In 2021, the U.S. poverty rate was 12.8%, but it varied significantly among age groups. For example, among children (people under the age of 18) it was 16.9%, while for those ages 65 and over it stood at 10.3%.

Interested in how these folks get by, Reddit user ReindeerBest8970 made a post on the platform, asking everyone who grew up poor to share what was their go-to money-saving "hack." And their call was answered. As of now, the Redditor's question has received over 900 replies, many of which paint a vivid picture of frugal living.

#1

The public library is my best poor person hack. It’s cool in the summer, warm in the winter, quiet, there’s fun stuff for the kids to do, clean restrooms and water fountains. When my kids were little we kept a steady supply of arts & crafts, books, and dvds from our local library and it was a god send.

Image credits: Anon-3765

#2

You can use vinegar, baking soda or dish soap to clean almost everything. You don’t need to spend money on a bunch of specialty cleaning products. Also, don’t throw away torn/stained clothing or towels. These are your new cleaning rags. Now you don’t need paper towels.

Image credits: FatesOnTheNod

#3

Learning how to make food from scratch has saved me so much money. Also budgeting my life away; along with having a detailed list of bills owed. It’s important to know what money is going in and out at all times.

I also think it’s important to treat yourself to something, maybe even once a month, to something you want. Even if you’re drowning. I got so caught up in prioritizing bills and debts for a couple of years that I barely even looked at myself, now I try to treat myself to something every paycheck after my bills are payed.

#4

Find the nearest food bank and get yourself some food. There's no shame in that. In my experience they never gave you any expired/government type food it was all good quality stuff. I remember I got a whole chicken once. It fed me in my roommate for about a week the rest of the food lasted through the month.

Image credits: AgreeableTree1943

#5

Beans and rice are actually quite nutritious.

Image credits: jospeh68

#6

Still poor here. One of my hacks involves groceries. I only have one reusable bag for shopping, not a super big one either. If all the groceries I buy can't fit in this bag, I start putting things back. Usually, the contents of the bag work out to be $50 - $60CDN. It's a nice way of not going to overboard when getting groceries, and this keeps me within my budget.

Image credits: Typhus332

#7

It’s not exactly from “growing up” but when I was going to my community college i knew a guy that just kept taking one class a semester for a renewed student ID so he had access to the gym and common areas and library to keep occupied and sane while trying to sort out the rest of what was going on. The gym helped him stay healthy enough and get his daily shower and the school library kept him mentally occupied.

Image credits: Eternal_Bagel

#8

I always bought the special offer 50c fruit and veg in Aldi. A lot of them freeze well so I'd chop them and freeze them. Fruit went into smoothies or on breakfast cereal, and veg went into soup or other dinners.

Image credits: Party-Walk-3020

#9

Buy generic brands! It's the same s**t under a different label.

Image credits: Mister_Moho

#10

When I was poor and young, I would go to art openings for the snacks and free wine.

Image credits: uxorial

#11

Before you pay to have something repaired, watch YouTube and see if you can fix it yourself. Try to borrow the tools to do the job. Clean the tools before returning them in a timely manner, and it’s more likely they’ll lend them to you again.

Image credits: FatesOnTheNod

#12

Use every gym's free trial.

Image credits: LolaLuvli

#13

Never skip the discounted meat section of the grocery store, if it looks good & expires tomorrow or the next day you can have a good protein for half the shelf price.

Image credits: HauntMe1973

#14

Ramen noodles!

33 cents a pop and they’ll fill you up for 4 hours.

I’m no longer poor, but just enjoyed a helping of them a few minutes ago!

Image credits: TwainVonnegut

#15

If you can't brush your teeth, eat an apple instead to clean your gums and freshen your breath, or use baking soda on a damp rag to gently scrub your gums and teeth.

Remember, just using a toothbrush is about 80% as effective as using toothpaste. Even if you can't afford toothpaste, brush any way.

#16

Potatoes are the cheapest and most underrated Food you can buy and do different recipes with. Dinner was basically $0.15 each.

#17

1. Thrift basically everything. You can find really cheap clothes, furniture, kitchenware, and more in good condition for pennies on the dollar. Especially true if you go to a thrift in a a nicer part of town.

Image credits: poppykayak

#18

Not really hacks, but just what I did. I read somewhere that sweet potatoes were very nutritious. So I would walk to the store and buy a sweet potato every day, then go home and bake it in the oven and eat it, plain. Also also ate tons of rice and fried plantains. Plantains were cheap at local restaurants at the time, like a dollar for a big paper carryout box.

I worked at a place where coworkers would sometimes order food (not me because I was broke). I always offered to clean up and would snag their uneaten food for myself. I even went through the trash to pick out good stuff if they ate while I wasn't around. I know this sounds disgusting but I was so broke and hungry I was wasting away. My pay barely paid my rent so I had nothing left for food. This got me by for a quite a while. This was in New York in the early 90s and there was a recession going on.

#19

Foil over your windows if you don’t have air conditioning to keep the heat out.

Image credits: K_Xanthe

#20

For years I rode a bike everywhere. It is cheap and much faster than the bus unless you have to go a long distance. That was before they had bike racks on the buses.

Image credits: Rottenoff

#21

Watch your parents and learn that the only way to thrive is not to have kids or get married and at the same time stop the generational trauma that's been inflicted upon your forefathers all the way down to you.

#22

You can add small amounts of higher quality food to make a struggle meal much better for cheap. Like adding a boiled egg, green onion, maybe some pickled veg, and a few tablespoons of cut up leftover meat to a packet of instant noodles. Makes it much more filling for about a buck. The internet is full of struggle meal hacks that make cheap ingredients much better.

#23

Buy a pair of redwing boots yes, that particular boot company is a bit on the expensive side but you buy one pair. You have boots for a lifetime because if they break and you have the receipt, the redwing boot company repair or replaced them for 100% free or a discounted price as well a little bit of me and coil, and an old T-shirt can go along way to keep in your boots in good condition.

Image credits: Agreeable_Quote7224

#24

Sleeping can help you in forgetting that you’re starving.

Image credits: PuddyBal

#25

Pet stores sell penicillin and other useful drugs made for fish, but they work if you are in desperate need. They are made to dissolve in contact with water though, so they taste AWFUL.

Source: grew up homeless, got real sick sometimes

#26

Doing cardio at public parks, trails, outside areas is free. It’s good for your health, your appearance, to kill spare time, to fight against free time, to fight against depression, to at least give the chance to meet new people, to help you fall asleep at a good time at night, and so many smaller things. It was one of the single best habits I was forced to form as a child, teenager, and young 20s. Nothing is worse when you are poor, than feeling trapped inside a tiny, dirty, gross air’ed house and room.

Now a days, I find that I prefer to stay inside my house, my yard. Oh I still go outside and to public places, but I notice I only stay for 1 or 2 hours before I feel the desire to return home. It used to be, I would stay for 4 hours and have no desire to return home (although I would always need to for food and hygiene). Sometimes I would stay entire weekends without coming home, showering and eating at friends houses. Strange how dramatic my life has changed. Even eating out, I feel like I can cook better meals (at least a lot of the time) than restaurants, and absolutely eat in better conditions.

#27

Keep an eye on sales/coupons. A lot of food stuff goes on sale right before expiration which is great for your wallet if you are ok with freezing meats and veg.

#28

Sometimes drinking a lot of water can help with hunger.

Image credits: LiaBray

#29

Quit wasting $ on restaurant food, buy store brand groceries and learn to cook. Don't buy bottled water, reuse a jug and fill with tap water (might depend where you live).

Image credits: Rottenoff

#30

I bring to you - "the broke man's bounce"

A cheap food hack for students and Min wage peeps alike.

Get yourself a cheap can of braised steak and onions or any other meat and vegetable soup.

Get some 2 minute noodles - any flavour of your liking.

Mix together in a pot or microwave dish. Don't forget to add the flavour pack.

Heat until the noodles are at your preferred firmness.

Add salt and/or butter to taste. (Trust me, you want to add butter!)

Enjoy your broke mans bounce.

I practically live of this. It is delicious.

#31

A cheap pasta & tomato sauce trick-

You’ll need-
Your preferred pasta (I go with penne)
Tomato paste
1-2 cloves garlic
Salt & pepper
Dry and/or fresh herbs (optional)

KEY- add more water than usual to boil pasta in. Salt the water, do not add oil- it does nothing to help cook pasta. As long as you occasionally stir the pasta & have enough room in the pot, the pasta won’t stick together

A few minutes after adding pasta to boiling water, in a separate pot or pan, add a little olive oil and/or butter, and fry diced garlic over Med-high heat for just a minute or two (garlic burns quickly so be ready!!) Then add tomato paste (a small 6 oz. can per 1 lb pasta should do). Then add maybe 2-2.5 cups (a few ladles full) of the pasta water to the garlic & paste. Stir til paste is incorporated. Add a little salt & pepper (and garlic powder, thyme, oregano, basil if you have them)

If sauce is too liquidy after adding water, blast heat to reduce. If you grow your own basil, some fresh basil at the end will make that rusty fork feel like a silver spoon.

I usually then drain the pasta (2-3 minutes before recommended cook time) then add the pasta to the sauce and let it cook together for a minute or so

Works out to be less than $3 total to feed 3-4 adults ???

EDIT: this is still my favorite sauce recipe, even though I am now gainfully employed and living relatively comfortably.

EDIT EDIT: if your garlic has those sprouts coming out the top, slice garlic clove in half and take the sprouts out- its got a bitter flavor

#32

Pick up some cheap thrift store sweaters, coats, hats and gloves. They don’t need to look great; wear them inside to save on heating bills. If you’re really cold, just keep layering on more clothes. Summer clothes, winter clothes, all of it.

#33

Work for people who sell the resources you need. I worked for a farmer and got a gallon of milk every day as part of my compensation. We'd buy half cows/pigs from them at a discount. Always remember, resources are sold for much less at the source than they are in the supermarket.

When I was a fisherman in Alaska, we got paid a penny a pink. Canned, that fish was worth $4. Buy from the source when you can.

#34

Been there. Look up gurudwaras (Sikh temples) or Hare Krishna or other Hindu temples in your city. They almost always give away free food all through the year and it's pretty damn good and nutritious, vegetarian food.

#35

As kids, we would collect scrap metal every chance we could. Steel, aluminum cans, copper and brass (that was rare, we'd get bits and pieces). It added up.

Image credits: psilome

#36

When soap runs out, fill the bottle up with water a little bit.

Image credits: 954ranger

#37

Buy the main piece of clothing in black. It will go with any other color.

#38

Be clean. Taking good care of hygiene, hair cuts, teeth.
Wear clean clothes, press your shirts, dress well. Yes your shirt and pants may be second hand, doesn't mean they have to be unkempt. Clean your shoes or boots, wear a belt to make sure pants fit well as possible.
Being clean and dressed will make you have a better self image, and that will project to others opinion of you.

Image credits: BT270

#39

Hotdogs don't need buns, there's white bread, put some in a can of beans, cut one up and dip into mustard/ketchup. It's easy to turn something simple into a meal. The biggest hack of all, is be grateful for the people in your life, the things that money can't buy. Material possessions don't mean a thing.

#40

Dumpster diving. We really couldn't afford name brand clothing until I was in my mid teens, but I used to get some pretty great stuff from a halfway house dumpster a couple miles from the house. My mom managed a buffet for a while and while it wasn't technically dumpster diving, she'd always take food home that was going to be thrown away at closing. So we'd have nice steak and seafood dinners a lot.

Both of them have always been master trash pickers too, especially my dad because he can usually bring anything broken back to life. He's retired from HVAC work now but he still makes tons of money by picking up appliances, lawn mowers, vintage record players/radios, TVs, game consoles etc and repairing them to resell.

#41

I used to hang out at my friends all the time. Play with their video games and toys. Eat their food and drinks. Possibly stay for dinner. Possibly stay the night. Then go home!

#42

* Be generous to others, and don't act poor around them. I don't skimp on treating friends & family with nice birthday gifts or occasional coffee/lunch, and that paid off because the connection helped me getting out of poverty. * Buy high quality clothes and learn basic tailoring. I rarely buy new clothes, but the ones I bought years ago are still worn to this day, and fitted to my current measurements.

#43

Remember how much a price is supposed to be and politely point out when it rings up wrong.

Story time: My mom sent me to the store to buy dish soap. I get to the cashier and it rang up different from the shelf price. Manager checked sure enough it rang up wrong and i got it free. I took the money my mom gave me and rented a movie my family wanted to see.

Gave my mom the movie first and while she was freaking out handed her the soap and explained what happened.

#44

Don't waste yard space grow beans, corn and squash together. Walmart tote bins make good planter boxes if the soil ain't right. Drill a couple holes in them and plant your stuff.

#45

A bit of college advice/poor hack. When I was in college, there were days where I just didn't have food because I was stuck the whole day for classes and ofc buying food was sometimes out of the question when I was working part time and trying to pay off college. Anyway, I joined several clubs to boost my future prospects, to kill time between classes, and to learn/network. I became an officer in two clubs and I joined competitions/events too that other clubs hosted. There was almost always free food, whether it was normal meetings, events, or officer meetings. One time for an event, one of the clubs over ordered something like 50 burrito combos (burrito, chips, and cookies). No one wanted them, so I volunteered to take them all. Got pretty sick of burritos for a while and I shared them among my family. But I didn't have to buy groceries for like 2-3 weeks. Just FYI, clubs usually have a membership fee, but it's often pretty low and you can offset it if your club is heavily engaged and has a good treasurer.

#46

Have at least one friend who is upper middle class that wears the same size clothes as you do. Hand-me-downs from him, really made me feel stylish.

Image credits: Eastern-Operation275

#47

Share what you have with the right people and they'll share what they have with you.

#48

Look for the money/calorie ratio to avoid overspending.

Image credits: babytontonton

#49

Not sure if it’s a real hack but I do know how “vaccum” the floor to perfection with nothing but a broom head and a damp paper towel.

#50

Butter cinnamon and sugar on toast is the best dessert.

#51

Fishing license. I had almost nothing as a kid, but I remember long and great days spent fishing for the cost of a fishing license (I'd save over the winter). I used to dig worms up under leaf piles, had a super basic pole and leftover line people would throw out. Just a nice way to spend a day outside

Image credits: These_Bicycle_4314

#52

My mom would go to the makeup store and just sit there with the mirror getting all dolled up using all the samples.

Image credits: Slevin424

#53

Your toilet does not need that much water to flush. So what I did was fill up a water bottle and put it in my toilet tank. Saved a bit of water each flush.

#54

If you're hungry and need some company or shelter. Join a church organization near you.

I may not be a devoted christian but damn I am forever grateful for these people who helped me when I was unemployed for months.

#55

Man a lot of these """"hacks"""" are basically just one step away from "stop buying coffee and avocado toast".

MY hack is for hot weather, if you don't have a/c - first of all, a swamp cooler (or "personal air conditioner") is about $40 on amazon and it's AMAZING. It only cools off a small radius but it's super useful.

For something less expensive, get a dish pan or even just use your bathtub, fill it so there's about 1 inch of water. When you get hot, put your feet in there. Immediately cools you off in a way that shouldn't put your body into shock, and you can reuse the water since it's just your feet (but part of why I recommend using a dishpan or a bowl or something is so it uses less water).

Also if you need a new phone, QVC/HSN usually have phones with tracfone service and they have the option to pay in installments. So like, $150 for the phone AND a year's worth of service (including minutes, texts, and data), and you can split the payment across 3 or 4 months. So not great if you're dirt poor but useful if you can't afford a new iphone but your flip phone is no longer cutting it.

Although if you desperately need a new phone, Tracfone does actually have flip phones, for $10! (and then you have to pay for service).

Another "poor" hack is to look for surveys and sample sites and stuff. Most of them suck these days, unfortunately. But I got a whole bottle of dish soap once, for free!

#56

Tell grandma I was hungry. She'd make the best meal from little bits of food. I wish I had been more aware of how talented that is.

#57

buy the dark bread, idk about other places, but here it’s cheaper and it’s way better when if you have a long day ahead, cause it gives you longer lasting energy.

#58

Selling blood plasma can cover groceries.

#59

**Medical care :** A passport is about $200 when the pictures, postage, fees, etc. are all factored in. It might be more if you need a long form birth certificate from the state vital records office (your hospital issue one should be considered a keepsake. If it's not state issue, it's not a solid legal document). This passport is your ticket to Mexico, where medical, including dental, is about 10-30% of US costs. I knew a guy who got his entire mouth rebuilt across the border, just south of Arizona, for like $600.

The "Farmacia" system is that of a pharmacy with an on-site doctor who can write an Rx on the spot for a small fee (ca. $20). Due to Mexico's drug scheduling system, some medicines are OTC, like fluoxetine/prozac.

A lot of your dental damage can be solved by remineralizing your teeth. Your saliva remineralizes the enamel coating with time. So if your have chronic dry mouth, you probably have tooth decay. So apply flouride rich toothpaste on your teeth throughout the day (I do it 1-2x's). I've had alot of sensitivity and chalky spots fix up in 2 to 3 weeks time. You'll often hear people say "go to a dental school", but don't count on it. Those are few between, and the slots are few between, and even then there's pre-screening for problems. Prevention and remineralization are the go-to methods.

A further pro-tip about dental pain: if you get headache that start in the morals in the back of your mouth, and radiate outwards to the eyes, you probably don't have a tooth issue. You have a sinus issue. Sinuses are voids in your head that need cleaning (yes, it's kind of horrifying), but the nedi-pot method with warm tap water can fix it in like 5 minutes.

Eyeglasses are cheaper online. Zenni and a multitude of other places let you type in your Rx, and you can get high quality glasses for like $20.



**Food :** meat (specifically animal fat like bacon grease) is a flavoring agent, not a stand alone bulk item. 4 strips of minced and browned bacon, with the grease, added to a pound of washed dry beans if essentially heaven . Beans are an under appreciate, cheap, non-expiring thing.

Brew your own wine. A jug, sugar, bread yeast, virtually any fruit juice is all it takes. I brew in a gallon sized Carlo Rossi jug and re-use bottles.

#60

As a kid when we didn’t have milk my dad would mix hot water and hot cocoa mix and it was a pretty solid substitute for milk

#61

Take stacks of napkins each time you eat out... never have to buy paper towels for the house...

Image credits: No_Finish_2144

#62

Stock up on napkins, sauces, utensils, whatever you can while grabbing something off the value menu at whatever fast food you choose. Most employees don't gaf. I've never paid for red pepper flakes in my life thanks to cheap pizza. Most of the freebies you can use with cheaper regular dinners like ramen or potatoes. Only eating dinner saves too. And that sums up my 20's.

#63

If you're in an area with a few fast food places in close proximity - look for discarded receipts for the survey on the back. Sadly a lot of places caught on and require you to buy a drink or something but used to be able to get a big Mac for pennies.

#64

I don't know if it's considered a "hack" but I really learned that many of life's greatest joys are not found in money (e.g. I have an awesome family relationship, great friends that do not care about my financial status, I go running for free to stay fit, and I've been obsessed with video games that are decades old at this point that still have competitive communities, etc.).

#65

Test driving a used pick up truck when you need to move.

#66

How has no one mentioned writing a sob story to a top college so you’d get in and get their generous financial aid and graduate with almost no loans? Every other kid is writing about their science lab while I’m writing about living in a drug house.

Image credits: BrunitoMadrigal

#67

Sugar on a frying pan - good candies.

#68

If I got a hole in my clothes I would just color my skin with the same color of my shirt/sweater/pants so it would be less noticeable.

#69

Electric was much more expensive than gas where we lived. The furnace was electric. The stove was gas. So in the winter, we would open the oven and turn it on to warm the house.

Image credits: IdesofMarch67

#70

A metal ruler can help when the power company turn off your electricity.

#71

If you have a coax cable lying around from some type of electronic you can connect one side to the back of your TV and cut the other and expose the wires on the inside. Bend them so it's shaped Iike a "Y" and wrap the point of the "Y" with a flat piece of tin foil a couple times and it will work as an antenna so you can watch judge judy.

#72

I used to scoop out the vacuum cleaners at car washes. I found drugs/pills I would sell to my uncles, jewelry, money etc… most places lock them up now

#73

Using a match stick and a 2p coin to get bubble gum from a dispenser instead of paying 20p ?

#74

Dating girls from rich families who were tired of douchey chads and/or s****y dads.

I did ok at this, but I've got some buddies that are ABSOLUTE hood rats who have literally lived their lives doing this.