The Unofficial Kiwi Poorfag Resource Thread - share recipes and resources for your area (both government and personal) here

[Nagato Kai Ni Surigao]

Haven't seen it mentioned in the thread yet but Raspberries are a great zero-effort plant. They have little runners that shoot out underground and grow more of themselves, and they will take over in a few years if you let them. The original plants will eventually die of old age but their children will outnumber them tenfold.

 

[Aunt Carol]

Raspberries are a great zero-effort plant.

Strongly advise that you check with local gardeners/plant stores before you embark on your berry journey. In some areas, this is like planting kudzu as a life hack. Then again, if you hate your landlord you can step it up to planting blackberries.


Thread tax: if you have a hankering for those little chocolate-filled liquor bottles, you can replicate the taste for pennies by drinking port while eating semi-sweet chocolate chips.

 

[DickMain]

Haven't seen it mentioned in the thread yet but Raspberries are a great zero-effort plant. They have little runners that shoot out underground and grow more of themselves, and they will take over in a few years if you let them. The original plants will eventually die of old age but their children will outnumber them tenfold.

I can confirm this. We have some bushes out back at my fourplex that have been here since before any of the tenants. None of us maintain it and that thing still somehow fruits every year, and I'm kind of tempted to see about putting some love into it next spring.

 

[Diet Coke 4 Life]

For those who are apartment living and don't have the luxury of planting shit in your yard, here's a little thing I did back in the day when I was doing the same.

Get ye some plastic bags and keep your smaller shipping boxes (or better yet, get ye 30 gallon yard bags and acquire xerox paper boxes from your job/random places where people get rid of carboard). Punch a couple of small holes in the bottom of your bag, put the bag in your box, and boom, instant pot for the cost of nothing.

I used this method for a good number of years. Digging up soil from random locations and planting hardy berry plants eliminates those costs, and unveils rocks that can be used to surround your shitty boxes to provide additional structural support and make them not look like crap.

I can neither confirm nor deny that some bricks taken from a demolition site, an invasive water plant taken from a retention pool, a xerox paper box, a plastic hefty bag and a handful of white cloud minnows made a charming little porch pond that nobody knew cost me $10 bucks in fish. Flanking it was another xerox box with a wild strawberry plant and a wild blackberry plant planted in dirt dug up from the side of the road by a drainage ditch. That setup lasted for all 4 years I was in that apartment, and I was never wanting for berries in summer.

 

[Hepativore]

This is is the time of year that turkeys go on sale, often for less than a dollar a pound. You can get a really good deal on them, right now.

 

[FeatherPlucker]

If you go through a domestic violence situation, check with your Human Resources department if they offer leave or paid leave for such situations. After I had a DV incident that involved police, I discovered after the fact that my state and my employer offer leave for DV situations.. so, in theory I could have called off from work without being penalized for said issue. Luckily I didn't "need" to take off at that time, but I thought it was interesting nonetheless and thought I'd share that. For example, if you get into a DV issue and the cops come and file a report, you could hypothetically take the next day off from work to quickly pack your shit and GTFO or file a protective order or whatever you need to do... without your job being able to penalize you for calling out. I'm sure many women put off leaving because they don't want to skip a day of work and risk a "write up".
Apparently many states have laws like this, but of course they don't advertise them. Some states also have grants that will pay for your rent for a month or two, etc, to help you relocate- again, you won't really find out this information until the shit hits the fan because they don't advertise.

 

[glass_houses]

If you go through a domestic violence situation, check with your Human Resources department if they offer leave or paid leave for such situations. After I had a DV incident that involved police, I discovered after the fact that my state and my employer offer leave for DV situations.. so, in theory I could have called off from work without being penalized for said issue. Luckily I didn't "need" to take off at that time, but I thought it was interesting nonetheless and thought I'd share that. For example, if you get into a DV issue and the cops come and file a report, you could hypothetically take the next day off from work to quickly pack your shit and GTFO or file a protective order or whatever you need to do... without your job being able to penalize you for calling out. I'm sure many women put off leaving because they don't want to skip a day of work and risk a "write up".
Apparently many states have laws like this, but of course they don't advertise them. Some states also have grants that will pay for your rent for a month or two, etc, to help you relocate- again, you won't really find out this information until the shit hits the fan because they don't advertise.

Similarly, the RSPCA in Australia can sometimes foster pets of people who need to escape a DV situation, but can't because they can neither take their animal when they flee, or leave it behind to be abused/killed by their ex.

 

[Mister Fister]

I'll say this, Dave Ramsey is a faggot.

 

[Mister Fister]

All of these finance gurus only speak about money, never about time. The biggest fuck yous of being poor are the lack of time and opportunity costs. Debt used smartly can be used to escape this time trap. Key word, smartly.

 

[latter day taint 2]

If you are looking to buy a Kindle or similar: this is the time to buy a used one for super cheap. Kindle released new models before Xmas. I've seen newer "old" models for $10 on FB marketplace.

It's a poor hack because you can use them to ready library books while also saving your smartphone battery. My library allows you to borrow up to 10 books at a time and I have bought 4 books in the past year - they were all series that I am super invested in and wanted to own.

 

[Kung Pow Cream]

If you are looking to buy a Kindle or similar: this is the time to buy a used one for super cheap. Kindle released new models before Xmas. I've seen newer "old" models for $10 on FB marketplace.

It's a poor hack because you can use them to ready library books while also saving your smartphone battery. My library allows you to borrow up to 10 books at a time and I have bought 4 books in the past year - they were all series that I am super invested in and wanted to own.

Yes another thing I want to point out for folks is that libraries exist and they often have so many things that can help you and will help you save money. Here are the things I have seen:

• Movies and TV series in Physical format
• Play rooms for children you can book for free
• Study rooms you can book for free
• Free audiobooks and ebooks
• Free activities for children and adults ranging from language learning, local conventions, story times, reading a book to a dog, exercise, and skill building
• Video games
• Internet hot spots
• Free streaming of movies and tv shows
• Free subscriptions to newspaper websites
• Medical care such as testing for diseases
• Free medical supplies
• Various tools to help fix your house
• Manuals to fix your car
• Podcast area for recording
• Child safe iPad like devices for learning
• Printers
• Scanners
• Practice tests for things like the SAT and ACT
• Music lessons
• Craft lessons

There's more that I probably have not seen or have forgotten so please please check your library because they're really helpful if you're broke.

 

[Awwtismo]

I used to go just to have some free A/C during a heat wave.

 

[glass_houses]

Don't ever buy sunglasses new. There were five to ten pairs donated every week just at the small op shop I was based at, often expensive brands. They'll likely be styles no longer in fashion, but hey, Ray Bans are Ray Bans.

 

[toilet_rainbow]

If you depend on public transportation and catch wind that a price hike is coming, see if you can "stack" time periods before the change goes into effect. While I cannot currently afford the larger, better value periods to save even more, I was able to pay for a month at the "old" price by buying it before my current one ended. What little I did save still helped a lot.

 

[Polychromos]

While second hand furniture is always cheaper and often higher quality, if you don't have the means to pick it up, it might not always be an option.
While it has become more expensive, cheap wooden furniture is still the way to go. The really cheap Ikea stuff, as well as the chinesium amazon stuff can be really great, if you're willing to put in a little bit of effort.
At least in my country, this stuff is cheaper than buying the same quality wood by itself. Even if you want to make your own thing from scratch, it might be cheaper to buy furniture and repurpose the wood.
Just make sure you buy furniture made of untreated wood and then treat it yourself.
Be prepared that screw holes might be missing, or be in the wrong place. If you don't know anything about furniture construction, you shouldn't buy anything big, that is supposed to carry a lot of weight (as in bunk beds, etc). Anything else is very easy to optimize, with very little time, effort and money. Plastic and even a lot of the "metal" crap oftentimes cannot be repaired. Even absolute bottom of the barrel wood, can usually be fixed.

A lot of DIY tutorials use very ugly and ott, or weird modern designs, but you can make really nice furniture without a lot of skill or sense of style. It does not have to be this way and you don't need talent or skills! I painted all my ugly second hand furniture the same color and treated all my new wooden stuff with the same oil. Even my non-poor friends compliment my furniture and ask me where I bought it. I'm not trying to brag, I'm just saying that DIY stuff does not have to look like DIY stuff.
If you don't like the DIY look and have no sense of style (like me), just remember that "less is more" and just pick a neutral color and one, or two other colors you like and stick to that. Something that made my appartment a lot more cohesive, was changing out differently colored hardware on the vintage stuff and using my own matching screws on the new furniture.

I really love this thread! It's honestly been really helpful for me. I feel like the internet used to be full of stuff like this, but nowadays every blog post/video seems to just be shilling shit...

 

[Aunt Carol]

While second hand furniture is always cheaper and often higher quality, if you don't have the means to pick it up, it might not always be an option.

Your advice is excellent, but I do want to point out that renting a U-haul pickup truck or van for one day, in-town, can be worth it. Check if the total price of the rental + the used furniture is still good, and which kind of hassle you prefer. If you're lucky/not picky you can get a few secondhand pieces in a day or a weekend and make the rental cost less of an issue.

Peak strat would be to rent a U-haul for the weekend after graduation in a university town, and drive around the student district with a sturdy friend, celebrating Hippie Christmas.

However, like you said, learning to fix furniture is a huge step up, too. Especially if your furniture is old but not priceless 14th century antique, there's not much trouble you can get into replacing screws, adding shims, tightening loose joints--nothing like sturdy furniture to make you feel like real people.

 

[Polychromos]

Your advice is excellent, but I do want to point out that renting a U-haul pickup truck or van for one day, in-town, can be worth it. Check if the total price of the rental + the used furniture is still good, and which kind of hassle you prefer. If you're lucky/not picky you can get a few secondhand pieces in a day or a weekend and make the rental cost less of an issue.
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Peak strat would be to rent a U-haul for the weekend after graduation in a university town, and drive around the student district with a sturdy friend, celebrating Hippie Christmas.

However, like you said, learning to fix furniture is a huge step up, too. Especially if your furniture is old but not priceless 14th century antique, there's not much trouble you can get into replacing screws, adding shims, tightening loose joints--nothing like sturdy furniture to make you feel like real people.

100% the better option!
But in some countries it's not common for everyone to have a drivers license and while the U-Hauls might be cheap, finding someone who can drive it for you and coordinating it with someone from an online marketplace can be really complicated.

 

[Diet Coke 4 Life]

To piggy-back on the u-haul bit, if you have a vehicle that is capable of towing and don't mind putting on some additional miles....

I can neither confirm nor deny that I've done cross-state (or even multi-state when it comes to the eastern seaboard of the US of A) moves using the 'local' fee simply by towing the trailer back to its original location when done. Sure, it takes multiple hours and tons of driving, but paying $20 a day (so $60 for a full weekend of usage) vice $300 for a one way towing sure is worth it, especially if you end up only eating $60 in additional gas fees for the trip back to the originating location and then back to your new home.

Works only for trailers, as there's no odometer to prove that you towed that thing 800 miles vice just puttering around in town with it. All you have to do is tell a convincing tale about how it's going to take you the whole weekend to finish your move using the trailer because of multiple trips and other obligations you have for your vehicle during that time span.

 

[glass_houses]

To piggy-back on the u-haul bit, if you have a vehicle that is capable of towing and don't mind putting on some additional miles....

I can neither confirm nor deny that I've done cross-state (or even multi-state when it comes to the eastern seaboard of the US of A) moves using the 'local' fee simply by towing the trailer back to its original location when done. Sure, it takes multiple hours and tons of driving, but paying $20 a day (so $60 for a full weekend of usage) vice $300 for a one way towing sure is worth it, especially if you end up only eating $60 in additional gas fees for the trip back to the originating location and then back to your new home.

Works only for trailers, as there's no odometer to prove that you towed that thing 800 miles vice just puttering around in town with it. All you have to do is tell a convincing tale about how it's going to take you the whole weekend to finish your move using the trailer because of multiple trips and other obligations you have for your vehicle during that time span.

Are you sure that it's possible to do this still, given how cheap and easily hidden satellite trackers are now?

 

[Diet Coke 4 Life]

Are you sure that it's possible to do this still, given how cheap and easily hidden satellite trackers are now?

It absolutely is, fren. U-Haul gives next to no shits as long as it's returned to the same office on time and without damage.