Hi I'm John Green. Welcome to my salon. This is Mental Floss on YouTube.

And did you know that wearing high heels to the mall will trick your brain into making better purchases? According to a study from BYU, shoppers in stilettos paid fairer prices and didn't overspend while balancing in heels.

And that's just the kind of eccentric money tip that we need here at Mental Floss video because we've been saving for our pork chop party forever and we're not making much progress. But today we're going to share with you a lot of strange financial tips in this video brought to you by our friends at Wells Fargo.

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All right, so we know not everyone wants to parade the aisles at Best Buy in high heels, but if you want to make smart shopping decisions there are other options as well. Researchers also found that leaning back in a chair, riding an escalator and doing yoga poses while shopping all have the same effect. That's why I always do yoga poses while I'm in the grocery store.

But lest you think the relaxation of yoga and leaning back in a chair always leads to good buying decisions, according to a psychology study out of Columbia Business School, when subject were placed in calming environments with classical music and comfy chairs, places that made them feel extremely relaxed, they overspent on items by 15 percent. That reminds me of the one time I purchased a fancy suit for the movie premiere of The Fault in Our Stars and the person at the store said "Would you like a glass of wine?" And I was like, "Would I?!" I’ll tell you what friends, that leads to some overspending.

Then there’s a study presented at the Society for Neuroscience that advised people to avoid bartering with beefcake salesmen or anyone who seems to have too much testosterone. When mild mannered subjects coated themselves in a testosterone gel, they were less likely to make fair deals. Wait, they coated people in testosterone? Wow, the lengths that university business departments will go to to justify their existence.

Now here’s a tip for you cat owners: do not spend one more dollar on kitty litter. Toilet train your cat. Saves you fifteen hundred dollars over your cat’s lifetime. Now I know that you’re probably wondering “But John, how do I toilet train a cat?!” Well it’s easy. Look up the Charles Mingus catalogue for toilet training your cat. It’s the method that jazz musician, Charles Mingus, used to potty train his cat, Nightlife, and it's the only one that works.

Super easy tip for smarter grocery shopping: look at the top of the shelf and the very bottom. Because typically stores stock the most expensive items at eye level. Wait, surely people aren't so lazy that they won't even move their eyes?! Yes, they are.

Another tip for spending less, keep fresh crisp bills in your wallet. Several studies have consistently shown that people are more inclined to spend wrinkled old bills than new looking ones. Also, when you're in a position to do so, ask the bank to give you 50s and 100s because shoppers are more willing to spend 5s, 10s, and 20s. 

If you're planning to live past 100, you should move to New Mexico where centenarians are exempt from state income tax. 

If you've got a hankering for pumpkins, you should buy them in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, or Iowa because they're exempt from sales tax. If you promise to eat them. Wait, is it tax fraud if on October 28th I'm in New Jersey and someone asks me if I'm planning to eat that pumpkin and I'm like "...yeah...". Can I go to prison? Mark, I can't go to prison in New Jersey, I've said so many terrible things about that place. I love you New Jersey.

Anyway, Hawaii gives a 300 dollar tax deduction to people who raise, quote, "exceptional trees". What, like Groot? Are there Groots in Hawaii?!

And lastly, if you want to save money on candy in Illinois, buy Whoppers. The state taxes candy at 6.25%, unless it contains flour, at which case it is classified as food and taxed less. 

Speaking of sweets, researchers have established that you can curb your chocolate binges. The next time you have a candy craving, force yourself to play with modeling clay for 10 minutes. Messing with the clay reduced both thoughts about the chocolate and the quote, "strength of the craving imagery". 

And if you don't like buying printer cartridges, an easy way to spend less on those is to switch your font. Try Ecofont or Century Gothic. Century Gothic I think by the way has the advantage of making your papers a little bit longer. Life hack - 4.5 pages in Times New Roman? 5 pages in Century Gothic. Assignment completed!

As long as we're talking about office supplies, do not buy a paper shredder. There's a better strategy. Stuff your documents in to a pair of pantyhose and throw them in the washing machine. It sounds crazy, but a quick rinse will blur and wash out the ink. 

Now this isn't very exciting, but a simple way to improve your gas mileage and therefore save money, is not to speed. According to the US Department of Energy's website, avoiding aggressive driving quote, "can lower your gas mileage by 33% at highway speeds, and by 5% around town". Also, you will be less annoying.

So now I've saved you a lot of money, you're driving slowly, you're stuffing your documents in to pantyhose. What should you do with all this money? Well you could rent out the country of Liechtenstein for a night. In the past Airbnb has teamed up with Rent a Village to rent out the entire nation of Liechtenstein for $70,000 a night. That includes the ability to change the town signs, commission a parade, and house 150 of your closest friends. Not sure the rest of this video has quite saved you $70,000, so I'd advise you to save a little by renting out a less opulent village. Like The Guardian recommends renting out a village from Austria or Switzerland instead. Where you only have to spend like 40 or 60 thousand dollars for the same amenities. You're definitely going to save 40,000 bucks from your Hawaiian Groot farm.

And finally, I return to my salon to tell you put money in your 401k, tap water is safe and delicious, you don't need a new phone every year, and this is a 5 dollar bottle of wine. It tastes reasonably good.

Thanks for watching Mental Floss here on YouTube which is made by all of these nice people. And thanks to Wells Fargo for sponsoring today's video. Every week my friend Craig endeavors to answer one of your mind blowing questions, so please leave those in comments. Please subscribe to Mental Floss. Thanks again for watching, and as we say in my home town, don't forget to be awesome.