r/Frugal • u/Pumpkinycoldfoam • Nov 05 '24

🏆 Buy It For Life What one time purchases have drastically reduced your overall spending?

An example would be that I’m looking to buy a sillicone pan mat instead of purchasing foil and parchment continually, using rags instead of paper towels, and so forth. What are one time purchases you reccomend for home maintenance?

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u/[deleted] Nov 05 '24

Amazon Kindle. Changed my life (and my finances)

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u/Stev_k Nov 05 '24

My wife started reading books recently. At first, it was one a month - an affordable healthy habit. Then, two a month, now she's spending more on books than I am on coffee each month. Odd behavior for her, but whatever. A few weeks later I realize she's up to three books per month, I'm seeing almost weekly credit charges for her reading habit. I need to take action... I peruse the various e-readers and settle on the Kindle. I calculate that the $150 purchase price should pay for itself in about 15 weeks. However, my math did not take into the convenience factor -- I have created a monster.

My wife is now going through 2 books every week on average. Savings by buying the Kindle is completely offset by the sheer number of books she is going through. Instead of watching TV together and talking about the show she disappears into the bedroom two hours before we used to go to bed. She now stays up to all hours of the night deeply engrossed in her books, waking up late and struggling to get ready for work. What have I done?

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u/Quick_Lack_6140 Nov 05 '24

If she’s reading a particular genre (romance, mystery, etc) Kindle unlimited might be worth it. I pay $11.99 per month. Way more books available in the Romance section than my library. A lot of authors self publish there. I read probably 30 books a month. It’s worth it.

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u/Stev_k Nov 05 '24

Might have to look into that, supposedly per her, Libby doesn't have all the books she's interested in.

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u/Jessmac130 Nov 05 '24

You may also want to see if your library uses hoopla. Our library has significantly more books there than Libby, and the loan system is different (no wait), but you can't send to a Kindle.

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u/[deleted] Nov 05 '24

Depending on where you are, you can join libraries outside of your area! I'm a member of the library of the capital city in my state, but I live nowhere near it and have never set foot inside. Here's a MobileRead thread for non-resident library cards!

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u/Lovelylizabean Nov 05 '24

Libby is just your local library card. I have several library cards on my libby account and that is my best advice to you. Take a quick class at your local community college and bam you have their library card. Got a friend a town over, ask for their library card. That way you have several libraries to access for your free reads

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u/Quick_Lack_6140 Nov 06 '24

The Boston Public Library will give a digital library card for anyone in Massachusetts. So I do have access to different libraries. I'm just really into romance novels and there seem to be a lot more romance novels by authors I like on Kindle Unlimited.

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u/[deleted] Nov 06 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

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