, I could never see myself doing it.

Whole animals!? Would I have to go to the farm and actually pick out the one I want? That would break my heart! I'd probably buy something to "save" it and take it home as a pet!

 

[eliza61]

this was a interesting read. Very funny The only thing I probably do is clip coupons and shop retail off season when every thing is on sale.
No way am I calling merchants after Christmas to see if stuff is markdown. I hate Christmas shopping too much to do it twice.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

this was a interesting read. Very funny The only thing I probably do is clip coupons and shop retail off season when every thing is on sale.
No way am I calling merchants after Christmas to see if stuff is markdown. I hate Christmas shopping too much to do it twice.

I do most of my shopping online so I just keep an eye on amazon because they'll do price adjustments if it's within 30 days.

I didn't really think anything in the article was "extreme", maybe the slugging, I'd never heard of that either.

 

[Jeanne B]

Whole animals!? Would I have to go to the farm and actually pick out the one I want? That would break my heart! I'd probably buy something to "save" it and take it home as a pet!

No way am I calling merchants after Christmas to see if stuff is markdown. I hate Christmas shopping too much to do it twice.

I agree, that sounds like way too much work unless it's a big-ticket item.

 

[Todd&Copper]

From the article:

By far the most ingenious strategy for saving on gas and auto costs comes from Dean Frisoli, who "slugs" to work. Slugging is a form of legal hitchhiking available to commuters outside of Washington, D.C., where the traffic is notorious.

In order to take the faster high-occupancy vehicle, or HOV, lane to work, a car must carry two passengers. At designated parking lots, so-called "sluggers" like Frisoli, a transportation policy analyst, line up to catch free rides from drivers eager to use the HOV lane. In the year since he started slugging, reports Frisoli, the former train commuter has saved more than $2,000.

I live in MD and work in DC and have known about slugging for years, but the idea of it still creeps my out. They line up on certain designated strret corners in the afternoons, waiting for a ride home as well. What happens if no one drives by??? And is a slugging parent hypocritical when they are teaching their kids about "stranger danger"?

 

[Chicago526]

I have never heard of "slugging" before! Interesting...though, I could never see myself doing it.

Whole animals!? Would I have to go to the farm and actually pick out the one I want? That would break my heart! I'd probably buy something to "save" it and take it home as a pet!

I'm the same way, I don't think I could "meet" my dinner. I know around here you can order a whole animal from a butcher so you never get to see him/her before hand, you just pick up a bunch of nicely wraped packages to put in your freezer!

I think if I lived on a farm, I'd be a veggitarian. No way could I raise cows and pigs and then have them for dinner one night. I guess I read Charlotte's Web a few too many times as a kid!

 

[MEM]

I would not call any of the measures "extreme", except the "slugging" - yikes! hitching a ride with a total stranger in the car pool lane is not worth the savings in car fare, to me.

 

[M 'n C]

Yup the local news here in Houston ran a story about "slugging" not too long ago. People meet at the bus stations in the burbs and ride together in the mornings and then ride the buses home in the evenings. I don't care how much it saves me I could never do it.

 

[Took]

Nope, wouldn't "slug" either, but carpooling I would. A little inconvenience is well worth the lower gas costs.

The other stuff, we already do to a greater or lesser extent.

And the savings we have goes toward...more Disney money!

 

[delmar411]

the slug line is very common in northern VA. It's not like how the article describes it at all! Yeah a lot of times it's with a stranger but it's how lots of permanent carpools are est. To get on the carpool lanes you need 4 ppl(3?) in the car. So someone going to say the Pentagon will pull up to the slug line and say they have room for 3 or if one person calls out from the carpool, they have room for 1. Everyone gets to work faster. At least in NVA you'll get picked up, that's a given. It's all professionals just going into the pentagon or DC. It's not creepy like the article makes it seem.
A lot of times ppl will pull up to the bus stops in the neighborhoods to see if anyone is going their way so they can just jump right onto the carpool lanes.

Traffic in NVA is beyond horrendous. My commute was 1.5hrs each way to go 15miles.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

On Long Island we call slugging Park and Ride. I am comtemplating splitting a whole animal with my sister. If you read my earlier thread on it you would know that mentally it grosses me out. I keep picturing the thing reasslembling itself in my freezer!

 

[mickeyfan2]

Not slugging it to work or picking up a slugger.

 

[anabelle]

I have never heard of "slugging" before! Interesting...though, I could never see myself doing it.

:

Slugging is quite popular in DC. They have high occupancy lanes that require 3 or more in the car. It can save a lot of time to pick up a slug or two at the commuter lot.

 

[tjlovespooh]

the slug line is very common in northern VA. It's not like how the article describes it at all! Yeah a lot of times it's with a stranger but it's how lots of permanent carpools are est. To get on the carpool lanes you need 4 ppl(3?) in the car. So someone going to say the Pentagon will pull up to the slug line and say they have room for 3 or if one person calls out from the carpool, they have room for 1. Everyone gets to work faster. At least in NVA you'll get picked up, that's a given. It's all professionals just going into the pentagon or DC. It's not creepy like the article makes it seem.

.

My BIL used to *slug* when he worked at the Pentagon. Never heard of it anywhere else in the country though.

 

[bdcp]

Slugging is very common in the DC area particularly for people commuting to the Pentagon and DC from the south. My BIL used to Slug from Stafford County to the Pentagon. I don't think I could give up that much control to a total stranger. You never know what kind of driver you'll get. Although over time people form their own little groups. The drivers do it so they can use carpool lanes and the passengers get a free ride. The only problem is if you have to work late, you might not get a ride. Although there are commuter trains that run most of the same routes.

 

[SarahTel]

Yeah, it's always better to not think about a happy little lamb skipping about as you tuck into your chops!!!

Good article but a little heavy. Personally i find these budgeting tips a little more realistic! I like to take things 1 step at a time & not overface myself.

 

[kfeuer]

I found some of the points in that article pretty exaggerated. It's not like you can find a $5,000 leather living room set for $200 on Craigslist every day, or get great stuff off Freecycle without some effort and luck involved.

Also, there's very few mortgage companies that accept credit cards.

I could see people trying to implement some of these suggestions and getting discouraged fast.

 

[Karenj2]

I noticed quite a few "Wanted:" posts on my local freecycle board this morning... I wish them luck!

I'm suprised the article didn't talk about grocerygame.com as a way to save money on groceries, too.

 

[Anjelica]

I have never heard of "slugging" before! Interesting...though, I could never see myself doing it.

Whole animals!? Would I have to go to the farm and actually pick out the one I want? That would break my heart! I'd probably buy something to "save" it and take it home as a pet!

"YUMMMMM - you look tasty" - paraphrasing from a South Park episode where the kids go to a farm for a field trip and Cartman looks at a pig I think and says that.