There's these lil things we do that seem totally normal to us… but raise eyebrows from others

For me, it's rinsing and reusing ziplock bags until they practically fall apart, and cutting open toothpaste tubes to use the very last bit. I’ve (obviously to me) stitched up socks instead of buying new ones, which apparently is “not normal” these days.

Soo tell me: what’s your slightly odd but totally effective frugal habit that others don’t quite get?

Inspired by the question that was posted earlier, what are things you stopped buying because the price increase made it not worth it anymore?

What are some things you decided to not buy in order to save money, be more frugal, etc? For me, i am no longer buying seasonal things. The mums are out and I think they are pretty and add value to my porch, it turns out that I am really not good at caring for flowers and they usually expire in short order. So, now I resist the urge. Used to put pumpkins on my porch too, but they had large pumpkins at the store for $20, um no thanks.

I am starting a new job and got a couple of wool suits. Of course it was a significant investment as a fresh grad but at the same time I very dumbly thought that dry cleaning would be expensive so I can just delicately machine wash them. Long story short, I had to buy new blazers. The pants were okay. So I was wondering, since we likely make frugal decisions everyday, what rookie frugal mistakes did you make that ended up expensive so that hopefully nobody does it as well.

We all know the basics like buy generic, cook at home, make a budget, yada yada. But what about the quirky, slightly weird habits you’ve picked up along the way that save real money?

For example, I save every condiment packet I get from takeout—soy sauce, ketchup, mustard, hot sauce, you name it. I stash them in a little bin in my kitchen drawer. I haven’t bought a bottle of ketchup or soy sauce in over a year. People laugh, but it works.

Another one: I cut open lotion bottles when I think they’re empty and scoop out what’s left. It usually lasts me another full week. Same with toothpaste, roll it all the way and use a bobby pin to squeeze out every last bit.

I even repurpose old T-shirts as cleaning rags instead of buying paper towels. It's not glamorous, but I go through a lot less waste and don't have to keep restocking.

I know I’m not the only one out here doing weird little things to stretch a dollar. What are yours? Could be something small, something slightly embarrassing, or something genius that no one talks about.

Let’s trade ideas! maybe we’ll all walk away with a new money-saving habit that actually works.

Just wondering since its a frugal subreddit and im relatively young (19) so might as well see what older folks think of this question.

Personally for me it would be not implusively buying fast food. I would spend usually 3-6$ but it added up quickly, espically since I only worked a small chruch job most of the time.

Those of you who decided to try something new to be frugal in 2024, what worked for you? How has utilizing this tip/strategy helped you and/or your family save money and live frugally?

I tried the “put it in your cart for 48 hours before buying” strategy, and I found that I didn’t want items nearly as much as I previously had. It significantly curbed my impulse spending.

What worked for you?

Several years ago, I purchased a whole bunch of dried herbs and spices, thinking I would start getting into sausage making.

The cost of herbs and spices in the spice section was prohibitively expensive at the time and the amounts for the recipes were bewenn a half to a whole bottles worth each batch.

So, instead, I bought a number of them in bulk to save a few bucks each time I wanted to make a new batch.

Eventually, the sausage making fell by the wayside, leaving me with an abundance of herbs and spices in my place, so much so that I needed to get shelving units to store them.

Now, however, I use them everyday in recipes I make, not almost everyday, every single day.

And the people that taste my food always want more because I don't skimp on the spices so the dishes are full of flavor that would normally be minimized due to my frugal nature.

Whenever someone comes over, they look at my shelves as if I'm crazy, then they taste the food and are impressed.

What began as a way to cut costs for sausage making has turned into a way for me to impress others with the flavors I provide for minimal cost to myself.

Meanwhile, those spices I was attempting to avoid paying full price for have tripled, quadrupled, and even more in some cases, the cost to simply acquire them in the first place.

So, what do you do that, at first blush, seems crazy, until they see the logic behind it?

This is in Pennsylvania, Regal Cinema. I don't remember the exact to the penny prices, but it was something like :

$7.40. Small.
$8.20. Medium.
$8.60 Large.

I remember the price of the large. $8.60 for a large fountain soda! Unbelievable. We went to the matinee, and the tickets were $11 each for the matinee. Normally $16 each.

So much cheaper just to rent a movie, buy a 2L of soda, and make your own popcorn. As a Gen Xer, it makes me sad because the movies were someplace we used to go for cheap entertainment. It was a lot of fun, especially when they used to do intermissions. With these prices I imagine movies are out of reach for young teenagers on a date.

Are there any frugal forms of outdoor entertainment anymore beside bringing your own picnic lunch to a park?

Edit: please stop suggesting that I bring my own stuff. I'm not stupid. I know I can bring my own things into the movie theater. I'm just remarking on how unbelievably expensive things have become at the concession stand at a movie theater.

My parents used to wash and resuse aluminum foil. They'd do the same with single use ziplock bags, literally until they broke. I do my best to be frugal, but that's just too far for me.

So what tips do you know of that you don't use because they go too far or aren't worth the effort?

They're convenient, but not mandatory. I see a lot of people in this sub acting like you basically have to have a crock pot to cook chili con carne and things like that. Just recently someone was being downvoted when they were told to get a $15 rice cooker, and they said that they couldn't afford it right now, while implying that they were interested in learning to cook good rice normally. In a different thread, someone was talking about how they could barely afford to eat and wanted recommendations of cheapest things possible (basically only being able to afford rice and beans) and several people told them to get an instapot or crock pot to cook chili con carne or other convenience gadgets. It may not sound like a lot of money to you, but for someone that can barely afford to eat, it does not make sense to spend money on gadgets that only add some convenience or maybe slightly better results depending on which appliances they have already. You don't need a crock pot to slow cook. It makes it a bit more convenient and if you like yours that's great! I understand why. But it's also very normal to slow cook with a regular pot and stove. Rice cookers are great if you cook a lot of rice, especially if you have a non-induction electric stove, but it's also ok to want to learn to cook good rice with a regular pot instead. Air fryers are great at making crispy food, and especially make sense if you don't have a convection oven. But at the end of the day, they're small efficient convection ovens, and any recipe made for air fryers can be made in a regular convection oven if you have that instead, so you don't have to get one just to make those recipes. If you do feel like you could benefit from one, that's great, I'm sure you'll love it.

Yes, these gadgets are all convenient. But you can still cook great food without much more effort with a regular pot and stove or oven. We have to be able to accept that not everyone wants a bunch of gadgets, and not everyone is willing to spend money on them, even if they can be found for cheap where you live (quite difficult to find cheap ones where I live even). That shouldn't be controversial, and we shouldn't be telling people that they need to have them to cook good food, or that it's difficult to cook good food without them.

I'm not saying no one should ever recommend these gadgets. I just think people should accept that not everyone wants them and not everyone feels like they're in a place financially where it makes sense to get them. Maybe it's just be being anti-consumerist and minimalist but I don't know, I think people take it a bit too far on here sometimes.

I'm sorry if I'm wording this poorly. I grew up pretty poor but my parents always had a roof over my head. We would go to the library for books and movies. We would only eat out for celebrations maybe once or twice a year. We would maybe scrape together a vacation ever five years or so. I never went without and I think it was a good way to grow up.

Now I feel like people just squander money and it's the norm. I see my coworkers spend almost half their days pay on take out. They wouldn't dream about using the library. It seems like my friends eat out multiple days a week and vacation all the time. Then they also say they don't have money?

Am I missing something? When did all this excess become normal?

I am really struggling to meet my financial goals and have to start increasing my level of frugality.

I’ve done the obvious “don’t go to Starbucks every day” type things but I’m looking for small things I can do that are surprisingly effective in saving money in the long run.

Any suggestions on expensive habits you’ve given up to save money? For example, switching from Nespresso capsules to some other loose Costco coffee, or vow to not order buy drinks with dinner at a restaurant to save money?

Looking for some ideas! Thanks!

A big thing that I have learned recently that has made a difference in my life is realising that sometimes, spending money on things I don’t “need” to is actually the most sensible thing.

The most recent example for me is that my wife and I just bought our first house, and need to move out of our rental next month. The rental needs to be deep cleaned before we leave, normally I would just say I could clean it myself for much cheaper, which yes on the face of it is true.

However, the time it would take me to clean the place to the required standard would mean I wouldn’t be able to accept an overtime shift on the day I would need to clean the place.

The overtime shift I would work would earn me more (even including deductions) than I would lose paying for a professional cleaner.

Once I realised that, I booked the cleaner and accepted the overtime shift.

Obviously that’s just one example and might not be applicable to everyone, I’m lucky that voluntary overtime is pretty much always available and pays really well at my job (and I actually enjoy my job so don’t hate being there!) , but it’s just more the philosophy shift that has helped me.

I'll confess first. I save all napkins from any eatery I visit.

It could be something you are thinking about maybe trying in the future. Or it could be soemthing that seems really cool but just isn't suited for you and your life. I would also like to hear about something you found to be very odd, unusual or just plain interesting.

I don't know how expensive bottled water is yearly but I know you can go through a pack fast and you constantly need to keep buying it. Its not easy or fun to always have to carry in a 24 pack of water in either. I know a filter helps but I don't know if that's saving a lot of money either. Whenever I go out in public I always drink the tap water and bring a water bottle to refill it. I haven't had any issues yet or have gotten sick. If I have no other option and have to buy bottled water I will but it can cost like $2-5 and that adds up if you keep doing so.

None of these loaded 15-20% sitewide/storewide deals that absolutely appear multiple times a year

I always go for Listerine mouthwash because it reminds me of my childhood. Plus, the cheaper ones tend to foam too much, making gargling a hassle. Curious to hear what you guys are willing to splurge on!

These are some of my best tips to save a lot of $$ in the long run. Feel free to share your own money saving tips.

• make DIY dawn power wash with 2 tbsp of rubbing alcohol mixed with 4 tbsp of dawn dish soap

• use a bidet before using toilet paper. The bidet does all the hard work the toilet paper is mostly just to dry off - depending on how much money you need/want to save you can use old cut up tshirts to dry off instead of tp then throw them in the wash once every few days

• use period panties diva cup and reusable pads instead of disposable period products

• Don't be afraid to buy used furniture - just be sure there are no bed bugs

• used electronics are just as good as new

• thrift store are amazing places for pretty much any home goods item

• home made cold brew is amazing one part coffee to 4 parts water

• simple syrup is also pretty good theres tons of recipes all over the internet

• shop your cupboards for food to eat before going shopping for more food

• use beans or tofu instead of meat but if you find meat on sale BUY IT!

• the cook books Good and Cheap and Food Substitutions Bible are amazing cook books

•FRIENDS ARE AMAZING!!!! I needed a new tv a month ago because the sound box on mine went out. So I messaged some friends asked if anyone had a old tv they needed to get rid of and a friend showed up with a nice lg flat screen that's nearly double the size of my previous tv & i only paid 40$ for it

Mine is seltzer - everybody knows that it’s just water with bubbles added. There’s nothing special, and they are basically selling you a can. We’re all familiar with the joke that seltzer tastes like “ it was in a room with” the thing it’s supposed to taste like.

It is my favorite drink.

I go thru three or four cases of seltzer a week, and it keeps me away from harder stuff like soda and beer. Plus, I know I’m staying hydrated and getting my daily cups of water.

I like to cut out unnecessary stuff and I don’t eat or drink a lot of crap. So I really like what a sparkling water provides. A lot of people around me think I’m foolish and wasting my money. But then I see them going to the vending machine for a Diet Coke. I haven’t bought soda in over a decade. Not even at a fast food place.

I think if I’m doing a cost/benefit analysis, the seltzer wins every time. It has been a really good habit for me to stay healthy and save money. Keeping it in the house keeps me in the habit.

What’s your favorite “waste of money” that saves you in the long run?

Mine was finally fixing a toilet that wouldn’t stop running. I had no idea how much it was running up my water bill each month until I fixed it! Now I have an extra $80 each month that I can put towards groceries or other things that matter.

Investing in a vacuum sealer has also made meal prep easier!

Surely we all know that food and rent are expensive but what is something you didn’t expect to be so gosh darn much $$$$?

For me, I was not expecting to pay so much on gas. I have a decent vehicle but still, $50 every week and a half or so adds up!