You can find a lot of wild and wacky stuff on Reddit. Some of it is comical, some of it is bawdy. No small amount of it is weird. A lot of it makes you grateful for your own life — and for your common sense. There’s no stone of human experience that Redditors will leave unturned, including everything from the existence of aliens to personal finance tips.
Read Next: 8 Things You Must Do When Your Savings Reach $50,000
Check Out: 8 Frugal Habits Americans Are Ridiculed for — and Why You Shouldn’t Care
While there are some very smart personal finance tips out there, penned by people who are professionals in the field or in communities dedicated to renowned experts, there are also a lot of money hacks that feel, well, the word unhinged comes to mind.
GOBankingRates had a fine time finding some of the most unhinged money hacks on Reddit. Please, dear reader, don’t try some of these at home.
Trending Now: Suze Orman’s Secret to a Wealthy Retirement–Have You Made This Money Move?
Getting Creative on Marketplace
When members of the Ask Reddit community were asked about how they’d make money in a pinch, two people shared their very unique money-making hack, which fused creativity with a dash of duplicity.
Redditor stonedfishing had a very simple plan to make a few extra bucks: “Find rocks on the beach, spray them with clearcoat, and sell them on marketplace as artisanal decorations.” So, if you bought any decor from stonedfishing, you probably could have done this yourself for less money.
Not to be outdone, _coffee_ shared that they did a similar thing with old wooden doors. Strip off the hinges and knobs, give them a good clean or polish, and voila, you can sell ’em as tabletops. Now that is some rustic chic.
Learn More: 8 Smart Ways Frugal People Are Living Like There’s Already a Recession
Freezing Out Utilities Bills
Keeping your home cool in the hot months and warm in the cold months can cost you, it’s true. But Redditor duyli was undaunted — and frankly, unhinged — in their suggestion for saving money on utilities: “Unplugged my fridge in winter. Nature’s cold, why pay twice?”
Saving a buck is great, but there are some things you do need to splurge on — and proper food sanitation is one of them. If you nosh on certain kinds of unrefrigerated foods, you could end up spending everything you saved on utilities bills, and then some, on a hospital stay. So, um, please don’t try this.
Highway to the Danger Zone?
You can also put this tip firmly in the “do not try this at home — or anywhere” category. When Redditors were asked how they save money while traveling, people in one thread shared a rather unconventional tip — traveling to a global geo-political hot spot to save money on tickets while avoiding long wait times and benefiting from enhanced security.
“I booked Peru early 2023 when all that political stuff was going down,” HappyPenguin2023 recalled. “Got super cheap prices and everything had settled down by the time we went in July — but crowds were still really low!”
Another user chimed in, sharing that, by booking their travel to Bogota during huge protests, they were able to save 60% on hotel costs.
That’s One Way To Earn Credit Card Points
Once upon a time, Redditor Perfect_Zone_4919 had a perfect scheme for racking up those valuable credit card points:
“Shut down now, but I used to buy golden dollar coins from the mint with a credit card. They had free shipping and no tax because they wanted to get them in circulation. As soon as they arrived, I’d cash them in at the bank and repeat. Built up huge reward points on my card.”
Avoid Those Check Bag Fees by Any Means Necessary
Redditor kacombs may say that they look like “an eccentric weirdo at the airport” but one person’s eccentricity is another person’s thriftiness. And this Redditor will go to some fashion extremes to save money on checking a bag:
“I always wear several layers of clothing to avoid checking a bag (even when it’s hot) and I always wear my biggest pair of shoes (usually hiking boots). I also wear a fanny pack under my sweatshirt/coat and sometimes I stuff a neck pillow (or even just regular pillowcase) with clothes,” they wrote. “Most airlines have policies to not charge for a pillow and it’s honestly none of anyone’s business whether my pillow is filled with down/fiberfill or cotton and polyester lol.”
Is this comfortable? Of course not, but to make it bearable, they’ll hide tote bags to switch up items. Oh, and they’ve also been known to put clothes and other items in a plain brown paper bag, making it seem like they’ve gone shopping at the airport to avoid those bag check fees.
Well, we promised some unhinged money hacks from Reddit, and we delivered. But seriously, don’t try most of these at home.
More From GOBankingRates
New Law Could Make Electricity Bills Skyrocket in These 4 States
I’m a Self-Made Millionaire: 6 Ways I Use ChatGPT To Make a Lot of Money
5 Strategies High-Net-Worth Families Use To Build Generational Wealth
7 Wealth-Building Shortcuts Proven To Add $1K to Your Wallet This Month
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Reddit’s Most Unhinged Money Hacks
