There was a time when Discover would give you checks that you could use to transfer debt from other cards or accounts, which had a promotional rate of 0% for the life of that debt. I deposited one check into my checking account that filled up my discover card credit limit, then used that money to pay off my higher rate credit card debt. Then I did that a few more times until my entire Discover card balance was 0%. Then I paid off my other credit cards while that debt sat there accruing no interest penalty.
Also, the way the accounts worked was higher debt would be paid off first, so until I fully paid off that account, there was always some 0% debt below all the higher % debt.
I had a pager that I didn’t want to pay the bill on when I went out of the country. I called them to turn the service off while I was gone. Instead of turning it off they just quit charging me. I realized that when I got back and had a bunch of pages. That continues for several years until I traded it away, still working, still not costing anything.
There was a big freeway running over our city with a few exits which always backed up with traffic and didn’t go where I wanted. One of the exits led into a convention centre pay carpark, with ridiculous costs per hour.
I realised I could pull in there and if you left within ten minutes they didn’t charge you.
It was my personal freeway off ramp for years.
Aglet
When I was in high school my friends and I were always finding creative ways to skip school and instead go out and do stuff. But, there was a limit of X days that you could be absent throughout the year, or else you’d have to make up the time by attending summer school.
In a conversation with some school admin staff I discovered that if you attend just one class during the day, any absence for the rest of the day was counted as 0.5 days in the attendance system.
So, we effectively doubled the number of days we could skip school by showing up for the first hour and then getting out to e.g. attend a dentist appointment.
Jury nullification.
Deny defend depose.
I’m on some watch list now.
If you get married the tradition is for one partner to change their last name to match so both have the same last name.
We didn’t do that, so we have different last names.
So when you sign up for services that offer (x) months free or discounted cost per unique household, you use one name, cancel, and sign up under the other name. They don’t know you’re married, don’t know if it’s a rental, or don’t know if it’s a roommate thing. So when we were poor AF we could save a lot of $ on services at least for a few months or so. Usually cable tv that offered a 6-month discount.
Where I live you can freely use your maiden name or your spouse’s name and switch between them whenever you want.
We didn’t like either of our last names so before getting married I legally changed mine so my Spouse could adopt it after the wedding, instead of both of us legally changing it after the wedding.
Even with the same last name they don’t know you’re married. We share a last name and have done this a few times before.
Well played, then.
has not worked for me. most places its by address.
Eh, this was years ago we played this game. We tried to keep it on the DL by not changing immediately after the discount, usually several months later. We also had separate checking accounts and cards, so that probably helped. The policy may have updated since then, but I don’t see how they’d know if one person canceled the policy and another with an entirely different name and payment account opened a new one.
yeah and actually if its a single family home I have gamed the system by putting apt 1a, 1b, etc but I have not tried it when I actually have an apt/unit/whatnot
I remember there was a time when you could use the self-serve kiosk at McDonald’s, order a bunch of plain cheeseburgers and remove everything so it was just a bun and it would credit back enough money that you could get a whole meal (plus a bunch of empty buns) for free.
Back in the day they were “selling” dollar coins through tv. It was legal tender so banks had to accept any deposit of it. The U.S. mint offered free shipping in the continental U.S.A.
Some smart folks started buying them with their credit card that offered air travel miles as a reward. Then they took all the coins and depositing them in their bank and paid off their CC. Rinse and repeat.
Yes they were out no money and had thousands of dollars worth airline miles.
don’t those coins cost more than their face value? you are talking commemorative coins yeah?
Commemorative coins do cost more that is correct. However this was not those. This was when the US mint was essentially attempting to phase out the dollar bill and replace it with a coin.
Keep in mind this was late 90s early 2000s.
One of the sub plots to Punch Drunk Love, and a true story.
Not sure if these are exactly loopholes, but whatever.
Learning to shave with a straight razor will save you a fuckton of money on shaving products. Shaving soap makes each shave cost a cent at most. The downsides are the initial cost of the razor and strop, the initial learning curve, the upkeep, and the couple extra minutes necessary to shave with a straight razor (it’s not too much, but it does take a bit longer).
Learning to roast coffee will cut your coffee costs by 50% if you enjoy high quality arabica beans. Some of the best coffee I’ve ever had I roasted and brewed myself. The extra time investment and clean up necessary is pretty intensive though, and yeah, there’s an initial learning curve and equipment cost (though not too bad, you just need a stovetop, an old school stovetop popcorn popper, and a burr grinder).
You don’t have to go all the way to straight razor to get significant savings. Even just a safety razor basically cuts the cost per shave to nothing vs. modern cartridges. And it’s much easier to use.
eyup. just as easy as a disposable really an no real learning. just learn to keep it tight :)
You can’t cancel your reservation within 24 hours. You can rebook it. Okay, rebook it for one week out. Call back a day later, cancel.
Why wait the extra day, Just do it in the same call. They don’t get paid enough to give a shit. And if they do, you technically haven’t broken any rules.
Managers audit those calls. Source: I’ve worked in three call centers.
Yeah, I’m Canadian. Thus, non-confrontational by nature. Now, If I was answering a call and someone did that, I’d let them get away with it, 100%.
There was a burrito shop that had a frequent customer card that you could use to earn points towards a free menu item. You could register the card online and for whatever reason you could add multiple cards to the same account.
A friend of mine realized that if you registered a new card they would give you a decent chunk of points just for signing up, then you could merge that account in with your existing account and get free points.
Every chance he got he would grab handfuls of the cards, activate them all, and get tons of free food.
My brother-in-law didn’t want to carry his jacket around at Disney World, and he didn’t want to get a locker for it, so he had his dad turn it in to lost and found. At the end of the day, before leaving the park, he picked it back up.
Somebody else could’ve taken that.
The lost and found at my school sometimes gathers interest on some items. Umbrella on a rainy day got 4 people claiming it’s theirs. But a golden chain is still winning at 8 people claiming it as theirs.
That’s why you hide the item and get the person claiming it’s theirs to tell you a piece of identifying information about the item so they can prove it’s theirs.
Welp, my school just sends everyone pictures of the items and waits who claims it.
That’s a different problem entirely, your school needs to rethink things. Kind of funny though!
Why does the school need to rethink things?
It’s in their interest to get rid of the items quickly so they don’t have to store them.
Who gets them doesn’t matter to the school.
Alright, so, in Texas you’re not allowed to own an opossum as a pet. There is no license for owning a pet opossum (they’re “fur-bearing animals”). However, there is a license that’ll let you kill opossums for their fur. Furthermore, said license allows you to trap them. The interesting part is that there’s no legal requirement for you to actually kill the opossum if you trap one. You can trap the opossum and take possession of it for however long you like.
So basically a hunting license (might have been a trapping license?) lets you effectively own an opossum as a pet in Texas!
Edit: also, yes, opossums are as soft as they look, which is why people used to hunt them for their fur. I got a chance to pet one and it was about as soft, if not softer, than a cat. Also very boney, like cats.
I kinda get the impression they bite, a lot.
I grew up in FL and had a “pet” opossum for a while. Her mom was hit by car when she was a baby and she crawled up to our front door during a rain storm. My mom was heart broken when she realized what happened so she let us keep her till she was old enough to be released. She was super cuddly and would crawl up on your neck and lick your hair. We partially potty trained her using dog pee pads. The only down side is she liked to borough in our couch so we had to move the couch often and clean it out.
Once she was an adult we would let her out at night when other opossums in the neighborhood were around. She usually came back in the morning and would eat a bunch of food. One day she didn’t come back so I hope she integrated with the local opossums and lived a happy life.
My friend has one and nope, no biting! He pretends he’s a raccoon (she had a herd of raccoons as well)
they hiss and act like a bad ass but they are naturally bug eaters, not a lot of fight in them
Nope, they’re mostly all bark, no bite. You have to actually harass them to get them to bite you, even if they’re showing their teeth. Their bite strength is one of the lowest among mammals too. That said, supposedly their teeth are actually really sharp.
They like to show their teeth but they don’t like to bite
I’ve never hung out with one, but they were common in my neighborhood growing up and they were honestly pretty nonviolent. They just play dead instead of aggressing , but I also never pushed them to interact
The ROTH IRA (USA) requires earned income to be allowed to deposit (add) money. There is no rule that the money earned is the money deposed. If your kid has a job, and you have extra money, look into opening a ROTH with them. Kid spends their money (or not), and deposits your money in their account. Bingo setting kid up for old age.
I am not a tax accountant.
There is also SEP IRA
What is SEP IRA?
It’s a typical IRA but catered to self employed individuals
Also income limits on a Roth IRA are easy to circumvent with the back door workaround.
What’s the workaround?
From Wikipedia:
Regardless of income but subject to contribution limits, contributions can be made to a Traditional IRA and then converted to a Roth IRA.[23] This allows for “backdoor” contributions where individuals are able to make Roth IRA contributions even if their income is above the limits.
Ah gotcha thanks. I thought you were referencing a contribution limit workaround
