I’ve noticed sometimes that there’s some half-baked videos or blogs or whatever that purport this or that frugal trick, but if you look at the time or math, it’s not actually frugal for you.
What are some examples of that you’ve come across? The things that “aren’t worth it”?
For me it’s couponing. (Although I haven’t heard people talk about it recently–has it fallen out of “style”, or have businesses caught up to the loopholes folks used to exploit?)
Cutting sponges in half. It just makes them harder to use, and then already last a long time and cost like $1 each. I’m not going out of my way to save ~$1/month.
Unplugging electronics. I have a kill-a-watt meter and did some math. It took more power for my computer to run the spreadsheet than I’d save by unplugging everything in my house. Electronics have gotten way better at managing phantom power draw.
And I’ll second coupons. The only coupons I look at is the monthly Costco mailer, and I only really look at things I’ll buy in bulk. I try to buy enough to last until the next sale, which has worked out pretty well so far. But I literally don’t look at any other grocery store coupons because I just don’t find much value there.
In fact, most of these frugal “tricks” are worthless. Just focus on the high value lifestyle choices (cooking at home instead of prepared meals, learning to DIY common repairs, etc), and ignore most of penny pinching. In other words, don’t be penny wise and pound foolish.
That said, here are a couple of things that I do think are worthwhile even if the money savings isn’t huge:
- cut my own hair - takes 15-20 min once a month, which is less time than I’d spend getting to and from the barber; it’s essentially free ($20-30 for clippers, which I’ve used for dozens of hair cuts), but $20/month saved isn’t why I do it, I just hate going to the barber, it just seems to take so much time
- change my car’s oil - same as hair, it takes ~30 min, and most of that time I’m just sitting inside waiting for oil to drain; I don’t save much money, but I do feel like I save time vs driving to/from the oil change place, and I use high equality OEM filters
im a baldo - it’s the only benefit. I’ve spent ~$100 on clippers over the last 20 years. Being bald will enable me to retire like one day early, so it’s been worth it overall.
Why not? If you’re fine with a simple haircut, it’s really quite practical. I’m a guy and do a simple taper fade from 1" on top to 1/4" on bottom (similar to this).
My brother did it for years and he got to a VP level role at a large insurance company. If he did a bad job, there’s no way he would’ve gotten that kind of role because it’s as much about personal presentation as it is about competency.
I have my wife check it each time, but I don’t have her do it because I think I do a better job.
I’m a guy and do a simple taper fade from 1" on top to 1/4" on bottom
Same here, but a bit shorter than in the picture. I haven’t been to a hairdresser for at least 35 years.
cut my own hair - takes 15-20 min once a month, which is less time than I’d spend getting to and from the barber; it’s essentially free ($20-30 for clippers, which I’ve used for dozens of hair cuts), Where i live they do it under less than a $ ( i am a male)
If you really want to live frugal i suggest piracy is the way to go but maybe your morals don’t allow it.
I don’t see what that has to do with cutting hair, unless you’re suggesting literally becoming a pirate and not getting hair cuts at all.
But yes, I’m morally opposed to digital piracy, though I’ll do it if the rights owner is no longer offering the product for sale. For example, I’ll pirate most games for older consoles instead of buying used, but I won’t pirate recent releases. That’s where I draw the line for myself.
You can legally find plenty of content on Internet Archive and full movies on Youtube at https://lemmy.film/c/fullmoviesonyoutube@lemm.ee
