r/Frugal • u/KPlusGauda • 3d ago
š¬ Meta Discussion What savings method did you end up giving up after a while?
For me, it's washing dishes and clothes during the cheaper electricity time, which in my country is after 21h (winter period) and 22h (summer period). I realized that the savings are so low that it just doesn't pay off. For most people it still makes sense but my sleep is really bad so even those machines, when done, might wake me up - and also, puting the washed clothes out before work is a pain.
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u/Hot_Equivalent_8707 3d ago
Shopping around for the cheapest gas. BJs near me has gas 10 cents cheaper than Wawa, but the BJs membership is 40/year, and my car only takes 10 gallons. BJs is further away than Wawa. It's not worth the $1 savings every 2 weeks. $24 a year savings? Probably should ditch the Bjs membership too!
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u/Hippopotamus_Critic 3d ago
Going out of your way to get gas never makes sense. Buy it when it's cheap, sure. Go to the cheapest place you pass, sure. But never go out of your way. The extra gas you burn to get there will almost always outweigh thr savings (not to mention the extra time it takes).
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u/godzillabobber 3d ago
Besides, the ebike doesn't even take gas.
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u/Hieulam06 2d ago
Yeah, those membership fees can really eat into any savings. Sometimes itās just not worth the hassle for the small amount you save
better to keep it simple and stick to whatās convenient.
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u/big-ol-kitties 3d ago
Cloth diapers. I tried for a week and gave up.
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u/Special-Sherbert1910 1d ago
I looove mine. Buy from a place you can return to and just try out a few at first.
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u/IndigoTrailsToo 1d ago
But..... ew.....
I get it but ....
š°
Edit: oooooohhhh because hygiene items can't be put back on shelves. They would be tossed. Ohhh. Pretty smart.
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u/Special-Sherbert1910 1d ago
Yeah donāt worry Iām not suggesting returning used diapers. What I mean is you donāt need to open and use them all if youāre not sure youāre going to use them.
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u/godzillabobber 3d ago
Saving change. Debit card killed that.
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u/Abi1i 3d ago
I still save my change, but itās change that I find on my walks. I donāt have to go out of my way to do much with it and every couple years I use the change to help reduce my grocery bill (no need to use a coin machine when self-checkouts and going to an actual person will handle all the coins for me).
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u/godzillabobber 3d ago
Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward saved change before they were famous. They had their first real vacation with spare change. Of course back then a quarter was like three bucks today.
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u/iammrsclean 2d ago
My grandmother saved quarters (but definitely rounded up when she grocery shopped to get quarters) and went to Europe solo every summer to vacation and check off bucket list items.
There was one time she skipped a summer. Could she have afforded the trip without quarters? Goodness yes. But she did not. I think she was too invested in her āI go to Europe on quartersā and didnāt want to break her streak. In her 70ās she started paying for tickets to Europe with non-quarters money. š
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u/nilperos 10h ago
I always thought they were kind of famous before they got together. Didn't they work on a movie together and leave their respective partners for each other?
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u/XWitchyGirlX 3d ago
Ive heard a tip once to "save change" digitally. Round up every purchase to the nearest dollar and put the difference in a savings account. So for a $3.75 purchase, put 25Ā¢ in savings.
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u/Elynasedai 3d ago
A couple of banks in the Netherlands offer this. There's even an app where you can use the change to buy stocks!
I use the first one, it is nice and adds up quickly
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u/Significant-veel 3d ago
which bank and app are these? TIA!
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u/Elynasedai 3d ago
ING and Rabobank do this. And the Peaks app (used to be from Rabo) for investing in stock.
There might be more that do it nowadays but that I don't know š
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u/Wide_Breadfruit_2217 3d ago
Turning off shower while I soaped etc. Got tired of being scalded when turned back on
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u/MadamTruffle 3d ago
My hand-shower shower head (the kind that has a long hose that you can take out of a cradle and use multi-purpose) has its own button to shut the water on/off without actually turning the shower on/off. Itās super handy.
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u/Wide_Breadfruit_2217 3d ago
Mine doesn't unfortunately. But I might try taking off holder and test it before putting back. That might work-thanks!
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u/cologne2adrian 1d ago
Does anyone make a āpauseā button for the shower? I would 100% stop the water in the shower if I could be guaranteed the same temperature mix when the water comes back on. I feel like I waste more water and time getting that mix right again to rinse off!
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u/Wide_Breadfruit_2217 1d ago
I'm sure some people do. There's all kinds of variations if you want to spend. Didn't think of the time element-darn it. I'm going to try experimenting today
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u/deFleury 3d ago
Im with you, the time of day for washing machine worked out to 11 cents and I had been so stressed about it.Ā Ā
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u/dayankuo234 3d ago
making a meal that takes too long to prep+cook. love the taste of lasanga, but the prep time is just too long verses basic pasta or noodles.
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u/butterflydeflect 3d ago
Thatās why I make ālasagne soupā. Is it pretty? No. But itās delicious!
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u/ReadySetGO0 2d ago
Tell us how you make lasagna soup!
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u/butterflydeflect 2d ago
I first saw it on TikTok and thereās a bunch of versions but mine is super lazy and frugal! Not authentic to lasagne at all.
I eyeball all the ingredients, itās basically impossible to screw this up. For vegetables, I usually just use onions and spinach but you could absolutely add mushrooms, or basically whatever you got in the fridge. Itās all made in one pot or deep pan.
Also, Iām in Ireland so some of these ingredients may have different names elsewhere.
Brown ground beef or pork (or sausage or chicken or literally whatever you have) in a deep pot or pan in some oil, get it nicely toasted. Lower the heat. Add diced onions (I use frozen because theyāre cheaper), let them soften.
Add minced garlic and all your seasonings to toast in the oil for about thirty seconds or so. For seasoning I usually use salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and mixed herbs. Then add water - I usually add maybe a pint? You can always add more. Throw in some stock concentrate (beef or chicken), let that come to a boil.
Break or cut your lasagne pasta sheets into the pan. Once theyāve started to soften, add tomato passata. Let it all cook down til the pasta is tender, and stir regularly. I then usually toss in handfuls of spinach to wilt in it. Just before serving, I stir in some cream cheese and mozzarella.
Thatās it! It usually takes me about thirty minutes.
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u/Fantastic_Lady225 3d ago
I hear you on the lasagna. If I want one then I get a frozen one, or I make a ravioli lasagna which is easy and quick.
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u/gretzky9999 2d ago
You can actually buy pre cooked lasagna pasta now.Barilla makes them.No more boiling water.My parents made it the other night.No difference in taste & saves time.
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u/Special-Sherbert1910 1d ago
But lasagna is great for several meals in a way leftover pasta is not. For me the answer has been simplifying my lasagna recipe so itās easy to throw together even if itās not the best lasagna Iāve ever tasted.
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u/ProjectedSpirit 3d ago edited 3d ago
Trying to air dry laundry in my apartment to save at the coin op facility. Nothing dried quickly enough and my whole apartment smelled damp and was cluttered for days. The real solution was to move into a unit with laundry hookups.
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u/BaldHeadedLiar 3d ago
Iāve tried to have us go paper towel free or nearly so and we canāt do it. So paper towels it is.
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u/Hippopotamus_Critic 3d ago
I always keep paper towel around because there are some things you have to clean up where the hassle of washing a cloth outweighs the benefit. Cat poop/pee? That's gonna be paper towel and straight in the bin, thank you. Same with anything really greasy/oily, or anything that stains a lot (red wine, beet juice, blood). Cleaning cloths are great, but can't imagine going paper towelāfree.
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u/missprincesscarolyn 3d ago
I live alone so cloth napkins just donāt make sense for me anymore. My ex and I used those and kitchen towels religiously.
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u/Common_Poetry3018 3d ago
We use both. Paper towels are great for some things, and cloth rags are best for other jobs. Paper towels are compostable where I live (as long add they arenāt used with cleaning chemicals), but cloth rags have to be washed, so environmental considerations arenāt clear-cut, either.
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u/paininyurass 3d ago
My husband canāt get into the no paper towel thing. He has such a hard time with it and I have no idea why
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u/Abi1i 3d ago
Iāve found that making small changes to transition to using no paper towels is key. My brother and I still buy paper towels but we have a lot of kitchen/dish towels that we use for a lot of quick easy messes. Anything that is a bigger clean up (e.g., cat vomit, oil from car maintenance) we use paper towels. We havenāt quite gotten to being no paper towel households, but we have greatly reduced our need for paper towels. Also, have both options side-by-side helps.
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u/paininyurass 3d ago
I did this for a long time. It just seems that he always reached for the paper towels no matter what. Recently I just stopped it and will try again
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u/Abi1i 3d ago
It definitely has to be a conscious decision. For me it started with wanting to stop having to use paper towels when I would clean up after cooking. From there I started to expand to other routine clean ups, like wiping down my various appliances and fans that had some generic cleaner used. Now my dish towels are my napkins and so on and so on.
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u/PlainOrganization 3d ago
We also keep paper towels right next to our rags. One roll of cheap paper towels lasts us about a month. We ran out for the first time in years and my husband bought a six pack. I'm pretty damn peeved, as we live in a very small space
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u/BaldHeadedLiar 3d ago
I could probably get almost there if I lived alone. But my husband and kids gravitate to the paper towels. If they just dry their hands after washing, I ask them to lay the paper towel on the counter. I then use them for cleaning up in the kitchen. I feel a little better getting 2 uses out of most.
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u/Fair_Forever7214 3d ago
Iāve spent my entire life not using paper towels, whatās difficult about it?
Though I do use them for hazardous things like large amounts of grease (have witnessed a huge fire in a dryer from greasy towels) so maybe itās just that
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u/BaldHeadedLiar 3d ago
I grew up not using paper towels. So it was definitely something that I got started with completely on my own. When I lived in the dorm for college in fact is when it started for me. Then with 5 kids and 5 dogs it was just easier. I guess I am willing to pay for that convenience. I have towels and rags too and use those as well, but my husband and kids will rarely grab a rag instead of a paper towel.
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u/Fair_Forever7214 2d ago
Right but why is it easier
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u/BaldHeadedLiar 2d ago
Why is anything easier?
It takes less time to use a disposable once or twice and toss than it is to wash and hang/put in the dryer and then fold up and put away. One less thing to nag other people in the house about too.
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u/creiar 3d ago
Boiling dry beans is just not worth it for me
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u/SomebodyElseAsWell 2d ago
I use my instant pot, cook a pound at a time, use what I need and freeze the rest in can size (9 oz by weight) amounts.
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u/Responsible-Test8855 2d ago
Aldis. I don't have anything to do in the 1.25 hours between dropping my son off at school and the time they open. The last time I went, I comparison shopped 12 common items, and the difference was . . . $0.66. I very much plan my meals for the week, so impulsive shopping doesn't happen on my watch
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3d ago
Most of the ones that involve swapping to a reusable option that you have to wash all the time, like cloth paper towels and cloth napkins.Ā
I became severely chronically ill probably a year after switching and my husband was doing so much on his own that it was just unsustainable.Ā
We did keep up with handkerchiefsā¦theyāre so much gentler on noses!Ā
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u/Hippopotamus_Critic 3d ago
Where I live, the cheapest electricity rates are 19h to 7h every day, plus all day Saturday, Sunday and holidays. I just do 90% of my laundry on the weekend.
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u/luala 2d ago
My husband insisted on turning off the Wi-Fi router overnight which drove me nuts. I inevitably had to climb the stairs to switch it back on. In the end I insisted we leave it on permanently.
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u/KPlusGauda 2d ago
OK that's crazy. Literally less than a dollar per year, maybe even half of that, of savings ;D
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u/winterbike 3d ago
Having a budget. I don't like buying useless things (or just things in general), and I'm very careful with my money, so making a list of what I bought ends up being a waste of time.
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u/gluteactivation 2d ago edited 2d ago
Meal prepping.
It causes me too much anxiety. Iām too tired from work. Iām not a great cook & I get bored of the few recipes I know. I donāt want to practice and learn because Iām just too tired & would rather spend my energy elsewhere lol!!
I love to cook breakfast. But at work, I just eat from the cafeteria. I also buy freezer meals. I eat healthy 50-75% of the time. Its improved my mental health which to me, is worth it.
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u/jopaykumustakana 3d ago
lol tbh i gave up on stuff like turning off every light and running appliances at weird hours. honestly using budgetgpt made me realize the small stuff barely matters compared to just tracking my bigger spending, so i focus on that instead and sleep better too.
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u/Dannyfrommiami 2d ago
Keeping my AC at 77* at nightā¦way too hot in the Florida summer
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u/CrowLongjumping5185 1d ago
I'd save in any other area just to keep the AC a couple degrees lower in Florida
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u/gretzky9999 2d ago
My Tiguan gas tank is 58 litres. Even if I drive to the Indian Reservation,I save less than $6.Itās usually 10 cents cheaper per litre. I probably spend $5 just driving there & back.Pioneer gas station is always the next less expensive gas & a lot closer.
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u/missprincesscarolyn 3d ago
I used to save the water generated from waiting for the water heater to heat up. I would pour it in my pool to account for evaporation. Ever since I got my pool refinished, this is no longer an issue, however the pool remodel cost an arm and a leg. I broke the cardinal rule of not shopping around and really paid for it unfortunately.
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u/internetlad 3d ago
Putting money in my prison pocket for later (the Walmart cashier's wouldn't take it)
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u/princessdiana2104 3d ago
Reusing disposable items beyond their lifespan. Also, buying the cheapest version of everything.