NB. This is an updated version of a blog post from my old blog.
Finland is definitely not one of the cheapest countries to live in. In the beginning you may be double-checking the receipts the food shop and wondering if it’s correct. I want to give you some tips for saving money while being in Finland. The environment will also thank you, which is the most important thing in my opinion.
How to not end up in dire straits? Here’s something to get started with:
1) Collect empty cans and bottles
You get money from empty cans and bottles when you return them to a food shop in Finland. The returning machines are usually located either near the entrance (eg. Minimani, K-Citymarket in the city centre, or Lidl shops in all the country) or in the beverages section (eg. K-Rantamylly/Strandkvarnen, requiescat in pacem!). It goes like this:
glass bottles (no matter which volume): 0,10€
cans (no matter which volume): 0,15€
plastic bottles, 0,5 litre: 0,20€
plastic bottles, 1,0 litres and upwards: 0,40€
You put the cans/bottles to the returning machine according to the instructions in the machine display. After having finished you will get a receipt. You give the receipt to the sales clerk and you get the money.
NB. Cans/bottles imported from Estonia/Sweden don’t qualify in most of the cases, you return them but receive no money. However, there are machines that might actually give money out of them (eg. in Turku-Åbo there were such machines, at least in the past).
I personally do always have a stash for empty cans/bottles at home. When I go out, I make sure that I have a small canvas bag with me in case I see any cans/bottles on my way so that I can pick them up. That’s easy, eh?
Back in the days in Turku-Åbo I was hosting several pre-parties in my common kitchen so that I baked some pizza and offered some snacks. People who came over left their cans and bottles there and when I returned those to the shop the following I got 30-40€ on average. That equals to more than 10 student lunches!
Last year I spent working as a teacher in a local school in Kökar, Åland Islands (more about Kökar in future posts). I had a shed in my apartment and I practically filled the shed with cans and bottles during the year. When it came time to move to Va(a)sa, I returned every single one of them and got almost 76€.
How many empty cans and bottles have been returned so far this year? Follow up real time here:
http://www.palpa.fi/english/
– Pekka
PS. You also save energy and raw materials by returning bottles and cans. In the link below Andreas Wahl from Norway will tell you more:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaePIMYtAY8