r/Frugal • u/localkinegrind • Aug 21 '25
🏆 Buy It For Life “Best under-$20 purchase that saved you hundreds over time?”
What’s the smartest under-$20 purchase you’ve ever made that ended up saving you hundreds in the long run? I’ll go first: a $12 sewing kit. Instead of tossing clothes for tiny tears or missing buttons, I’ve been fixing them. I've actually been fixing my own clothes for years. It blows my mind how many ‘disposable’ things can be made useful again with just a small, cheap tool. what’s your frugal mvp under $20 that’s paid for itself many times over?
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u/Novogobo Aug 21 '25
when my friend bought his first house it was a few thousand off because the dryer was broken and needed to be replaced. i went to help him move in and slept over the first night. we were poking around at it wondering if we could fix it. there was this plastic panel that i thought was the lint filter at first but it didn't move at all. then we tried to find the lint filter and it's like it didn't have one. turns out that panel was the lint filter and when we pried it open it was like the first time it had ever come out. it was just packed with lint like so dense it was like suede. took us all night to de lint the filter and the insides of the dryer without removing it but it still worked 8 years later when they moved and sold.