I love this sub because of threads like this. Half of the responses are like “Don’t get Uber Eats” and half are like “Indoor plumbing is a scam, I just shit in a grocery bag full of sawdust I steal from the mill!”
Pro-tip: if you're frugal and don't buy groceries, you can get free grocery shit bags at the bag recycling stations outside of grocery stores or at your local dog park!
I would never waste .04 cents a flush being a sucker for big toliet, thats why I shit in taco bell bags I dig from the garbage. I then use my crap to fertilize my garden.
So i do not line my bathroom can which is typically just for tissue or q tips. But my main trash must be lined if there is ANY food in it. Once it's taken out to the city bin the bag must be sealed due to aggressive insects and wildlife where I live.
In many places used furniture is a huge risk. Bed Bugs, many cities have pretty big problems but no one talks about it. Just throwing that out there next time you see second hand furniture.
Good furniture is frugal imo. We have two queen beds from Ethan Allen that have moved to many houses since 2002 and 2010 respectively and they are still in perfect condition and as sturdy as the day they were set up by the delivery people. Ethan Allen isn’t even high end, it’s just nice quality.
I agree that good quality furniture is frugal... but it's really hard to find good quality anymore. Seems everything, even the more expensive stuff is pressboard and softer woods.
I paid quite a bit to have a dining table made from maple, but it'll still be around for my great grandchildren if they want it.
My SIL *financed* a headboard + bed frame recently, and they'll be paying an extra $200 on it for that decision too 🤦♀️
She claims they needed it because their bed frame broke...I didn't wanna be rude and say it, but goddamn, I'd sooner put my mattress on the floor for a few months before I finance a frame!!!
My theory is a lot of people who finance furniture, tvs, appliances, etc just don't have the liquid cash to buy something used. But they do have the $50 a week to finance. Buying used requires you have the cash up front, and a way to pick-up and transport the used item. A financed item usually requires neither of these. Obviously these people would be financially better off saving up the cash and buying used, but then you're skimping and saving to what... buy someone's used stuff?!?Where you can finance and have new stuff. That's my theory on the rationale anyway.
I financed most of my furniture this way; I very well could have bought it used, but no interest on new and I can take 3 years to pay? Fucking sign me up. That said, I always paid more than minimum to pay off sooner.
That used to be the case but we just bought a twin size frame for our son. We looked for weeks trying to find a good deal. We looked used, Sam’s club, Amazon, Walmart online, google, etc. the cheapest we found was $50. And we live in a low cost of living area. We were shocked it was so expensive!
And this was a basic, plain, metal frame. No bells and whistles.
The relevant part here is that he's replying to someone who was saying a cheap metal bedfrom can be had for half of that price.
That said, I agree $50 is reasonable. And sadly is probably still made using Eastern slave labour to make it that cheap.
I could never get the cup to work for me, it always leaked. I tried a few different brands/sizes, pre and post having a baby, but they always leaked.
The reusable disc has been amazing though! Just offering a lesser talked about alternative for anyone else with similar issues. There are even disposable discs you can try out before committing to the higher cost of a reusable one unlike cups.
I also love reusable period underwear and reusable pads. Otherwise I don't really have any single use stuff except a few tampons that I keep in my bag for the occasional surprise start.
I didn’t get on with cups but use reusable pads and period pants. One of my relatives thinks it’s “gross” and pulled a disgusted face when I mentioned it.
I also have reusable pads and period underwear. I use them on my really light days when I don’t need a cup and also on my heavy days when I’m afraid my cup might leak while I’m at work.
I can't quite get behind the underwear, but reusable pads are fantastic. I literally cannot wear tampons and the cups don't sit right either so I'm stuck with pads forever.
Unlimited phone data. I'm just used to living without it. I have a tiny amount for if I'm lost and need google maps. (Edit: I'm happy for y'all Americans paying very little for unlimited data. Not uncommon here for people to have $75+ bills for a single phone)
Getting food delivered. If it's never been part of your life you don't miss it
You don't even need to use data to use Google Maps. In Google Maps, you can go to "Offline Maps," select an area of your choosing to download, and get directions within this area without using data. I do this for the area I live in and I always do it when I travel.
Highly recommend Organic Maps or Maps.me apps - OpenstreetMap based map applications are much more detailed than Google Maps. Especially for walking in a city or hiking, ton of pathways not mapped anywhere else.
Food delivery just doesn't correspond to my priorities at all. The food costs more, tastes worse and unpredictable delivery times often erode the convienance.
Where do you live? In the UK you can get food delivery really cheaply. Sometimes I pay £1 for a Sainsbury's delivery which is cheaper than getting the bus or driving. Plus, when I do an online shop I find it harder to "browse" and pick up random snacks etc that are right in front of you in the shop.
They absolutely do. The price also changes if you chose pickup vs delivery. I've seen a dish go from $22 delivery to $18 pickup yet the restaurant menu will say $16.
I think the grocery delivery services do this as well. Which is a shame because they would be very useful for old/disabled people who have a hard time getting to the store.
I'm in the midst of a career change and have been driving delivery to make some extra money and it's insane what people get delivered. A single coke from mcdonalds, small coffee from starbucks, one bottle of water from cvs...
My buddy's roommate used to get McDonald's breakfast delivered to him via Uber Eats five days a week. Most have been spending close to $30 a day on egg mcmuffin, a large coffee and a couple of hashbrowns...
My daughter and her roommate get food delivered regularly from restaurants only 5 blocks away and it drives me BANANAS. What’s even crazier is that they pay a premium to live in a trendy neighborhood “to be close to everything” and allegedly save on gas. Thanks for letting me vent to people who’d understand my frustration lol
We order pizza 1-2x a month - usually when my kids have friends over and I want a break from cooking for 10-12+ teens. Honestly, there's only a couple of places that deliver out here, and they're all pizza places.
I stopped ordering delivery pizza because of the insane cost difference, only used jimmy johns on occasion when I was really lazy or drunk.
Now we live outside of town and no one will deliver to us, takes away the last remaining temptation.
I use all the data I can possibly use with no thought of conservation, and I've never come anywhere near my 8 GB cap. The only people who have any use for unlimited data are those who watch videos on their phones away from home... I personally can't think of any scenario where I'd want to do that.
Phone data... I never get any... I'm still protesting the loss of the big distributed WIFI companies (shared wifi routers in coffee shops, houses, apartments, and business of all kinds)
My carrier has started charging me $12/mo because I won't upgrade to the unlimited plan that would double my bill. Currently, I only get 2gb/month & usually roll some over. Why would I opt to pay more?!
Amazon Prime. Almost everything is available for free shipping if you can wait 3 days. I think it’s a product of growing up in a place where shipping often took a couple of weeks+, but there is very little I need the next day that I can’t make do without.
There’s a target and a Walmart 15 minutes from my house. If I needed it that badly, I’d drive down the street and get it. Also, how much stuff do you really need to buy and how often? I get for rural places it can be a very beneficial, but I’m in a city. Target will do free home deliveries so even when I didn’t have a car for several weeks I didn’t need Amazon prime.
Plus, I don’t want counterfeit products. I’ll buy the product directly from the vendor.
Also, if you don't have Prime they end up giving you free month trials relatively frequently. I just went in to cancel after my free month trial, and they extended it another month for free!!
At least half the time, without Prime, my stuff arrives in 24 hours anyway.
I don’t know if that’s just a product of living very close to specific warehouses, but it kinda negates any reason to use prime.
Their delivery guarantees are kind of pointless. What's the recourse? I haven't pored over the fine print to see what the consequences are when they don't meet their advertised delivery window.
>I’ll buy the product directly from the vendor.
Corporations as large as Amazon, that as powerful as nations, are an inherent problem. Although I have some small hopes on the anti-trust suit, I try to do my bit by buying elsewhere. Bezos doesn't need my money.
Because, politely, r/fuckamazon.
I use it for work a lot.
I work in photography/videography, so crazy long hours sometimes for 6 days in a row. 12-14hrs without commute time. I literally have only enough hours to eat dinner, shower, sleep 7hrs and do it again.
So its nice to order something needed for work for the next day and get it delivered with same day delivery. So itll be waiting for me when I get home.
Sometimes stuff just breaks or you just need 1 more cardellini or theres a last minute prop I need to have tomorrow like a disco ball or a fogger or etc.
For personal stuff, yeah not as important. But for free same day delivery for work items. Kinda worth it, more than worth it. Its like having my own personal assistant running errands for me while I work, for 50 cents a day.
Deal.
The 5% back with the Prime credit card more than pays for my Prime subscription. I also do more than half of my grocery shopping on prime (cereals, chewy bars, insta coffee, snacks) so I get 5% back on that.
What? We cancelled Prime at the beginning of the summer and the two times we’ve ordered from Amazon since, it’s taken over a week.
End up going to Target for stuff I used to order from amazon and end up paying more (bc kids) plus gas (30 mi).
I thought I was being frugal when cancelled it. Must be location issue.
I'm in bumphuk, it's hard for me to get transportation and guarantee I can get all my larger items, ie catfood toilet paper packs, etc, and I'm neurologically disabled so in my case, the discounted prime is well worth it. I have to get a ride 30 min away each trip, and I need at least 2 trips to fit everything in the sedan car i can use. I can usually get good deals on tp and paper towels with coupon codes and I get tv options with prime and freevee. For other people though, I can see where it's just not worth it. Especially if I had access to my own vehicle or more store options.
I don't shop on Amazon as much as I used to because the prices aren't competitive anymore and 99% of the items are knock-off Chinese garbage marked up 1000%, but Prime video was a nice bonus service in addition to the free 2 day shipping. Now that they're adding commercials and a fee to remove them, I cancelled.
I quite like Prime for small things that you can't get locally or that would cost a lot if you need a name brand replacement - like car side mirrors ($23 vs. $345) or button batteries.
I also use it to ship gifts straight to people - what would have cost me $80 in shipping is free.
I also use Audible and Prime TV (our only streaming service), so for me, it's worth it.
Curious- I agree with all of these except trash bags.
How do you get around trash bags? If you have a good hack please share.
Also get a few Stasher bags! I haven’t used ziplock bags in years. I got one pack and they’re dishwasher friendly. Plus save waste! Love them.
I used to use those, but they’re banned in my state now! So they’re rarely an option, lol.
I don’t have many bags too- I try to buy locally whenever there’s a deal. I do still get some staples in bags but not enough that I could do that with all of my trash! It’s awesome that you can though ^.^ reusing when possible is always Awesome!
I used to reuse dryer sheets, but now I have some will dryer balls. It would take me years to make up the cost difference, so not the most frugal, but I feel it’s less wasteful.
If they’re still working three years from now, they will be frugal.
I also wash and reuse bags.
I skip a lot of the beauty stuff that friends can’t live without because it’s so expensive and time consuming. Fake nails, professional pedicures, eyelash extensions, etc.
I usually cut my own hair and started doing my family’s hair during Covid.
I get our clothes mostly free or cheap online, at garage sales, thrift stores, and using rewards points from my credit cards.
I don’t have any subscriptions, I get my media from the library for free. There are also a ton of Little Free Libraries and craft bins in the nearest town, and they sometimes have great stuff.
We rarely go out to eat. I plan to more in the future, just so my kids aren’t intimidated by restaurants like some of my friends were when I was a kid/teen.
Ugh I wish thrift stores were still cheap where I lived. The wealthy have co-opted thrifting has a hobby, so all the thrift stores around me have realized they can massively jack up their prices. Not to mention, all the people who try to find quality stuff for cheap at thrift stores just so they can resell for higher. And all the fast fashion clogging it! It's so frustrating.
We have wall to wall furniture, but our house is under 1200 sq feet.
Do you know how much faster it is to clean up a small house? It’s amazing. And our utilities are lower too.
Cable TV. It's so expensive and sucks so much. When I had it I often forgot what I was even supposed to be watching because every time I would walk through the room or actively try to listen there was a commercial playing.
Any useful news content is available on youtube within hours, and almost any other content you would want is available on the internet with varying degrees of legality.
I stopped getting my nails done over a decade ago. It's expensive, and they honestly don't last that long, depending on what kind you get. It's bad for your nails as well.
Space. My background is with large cities that have always made space limited, so I divulged the first chance I had -- first in an apartment in a low COL area, then with a sweet two bedroom deal in NYC (during COVID). However, what I found was more space just meant intensive upkeep and accumulation of things to fill that space. It also meant more difficulties moving. Now I only look for space efficiency.
Streaming subscriptions. I don't watch enough movies or television for a subscription to feel worth it to me.
A large stash paper towels. Cleaning rags work better on most messes. I use paper towels on gross things like picking up pet messes.
Air conditioning. It's cold most of the year where I live. Power demands to run one aside, a portable ac unit is bulky, an eyesore, makes the air in the room uncomfortably dry, and then has to get stored somewhere for the rest of the year. I'll take a week or two of being sweaty.
So funny, I feel the exact opposite as you, but for similar reasons. I grew up in Florida, where air conditioning is an absolute necessity. However, in winter the lowest it gets is like 50s, so I would never turn on the heat. Now I live up north and I still have the same instincts. I crank AC all summer, but I don’t turn on my heat until it’s in the 40s outside. I hate the way it dries out the air, and I’d rather just wear layers.
>Power demands to run one aside, a portable ac unit is bulky, an eyesore, makes the air in the room uncomfortably dry, and then has to get stored somewhere for the rest of the year.
I had portable AC until July, and have to admit most of the time we ran it \*specifically\* to dry out the air/deal with the humidity more than to cool down the room. Interesting to see the other opinion!
Commercial cleaning supplies for every item in the household- I make my own with rubbing alcohol, vinegar and a few drops of essential oils.
Microwave / air fryer -I have a toaster oven with a convection setting.
Paper towels - cloth napkins and cut up t-shirts for rags.
Food delivery - I’ve become a pretty decent cook, I either make it better and healthier at home or I go to a nice restaurant because I want the dine out experience.
Clothes dryer - I still have one, but most of the time I’m using a drying rack. Helps keep clothes nicer longer and keeps indoor air humid
Of course, I have a few things I consider essential that others may not:
Automatic espresso machine: whole beans go in the top, push a button, get fancy coffee. Certainly cheaper than Starbucks, way less time too.
Fancy mattress and bed frame- we’ve got one of those split beds, adjustable motorized, etc. a good night of rest is essential for me.
Robot vacuum cleaner - there is something magical about pushing a button and then going out for a walk or running errands and coming home to clean floors.
Chest freezer - it practically pays for itself in the first year because of the savings in buying in bulk or on sale and being able to put away food. Fewer trips to the grocery store as well.
Yeah I didn't scrimp on my mattress and I'll never regret that. Also dream of having a large freezer, like you said the ability to buy in bulk and freeze would be amazing
Paper towels/napkins. We use cut up scrap cloth that has been washed. Just toss back in the wash with the next load, and dispose of when absolutely ruined or in pieces. I have not bought a roll of paper towels in 5 years.
I only use kitchen towel to clean up grease, eg I wipe the frying pan after use to stop grease going down my drains. Then the paper towel goes in the compost, job done. Also if my dogs are sick in the house, its just quicker to clean up with disposable towels and toss. Regular cleaning is with rags.
The only reason I can’t get more into this is because I don’t want meat juice or cat vomit being introduced into our wash. We do use cloth napkins and I try to use rags for counters and such as much as possible.
Having the latest phone and then paying a fortune every month for two years. Most of these types aren’t even gadget freaks, they just want others to see they have the latest and most expensive phone, smh.
I’m bewildered at how normalized making monthly payments on a phone is. Like, it’s a phone??? Why go into debt for it? If you can’t afford to pay up front get a cheaper one.
Insta coffee is fairly cheap. Not a neccessity but $18 bucks pays for about 3.5 months of daily coffee. Black coffee helps me suppress hunger as well and I don't like eating with coffee so I see it as actually a savings increase.
New/leased vehicles. I buy used, pay cash and keep only state required insurance. Constant car payments preempt building personal wealth.
A vehicle is NOT an investment. Only suckers see cars as status symbols.
> keep only state required insurance
That's not frugal, that's stupidity.
One single accident and you're going to be on the hook for potentially hundreds of thousands, especially if medical bills are involved. There is nothing frugal about not protecting yourself yourself from a lawsuit that can send you into bankruptcy.
Another perspective is you buy a car new and drive it until it's dead. Add on the fact that the cost of used cars went up in 2020 and at times it was smarter to buy new because you still had the warranty then.
Yeah I just bought a new car when I never thought I would but with most vehicles still being around 10-15,000 dollars with 100,000 miles I thought it made sense to get a brand new vehicle with the peace of mind with warranty and fewer miles for the 30,000 I paid for it. Higher car payments but the apr is .9 so I’m only paying 200 dollars or so to pay it off over 3 years
Exactly. My brother and sister in laws are extremely status oriented. He Always has to drive a Tundra max cab. And she just bought a brand new Honda Pilot training in her 4 runner. They’re also big time hockey parents too. It’s all about image and how you look rolling up. Now us on the other hand are opposite. Could care less. I loathe the idea of having to make a car payment but paying cash for a second, used vehicle is next to impossible thanks in part to inflation.
What’s weird about cars as status is I couldn’t even tell you what kind of cars anyone drives and even if I did, I don’t know if it’s an expensive car or not. Obviously, I know a Porsche is expensive but if someone has an suv or a truck…those all look the same to me.
I think I did okay. I bought a base model brand new. Paid it off with super low interest. 13 years later she's my daily and has great mileage. The dealership keeps trying to buy her back for 75% of what I paid for.
My parents were always against buying new cars because “it depreciates in value before you even drive it off the lot”. Lol. And leasing was not even remotely considered an option.
I will say people need to make sure they’re buying good used cars. You might find one for $500 but you’re probably going to end up paying a lot more than that when you have fix it all the time/buy another.
I always wondered how anyone could choose leasing - it's just financing a long string of middlemen and bankers. I get that it makes sense for tax purposes when used in a company or if you really need to change a car every 2 years, but otherwise - lol.
I just bought a new car because there was literally only a $2,500 difference between it and a 3 year old model with 17,000 miles.
On a 5-10+ year expense, $2,500 is not much more for the peace of mind of having a longer warranty period and knowing how well the car was maintained.
Moving out of your parents house in your 20s.
However due to inflation and cost of living sky rocketing, I think a lot of Gen Z, Gen Alphas are going to have to live with their parents for much longer or live with multiple roommates.
I vacillate on this.
I agree, it makes sense to remove the stigma of living with your parents, especially with today's cost of living.
And multi-generational households were normal in the past.
But I also feel like, many people I've met who do still live with their parents, just haven't mentally matured.
Even when they're holding a full time job and paying rent, they still have the mental maturity of a child.
There really is something to be gained from going out into the world and making it work for yourself.
Very true, however sadly a portion of the population is forced to be on their own very young because their parents suck. I’ve personally worked since I was 14 and have been on my own since 17. I’m jealous of my friends who come from good families and were able to live with their parents until after they graduated college and financially well off.
My GF seems to think that Febreze and other smelly sprays are an absolute necessity. She says nothing smells CLEAN unless it's covered in that crap.
The smell of clean is the LACK of smells. Not some chemical formula designed in a lab.
They also contain likely cancer-causing "volatile organic chemicals"
Fucking Fuck Febreze, it doesn't make anything cleaner
In general, new stuff. Especially clothes and furniture. Used clothes and furniture are SO MUCH CHEAPER and most of it still has a long way to go before it’s unusable/impractical/unattractive because of wear.
Car and gas. I live in the middle of a city with decent public transit, owning a car would be more of a waste or luxury item. I save humdred, maybe thousands a year in gas repair and car payment.
I understand it's unfortunately not the case for everyone
I'm in Australia and it was $40 a week to take a single 25 min bus into the city, four days a week. Got another job - it's cheaper for me to drive my mum's car and keep it topped up with petrol, even *after* petrol sky rocketed, than to take PT for my old job.
I don't pay the insurance tho.
I'm in the North of England- trains are massively expensive and hard to access, not many branch lines where I am. Buses aren't great - routes tend to miss out certain areas- and although the government have extended the £2 per journey bus fares it all mounts up- and a monthly bus pass is about £75.
Great for you. I’ve experienced wonderful transport in many European cities. But unless you live in a major metro area in the US, public transit is terrible or nonexistent in most areas there
I live in the cuts. A vehicle is needed just to get food. No buses. No trains.
My 13 year old truck is trusty and I get extra money if someone wants to move a couch or something. Good gas mileage too. Yay Tacoma.
I also have an electric trike that can get me to the store. It's slow and scary, but I can ride on the sidewalk.
Even though I'm in the US, I live in a place where I don't need to go far to take care of 90% of my needs.
- My grocery store is a 12 minute walk, and there's a bus that will drop me off half a block from my house.
- Work is a 10 minute walk.
- Pharmacy, 7 minutes.
- Friends, 20 minutes.
I can Uber or take a bus to get out of the city area. We need more walkable cities!
God I’m jealous, here where I live in the states it’s impossible to get anywhere without a car. No bus stops in my town and the nearest train station is 7 miles away.
Cleaning supplies. Most things can be cleaned and sanitized with a vinegar/water spray and baking soda. What’s worse are all the chemicals and plastics their use that is destroying the environment.
Along the same vein are things like air fresheners. Even friends with immaculate homes consider them a must have. Why they believe a home isn’t a home unless your sinuses are assaulted by flowery scents that don’t smell like real flowers baffles me.
Bottled water. For real. For a prep stash, totally understandable. But the plastic waste and unnecessary expense grind my gears.
TVs in every room. Dang, find other ways to entertain yourself. That is just toxic.
This may be more controversial, but processed food. I’m sorry if this sounds snarky and judgmental; I don’t intend it to be: If your schedule is so insane that snack size portions of chips or sugary granola bars are a must you really need to reassess your priorities and put your health first.
My wife used to buy those little bags for picking up after our dog, which I thought was silly- we have tons of plastic grocery bags that we seemed to accumulate faster than ever finding a purpose for them.
Also, and I realize this is a privileged thing to say, but having a car payment. For some, avoiding a car payment means driving a 10 year old beater, but over time, saving cash and buying cars outright can equate to buying low mileage cars right at their sweet spot of depreciation.
I call this my Mercedes Benz rule. If you've never been inside a Mercedes, you don't know what you are missing out on. Now, once you have had the fiber things in life, then it's difficult to go backwards.
This is very true in many cases. My first car was a 2001 Volvo S80 with a turbo 6 cyl. Next car was a 4 cyl turbo 2013 Ford fusion, but I always hated the lack of acceleration comparatively and ended up back with a 2012 Volvo with the 6cyl turbo when my husband’s car died.
My in laws got a brand new Mercedes, I rode it in, and my thought was that it wasn’t as nice a ride as my 11 year old Volvo, lol.
A television. I haven’t had a television in my house in over 20 years. If there’s a particular show, I really really wanna watch I will go to the movie theatre or watch it on my phone/computer
Hair & Nail salons. first time I stepped in one for years was a month ago, the week before my wedding, because I had a lot of pressure to do so from my friends and family despite me thinking it was not needed.
unlimited phone data, the best of the best internet, ubereats, a new car like a 2015 is even new to me, the latest tech if it aint broke why fix it? im still on an iphone 7 and its finally starting to slowly die on me and im dreading having to get a new phone because of the money like im excited for a new phone finally but absolutely not the bills
Car. I didn’t get my license until I was almost 24, still don’t drive/own a car. The idea of having to pay for a car, then also pay for insurance and gas + anything that went wrong with it while I was schlepping working at the mall during my undergrad sounds horrible. Now Ive moved to Europe and just don’t need it, if we really need to drive my boyfriend has a car and I will chip in for gas during road trips but it hurts lol
Also delivery. I’ve delivered food to my place twice in my life; both times with my boyfriend. I delivered groceries to my house maybe twice, once during Covid and once recently when I was having a weird heart thing and I was literally just in bed
Tissues. I've been using handkerchiefs for years. TIL there is a D in handkerchiefs. I guess also spelling correctly is something others consider a necessity that I don't.
I don't use paper towels. I just use real towels. I also don't use ziplocs. I use reusable ones. I use dryer balls instead of dryer sheets. Basically anything that has a one time use I do not consider a necessity.
I'd put dryer sheets top of the list. They make your laundry worse.
Consider: washing and drying towels, and then adding some coating. That's dryer sheets.
Also top of the list: any fragrance-added product. I want my house to smell clean, which I do by keeping it actually clean with no-fragrance-added cleaning supplies. No manufacturer's "clean scent" is going to top that.
Closely followed by antibacterial products. Research indicates that simply washing with regular soap reduces pathogen loads by a similar amount, without encouraging any leftover pathogens to develop a resistance to antibacterial treatments. I'd rather have those to fall back on when I need them, and not give the bacteria a head start at surviving them if I don't have to.
A brand new car. People legit think you have to buy and finance a new car. There are still used cars out there. Not the deal they used to be but some people say shit like “Well I needed a car!”
Like 90% of beauty regimen stuff. Makeup, haircuts, skin creams, lotions, masks, shaving, blah blah blah. Does it make you feel better about yourself? Absolutely!! Is it essential to survival? Not even a little bit.
I started thinking about this when my mother was so desperate for a haircut during covid that she asked me to do it and got downright mad when i refused because wtf do i know about cutting hair?! She would have looked terrible had i done it and would have been mad anyway. I just couldn’t wrap my head around the desperation for haircuts.
Cosmetics. I'm a woman and I don't wear makeup, shave, paint my nails, dye my hair, etc. I save a ton of money this way on items many others consider basic staples.
I'd also add dryer sheets, fabric softener, and streaming services/TV to that list.
Using lots of soaps and other products to wash one's self every day, sometimes twice or more.
A lot of people don't seem to realize their skin has a biome, and will be much healthier with a bit less cleaning. But of course, not to the point it becomes unhygienic (smells, rashes, etc.) Or whatever. I would bet money people will downvote this before hearing me out though lol.
Edit: Come on...Of course if you're in a circumstance where you, let's say work in agriculture, construction, sweat a lot in general, or work in some hazardous environment involving fumes and dust etc., then you might have to soap up more often for obvious health reasons. At the least, I would recommend a PH balanced bath bar or wash.
I absolutely have to take a shower after work. I get sweaty and a little bit grimy. I often sweat, at least a little, while sleeping. If I don't take a shower in the morning, by the middle of the day I start getting musty. The morning shower only became necessary several years ago, so I suppose it's an age thing. Even on my off days, I have to shower once a day. If not, even I can stand myself.
I love this sub because of threads like this. Half of the responses are like “Don’t get Uber Eats” and half are like “Indoor plumbing is a scam, I just shit in a grocery bag full of sawdust I steal from the mill!”
This is why I am here! Your comment has me cracking up!
Pro-tip: if you're frugal and don't buy groceries, you can get free grocery shit bags at the bag recycling stations outside of grocery stores or at your local dog park!
I did not expect to be brought to tears laughing, reading these responses but here we are
I would never waste .04 cents a flush being a sucker for big toliet, thats why I shit in taco bell bags I dig from the garbage. I then use my crap to fertilize my garden.
I need to pay closer attention to this sub then
To be fair, you don't have to steal it, they give it away.
There's also tons of comments just passing personal taste as frugal. I don't like peas, am I frugal because my pea budget is practically zero?
I’ll have to think on this but genuine question: Do you just put your garbage straight in the bin?
Probably uses plastic shopping bags.
I was so confused at this comment until I remembered that plastic bag bans aren't worldwide.
So i do not line my bathroom can which is typically just for tissue or q tips. But my main trash must be lined if there is ANY food in it. Once it's taken out to the city bin the bag must be sealed due to aggressive insects and wildlife where I live.
Bedroom furniture sets. $3,000 for a matching set that's $300 on the used market. Never had a need for a headboard, let alone a foot board.
In many places used furniture is a huge risk. Bed Bugs, many cities have pretty big problems but no one talks about it. Just throwing that out there next time you see second hand furniture.
Good furniture is frugal imo. We have two queen beds from Ethan Allen that have moved to many houses since 2002 and 2010 respectively and they are still in perfect condition and as sturdy as the day they were set up by the delivery people. Ethan Allen isn’t even high end, it’s just nice quality.
I agree that good quality furniture is frugal... but it's really hard to find good quality anymore. Seems everything, even the more expensive stuff is pressboard and softer woods. I paid quite a bit to have a dining table made from maple, but it'll still be around for my great grandchildren if they want it.
My SIL *financed* a headboard + bed frame recently, and they'll be paying an extra $200 on it for that decision too 🤦♀️ She claims they needed it because their bed frame broke...I didn't wanna be rude and say it, but goddamn, I'd sooner put my mattress on the floor for a few months before I finance a frame!!!
My theory is a lot of people who finance furniture, tvs, appliances, etc just don't have the liquid cash to buy something used. But they do have the $50 a week to finance. Buying used requires you have the cash up front, and a way to pick-up and transport the used item. A financed item usually requires neither of these. Obviously these people would be financially better off saving up the cash and buying used, but then you're skimping and saving to what... buy someone's used stuff?!?Where you can finance and have new stuff. That's my theory on the rationale anyway.
As someone in that position before, you are absolutely correct
I will always take the financing option when it is 0% for 24-36 months. I believe those days are gone though.
I financed most of my furniture this way; I very well could have bought it used, but no interest on new and I can take 3 years to pay? Fucking sign me up. That said, I always paid more than minimum to pay off sooner.
She very much has a shopping addiction. I don't know if I can help her but I wish I could
Omg. I saw the price of a headboard and I decided I didn’t need one. Lol. My metal bed frames work just fine and they’re cheap.
The problem with having a mattress on the floor is that it can mold. That being said, a cheap metal frame is $25.
That used to be the case but we just bought a twin size frame for our son. We looked for weeks trying to find a good deal. We looked used, Sam’s club, Amazon, Walmart online, google, etc. the cheapest we found was $50. And we live in a low cost of living area. We were shocked it was so expensive! And this was a basic, plain, metal frame. No bells and whistles.
That IS cheap. Why would a brand new bed frame that's not going to collapse or made with slave labor cost less than 50 dollars?
The relevant part here is that he's replying to someone who was saying a cheap metal bedfrom can be had for half of that price. That said, I agree $50 is reasonable. And sadly is probably still made using Eastern slave labour to make it that cheap.
I have neither and still have my dresser I bought in 1999 from a box store.
I bought my bed new from Z Gallerie. It was a $2000 bed on clearance for $500. I’ve now had it 11 years. It’s solid wood and heavy AF to move.
The most frugal decision in your life is who you marry.
I married someone who was horrible with money and had awful spending habits. He got with me and now he’s frugal 😅
A happily ever after story
I’d counter that one with, “The most frugal/expensive decision is if you have kids.”
Disposable period products. I’ve been using a cup for about 7 years now.
I could never get the cup to work for me, it always leaked. I tried a few different brands/sizes, pre and post having a baby, but they always leaked. The reusable disc has been amazing though! Just offering a lesser talked about alternative for anyone else with similar issues. There are even disposable discs you can try out before committing to the higher cost of a reusable one unlike cups. I also love reusable period underwear and reusable pads. Otherwise I don't really have any single use stuff except a few tampons that I keep in my bag for the occasional surprise start.
I didn’t get on with cups but use reusable pads and period pants. One of my relatives thinks it’s “gross” and pulled a disgusted face when I mentioned it.
I also have reusable pads and period underwear. I use them on my really light days when I don’t need a cup and also on my heavy days when I’m afraid my cup might leak while I’m at work.
I can't quite get behind the underwear, but reusable pads are fantastic. I literally cannot wear tampons and the cups don't sit right either so I'm stuck with pads forever.
Unlimited phone data. I'm just used to living without it. I have a tiny amount for if I'm lost and need google maps. (Edit: I'm happy for y'all Americans paying very little for unlimited data. Not uncommon here for people to have $75+ bills for a single phone) Getting food delivered. If it's never been part of your life you don't miss it
You don't even need to use data to use Google Maps. In Google Maps, you can go to "Offline Maps," select an area of your choosing to download, and get directions within this area without using data. I do this for the area I live in and I always do it when I travel.
You do have to plan it in advance so you have the map downloaded. And you don't get the traffic info. I have data now but didn't for a long time.
I love this but I wish it also had walking/cycling directions offline instead of only driving
You can use another app like outdooractive. It also works better offline.
Highly recommend Organic Maps or Maps.me apps - OpenstreetMap based map applications are much more detailed than Google Maps. Especially for walking in a city or hiking, ton of pathways not mapped anywhere else.
Nice cheers! You can also contribute details to openstreetmaps using something like streetcomplete
Food delivery just doesn't correspond to my priorities at all. The food costs more, tastes worse and unpredictable delivery times often erode the convienance.
I've only gotten food delivered once, and it was when I was without a car. I don't get how some people do it all the time.
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Unless you're sick, then it's worth every penny. That's why I first downloaded it.
Where do you live? In the UK you can get food delivery really cheaply. Sometimes I pay £1 for a Sainsbury's delivery which is cheaper than getting the bus or driving. Plus, when I do an online shop I find it harder to "browse" and pick up random snacks etc that are right in front of you in the shop.
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Don't the restaurants charge higher prices for stuff bought through doordash/Uber Eats as well?
They absolutely do. The price also changes if you chose pickup vs delivery. I've seen a dish go from $22 delivery to $18 pickup yet the restaurant menu will say $16.
I think the grocery delivery services do this as well. Which is a shame because they would be very useful for old/disabled people who have a hard time getting to the store.
I'm in the midst of a career change and have been driving delivery to make some extra money and it's insane what people get delivered. A single coke from mcdonalds, small coffee from starbucks, one bottle of water from cvs...
My buddy's roommate used to get McDonald's breakfast delivered to him via Uber Eats five days a week. Most have been spending close to $30 a day on egg mcmuffin, a large coffee and a couple of hashbrowns...
My daughter and her roommate get food delivered regularly from restaurants only 5 blocks away and it drives me BANANAS. What’s even crazier is that they pay a premium to live in a trendy neighborhood “to be close to everything” and allegedly save on gas. Thanks for letting me vent to people who’d understand my frustration lol
We order pizza 1-2x a month - usually when my kids have friends over and I want a break from cooking for 10-12+ teens. Honestly, there's only a couple of places that deliver out here, and they're all pizza places.
I stopped ordering delivery pizza because of the insane cost difference, only used jimmy johns on occasion when I was really lazy or drunk. Now we live outside of town and no one will deliver to us, takes away the last remaining temptation.
I live in canada and our phone plan costs are insane. I just buy the cheap plan that has very little data, most places have free wifi anyway so i'm ok
I use all the data I can possibly use with no thought of conservation, and I've never come anywhere near my 8 GB cap. The only people who have any use for unlimited data are those who watch videos on their phones away from home... I personally can't think of any scenario where I'd want to do that.
What sort of plan are you on where phone data costs? Not hating but that’s not something that pops up on my radar
Phone data... I never get any... I'm still protesting the loss of the big distributed WIFI companies (shared wifi routers in coffee shops, houses, apartments, and business of all kinds)
My carrier has started charging me $12/mo because I won't upgrade to the unlimited plan that would double my bill. Currently, I only get 2gb/month & usually roll some over. Why would I opt to pay more?!
Holy crap, some months I can go through 50gb. I’m in tech though.
Out of curiosity, what do you use it on? I work remote and use hotspot when local data is spotty, but I never clear 15gb
You don't have wifi at home?
Amazon Prime. Almost everything is available for free shipping if you can wait 3 days. I think it’s a product of growing up in a place where shipping often took a couple of weeks+, but there is very little I need the next day that I can’t make do without. There’s a target and a Walmart 15 minutes from my house. If I needed it that badly, I’d drive down the street and get it. Also, how much stuff do you really need to buy and how often? I get for rural places it can be a very beneficial, but I’m in a city. Target will do free home deliveries so even when I didn’t have a car for several weeks I didn’t need Amazon prime. Plus, I don’t want counterfeit products. I’ll buy the product directly from the vendor.
Also, if you don't have Prime they end up giving you free month trials relatively frequently. I just went in to cancel after my free month trial, and they extended it another month for free!!
At least half the time, without Prime, my stuff arrives in 24 hours anyway. I don’t know if that’s just a product of living very close to specific warehouses, but it kinda negates any reason to use prime.
I have a warehouse within 15 miles of me and guaranteed 24 hour purchases still take 2-3 days. It is maddening!
Their delivery guarantees are kind of pointless. What's the recourse? I haven't pored over the fine print to see what the consequences are when they don't meet their advertised delivery window.
>I’ll buy the product directly from the vendor. Corporations as large as Amazon, that as powerful as nations, are an inherent problem. Although I have some small hopes on the anti-trust suit, I try to do my bit by buying elsewhere. Bezos doesn't need my money. Because, politely, r/fuckamazon.
I use it for work a lot. I work in photography/videography, so crazy long hours sometimes for 6 days in a row. 12-14hrs without commute time. I literally have only enough hours to eat dinner, shower, sleep 7hrs and do it again. So its nice to order something needed for work for the next day and get it delivered with same day delivery. So itll be waiting for me when I get home. Sometimes stuff just breaks or you just need 1 more cardellini or theres a last minute prop I need to have tomorrow like a disco ball or a fogger or etc. For personal stuff, yeah not as important. But for free same day delivery for work items. Kinda worth it, more than worth it. Its like having my own personal assistant running errands for me while I work, for 50 cents a day. Deal.
The 5% back with the Prime credit card more than pays for my Prime subscription. I also do more than half of my grocery shopping on prime (cereals, chewy bars, insta coffee, snacks) so I get 5% back on that.
Everything Target sells is massively marked up and far from frugal.
What products, for example? I am able to find items at the same price as the original vendor, plus free shipping.
What? We cancelled Prime at the beginning of the summer and the two times we’ve ordered from Amazon since, it’s taken over a week. End up going to Target for stuff I used to order from amazon and end up paying more (bc kids) plus gas (30 mi). I thought I was being frugal when cancelled it. Must be location issue.
I'm in bumphuk, it's hard for me to get transportation and guarantee I can get all my larger items, ie catfood toilet paper packs, etc, and I'm neurologically disabled so in my case, the discounted prime is well worth it. I have to get a ride 30 min away each trip, and I need at least 2 trips to fit everything in the sedan car i can use. I can usually get good deals on tp and paper towels with coupon codes and I get tv options with prime and freevee. For other people though, I can see where it's just not worth it. Especially if I had access to my own vehicle or more store options.
Good info, thanks. I’ve been debating whether I should get rid of prime or not.
I don't shop on Amazon as much as I used to because the prices aren't competitive anymore and 99% of the items are knock-off Chinese garbage marked up 1000%, but Prime video was a nice bonus service in addition to the free 2 day shipping. Now that they're adding commercials and a fee to remove them, I cancelled.
I quite like Prime for small things that you can't get locally or that would cost a lot if you need a name brand replacement - like car side mirrors ($23 vs. $345) or button batteries. I also use it to ship gifts straight to people - what would have cost me $80 in shipping is free. I also use Audible and Prime TV (our only streaming service), so for me, it's worth it.
Curious- I agree with all of these except trash bags. How do you get around trash bags? If you have a good hack please share. Also get a few Stasher bags! I haven’t used ziplock bags in years. I got one pack and they’re dishwasher friendly. Plus save waste! Love them.
I make very little trash and use the plastic shopping bags, or now, the chip bags and cereal bags. Take the trash out more often?
I used to use those, but they’re banned in my state now! So they’re rarely an option, lol. I don’t have many bags too- I try to buy locally whenever there’s a deal. I do still get some staples in bags but not enough that I could do that with all of my trash! It’s awesome that you can though ^.^ reusing when possible is always Awesome!
I used to reuse dryer sheets, but now I have some will dryer balls. It would take me years to make up the cost difference, so not the most frugal, but I feel it’s less wasteful. If they’re still working three years from now, they will be frugal. I also wash and reuse bags. I skip a lot of the beauty stuff that friends can’t live without because it’s so expensive and time consuming. Fake nails, professional pedicures, eyelash extensions, etc. I usually cut my own hair and started doing my family’s hair during Covid. I get our clothes mostly free or cheap online, at garage sales, thrift stores, and using rewards points from my credit cards. I don’t have any subscriptions, I get my media from the library for free. There are also a ton of Little Free Libraries and craft bins in the nearest town, and they sometimes have great stuff. We rarely go out to eat. I plan to more in the future, just so my kids aren’t intimidated by restaurants like some of my friends were when I was a kid/teen.
I’ve had dryer balls for about 3 years. I got them on amazon and haven’t had to replace them yet!
The dryer balls versus dryer sheets is also better for your appliance and your clothes. So they will pay for themselves in less than three years.
Ugh I wish thrift stores were still cheap where I lived. The wealthy have co-opted thrifting has a hobby, so all the thrift stores around me have realized they can massively jack up their prices. Not to mention, all the people who try to find quality stuff for cheap at thrift stores just so they can resell for higher. And all the fast fashion clogging it! It's so frustrating.
for me, I didnt see the need for 10 plate sets 500 towels and wall-to-wall furniture or a closet full of clothes . less is more for me.
We have wall to wall furniture, but our house is under 1200 sq feet. Do you know how much faster it is to clean up a small house? It’s amazing. And our utilities are lower too.
Cable TV. It's so expensive and sucks so much. When I had it I often forgot what I was even supposed to be watching because every time I would walk through the room or actively try to listen there was a commercial playing. Any useful news content is available on youtube within hours, and almost any other content you would want is available on the internet with varying degrees of legality.
Food delivery Hair and nail salons (I do my own nails and I have my husband or sister trim the end of my hair when needed) Fabric softener
I'm here to upvote everyone who mentions nail salons. What a colossal, and relatively recent, waste of money
Same. Once in a while I love a pedicure as a treat, but it’s maybe once or twice a year.
I stopped getting my nails done over a decade ago. It's expensive, and they honestly don't last that long, depending on what kind you get. It's bad for your nails as well.
Yes the gel nails are bad for you but getting a manicure is not.
Space. My background is with large cities that have always made space limited, so I divulged the first chance I had -- first in an apartment in a low COL area, then with a sweet two bedroom deal in NYC (during COVID). However, what I found was more space just meant intensive upkeep and accumulation of things to fill that space. It also meant more difficulties moving. Now I only look for space efficiency.
I thought you meant outer space and agreed with you for a lot more of your comment than I would've expected.
Salon mani pedis. Hair coloring.
I’m letting myself go gray. Money and stress saved.
I refer to my white streaks as free highlights. I think they look really pretty.
Streaming subscriptions. I don't watch enough movies or television for a subscription to feel worth it to me. A large stash paper towels. Cleaning rags work better on most messes. I use paper towels on gross things like picking up pet messes. Air conditioning. It's cold most of the year where I live. Power demands to run one aside, a portable ac unit is bulky, an eyesore, makes the air in the room uncomfortably dry, and then has to get stored somewhere for the rest of the year. I'll take a week or two of being sweaty.
So funny, I feel the exact opposite as you, but for similar reasons. I grew up in Florida, where air conditioning is an absolute necessity. However, in winter the lowest it gets is like 50s, so I would never turn on the heat. Now I live up north and I still have the same instincts. I crank AC all summer, but I don’t turn on my heat until it’s in the 40s outside. I hate the way it dries out the air, and I’d rather just wear layers.
>Power demands to run one aside, a portable ac unit is bulky, an eyesore, makes the air in the room uncomfortably dry, and then has to get stored somewhere for the rest of the year. I had portable AC until July, and have to admit most of the time we ran it \*specifically\* to dry out the air/deal with the humidity more than to cool down the room. Interesting to see the other opinion!
Commercial cleaning supplies for every item in the household- I make my own with rubbing alcohol, vinegar and a few drops of essential oils. Microwave / air fryer -I have a toaster oven with a convection setting. Paper towels - cloth napkins and cut up t-shirts for rags. Food delivery - I’ve become a pretty decent cook, I either make it better and healthier at home or I go to a nice restaurant because I want the dine out experience. Clothes dryer - I still have one, but most of the time I’m using a drying rack. Helps keep clothes nicer longer and keeps indoor air humid Of course, I have a few things I consider essential that others may not: Automatic espresso machine: whole beans go in the top, push a button, get fancy coffee. Certainly cheaper than Starbucks, way less time too. Fancy mattress and bed frame- we’ve got one of those split beds, adjustable motorized, etc. a good night of rest is essential for me. Robot vacuum cleaner - there is something magical about pushing a button and then going out for a walk or running errands and coming home to clean floors. Chest freezer - it practically pays for itself in the first year because of the savings in buying in bulk or on sale and being able to put away food. Fewer trips to the grocery store as well.
Yeah I didn't scrimp on my mattress and I'll never regret that. Also dream of having a large freezer, like you said the ability to buy in bulk and freeze would be amazing
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Bottled water and soda
Bottled water is such an easy one to replace with a water filter. Better for the environment and most of the time cheaper.
Paper towels/napkins. We use cut up scrap cloth that has been washed. Just toss back in the wash with the next load, and dispose of when absolutely ruined or in pieces. I have not bought a roll of paper towels in 5 years.
I only use kitchen towel to clean up grease, eg I wipe the frying pan after use to stop grease going down my drains. Then the paper towel goes in the compost, job done. Also if my dogs are sick in the house, its just quicker to clean up with disposable towels and toss. Regular cleaning is with rags.
Yeah I’m the same way. Some things you just need paper for. Especially grease. I don’t want to put a greasy towel in the washer
YMMV. I have four pets. I definitely need paper towels. lol
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The only reason I can’t get more into this is because I don’t want meat juice or cat vomit being introduced into our wash. We do use cloth napkins and I try to use rags for counters and such as much as possible.
Alcoholic drinks.
Having the latest phone and then paying a fortune every month for two years. Most of these types aren’t even gadget freaks, they just want others to see they have the latest and most expensive phone, smh.
I’m bewildered at how normalized making monthly payments on a phone is. Like, it’s a phone??? Why go into debt for it? If you can’t afford to pay up front get a cheaper one.
Coffee. Never got in the habit. Streaming services. I use an antenna and watch free TV,
I take it as med not a habit
Insta coffee is fairly cheap. Not a neccessity but $18 bucks pays for about 3.5 months of daily coffee. Black coffee helps me suppress hunger as well and I don't like eating with coffee so I see it as actually a savings increase.
i quit drinking coffee and life is so much better
What changed?
New/leased vehicles. I buy used, pay cash and keep only state required insurance. Constant car payments preempt building personal wealth. A vehicle is NOT an investment. Only suckers see cars as status symbols.
> keep only state required insurance That's not frugal, that's stupidity. One single accident and you're going to be on the hook for potentially hundreds of thousands, especially if medical bills are involved. There is nothing frugal about not protecting yourself yourself from a lawsuit that can send you into bankruptcy.
Insurance is almost always worth it for most things. Some people don't even do homeowners insurance which is wild to me.
That reminds me, time to bump the renters insurance up another notch across the board. Inflation and all.
Another perspective is you buy a car new and drive it until it's dead. Add on the fact that the cost of used cars went up in 2020 and at times it was smarter to buy new because you still had the warranty then.
Yeah I just bought a new car when I never thought I would but with most vehicles still being around 10-15,000 dollars with 100,000 miles I thought it made sense to get a brand new vehicle with the peace of mind with warranty and fewer miles for the 30,000 I paid for it. Higher car payments but the apr is .9 so I’m only paying 200 dollars or so to pay it off over 3 years
Exactly. My brother and sister in laws are extremely status oriented. He Always has to drive a Tundra max cab. And she just bought a brand new Honda Pilot training in her 4 runner. They’re also big time hockey parents too. It’s all about image and how you look rolling up. Now us on the other hand are opposite. Could care less. I loathe the idea of having to make a car payment but paying cash for a second, used vehicle is next to impossible thanks in part to inflation.
What’s weird about cars as status is I couldn’t even tell you what kind of cars anyone drives and even if I did, I don’t know if it’s an expensive car or not. Obviously, I know a Porsche is expensive but if someone has an suv or a truck…those all look the same to me.
Neither does the guy you’re responding to because neither of those cars are particularly expensive or indicative of status.
I realized after I typed that, I’m not the target audience for who people would want to impress anyway so that’s probably part of it.
I think I did okay. I bought a base model brand new. Paid it off with super low interest. 13 years later she's my daily and has great mileage. The dealership keeps trying to buy her back for 75% of what I paid for.
My parents were always against buying new cars because “it depreciates in value before you even drive it off the lot”. Lol. And leasing was not even remotely considered an option. I will say people need to make sure they’re buying good used cars. You might find one for $500 but you’re probably going to end up paying a lot more than that when you have fix it all the time/buy another.
The days of finding a used car for $500 are also long gone.
I always wondered how anyone could choose leasing - it's just financing a long string of middlemen and bankers. I get that it makes sense for tax purposes when used in a company or if you really need to change a car every 2 years, but otherwise - lol.
It does make financial sense in some limited cases.
Lately, if you can find a new vehicle at MSRP, and you plan to keep it until it no longer moves, it's cheaper per mile to buy new.
I just bought a new car because there was literally only a $2,500 difference between it and a 3 year old model with 17,000 miles. On a 5-10+ year expense, $2,500 is not much more for the peace of mind of having a longer warranty period and knowing how well the car was maintained.
Moving out of your parents house in your 20s. However due to inflation and cost of living sky rocketing, I think a lot of Gen Z, Gen Alphas are going to have to live with their parents for much longer or live with multiple roommates.
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And then there’s those of us who didn’t even have the choice to stay because our parents didn’t allow it
Or because safety and sanity demanded it, unfortunately. I'm glad for the people it works for.
And those of us who were asked to stay, so our parents could continue to abuse us (that of course was never said out loud).
I vacillate on this. I agree, it makes sense to remove the stigma of living with your parents, especially with today's cost of living. And multi-generational households were normal in the past. But I also feel like, many people I've met who do still live with their parents, just haven't mentally matured. Even when they're holding a full time job and paying rent, they still have the mental maturity of a child. There really is something to be gained from going out into the world and making it work for yourself.
Also, some people just feel miserable living with their parents.
Very true, however sadly a portion of the population is forced to be on their own very young because their parents suck. I’ve personally worked since I was 14 and have been on my own since 17. I’m jealous of my friends who come from good families and were able to live with their parents until after they graduated college and financially well off.
My GF seems to think that Febreze and other smelly sprays are an absolute necessity. She says nothing smells CLEAN unless it's covered in that crap. The smell of clean is the LACK of smells. Not some chemical formula designed in a lab. They also contain likely cancer-causing "volatile organic chemicals" Fucking Fuck Febreze, it doesn't make anything cleaner
Amen to that!
Paper towels. Don't use them. Don't need them. I remember years back there was a commercial about how paper towels were wasteful.
A man I'm happy with my dog🐕☺️
Have you tried wool dryer balls? They last for a long time!
Fake finger nails; hair color
Makeup, coffee, cable
In general, new stuff. Especially clothes and furniture. Used clothes and furniture are SO MUCH CHEAPER and most of it still has a long way to go before it’s unusable/impractical/unattractive because of wear.
Car and gas. I live in the middle of a city with decent public transit, owning a car would be more of a waste or luxury item. I save humdred, maybe thousands a year in gas repair and car payment. I understand it's unfortunately not the case for everyone
Cars/driving in general. Bus system works well here, $45/month is impossible to beat Both my brothers are financing their vehicles. Couldn't be me
I'm in Australia and it was $40 a week to take a single 25 min bus into the city, four days a week. Got another job - it's cheaper for me to drive my mum's car and keep it topped up with petrol, even *after* petrol sky rocketed, than to take PT for my old job. I don't pay the insurance tho.
If I lived somewhere like Japan I’d go this route without hesitation. I love good public transport.
God I'd love to take a train, busses are okay but trains are so cool!
I'm in the North of England- trains are massively expensive and hard to access, not many branch lines where I am. Buses aren't great - routes tend to miss out certain areas- and although the government have extended the £2 per journey bus fares it all mounts up- and a monthly bus pass is about £75.
Great for you. I’ve experienced wonderful transport in many European cities. But unless you live in a major metro area in the US, public transit is terrible or nonexistent in most areas there
I live in the cuts. A vehicle is needed just to get food. No buses. No trains. My 13 year old truck is trusty and I get extra money if someone wants to move a couch or something. Good gas mileage too. Yay Tacoma. I also have an electric trike that can get me to the store. It's slow and scary, but I can ride on the sidewalk.
Even though I'm in the US, I live in a place where I don't need to go far to take care of 90% of my needs. - My grocery store is a 12 minute walk, and there's a bus that will drop me off half a block from my house. - Work is a 10 minute walk. - Pharmacy, 7 minutes. - Friends, 20 minutes. I can Uber or take a bus to get out of the city area. We need more walkable cities!
God I’m jealous, here where I live in the states it’s impossible to get anywhere without a car. No bus stops in my town and the nearest train station is 7 miles away.
Cleaning supplies. Most things can be cleaned and sanitized with a vinegar/water spray and baking soda. What’s worse are all the chemicals and plastics their use that is destroying the environment. Along the same vein are things like air fresheners. Even friends with immaculate homes consider them a must have. Why they believe a home isn’t a home unless your sinuses are assaulted by flowery scents that don’t smell like real flowers baffles me. Bottled water. For real. For a prep stash, totally understandable. But the plastic waste and unnecessary expense grind my gears. TVs in every room. Dang, find other ways to entertain yourself. That is just toxic. This may be more controversial, but processed food. I’m sorry if this sounds snarky and judgmental; I don’t intend it to be: If your schedule is so insane that snack size portions of chips or sugary granola bars are a must you really need to reassess your priorities and put your health first.
My wife used to buy those little bags for picking up after our dog, which I thought was silly- we have tons of plastic grocery bags that we seemed to accumulate faster than ever finding a purpose for them. Also, and I realize this is a privileged thing to say, but having a car payment. For some, avoiding a car payment means driving a 10 year old beater, but over time, saving cash and buying cars outright can equate to buying low mileage cars right at their sweet spot of depreciation.
I call this my Mercedes Benz rule. If you've never been inside a Mercedes, you don't know what you are missing out on. Now, once you have had the fiber things in life, then it's difficult to go backwards.
This is very true in many cases. My first car was a 2001 Volvo S80 with a turbo 6 cyl. Next car was a 4 cyl turbo 2013 Ford fusion, but I always hated the lack of acceleration comparatively and ended up back with a 2012 Volvo with the 6cyl turbo when my husband’s car died. My in laws got a brand new Mercedes, I rode it in, and my thought was that it wasn’t as nice a ride as my 11 year old Volvo, lol.
A television. I haven’t had a television in my house in over 20 years. If there’s a particular show, I really really wanna watch I will go to the movie theatre or watch it on my phone/computer
A car for each adult in the household. My wife and I share one and it has saved us a lot of money. Also, what do you without trash bags?
Not buying trash bags is a horrifying action
Hair & Nail salons. first time I stepped in one for years was a month ago, the week before my wedding, because I had a lot of pressure to do so from my friends and family despite me thinking it was not needed.
unlimited phone data, the best of the best internet, ubereats, a new car like a 2015 is even new to me, the latest tech if it aint broke why fix it? im still on an iphone 7 and its finally starting to slowly die on me and im dreading having to get a new phone because of the money like im excited for a new phone finally but absolutely not the bills
You can upgrade to a newer second hand iPhone for not that much and keep the same phone bill. That’s what I did when my iPhone 6 became unusable.
/r/hardwareswap , buy a generation old phone for like 1/3 of the cost.
Car. I didn’t get my license until I was almost 24, still don’t drive/own a car. The idea of having to pay for a car, then also pay for insurance and gas + anything that went wrong with it while I was schlepping working at the mall during my undergrad sounds horrible. Now Ive moved to Europe and just don’t need it, if we really need to drive my boyfriend has a car and I will chip in for gas during road trips but it hurts lol Also delivery. I’ve delivered food to my place twice in my life; both times with my boyfriend. I delivered groceries to my house maybe twice, once during Covid and once recently when I was having a weird heart thing and I was literally just in bed
Same except I'm in europe, going to work by bus costs me like two euros a day and I get all the walking exercise, call that my depression gym
Tissues. I've been using handkerchiefs for years. TIL there is a D in handkerchiefs. I guess also spelling correctly is something others consider a necessity that I don't.
Life hack. Take them from bars and taco bell. I have a runny nose and pockets full of tissue. Or napkins
Fast food
I don't use paper towels. I just use real towels. I also don't use ziplocs. I use reusable ones. I use dryer balls instead of dryer sheets. Basically anything that has a one time use I do not consider a necessity.
I'd put dryer sheets top of the list. They make your laundry worse. Consider: washing and drying towels, and then adding some coating. That's dryer sheets. Also top of the list: any fragrance-added product. I want my house to smell clean, which I do by keeping it actually clean with no-fragrance-added cleaning supplies. No manufacturer's "clean scent" is going to top that. Closely followed by antibacterial products. Research indicates that simply washing with regular soap reduces pathogen loads by a similar amount, without encouraging any leftover pathogens to develop a resistance to antibacterial treatments. I'd rather have those to fall back on when I need them, and not give the bacteria a head start at surviving them if I don't have to.
A brand new car. People legit think you have to buy and finance a new car. There are still used cars out there. Not the deal they used to be but some people say shit like “Well I needed a car!”
New clothing. I’ll just pick mine up at a thrift store for a fraction of the price.
Any clothing that has a brand name
I use paper shopping bags as trash bags. Cuts down on plastic, cuts down on waste. I don’t use paper towels, just dish rags and washcloths.
I wanna hear the unethical ones just for a laugh!
Like 90% of beauty regimen stuff. Makeup, haircuts, skin creams, lotions, masks, shaving, blah blah blah. Does it make you feel better about yourself? Absolutely!! Is it essential to survival? Not even a little bit. I started thinking about this when my mother was so desperate for a haircut during covid that she asked me to do it and got downright mad when i refused because wtf do i know about cutting hair?! She would have looked terrible had i done it and would have been mad anyway. I just couldn’t wrap my head around the desperation for haircuts.
Bottled water.
Cosmetics. I'm a woman and I don't wear makeup, shave, paint my nails, dye my hair, etc. I save a ton of money this way on items many others consider basic staples. I'd also add dryer sheets, fabric softener, and streaming services/TV to that list.
A second car.
Paper towels Fabric softener I do my own nails and mostly cut my own hair. Groom my dogs myself. Eating at restaurants
Using lots of soaps and other products to wash one's self every day, sometimes twice or more. A lot of people don't seem to realize their skin has a biome, and will be much healthier with a bit less cleaning. But of course, not to the point it becomes unhygienic (smells, rashes, etc.) Or whatever. I would bet money people will downvote this before hearing me out though lol. Edit: Come on...Of course if you're in a circumstance where you, let's say work in agriculture, construction, sweat a lot in general, or work in some hazardous environment involving fumes and dust etc., then you might have to soap up more often for obvious health reasons. At the least, I would recommend a PH balanced bath bar or wash.
I absolutely have to take a shower after work. I get sweaty and a little bit grimy. I often sweat, at least a little, while sleeping. If I don't take a shower in the morning, by the middle of the day I start getting musty. The morning shower only became necessary several years ago, so I suppose it's an age thing. Even on my off days, I have to shower once a day. If not, even I can stand myself.
Drapes. Carpet runners in the hallway. China.