Hello everyone!
I would like to start this conversation and sharing tips/hack for frugal living in Taipei. I am sure many people will benefit from it, especially those young rebels like myself.
Anything related to every-day life that would help to save up few bucks, places to eat, places to work, deals, hot-spots, hell, even places to sleep! 
I am still new to Taipei, and slowly discovering surroundingsā¦
1: Buses instead of the MRT. Better yet, YouBike and go as fast as you can so youāre still within the free 30-minute window.
2: Choose supermarkets over convenience stores, even when all you want is a single bottle of water. The price difference ads up.
3: If a casual vegetarian (like I am), go to čŖå©é¤ places with meat and just donāt pick any of it. Itās way cheaper than the vegetarian-only čŖå©é¤ restaurants.
4: Go to small, out of the way movie theaters as they are slightly cheaper than big name ones. Or just wait a few months and go to a second-run theater.
5: Fans and open windows instead of air-conditioning.
6: Get one of those external batteries for your smartphone and charge it up at work/school. Use it overnight to charge your phone without raising your electricity prices.
Thatās all Iāve got off the top of my head. Man, writing this list really makes me feel like a ā¦ person of Jewish descent. Which I am, incidentally.
Donāt worry Hokwongwei, I bought a 1.5l bottle of water and I fill it up every day at work before I go home.
Ha, my former workmate does the same. And he was happy to inform me that this was his fifth summer in Taiwan without ever turning on his a/c onceā¦I donāt know how he does it.
A couple of other tips are:[ul]
[li]Limit/eliminate drinking alcohol in restaurants/bars.[/li]
[li]Limit/eliminate eating in Western restaurants.[/li][/ul]
Iāve read several times on this forum that cooking your own food is more expensive than eating out. I have found this to be true if you cook in the style of your home country. However, once I got a hold of a bilingual Taiwanese cook book, I found that cooking at homeāusing ingredients commonly found here and purchased at traditional marketsāwas not so expensive. Perhaps this is true for me since Iām single, and the dishes I prepare usually last more than one meal with some rice or noodles thrown in.
Well, some dishes are expensive some are not. It depends on the ingredients. The problem is that nowadays a couple of bell peppers cost more than 2 euros. And meat is super expensive as well. But to go to western style restaurants is always more expensive (and often the experience is a little bit disappointing), and you can not feed only on noodles and dumplings. I mean it, I have tried it. To cook at home is fun and healthy. And cheap. Iām improving also my chowmien
Some suggestions:
[ul]
[li]Traditional markets have sometimes good deals. So go for them.[/li]
[li]Taiwanese costumes imply to go everywhere on scooter. Well, donāt take your scooter for everything[/li]
[li]Drink less alcohol.[/li]
[li]Donāt throw away your shopping tickets, and check the lottery every two months [/li]
[li]Already said: charge cellphones and so at your office. I also thought of getting some water from here because they have water filter and I donāt [/li]
[li]Recycle your plastic bags as garbage bags (no need to buy them) [/li]
[li]Stop buying drinks at 7/11. I used to drink a lot of milk tea from the stores (and also from the company, we have a fridge with some drinks). Now I prepare my milk tea at home, and itās not really expensive and more importantly, I donāt use the evil sugar[/li]
[li]Book your flights some time in advance. Otherwise youāll be paying like 10,000 NT$ extra[/li]
[li]You need to have some activities, (cultural, sports, etc). Otherwise Taiwan will make you become insane. The good news is that Taiwan has lots of activities for free. Check out those neighborhood school classes, the activities and events in the park near your home, etc[/li][/ul]
Why would someone who wants to live cheaply have a smartphone? A cheap phone with basic functions like being able to call people can be 14,000 NT cheaper.
Get yourself a pre-paid yo-yo card if you can, you can get discounts on all the trains and you can use them on buses. If travelling by train its cheaper to get the ones that stop at all the stations, and get a return ticket its cheaper than buying 2 singles.
Smartphones allow you to use chat applications which are for free as long as you have connection at your workplaceā¦ or at 7/11, or on the street. But you can get them cheap on Ruten. There are some āoldā models, totally new, for about 3,000. I got one and Iām happy with it.
If youāre outside and urgently need to drink something, those everything stores sometimes stock (name-brand) bottled water for even less than youād pay in a supermarket. For general items, the supermarket with the blue-and-red logo (I can never remember its name) is good value, even though they carry a limited range. Mostly, though, donāt buy stuff from supermarkets, especially fresh veg. Go to the traditional markets.
The cooking/eating out debate will rage forever, but remember that storage costs money (NT$5-10/day to run a fridge) and you often end up wasting half the fresh food you buy, simply because youāre buying in amounts that are hard to control (say, a dozen green onions, when you really only need two).
I use aircon for maybe 6 weeks of the year, when it gets into the mid-30s. Aircon is actually very efficient as long as you set it just a few degrees below ambient. So donāt feel too guilty about it (say) for a few hours at night. Use the timer function. When itās 35āC outside, I find I can set the aircon to ~26āC, and switch on the fan, and it feels just fine. Electricity bill increase is only ~NT$200 per month.
Realistically, this is only going to save you about NT$10/year in electricity, and those batteries are not cheap.
Or make your own. The weather is ideal for it now. Use a 5L water bottle and make your own airlock (a cotton-wool plug is often sufficient). A bag of sugar and some seasonal fruit can be had for maybe NT$50 if youāre lucky. Yeast will have to be bought from ebay, though, or from helpful folks abroad.
Sleep on the street, live in convenience stores the rest of the day ā¦ taking care of your hygiene and using the restroom.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4
[quote=āfinleyā]
Or make your own. The weather is ideal for it now. Use a 5L water bottle and make your own airlock (a cotton-wool plug is often sufficient). A bag of sugar and some seasonal fruit can be had for maybe NT$50 if youāre lucky. Yeast will have to be bought from ebay, though, or from helpful folks abroad.[/quote]
I prepare (and sell 
) mead, and get the yeast in Taiwan. But Iām not very happy with it. I will be getting some champagne style yeast soon and prepare a new batchā¦ after Iām done with the current one.
I need it for work. (Of course, thatās just an excuse.)
I agree on the cooking/eating out debate. I cook 90% of my meals and some weeks itās much cheaper but other weeks itās not so much. But it is MUCH healthier. Iāve recently stopped cooking with meat altogether and replaced it with black beans and chick peas (I buy canned chick peas and dried black beans).Made mexican rice (sans sour cream and cheese so hardly mexican riceā¦) and it cost me about 80NT for four meals (excl. however much a cup of uncooked rice costs).
+1 to biking everywhere. Saves you on a gym membership too. Plus I unashamedly use the āgym equipmentā in the playgrounds. But I mostly do plyometrics and body weight exercises so free free free!
Some more tips:
When travelling:
[ul]
[li]You want to travel around the island? hostels are expensive for what they are. But theyāre cheaper from Monday to Friday[/li]
[li]You donāt want to camp, you want a roof, but you donāt want to pay a lot for that crappy, and creepy room and everything is already booked? Although itās not for everybody, you have a large number of temples that accept guests for about half the price of a room in a hostel.[/li]
[li]They give you toothpaste and soap for free! FOR FREE!!! you can use them or sell them on eBay!!! [/li][/ul]
Not related with travelling:
[ul]
[li] sometimes people at your office are looking forward bulk buying vegetables, rice or fruit from farmers or distributors. Nice prices and sometimes good natural products. And you are helping the farmers and eating something that seems to be better[/li]
[li]ItĀ“s Chinese New Year. You have lots of costs then. Why to pay for dinner when you can go to that street in West Taipei and have lots of crap for free? [/li][/ul]
Disclaimer: I donĀ“t remember the name of the street but itĀ“s a big eventā¦ that I personally hate. Too many people. And I donĀ“t like that much the food is being sold thereā¦
Double post on Forumosa. 
Edit: Hey! You just added that. 
Edit 2: Why not start with a small post, and then over time turn it into something more expansive?
Wasteful. Youāre not paying attention to your own point #7.
Not using the AC - Might work from October to April, but Taiwan is so humid that opening the windows and using fans is actually worse, the fans give me a headache and the open window just lets in more pollution and humidity.
Charging your phone at work - The saving is not significant at all. You might save 10nt a year on electricity.
wā¦tā¦fā¦ selling soap from a temple on ebayā¦