False Frugalities: 42 Examples Of People Trying To Save But Actually Losing Money

Surprised I haven't seen this yet; using third party hotel booking sites. The sites guarantee you a room and a price but not the type of room you requested. Calling the hotel directly will not only guarantee the room you want but often they beat the price of the websites. On my last trip a particular site favored by an Enterprise captain quoted $129 a night, when I called the hotel they gave me $79 a night.

Doing the dishes by hand vs. using a dishwasher. The dishwasher requires a lot less water, time and energy.

When it comes to tools, buy nice or cry twice.

I saw a popular comment here a couple weeks ago talking about reusing those little handwarmer packet things by slicing them open and adding more magnesium flakes obtained by shaving down sparklers. For f***'s sake, just buy some new handwarmers.

I knew a fellow who owned one of the most expensive houses in town, but was too cheap to run his swimming pool filter except when he was actually swimming. With virtually no filtration, the water would get thick with debris and algae. He would then by stuff to [end] the algae, but then he would have water full of algae. And the crud would stiff on the pool bottom, making it very hard to clean off. He spent way more on chemicals than he would have spent on electricity. The owner of this cement pond was a retired rocket scientist.

Buying heavily used cars, sometimes. There are exceptions, but all of my friends who religiously buy the cheapest car they can find are always having trouble. Very expensive trouble, that sometimes adds up to close to the cost of a new car, or at least a better maintained used car.

Travel and times: A lot of people take the cheapest flight they can find, but to me, saving 50 bucks on a $500 ticket isn't worth a 7am flight or a red eye.

Professional home repair services. Real companies have insurance, you can sue if things go wrong. Some handyman that someone knows is likely going to do something that violates a warranty, will be judgement proof, and won't get a permit.

Bottled water. It's marketed to appear that it's healthier and cleaner than tap water, plus the plastic bottles are not sustainable. Just buy yourself a thermos or reusable water bottle and stop buying overpriced plastic with over-glorified tap water included.

Cheap batteries. They don't last, they don't work well, and many of them are duds. When I was in high school, I always, always listened to my discman. One day the batteries died so I walked up to the gas station and chose between the Duracell batteries and the bronze-colored batteries. I bough the cheaper no-names and they died before the day was over. And I had to go through social studies without music. I learned two things that day; WWI history, and not to buy cheap batteries.

Cheap, single ply toilet paper. You end up having to use way more just to get the same effect of the good stuff.

Aggressive lane changing while driving. All that accellerating to get into the "better" lane just wastes fuel, and you save a negligible amount of time. There was a small TV documentary here in Australia I remember watching that did tests on it. They sent two drivers across Sydney in rush hour traffic: one who would change lanes only when it was absolutely necessary (obstructions, turnoffs, etc), and one who was super aggressive changing all the time. The aggressive driver got to the destination 2 minutes earlier, though with *80% more fuel consumption than the other driver*.

I once watched a show about extreme penny pinchers. One episode depicted a man who spent about 3 hours a day riding his bicycle or walking around looking for dropped change around pay phones, gum ball dispensers, etc. The whole time I couldn't help but think that even a minimum-wage job would yield him more capital for his time, especially once you factor in bicycle tubes and shoes. In general, people of this nature fail to realize that the benefits of having money is its positive influence on your quality of life. When your quality of life suffers in order to save money, you've completely reversed your priorities to a mind-boggling level.

All construction.............do you want it done cheap? or do you want it done right?

Not going to the doctor/dentist! Wellness checkups are important. Your prognosis will always be better if something is caught early on.

i went to greggs, a well known bakery in the UK. I bought a sandwhich and a drink. as i went to pay, the guy offered me the meal deal. "a sandwhich a drink and crips (chips) for only £1.99. a sandwhich and a drink was £1.59. the sandwhich was £1 and the drink was 59p. by themselves, crisps (chips) were 20p but as part of the meal deal they were 40p. this means that the SPECIAL MEAL DEAL OFFER was more expensive than buying each item individually. CLEVER f******

Heating and air-conditioning. Being uncomfortable, irritable, and unproductive isn't worth the few hundred dollars you save by lowering the heat or not turning on the AC.

"Buying that rent-to-own laptop Consumer Reports checked out is equivalent to paying 311% interest, which is far worse than the 30% interest rate you see on crummy credit cards.

Buying a big cheap house far from your common destinations. You will pay with time, petrol, housework, sleep, your relationships, and/or career Instead: 1.Buy or rent a small house with a 10-30 minute commute. 2. Let happiness ensue.

Home brewing beer. It's a wonderful hobby and I highly recommend it, but don't think you're going to save money.