45 People Share Which Frugal Choices Are Absolutely Worth It And Which Are A Waste Of Time

Coupon clipping

I spend less money when not shopping the coupons. Lol

The thing was even if I had the coupon there was always a cheaper option so I didn't use them anyway. I stopped bothering with coupons a long time ago.

Working out. Best thing for my mental and physical health and investment in my future.

My wife and I drove two states over to pickup a brand new stove and microwave (that we found on FB marketplace) for what seemed like a good deal.

Of course, neither one of us had a truck big enough, so we had to rent a u-haul. And pay for the gas. And lose a day.

When we arrived, it wasn't quite the model we were expecting from the listing, but we had come too far at this point. Literally. So we took it.

Later, I found that exact model on eBay. It would've cost about the same to have it delivered.

Driving ten hours each way instead of flying. It'd make sense if it were more than one person, but I only saved like $100 and it was stressful

i heated my house with a wood burning stove for 2 years.

spent a ton of time making firewood,

managed to tear my shoulder up chopping wood, now i have an injury i have to do special exercises to keep my shoulder normal.

my roof got dirty as hell with all the soot combining with water or fog and landing on the roof.

ended up buying a hydrolic splitter after the injury, so waste of money there.

it was cool having $80 electric bills in winter, and i didnt mind the exercise or getting as much heat as i wanted. it was nice converting the random wood from around my property into something useful.

it was just all in all a waste of time, money, and compounded problems/injuries.

i did keep the stove, if shit ever hits the fan, its nice knowing i wont freeze to death without electricity. the damn lifetime shoulder injury is the real drawback from the experience.

DIY projects usually end up costing more than if I bought the dang thing.

Meal planning, including “treat nights.” I know I never want to cook on Tuesdays, so that’s my DoorDash night. Once a week is fine with my budget. The rest of the time, eat what’s on the list.

I got a bidet. Feel way cleaner and TP use is reduced by 90%!

Creating an amazon wishlist. Before amazon discontinued their browser plugin to bookmark from any site I saved so much money adding things to a list that I thought I needed or wanted to buy.

I would eventually go through the list and a huge amount of things weren’t even available anymore because I had forgotten about them for so long. I’ve since created a google doc with the same purpose. Its been so helpful in saving money and realizing I truly don’t need a lot. Impulse spending has been drastically cut.

Reusable menstruation products. It’s kind of a pain and time suck to hand wash my pads BUT I’m saving at least $10 every period. My reusable products have paid for themselves many times over.

Learning to fix my own car.

Canning. Many of my jars are free or dirt cheap, I look for lids with end of season discounts, and buy veggies from farmers markets. One garden lost with divorce, second with boss's marriage, but I'll find another one someday.

Thrifted clothes whenever possible. I mend them myself with a reconditioned school machine. Not good at making clothes but I do good curtains if I can get discount fabric.

Giving up fancy hair for DIY. One too many stylists butchered my hair and I decided that if it was going to be ruined, I could do that myself for free. Chose a simple style, bought some inexpensive shears off eBay, and eliminated an expense and a stressor.

Making homemade laundry detergent. I saved a dollar, I spent 15 minutes handgrating a Fels Naptha bar into tiny pieces, my laundry felt slimy and smelled funny.

Driving to a gas station that is far away just to save 15c a gallon

I absolutely hated grinding my own coffee beans. I hated cleaning the grinder. So I went back to ground beans for my cold brew and noticed only positive improvements.

Man o man did I spend money on rainwater barrels that I never set up and became a home for mosquitos.

Getting a nicer vacuum sealer and a chest freezer were very helpful choices. We got the sealer as a Christmas gift and the freezer was left by my BIL when he moved. Both have gotten us through a couple months of little-no income when they were fully stocked with couponed or discount foods.

Also checking weekly grocery deals and sales. I split shopping between Safeway and Fred meyers. they’re across the street from each other so I don’t care about wasting gas. Freddie’s has fuel points that helps a ton and free points for taking weekly surveys. Safeway consistently has coupon savings and member savings, so I usually add $100 worth in the cart and check out for $40-50.

Buying whole fruit (watermelon, grapefruit, cantaloupe, pineapple, oranges, etc), cutting them up, and refrigerating them. I can’t believe how much prepared fruit costs and it never tastes as good.

Bought a used Chevy Volt in 2016 for around 8K still going plus just got a free battery replacement, so like a new vehicle now. Charge on 110V and never worry about range unlike Tesla. I use about $20 in electricity in a month and fill gas about 2-3x a year.

Kicker is worth 8-10K today.

I tried to groom my dog myself, cut her and ended up at the vet getting stitches. Tried to save 60$ and ended up spending 150..