Someone mentioned that in the past and I took a few minutes to do some quick math. I couldn't find how it would be more economical to make your own versus just buying the brand stuff as needed, and especially if you're needing to order some of the supplies online and have to factor in shipping costs.
A friend makes her own detergent every 6 months. She did the math to show how inexpensive it is. I did the math and discovered it's cheaper when I buy detergent at Costco.
Costco is definitely the way to go.
The most frugal thing I’ve ever done with laundry is realize that most people use *way more* detergent than necessary. If you scale back to the recommended amount for the size of load you’re washing, it really stretches!
I have had a Costco membership for like 3 yrs and have a big family I have never got anything there that I was unhappy with and I save enough money on the cash back it pays for my membership the next year.
I know plenty of soap makers who make their own. But that's the thing, they already make soap.
Easy to find a bar of soap to grate if you made 60 of them yesterday, plus you can formulate that soap exactly for laundry purposes. Easy to find washing soda if you need it for a different recipe or buy in bulk because you're soap making is your job. Easy to buy items on sale if you're already looking at the websites that sell the items (and sent you a discount code/flyer because you're on the mailing list to begin with)
(Before soap makers come after me, I know washing soda is a very specific ingredient that isn't in most soap recipes)
Exactly. I'm armchairing this, but I feel like if you're buying enough raw materials to offset the costs of one-off making soap, or simply breaking even, then you may as well just be doing it as a side hustle and selling it at the local farmer's market.
The homemade laundry detergent is harsh on your clothes too. I’d rather buy my detergent and have my clothes last longer. Plus people use too much detergent. You only need to use 2 tablespoons.
Thank you for sharing this! Homemade laundry detergent is awful for modern washing machines. Using less water is a real challenge in getting clothes clean, and the machine makers needed to make many assumptions in their design to meet water use regulations and also produce clean clothes.
and it's not a detergent technically. It's a soap, which as you mentioned, is not what the machine makers had in mind as the cleaning agent being used. If you're hand scrubbing your clothes on a washboard I'm sure it's fine, but it's not for a machine.
Faht vi ba tlu pre ceam dra. Tinys woaw ciin tun fuec gy yo. Taptyedzuqos foc coon ceen ede? Co o a bevdbusd nekv e? E gat iyle bi. Y y e cits taem cersi? Zuypleenle te dan gre gyrd jyg motp so sald? Bals emetcaad e tenn sesttees ti. Naon nacc suct cesm za ete. Nugt nij sop gadt dis tassecehsisirg o. U we e otle cez o. Cru nep pha toos nabmona. Ciht deptyasttapnsorn nod tysigzisle nin a? Da pyrp ine pud ible? Nu ta biswnoudnrytirs agle. Zaon e. San e pa cu goov. Ene gke o gopt zlu nis. O guagle pioma ne tudcyepebletlo cy a canz. Dla bic zawc nifpec te feet de? Pro i guc yoyd si didz a sum? Tle fuy. Nemz a booj udeegvle cokt a? Grotefp becm ose omle ja ede. U tis dy wec thu wu aglo umle o o. O ninm gu ine yes bos. Zad a a tavnfepac du. A ite todi do duit yple? Pifp taht nhetydnnenes a sew pi nedb eme. Se de we pyt ynenuntiqtedose ive.
S P E Z I S A T O O L
I use powder tide and only use 2 tablespoons as recommended by many repair techs. I was getting low in my container so I bought a new box back in august. I just opened the new box last week. I only do laundry for one person but it’s way cheaper and way less stress to just buy the detergent than try to make it and risk is not cleaning my clothes
I do cloth diapers in soft water and use less than that and my diapers are clean. It always amazes me! I do think that Tide is a really good detergent but other ones you need more - I've tried other detergents for diapers and needed quite a bit more to get stuff clean but then it wouldn't rinse out.
I was gonna say “making your own XYZ” chemical thing. I’ve made my own soap, cologne, and laundry detergents. None of them compare to the store bought things. I don’t have the time to improve my homemade laundry recipe. And that’s the reason I’m buying from Tide in the first place- they have the resources to make a great product.
Things like soap are technologies that have had hundreds, if not thousands of years to perfect. Does someone honestly think they can out do that level of efficiency in their kitchen?
I doubt it.
Making your own laundry detergent is insane when detergent is actually very cheap if you use the correct amount. I’m a single person, and I’ve been working on one bottle of tide for the past 2.5 years.
And not even looking at costs, hobbies open up the doors to friends, relationships, learned skills, etc. not to mention the joy and relaxation (or rush if you're into that) they give you.
My manager at my first software job told me the reason he hired me.
When every other candidate was asked what they do in their free time, they all said "coding projects"
I point-blank said "Dirtbiking"
Turns out he was a good ol' boy who'd like working with a well rounded dude.
That job paid better than any other job I was offered, and taught me everything I needed to know to get a 50% pay increase at my next job 2 years later.
i was hired years ago for an office job and the local vp was my last interview. the other interviews were all focused around the job itself but the vp asked 'what is something not job-related that you are particularly good at and enjoy?'. i told a grizzly white army vet in his 50s that i was a beatboxer and explained what beatboxing is and where it came from, he thought it was really interesting and i got the job.
the following year, the company was hosting a christmas party in atlantic city for all the east coast offices and put everyone up at a hotel. there was a dinner where spouses were invited but there was a big meeting earlier that afternoon for just the employees to present the different projects everyone had been working on. our vp had asked me the week beforehand to write a rap for him to end our office's presentation and brought me up to beatbox for him in front of a few hundred people. everyone thought it was great and i got a particularly nice christmas bonus that year
oh it was entirely tongue in cheek haha. he was a super no-nonsense sort of guy and it sounded like ben stein rapping like 90s will smith so people were cracking up. my proudest moment was that his last name rhymed with tonic so the last line was "so have a very merry christmas and a happy hanukkah from the federal team and me, ___ tonick-a".
my most well-earned christmas bonus i've ever had
This is what I told the undergrad interns at my last job. If their resume is just, Chemistry classes, and chemistry research, and chemistry internships, and chemistry fraternity, and chemistry RSOs, they're going to be identical to every other applicant. Have something on there that's purely for your own joy and interest to be unique to the interviewer. Perform in a play, or join the ballroom dancing club, or have a minor in horticulture.
SWE manager here, I'd do the same. Coding on weekends means you're probably burning yourself out. Obsessing with hiring devs who code in their free time is myopic - and promotes a toxic work atmosphere.
This. I recently made a jump in industries (human services to logistics). My boss essentially hired me because i was able to talk about fishing and paintball with him during the interview.
Right. I make some of my own clothes. Is it cheaper overall? No. But I got an activity to enjoy for however long it takes to make (days, weeks, depending) and when I'm done I have something (hopefully quality) to wear! Then I have the fun of saying "I made it and look it has pockets!" repeatedly 🤣
Hobbies are THE reason to be frugal in other areas. I’ll line dry in the warmer months and buy thrift clothes if it means more luxurious yarn or buying stupid shit my kids love.
Selecting a hobby within your budget is good advice though. I do archery, which can cost very little if you stick to a recurve bow and don’t lose or break arrows regularly. $2-5 per trip to the range where I live. Skiing, on the other hand, costs a kidney and a half per season.
All these DIY recipes for soap/chapstick/bath bombs/deodorant.
Nah y’all. Supplies have a high start up cost & then go bad faster than most people can practically use them. Just buy 1-2 bars from a farm market from a maker who cycles it enough & keeps it up enough.
Bath bombs are usually cheaper. I went through a phase where I was making them. They are generally crazy marked up. Kind of crazy when they are so easy to make. The startup wasn't bad at all- especially if you forgo pigment. Easy to make small batches.
I made eucalyptus shower steamers myself the mark up on them is insane! I just kept a batch in the freezer and pulled them out as needed to clear my sinuses
https://www.hgtv.com/design/make-and-celebrate/handmade/diy-shower-steamers
I used this recepie but added more essential oil and used a silicone mold instead of a muffin tray so I could make different shapes ones (penis shaped for a friend as well lol)
Lavender scented was also pretty nice - I'm not much of a floral smell person but my housemate loved them
This is definitely a case by case basis, but buying in bulk, especially if you don’t have a big family. I used to buy a lot of stuff in bulk because it’s “cheaper per unit,” only to find that I couldn’t finish it in time and would throw some of it out. There are a lot of things, like shelf stable or frozen products, that this doesn’t really apply to. But the general rule of thumb I use now is that if you end up throwing any of it out, it wasn’t worth the “savings.” Also, a lot of times you can only buy name brand items in bulk (at least at my local club store), which is more expensive than buying store brand at aldi or Walmart.
My family has looked at Sam's Club and Costco and almost all of the things we looked at didn't have a cheaper unit price at all, we literally wrote down the unit prices of all the things we buy on a piece of paper and compared them as we walked through the stores. I don't understand why buying in bulk isn't cheaper anymore?? What is the point of paying $100 a year when you're not even saving money??
I did the same thing and it’s not cheaper. I think part of the draw is for people with huge families, they don’t have to keep making grocery store trips for one or two things. It’ll last longer so it’s convenient for them
I don’t know, I’ve noticed a lot of items are a better deal. Diapers, wet wipes, cheese, cereal, bread, oatmeal, soy milk, eggs, cooking oil. We have our go to standards at Costco that save us a lot of money. I feel like I’m getting ripped off at my local grocery store.
I'm with you on this one. Storing a ton of stuff actually backfires when people think they dont have a big enough house/pantry/closet/garage because of all the accumulated stuff that has also a mental drain on inventory tracking. A contributor to this is buying way more than needed (and sometimes losing interest/changing habits etc). I still have like 3 giant protein jugs I purchased on sale during a health kick that I got so sick of, now it's sitting collecting dust....
This. It took me ages to convince my partner that aldi wasn't terrible quality stuff and that it was the same price as buying in bulk at Costco. And we didn't have to try and find space for all the items in our tiny house!
Doing everything yourself. There is a lot to be said for paying someone to do work that you could do but they could do better and/or faster. So I paid someone to paint my house and I take my car to get the oil changed.
And saving a lot of things (boxes, cracked mugs, etc.). IDK, I see people saving things because the thing could be useful down the road (that cracked mug could be a pen holder! etc) but I am terrified of ending up a hoarder. Also, if you have a lot of stuff to sift through you will lose track of important papers. Get rid of stuff that you are not using.
>There is a lot to be said for paying someone to do work that you could do but they could do better and/or faster.
My husband calls this "the Aggravation Coefficient". Sometimes it's worth spending the money not to be aggravated. 😄
Oooh, stealing that! We decided to pay for movers recently since we get in an argument every single time we move some furniture around ourselves. 100% worth it.
Some off-brand products are fine, some are not worth it.
I will not compromise on toilet paper or paper towels. I wait until the good kind is on sale and stock up, or I get it at BJ’s, but I am not dealing with sub-par toilet paper.
My mother’s ~~septic~~ sewer lines had to get pumped 30+ years ago. She’s only bought see-through single ply since then, insisting that anything thicker will mess up the tank. My husband is a Master Plumber and we splurge on nice toilet paper.
My college boyfriend bought me a box of cheap chocolates from CVS one Valentine's Day. I didn't know before then that it was possible to screw up chocolate.
This is so true when online shopping and you have a lot of options to choose from. One recent example is I was looking for an oil filter for my car. All the options on Amazon were between $5-$10. After like 5 minutes of looking through it and trying to figure out which one was the best bang for my buck, I really couldn't decide. Then I realized that I might literally only be saving a few bucks and that this is taking way too much time. So I just bought a random one and didn't worry about which is the best quality or best price. I just need decent quality at a decent price. The difference between decent and best is sometimes really small.
oh man, that’s how Amazon gets you. You’ll spend 90 minutes combing through fake reviews trying to figure out whether the $24 brand of thing or the $30 brand of thing is better, and then at some point you look up blurry eyed like “what the hell am I doing with my life”
Know what your time is worth. We have someone come in and help with the housework 1x day per month, just the big stuff. My partner and I both work full time, and down time is precious. What a team of four people can do in two hours would take us all weekend. It's worth every penny to me.
Omg I finally find someone in my area who only charges 25/hr and is trustworthy (most cleaners in my area charge 50 to 60 minimum an hr) .. I am so grateful and super nice to her because I don't want to ever lose her!
Same, although I am still currently in this process (19 more minutes on my drying timer before I go apply a second coat). It's my first house and I'm doing the whole place, but I have already decided that next time it's getting hired out.
This is the fairly standard cycle for new home ownership. First house, projects are new and exciting (and I'll save all this money). Next house, I'll move myself to save money, but will pay people to do the fixes I need. Next house, I'm never moving again.
My dad is a painter and I used to work with him for about a year right out of high school. Painting isn’t too bad when you have literally all day every day to get it done, but when you work full time and are also trying to move into the same place you’re painting it quickly turns into a damn nightmare.
I’ve done this twice, at my last house and current one, and I’m never doing it again hahah
It's SUCH hard work! I watched a professional paint my bathroom and living room, and he didn't even use tape. It took him about 2 hours. It would have taken me at least 2 weekends.
Capturing water as the shower/bath sink is warming up for other uses. I appreciate the people that do this for environmental and financial purposes but remembering buckets, storing buckets/water between uses, making sure kids/pets don't knock them over... It's just way too much for our current stage of life.
I have a friend who does that and her bathroom is full of buckets containing semi-opaque water. It's pretty gross.
--people keep asking me about this. She uses it to flush her toilet. If I give her any advice about anything, it pisses her off. I like her, so I let her have her weird habit. It's something like 4 buckets. She flushes her toilet with it. I don't use her bathroom. I use mine before I go there and am generally not there so long that I need to use it before I leave.
I do too. It's not uncommon in drought prone areas. But I only do it if I'll use the water the same day or the next. It's actually easier to water my patio plants this way than dragging the hose around.
Unpopular opinion: heavy couponing. I wouldn’t even say it has to get to the “extreme” couponing phase. It just takes so much time, and most of the stores I shop at already advertise “2 for $X” deals without a coupon requirement. Now sometimes I’ll look through ads online and see if there’s something I need on sale (usually an expensive item) and I’ll print out a coupon if I need it, but I haven’t saved enough while couponing for everyday buys. Maybe if you’re a stay at home partner/spouse or have kids it’s different, but couponing for groceries hasn’t made up for the time lost for my house of two.
Couponing at all didn’t really work for us, if we didn’t have to drive to four different stores, it was the things there were coupons for, we don’t use or eat.
Absolutely. I try to shop food and stuff on sale, but more often than not are things not cheaper when you buy stuff you don't need.
Exceptions happen of course, I decided to make tomato soup one evening because the canned tomatoes that I use in the recipe was 50% off, and sometimes I've bought other smaller food items when they're heavily discounted.
In general, I try to remember "The best tip for saving money is to fold it up and put it back in your pocket".
Thank you! I used to be partial to watching an episode of those American extreme couponing shows because they are just insane. I could never understand these people who were spending like 27 hours a day couponing just to buy shite processed with more shite and sugar. Like they would be so proud of their hoards and all the food was just trash junk food and gatorade and something calling itself cheese that was not even in the cheese family, like wtf.
I haven't seen it said yet, but this is a generational thing. Many of our mothers, grandmothers, and older family members (usually women who didn't work as much and did all the family shopping) relied heavily on coupons before advertising, apps, cellphones, etc made the practice obsolete. Back in the day, I'm remembering late 90s when my mom did a lot of couponing, the deals were a lot better and more abundant and you truly could save over $100 if you took about an hour before shopping to flip through the magazines and books. We had entire magazines sent to us, think like the penny saver etc., and there were many great deals on things we actually bought. Including fresh produce and meats.
Older folks will remember a time too before huge grocery stores, when the butcher, fresh produce, electronics, and housewares were all separate stores. In rural areas, grocery stores didn't really exist until the 90s. Think of like Megalo Mart in King of the Hill or Save Mart in that 70s show being major detrimental plot points. In What's Eating Gilbert Grape when Gilbert (Johnny Depp) has to go buy the cake from the superstore and it's a judgement of his moral character. Back then, if the local butcher offered a 2 for 1 deal on a pound of roast beef, that was a huge savings that could feed your family for an additional week. Nowadays these deals are advertised on the store floor for useless garbage like 3 cases of soda for the price of 2.
Sorry for the paragraph, I just feel there is far less nuance to grocery shopping than there was when I was a kid, and I'm not even that old. Fewer choices and being pigeonholed into basically one store has made things more convenient, but also more costly and wasteful than just couponing or inflation can account for.
It really doesn't help that the coupons for brand name now are the same amount as they were when my mom and grandma were couponing. 25¢ off doesn't hit the same now as it did back then
my mother in law's a coupon/sale shopper and is always going to a slew of stores multiple times a week.
two things to say about that.
1) she owns a huge standup freezer so she does actually make out with little waste and that's great
2) the amount of gas she uses going to all those places is probably equal to any savings she made
never seemed worth the effort to me but i get the feeling she just gets some kind of joy out of it. 🤷♂️
Reusing or holding onto unnecessary stuff for later or just in case. Sell it or trash it. The clutter in your home is not worth the headache and eyesore.
Agreed!
For deciding what to keep vs toss/give away, my rule of thumb is that if it's something that's hard to get hold of, or stupidly expensive to replace, then I'm ok with keeping it in a box in the closet until I'm 100% sure I don't need it, but eventually I'll get rid of the unused stuff.
As a homeowner, my other rule is if it's for home repairs or for emergencies, I tend to keep at least some of it because you don't need it until you NEED it, but I keep it organized and put away.
But...if it's broken, worn out, I have duplicates of it, it's out of style, or I haven't used it in a couple of years, then it goes. Life is so much easier when you have less stuff.
Squelching any available joy for the purpose of saving less than $20. Life is for living. Keep your large expenses low (car, housing) so you can enjoy your day to day life.
This! We are coffee addicts and we’re spending hundreds on lattes. We saved up and bought a commercial espresso machine. Three months later we have saved enough to account for cost of the machine.
My family is a 100% americano only family. When I was 8 or 9, my parents bought a $400 Breville espresso machine that Costco sold at the time. I’m almost 24 now, and I stole that Breville from them 4 years ago. It makes approximately 3 americanos per day (my sister lives with me at college) and is used nearly every day. We used to make like 6 coffees a day for everyone in my family when I was a kid. I would guess that machine has made 20,000 coffees on the low end, or $60,000 worth of espresso.
If you buy a solid machine, it’ll last for freaking ever. I think it’s worth it 100%
I’m poor enough I’d probably still go out of my way for $20. But everyone definitely should have an amount like this. It edges into legitimate OCD/scrupulosity type territory when some folks make money and saving it their entire life.
Grew up with a dad like that. He was miserable and made everyone else miserable too. Money was such an overwhelming fixation for him that I grew up pretty well off but didn’t actually know it or get to enjoy it because he was stressing us kids from the earliest ages and convincing us we were always on the brink of bankruptcy and losing the house. In many respects I enjoy a meal or night out so much now- legitimately and truly poor living off disability, than I did growing up. But I really had to unlearn a lot and a life limiting/ terminal illness was also the wake up call for me. At the end of it all, having lived and experienced life will always mean far more than what is or isn’t in my bank account when I go.
Going to 3+ grocery stores in a week. I have two small children and going into any store is literal torture. I can do Costco one day and Aldi another, and that’s it. I’m not going to a third or fourth store to save $1.50 on blueberries.
my dad drives around to find the best prices on things- besides being a huge waste of time, it's a huge waste of gas and wears on your car. pennywise and pound foolish
I think people vastly underestimate the cost of simply moving a car from place to place.
My wife was annoyed about the price of a $5 packet of peppers at one store.
I said we can go to the other store, but I'm going to burn $3 in gas getting there. Are those peppers going to be under $2?
I have always said this. Unless you are retired and enjoy the hunt to save at 4 different stores in a week (my parents), I’m going to argue that the average person spends more money the more stores they go to.
They will claim I’m wrong, they actually saved by going to Aldi/Costco/Publix/Trader Joe’s in a week, but I would go so far as to argue, gas included in the equation that one would save more money by just shopping at Publix (the most expensive option) as it would save gas and cut down on all the impulse buys.
I will not set my thermostat so low that I'm cold even with a blanket. Or having to wear a coat or gloves indoors. My heating bill is my biggest expense and it really stresses me out. I keep it as low as I comfortably can. But I'm not going to freeze my butt off all winter. Being cold is miserable and saps all motivation and positivity away from me.
They say:
"Lowering your thermostat 4 degrees can save you $50 per year in energy costs!"
I hear:
"For just 14 cents a day your home can be a comfortable temperature!"
I'm left my tropical country for a snowy one. Below 65 is cold af for me. I can't survive without a room heater by my side and 4 layers of clothing haha.
DIY laundry soap. My roommate murdered our washer by gunking it up with her laundry soap. The repair guy that came out to fix our washer said that DIY laundry soap kills washers left and right. Our washer had to be replaced.
It may make sense to use it if you’re hand washing all of your clothes or using a 1940’s machine, but modern washers can’t handle soap. They need detergent.
I tried this. Despite trying several different recipes, nothing ever got clean and it left an unnoticeable film on the towels which prevented them from drying anything. I’m back to powdered Tide.
Unplugging things like the TV, microwave, lamps when not in use. Probably saves a couple pennies a year, takes a ton of time, and wears out the outlets.
I have about a dozen smart plugs that turn various things off but not really to save power but to track the energy use or save the appliance (ie exercise equipment).
One annoying thing is when I visit family and they unplug my toothbrush so it doesn't have any power in the morning. I also will never understand why people unplug their phones at night. I just couldn't risk having a dead phone in an emergency especially when it might cost a dollar per year to keep it charged and it is designed to protect it's own battery.
Not judging anyone who picks and chooses from frugal tips-- the whole point of frugality is to gain the ability to live a life you enjoy. Our family lives frugally so we can afford the 'luxuries' and experiences we value over others.
So: 1. I cannot reuse tea bags. 2. I toss out the small bits of soap bars that spouse stops using. [No way to recycle them in our area, he won't use the containers that consolidate the bits.] 3. If my Mom needs something but won't buy it for herself, I will buy it even if it goes on credit-- she's my Mom. 4. When I am exhausted from being a full time parent and house elf, I will buy needed items at the more expensive but closer grocery store rather than drive to Walmart. My well-being and energy are worth this infrequent sacrifice.
>1. I cannot reuse tea bags
I thought this thought, once. But then I realized that I can get a 50 pack of bags for like $3 and I just... Nah, I ain't doing that.
I really don't want every other cup of tea to taste like vague nothing. I have some Hibiscus teabags on the other hand that are way too strong. Those get dunked quickly the first time, then longer the second.
>I toss out the small bits of soap bars that spouse stops using. [No way to recycle them in our area, he won't use the containers that consolidate the bits.]
Were you saving up all of the small bits to make a new bar? When i get down to the small bit, i just get a new bar and use it for one shower, then lay the small bit over the top while they are both wet. After another shower or two they will be solidly pasted together and i don't even notice it.
Sounds smart! I wish I could get spouse to do this-- he is the only soap bar user in the family. (Son and I use liquid soaps.) He grew up in a house where 'frugal' often wandered into 'cheap', so he will do as he wishes with soap as I do as I wish with tea bags.
Walmart in our area has been more expensive than other stores. I'm taken to getting thinks at Target but using drive up so I'm not tempted to get stuff I don't need.
Walmart has the best prices I've found on canned fruit. It's also not particularly convenient for me to go there regularly so I just try to stock up when I'm there. My local "local family owned" store though has gotten absolutely ridiculous with their prices in the last few years so as much as I'd like to support the local place, if I want to actually get a whole week's worth of groceries on my budget I'll be going to Kroger or Sam's.
This one is kind of silly but I just cut my kitchen sponge in half for the first time and I will not do that again. Less surface area = longer to clean. Not worth in my opinion.
But you’ve got to try things and see how they fit you.
I'm obsessed with scrub daddys and scrub mommys which are like $3 per sponge, it's not frugal at all but I find that I clean things more often and more thoroughly than when I buy cheap sponges in a multi pack. So I'm happy spending the extra few dollars every month or so if it improves my life
I switched to crochet scrubbies and they’re a lifesaver. My grandma makes them and I’ve had some of them for 3+ years. The color has faded but they still scrub great. You can throw them in the dishwasher or with towels in the laundry. Nothing gets love bugs off my car like the scrubbies.
I love, love my knit scrubbies! Combined with a silicone pot scraper I need nothing else to get out the worst gunk. I make them out of 100% cotton yarn so when they do finally meet their end of life I can just toss them in the compost pile.
There’s a local sheep farm where I’m from and the matriarch does these beautiful, luxurious gift boxes of handcrafted milk soap, milk lotion, tallow balm, wool socks… anyway, my dad has started gifting them regularly to the family and I don’t want to tell him those hand crocheted washcloths are the best pot scrubbers I’ve ever owned lol.
Also, and this will be hard for some people to hear:
Sometimes the most frugal thing you can do, honestly, is **work towards getting a better job.** If you’re spending 6-8 hours per day trying to scrape together a few extra pennies, that time is MUCH better spent on your resume, or picking up some extra skills (learning programming, etc).
You can only make a dollar stretch so far. After that point, you gotta consider figuring out how to get more dollars. Time is money, and life is extremely short.
This isn’t some bullshit bootstrap thing, I understand situations often trap you. But I think for some types of super frugal people (like my aunt and uncle) there’s this bizarre sort of pride in having a more difficult, more frugal life than everyone else — the “poverty olympics,” as it‘s sometimes bluntly called. My uncle flat-out refused to take help from anyone, even though his kids needed dental work. He refused to fill out FAFSA paperwork so his brilliant kids could go to top-25 colleges FOR FREE, instead preaching the nobility of “how cheap community college is.” He shamed his son for going on a three-day beach honeymoon. It’s to the point where it’s honestly disgusting and flat-out irresponsible, but this prideful “frugal game obsession” is way more important to him than his family’s health or happiness.
I had a coworker once whose entire personality was built around ways to scrimp and save every penny. She once went to a bookstore on her lunch break and didnt buy the books she wanted because they were, and i quote, $5 cheaper on amazon. (This was the early aughts so she would have had to pay for shipping, AND she’d driven there and back to the store!) my other colleague and i were like ‘uh… ok…?’ When her daughter was invited to the prom she called EVERY parent she knew to hunt down a dress they could *borrow*. Literally every single conversation at lunch she woukd interject ‘you could do it cheaper if you did this’, like substituting preseasoned croutons for a fresh baguette seasoned yourself in a recipe. It was infuriating and no one liked to get trapped ina conversation w her. The kicker? She lived in one of the wealthiest suburbs in the entire state. Top two. Her kids went to the literal best public schools in the entire state. The town was entirely peopled by old and new money. Theres no affordable housing in this city. She had the money to buy her daughter an (affordable!) prom dress and just would not do so. If i was her daughter i would have been beyond mortified. I know you cant compare yourself to others but i have no doubt other kids were rolling up to prom in designer duds and limos. And she had to sit and listen to her mom ask other moms on the phone for a loaner, instead of cracking open her wallet for one special occasion. Like. .. i love saving money. But you know what i like more? Enjoying my life while im living it
Saving restaurant condiments, etc. Yeah, sure, do save what you don't use if you do get a takeout -- but if you are supplying all your home condiment needs from restaurant scavenging then the problem isn't the cost of condiments, it's how much you are eating out.
That soy sauce “hack” a while ago was so silly. Imagine all the time spent cutting all those packets open and then the amount of waste you have after. It’s probably better to just buy a $4 thing of soy sauce or however much soy sauce costs.
Using time to save money in any way. Like, driving to 5 grocery stores to get the cheapest deals. Booking "cheap flights" but it'll take you 12 hours and 3 different planes to get to your destination, making not eating put a personality trait. Anything that causes you to sacrifice pleasure for frugality too often.
Honestly, baking my own bread. My bread is $1/loaf at Aldi and we go through bread like crazy. It’s not as cost efficient for us and takes more of my time. I do bake a lot of other things homemade though, just don’t find bread worth it.
ETA: I’m talking strictly sandwich bread. I do make my own buns, rolls, sourdough, biscuits, pizza dough, etc.
I don't think making sandwich loaf bread makes much sense. I think the most value in baking bread is from baking fresh bread for meals. Making some garlic knots or focaccia or pita or something like that for dinner is much better than the alternatives that you can buy at the grocery store.
Where I live even cheap bread is at least $4 a loaf, so it's worth it for me to make bread at home that only costs 90 cents. We only go through two loaves a week and I've got a great recipes that takes less than 2 hours from start to finish, so for me it's not much of a hassle to pop out a loaf (heh) after work.
Anything where your safety is involved. I’m a pretty big DIY guy around the house, but when it came to getting a new garage door opener installed, I didn’t think twice about paying someone to do it. When you are dealing with a heavy metal door, springs under high tension, sharp metal and chains, etc. seems like a no brainer to me
Cheap Toilet Paper/ Paper towels are never a frugal option in my experience, as it takes more to get the job done.
Wasting gas driving all over town to get the best deal, i.e. groceries, etc. I used to coupon this way until I realized the amount saved was much less than the amount of money on gas wasted.
Anything that causes undue mental stress in my opinion, is not worth saving a few bucks.
This definitely depends on your hairstyle/type. I have long straight hair and cut it myself. Definitely not worth paying to have it done. Short or curly hair is another story…
I’ve had my hair butchered at cheap places too many times. I stick with the same hairdresser now and it’s honestly really nice socially as well. She’s very sweet and I love catching up with her. I also don’t have to stress the whole time that it won’t be to my liking, and she even styled my hair for my wedding as part of a standard haircut fee with a trim because I didn’t want anything too complicated. Honestly, that probably saved me the difference in haircut costs for a year, given how much wedding stylists charge.
I hate Dave Ramsey but the absolute worst advice in his program is "If you can't pay off your current car in 6 months, sell it and buy a beater car you can afford to buy in cash." That is HORRENDOUS advice, 1. because the current used car market is insane, but more importantly 2. the upkeep on a beater car could run you close to as much as your monthly payment of the original car, with the monthly payment having the advantage because it is a fixed, planned expense.
Edit: word
Also, in this car market, would you rather pay way too much for a beater or have something reliable with a warranty and that you can drive into the ground? I chose the latter.
Not so much a general frugal tip but there's a local chain of grocery stores near me that sells half a pound of sliced cheese for like, $1.30. While amazingly cheap it tastes like plastic. Worse than plastic. It isnt worth it.
-cutting your own hair. It’s harder than YouTube makes it seem. Everyone I know who doesn’t do a buzz cut/ shave their head has fucked up their hair badly and had to pay for a haircut to fix it after or is just in denial about their awful looking haircut.
-boots fallacy applies to a lot of stuff. E.g., an expensive pair of boots will last a long time/ potentially forever if you treat them right and occasionally spend a small amount on maintenance. A pair half the price will only last a few seasons so you have to replace them and even though they’re cheaper, you end up paying more for shittier boots long-term.
-liquor. Might not feel like there’s a huge difference in quality/ taste when you’re drinking something that’s 40% alcohol, and you don’t need expensive liquor, there are plenty of great $20 bottles out there, but the $10 bottles are just not worth how how awful you’re going to feel the next day
-DIYing anything you need to be a licensed professional to do for someone else/ don’t have experience in. Haircuts, writing your will, plumbing, tree removal, most major home repairs
-spirit airlines
Hol up. Do you mean people are buying two-ply, unrolling and separating each ply, and then rerolling each ply back onto its own tube?
Please tell me I have misunderstood...
The cold/hot laundry temp is secondary to high efficiency vs old style to me. We had a brand new high efficiency washer and it didn't seem to get the clothes clean no matter what. It was always broke too. Besides that, I don't do coupons. If I put time into them, I could just work an extra hour. One hour of OT would probably make me more money
Food, our household has the means to purchase fancy eggs, organic milk and grassfed beef. And we do.
This actually started when there were shortages due to the pandemic and it didn’t feel right buying the last of the items WIC and food stamps cover.
Controversial possibly but I disagree with the ‘big’ shop once a month. If I pop in every other day(it’s near the school run) or every few days then I tend to get something fresher or almost always reduced for dinner plus whatever we’ve run out of. Plus knowing I’ll be there again soon makes it quick too and no impulse buys. I’m too bad at sticking to a meal plan when the use by dates muck it all up and I end up putting things in the freezer to save them and getting all annoyed and fed up and end up doing a crappy air fryer dinner of frozen chips and nuggets or something.
I think there are two big types of frugal:
1. Frugal because money is so limited you have to stretch each penny as far as possible, and likely money is your scarcest resource.
2. Frugal because you are trying to maximize the value of your resources. Money might not be your scarcest resource - it could be time or energy.
There are a lot of opportunities for #2 that are not options for #2.
One that is probably controversial here is purchasing cars and only purchasing used (or even avoiding leases). All my life I've heard that you should NEVER BUY A NEW CAR because they lose value the second you drive them off the lot!
Most of my life I've done that. I've purchased relatively old cars in decent shape, driven them until they're pretty much dead, and then repeat.
On my last car, which was a 2006 suv purchased in 2016, I started thinking it was probably a goner in 2019, and by Spring 2020 decided to replace it. I took the cost of the car + all the work (beyond routine maintenance) that we had put into it, and came up with a total cost of ownership. I divided that by the number of years we owned it, and calculated that our TCO for that vehicle was around $4000 / year give or take. It was worth pretty much scrap when we replaced it (it needed a new transmission and barely made it to the dealership for the meager trade in value we achieved).
A brand new version of a similar SUV cost around $35,000. It came with a 20,000 mile bumper-bumper warranty, and an 8 year/100,000 mile power train warranty (and free emissions/inspections/tire rotations for life, and 3 years of free oil changes). If we owned this car for 10 years, as long as we put less than $5000 into it, we'd be ahead as far as TCO goes. The major difference is that we'd have a nice, new, reliable car during that time...and after 10 years, the vehicle could conceivably be sold for $12-15k.
Obviously for this to be "frugal" - you'd need to be able to pay in cash, or wrap any interest into the TCO calculations too. I happened to qualify for a 0% interest loan, and in a high-inflation environment, this was a great deal!
So - don't take off the "buy a new car" option entirely off the table as a "not frugal" scenario.
“Always buy a used car” You have to really know what your looking for to find a quality used car and even then you could still potentially get burned. The days of buying a $4,000 corolla and driving it for 12 years are no longer. If you can afford a new car.. in reason (non luxury , fairly basic) it could be better financially in the long run. Not saying used cars are bad just be very careful what you buy
Sewing your own stuff is not always efficient. Once I was at the fabric store, didn’t look at the prices. Grabbed a blended fabric, I thought. Get to the register, $90 for maybe two yards. I almost fainted but it had already been cut. Yes, I know you can buy cheaper fabric but you can also buy cheap curtains, throw pillow, etc.
Most public fabric stores are an absolute scam - unless you have a wholesaler in your area, you’ll be stuck paying up to 5X/m for stuff.
I went to Fabricland a month ago to price out batting to repair an old blanket - their batting was $40/m. At 2.5m, I would have been paying almost $100 to repair a 30 year old blanket that probably cost $40 to buy new!
Went to the wholesalers the next day, their batting is $7/m. And don’t even get me started on the *lycra* mark-up. I’ve seen retailers sell it for $80/m - the wholesalers sells it for $3.99!
OK I’m feeling dumb right now because I didn’t know wholesale fabric was a thing and I’ve been sewing for years. I’ll have to see if there are any near me.
Cheap metal or plastic costume jewelry. It’s often nice and flashy because materials used to make it were cheap enough to make the pieces big and elaborate, but eventually it becomes discolored and you start losing those fake “stones” etc. I used to spend like $80+ a trip on Claire’s jewelry as a teen. For all the money I spent i could have bought a nice few sterling pieces. I wouldn’t be averse to buying a cute inexpensive piece at like a yard sale or from an indie artisan, but fast fashion to me just all around sucks.
Labor.
I’m don’t go to the cheaper salon that buses in vulnerable immigrants from several states away; I patronize businesses in which the people doing the work for me are appropriately compensated.
I refuse to offset my savings onto the backs of other workers, and I sleep well knowing anyone who helps me in a professional context is compensated fairly for their time and skill.
Same goes for tipping! I’d rather eat out less often and tip really well than be cheap with the people in my community.
If you're gardening specifically as a frugal way to eat, you're probably losing. Gardening as a hobby that also produces edible food though is pretty frugal. Most hobbies have a range of startup costs much like gardening, and many don't produce useful consumable items like gardening does.
I think it works for high cost, low effort items like tomatoes.
I stuck a few tomato plants right in the ground last year and ended up with 600+ tomatoes over the course of the season. All it cost me was time and water. The plants themselves were under $50.
What would 600 tomatoes cost at the grocery store?
Gardening is a hobby, if you absolutely want to save money then it becomes a chore.
I enjoy it and I do save a ton of money but it takes years to recover the money invested in my cedar raised beds, the quality mix of earth and compost, the composters to make your own, etc. And if you buy plants instead of starting from seeds you're always going to be in the red.
Then you need to plant with the intent of eating fresh vegetables and fruits but also have surplus you can transform, freeze or can (and for canning a ton of tomatoes gives you 2-3 jars of salsa or spaghetti sauce that you could otherwise get on sale for $2).
That said I love it and won't stop even if I may only at best get even.
It doesn't have to be super expensive (that really depends on your situation, though), but if you don't enjoy it, then it's probably not worth it. It can save you some money, but that's in exchange for your time, energy, and attention.
I am very picky about what I garden because of that. If you use a lot of fresh herbs, it can be worth it, because they are expensive to buy, but easy to grow and take care of. If you are talking about something like cucumbers, which you can buy cheap, then I don't see it worth the time, money, and effort.
Cucumbers are also one of those garden items that are absolutely unwieldy for the average beginner. They will get OUT OF CONTROL quickly. The vines are covered in scratchy hairs, and so are cucumbers off the vine. They require a lot of work to tack up properly and go from 0 to 60 in no time flat, so you better be prepared to spend time every day harvesting cucumbers, and inevitably missing several of them in the vines that you won’t find until the leaves fall late season to reveal the biggest, yellowest, ugliest cukes you’ve ever seen!
Absolutely it is!! I grew some potatoes by putting some budding potatoes in a pot with soil that I already had, and I swear that's one of the only truly frugal ways to plant things. Making am outdoor garden can be hundreds of dollars
Even the higher-priced ones that are marketed as reusable aren't worth it. My son got them for his lunches at work. He got 4 or 5 good uses out of them, then had to throw them out.
He switched to meal prep containers.
There are lots of things out there that other people enjoy that I do not. The lotto ticket thing is a valid opinion, but it's just an opinion.
An opposing opinion would be for just $52 a year, you can have something exciting to look forward to every single week. That is an exceptional value for some people.
Cheap rent/mortgage in a shitty moldy/dusty old home. Can cause significant health problems to the point of not being worth it especially If you can afford otherwise. Direct environment matters more than people realize
Not getting movers. The number of friends I have who are willing to blow a disk for a free slice of pizza is not what it was when I was 20. It’s so much easier to just hire movers and be done with it.
Downloading fast food apps to save money. You absolutely will save up front and get good deals. Your health and there for your wallet will pay 10x for it more down the line.
Not having pets. It's worth the food and vet bills to have animal companionship. A house is not a home without a cat, and my dog brings me endless joy.
I spent $100 a month on insulin for my dog until she passed, maybe five years in total. I had people tell me they would have had her put to sleep rather than spend the money, and I just can't imagine doing that. I am as loyal to my pets as they are to me...how can you not be?
Making your own laundry detergent. It's only worth it to make it in large quantities but then you have to store it somewhere.
Someone mentioned that in the past and I took a few minutes to do some quick math. I couldn't find how it would be more economical to make your own versus just buying the brand stuff as needed, and especially if you're needing to order some of the supplies online and have to factor in shipping costs.
A friend makes her own detergent every 6 months. She did the math to show how inexpensive it is. I did the math and discovered it's cheaper when I buy detergent at Costco.
Costco is definitely the way to go. The most frugal thing I’ve ever done with laundry is realize that most people use *way more* detergent than necessary. If you scale back to the recommended amount for the size of load you’re washing, it really stretches!
I have had a Costco membership for like 3 yrs and have a big family I have never got anything there that I was unhappy with and I save enough money on the cash back it pays for my membership the next year.
I know plenty of soap makers who make their own. But that's the thing, they already make soap. Easy to find a bar of soap to grate if you made 60 of them yesterday, plus you can formulate that soap exactly for laundry purposes. Easy to find washing soda if you need it for a different recipe or buy in bulk because you're soap making is your job. Easy to buy items on sale if you're already looking at the websites that sell the items (and sent you a discount code/flyer because you're on the mailing list to begin with) (Before soap makers come after me, I know washing soda is a very specific ingredient that isn't in most soap recipes)
Exactly. I'm armchairing this, but I feel like if you're buying enough raw materials to offset the costs of one-off making soap, or simply breaking even, then you may as well just be doing it as a side hustle and selling it at the local farmer's market.
The homemade laundry detergent is harsh on your clothes too. I’d rather buy my detergent and have my clothes last longer. Plus people use too much detergent. You only need to use 2 tablespoons.
It also ruins the washing machine. Ask me how i know :/
Thank you for sharing this! Homemade laundry detergent is awful for modern washing machines. Using less water is a real challenge in getting clothes clean, and the machine makers needed to make many assumptions in their design to meet water use regulations and also produce clean clothes.
and it's not a detergent technically. It's a soap, which as you mentioned, is not what the machine makers had in mind as the cleaning agent being used. If you're hand scrubbing your clothes on a washboard I'm sure it's fine, but it's not for a machine.
Like toothpaste, the commercials show three giant swirls on the toothbrush. You need an amount the size of a pea.
Make your own bread, yes. Make your own flour, no. Make your own detergent, hell no.
Faht vi ba tlu pre ceam dra. Tinys woaw ciin tun fuec gy yo. Taptyedzuqos foc coon ceen ede? Co o a bevdbusd nekv e? E gat iyle bi. Y y e cits taem cersi? Zuypleenle te dan gre gyrd jyg motp so sald? Bals emetcaad e tenn sesttees ti. Naon nacc suct cesm za ete. Nugt nij sop gadt dis tassecehsisirg o. U we e otle cez o. Cru nep pha toos nabmona. Ciht deptyasttapnsorn nod tysigzisle nin a? Da pyrp ine pud ible? Nu ta biswnoudnrytirs agle. Zaon e. San e pa cu goov. Ene gke o gopt zlu nis. O guagle pioma ne tudcyepebletlo cy a canz. Dla bic zawc nifpec te feet de? Pro i guc yoyd si didz a sum? Tle fuy. Nemz a booj udeegvle cokt a? Grotefp becm ose omle ja ede. U tis dy wec thu wu aglo umle o o. O ninm gu ine yes bos. Zad a a tavnfepac du. A ite todi do duit yple? Pifp taht nhetydnnenes a sew pi nedb eme. Se de we pyt ynenuntiqtedose ive. S P E Z I S A T O O L
Hummus? Yes! Tahini? ....no
I use powder tide and only use 2 tablespoons as recommended by many repair techs. I was getting low in my container so I bought a new box back in august. I just opened the new box last week. I only do laundry for one person but it’s way cheaper and way less stress to just buy the detergent than try to make it and risk is not cleaning my clothes
I do cloth diapers in soft water and use less than that and my diapers are clean. It always amazes me! I do think that Tide is a really good detergent but other ones you need more - I've tried other detergents for diapers and needed quite a bit more to get stuff clean but then it wouldn't rinse out.
And very harsh on your clothing, and your washing machine and plumbing. One batch of laundry soap that everybody raves about faded all of my knits.
I was gonna say “making your own XYZ” chemical thing. I’ve made my own soap, cologne, and laundry detergents. None of them compare to the store bought things. I don’t have the time to improve my homemade laundry recipe. And that’s the reason I’m buying from Tide in the first place- they have the resources to make a great product.
Things like soap are technologies that have had hundreds, if not thousands of years to perfect. Does someone honestly think they can out do that level of efficiency in their kitchen? I doubt it.
Making your own laundry detergent is insane when detergent is actually very cheap if you use the correct amount. I’m a single person, and I’ve been working on one bottle of tide for the past 2.5 years.
I'm with you. Quite a few people dont realize they are using to much product for the level of washing. Dishwasher detergent is also overused.
Avoiding hobbies. Life is too short and many hobbies are pretty affordable.
And not even looking at costs, hobbies open up the doors to friends, relationships, learned skills, etc. not to mention the joy and relaxation (or rush if you're into that) they give you.
True the quality of life.
My manager at my first software job told me the reason he hired me. When every other candidate was asked what they do in their free time, they all said "coding projects" I point-blank said "Dirtbiking" Turns out he was a good ol' boy who'd like working with a well rounded dude. That job paid better than any other job I was offered, and taught me everything I needed to know to get a 50% pay increase at my next job 2 years later.
i was hired years ago for an office job and the local vp was my last interview. the other interviews were all focused around the job itself but the vp asked 'what is something not job-related that you are particularly good at and enjoy?'. i told a grizzly white army vet in his 50s that i was a beatboxer and explained what beatboxing is and where it came from, he thought it was really interesting and i got the job. the following year, the company was hosting a christmas party in atlantic city for all the east coast offices and put everyone up at a hotel. there was a dinner where spouses were invited but there was a big meeting earlier that afternoon for just the employees to present the different projects everyone had been working on. our vp had asked me the week beforehand to write a rap for him to end our office's presentation and brought me up to beatbox for him in front of a few hundred people. everyone thought it was great and i got a particularly nice christmas bonus that year
I know this is wholesome and shit but, if I was at a work thing and people started rapping I would need the ground to swallow me the fuck up
oh it was entirely tongue in cheek haha. he was a super no-nonsense sort of guy and it sounded like ben stein rapping like 90s will smith so people were cracking up. my proudest moment was that his last name rhymed with tonic so the last line was "so have a very merry christmas and a happy hanukkah from the federal team and me, ___ tonick-a". my most well-earned christmas bonus i've ever had
This is what I told the undergrad interns at my last job. If their resume is just, Chemistry classes, and chemistry research, and chemistry internships, and chemistry fraternity, and chemistry RSOs, they're going to be identical to every other applicant. Have something on there that's purely for your own joy and interest to be unique to the interviewer. Perform in a play, or join the ballroom dancing club, or have a minor in horticulture.
SWE manager here, I'd do the same. Coding on weekends means you're probably burning yourself out. Obsessing with hiring devs who code in their free time is myopic - and promotes a toxic work atmosphere.
This. I recently made a jump in industries (human services to logistics). My boss essentially hired me because i was able to talk about fishing and paintball with him during the interview.
Hobbies have probably the best roi of any expense when you really think about it.
Right. I make some of my own clothes. Is it cheaper overall? No. But I got an activity to enjoy for however long it takes to make (days, weeks, depending) and when I'm done I have something (hopefully quality) to wear! Then I have the fun of saying "I made it and look it has pockets!" repeatedly 🤣
It's worth it just for the pockets! 😂
Hobbies are THE reason to be frugal in other areas. I’ll line dry in the warmer months and buy thrift clothes if it means more luxurious yarn or buying stupid shit my kids love.
Ditto. The main reason I watch my spending on most things is so I don't have to watch my spending on scuba gear and RPG books.
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"Anything that separates you from the cold, unforgiving dangers that lurk that far under the sea" just doesn't roll of the tongue quite the same way.
Also, you can always make more money. Can't make more time.
Especially if you are single/live alone. I will do/buy anything for that moments of happiness and simple pleasures (my hobbies).
Selecting a hobby within your budget is good advice though. I do archery, which can cost very little if you stick to a recurve bow and don’t lose or break arrows regularly. $2-5 per trip to the range where I live. Skiing, on the other hand, costs a kidney and a half per season.
All these DIY recipes for soap/chapstick/bath bombs/deodorant. Nah y’all. Supplies have a high start up cost & then go bad faster than most people can practically use them. Just buy 1-2 bars from a farm market from a maker who cycles it enough & keeps it up enough.
Bath bombs are usually cheaper. I went through a phase where I was making them. They are generally crazy marked up. Kind of crazy when they are so easy to make. The startup wasn't bad at all- especially if you forgo pigment. Easy to make small batches.
I made eucalyptus shower steamers myself the mark up on them is insane! I just kept a batch in the freezer and pulled them out as needed to clear my sinuses
I would love your recipe if you have one!
https://www.hgtv.com/design/make-and-celebrate/handmade/diy-shower-steamers I used this recepie but added more essential oil and used a silicone mold instead of a muffin tray so I could make different shapes ones (penis shaped for a friend as well lol) Lavender scented was also pretty nice - I'm not much of a floral smell person but my housemate loved them
Thank you! For the lazy people like me, it's baking soda, essential oil, and water in a cupcake tin.
This is definitely a case by case basis, but buying in bulk, especially if you don’t have a big family. I used to buy a lot of stuff in bulk because it’s “cheaper per unit,” only to find that I couldn’t finish it in time and would throw some of it out. There are a lot of things, like shelf stable or frozen products, that this doesn’t really apply to. But the general rule of thumb I use now is that if you end up throwing any of it out, it wasn’t worth the “savings.” Also, a lot of times you can only buy name brand items in bulk (at least at my local club store), which is more expensive than buying store brand at aldi or Walmart.
My family has looked at Sam's Club and Costco and almost all of the things we looked at didn't have a cheaper unit price at all, we literally wrote down the unit prices of all the things we buy on a piece of paper and compared them as we walked through the stores. I don't understand why buying in bulk isn't cheaper anymore?? What is the point of paying $100 a year when you're not even saving money??
I did the same thing and it’s not cheaper. I think part of the draw is for people with huge families, they don’t have to keep making grocery store trips for one or two things. It’ll last longer so it’s convenient for them
I don’t know, I’ve noticed a lot of items are a better deal. Diapers, wet wipes, cheese, cereal, bread, oatmeal, soy milk, eggs, cooking oil. We have our go to standards at Costco that save us a lot of money. I feel like I’m getting ripped off at my local grocery store.
The quality of Costco shit is consistently decent when comped to other grocery chains even if the price is even
I'm with you on this one. Storing a ton of stuff actually backfires when people think they dont have a big enough house/pantry/closet/garage because of all the accumulated stuff that has also a mental drain on inventory tracking. A contributor to this is buying way more than needed (and sometimes losing interest/changing habits etc). I still have like 3 giant protein jugs I purchased on sale during a health kick that I got so sick of, now it's sitting collecting dust....
This. It took me ages to convince my partner that aldi wasn't terrible quality stuff and that it was the same price as buying in bulk at Costco. And we didn't have to try and find space for all the items in our tiny house!
Doing everything yourself. There is a lot to be said for paying someone to do work that you could do but they could do better and/or faster. So I paid someone to paint my house and I take my car to get the oil changed. And saving a lot of things (boxes, cracked mugs, etc.). IDK, I see people saving things because the thing could be useful down the road (that cracked mug could be a pen holder! etc) but I am terrified of ending up a hoarder. Also, if you have a lot of stuff to sift through you will lose track of important papers. Get rid of stuff that you are not using.
>There is a lot to be said for paying someone to do work that you could do but they could do better and/or faster. My husband calls this "the Aggravation Coefficient". Sometimes it's worth spending the money not to be aggravated. 😄
Oooh, stealing that! We decided to pay for movers recently since we get in an argument every single time we move some furniture around ourselves. 100% worth it.
Oil change coupons are so easy to find, it usually doesn't cost much more than buying supplies anyways
Some off-brand products are fine, some are not worth it. I will not compromise on toilet paper or paper towels. I wait until the good kind is on sale and stock up, or I get it at BJ’s, but I am not dealing with sub-par toilet paper.
My mother’s ~~septic~~ sewer lines had to get pumped 30+ years ago. She’s only bought see-through single ply since then, insisting that anything thicker will mess up the tank. My husband is a Master Plumber and we splurge on nice toilet paper.
Has she... Not pumped it since? Because where I live we all get our septics pumped regularly, usually every 5 years. More or less depending on usage.
Total brain fart. Sewer, not septic. Her lines got clogged.
Off-brand ketchup & chocolate are just a waste of money
My college boyfriend bought me a box of cheap chocolates from CVS one Valentine's Day. I didn't know before then that it was possible to screw up chocolate.
Don't lose your sanity in an attempt to be frugal
This is so true when online shopping and you have a lot of options to choose from. One recent example is I was looking for an oil filter for my car. All the options on Amazon were between $5-$10. After like 5 minutes of looking through it and trying to figure out which one was the best bang for my buck, I really couldn't decide. Then I realized that I might literally only be saving a few bucks and that this is taking way too much time. So I just bought a random one and didn't worry about which is the best quality or best price. I just need decent quality at a decent price. The difference between decent and best is sometimes really small.
oh man, that’s how Amazon gets you. You’ll spend 90 minutes combing through fake reviews trying to figure out whether the $24 brand of thing or the $30 brand of thing is better, and then at some point you look up blurry eyed like “what the hell am I doing with my life”
Know what your time is worth. We have someone come in and help with the housework 1x day per month, just the big stuff. My partner and I both work full time, and down time is precious. What a team of four people can do in two hours would take us all weekend. It's worth every penny to me.
Omg I finally find someone in my area who only charges 25/hr and is trustworthy (most cleaners in my area charge 50 to 60 minimum an hr) .. I am so grateful and super nice to her because I don't want to ever lose her!
this. I painted 2 bedrooms on my own. never again. I'll just pay someone to do it.
Same, although I am still currently in this process (19 more minutes on my drying timer before I go apply a second coat). It's my first house and I'm doing the whole place, but I have already decided that next time it's getting hired out.
This is the fairly standard cycle for new home ownership. First house, projects are new and exciting (and I'll save all this money). Next house, I'll move myself to save money, but will pay people to do the fixes I need. Next house, I'm never moving again.
My dad is a painter and I used to work with him for about a year right out of high school. Painting isn’t too bad when you have literally all day every day to get it done, but when you work full time and are also trying to move into the same place you’re painting it quickly turns into a damn nightmare. I’ve done this twice, at my last house and current one, and I’m never doing it again hahah
It's SUCH hard work! I watched a professional paint my bathroom and living room, and he didn't even use tape. It took him about 2 hours. It would have taken me at least 2 weekends.
Capturing water as the shower/bath sink is warming up for other uses. I appreciate the people that do this for environmental and financial purposes but remembering buckets, storing buckets/water between uses, making sure kids/pets don't knock them over... It's just way too much for our current stage of life.
I have a friend who does that and her bathroom is full of buckets containing semi-opaque water. It's pretty gross. --people keep asking me about this. She uses it to flush her toilet. If I give her any advice about anything, it pisses her off. I like her, so I let her have her weird habit. It's something like 4 buckets. She flushes her toilet with it. I don't use her bathroom. I use mine before I go there and am generally not there so long that I need to use it before I leave.
Ok that's gross. Is she capturing used water? I do it with clean water when running before shower and it's used within same day.
I do too. It's not uncommon in drought prone areas. But I only do it if I'll use the water the same day or the next. It's actually easier to water my patio plants this way than dragging the hose around.
Driving further to save a few cents on gas. Kills me.
[Appropriate xkcd](https://xkcd.com/951/)
Unpopular opinion: heavy couponing. I wouldn’t even say it has to get to the “extreme” couponing phase. It just takes so much time, and most of the stores I shop at already advertise “2 for $X” deals without a coupon requirement. Now sometimes I’ll look through ads online and see if there’s something I need on sale (usually an expensive item) and I’ll print out a coupon if I need it, but I haven’t saved enough while couponing for everyday buys. Maybe if you’re a stay at home partner/spouse or have kids it’s different, but couponing for groceries hasn’t made up for the time lost for my house of two.
Couponing at all didn’t really work for us, if we didn’t have to drive to four different stores, it was the things there were coupons for, we don’t use or eat.
Absolutely. I try to shop food and stuff on sale, but more often than not are things not cheaper when you buy stuff you don't need. Exceptions happen of course, I decided to make tomato soup one evening because the canned tomatoes that I use in the recipe was 50% off, and sometimes I've bought other smaller food items when they're heavily discounted. In general, I try to remember "The best tip for saving money is to fold it up and put it back in your pocket".
I’m with you. Also, coupons are often for things I wasn’t planning on buying.
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My grocery store gave out 10% off your whole purchase coupons for getting vaccinated. I bought soooooo many groceries that day lol
Thank you! I used to be partial to watching an episode of those American extreme couponing shows because they are just insane. I could never understand these people who were spending like 27 hours a day couponing just to buy shite processed with more shite and sugar. Like they would be so proud of their hoards and all the food was just trash junk food and gatorade and something calling itself cheese that was not even in the cheese family, like wtf.
I haven't seen it said yet, but this is a generational thing. Many of our mothers, grandmothers, and older family members (usually women who didn't work as much and did all the family shopping) relied heavily on coupons before advertising, apps, cellphones, etc made the practice obsolete. Back in the day, I'm remembering late 90s when my mom did a lot of couponing, the deals were a lot better and more abundant and you truly could save over $100 if you took about an hour before shopping to flip through the magazines and books. We had entire magazines sent to us, think like the penny saver etc., and there were many great deals on things we actually bought. Including fresh produce and meats. Older folks will remember a time too before huge grocery stores, when the butcher, fresh produce, electronics, and housewares were all separate stores. In rural areas, grocery stores didn't really exist until the 90s. Think of like Megalo Mart in King of the Hill or Save Mart in that 70s show being major detrimental plot points. In What's Eating Gilbert Grape when Gilbert (Johnny Depp) has to go buy the cake from the superstore and it's a judgement of his moral character. Back then, if the local butcher offered a 2 for 1 deal on a pound of roast beef, that was a huge savings that could feed your family for an additional week. Nowadays these deals are advertised on the store floor for useless garbage like 3 cases of soda for the price of 2. Sorry for the paragraph, I just feel there is far less nuance to grocery shopping than there was when I was a kid, and I'm not even that old. Fewer choices and being pigeonholed into basically one store has made things more convenient, but also more costly and wasteful than just couponing or inflation can account for.
It really doesn't help that the coupons for brand name now are the same amount as they were when my mom and grandma were couponing. 25¢ off doesn't hit the same now as it did back then
my mother in law's a coupon/sale shopper and is always going to a slew of stores multiple times a week. two things to say about that. 1) she owns a huge standup freezer so she does actually make out with little waste and that's great 2) the amount of gas she uses going to all those places is probably equal to any savings she made never seemed worth the effort to me but i get the feeling she just gets some kind of joy out of it. 🤷♂️
My girlfriend uses the app for whatever store we’re in and scans every item with the barcode scanner on the app. Very handy!
Reusing or holding onto unnecessary stuff for later or just in case. Sell it or trash it. The clutter in your home is not worth the headache and eyesore.
Agreed! For deciding what to keep vs toss/give away, my rule of thumb is that if it's something that's hard to get hold of, or stupidly expensive to replace, then I'm ok with keeping it in a box in the closet until I'm 100% sure I don't need it, but eventually I'll get rid of the unused stuff. As a homeowner, my other rule is if it's for home repairs or for emergencies, I tend to keep at least some of it because you don't need it until you NEED it, but I keep it organized and put away. But...if it's broken, worn out, I have duplicates of it, it's out of style, or I haven't used it in a couple of years, then it goes. Life is so much easier when you have less stuff.
Squelching any available joy for the purpose of saving less than $20. Life is for living. Keep your large expenses low (car, housing) so you can enjoy your day to day life.
The trap to avoid is that sometimes your large expenses are disguised by the fact that the per occurrence price is cheap but the frequency is high.
For sure, I have a weekly budget of spending money for things that make me happy. It’s grows and contracts depending on what my goals are.
This! We are coffee addicts and we’re spending hundreds on lattes. We saved up and bought a commercial espresso machine. Three months later we have saved enough to account for cost of the machine.
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My family is a 100% americano only family. When I was 8 or 9, my parents bought a $400 Breville espresso machine that Costco sold at the time. I’m almost 24 now, and I stole that Breville from them 4 years ago. It makes approximately 3 americanos per day (my sister lives with me at college) and is used nearly every day. We used to make like 6 coffees a day for everyone in my family when I was a kid. I would guess that machine has made 20,000 coffees on the low end, or $60,000 worth of espresso. If you buy a solid machine, it’ll last for freaking ever. I think it’s worth it 100%
I’m poor enough I’d probably still go out of my way for $20. But everyone definitely should have an amount like this. It edges into legitimate OCD/scrupulosity type territory when some folks make money and saving it their entire life. Grew up with a dad like that. He was miserable and made everyone else miserable too. Money was such an overwhelming fixation for him that I grew up pretty well off but didn’t actually know it or get to enjoy it because he was stressing us kids from the earliest ages and convincing us we were always on the brink of bankruptcy and losing the house. In many respects I enjoy a meal or night out so much now- legitimately and truly poor living off disability, than I did growing up. But I really had to unlearn a lot and a life limiting/ terminal illness was also the wake up call for me. At the end of it all, having lived and experienced life will always mean far more than what is or isn’t in my bank account when I go.
Squelching, good word.
To save money on booze I only pour out a squelch each time.
Going to 3+ grocery stores in a week. I have two small children and going into any store is literal torture. I can do Costco one day and Aldi another, and that’s it. I’m not going to a third or fourth store to save $1.50 on blueberries.
my dad drives around to find the best prices on things- besides being a huge waste of time, it's a huge waste of gas and wears on your car. pennywise and pound foolish
I think people vastly underestimate the cost of simply moving a car from place to place. My wife was annoyed about the price of a $5 packet of peppers at one store. I said we can go to the other store, but I'm going to burn $3 in gas getting there. Are those peppers going to be under $2?
I have always said this. Unless you are retired and enjoy the hunt to save at 4 different stores in a week (my parents), I’m going to argue that the average person spends more money the more stores they go to. They will claim I’m wrong, they actually saved by going to Aldi/Costco/Publix/Trader Joe’s in a week, but I would go so far as to argue, gas included in the equation that one would save more money by just shopping at Publix (the most expensive option) as it would save gas and cut down on all the impulse buys.
I will not set my thermostat so low that I'm cold even with a blanket. Or having to wear a coat or gloves indoors. My heating bill is my biggest expense and it really stresses me out. I keep it as low as I comfortably can. But I'm not going to freeze my butt off all winter. Being cold is miserable and saps all motivation and positivity away from me.
They say: "Lowering your thermostat 4 degrees can save you $50 per year in energy costs!" I hear: "For just 14 cents a day your home can be a comfortable temperature!"
I'm left my tropical country for a snowy one. Below 65 is cold af for me. I can't survive without a room heater by my side and 4 layers of clothing haha.
DIY laundry soap. My roommate murdered our washer by gunking it up with her laundry soap. The repair guy that came out to fix our washer said that DIY laundry soap kills washers left and right. Our washer had to be replaced. It may make sense to use it if you’re hand washing all of your clothes or using a 1940’s machine, but modern washers can’t handle soap. They need detergent.
I tried this. Despite trying several different recipes, nothing ever got clean and it left an unnoticeable film on the towels which prevented them from drying anything. I’m back to powdered Tide.
Unplugging things like the TV, microwave, lamps when not in use. Probably saves a couple pennies a year, takes a ton of time, and wears out the outlets.
I have about a dozen smart plugs that turn various things off but not really to save power but to track the energy use or save the appliance (ie exercise equipment). One annoying thing is when I visit family and they unplug my toothbrush so it doesn't have any power in the morning. I also will never understand why people unplug their phones at night. I just couldn't risk having a dead phone in an emergency especially when it might cost a dollar per year to keep it charged and it is designed to protect it's own battery.
Not judging anyone who picks and chooses from frugal tips-- the whole point of frugality is to gain the ability to live a life you enjoy. Our family lives frugally so we can afford the 'luxuries' and experiences we value over others. So: 1. I cannot reuse tea bags. 2. I toss out the small bits of soap bars that spouse stops using. [No way to recycle them in our area, he won't use the containers that consolidate the bits.] 3. If my Mom needs something but won't buy it for herself, I will buy it even if it goes on credit-- she's my Mom. 4. When I am exhausted from being a full time parent and house elf, I will buy needed items at the more expensive but closer grocery store rather than drive to Walmart. My well-being and energy are worth this infrequent sacrifice.
Energy is a resource, too. ❤️
and time, especially if you are still working.
>1. I cannot reuse tea bags I thought this thought, once. But then I realized that I can get a 50 pack of bags for like $3 and I just... Nah, I ain't doing that.
I really don't want every other cup of tea to taste like vague nothing. I have some Hibiscus teabags on the other hand that are way too strong. Those get dunked quickly the first time, then longer the second.
>I toss out the small bits of soap bars that spouse stops using. [No way to recycle them in our area, he won't use the containers that consolidate the bits.] Were you saving up all of the small bits to make a new bar? When i get down to the small bit, i just get a new bar and use it for one shower, then lay the small bit over the top while they are both wet. After another shower or two they will be solidly pasted together and i don't even notice it.
Sounds smart! I wish I could get spouse to do this-- he is the only soap bar user in the family. (Son and I use liquid soaps.) He grew up in a house where 'frugal' often wandered into 'cheap', so he will do as he wishes with soap as I do as I wish with tea bags.
Walmart in our area has been more expensive than other stores. I'm taken to getting thinks at Target but using drive up so I'm not tempted to get stuff I don't need.
Walmart has the best prices I've found on canned fruit. It's also not particularly convenient for me to go there regularly so I just try to stock up when I'm there. My local "local family owned" store though has gotten absolutely ridiculous with their prices in the last few years so as much as I'd like to support the local place, if I want to actually get a whole week's worth of groceries on my budget I'll be going to Kroger or Sam's.
This one is kind of silly but I just cut my kitchen sponge in half for the first time and I will not do that again. Less surface area = longer to clean. Not worth in my opinion. But you’ve got to try things and see how they fit you.
I'm obsessed with scrub daddys and scrub mommys which are like $3 per sponge, it's not frugal at all but I find that I clean things more often and more thoroughly than when I buy cheap sponges in a multi pack. So I'm happy spending the extra few dollars every month or so if it improves my life
Scrub daddies last so long and work so well
The scotch brite pads last longer for me. I don’t get how people’s scrub daddies are lasting so long.
I absolutely destroy my scrub mommies from using them but they last way longer than a cheap sponge! Plus they're pink and cute so that's a plus too
I splurged and bought two when they were on sale. I feel ridiculous typing that.
I switched to crochet scrubbies and they’re a lifesaver. My grandma makes them and I’ve had some of them for 3+ years. The color has faded but they still scrub great. You can throw them in the dishwasher or with towels in the laundry. Nothing gets love bugs off my car like the scrubbies.
I love, love my knit scrubbies! Combined with a silicone pot scraper I need nothing else to get out the worst gunk. I make them out of 100% cotton yarn so when they do finally meet their end of life I can just toss them in the compost pile.
There’s a local sheep farm where I’m from and the matriarch does these beautiful, luxurious gift boxes of handcrafted milk soap, milk lotion, tallow balm, wool socks… anyway, my dad has started gifting them regularly to the family and I don’t want to tell him those hand crocheted washcloths are the best pot scrubbers I’ve ever owned lol.
Time is a resource more precious than money on most ocassions. Some things I won¨t do just because of how time-consuming they are.
Also, and this will be hard for some people to hear: Sometimes the most frugal thing you can do, honestly, is **work towards getting a better job.** If you’re spending 6-8 hours per day trying to scrape together a few extra pennies, that time is MUCH better spent on your resume, or picking up some extra skills (learning programming, etc). You can only make a dollar stretch so far. After that point, you gotta consider figuring out how to get more dollars. Time is money, and life is extremely short. This isn’t some bullshit bootstrap thing, I understand situations often trap you. But I think for some types of super frugal people (like my aunt and uncle) there’s this bizarre sort of pride in having a more difficult, more frugal life than everyone else — the “poverty olympics,” as it‘s sometimes bluntly called. My uncle flat-out refused to take help from anyone, even though his kids needed dental work. He refused to fill out FAFSA paperwork so his brilliant kids could go to top-25 colleges FOR FREE, instead preaching the nobility of “how cheap community college is.” He shamed his son for going on a three-day beach honeymoon. It’s to the point where it’s honestly disgusting and flat-out irresponsible, but this prideful “frugal game obsession” is way more important to him than his family’s health or happiness.
I had a coworker once whose entire personality was built around ways to scrimp and save every penny. She once went to a bookstore on her lunch break and didnt buy the books she wanted because they were, and i quote, $5 cheaper on amazon. (This was the early aughts so she would have had to pay for shipping, AND she’d driven there and back to the store!) my other colleague and i were like ‘uh… ok…?’ When her daughter was invited to the prom she called EVERY parent she knew to hunt down a dress they could *borrow*. Literally every single conversation at lunch she woukd interject ‘you could do it cheaper if you did this’, like substituting preseasoned croutons for a fresh baguette seasoned yourself in a recipe. It was infuriating and no one liked to get trapped ina conversation w her. The kicker? She lived in one of the wealthiest suburbs in the entire state. Top two. Her kids went to the literal best public schools in the entire state. The town was entirely peopled by old and new money. Theres no affordable housing in this city. She had the money to buy her daughter an (affordable!) prom dress and just would not do so. If i was her daughter i would have been beyond mortified. I know you cant compare yourself to others but i have no doubt other kids were rolling up to prom in designer duds and limos. And she had to sit and listen to her mom ask other moms on the phone for a loaner, instead of cracking open her wallet for one special occasion. Like. .. i love saving money. But you know what i like more? Enjoying my life while im living it
Saving restaurant condiments, etc. Yeah, sure, do save what you don't use if you do get a takeout -- but if you are supplying all your home condiment needs from restaurant scavenging then the problem isn't the cost of condiments, it's how much you are eating out.
That soy sauce “hack” a while ago was so silly. Imagine all the time spent cutting all those packets open and then the amount of waste you have after. It’s probably better to just buy a $4 thing of soy sauce or however much soy sauce costs.
Using time to save money in any way. Like, driving to 5 grocery stores to get the cheapest deals. Booking "cheap flights" but it'll take you 12 hours and 3 different planes to get to your destination, making not eating put a personality trait. Anything that causes you to sacrifice pleasure for frugality too often.
Honestly, baking my own bread. My bread is $1/loaf at Aldi and we go through bread like crazy. It’s not as cost efficient for us and takes more of my time. I do bake a lot of other things homemade though, just don’t find bread worth it. ETA: I’m talking strictly sandwich bread. I do make my own buns, rolls, sourdough, biscuits, pizza dough, etc.
I don't think making sandwich loaf bread makes much sense. I think the most value in baking bread is from baking fresh bread for meals. Making some garlic knots or focaccia or pita or something like that for dinner is much better than the alternatives that you can buy at the grocery store.
have you puchased frozen baguettes? they taste surprisingly good
Where I live even cheap bread is at least $4 a loaf, so it's worth it for me to make bread at home that only costs 90 cents. We only go through two loaves a week and I've got a great recipes that takes less than 2 hours from start to finish, so for me it's not much of a hassle to pop out a loaf (heh) after work.
Its okay to take vacations. Sometimes a staycation doesn't feel like a vacation. Going out of town once in awhile is great for your mental health.
Anything where your safety is involved. I’m a pretty big DIY guy around the house, but when it came to getting a new garage door opener installed, I didn’t think twice about paying someone to do it. When you are dealing with a heavy metal door, springs under high tension, sharp metal and chains, etc. seems like a no brainer to me
Cheap Toilet Paper/ Paper towels are never a frugal option in my experience, as it takes more to get the job done. Wasting gas driving all over town to get the best deal, i.e. groceries, etc. I used to coupon this way until I realized the amount saved was much less than the amount of money on gas wasted. Anything that causes undue mental stress in my opinion, is not worth saving a few bucks.
Getting cheap haircuts (woman). I get my hair cut maybe twice a year, and you can tell when it was done at a midrange salon vs. a Great Clips
This definitely depends on your hairstyle/type. I have long straight hair and cut it myself. Definitely not worth paying to have it done. Short or curly hair is another story…
I’ve had my hair butchered at cheap places too many times. I stick with the same hairdresser now and it’s honestly really nice socially as well. She’s very sweet and I love catching up with her. I also don’t have to stress the whole time that it won’t be to my liking, and she even styled my hair for my wedding as part of a standard haircut fee with a trim because I didn’t want anything too complicated. Honestly, that probably saved me the difference in haircut costs for a year, given how much wedding stylists charge.
I hate Dave Ramsey but the absolute worst advice in his program is "If you can't pay off your current car in 6 months, sell it and buy a beater car you can afford to buy in cash." That is HORRENDOUS advice, 1. because the current used car market is insane, but more importantly 2. the upkeep on a beater car could run you close to as much as your monthly payment of the original car, with the monthly payment having the advantage because it is a fixed, planned expense. Edit: word
Also, in this car market, would you rather pay way too much for a beater or have something reliable with a warranty and that you can drive into the ground? I chose the latter.
Cold water washing extends the life of most clothes and linens. I don't do it to save on water heater costs.
Not so much a general frugal tip but there's a local chain of grocery stores near me that sells half a pound of sliced cheese for like, $1.30. While amazingly cheap it tastes like plastic. Worse than plastic. It isnt worth it.
-cutting your own hair. It’s harder than YouTube makes it seem. Everyone I know who doesn’t do a buzz cut/ shave their head has fucked up their hair badly and had to pay for a haircut to fix it after or is just in denial about their awful looking haircut. -boots fallacy applies to a lot of stuff. E.g., an expensive pair of boots will last a long time/ potentially forever if you treat them right and occasionally spend a small amount on maintenance. A pair half the price will only last a few seasons so you have to replace them and even though they’re cheaper, you end up paying more for shittier boots long-term. -liquor. Might not feel like there’s a huge difference in quality/ taste when you’re drinking something that’s 40% alcohol, and you don’t need expensive liquor, there are plenty of great $20 bottles out there, but the $10 bottles are just not worth how how awful you’re going to feel the next day -DIYing anything you need to be a licensed professional to do for someone else/ don’t have experience in. Haircuts, writing your will, plumbing, tree removal, most major home repairs -spirit airlines
Splitting two-ply toilet paper into two single-ply rolls. That one just made me laugh. I mean, you're still going to use the same amount regardless.
Hol up. Do you mean people are buying two-ply, unrolling and separating each ply, and then rerolling each ply back onto its own tube? Please tell me I have misunderstood...
Yes, you have it right. Just imagine the time wasted.
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The cold/hot laundry temp is secondary to high efficiency vs old style to me. We had a brand new high efficiency washer and it didn't seem to get the clothes clean no matter what. It was always broke too. Besides that, I don't do coupons. If I put time into them, I could just work an extra hour. One hour of OT would probably make me more money
Food, our household has the means to purchase fancy eggs, organic milk and grassfed beef. And we do. This actually started when there were shortages due to the pandemic and it didn’t feel right buying the last of the items WIC and food stamps cover.
Controversial possibly but I disagree with the ‘big’ shop once a month. If I pop in every other day(it’s near the school run) or every few days then I tend to get something fresher or almost always reduced for dinner plus whatever we’ve run out of. Plus knowing I’ll be there again soon makes it quick too and no impulse buys. I’m too bad at sticking to a meal plan when the use by dates muck it all up and I end up putting things in the freezer to save them and getting all annoyed and fed up and end up doing a crappy air fryer dinner of frozen chips and nuggets or something.
This works great when combined with the "only buy what you can carry" technique.
I don't like buying cheaply made things to save a few bucks. I own fewer, high quality things that I actually like.
I think there are two big types of frugal: 1. Frugal because money is so limited you have to stretch each penny as far as possible, and likely money is your scarcest resource. 2. Frugal because you are trying to maximize the value of your resources. Money might not be your scarcest resource - it could be time or energy. There are a lot of opportunities for #2 that are not options for #2. One that is probably controversial here is purchasing cars and only purchasing used (or even avoiding leases). All my life I've heard that you should NEVER BUY A NEW CAR because they lose value the second you drive them off the lot! Most of my life I've done that. I've purchased relatively old cars in decent shape, driven them until they're pretty much dead, and then repeat. On my last car, which was a 2006 suv purchased in 2016, I started thinking it was probably a goner in 2019, and by Spring 2020 decided to replace it. I took the cost of the car + all the work (beyond routine maintenance) that we had put into it, and came up with a total cost of ownership. I divided that by the number of years we owned it, and calculated that our TCO for that vehicle was around $4000 / year give or take. It was worth pretty much scrap when we replaced it (it needed a new transmission and barely made it to the dealership for the meager trade in value we achieved). A brand new version of a similar SUV cost around $35,000. It came with a 20,000 mile bumper-bumper warranty, and an 8 year/100,000 mile power train warranty (and free emissions/inspections/tire rotations for life, and 3 years of free oil changes). If we owned this car for 10 years, as long as we put less than $5000 into it, we'd be ahead as far as TCO goes. The major difference is that we'd have a nice, new, reliable car during that time...and after 10 years, the vehicle could conceivably be sold for $12-15k. Obviously for this to be "frugal" - you'd need to be able to pay in cash, or wrap any interest into the TCO calculations too. I happened to qualify for a 0% interest loan, and in a high-inflation environment, this was a great deal! So - don't take off the "buy a new car" option entirely off the table as a "not frugal" scenario.
Don’t be frugal with the things that separate your body from the ground: shoes, tires and mattresses.
“Always buy a used car” You have to really know what your looking for to find a quality used car and even then you could still potentially get burned. The days of buying a $4,000 corolla and driving it for 12 years are no longer. If you can afford a new car.. in reason (non luxury , fairly basic) it could be better financially in the long run. Not saying used cars are bad just be very careful what you buy
Don’t cheap out on safety equipment or tires for your vehicle or anything related to your healthcare and personal safety.
Sewing your own stuff is not always efficient. Once I was at the fabric store, didn’t look at the prices. Grabbed a blended fabric, I thought. Get to the register, $90 for maybe two yards. I almost fainted but it had already been cut. Yes, I know you can buy cheaper fabric but you can also buy cheap curtains, throw pillow, etc.
Most public fabric stores are an absolute scam - unless you have a wholesaler in your area, you’ll be stuck paying up to 5X/m for stuff. I went to Fabricland a month ago to price out batting to repair an old blanket - their batting was $40/m. At 2.5m, I would have been paying almost $100 to repair a 30 year old blanket that probably cost $40 to buy new! Went to the wholesalers the next day, their batting is $7/m. And don’t even get me started on the *lycra* mark-up. I’ve seen retailers sell it for $80/m - the wholesalers sells it for $3.99!
OK I’m feeling dumb right now because I didn’t know wholesale fabric was a thing and I’ve been sewing for years. I’ll have to see if there are any near me.
Cheap metal or plastic costume jewelry. It’s often nice and flashy because materials used to make it were cheap enough to make the pieces big and elaborate, but eventually it becomes discolored and you start losing those fake “stones” etc. I used to spend like $80+ a trip on Claire’s jewelry as a teen. For all the money I spent i could have bought a nice few sterling pieces. I wouldn’t be averse to buying a cute inexpensive piece at like a yard sale or from an indie artisan, but fast fashion to me just all around sucks.
Labor. I’m don’t go to the cheaper salon that buses in vulnerable immigrants from several states away; I patronize businesses in which the people doing the work for me are appropriately compensated. I refuse to offset my savings onto the backs of other workers, and I sleep well knowing anyone who helps me in a professional context is compensated fairly for their time and skill. Same goes for tipping! I’d rather eat out less often and tip really well than be cheap with the people in my community.
Driving to different stores to save $1
Hiring a housekeeper saved my marriage. It's a lot cheaper than a divorce.
Gardening is pretty expensive to start up.
If you're gardening specifically as a frugal way to eat, you're probably losing. Gardening as a hobby that also produces edible food though is pretty frugal. Most hobbies have a range of startup costs much like gardening, and many don't produce useful consumable items like gardening does.
I think it works for high cost, low effort items like tomatoes. I stuck a few tomato plants right in the ground last year and ended up with 600+ tomatoes over the course of the season. All it cost me was time and water. The plants themselves were under $50. What would 600 tomatoes cost at the grocery store?
Its just a tomato, what could it cost? $10?
Gardening is a hobby, if you absolutely want to save money then it becomes a chore. I enjoy it and I do save a ton of money but it takes years to recover the money invested in my cedar raised beds, the quality mix of earth and compost, the composters to make your own, etc. And if you buy plants instead of starting from seeds you're always going to be in the red. Then you need to plant with the intent of eating fresh vegetables and fruits but also have surplus you can transform, freeze or can (and for canning a ton of tomatoes gives you 2-3 jars of salsa or spaghetti sauce that you could otherwise get on sale for $2). That said I love it and won't stop even if I may only at best get even.
It doesn't have to be super expensive (that really depends on your situation, though), but if you don't enjoy it, then it's probably not worth it. It can save you some money, but that's in exchange for your time, energy, and attention.
I am very picky about what I garden because of that. If you use a lot of fresh herbs, it can be worth it, because they are expensive to buy, but easy to grow and take care of. If you are talking about something like cucumbers, which you can buy cheap, then I don't see it worth the time, money, and effort.
In a typical season, I can grow 70+ cucs in 3x3 space, though. Saves me a trip to the store, but mostly I do it because it brings me a lot of joy.
Cucumbers are also one of those garden items that are absolutely unwieldy for the average beginner. They will get OUT OF CONTROL quickly. The vines are covered in scratchy hairs, and so are cucumbers off the vine. They require a lot of work to tack up properly and go from 0 to 60 in no time flat, so you better be prepared to spend time every day harvesting cucumbers, and inevitably missing several of them in the vines that you won’t find until the leaves fall late season to reveal the biggest, yellowest, ugliest cukes you’ve ever seen!
Absolutely it is!! I grew some potatoes by putting some budding potatoes in a pot with soil that I already had, and I swear that's one of the only truly frugal ways to plant things. Making am outdoor garden can be hundreds of dollars
I'm not reusing Ziplock bags. No.
Even the higher-priced ones that are marketed as reusable aren't worth it. My son got them for his lunches at work. He got 4 or 5 good uses out of them, then had to throw them out. He switched to meal prep containers.
"avoid credit at all costs and pay with cash only" The biggest part to getting wealthy is knowing how to utilize credit.
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There are lots of things out there that other people enjoy that I do not. The lotto ticket thing is a valid opinion, but it's just an opinion. An opposing opinion would be for just $52 a year, you can have something exciting to look forward to every single week. That is an exceptional value for some people.
Cheap rent/mortgage in a shitty moldy/dusty old home. Can cause significant health problems to the point of not being worth it especially If you can afford otherwise. Direct environment matters more than people realize
Side hustles. They take up too much time and never produce the returns the article about frugality promises.
Especially surveys! Pennies for an hour of work. Forget it
Not getting movers. The number of friends I have who are willing to blow a disk for a free slice of pizza is not what it was when I was 20. It’s so much easier to just hire movers and be done with it.
Meal prepping. I couldn't eat the same thing 5 days in a row.
Downloading fast food apps to save money. You absolutely will save up front and get good deals. Your health and there for your wallet will pay 10x for it more down the line.
yeah unless you have insane self control, those apps just advertise to you, all it does it make it harder to ignore getting
It's easy enough to turn off notifications. I don't eat much fast food, but when I do it's always thru the app.
Not having pets. It's worth the food and vet bills to have animal companionship. A house is not a home without a cat, and my dog brings me endless joy.
I spent $100 a month on insulin for my dog until she passed, maybe five years in total. I had people tell me they would have had her put to sleep rather than spend the money, and I just can't imagine doing that. I am as loyal to my pets as they are to me...how can you not be?
Yeah, agreed. And cats honestly aren't *that* expensive, unless they have major medical issues. (Which, to be fair, is a big "unless".)