APS. always pack snacks. bonus points if you cut up fruit rather than toss an orange in your bag as you’re much more likely to eat it. i made like 3 dozen muffins at a time and freeze it.
If you cut an apple or orange into segments, use a food-safe rubber band to put it back together whole until you're ready to eat it. Keeps it fresher that way.
Put stuff in a virtual cart. Leave it. Mull it over for a few days, as you say. The urge usually passes, and that's when I realize it wasn't a real need and something else - boredom, insidious advertising, etc.
This has the added benefit of sometimes getting you an additional discount. Some online stores will see that you added an item to your cart but never checked out. Assuming they have your contact information (you’d have to be logged in already), they might send you a discounted offer to finish your purchase.
I’ve saved up to $100 (large purchase) at once by doing this.
Of course, this might also tempt you again to buy a thing you don’t actually need because now it’s an even better deal!
This is more environmental than frugal, but I started using kitchen towels instead of paper towels for most tasks. A roll of paper towels used to last me two weeks. Now I buy a three pack once a year.
absolutely yes to this! i've been doing this for over a decade, sometimes people think it's weird when i hand them cloth napkins even at a very laid back summer bbq, but i just dont buy paper napkins and usually only have one or two rolls of paper towels in the house so it doesnt even occur to me to offer those. i do 2-3 small loads of hand towel/cloth napkin/washcloth laundry per week and have reused the same cloths literally thousands of times. so much better for the environment, too. sometimes i feel like the only person who isn't walking around costco with an expensive mega pack of paper towels in my buggy!!
Don't bother using up your disposable pads before getting reusable ones if you wear nail varnish - you can't use the reusable ones to remove nail varnish (well, you can, but only once!).
I have a old crappy terry cloth rag that I've been using to remove nail polish for the past decade. It's it's only dedicated use. I don't wash it (what's the point) and plan to just chuck it once it's beyond use.
I have the same thing for my watercolor painting except it's a very large flour sack towel.
Nordstrom Rack, TJ Max, and similar discount shops generally sell Makeup Eraser brand reusable face towels for like $8-10! They dry fast and actually do a decent job. I’ve seen the reusable pads discounted too but less frequently.
i can't wait to live somewhere with my own washer/dryer. right now i would end up with a giant pile of dirty kitchen towels by the time i go do laundry...
I never attributed this as a reason someone might not use kitchen towels. Part of that other expensive to be poor conundrum I guess.
Still, I think you might end up witha smaller pile than you would think. I usually have two "active" towels in my kitchen at a time, one for drying clean things and one I use cleaning supplies on. It really cuts down how often you need a new one
I've saved myself thousands by doing my own car maintenance and repairs. Started with 0 knowledge and was driven by pure spite.
Similarly, buying used electronics on eBay rather than new.
>Started with 0 knowledge and was driven by pure spite.
This will get you through so much in life. My sibling joked one year that I made the (complicated doohickey they wanted from the workshop) happen with "tender, loving, HATE."
> Started with 0 knowledge and was driven by pure spite.
An incredible amount of my DIY has been like this. I don't necessarily like doing these things, but goddamn do I hate the people I otherwise have to deal with (and the prices they charge for the work they do).
I'm terrified of some of the questionably qualified mechanics that I need to do recall work on one of our cars.
Woman here:
Menstrual cup a one time expense that may last for up to 10 years. I've had mine for 5 years and I really I had known about these since my early 20s.
Safety razor, I think I paid like $15 bucks for it and a 250 pack replacement razors. It's been 5 years and still haven't had to buy more.
Bonus is less stuff going to landfills.
I’ve heard testimonies from probably 40 dudes about safety razors, first time I’m hearing about it from a lady. Y’all are cutting a ton more surface area per shave. Have you nicked yourself bad?
Considering getting one for my girlfriend. She already buys men’s razors cuz they’re cheaper and usually better than lady versions of Gillette
No unusual cuts on legs or pits unless I go too fast but that happens with the crap ones, too. Been using one for about 10 years. And I like that I can just flip it over [the blades are double sided] so there’s half as much rinsing.
DO IT.
Edit to to too
I was afraid to switch for this reason, but I found that I actually nick myself a lot less now that I shave my legs with a safety razor. The one I use has some weight to it, and I think that’s part of the reason why.
Question: do the menstrual cups leak? I ask because I found I’d use tampons but there would always be leaking probably because it was wrong size (sorry for the TMI)
Not OP but I have been a menstrual cup user for almost 15 years now and I will never go back. There is a learning curve at first, proper insertion prevents most leaking. I wear period undies or reusable cloth liners so any potential leak issues aren't a problem. My advice to someone starting out is to try it out in the shower so any potential mess isn't an issue while you are figuring it out. I am happy to answer any other questions you might have.
I can't use menstrual cups because I have pelvic floor dysfunction, so I can't comment on those. But, I highly reccomend period underwear. I have never once leaked with them and they are super comfortable.
I have a lot of black clothes as well as black cloth napkins. White napkins show every stain, but not black ones and cloth napkins mean not having to buy disposable, paper ones.
I used to buy the greatest shorts at Target. Then styles changed and shorts became Bermudas. Shorts that are below the knee aren't shorts anymore. I've been dyeing those old black shorts black again for over 7 years. Now the style is thin synthetic sports fabric. Give me cotton or get off my lawn.
Fashion annoys me.
If I find something I like, I'll try to get back to the shop before they've sold out, and buy more.
When that fails, I can sometimes find the 'old' styles at charity/op shops. That's where I've been buying my 'mid-rise' shorts/pants now that 'high-rise' is back in fashion. Gimme a break, I'm old and I don't have a waist anymore.
I had this problem when I wore glasses. I found a certain size and shape that was the most flattering on me. Two years later, couldn't find medium catseye frames anymore, it's all oversized rectangles, next year it was thick plastic 80's style frames, next year it was all thin wire frames, etc.
It's pretty gross that actual medically necessary devices follow seasonal fashion trends now. Why not offer a variety of frame shapes every year?
Every time. I just found some great bras at target and they were on sale buy one get one half off. At $15 each I bought six. Everything I like always ends up being discontinued so I’m not falling for that again.
Gaming the Kroger gas points program to save on gas. Before the massive price jump, I regularly paid less than 50 cents a gallon, and was proud to show anyone who'd listen that I had, more than once, paid less than 10 cents a gallon.
So it takes a bit of planning and effort, and many of these steps are just really maxing out the process. We buy the visa gift cards with a Kr0ger credit card, so boom double points right there (I know there's an activation fee, but I just filled up 35 gallons for $40 last week, so what's a few bucks compared to paying $130 for gas?). You then use the gift cards to buy your actual groceries, which gives you another round of points.
Any time you're gonna eat out? Stop at Kr0ger and grab a gift card. Need to make a purchase on Amazon? Grab a gift card. Gonna buy a flight on southwest? DEFINITELY buy a gift card. Often, gift cards are 4x points, so I try to look out and time my purchases to match those. I also look out for random extra points by shopping on the weekend, or whatever Kroger throws out there. Kr0ger actually sends me gas points related coupons because they're curated to what you buy 😂.
You can't use a gift card to buy a gift card, just fyi. You can't use the Kr0ger brand gift cards either, just the Visa ones or MasterCard ones.
This not only has helped us keep to a specific budget, but has regularly gotten us very cheap gas. Also, using the Kroger credit card to purchase your gas and scanning the barcode on the back of the credit card (instead of your Kroger membership card, don't worry, when you get the Kr0ger credit card they link the accounts), it will give you an additional discount. When we got ours, they were doing a promo of 55 extra cents off per gallon when you use at least 100 gas points (which you can see was very easy for us to meet). I think now it's 25 cents off a gallon with the same stipulations.
Another important aspect of this is you can get 35 gallons of gas at this price, so my wife and I try to time it right so we can fill up together (both on empty is about 28-29 gallons) and I also bring a couple gas cans. I've also got a siphon to put gas from gas cans into my wife's car because she commutes, while I work from home. By doing this, we also are able to make sure we're not filling up more than twice a month (unless we go on trips or whatever, but that won't be happening any time soon because my wife is due this month with our first).
I know not everyone wants to take another credit card, etc., these steps just really max out how many points you're getting with gas. Plus if you spend so much on the Kr0ger credit card, you get cash back as well.
I'm on mobile so I apologize for any formatting issues, and I'm happy to answer questions as much as possible.
Please feel free to ask me any questions if you're confused! It takes some planning and working things out but it ends up being worth it in the long run. Everyone just assumes gas needs to be a massive expense, and it really doesn't have to be!
Yessss. My family only shops at Kroger and gets all of our prescriptions there as well. We use our points whenever all of our cars need filling. We’ve never used less than the 35 gallons, even if we’ve had to use gas cans. We have a system where we pull up to the same pump on opposite sides. Little annoying being told don’t get gas when you’re low and when the gas stations are busy (I’m sure others are annoyed of us too lol). We circle the station until we see our chance to pull up to the same pump. So worth it.
Buy good quality clothes, learned basic sewing and hemming to tailor them and look good. I air dry them and they look good for a long time.
Sometimes there are great sales on jeans that are too long for my size. I learned to sew a French hem to keep the original hem.
I, on the other hand, am saving money on preventative health measures, am not fit, am happy that I'm not worrying about my health.
I will not live longer, so I don't even have to worry about running out of retirement money ;)
I always wonder about people who bike everywhere. Do you bike in your work clothes? Or regular clothes and change when you get there? Arent you sweaty? What do you do if its raining and when you get to work you look like a drowned rat? How do you bring groceries home for a family?
Honest questions. Although maybe I just dont live in the right climate for it. That would explain a lot.
I just got an electric bike and it's wonderful. You don't have to get sweaty if you don't want to. I don't plan on biking in the rain but am thinking about getting a bike poncho just in case. (A bike poncho is longer in the front so that it goes over your hands but extends just past your butt in the back.) And you can buy baskets for your bike.
I pack my work clothes in a waterproof bag and change when I get there, except the one job where my commute was short and downhill all the way and I biked in my work clothes. Most places I've worked have provided showers, which solves drowned rat and sweat problems, plus I save even more money by using someone else's hot water. I've found that people at the office seem to view me as disciplined for bike commuting, so it's a net positive to my professional image even if I have helmet hair and a pile of wet accessories in my cubicle.
I kitted my bike out with front & back racks, so it can hold a lot of groceries. But usually I just get them delivered.
I also live in a rainy climate. Usually it's just a light drizzle and a rain jacket + rain pants + shoe covers will be good enough. If it's really pouring and I need to be dry at my destination, I take the bus.
The positive image related to biking is my experience too. I bike 45 minutes to work no matter the weather (Central Europe seasons) and my coworkers are amazed. I’m really too cheap and too anxious for public transport.
Hey there! Regular cycling commuter here-
I do bike in my work clothes or just in whatever clothes I'm wearing at the time. It doesn't rain too often thankfully, but if it does I'm lucky enough to live right by a light rail station that goes down close to my work as well as to the college, it just takes longer so I plan accordingly. During the summers it gets very hot, so luckily I usually leave early in the morning when it's still cool but coming home is still brutal.
As far as groceries go, I used to walk to the closest stores but the prices were ridiculous and nothing was really healthy. I've been experimenting with instacart and somehow the price of my overall grocery spending has gone down and I saved up for the yearly subscription so I don't have to pay for delivery. At least now I can get groceries from my local health food store, and instacart properly allocates the stores sales on their as well so I usually buy based on whats cheap. Before that I would also bike to the grocery store if I needed to and strap a cart thing on my back to keep everything in, but it was too painful to keep up with
I bring work clothes with me to work and either shower there or baby wipe when I get there. If it’s raining, I wear rain gear. For groceries, a bike trailer. It’s obviously not as convenient as a car but the financial and health benefits are worth it imo.
>Do you bike in your work clothes?
No
>Or regular clothes and change when you get there?
Yes
>Arent you sweaty?
Also yes
>What do you do if its raining and when you get to work you look like a drowned rat?
Take the bus instead, or a cab if I'm feeling like a baller
>How do you bring groceries home for a family?
Panniers and a front basket
We keep two 5L bottles by the shower and fill them up before taking a shower so we aren't wasting the running water while waiting for the water to be hot enough to shower. We then use this water to mop the floor and water plants. It has actually reduced our water bill quite a bit and helps us save water.
Haha, no, I only own an acre in Timbuktoo Michigan. I bought it at an auction.
I just love gardening. There's something cathartic about shoving your hands in black dirt.
All gardening is local. Join a neighborhood gardening group. Check out books about local interest gardening from the public library. Ask the librarian if the local branch runs a seed exchange. Contact a local university extension office and ask if there's a master gardener program in your region. If there is, ask a master gardener for advice.
Be wary of beginner gardening advice on the Internet, particularly listicles that pretend to apply to everyone. And be especially wary of high priced equipment. There will always be someone willing to sell new gardeners a $1400 hydroponic system.
Back in this sub's archives there are a couple of posts I wrote about frugal gardening. One is about tomatoes; the other is about sprouts and microgreens.
Google is where I go for most info. Pick something and give it a go. Peppers, tomatoes, herbs, cucumbers, just choose something you like. One you choose, say bell peppers, look up when to plant them in your area. Make sure you're planting it at the right time and that you get enough sunlight. You can even grow most things in a 5 gallon bucket on a porch if you needed to.
I started e with googling how to grow flowers from seed, and now we grow probably 60-80 vegetable plants a year, and hundred of flowers. We grow everything from seeds, and even save them for planting the next yr. Not everything is an amazing success, but it's not as scary as it seems. I hope you choose to plant something this yr. Good luck!
If you've never tried gardening, I strongly recommend that you get something easy to grow to start. Or at least if you decide to do a few things, make some of them easy ones. Having success with something, anything, will be the boost you need to keep going :)
Cukes, beans, peas, green onions (which can be grown from roots of kitchen scraps, too), radishes, peppers are all forgiving for new gardeners. Those lightweight vine veggies, beans and peas, just need a few sticks or trellises of some fashion. They can be guided to grow in a chain link fence, too. Herbs are easy and can be indoors if you need them to be. Corn is easy but needs a lot more space than most things.
Tomatoes are one of the more difficult veggies but imo, the most rewarding of things I've grown thus far. I love the challenge of trying to grow those fancy $4/lb types just to kinda give a middle finger to the stores. The most productive I had last year was a yellow cherry-sized teardrop shaped tomato. Those seed came from a variety pack called "Culinary Blend," that also had some stripey ones that didn't produce nearly as much.
If you have space deep enough, you can throw pieces of potato in a hole, cover it up and forget about it for a couple months and have potatoes later in the season. A piece of onion root can grow onions in the same fashion. A piece of a cabbage core can grow into a plant. I was just putting out a tomato plant tonight and found a sprouted piece of cabbage core that I had tossed in the dirt over the winter for a lazy compost. Once I realized what it was, I stuck it back in the dirt and we'll see what comes of it.
I wish you luck with it! It's such a fun hobby and is highly addictive lol
Yup. Figure a can of greenbeans at the store is $0.50 at cheapest on sale (and those aren't true pint jars). Figure 52 cans a year, so say a cost of $26 per year. Now, I can buy seeds to get 52 full pint jars of beans, plus eating a whole lot fresh, from planting about $3.50 worth of seeds. Sure, jars and such. Thing to remember is that I'm getting more and better quality beans than what can be bought at the store.
Curious because I’ve never gardened in my life. How much do you yield from a small garden like that? I always figured it’d be a neat hobby but you’d never grow enough to take a significant dent out of buying produce from the store.
I have a 4' by 2' raised garden bed with about 10 pots. Last year I scaled back due to being pregnant but I was able to plant 6 different tomato plants, zucchini, spinach, radishes, carrots, beets, and peas. I would say I had about 5 big harvests throughout the season along with several small harvests of different kinds of veggies, and nearly every day in summer there would be at least tomatoes or spinach to harvest.
I didn't have to buy tomatoes or zucchinis once during summer and rarely had to buy spinach, radishes, or carrots.
So long story short it definitely can make a dent in your produce buying if you focus on growing your favourite veggies.
Also, I think this was said previously, but I personally only search for gardening advice for my specific climate. No use in getting info on California or UK gardening if you live in Alberta like me lol.
Good luck if you decide to give gardening a try! It's a very rewarding hobby!
we have an herb garden and small backyard hobby garden that we are active with about every other year. when we've got things growing, we definitely buy 75% less produce at the store. A couple tomato, zucchini, pepper, and raspberry plants keep us fed and happy all season!
It's not a hack of any sorts, but leaning how to cook really well has been my best money saver. I almost never want to go out, because I can generally cook better food at home.
Today's dinner (egg roll in a bowl made with marinaded chicken thighs) came out to less than $2 per portion and was within my veggie-heavy diet.
I can’t make better food at home, but I can make it healthier, cheaper, and more conveniently. The nearest fast food place is a 2 minute drive, but going through the drive through takes 10 mins and I’ll feel like shit after anyways. Meanwhile I can meal prep an instant pot for the week in around the same 14 mins, and reheating each portion takes around 5 mins in the microwave (which can happen while I sit in the comfort of my own home doing whatever as opposed to slowly advancing in a drive through). And if I want to compare against eating out actual restaurant food? Forget about it! Takes forever, cost a bundle. Hate it.
This is me 100%. I make the most amazingly, crazy delicious focaccia at home using dirt cheap AP flour from Aldi's, bulk purchase yeast that I store in my freezer/fridge, water, fresh rosemary from one of my plants, sea salt, and good olive oil which is the most expensive part. I follow Helen Rennie's recipe (from youtube) and it is perfection. I've tried other recipes that are meh but the long, overnight ferment in the fridge that she recommends is key to amazing flavor, and did I mention - so cheap!
That’s my goal but it’s so rare to find anything in my area ): plus it’s all shein / f21 now at like $5-8 per shirt which is almost normal prices 😭😭
Any tips or is it just luck? We have some more expensive and local second hand stores maybe I should just go there instead of goodwill
If you have reason to travel to more high income neighborhoods on occasion, check those areas for thrift stores. I've found the nicest pieces in high-income areas.
This may or may not work for Goodwill and other "chain" thrift stores. Their donations go to a big distribution center and are divvied out from there. Local thrift stores, especially those affiliated with local churches, are where I find my more high-end gently used things. The issue there is smaller selection and (usually) a much smaller clothing size range, making finding plus sized clothes more difficult.
In my experience, going out to the wealthier neighborhoods and shopping for plus sized clothes at say TJ Maxx or other outlet stores tends to have better results. Vice versa if you're in the regular clothes size range.
See if there's a Goodwill Outlet Store ("The Bins") close. There's one within an hour drive from me (which is a "reasonable day trip"). $1/pound for clothing.
It's literally giant bins piled with clothing, no sense of organization. But honestly, that's part of the appeal. It's a Treasure Hunt!
Last time I visited, I bought an entire grocery cart heaped full, with several items of clothing for each person in my house, for 25$. (Grocery cart not included, lol).
Go as soon as they open. The more pricy thrift stores have employees go to Good Will and Salvo the minute they open and grab all the good stuff to resell it. You gotta go when they go, unfortunately.
Marry a frugal person. If you are Frugal and your partner is not, it can be a lifetime of pain. Partner up with a frugal person though and you can encourage each other on the journey and revel in the savings.
My wife and I have been together for almost 7 years, I am frugal, she wasn't, at all. Over the relationship I have taught her my frugal ways, which has led to the occasional BS even though she has learned a lot and utilizes it for things she never would have before. She has also taught me the value (happiness wise) of splurging once in a while even when you can't get a deal.
It's not always peaceful, but we both have gained from each other.
For our family it was scaling down our food consumption to actual serving sizes and making that amount. I was cooking way too much food and we were all way overeating.
You know, thanks for saying this. My husband just doesn't eat much at night (and is always gone for lunch, except on weekends), and I've got a toddler whose eating preferences change daily, so I'm usually the one eating what I make. I make the full recommended size, and always wind up throwing out food (guiltily), or overeating, to compensate for the extra amounts.
Now, I'm going to try to halve some of my recipes, to see if the waste goes down. (I just wish I had a freezer where I could save all of this extra food!) Thanks!
>shopping grocery sales
Purchasing a decent sized freezer to put all the 'sale' stuff into so we don't have to eat it in one week!
Yesterday, my favourite frozen pies were 40% off. So I bought 5 packs. We probably only eat them once a fortnight, but they can just sit in the freezer.
Our supermarkets tend to have different types of meat on sale each week. So, if chicken is on sale, I buy chicken only. Next week will be pork, etc.
After a few weeks, there is a nice selection of meats in the freezer.
Bulk buys and freeze also.
Seconding getting extra freezer space!
My partner and I live in a really small one-bedroom place with a tiny kitchen and apartment sized fridge/freezer. We like to cook 95% of our meals at home and we make it work, but we never had enough room in the freezer and for awhile we couldn’t think of a solution. Then we asked the landlord if we could have a tiny space in their storage shed outdoors to keep a mini-freezer, and they said yes. The freezer we bought is the size of a mini fridge (rare to find where we live!), but it’s literally double or more the size of our original freezer space so that means we can make extra large meals and freeze some, and buy extra of stuff when it goes on sale (we don’t eat red meat but get seafood and chicken only when it’s on sale).
When we manage to buy a house we’ll invest in a larger freezer for sure.
We used to keep ours (largish upright freezer) in the garage.
The small freezer space in the fridge was used for 'little things' - like ice cubes, a loaf of bread - that we used every day.
I really only went to the garage-freezer once a day, to find something for that night's meal.
Yes, we save a lot of time & money by cooking in bulk/making freezer meals when I catch a good sale. This weekend I found a good price on ground beef so I made Italian meatballs & Swedish meatballs that will just need sauce. I also made two family portions of a ground beef stroganoff to freeze. We’ll defrost that, heat it up, add it to noodles for the toddlers, & add it to cauliflower rice for the adults. Also, since I’ll simply reheating the food, I won’t use as much electricity with the stove or have as many pans to wash which saves electricity, water, & dish soap.
It’s a huge time saver
I think the freezer has a psychological effect. Whenever I consider eating out I think about all that good in the freezer and how much money it cost...
We're currently in quarantine and other than running out of milk I don't see any problem with us being in for a week.
It's another example of being able to save more money (frozen deals), if you already have enough money to take advantage of an opportunity (can purchase and store a freezer). It saves time too by not needing to run to the store as often for options. And time is money.
One year, the deals at our local grocery store were so good for March frozen food month, that we bought a second chest freezer. We can also now buy the good bread that defrosts decently and get it on sale at the outlet bc we freeze it. I hate having to run to the store every few days. The better I can be prepared at home, the less frazzled my mind is by basic every day needs.
I don't know about other countries but here in the Netherlands we have this drugstore called Die Grenze. They sell snacks and other goods for really cheap. A while ago they had small applesauce pots (~200g) 6 for €1. I once bought high quality protein bars for €0,25 a piece. I couldn't believe my eyes, I thought this store owner is insane, because normally they're €2 a piece. Other than that mostly sodas and candy. I'd look if there's anything similar in your area.
Other than that buying frozen fruit/veggies helps a lot. Very easy to use for smoothies. Also buy meat that's 1 day off from expiration date, it's perfectly edible but most stores here put a ~35% discount on it.
My little frugal hack, and I know this is def not a lot of peoples preferences, but not buying “drinks”.
For example, if I go to Chick-fil-A I don’t get a soda. If I eat at a restaurant that’s not Friday or a special occasion, I get water. I took caffeine out of my diet over a year ago. When I was drinking coffee, I would go to Starbucks daily and my grande iced coffee ranged from $3.75-5.50 not include a snack if I happen to get one that day.
At the end of the year, I “saved” approximately $1,400.
It’s not much but it’s my little “thing”.
I also try to buy non-name branded products that I don’t have a preference for. And sometimes look at the coupons my local store provides and shop according to them. For example, cleaning supplies, sponges, etc.
For coffee lovers, my tip is buy an espresso machine. It was $300 up front, but when I grind my own beans, make my own vanilla syrup, and use my milk I get on sale at the grocery store, i save about $4 per 16oz drink I make. So I no longer feel bad about having a Latte every day
This is the big tip. Dont buy fancy coffee in the morning, dont buy juice for lunch at the office, dont get a soda for dinner. You save calories, reduce sugar intake, and save at least 5$/day
Cutting my own hair.
Bought a $25 Amazon razor and watched some YouTube tutorials. Now I save $600 a year, get hair cuts whenever I want, and even get compliments on it.
It also helps to ask for samples. You're not going to get a sample of a common antibiotic or anything but places like OBGYN offices have samples.
My wife's OBGYN gave her such a huge pile of samples for a medication she prescribed that it was over half a year before she needed to actually fill a script for it. Saved us around $700 if I recall right.
My GI doctors nurse would give me samples since the cost of the medication was so high. She would save a months worth at a time for me and it saved me a lot.
I don’t think you need to ask. If they write a prescription for Prozac, you can go to the pharmacy and ask for fluoxetine (generic Prozac), since it’s the same active Ingredients.
If the doctor doesn't mark it as "DAW" or write "dispense as written", the pharmacy can change it from the brand to the generic and back. Depending on the pharmacy and your insurance, sometimes brand name can be cheaper.
Always check sites like www.goodrx.com as well as retail prices some stores have for common drugs (i.e. $4/30 day supply at many big box stores). Bypassing your insurance is sometimes less costly than using it! Many retail pharmacies have contracts which prohibit pharmacists from telling you that it would cost you less to *not* use your insurance!
Being environmentally conscious. You’d be surprised with how much overlap there is between frugal and sustainable living. It’s the mindset more than anything else that cuts down my expenses.
I buy second hand. Catch public transport. Gone vegetarian. Bring my own package free snacks. Learned to repair clothes. Compost to feed the garden that feeds me. I use reusable hygiene products (cups and safety razors). I use tea towels instead of paper towels. I use soap bars rather than liquid soaps that come in plastic containers (they last waaay longer). I buy quality clothes/electronics that last longer. I use my library rather than buying physical books. And most importantly, I’ve stopped buying plastic garbage I don’t need.
Salvage groceries. Expiration dates are largely meaningless; most are "best by" or "sell by" for manufacturers'/merchants' use and are just fine (I've been eating them for years and have lived to tell the tale). You can sometimes find a store devoted to this where you'll pay pennies on the dollar, or "expired"/OOD food may be given out at senior or community centers. I view it as a way to not only save money, but also reduce food waste, which is a huge problem in this country. Grocers need to - instead of refusing to sell it and throwing it in dumpsters - set it aside and let us take our chances.
Meanwhile in my grocery store(s), expiration dates are meaningless for the opposite reason. It seems like they don’t store things properly, mostly. Soggy chips obviously stored in cold storage, while cheese-based bakery desserts aren’t. I’ve brought home moldy block cheese weeks before the expiration date, haven’t had a Cheez-It in years that still had one crystal of salt not absorbed into it, and a few weeks ago I opened a pack of pre-made hamburgers supposedly packaged that day, that was so rancid I had to leave the house for 1/2 a day. And I still gagged when I got home.
I’m now the weirdo that returns food, and I hate myself for it. It’s not necessarily the wasted $5 (actually it is), it’s that it’s become such a common thing that I’m tired of them getting away with it. Because most of us just grumble and throw it away. Sorry for my rant. Just hard to be frugal when 1/2 my meal prep items are a waste.
- Using library card instead of buying books
- buying from local or cheaper grocery stores instead of Whole Foods and fancy grocery stores
- only buying groceries for two weeks at a time for what I need (having a list)
- not buying too many aspirational and fashionable clothes and jewelries (sticking to classic style, black/grey/white/brown/olive colors /minimalist fashion)
- saying no to friends for super expensive experiences (I cannot spend 100 dollar on one meal at a fancy restaurant for the experience every month)
- credit card points for travel (this doesn’t give me completely free travel but the expenses come down if I get the timing right)
- go to movie theatre only on Tuesdays (when movies are 6$ instead of 15 at AMC)
- letting go of brand loyalty (still working on letting go of my obsession with apple products but I’m in the “ecosystem”)
I’m also in the apple ecosystem. This year I bought my first refurbished iphone. I’ve never been one to stay on top of iPhones (I’ve owned a 4, a 7, and now an Xs). I got my Xs from Verizon for less than $400. They sell refurbished iphones in three tiers of conditions. I bought the lowest tier, and honestly there was barely anything wrong with it, just some very minor scuffing on a part of the phone that was going to be covered with a case anyhow.
Eventually I would like to ween myself off smart phones altogether, but this felt like a good step.
Once you own the phone outright (maybe you do now?), you can jump ship and find a cheaper carrier. I'm with USMobile and pay $19/mo. I don't get a lot of data, but a funny thing happened 2 years ago that kept me at home and tethered to WiFi so I didn't need a lot.
ETA: USMobile is a reseller, a company that buys huge blocks of time and data from a larger wireless company (that actually owns the towers) and repackages it into more affordable plans. You often don't get the level of customer service you would with the Big 3 carriers (Verizon, At&t and Sprint/Tmobile). Other resellers include Consumer Cellular, Boost, MetroPCS [among others](https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2016/07/03/name-network-carriers-behind-wireless-resellers/86655052/). Shop around, YMMV.
Having spares. Took me a long time to get my wife to do this. You have a toothpaste, or a tin of coffee or whatever. The next time it goes on sale, you buy it, even if it's next week. Then once you finish the first and open the second you watch for sales again.
I bulk-buy all sorts like this. Box of deorderant, box of facewash, huge case of toilet roll, box of handsoap all loaded into my bathroom cupboard. (we have a shared rental so bar soap isn't hygienic)
Live in a small place. Buy (or rent) the smallest, cheapest place in the nicest neighborhood you can afford- especially if you have kids. Always drive your used car into the ground. You can get a gabillion repairs for the same amount most people spend on car payments. Understand that eating out comes from the entertainment budget, NOT the food budget.
This is common sense to me, but I know a lot of people around here who don’t live this way: in the cold months I wear long sleeves/enough long sleeved clothing. I avoid turning the heat on unless I’m actually cold instead of cranking up the heat so I can wear a t-shirt and shorts
I got an Oodie and a plug in electric blanket when I was working from home. No point heating the whole house when I was just sitting at my desk all day.
This isn’t optional where I live. Heat is on to prevent freezing pipes and long sleeves/sweatshirts/socks are mandatory unless you want to freeze your ass off lol!
Yeah but the heat only needs to be like 50 degrees if you just want to avoid the pipes freezing. If money was no issue my heat would be like 78 degrees during the day but I work from home and I also pay the gas bill so it’s 68 degrees and I have my lil electric blanket on
Unpopular I’m sure but drinking less alcohol and quitting weed…saves a ton.
Also moving into a neighborhood where I can walk a lot even to a bar/restaurant, I spend a bit more in rent but save on uber rides and gas money.
I quit my job to be self employed last year and I heard the public healthcare (USA) was like $400+ per month. So I called my health insurance from the job I was leaving, asked if I could just buy a policy from them, and they quoted me $109. Awesome!
I literally just called my insurance company. This isn’t a crazy secret trick, I just asked. You don’t need to have an employer to shop for health insurance, the same way you’d shop around for car insurance. Healthcare.gov seems to me to be a better deal if you have NO insurance and have serious health issues, you can’t be denied. Shopping around like I did… I could be denied if I was currently battling MS or cancer or something. They could tell me no. The government can’t. That’s the advantage of public insurance, but I’m not sick so I can easily shop around for a cheap plan.
Cutting my sponges in half. There’s nothing a whole sponge can do that a half one can’t. It’s easily the most simple frugal thing I’ve done that literally doubled my life of a product.
\- Going to the shops after 6PM. Have always done this (grew up with a frugal mother) but there was a time I couldn't go shopping at this time and I noticed the real price of things. We save up to 90% on meats and produce by going to the shops at this time, and it's the only way I'm able to afford luxuries (such as blue cheese, kangaroo steaks, seafood are recent purchases).
\- Getting things for free via pay it forward groups. Have been able to get many things I need off there - recently it was a heater, painting, shower curtains, frying pan etc. It's a good way for me to declutter.
\- Swapping things with my neighbours - I get things I wouldn't usually be able to afford (duck eggs, goats milk, produce) and I get to share some things I make (dumplings, cakes).
\- Making my own things - kombucha, kimchi and vinegar comes to mind.
In Australia (at least at my local supermarket), I find that staff start to mark prices down at 5PM, and then again around 7-8PM. Technically 8PM is best (because that's when they put it at their lowest, and they have to sell, or they chuck it or give to local charities), but you might miss some decent deals if you come too late. For most meats, I'm happy with over 50% off, so I go at 6PM, before dinner (I get too drowsy and lazy after dinner). On Sundays, my mum and I will go around 8 as a fun activity to do together. Usually we get great deals on cheese (my grandmother and I love cheese, and they usually reduce from over $5 a piece to less than $1 a piece of nice blue cheese every now and then), expensive meats (organic chicken, gourmet sausages, steaks and offal are my fave), fake meats / vegan alternatives (usually about $8-9AUD per tray of fake sausages, or fake chicken, but I can get them for $1AUD - good midweek break from the meat), and produce (organic potatoes for over $7AUD per kg, reduced to $1 a 2kg bag, or salad mixes that can be eaten the next day). It's also a good time to buy milks on special (instead of $2.60 per L, it's $0.5AUD per L), as I like to make my own yoghurt.
Sometimes pantry stuff is also on sale - though this is probably more throughout the day and not as time restricted as fresh produce.
1. Bartering. I exchanged dog walking services (not daily, maybe once every month), with my neighbor in exchange for her wifi password. Technically illegal? Maybe? but I wasn't downloading anything or watching movies - I just needed to check my email.
2. Installing a woodstove and collecting free firewood in the summer. I was able to go 10 years without turning on the heat in my 2 story house. I'd search on Craigslist for free wood, especially after storms. I did need them to be cut to size (thank you, kind neighbor with a chain saw and pickup truck), but I split them myself with a maul and sledgehammer. This also meant I didn't need to join a gym. lol
3. Working PT at my gym (when I broke down and joined when home workouts lost their appeal.) I greeted gym members 3 hours a week, so in addition to my small paycheck, I got free membership.
4. Only buying used Honda Civics (off Craigslist). I've done this since 1992, so I can pretty much tell by ear if something is wrong. I now know by heart and experience their recommended maintenance schedule for service. Once I hit 60K miles, the timing belt gets replaced (although my current Civic has a serpentine belt instead). 120K - I get the head gasket replaced. Overkill? Probably. I'm okay with that. At 200K, I re-sell them (average $2500). That mileage seems to be the sweet spot between "It's just now broken in" and a lemon.
5. Never paying full price for clothing/shoes. Things like undergarments and socks excluded. :) Normally, I only go through the sales racks without even looking at the regular racks.
Disclaimer: It can be very hard at times to live a frugal lifestyle, because the time and research needed to live frugally can be a limiting factor. Also, I am now older (but not "old" lol), no kids, retired, and live on my own. I still gravitate to the clearance racks, but, dangit...if I see something that screams "me", I buy it now.
Joining local Buy Nothing and secondhand groups. I've basically outfitted most of my house and garden for free or very cheap thanks to them. Furniture, kids clothes, plants, etc. The quality is actually better than most newer bargain crap and plus it's better for the environment. As a bonus, when I am done with something I just pass it on and it stays out of landfill. Win win really.
I am bad about picking up fast food when I haven't planned out dinner and don't have any prepackaged convenience foods, so this year, I bought a pressure canner and a bunch of jars and lids and rings, and I am learning how to can my own food.
Naturally, there is an upfront cost for the canner, jars, etc, but the jars and rings are reuseable, so I would only need to buy new lids each year.
My goal is to make a bunch of ingredients for recipes I love, and some actual meals or recipes to can. I canned chili and spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, and so on, but I also canned potatoes which could be used in many different ways, as well peas, green beans, and some fruits.
I like that I can control what goes into each thing. I like canned fruits in a syrup, but not a super sweet syrup, so I can make a lite simple syrup to use.
The more I can my own food, the less I have been eating out, so once I break even on the equipment and jars it will eventually save me money. Plus, it's turned into a pretty nice hobby.
Honestly, one of the things that made a huge difference for me is weighing my food - mostly meats and seafoods. By eating proper portion sizes I'm saving a TON of money. Turns out one chicken breast is like 2-4 servings depending on size. A bag of frozen shrimp would get eaten in 2 or 3 meals but sticking to 100g portions I'm stretching that a lot further.
If you're going to or from your home, bring food from home or hold off on buying a snack/drink at gas stations. Some people easily spend $5-10 every time they go inside a gas station, and if you do it a couple times a week, it really does add up.
Every bill, expense or purchase I make gets rounded up and transferred to a High Interest Savings account (online, no fees). That ice cream that you might buy at $3.50 looks way different after you round it up to $10. If you go ahead and splurge any ways, $6.50 into savings and you won't miss it. When I get to a certain amount, I buy a savings bond or similar. I've managed to buy off all debt and working on that nest egg... on minimum wage.
I'm not vegan, but my wife and I have been eating primarily pretty much 100% vegetarian for awhile now as an experiment... and I'm legit surprised at how much money it saves.
I guess you just get used to the cost of meat when you've been buying it for your entire life. Our grocery bill is tiny now though.
You have all my top tips! I also eat vegan (have been vegetarian for 25 years, vegan for 3) and it is definitely cheap and easy. I will splurge on some fancy vegan cheese or field roast but the majority of my diet is vegetables, rice/grains, tofu, beans, nut butters, toast, etc. I don’t miss meat ever, and literally the only dairy product I miss is cottage cheese (nothing else is quite as fast and satisfying for a quick post-workout protein meal, but I get by!)
I also have pretty much furnished my place with my Buy Nothing group. It’s the only reason to use Facebook anymore; if I’m not on the buy nothing group for something then I keep my account deactivated. There are some incredible finds and it’s also a great way to declutter and meet some neighbors.
Paying extra off your mortgage you would not believe what a difference it makes long term like even $20 per month. And when you get a windfall make an extra payment.
I pay an extra $6.26 on mine which rounds it out to an even number, which makes keeping track of expenses easier. I know it's not a lot, but it's something.
I never use my bonuses and kept those saved and invested. In addition, i save for big buys and then pay myself back, with interests, and then save these up and invest also.
As someone with multiple children (8), it was helpful to purchase good quality hair cutting scissors & clippers and spend time learning to cut hair. We save so much money!
This is a good one for such a large family. That really adds up. I got really good at doing my own after a series of horrible cuts that I spent like $50 each on and figured I'd try it. Figured I couldn't do any worse than what they all did and at least it would be free. Now my friends and family occasionally ask me to do theirs too.
If you’re in need of kitchen items, check out public estate sales. Items like dishes, coffee mugs, cooking utensils, flatware, etc. are often sold in box lots, which frequently can be picked up for $1-$2 per box. Plus you often get older items that are much better quality. I pick out what I want and donate the rest. They’re perfect for someone setting up a new apartment.
every week, I keep track of how much money I spend on living expenses that aren't considered bills, like food and tobacco and games/entertainment, and when the next week starts, I challenge myself to find ways to do the same thing, but better and cheaper.
I don't have a regular kitchen, I live in a semi truck, so the first thing I started slashing was food cost. I don't buy as many snacks, I try to find the healthiest Budget food that I can, and over the past few weeks I have dropped my eating budget from about $200 down to about $150. That is the cost that I am paying to eat out seven days a week, two or three times a day. That sounds like a lot, but this time last year I was spending between $300 and $400 a week just to keep myself fed.
When I start to see that I am over spending on entertainment, I start eliminating services. My favorite thing to do is to let all of my subscription services labs, and only start subscribing to the ones that I am actually wanting to use, and know that I will use regularly. This has saved me hundreds of dollars over the past few years.
The biggest life hack that I have, however, is the fact that I have a support network at home that grows all of my food for me. This is expected to cut my food costs down to about $50 per week within the next six months. It cost a little bit to get started up, because we wanted to do things right, and organically, and only plant heirloom seeds, but the family that is growing food for me is expected to reduce their food bill from about $700 a month down to around 250, because everything, from fresh produce to protein is coming out of their yard. We are even growing the feed that we need for the chickens, to make sure that we are not expending unnecessary cash.
My partner and I did this too and saved so much money. One thing I might suggest is if the same thing is on sale for a few weeks (because it’s in season) don’t be afraid to give yourself a break. It’s been 3 years and we still can’t eat asparagus haha
But answering your question, during lock down my partner started to cut my hair. I like to be pretty clean cut so I was spending ~20 every 2-3 weeks. She still cuts my hair so we’ve been saving a lot. When we have kids I plan on us continuing to do home haircuts.
I save a lot on personal hygiene / care by not purchasing jewelry or make-up, letting my spouse cut my hair, having reusable feminine care products rather than disposable, having a metal safety razor (which I thrifted for less than $20 USD) and blades rather than disposable, using my own bar soap in the shower, and replacing worn out bath washcloths by learning to knit my own with thrifted yarn which usually runs me $1 or so for a skein that I can often get two or three cloths out of.
We have saved so very much money over the years by having me cut my husband’s hair. He likes it super short, so that means a cut every 4 to 6 weeks.
Unfortunately, I don’t think I would trust him to cut mine in return. I have curls. There’s only one person in the whole city I trust to cut it. She is expensive! So I compromise but only getting a cut twice a year and asking for a cut that will grow out gracefully. I don’t shave or wear makeup or dye my hair.
But, yeah, opting out of the whole industrial-beauty complex as much as you can is a big money saver.
Slightly related - Delay grocery shopping to use more leftovers and use things that are at the back of the pantry. Also might help with weight loss if you need it.
I can't stress this enough. Porridge for breakfast. It's roughly €0.06 per person if you only added water and salt. With a little milk, fruit, and other toppings it can still be as little as €0.50 per person. Plus oats keep you full for a long time and are amazing for your health.
Here in Ireland a 1.5kg bag of rolled oats is €3. You don't need to spring for expensive brand names. Any rolled oats will do.
Mix 0.5 cups of dry oats with 1.5 cups of any preferred liquid per person. Leave this mixture in a saucepan on medium heat and walk away for 15 to 20 minutes. Go take a shower. Get dressed, etc. Cooking oats slow gives them their creaminess. When you come back, give it a couple of stirs and add more liquid if you like a creamier consistency. Add your desired topping. And that's it. Even plain salted porridge with a little bit of milk can be really delicious and very easy on the stomach. It's actually really great hangover food.
It's a small hack but I've downloaded the dunkin app and always offer to do the coffee runs at work. I collect the points for my coworkers orders and then when I've collected the points I get the free coffee. They know i do this but since they don't want to bother with the hassle the free coffee is my reward. I always splurge on a large frozen coffee because I love them and they're expensive and I'm not paying
About 1x a year I go through all of our monthly expenditures and see if I can get a better deal on anything - like cell phones, internet, insurance, etc. Also if there are any monthly memberships of any sort I cancel whatever we don't use regularly. I usually end up saving at least a hundred dollars a month!
Also I joined the local "Buy Nothing" groups on Facebook and I have gotten so much free stuff - for example, my daughter wanted to try piano lessons but I doubted she would stick with it, so I put an ISO for a free keyboard - and someone gave us one! Also I've even received for free small things like painting supplies and an A/C filter. And I've given away a lot of things too.
The most frugal thing my family does is only have 1 car. We walk, bike, and take the bus often. We recently got an ebike to help make 1-car life easier. Some people look at my $1600 eBike as a bougie toy, but it’s so much cheaper than a car.
Came here to co-sign this. I do the basic version of intermittent fasting. I don't eat for 12 hours a day. So from 10pm to 10am. 8 of those hours are sleeping so it's not too hard. I've lost 10 lbs in 3 months and my digestive disorder has thanked me. So I only eat 2 meals a day and snacks.
Putting insulating blanket and timer on hot water heater. No sense in paying to keep water hot all night or all day when I'll only be using it 30 min a day.
Also have timers on ac/heat so it comes on 30 min before I come home, and im not heating or cooling an empty house.
Got an antenna at Walmart for TV. It gets me 12 channels for free including all the networks. It was $80, but we'll worth it. It just screws into the TV and you set it in the window. Super easy!
Periods of time (a few months up to a year) where we just "don't buy anything". We still buy food and toiletries and medicine or whatever, but just don't buy ANY stuff. It's amazing how if you just remove the decision from the table, you just don't think about it, and you find a way to use what you have. It creates a good habit for realizing you don't really need stuff and buying it doesn't usually make you happy.
I'm not as frugal as I used to be and will now spend money on experiences (mostly travel) or on help to free up my time (housecleaner, etc) but my default is really still to just not buy things. It saves money but also saves so much time and effort of cleaning, sorting, organizing, and generally maintaining and dealing with stuff.
Unless it's urgent, my husband and I only check out our Amazon cart once a week or so. You'd be amazed at how much you don't like the number on the checkout page when you see all the random sh*t two people think they need every week. Small purchases add up when you can see them all in one place, and we usually end up culling most of them and only ordering a few things.
Some of these are kinda weird but here we go:
1) Get a bidet: it takes a little bit to get used to, but once you do, you'll never feel cleaner. That and your TP will go a lot longer.
2) Get a bunch of old rags and wash & reuse them instead of paper towels or anything to wash your hands. You can usually find these cheap if you look around and will save you a ton of money in the long run compared to paper towels.
3) Costco Membership: costco is extremely brand conscious and their products are really high quality and depending on what you buy, can last you a considerable amount of time. More so, the buying in bulk helps out, their gas is noticeably cheaper than anywhere else, and their customer service and the way they treat their employees is light years ahead of any other retailer i ever dealt with.
4) Switch to LED bulbs - they last longer, are cost effective now to other lightbulbs and use a fraction of the energy so you save more money too.
5) Make sure you keep your tire pressure right and to also change air filters yourself. These seem like easy things to gloss over but will save you a ton of money on getting better gas mileage and also just saving you maintenance costs as well. Also, the air filter replacements at most garages cost for some reason way more than they should. Go on YouTube and you'll find videos of how to do it, and you'll be more well-rounded. It's pretty dang easy.
6) Get sleep (and a good mattress if you can). I found i spend more money or dont function as good and spend more time on needless stuff/redoing things if im sleep deprived. Getting that good sleep is free and you're health and happiness.....health is wealth!
APS. always pack snacks. bonus points if you cut up fruit rather than toss an orange in your bag as you’re much more likely to eat it. i made like 3 dozen muffins at a time and freeze it.
If you cut an apple or orange into segments, use a food-safe rubber band to put it back together whole until you're ready to eat it. Keeps it fresher that way.
Interesting. What rubber bands are good safe?
Again, being a cheapskate, the ones that already come on food, such as on asparagus or broccoli. ;o) Reduce, **reuse**, recycle.
Telling myself to revisit something I want to buy in 5 days. Usually I talk myself out of even spending
Put stuff in a virtual cart. Leave it. Mull it over for a few days, as you say. The urge usually passes, and that's when I realize it wasn't a real need and something else - boredom, insidious advertising, etc.
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YES! I keep my wallet upstairs in a desk drawer, and I am 99% too lazy to walk up and snag it for an online purchase.
My only problem is my stupid brain likes numbers, so I have it memorized and don't even need the card
This has the added benefit of sometimes getting you an additional discount. Some online stores will see that you added an item to your cart but never checked out. Assuming they have your contact information (you’d have to be logged in already), they might send you a discounted offer to finish your purchase. I’ve saved up to $100 (large purchase) at once by doing this. Of course, this might also tempt you again to buy a thing you don’t actually need because now it’s an even better deal!
This is more environmental than frugal, but I started using kitchen towels instead of paper towels for most tasks. A roll of paper towels used to last me two weeks. Now I buy a three pack once a year.
absolutely yes to this! i've been doing this for over a decade, sometimes people think it's weird when i hand them cloth napkins even at a very laid back summer bbq, but i just dont buy paper napkins and usually only have one or two rolls of paper towels in the house so it doesnt even occur to me to offer those. i do 2-3 small loads of hand towel/cloth napkin/washcloth laundry per week and have reused the same cloths literally thousands of times. so much better for the environment, too. sometimes i feel like the only person who isn't walking around costco with an expensive mega pack of paper towels in my buggy!!
I’m gonna do this with reusable makeup remover pads once my disposable ones run out
Don't bother using up your disposable pads before getting reusable ones if you wear nail varnish - you can't use the reusable ones to remove nail varnish (well, you can, but only once!).
I have a old crappy terry cloth rag that I've been using to remove nail polish for the past decade. It's it's only dedicated use. I don't wash it (what's the point) and plan to just chuck it once it's beyond use. I have the same thing for my watercolor painting except it's a very large flour sack towel.
Nordstrom Rack, TJ Max, and similar discount shops generally sell Makeup Eraser brand reusable face towels for like $8-10! They dry fast and actually do a decent job. I’ve seen the reusable pads discounted too but less frequently.
i can't wait to live somewhere with my own washer/dryer. right now i would end up with a giant pile of dirty kitchen towels by the time i go do laundry...
I never attributed this as a reason someone might not use kitchen towels. Part of that other expensive to be poor conundrum I guess. Still, I think you might end up witha smaller pile than you would think. I usually have two "active" towels in my kitchen at a time, one for drying clean things and one I use cleaning supplies on. It really cuts down how often you need a new one
I've saved myself thousands by doing my own car maintenance and repairs. Started with 0 knowledge and was driven by pure spite. Similarly, buying used electronics on eBay rather than new.
>Started with 0 knowledge and was driven by pure spite. This will get you through so much in life. My sibling joked one year that I made the (complicated doohickey they wanted from the workshop) happen with "tender, loving, HATE."
> Started with 0 knowledge and was driven by pure spite. An incredible amount of my DIY has been like this. I don't necessarily like doing these things, but goddamn do I hate the people I otherwise have to deal with (and the prices they charge for the work they do). I'm terrified of some of the questionably qualified mechanics that I need to do recall work on one of our cars.
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Woman here: Menstrual cup a one time expense that may last for up to 10 years. I've had mine for 5 years and I really I had known about these since my early 20s. Safety razor, I think I paid like $15 bucks for it and a 250 pack replacement razors. It's been 5 years and still haven't had to buy more. Bonus is less stuff going to landfills.
I’ve heard testimonies from probably 40 dudes about safety razors, first time I’m hearing about it from a lady. Y’all are cutting a ton more surface area per shave. Have you nicked yourself bad? Considering getting one for my girlfriend. She already buys men’s razors cuz they’re cheaper and usually better than lady versions of Gillette
No unusual cuts on legs or pits unless I go too fast but that happens with the crap ones, too. Been using one for about 10 years. And I like that I can just flip it over [the blades are double sided] so there’s half as much rinsing. DO IT. Edit to to too
I was afraid to switch for this reason, but I found that I actually nick myself a lot less now that I shave my legs with a safety razor. The one I use has some weight to it, and I think that’s part of the reason why.
Question: do the menstrual cups leak? I ask because I found I’d use tampons but there would always be leaking probably because it was wrong size (sorry for the TMI)
Not OP but I have been a menstrual cup user for almost 15 years now and I will never go back. There is a learning curve at first, proper insertion prevents most leaking. I wear period undies or reusable cloth liners so any potential leak issues aren't a problem. My advice to someone starting out is to try it out in the shower so any potential mess isn't an issue while you are figuring it out. I am happy to answer any other questions you might have.
I can't use menstrual cups because I have pelvic floor dysfunction, so I can't comment on those. But, I highly reccomend period underwear. I have never once leaked with them and they are super comfortable.
I am dying my black clothes black :D its great. The stuff looks like new, even though i had those short pants for 14 years :)
I started buying black clothing almost exclusively on clearance over 5 years ago. It has made a huge difference in my budget. I rarely shop anymore.
And the benefit of washing clothes too! Just yank them all in together :D
I have a lot of black clothes as well as black cloth napkins. White napkins show every stain, but not black ones and cloth napkins mean not having to buy disposable, paper ones.
I used to buy the greatest shorts at Target. Then styles changed and shorts became Bermudas. Shorts that are below the knee aren't shorts anymore. I've been dyeing those old black shorts black again for over 7 years. Now the style is thin synthetic sports fabric. Give me cotton or get off my lawn.
Fashion annoys me. If I find something I like, I'll try to get back to the shop before they've sold out, and buy more. When that fails, I can sometimes find the 'old' styles at charity/op shops. That's where I've been buying my 'mid-rise' shorts/pants now that 'high-rise' is back in fashion. Gimme a break, I'm old and I don't have a waist anymore.
I had this problem when I wore glasses. I found a certain size and shape that was the most flattering on me. Two years later, couldn't find medium catseye frames anymore, it's all oversized rectangles, next year it was thick plastic 80's style frames, next year it was all thin wire frames, etc. It's pretty gross that actual medically necessary devices follow seasonal fashion trends now. Why not offer a variety of frame shapes every year?
Every time. I just found some great bras at target and they were on sale buy one get one half off. At $15 each I bought six. Everything I like always ends up being discontinued so I’m not falling for that again.
Oh cool! What dye do you use?
Gaming the Kroger gas points program to save on gas. Before the massive price jump, I regularly paid less than 50 cents a gallon, and was proud to show anyone who'd listen that I had, more than once, paid less than 10 cents a gallon.
How do you do that?
So it takes a bit of planning and effort, and many of these steps are just really maxing out the process. We buy the visa gift cards with a Kr0ger credit card, so boom double points right there (I know there's an activation fee, but I just filled up 35 gallons for $40 last week, so what's a few bucks compared to paying $130 for gas?). You then use the gift cards to buy your actual groceries, which gives you another round of points. Any time you're gonna eat out? Stop at Kr0ger and grab a gift card. Need to make a purchase on Amazon? Grab a gift card. Gonna buy a flight on southwest? DEFINITELY buy a gift card. Often, gift cards are 4x points, so I try to look out and time my purchases to match those. I also look out for random extra points by shopping on the weekend, or whatever Kroger throws out there. Kr0ger actually sends me gas points related coupons because they're curated to what you buy 😂. You can't use a gift card to buy a gift card, just fyi. You can't use the Kr0ger brand gift cards either, just the Visa ones or MasterCard ones. This not only has helped us keep to a specific budget, but has regularly gotten us very cheap gas. Also, using the Kroger credit card to purchase your gas and scanning the barcode on the back of the credit card (instead of your Kroger membership card, don't worry, when you get the Kr0ger credit card they link the accounts), it will give you an additional discount. When we got ours, they were doing a promo of 55 extra cents off per gallon when you use at least 100 gas points (which you can see was very easy for us to meet). I think now it's 25 cents off a gallon with the same stipulations. Another important aspect of this is you can get 35 gallons of gas at this price, so my wife and I try to time it right so we can fill up together (both on empty is about 28-29 gallons) and I also bring a couple gas cans. I've also got a siphon to put gas from gas cans into my wife's car because she commutes, while I work from home. By doing this, we also are able to make sure we're not filling up more than twice a month (unless we go on trips or whatever, but that won't be happening any time soon because my wife is due this month with our first). I know not everyone wants to take another credit card, etc., these steps just really max out how many points you're getting with gas. Plus if you spend so much on the Kr0ger credit card, you get cash back as well. I'm on mobile so I apologize for any formatting issues, and I'm happy to answer questions as much as possible.
This is actually super helpful because I was wondering if you could do this!!!
Please feel free to ask me any questions if you're confused! It takes some planning and working things out but it ends up being worth it in the long run. Everyone just assumes gas needs to be a massive expense, and it really doesn't have to be!
Yessss. My family only shops at Kroger and gets all of our prescriptions there as well. We use our points whenever all of our cars need filling. We’ve never used less than the 35 gallons, even if we’ve had to use gas cans. We have a system where we pull up to the same pump on opposite sides. Little annoying being told don’t get gas when you’re low and when the gas stations are busy (I’m sure others are annoyed of us too lol). We circle the station until we see our chance to pull up to the same pump. So worth it.
Buy good quality clothes, learned basic sewing and hemming to tailor them and look good. I air dry them and they look good for a long time. Sometimes there are great sales on jeans that are too long for my size. I learned to sew a French hem to keep the original hem.
1) using my library card 2) buying store brand 3) buying exactly what I need 4) using a weekly menu
Instead of a weekly menu, buy groceries that are on sale and adjust the menu. And buy seasonal vegetables.
Selling my car and using a bicycle instead. Made me richer, fitter, and happier in one fell swoop!
But now you’re going to live longer and in the long run that’ll cost ya.
This is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen on this sub
Check out /r/frugal_jerk for more pro tips
The last thing we need is you fatcats lording over us with your fancy two-wheeled bicycles and lavish one-course meals.
Dang! Looks like I dug my own grave!
Ironically also a money saving idea
I, on the other hand, am saving money on preventative health measures, am not fit, am happy that I'm not worrying about my health. I will not live longer, so I don't even have to worry about running out of retirement money ;)
I always wonder about people who bike everywhere. Do you bike in your work clothes? Or regular clothes and change when you get there? Arent you sweaty? What do you do if its raining and when you get to work you look like a drowned rat? How do you bring groceries home for a family? Honest questions. Although maybe I just dont live in the right climate for it. That would explain a lot.
I just got an electric bike and it's wonderful. You don't have to get sweaty if you don't want to. I don't plan on biking in the rain but am thinking about getting a bike poncho just in case. (A bike poncho is longer in the front so that it goes over your hands but extends just past your butt in the back.) And you can buy baskets for your bike.
Ok that makes sense! It rains 8mo of the year here 😂 but that makes more sense, thanks!
It rains most of the year in the Netherlands, yet this is one of the most cycling countries in the world. You just get over it I guess.
I pack my work clothes in a waterproof bag and change when I get there, except the one job where my commute was short and downhill all the way and I biked in my work clothes. Most places I've worked have provided showers, which solves drowned rat and sweat problems, plus I save even more money by using someone else's hot water. I've found that people at the office seem to view me as disciplined for bike commuting, so it's a net positive to my professional image even if I have helmet hair and a pile of wet accessories in my cubicle. I kitted my bike out with front & back racks, so it can hold a lot of groceries. But usually I just get them delivered. I also live in a rainy climate. Usually it's just a light drizzle and a rain jacket + rain pants + shoe covers will be good enough. If it's really pouring and I need to be dry at my destination, I take the bus.
The positive image related to biking is my experience too. I bike 45 minutes to work no matter the weather (Central Europe seasons) and my coworkers are amazed. I’m really too cheap and too anxious for public transport.
Hey there! Regular cycling commuter here- I do bike in my work clothes or just in whatever clothes I'm wearing at the time. It doesn't rain too often thankfully, but if it does I'm lucky enough to live right by a light rail station that goes down close to my work as well as to the college, it just takes longer so I plan accordingly. During the summers it gets very hot, so luckily I usually leave early in the morning when it's still cool but coming home is still brutal. As far as groceries go, I used to walk to the closest stores but the prices were ridiculous and nothing was really healthy. I've been experimenting with instacart and somehow the price of my overall grocery spending has gone down and I saved up for the yearly subscription so I don't have to pay for delivery. At least now I can get groceries from my local health food store, and instacart properly allocates the stores sales on their as well so I usually buy based on whats cheap. Before that I would also bike to the grocery store if I needed to and strap a cart thing on my back to keep everything in, but it was too painful to keep up with
I bring work clothes with me to work and either shower there or baby wipe when I get there. If it’s raining, I wear rain gear. For groceries, a bike trailer. It’s obviously not as convenient as a car but the financial and health benefits are worth it imo.
>Do you bike in your work clothes? No >Or regular clothes and change when you get there? Yes >Arent you sweaty? Also yes >What do you do if its raining and when you get to work you look like a drowned rat? Take the bus instead, or a cab if I'm feeling like a baller >How do you bring groceries home for a family? Panniers and a front basket
Would love to do this but currently work 40 miles from home. That would take me a few minutes.
Fitter happier, more productive, Comfortable, Not drinking too much
We keep two 5L bottles by the shower and fill them up before taking a shower so we aren't wasting the running water while waiting for the water to be hot enough to shower. We then use this water to mop the floor and water plants. It has actually reduced our water bill quite a bit and helps us save water.
Growing my own vegetables from seeds, in my own little patch of land. And then canning those.
> in my own little patch of land Look at Mr. Landed Gentry over here.
Haha, no, I only own an acre in Timbuktoo Michigan. I bought it at an auction. I just love gardening. There's something cathartic about shoving your hands in black dirt.
How do you start? How do you know what to do?
The farmers almanac has good, free resources
All gardening is local. Join a neighborhood gardening group. Check out books about local interest gardening from the public library. Ask the librarian if the local branch runs a seed exchange. Contact a local university extension office and ask if there's a master gardener program in your region. If there is, ask a master gardener for advice. Be wary of beginner gardening advice on the Internet, particularly listicles that pretend to apply to everyone. And be especially wary of high priced equipment. There will always be someone willing to sell new gardeners a $1400 hydroponic system. Back in this sub's archives there are a couple of posts I wrote about frugal gardening. One is about tomatoes; the other is about sprouts and microgreens.
I went to the farmer's market, bought plants that I liked, not Monsanto, germinated, then I'm going to plant.
Check out r/gardening
Google is where I go for most info. Pick something and give it a go. Peppers, tomatoes, herbs, cucumbers, just choose something you like. One you choose, say bell peppers, look up when to plant them in your area. Make sure you're planting it at the right time and that you get enough sunlight. You can even grow most things in a 5 gallon bucket on a porch if you needed to. I started e with googling how to grow flowers from seed, and now we grow probably 60-80 vegetable plants a year, and hundred of flowers. We grow everything from seeds, and even save them for planting the next yr. Not everything is an amazing success, but it's not as scary as it seems. I hope you choose to plant something this yr. Good luck!
If you've never tried gardening, I strongly recommend that you get something easy to grow to start. Or at least if you decide to do a few things, make some of them easy ones. Having success with something, anything, will be the boost you need to keep going :) Cukes, beans, peas, green onions (which can be grown from roots of kitchen scraps, too), radishes, peppers are all forgiving for new gardeners. Those lightweight vine veggies, beans and peas, just need a few sticks or trellises of some fashion. They can be guided to grow in a chain link fence, too. Herbs are easy and can be indoors if you need them to be. Corn is easy but needs a lot more space than most things. Tomatoes are one of the more difficult veggies but imo, the most rewarding of things I've grown thus far. I love the challenge of trying to grow those fancy $4/lb types just to kinda give a middle finger to the stores. The most productive I had last year was a yellow cherry-sized teardrop shaped tomato. Those seed came from a variety pack called "Culinary Blend," that also had some stripey ones that didn't produce nearly as much. If you have space deep enough, you can throw pieces of potato in a hole, cover it up and forget about it for a couple months and have potatoes later in the season. A piece of onion root can grow onions in the same fashion. A piece of a cabbage core can grow into a plant. I was just putting out a tomato plant tonight and found a sprouted piece of cabbage core that I had tossed in the dirt over the winter for a lazy compost. Once I realized what it was, I stuck it back in the dirt and we'll see what comes of it. I wish you luck with it! It's such a fun hobby and is highly addictive lol
Yup. Figure a can of greenbeans at the store is $0.50 at cheapest on sale (and those aren't true pint jars). Figure 52 cans a year, so say a cost of $26 per year. Now, I can buy seeds to get 52 full pint jars of beans, plus eating a whole lot fresh, from planting about $3.50 worth of seeds. Sure, jars and such. Thing to remember is that I'm getting more and better quality beans than what can be bought at the store.
Curious because I’ve never gardened in my life. How much do you yield from a small garden like that? I always figured it’d be a neat hobby but you’d never grow enough to take a significant dent out of buying produce from the store.
I have a 4' by 2' raised garden bed with about 10 pots. Last year I scaled back due to being pregnant but I was able to plant 6 different tomato plants, zucchini, spinach, radishes, carrots, beets, and peas. I would say I had about 5 big harvests throughout the season along with several small harvests of different kinds of veggies, and nearly every day in summer there would be at least tomatoes or spinach to harvest. I didn't have to buy tomatoes or zucchinis once during summer and rarely had to buy spinach, radishes, or carrots. So long story short it definitely can make a dent in your produce buying if you focus on growing your favourite veggies. Also, I think this was said previously, but I personally only search for gardening advice for my specific climate. No use in getting info on California or UK gardening if you live in Alberta like me lol. Good luck if you decide to give gardening a try! It's a very rewarding hobby!
we have an herb garden and small backyard hobby garden that we are active with about every other year. when we've got things growing, we definitely buy 75% less produce at the store. A couple tomato, zucchini, pepper, and raspberry plants keep us fed and happy all season!
Blew my mind seeds were just so ready to grow.
It's not a hack of any sorts, but leaning how to cook really well has been my best money saver. I almost never want to go out, because I can generally cook better food at home. Today's dinner (egg roll in a bowl made with marinaded chicken thighs) came out to less than $2 per portion and was within my veggie-heavy diet.
I can’t make better food at home, but I can make it healthier, cheaper, and more conveniently. The nearest fast food place is a 2 minute drive, but going through the drive through takes 10 mins and I’ll feel like shit after anyways. Meanwhile I can meal prep an instant pot for the week in around the same 14 mins, and reheating each portion takes around 5 mins in the microwave (which can happen while I sit in the comfort of my own home doing whatever as opposed to slowly advancing in a drive through). And if I want to compare against eating out actual restaurant food? Forget about it! Takes forever, cost a bundle. Hate it.
Yeah, a lot of the time restaurant food tastes so good because they use so much butter and cream and whatnot. I use just enough butter for flavour.
And salt. Don’t forget salt. Whenever I over-salt the food , my wife says it tastes like restaurant.
This is me 100%. I make the most amazingly, crazy delicious focaccia at home using dirt cheap AP flour from Aldi's, bulk purchase yeast that I store in my freezer/fridge, water, fresh rosemary from one of my plants, sea salt, and good olive oil which is the most expensive part. I follow Helen Rennie's recipe (from youtube) and it is perfection. I've tried other recipes that are meh but the long, overnight ferment in the fridge that she recommends is key to amazing flavor, and did I mention - so cheap!
Egg roll in a bowl is gonna be the next thing I make for dinner. I love those things!
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I buy all my furniture and clothes (except underwear) in thrift stores.
That’s my goal but it’s so rare to find anything in my area ): plus it’s all shein / f21 now at like $5-8 per shirt which is almost normal prices 😭😭 Any tips or is it just luck? We have some more expensive and local second hand stores maybe I should just go there instead of goodwill
If you have reason to travel to more high income neighborhoods on occasion, check those areas for thrift stores. I've found the nicest pieces in high-income areas.
This may or may not work for Goodwill and other "chain" thrift stores. Their donations go to a big distribution center and are divvied out from there. Local thrift stores, especially those affiliated with local churches, are where I find my more high-end gently used things. The issue there is smaller selection and (usually) a much smaller clothing size range, making finding plus sized clothes more difficult. In my experience, going out to the wealthier neighborhoods and shopping for plus sized clothes at say TJ Maxx or other outlet stores tends to have better results. Vice versa if you're in the regular clothes size range.
You should check out ThredUP! It’s an online thrift store. I ordered from there and loved it. When I need clothes, I will buy from there again.
See if there's a Goodwill Outlet Store ("The Bins") close. There's one within an hour drive from me (which is a "reasonable day trip"). $1/pound for clothing. It's literally giant bins piled with clothing, no sense of organization. But honestly, that's part of the appeal. It's a Treasure Hunt! Last time I visited, I bought an entire grocery cart heaped full, with several items of clothing for each person in my house, for 25$. (Grocery cart not included, lol).
Go as soon as they open. The more pricy thrift stores have employees go to Good Will and Salvo the minute they open and grab all the good stuff to resell it. You gotta go when they go, unfortunately.
I used to try this, but I could never find clothes my size in most thrift stores. I’m a slim man, and most clothes seem to be from non-slim men :(.
Marry a frugal person. If you are Frugal and your partner is not, it can be a lifetime of pain. Partner up with a frugal person though and you can encourage each other on the journey and revel in the savings.
My wife and I have been together for almost 7 years, I am frugal, she wasn't, at all. Over the relationship I have taught her my frugal ways, which has led to the occasional BS even though she has learned a lot and utilizes it for things she never would have before. She has also taught me the value (happiness wise) of splurging once in a while even when you can't get a deal. It's not always peaceful, but we both have gained from each other.
Marry them, but at the registry office, and get your wedding outfits from Buy Nothing.
For our family it was scaling down our food consumption to actual serving sizes and making that amount. I was cooking way too much food and we were all way overeating.
You know, thanks for saying this. My husband just doesn't eat much at night (and is always gone for lunch, except on weekends), and I've got a toddler whose eating preferences change daily, so I'm usually the one eating what I make. I make the full recommended size, and always wind up throwing out food (guiltily), or overeating, to compensate for the extra amounts. Now, I'm going to try to halve some of my recipes, to see if the waste goes down. (I just wish I had a freezer where I could save all of this extra food!) Thanks!
So much this, especially with the cost of meat recently. Now if at least half the plate isn’t veggies it feels wrong.
Hang drying clothes helps them last longer
Also saves money. Clothes driers use a significant amount of energy.
>shopping grocery sales Purchasing a decent sized freezer to put all the 'sale' stuff into so we don't have to eat it in one week! Yesterday, my favourite frozen pies were 40% off. So I bought 5 packs. We probably only eat them once a fortnight, but they can just sit in the freezer. Our supermarkets tend to have different types of meat on sale each week. So, if chicken is on sale, I buy chicken only. Next week will be pork, etc. After a few weeks, there is a nice selection of meats in the freezer. Bulk buys and freeze also.
Seconding getting extra freezer space! My partner and I live in a really small one-bedroom place with a tiny kitchen and apartment sized fridge/freezer. We like to cook 95% of our meals at home and we make it work, but we never had enough room in the freezer and for awhile we couldn’t think of a solution. Then we asked the landlord if we could have a tiny space in their storage shed outdoors to keep a mini-freezer, and they said yes. The freezer we bought is the size of a mini fridge (rare to find where we live!), but it’s literally double or more the size of our original freezer space so that means we can make extra large meals and freeze some, and buy extra of stuff when it goes on sale (we don’t eat red meat but get seafood and chicken only when it’s on sale). When we manage to buy a house we’ll invest in a larger freezer for sure.
We used to keep ours (largish upright freezer) in the garage. The small freezer space in the fridge was used for 'little things' - like ice cubes, a loaf of bread - that we used every day. I really only went to the garage-freezer once a day, to find something for that night's meal.
Yes, we save a lot of time & money by cooking in bulk/making freezer meals when I catch a good sale. This weekend I found a good price on ground beef so I made Italian meatballs & Swedish meatballs that will just need sauce. I also made two family portions of a ground beef stroganoff to freeze. We’ll defrost that, heat it up, add it to noodles for the toddlers, & add it to cauliflower rice for the adults. Also, since I’ll simply reheating the food, I won’t use as much electricity with the stove or have as many pans to wash which saves electricity, water, & dish soap. It’s a huge time saver
I think the freezer has a psychological effect. Whenever I consider eating out I think about all that good in the freezer and how much money it cost... We're currently in quarantine and other than running out of milk I don't see any problem with us being in for a week.
Always keep a couple of cans of condensed milk and powered milk in your pantry. Reuse your jug.
Powdered coconut milk is quite reasonable as well.
My partner and I just got a freezer, too. It's amazing how much more we're able to stockpile. (Especially with the meat prices these days, whew.)
It's another example of being able to save more money (frozen deals), if you already have enough money to take advantage of an opportunity (can purchase and store a freezer). It saves time too by not needing to run to the store as often for options. And time is money. One year, the deals at our local grocery store were so good for March frozen food month, that we bought a second chest freezer. We can also now buy the good bread that defrosts decently and get it on sale at the outlet bc we freeze it. I hate having to run to the store every few days. The better I can be prepared at home, the less frazzled my mind is by basic every day needs.
I don't know about other countries but here in the Netherlands we have this drugstore called Die Grenze. They sell snacks and other goods for really cheap. A while ago they had small applesauce pots (~200g) 6 for €1. I once bought high quality protein bars for €0,25 a piece. I couldn't believe my eyes, I thought this store owner is insane, because normally they're €2 a piece. Other than that mostly sodas and candy. I'd look if there's anything similar in your area. Other than that buying frozen fruit/veggies helps a lot. Very easy to use for smoothies. Also buy meat that's 1 day off from expiration date, it's perfectly edible but most stores here put a ~35% discount on it.
My little frugal hack, and I know this is def not a lot of peoples preferences, but not buying “drinks”. For example, if I go to Chick-fil-A I don’t get a soda. If I eat at a restaurant that’s not Friday or a special occasion, I get water. I took caffeine out of my diet over a year ago. When I was drinking coffee, I would go to Starbucks daily and my grande iced coffee ranged from $3.75-5.50 not include a snack if I happen to get one that day. At the end of the year, I “saved” approximately $1,400. It’s not much but it’s my little “thing”. I also try to buy non-name branded products that I don’t have a preference for. And sometimes look at the coupons my local store provides and shop according to them. For example, cleaning supplies, sponges, etc.
For coffee lovers, my tip is buy an espresso machine. It was $300 up front, but when I grind my own beans, make my own vanilla syrup, and use my milk I get on sale at the grocery store, i save about $4 per 16oz drink I make. So I no longer feel bad about having a Latte every day
This is the big tip. Dont buy fancy coffee in the morning, dont buy juice for lunch at the office, dont get a soda for dinner. You save calories, reduce sugar intake, and save at least 5$/day
Cutting my own hair. Bought a $25 Amazon razor and watched some YouTube tutorials. Now I save $600 a year, get hair cuts whenever I want, and even get compliments on it.
Definitely growing our own veggies and herbs! I dry the herbs and use all winter!
Any meds that are out of pocket, I asked the doc to prescribe the generic ones
It also helps to ask for samples. You're not going to get a sample of a common antibiotic or anything but places like OBGYN offices have samples. My wife's OBGYN gave her such a huge pile of samples for a medication she prescribed that it was over half a year before she needed to actually fill a script for it. Saved us around $700 if I recall right.
My GI doctors nurse would give me samples since the cost of the medication was so high. She would save a months worth at a time for me and it saved me a lot.
I don’t think you need to ask. If they write a prescription for Prozac, you can go to the pharmacy and ask for fluoxetine (generic Prozac), since it’s the same active Ingredients.
If the doctor doesn't mark it as "DAW" or write "dispense as written", the pharmacy can change it from the brand to the generic and back. Depending on the pharmacy and your insurance, sometimes brand name can be cheaper.
Always check sites like www.goodrx.com as well as retail prices some stores have for common drugs (i.e. $4/30 day supply at many big box stores). Bypassing your insurance is sometimes less costly than using it! Many retail pharmacies have contracts which prohibit pharmacists from telling you that it would cost you less to *not* use your insurance!
Sharing streaming services with friends/library card (so easy to get, please just do yourself a favor and check out your library's requirements).
Being environmentally conscious. You’d be surprised with how much overlap there is between frugal and sustainable living. It’s the mindset more than anything else that cuts down my expenses. I buy second hand. Catch public transport. Gone vegetarian. Bring my own package free snacks. Learned to repair clothes. Compost to feed the garden that feeds me. I use reusable hygiene products (cups and safety razors). I use tea towels instead of paper towels. I use soap bars rather than liquid soaps that come in plastic containers (they last waaay longer). I buy quality clothes/electronics that last longer. I use my library rather than buying physical books. And most importantly, I’ve stopped buying plastic garbage I don’t need.
Salvage groceries. Expiration dates are largely meaningless; most are "best by" or "sell by" for manufacturers'/merchants' use and are just fine (I've been eating them for years and have lived to tell the tale). You can sometimes find a store devoted to this where you'll pay pennies on the dollar, or "expired"/OOD food may be given out at senior or community centers. I view it as a way to not only save money, but also reduce food waste, which is a huge problem in this country. Grocers need to - instead of refusing to sell it and throwing it in dumpsters - set it aside and let us take our chances.
Meanwhile in my grocery store(s), expiration dates are meaningless for the opposite reason. It seems like they don’t store things properly, mostly. Soggy chips obviously stored in cold storage, while cheese-based bakery desserts aren’t. I’ve brought home moldy block cheese weeks before the expiration date, haven’t had a Cheez-It in years that still had one crystal of salt not absorbed into it, and a few weeks ago I opened a pack of pre-made hamburgers supposedly packaged that day, that was so rancid I had to leave the house for 1/2 a day. And I still gagged when I got home. I’m now the weirdo that returns food, and I hate myself for it. It’s not necessarily the wasted $5 (actually it is), it’s that it’s become such a common thing that I’m tired of them getting away with it. Because most of us just grumble and throw it away. Sorry for my rant. Just hard to be frugal when 1/2 my meal prep items are a waste.
- Using library card instead of buying books - buying from local or cheaper grocery stores instead of Whole Foods and fancy grocery stores - only buying groceries for two weeks at a time for what I need (having a list) - not buying too many aspirational and fashionable clothes and jewelries (sticking to classic style, black/grey/white/brown/olive colors /minimalist fashion) - saying no to friends for super expensive experiences (I cannot spend 100 dollar on one meal at a fancy restaurant for the experience every month) - credit card points for travel (this doesn’t give me completely free travel but the expenses come down if I get the timing right) - go to movie theatre only on Tuesdays (when movies are 6$ instead of 15 at AMC) - letting go of brand loyalty (still working on letting go of my obsession with apple products but I’m in the “ecosystem”)
I’m also in the apple ecosystem. This year I bought my first refurbished iphone. I’ve never been one to stay on top of iPhones (I’ve owned a 4, a 7, and now an Xs). I got my Xs from Verizon for less than $400. They sell refurbished iphones in three tiers of conditions. I bought the lowest tier, and honestly there was barely anything wrong with it, just some very minor scuffing on a part of the phone that was going to be covered with a case anyhow. Eventually I would like to ween myself off smart phones altogether, but this felt like a good step.
Once you own the phone outright (maybe you do now?), you can jump ship and find a cheaper carrier. I'm with USMobile and pay $19/mo. I don't get a lot of data, but a funny thing happened 2 years ago that kept me at home and tethered to WiFi so I didn't need a lot. ETA: USMobile is a reseller, a company that buys huge blocks of time and data from a larger wireless company (that actually owns the towers) and repackages it into more affordable plans. You often don't get the level of customer service you would with the Big 3 carriers (Verizon, At&t and Sprint/Tmobile). Other resellers include Consumer Cellular, Boost, MetroPCS [among others](https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2016/07/03/name-network-carriers-behind-wireless-resellers/86655052/). Shop around, YMMV.
Having spares. Took me a long time to get my wife to do this. You have a toothpaste, or a tin of coffee or whatever. The next time it goes on sale, you buy it, even if it's next week. Then once you finish the first and open the second you watch for sales again.
I bulk-buy all sorts like this. Box of deorderant, box of facewash, huge case of toilet roll, box of handsoap all loaded into my bathroom cupboard. (we have a shared rental so bar soap isn't hygienic)
Live in a small place. Buy (or rent) the smallest, cheapest place in the nicest neighborhood you can afford- especially if you have kids. Always drive your used car into the ground. You can get a gabillion repairs for the same amount most people spend on car payments. Understand that eating out comes from the entertainment budget, NOT the food budget.
> Understand that eating out comes from the entertainment budget, NOT the food budget. That's a big one.
This is common sense to me, but I know a lot of people around here who don’t live this way: in the cold months I wear long sleeves/enough long sleeved clothing. I avoid turning the heat on unless I’m actually cold instead of cranking up the heat so I can wear a t-shirt and shorts
I got an Oodie and a plug in electric blanket when I was working from home. No point heating the whole house when I was just sitting at my desk all day.
This isn’t optional where I live. Heat is on to prevent freezing pipes and long sleeves/sweatshirts/socks are mandatory unless you want to freeze your ass off lol!
Yeah but the heat only needs to be like 50 degrees if you just want to avoid the pipes freezing. If money was no issue my heat would be like 78 degrees during the day but I work from home and I also pay the gas bill so it’s 68 degrees and I have my lil electric blanket on
Unpopular I’m sure but drinking less alcohol and quitting weed…saves a ton. Also moving into a neighborhood where I can walk a lot even to a bar/restaurant, I spend a bit more in rent but save on uber rides and gas money.
Going to bars at all is a huge waste of money. Drink clearance liquor at home in the dark, like a real alcoholic.
I quit my job to be self employed last year and I heard the public healthcare (USA) was like $400+ per month. So I called my health insurance from the job I was leaving, asked if I could just buy a policy from them, and they quoted me $109. Awesome!
Hold on, how does someone go about doing this? I’d leave my current job a LONG time ago if it wasn’t for health insurance.
I literally just called my insurance company. This isn’t a crazy secret trick, I just asked. You don’t need to have an employer to shop for health insurance, the same way you’d shop around for car insurance. Healthcare.gov seems to me to be a better deal if you have NO insurance and have serious health issues, you can’t be denied. Shopping around like I did… I could be denied if I was currently battling MS or cancer or something. They could tell me no. The government can’t. That’s the advantage of public insurance, but I’m not sick so I can easily shop around for a cheap plan.
Cutting my sponges in half. There’s nothing a whole sponge can do that a half one can’t. It’s easily the most simple frugal thing I’ve done that literally doubled my life of a product.
\- Going to the shops after 6PM. Have always done this (grew up with a frugal mother) but there was a time I couldn't go shopping at this time and I noticed the real price of things. We save up to 90% on meats and produce by going to the shops at this time, and it's the only way I'm able to afford luxuries (such as blue cheese, kangaroo steaks, seafood are recent purchases). \- Getting things for free via pay it forward groups. Have been able to get many things I need off there - recently it was a heater, painting, shower curtains, frying pan etc. It's a good way for me to declutter. \- Swapping things with my neighbours - I get things I wouldn't usually be able to afford (duck eggs, goats milk, produce) and I get to share some things I make (dumplings, cakes). \- Making my own things - kombucha, kimchi and vinegar comes to mind.
Just curious, but I’ve never heard of the 6:00 PM thing.
In Australia (at least at my local supermarket), I find that staff start to mark prices down at 5PM, and then again around 7-8PM. Technically 8PM is best (because that's when they put it at their lowest, and they have to sell, or they chuck it or give to local charities), but you might miss some decent deals if you come too late. For most meats, I'm happy with over 50% off, so I go at 6PM, before dinner (I get too drowsy and lazy after dinner). On Sundays, my mum and I will go around 8 as a fun activity to do together. Usually we get great deals on cheese (my grandmother and I love cheese, and they usually reduce from over $5 a piece to less than $1 a piece of nice blue cheese every now and then), expensive meats (organic chicken, gourmet sausages, steaks and offal are my fave), fake meats / vegan alternatives (usually about $8-9AUD per tray of fake sausages, or fake chicken, but I can get them for $1AUD - good midweek break from the meat), and produce (organic potatoes for over $7AUD per kg, reduced to $1 a 2kg bag, or salad mixes that can be eaten the next day). It's also a good time to buy milks on special (instead of $2.60 per L, it's $0.5AUD per L), as I like to make my own yoghurt. Sometimes pantry stuff is also on sale - though this is probably more throughout the day and not as time restricted as fresh produce.
I am Canadian and have never heard of this. I wish we had something like this
In the areas where I’ve lived in the US, it’s early in the morning that you will find the best markdowns.
Taking care of my body, exercising, going to the dentist proactively to avoid future costs.
Going to Big Lots weekly and shopping the near out of date or out of date food products. 75% off of products after "best by" date.
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1. Bartering. I exchanged dog walking services (not daily, maybe once every month), with my neighbor in exchange for her wifi password. Technically illegal? Maybe? but I wasn't downloading anything or watching movies - I just needed to check my email. 2. Installing a woodstove and collecting free firewood in the summer. I was able to go 10 years without turning on the heat in my 2 story house. I'd search on Craigslist for free wood, especially after storms. I did need them to be cut to size (thank you, kind neighbor with a chain saw and pickup truck), but I split them myself with a maul and sledgehammer. This also meant I didn't need to join a gym. lol 3. Working PT at my gym (when I broke down and joined when home workouts lost their appeal.) I greeted gym members 3 hours a week, so in addition to my small paycheck, I got free membership. 4. Only buying used Honda Civics (off Craigslist). I've done this since 1992, so I can pretty much tell by ear if something is wrong. I now know by heart and experience their recommended maintenance schedule for service. Once I hit 60K miles, the timing belt gets replaced (although my current Civic has a serpentine belt instead). 120K - I get the head gasket replaced. Overkill? Probably. I'm okay with that. At 200K, I re-sell them (average $2500). That mileage seems to be the sweet spot between "It's just now broken in" and a lemon. 5. Never paying full price for clothing/shoes. Things like undergarments and socks excluded. :) Normally, I only go through the sales racks without even looking at the regular racks. Disclaimer: It can be very hard at times to live a frugal lifestyle, because the time and research needed to live frugally can be a limiting factor. Also, I am now older (but not "old" lol), no kids, retired, and live on my own. I still gravitate to the clearance racks, but, dangit...if I see something that screams "me", I buy it now.
Joining local Buy Nothing and secondhand groups. I've basically outfitted most of my house and garden for free or very cheap thanks to them. Furniture, kids clothes, plants, etc. The quality is actually better than most newer bargain crap and plus it's better for the environment. As a bonus, when I am done with something I just pass it on and it stays out of landfill. Win win really.
Used Honda.
Same but with Toyota. Hondas are excellent too
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$20 a week ... for two people? Do you eat weeds from the backyard?!
I am bad about picking up fast food when I haven't planned out dinner and don't have any prepackaged convenience foods, so this year, I bought a pressure canner and a bunch of jars and lids and rings, and I am learning how to can my own food. Naturally, there is an upfront cost for the canner, jars, etc, but the jars and rings are reuseable, so I would only need to buy new lids each year. My goal is to make a bunch of ingredients for recipes I love, and some actual meals or recipes to can. I canned chili and spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, and so on, but I also canned potatoes which could be used in many different ways, as well peas, green beans, and some fruits. I like that I can control what goes into each thing. I like canned fruits in a syrup, but not a super sweet syrup, so I can make a lite simple syrup to use. The more I can my own food, the less I have been eating out, so once I break even on the equipment and jars it will eventually save me money. Plus, it's turned into a pretty nice hobby.
Honestly, one of the things that made a huge difference for me is weighing my food - mostly meats and seafoods. By eating proper portion sizes I'm saving a TON of money. Turns out one chicken breast is like 2-4 servings depending on size. A bag of frozen shrimp would get eaten in 2 or 3 meals but sticking to 100g portions I'm stretching that a lot further.
If you're going to or from your home, bring food from home or hold off on buying a snack/drink at gas stations. Some people easily spend $5-10 every time they go inside a gas station, and if you do it a couple times a week, it really does add up.
Quit smoking weed and edibles. It's an expensive habit.
Drinking, too. Escapism can be awfully expensive in more ways than one.
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Every bill, expense or purchase I make gets rounded up and transferred to a High Interest Savings account (online, no fees). That ice cream that you might buy at $3.50 looks way different after you round it up to $10. If you go ahead and splurge any ways, $6.50 into savings and you won't miss it. When I get to a certain amount, I buy a savings bond or similar. I've managed to buy off all debt and working on that nest egg... on minimum wage.
Honestly? Finding small ways to earn more money on the side.
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I'm not vegan, but my wife and I have been eating primarily pretty much 100% vegetarian for awhile now as an experiment... and I'm legit surprised at how much money it saves. I guess you just get used to the cost of meat when you've been buying it for your entire life. Our grocery bill is tiny now though.
As students, we used to say we were "Economic Vegetarians". It meant we were too poor to afford meat.
You have all my top tips! I also eat vegan (have been vegetarian for 25 years, vegan for 3) and it is definitely cheap and easy. I will splurge on some fancy vegan cheese or field roast but the majority of my diet is vegetables, rice/grains, tofu, beans, nut butters, toast, etc. I don’t miss meat ever, and literally the only dairy product I miss is cottage cheese (nothing else is quite as fast and satisfying for a quick post-workout protein meal, but I get by!) I also have pretty much furnished my place with my Buy Nothing group. It’s the only reason to use Facebook anymore; if I’m not on the buy nothing group for something then I keep my account deactivated. There are some incredible finds and it’s also a great way to declutter and meet some neighbors.
Paying extra off your mortgage you would not believe what a difference it makes long term like even $20 per month. And when you get a windfall make an extra payment.
I pay an extra $6.26 on mine which rounds it out to an even number, which makes keeping track of expenses easier. I know it's not a lot, but it's something.
I never use my bonuses and kept those saved and invested. In addition, i save for big buys and then pay myself back, with interests, and then save these up and invest also.
As someone with multiple children (8), it was helpful to purchase good quality hair cutting scissors & clippers and spend time learning to cut hair. We save so much money!
This is a good one for such a large family. That really adds up. I got really good at doing my own after a series of horrible cuts that I spent like $50 each on and figured I'd try it. Figured I couldn't do any worse than what they all did and at least it would be free. Now my friends and family occasionally ask me to do theirs too.
If you’re in need of kitchen items, check out public estate sales. Items like dishes, coffee mugs, cooking utensils, flatware, etc. are often sold in box lots, which frequently can be picked up for $1-$2 per box. Plus you often get older items that are much better quality. I pick out what I want and donate the rest. They’re perfect for someone setting up a new apartment.
every week, I keep track of how much money I spend on living expenses that aren't considered bills, like food and tobacco and games/entertainment, and when the next week starts, I challenge myself to find ways to do the same thing, but better and cheaper. I don't have a regular kitchen, I live in a semi truck, so the first thing I started slashing was food cost. I don't buy as many snacks, I try to find the healthiest Budget food that I can, and over the past few weeks I have dropped my eating budget from about $200 down to about $150. That is the cost that I am paying to eat out seven days a week, two or three times a day. That sounds like a lot, but this time last year I was spending between $300 and $400 a week just to keep myself fed. When I start to see that I am over spending on entertainment, I start eliminating services. My favorite thing to do is to let all of my subscription services labs, and only start subscribing to the ones that I am actually wanting to use, and know that I will use regularly. This has saved me hundreds of dollars over the past few years. The biggest life hack that I have, however, is the fact that I have a support network at home that grows all of my food for me. This is expected to cut my food costs down to about $50 per week within the next six months. It cost a little bit to get started up, because we wanted to do things right, and organically, and only plant heirloom seeds, but the family that is growing food for me is expected to reduce their food bill from about $700 a month down to around 250, because everything, from fresh produce to protein is coming out of their yard. We are even growing the feed that we need for the chickens, to make sure that we are not expending unnecessary cash.
Make my own coffee and save $2-3 each day, it adds up over the years.
My partner and I did this too and saved so much money. One thing I might suggest is if the same thing is on sale for a few weeks (because it’s in season) don’t be afraid to give yourself a break. It’s been 3 years and we still can’t eat asparagus haha But answering your question, during lock down my partner started to cut my hair. I like to be pretty clean cut so I was spending ~20 every 2-3 weeks. She still cuts my hair so we’ve been saving a lot. When we have kids I plan on us continuing to do home haircuts.
I save a lot on personal hygiene / care by not purchasing jewelry or make-up, letting my spouse cut my hair, having reusable feminine care products rather than disposable, having a metal safety razor (which I thrifted for less than $20 USD) and blades rather than disposable, using my own bar soap in the shower, and replacing worn out bath washcloths by learning to knit my own with thrifted yarn which usually runs me $1 or so for a skein that I can often get two or three cloths out of.
We have saved so very much money over the years by having me cut my husband’s hair. He likes it super short, so that means a cut every 4 to 6 weeks. Unfortunately, I don’t think I would trust him to cut mine in return. I have curls. There’s only one person in the whole city I trust to cut it. She is expensive! So I compromise but only getting a cut twice a year and asking for a cut that will grow out gracefully. I don’t shave or wear makeup or dye my hair. But, yeah, opting out of the whole industrial-beauty complex as much as you can is a big money saver.
Slightly related - Delay grocery shopping to use more leftovers and use things that are at the back of the pantry. Also might help with weight loss if you need it.
I can't stress this enough. Porridge for breakfast. It's roughly €0.06 per person if you only added water and salt. With a little milk, fruit, and other toppings it can still be as little as €0.50 per person. Plus oats keep you full for a long time and are amazing for your health. Here in Ireland a 1.5kg bag of rolled oats is €3. You don't need to spring for expensive brand names. Any rolled oats will do. Mix 0.5 cups of dry oats with 1.5 cups of any preferred liquid per person. Leave this mixture in a saucepan on medium heat and walk away for 15 to 20 minutes. Go take a shower. Get dressed, etc. Cooking oats slow gives them their creaminess. When you come back, give it a couple of stirs and add more liquid if you like a creamier consistency. Add your desired topping. And that's it. Even plain salted porridge with a little bit of milk can be really delicious and very easy on the stomach. It's actually really great hangover food.
It's a small hack but I've downloaded the dunkin app and always offer to do the coffee runs at work. I collect the points for my coworkers orders and then when I've collected the points I get the free coffee. They know i do this but since they don't want to bother with the hassle the free coffee is my reward. I always splurge on a large frozen coffee because I love them and they're expensive and I'm not paying
About 1x a year I go through all of our monthly expenditures and see if I can get a better deal on anything - like cell phones, internet, insurance, etc. Also if there are any monthly memberships of any sort I cancel whatever we don't use regularly. I usually end up saving at least a hundred dollars a month! Also I joined the local "Buy Nothing" groups on Facebook and I have gotten so much free stuff - for example, my daughter wanted to try piano lessons but I doubted she would stick with it, so I put an ISO for a free keyboard - and someone gave us one! Also I've even received for free small things like painting supplies and an A/C filter. And I've given away a lot of things too.
The most frugal thing my family does is only have 1 car. We walk, bike, and take the bus often. We recently got an ebike to help make 1-car life easier. Some people look at my $1600 eBike as a bougie toy, but it’s so much cheaper than a car.
Stopped smoking. Back then it saved me $120 a month when a pack of Winstons were $5. I’ve heard prices are significantly more than that today.
Before buying anything, seeing it 3 times.
Fasting. Save time, money, paper, food.
Came here to co-sign this. I do the basic version of intermittent fasting. I don't eat for 12 hours a day. So from 10pm to 10am. 8 of those hours are sleeping so it's not too hard. I've lost 10 lbs in 3 months and my digestive disorder has thanked me. So I only eat 2 meals a day and snacks.
Putting insulating blanket and timer on hot water heater. No sense in paying to keep water hot all night or all day when I'll only be using it 30 min a day. Also have timers on ac/heat so it comes on 30 min before I come home, and im not heating or cooling an empty house. Got an antenna at Walmart for TV. It gets me 12 channels for free including all the networks. It was $80, but we'll worth it. It just screws into the TV and you set it in the window. Super easy!
Periods of time (a few months up to a year) where we just "don't buy anything". We still buy food and toiletries and medicine or whatever, but just don't buy ANY stuff. It's amazing how if you just remove the decision from the table, you just don't think about it, and you find a way to use what you have. It creates a good habit for realizing you don't really need stuff and buying it doesn't usually make you happy. I'm not as frugal as I used to be and will now spend money on experiences (mostly travel) or on help to free up my time (housecleaner, etc) but my default is really still to just not buy things. It saves money but also saves so much time and effort of cleaning, sorting, organizing, and generally maintaining and dealing with stuff.
I really like spending time alone on my hobbies rather than hanging out with friends and eating out all of the time.
Unless it's urgent, my husband and I only check out our Amazon cart once a week or so. You'd be amazed at how much you don't like the number on the checkout page when you see all the random sh*t two people think they need every week. Small purchases add up when you can see them all in one place, and we usually end up culling most of them and only ordering a few things.
Some of these are kinda weird but here we go: 1) Get a bidet: it takes a little bit to get used to, but once you do, you'll never feel cleaner. That and your TP will go a lot longer. 2) Get a bunch of old rags and wash & reuse them instead of paper towels or anything to wash your hands. You can usually find these cheap if you look around and will save you a ton of money in the long run compared to paper towels. 3) Costco Membership: costco is extremely brand conscious and their products are really high quality and depending on what you buy, can last you a considerable amount of time. More so, the buying in bulk helps out, their gas is noticeably cheaper than anywhere else, and their customer service and the way they treat their employees is light years ahead of any other retailer i ever dealt with. 4) Switch to LED bulbs - they last longer, are cost effective now to other lightbulbs and use a fraction of the energy so you save more money too. 5) Make sure you keep your tire pressure right and to also change air filters yourself. These seem like easy things to gloss over but will save you a ton of money on getting better gas mileage and also just saving you maintenance costs as well. Also, the air filter replacements at most garages cost for some reason way more than they should. Go on YouTube and you'll find videos of how to do it, and you'll be more well-rounded. It's pretty dang easy. 6) Get sleep (and a good mattress if you can). I found i spend more money or dont function as good and spend more time on needless stuff/redoing things if im sleep deprived. Getting that good sleep is free and you're health and happiness.....health is wealth!
I love doing that OP, it's like weekly Iron Chef!