New Zealanders are pooling tips to survive the cost of living crisis as food, petrol, power and interest rates rise.

For some, this goes beyond shopping for specials and turning the lights off when you leave the room.

Weeds, garden snails and even roadkill are on the menu for more radical fans of frugality, who may also do without toilet paper, take cold showers, or eat other people's leftovers.

Extreme frugality is becoming more mainstream in Aotearoa, with forums and groups growing on how to live both cheaply and sustainably.

Tauranga student Samuel Taylor used to worry if he would ever be able to afford to buy a house. Now he's worried if he can afford a cup of coffee.

Student Samuel Taylor was shocked by an $8 coffee at Auckland Airport. Supplied photo/Stuff.

Taylor, who is studying economics and politics at Harvard, says he was shocked when he went to buy a coffee on landing at Auckland Airport this month, and it was $8.

'I knew prices were going crazy here, but I was like, hang on, when I was last here not long ago, coffee was only $4,” Taylor says.

'It's the talk of all my friends, whether they are studying or working, not what they are working towards or what they want to do in life, but how they can afford to eat and pay for gas every day. We all share tips to save money.”

Foraging for food is an obvious way to eat cheaply or for free. Julia Sich regularly eats the weeds from her garden, and runs Tauranga workshops on how to use them in recipes.

Julia advises people to learn what is edible and not. Some weeds or mushrooms can be poisonous or have other effects. Avoid private land unless you have permission, and pick by the season, she says.

'There's lots of chickweed now as the weather is moist and cool. It can be used in salad, soup, smoothie, pesto or a green sauce. It is tender and not hairy or bitter and has a pleasant flavour.”

Ubiquitous dandelions can also be a recipe staple. 'It has a bitter taste but stimulates digestion and the release of saliva to activate digestive enzymes and bile.”

Save on buying expensive salad in the supermarket by instead chopping up plantain, nasturtium, or oxeye daisies which can be found on the side of the road, says Julia.

'Onion weed is like spring onions, but it's free. Add it to stir fries, scrambled eggs and soup.”

She says it's possible to forage for fruits and nuts from trees in parks and abandoned places like walnuts, olives and avocados which would be otherwise expensive to buy.

Communities can map their own falling fruit spots on fallingfruit.org.

Kate Todd even eats the snails from her suburban garden, encouraged into the frugal life by her 'green-fingered” partner.

'We fed them oatmeal for a while to get all their poo out, then cook them with garlic. Chewy but fine.”

Kate's partner will even eat roadkill for a meal if an animal like a rabbit or bird or deer has died on the road and is still fresh, but she hasn't done this herself.

Dumpster-diving, a method used by extreme frugalists to get the free food thrown out from supermarkets or restaurants is illegal in New Zealand.

Many supermarkets and cafes in Tauranga donate leftover food to food rescue charity Good Neighbour instead of throwing it away.

This charity collects food that is 'good enough to eat but not good enough to sell”, and redistributes it to local community organisations.

Some fans of free food say there's no shame in eating items that other people have left on their plates in cafés or restaurants and that otherwise would be thrown away.

More FM radio announcer Paul Flynn admits to being a 'free food moocher” in food courts, picking up containers of sushi and tempura left on the table by other diners, and even once asked a waiter in a 'fancy winery” if he could eat the pizza leftover from the next table.

'There's nothing wrong with it, it would just be thrown away, so you might as well eat it. Some people leave so much food.”

Christchurch mum Emma Healey has been blogging about her money-saving tips since 2015, but has noticed it is becoming more 'trendy” now to talk about being frugal and using resources wisely.

'I definitely think people are more interested in creative ways to save money than they were even a year ago.”

Healey, a mum of two, has saved money in simple ways like buying an espresso machine instead of takeaway coffees, as well as more radical moves like downsizing her home.

'The coffee machine which cost $15 on Trade Me saves us more than $3000 a year, as my husband and I used to spend $11 a day on flat whites.”

'We also downsized to a two-bedroom unit with two kids to minimise our bills. It put us in an area where we can walk everywhere we need to go including school and supermarkets and my husband can bike to work. That means we only need one car and we barely use it.”

A daily shower is unnecessary, says Healy. 'It strips the skin of unnatural oils. You only need to do it when you are particularly dirty or sweaty.”

When you do shower, make it a quick one, she says, or have a military shower – by turning the water off while you soap up. She also recommends turning down the thermostat, and washing clothes in cold water.

Healey makes her own laundry powder and does not buy any cleaning products as she makes her own with white vinegar.

If space allows, she recommends a bidet, which can save households hundreds of dollars on toilet paper.

Toilet paper is a popular topic with frugal living groups with debates on the best bargains, with some going so far as weighing the full rolls and measuring the cardboard inner to check they are getting the best bang for the buck.

Others save even more by forgoing toilet paper altogether. While not for everyone, to those who pooh-pooh the idea, people who don't use toilet paper point out it is only the same as reusable nappies and period products.

Nancy Jull uses cotton torn into square cloths which she keeps in a 'pretty zipped bag” near the toilet alongside a lidded bucket of water and Dettol stored in the shower. 'I've saved lots of dollars once it becomes a routine.”

Jocelyn Kroll has been using cloths from op shop-bought flannel sheets for six years instead of toilet paper, as well as what's known among frugalists as a 'bum gun” – 'a spray bottle with water as a hand held bidet”.

There are many simple recipes to make your own beauty products, says Mig Millan, who makes toothpaste for the whole family. Cutting or dyeing your own hair rather than expensive trips to the hairdressers can save hundreds, even thousands a year.

Auckland's Cheryl Hunia says she hasn't bought hair products for five years. 'I use natural hair soap bars and condition with a solution of apple cider and water, my hair needs less washing now.”

Bartering is another way to save money, says Vanessa Sneglar.

'We barter a lot … building, gardening, food. So we barter with neighbours and friends, swapping stuff you need for stuff someone else needs or a bit of labour … or someone who is taking stuff to the dump will swing by and let you go through it all to see if you can use anything,” she said. 'It saves them dumping costs, recycles stuff and helps people out.”

Community barter groups like crop swaps, food co-ops or clothes swaps are also a way of maximising resources.

Ally Watson started a Rotorua Clothing Exchange last year, and hasn't had to buy clothes since. It already has more than 2000 members.

'We were given a space in town and each week see a couple of hundred families through the door. People can request clothes in their own size or for their whānau, and all we ask is for good condition clean clothes to swap, so we can keep the cycle going.”

Susie Omundsen has solved one of the world's biggest mysteries – as well as saving money – by only buying the same black socks for the whole family, so it's never a problem when one goes missing.

'In fact, I have never bought socks for 20 years after buying the same black socks in bulk for everyone for $1.”

With power a big household costs, some turn the heat off altogether and keep warm in layers of clothes. Coromandel woman Gayle Duncan makes the family ‘ponchos' out of blankets to wear around the house as well as warm mitts and socks.

Others recommend taping bubble wrap to the windows, or just heating one room. To save power boiling the kettle, Justine Turner boils it once a day, putting it in a thermos.

Aucklander Barbara Caisley started intermittent fasting as a way to lose weight, but discovered it saved money too.

'I fast for 22 hours – I only drink black coffee and water – and only have a two-hour eating window each evening between 6pm and 8pm. It's definitely a way of slashing the grocery bill!”

While bulk buying things like rice and pulses a good way to shave costs, the downside could be weevils as the container lids are opened and closed often. To counter this and still save costs, a good tip is to freeze your bulk buys for a few hours to kill any critters.

Many people who practise frugal living told Stuff it is not a miserable life or being 'cheap”, on the contrary, it can be very fulfilling to use your creativity to save money and the planet too.

'Being frugal is choosing to be happy with the resources you have and to seek out free and cheap sources of food, fun, clothing etc,” says frugal convert Sonya Bissmire. 'It's about not wasting anything and using the time you save from not shopping to make things from scratch, mend, repair, etc. It's a mindset rather than a collection of tips.”

-Stuff/Annemarie Quill.