Cheapest of the Cheap: From frugal luxury to giving back, winners teach Ms. Cheap new tricks

When I announced the return of the Cheapest of the Cheap contest in celebration of the 25th anniversary of my Ms. Cheap column, I knew it would attract some good ideas. Sure enough, I learned a lot of new cheap tricks, and I'm ready to share.

Without further ado, I give you the 25 Cheapest of the Cheap winners and their top tips.

First place: Extreme frugality leads to luxury

Lexi Barnett, who is cheap through and through, earned the first place honor. She and her boyfriend, George Livingston, believe their extreme frugality enables them extreme luxuries, particularly when traveling. Their first-place designation comes with a $499.99 award.

They do not own a TV. They do not have internet at home. They have been known to shower and exercise for free at their offices. They do not turn on the heat at home unless the indoor temperature dips below 38 degrees. They have never had an electric bill more than $45, Barnett said.

Barnett, 24, and Livingston, 28, both Belmont University grads, say their entertainment comes from creative nights out they organize for each other a couple times a month. They've done a taco tour where they visited of three taco stands one night, made a game out of sharing information about their childhoods and enjoy free events like the First Saturday Art Crawl.

The couple, who both work in commercial real estate, say they get their books at the library. Barnett gets her hair services at a student hair salon. Livingston has not had a haircut in three years and is waiting until his birthday when a salon he knows about offers free cuts.

"Some of the stuff we do is extreme," said Barnett. "Many would argue too extreme, but we're able to save over 70 percent of our annual income, which gives us the opportunity to see the world. I'd much rather have a week in Costa Rica than an expensive electric bill."

Barnett buys most of her clothes at thrift and consignment stores or on Poshmark. Livingston wears black on most days, keeping his wardrobe practical, simple and cheap.

They owned a home in East Nashville and lived in the basement while renting out the upper floors to cover the full mortgage. They sold that house at the height of the market and are now renting until purchase prices become more attractive.

They make all of their Christmas gifts. They drive high-mileage, hand-me-down family cars.Hers is a 2010 Ford Fusion with 125,000 miles, and his is a 2008 Volvo with 133,000 miles.

They do meal prep on Sundays, making all of their lunches and dinners from bulk items like quinoa, beans and proteins like tuna and ground turkey. They have a garden, and they only eat out three to six times a year, except for family gatherings when their parents foot the bill. 

For Livingston, the end goal is to support his entrepreneurial efforts in aquaculture, while Barnett's is to build a commercial real estate portfolio and travel.    

So far this year, Barnett has been to London, Costa Rica and the Smoky Mountains, and she has plans for San Diego and two or three countries in South America. Last year's travel list included Amsterdam, Paris, Switzerland, Mexico, Canada, San Francisco, the Grand Canyon, New York City and more.

"I do travel a lot," Barnett said. "My goal is to visit at least two countries a year."

Second place: Unofficial, educational civil rights tour

Second place, with a $249.99 award, goes to Sarah Jane Nelson, of Nashville, who recommends her Nashville civil rights tour as an "educational, low-cost expedition with the kids, an afternoon date or a solo outing." 

"Start by parking at the downtown Nashville Public Library (free for the first 1.5hours with validation) and head up to the second floor Civil Rights Room," where you can see "remarkable videos about the events that took place at Fisk University and Nashville's lunch counters during the desegregation of the 1960s." 

Then walk to Woolworth on 5th and "sit at the very lunch counter where these significant events took place. If you're on the cheap, just get coffee of dessert. Be sure to explore upstairs, as well, as there are some historical photos on display.

"Next, walk a few blocks to the Davidson County Courthouse plaza, where student leaders C.T. Vivian and Diane Nash confronted Mayor (Ben) West in front of a crowd of marchers. The mayor conceded that segregation was immoral and that the city's lunch counters should be integrated. This was the first major step towards desegregating public accommodations in Nashville." 

Her tour continues with a look at the Witness Walls next to the courthouse, "which were designed by artist Walter Hood, with images reflecting school desegregation, lunch counter sit-ins, marches, meeting and Freedom Rides," Nelson said.

Third place: Cheap parties that give back

Third place and $99 goes to Melanie Williams, of Lebanon, who said the favorite parties for her sons growing up were "give back" parties, like when her son was 11 and his friends brought care packages for soldiers instead of gifts. 

The invitations were inexpensive plastic dog tags; she set up "boot camp" with an obstacle course made from household items; and she made a flag cake. "The kids drew pictures to include in the boxes" which went to soldiers Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We've done similar parties and collected item for dog rescues and other places where guests can bring donations, and the party is centered around the theme."

Honorable mentions: From a bourbon tasting room to bingo

Honorable mention winners, who received $25 Goodwill gift cards were:

Scott and Teresa Gunderson, of Mt. Juliet, transformed a home office into a bourbon tasting room using old pallet wood for a wall and the tasting bar. They got the pallets for free from a pallet recycler and a local construction site (with permission), used leftover oak flooring from a renovation project and found shelving at a consignment store. The total cost of project was about $150, including a sheet of plywood, screws and some 1-by-4-foot lumber.

Andrew Zimmerle, of College Grove, worked magic on his daughter's fourth birthday party.

"I wanted to rent a magician to perform some magic tricks for the children, but hourly prices were outrageous. After some internet-searching, I found a fairly cheap ($15) DVD by MagicMakers with multiple sponge ball disappearing tricks." 

He bought a rope trick and a magic rubber thumb for about $10 combined, found more tricks online for free and collected some household items such as a glass, white paper, glue, quarters and two-sided tape to make the tricks work. 

"I practiced the tricks until I was comfortable performing them," said Zimmerle, who dug out his old tuxedo and transformed himself into "Professor Magic” as he "amazed and dazzled" the children. 

Tom Root, of Nashville, is a fan of Megabus for cheap travel and has bragging rights on making a trip from Nashville to his condo outside Daytona Beach for $20.05. He says it took "a little time, early planning and a spirit of adventure." 

He accomplished this by booking Megabus' $5 fares from Nashville to Atlanta and $10 from Atlanta to Daytona Beach, and he used his senior discount on bus tickets to and from the Megabus stops.

"Door-to-door, the total cost was $20.05 with minimal walking," he said, noting the only downside was that the trip took 19 hours, starting at 10 a.m in Nashville and arriving at 7 a.m. the next day in Daytona. "But I was able to sleep all night on the bus."

Sarah Laos, of Nashville, a Nashville public school counselor, wants her office to be inviting and comfortable for students and has seen how many useful items are discarded by college students at the end of the year.  

"I drive around to various Vanderbilt dumpsters and pick out supplies that might be of use in my office (and sometimes my home)," Laos said.

Her dumpster treasures including: a mini-fridge, microwave, toaster oven, coffee pot, five lamps, a lava lamp, a personal printer, a mini-fan, a decorative plant, binders, a paper shredder, a storage shelf, seat cushions, power strips and multiple small dry erase/bulletin boards."Excited to see what I'll find this May."

Cris Pollard of Mt. Juliet, "took the plunge and moved from a fancy 2,800-square-foot home to a 1,500-square-foot fixer-upper."

The result of her "right sizing" was that she "became mortgage-free a year after buying, and not only did we save on a mortgage payment, but also on the cost of utilities, taxes, and HOA fees.

"Changing my focus to reducing the cost of the biggest item in our budget has made a huge impact not only on our finances but our quality of life."    

"Cheap to be Generous Award" and a $20 Kroger gift card goes to Marie Sirk, of Franklin, who found that while many food pantries and organizations need food, there is sometimes an overlooked need for items that are not covered by SNAP.

"I have found this area to be where my heart lies for providing assistance," said Sirk, who looks for buy one get, one free deals and other specials to stock up on items to donate.  

"I love that giving doesn’t have to cost much. If you plan and get creative you can give so much for so little … and that’s priceless."

Another cheap to be generous prize and Kroger gift card went to Andrea Hittle, of Nashville, who told us about the "kindness bingo" game she plays with her 9-year-old daughter. 

"Bingo squares have activities, and you can color them in when you complete the activity."

Their "kindness bingo" has included: hiding a dollar in the toy section at the Dollar Tree, leaving money to get a snack in a vending machine, placing an encouraging note on someone’s car, making a decision to "go last" for a week (last in line, last to get food, last to pick, last to share), paying for the meal of the car behind you, visiting a nursing home, doing a chore for a neighbor and volunteering or donating food to a charity.

"Hours of inexpensive fun and great quality time together as a family," says Hittle. 

Other winners

Cherish Matthews, of Springfield, says "to give up all extraneous spending in January and February — no restaurants, no Amazon Deal of the Day, no Goodwill half-off day, no Aldi special finds, nothing. Just the necessities, like medicine, gas and groceries. With groceries, we even took it a step further; we made January's food budget for our family of five $100," compared to their usual $500 a month food budget. 

"Compared with our credit card spending in January and February 2018, we saved more than $1,600. It wasn't easy, but it was completely doable. It made us realize we were spending so much money on things that we don't need and falling into the thrill of the bargain hunting trap."

The result was that they were able to pay for a new HVAC system, and now she says they are saving up for a once-in-a-lifetime family European cruise.

When Jeff Drifmeyer, of Nashville, replaced windows in his house, he saved the wood framed glass panels and assembled cold frames for his garden. He used marked-down  organic mulch, used his military discount and "checked out" several varieties of lettuce seed from the Nashville Public Library seed exchange.

For less than $2, he had a fun project which repurposed materials and an "endless supply of fresh organically grown lettuce."

Corinne Wright, of Joelton, stocked up on some 90%-off wooden totes at Hobby Lobby. She used the 19 cent totes in a craft project for the Joelton Elementary classroom where her granddaughter teaches. The totes, which were incorporated into a lesson on garden flowers, were decorated by the children to use as Mother's Day gifts. The cost was 25-30 cents each, she said.

Michele Totty, of Nashville, takes full advantage of AMC Theatres' free Stubs program that gets her free popcorn refills, ticket savings and other perks on her movie outings. There is an upgraded "A List" program that costs as little as $19.95 a month, and offers all of those "Stubs" perks, plus free online reservations, and members get to see three movies a week.

"For the price of two tickets, you would see 10 extra movies a month," Totty said. "The A-list program can save between $120-$143 a month." She noted that there is a minimum three-month commitment, and then recurring credit/debit monthly until you cancel.

Sandra Atwood, of Mt. Juliet, came up with a fun project for her 4-year-old granddaughter who loves American Girl dolls and accessories.

"We recently made a bunk bed for her two dolls," using two cardboard copy paper box lids as beds and two empty soda cans hot glued together for the posts, Atwood said. The total cost was $2.98, including a polka dotted sheet and pink fleece blanket from Goodwill.

Kevin Goughary, of Franklin, has a great example taking advantage of retailers' offers to refund shoppers the difference if the price drops within a month of your purchase.

His impressive "triple deal" was on the Ring Video Doorbell 2 he bought at Costco in January for $189.99, including a wifi door chime that would sell separately for $50. Figuring it was a good deal because the unit lists for $199.99 on Ring.com, he bought two more to install for himself and his daughter.  

"Saved $60 three times, and we're all more safe and secure, right?"

As great as the deal already was, Costco advertised the Ring 2 package for $149.99 in February. Goughary dashed over with his receipts to take advantage of Costco's policy that guarantees access to a newly advertised price for purchases in the prior month. "They issued a credit to me for $120 ($40 each x 3)! "

Erin Hendrickson, of Nashville, has found that in addition to the satisfaction of helping others through volunteering, some great perks come with her efforts, including expenses paid for going to conferences for work, learning new skills through her church's media team and earning free admission to events through her volunteer jobs with Hands on Nashville. "I love to lend a hand, serve the community and have a bit of fun a the same time." 

Gwen Dyer, of Murfreesboro, proves that persistence and asking questions can pay off. When her son decided to transfer to Tennessee from an out-of-state college, she was afraid he had lost his chance to take advantage of the in-state scholarship program.

After considerable "digging" and calls to the financial aid departments at the schools, "we discovered that if he transferred to MTSU in the spring semester he was not eligible for a transfer scholarship, but if he attended a community college for a semester and then transferred to MTSU in the fall, he would receive an additional $6,000 in scholarship money. So now that makes his cost to attend MTSU under $300 a semester." 

The lesson learned here is, "Never be afraid to ask the right questions to the right people, especially when it comes to saving money."

Angela Folds, of Franklin, says the best $35 she ever spent was for a resortpass.com pass that enabled her to enjoy a full day of pampering at the Gaylord Opryland Resort’s Relâche Spa.

"Gaylord Opryland Resort is the only one in the Nashville area. It’s not a membership. You simply buy a one-day pass," said Folds.

Her $35 spa pass included access to the pools, fitness center and valet parking, as well as the steam room, dry sauna, rainfall showers and more.

The Gaylord Opryland day pass rates vary depending on day of the week, season and extent of services. Prices start at $25 for some access, and can go up to more than $80 for more services on weekends.

Certified cheapster Clay Dyer, of Lebanon, did without a smartphone for 10 years, but he finally caved in when he realized having restaurant apps on his phone was the way to get free food. Thanks to savings guru Clark Howard, he found a FreedomPop deal where he could purchase an Android phone for $45 and have no monthly fee as long as he used no more than 500 megabytes of data, had 500 or fewer texts or 200 minutes of calls per month.

"This was perfect for me, as I didn't need the phone for texts or calls, just the apps. I've had the phone since November 2017, and not a single penny paid on a service plan. This could be a perfect first phone for a young teen."

Butch Bell, of Bellevue, believes he has saved more than $2,000 over the last four years by "hard negotiating" on TV and phone services. He says when the service companies try to increase monthly payments, "I call them immediately to start very hard negotiating of their services. If possible, try to get past the first line of customer representatives to the people that can really change your pricing structure. 

"If they are not willing to negotiate new price options, immediately start the process of closing your accounts," Bell said. He was able to get his monthly AT&T bill down from $104.44 to $56.38 and his DirecTV bill down from $145 a month to $104.37, with no change in services. 

Myra Fisher, of Carthage, got quite a deal on pasta sauce when Publix had a buy one, get one free offer on Bertolli marinara sauce, making it $1.12 per jar.

"I purchased four jars because Bertolli was offering a rebate when you bought three jars, and they would send you two free prep bowls. I had $1 off one jar manufacturer coupon, and Publix had a store coupon for $1 off two jars. So the purchase of four jars cost me $4.48, less my four $1 coupons = 48 cents. Then the two $1 Publix coupons, tax was 28 cents so there was a overage of $1.24, so they gave me a gift card for $1.24. Then I sent in the rebate and got my two free prep bowls. Always feels good to get paid to buy something."

Suzanne Westbrook, of Nashville, turned us on to 1iota.com as a source for free tickets to concerts, movie screenings, sporting events and talk shows.

"1iota connects fans with the shows, celebrities, and experiences they love! Not just in Nashville but around the country," she said.

She always checks the list when going on vacation to see what is available. Her list of freebies includes: the NFL kickoff concert in New Orleans to see Dave Matthews and Taylor Swift, the NFL scouting combine, "Live with Kelly and Ryan's" After Oscars show, iHeartRadio Music Awards and "Pickler and Ben." 

Jamie Annunziato charges absolutely everything on her credit card to rack up extra points, including a friend's "boob job." "Those points ended up helping my husband and me fly to Europe recently first class! It was a heavenly experience.

"Even if something is only $1, you will get points. And we often have credit cards that give you double points or five or 10 times the points. In the past two years, we have received over $1,000 in $50 restaurant gift cards for Longhorn, Red Lobster and Panera.

"When I go out with friends, we split the restaurant tabs and they always let me charge the whole thing and then pay me in cash. We haven't paid for a hotel room in years with anything other than points," she said.

So you like deals?  Ms. Cheap has exclusive deals for new Tennessean subscribers 

Deborah Goughary, of Franklin, enjoyed some serious savings last year at Universal Orlando on a trip with her daughter, son-in-law and 8-year-old grandson. As she researched the types of tickets and hotels, she found an envelope of leftover tickets from a 2006 trip with no expiration date and called guest relations to see if they would honor them. The answer was yes, saving her $550. She also thought to ask for an early check-in at the resort, and the room key gave her group extra fast pass privileges and access to the club level hospitality suite with free food and drink. 

The key is, just ask! 

About Cheapest of the Cheap contest

We received more than 300 cheap tips from all over Middle Tennessee. The criteria for winning included originality, creativity and whether the tip actually saved money and if it was something most people could do. There were also points for humor and ideas that showed ways to be cheap to be generous.

All 25 winners and their guests were invited to the Cheapest of the Cheap Awards Luncheon held Saturday at Midtown Cafe.

All 25 winners received a Ms. Cheap goodie bag with a Nashville City Saver book, a Smart Savings card, a $ave Around coupon book, a White Bison coffee mug, $10 gift card to Habitat ReStore, a USA TODAY flash drive, a Titans book and Titans merchandise, and a Ms. Cheap bumper sticker. 

Door prizes included gift cards from some of my favorite places, including Dollar General, GraceWorks, Thriftsmart, Target, BP, Starbucks, and Bargain Hunt, two Total Access passes and tickets to the Nashville Zoo Grand Ole Opry and Nashville Sounds, a Cheekwood and Frist membership, and a prize from Yard Sale USA. 

Reach Ms. Cheap at 615-259-8282 or mscheap@tennessean.com. Follow her on Facebook at facebook.com/mscheap, and at Tennessean.com/mscheap, and on Twitter @Ms_Cheap, and catch her every Thursday at 11 a.m. on WTVF-Channel 5’s “Talk of the Town.”