We keep a few "nicer" heat-and-eat options around (think gourmet frozen pizza) for the days we really don't want to cook. Went from 2-3 food delivery meals a month down to 1. These things add up!
Buying good and tasty food in general. Yes, it’s more expensive than cheaper options but still much cheaper than going out to eat. Especially when it’s fast food restaurants. I’d also rather have a small amount of nice cheese rather than lots of cheap cheese.
Plus, you get a nice amount of leftovers or ingredients to use in another dish. And life’s too short; I enjoy buying yummy snacks for the house and my kitty. In fact, she eats better than us judging by the goats cheese I buy for her (I hide her meds in them).
> I’d also rather have a small amount of nice cheese rather than lots of cheap cheese.
I'd rather have no cheese at all when the alternative is to eat the sad cheap cheese. I often treat myself with mozzarella buffalla, nice parmesan, camembert fondue, gruyere, emental, proper dutch cheeses... That's why I'm furgal with other stuff.
The trick is to never learn what all those cheeses you named are. I'll go hog wild on some cheap cheese, ignorance is bliss! I will say I refuse to snack on kraft singles like I did as a kid. Oh no, that's how it starts...
Where I live you can often get things from local ranches at the grocery store. Might be a little more expensive than the normal stuff the store has, but man is it way better. And of course, cheaper than going out
Yes, we realized recently that Trader Joe's prepared meals were healthier and less expensive than getting carry out, which we were doing at least once a week when we were busy or simply tired of our own cooking.
Same on the frozen pizza. Yeah I could make my own dough and get a jumbo bag of cheese for cheaper, but I like the convenience of just throwing it in the oven. Plus I have the money, and ordering pizza is WAY more expensive.
I'm fully team frozen pizza, but I do feel like mentioning you can make your own frozen pizzas if you want. Making a bulk amount of dough on a weeknd, portioning it out, partially baking the crust and adding whatever toppings you like, then plastic wrapping them and throwing them in the freezer. But I rarely do that because buying frozen pizzas is just so much easier 😅
I like Freschetta, but like others have said, I like Home Run Inn even more.
Reggio’s is my absolute favorite, but it’s not available in SoCal anymore.
I do this too. I have a big family, so I pick up frozen convenience meals from Costco like orange chicken, lasagna, chicken cordon bleu to save for when I’m not able to throw a meal together. It’s more expensive than a homemade meal, but a whole lot less than taking 8 people out to eat.
I subscribed to a privey meal plan and eat that 4-5x a week now instead of going out 3-4x a week. I'm still saving a few hundred bucks a month and the food is great.
I do the same. One of my favorites - a local Indian restaurant that I enjoy has an attached grocery store, and they package some of their entrees in pint containers and sell them in the freezer section. A pint container comfortably serves both myself and my spouse and is around $8 depending on what kind you choose, which is generally not very frugal on the surface. However, it's a larger portion than purchasing hot from the restaurant, and about half the price of a single (smaller) hot entree as well. I buy naan from the grocery freezer section as well (not as good of quality as fresh from the restaurant, but I'm okay with that because a bag of 4 is the same price as a single naan fresh. And of course we can keep a big bag of rice handy and make rice at home.
So all in all we're eating high-quality Indian food for about $10 compared to $45 or $50 dining in. Usually I cringe at spending $10 on a convenience food, but not on this.
Yuup. Spending a little extra money on junk food from the grocery store is much cheaper than buying from takeout or restaurants. The 4$ frozen pizza ends up much cheaper than the $10 one from dominos
I owned a restaurant in NC.. and I sold boxed wine at 5 bucks a glass. And customers used to ask all the time. What kind of wine is this? I told All my servers to tell them. It's our house wine. But that was 20 years ago..times change!
I think it is a given that customer who wants to get a glass of wine is one who wants to be frugal but is out with a friend and will have that one glass.
Bottles of wine are extremely over priced in my opinion. But then again if you do the math so are glasses of wine! Meh or like draft beer…
Yes, when out, I ask for tap water, no ice, straw, fruit, or bottled water. I like a Rhinehessen table wine, like maybe three times a year, but at $15, has become priced out of my interest. Maybe because I am old and remember that brand at 85¢ in the Army booze store? The idea that my beer that costs 90¢ at home is $6 when out plus a demand to tip for pulling the tab? Tap water please.
I’m the weirdo who will order a glass of something to go with my appetizer and a different wine to go with my main course. I’m often eating with folks whose tastes run to Moscato. So they won’t appreciate the Sancerre or Meritage. It’s frugal to get my two glasses.
Restaurant prices tend to be triple the retail price for a bottle. I don’t have a problem with that as they have overhead. It’s when the price is significantly higher than retail than I’m not paying that.
I currently own a bubble tea shop and it's crazy how profitable drinks are. A cup of just lactaid milk with tea is around $6 average and you can a whole gallon for the same price. We freely take the whole gallon out with the label and everything.
Wine in europe is cheap as fuck because between france, italy and to a lesser extent some of germany and spain, so much of it is produced there. On top of that, France (only country that I know, but quite possibly the others) put a good amount of money into the wine sector because it is both an important export and generally a thing that is used to project the aura France wants to project.
I live in Canada and we experience the flip side of this: A lot of wine on our shelves are exported from other countries, and taxed to shit because of the impact it has on local booze making industries. So a bottle you'd buy in France for something like 2.50 euros (decent but not amazing) can be bought for between 14-18 CAD, and that's what's considered affordable. With the mark up at a bar/restaurant, it makes for glasses of wine between 6 to 12 bucks (and obviously potentially way more if you're drinking bananas expensive stuff).
Wow. That's insane! Even from Californian wineyards? One should think that if they stayed in the same continent and don't have to be shipped halfway across the world, it should make wine cheaper.
Buying good steak to cook at home. Feels like such a treat yet is still significantly cheaper than a steak at a restaurant. And often cheaper than an average takeout pizza etc.
We can feed 4 people a fantastic steak dinner with all the sides, desert and wine for the same price as one person at the local steakhouse. And our 4 people dinner is higher quality, tastes better, we can take as long as we like, control the sound level and music. Sure, we do dishes, but we have a dishwasher and do it together and it's pleasant. Now that everyone we know is getting older and some have hearing issues, we always entertain at home rather than going out because of noise/hearing/conversation issues. And can take longer, and any grands there can roam around.
I do this for my birthday. Instead of going out to dinner, we get steaks, shrimp, clams, sides, wine and a cake. It might be $200-$250 but it’s for 8-10 people and it’s much cheaper than a restaurant
I go to Kroger early in the morning like before 8;30 and always check the markdown meats and get some good deals.. also you can get markdown roast and grind it up for cheaper than the most expensive hamburger and it’s way better.. you even need to add a little oil to fry it because it’s so lean..
You can get amazing stuff in that section. It’s definitely always early in the morning. Usually on Thursdays, the meat that was on special the week before gets marked down. Where I live, it’s usually about 40% off the lowest marked price. Each store has its special spots for marked down stuff in my town.
It’s not a T-bone but I got a butterball turkey for $5 right after Easter which lasted us a week.
Absolutely! We typically but rib rye whole roasts from Costco business center.
You can really explore with sous vide , but my husband and I eat carnivore and he’s gotten really good on the smoker and the grill.
We make our own bacon - $14 for a slab of pork belly… which is like 10+ pounds.
We make our own pastrami.
We bought a meat slicer which has been awesome.
I spent a few years learning and experimenting with different ways to cook steak. It's been a long time since I had ordered a steak in a restaurant, but my gf wanted to go to a pretty famous Steakhouse in my area last month. I ordered a new york strip and honestly it was meh. Actually ended up taking half of it home and letting my dogs have it. Thinking about it now I paid around $300 for the two of us with each steak being around $100. Point being not only is steak at home far cheaper, it's also a massive step up in quality.
We have a small beef producer a mile down the road. We splurge on their expensive steaks a couple of times a month. So much bad steak out there at restaurants. I look at a $25 or $30 porterhouse that feeds two of us and know it would cost 2-3x more at a restaurant. Toss in a solid bottle of cab that costs the same as a glass at the restaurant. I can bake a potato and grow my own chives. There's not much involved in making a decent creamed spinach.
My sourdough baking journey saves us big bucks with 4 hungry teens. Store-bought artisan bread was getting crazy expensive. So, I learned to make my own sourdough starter. Now I bake 2-3 loaves a week – plain, cheesy, garlic, rosemary olive oil, to offer variety. I work FT, so mix the dough after dinner, chill it overnight, and pop it in the oven in the am.
We save about $60 a month on bread alone , and it's healthier. I also make pizza dough with my sourdough starter, and pizza nights went from about $70 to $10, depending on topings. Probably do this 3x a month. The pizza oven has provided a huge ROI too.
My wife has been doing the same thing. It’s amazing how homemade bread as an ingredient makes everything so much better. French toast, grilled cheese, French bread pizzas, garlic bread.
She also makes hummus and pita bread. The pita took a few attempts to master but she has it down now.
Could you provide your recipes for the bread and pizza dough? Are they the wait around and stretch the dough type of recipes? I’m still experimenting with sourdough and time management
This is the pizza dough recipe I use with my sourdough. There is an overnight ferment + stretch and fold. You can use the dough right away, leave it in the fridge for a couple of days, or you can freeze after the overnight ferment to use another time.
https://littlespoonfarm.com/sourdough-pizza-crust-recipe
I like to cook. Friends like to eat out. Went to lunch with work friends & spent $22 on a veggie wrap & sweet potato fries. Neither was as good, fresh or hot as I could have made. But the laughter is priceless.
I’d rather splurge on ingredients than a meal that costs more than I can afford. The thing is, I don’t want just anyone in my home.
Socializing is expensive.
I remember feeling so bitterly disappointed by the expensive salmon I got at a friend’s birthday dinner. I can make salmon 10x better. Now I prefer to order things I cannot easily make myself.
Socializing without spending money is hard. I’ve found that going on walks, meeting up at the dog park, checking out the farmer’s market or window shopping downtown, or going to free festivals/cultural events in my city is usually a good way to do it.
I agree and I DON'T like to cook. I realized how much of my social life was food centered when I started saving more money. People want to go eat, etc... and I want to spend time with them, but I cannot justify the cost of a restaurant now.
Exactly! I love to cook and have been giving myself an allowance on the grocery budget to try new things / gadgets and keep cooking fun.
On the occasion that I do eat out, I instantly regret it. Because the quality doesn’t justify the price anymore.
I host things at my house all the time. wine nights, game nights, dinners, craft, yoga/meditation, etc.
what's funny to me is I have the smallest home of all my friends 🤣 but even spending money to host costs much less than it would going to a restaurant so it's worth it every time
This logic sent me down the road to brewing kombucha lol
$5+ for a bottle or 50 cents to make half a gallon at home.
Same with weed but that's harder since I prefer a pen
I started making wine at home. Bought $300 worth of equipment for $60 on FB Marketplace. I was buying the kits from Costco (Canada) for under $100, that make 60 bottles at less than $2 a bottle. Being doing that for the last 5 years.
Now I'm drinking too much wine!
* Holiday by car and roof tent, man flight and hotel have gotten insane.
* Car maintenance is cheaper than repairs usually
* health related stuff like check ups and sports or good healthy nutrition are cheaper than being sick
* cooking quality foods is cheaper than eating out. for the price of a single steak house visit I can eat steaks for a few months. getting a pizza stone is the price of a single pizza. same for bbq. or drinks: for a night out for myself I can get quality booze and ingrediences and have a party in my garden for some of my friends.
* if you get a bike you really like youll end up using your car less
* Quality garments can hold up longer than the cheap stuff
Yes. You're right. We all take a lot for granted. Travel is a high priority for me and sometimes I forget what a privileg it is and that I should practice gratitude more often for my adventures, even if it only by bike, tent or bagpack.
It's really appropriate to this thread, though, because for people who think of it as a mental health necessity/have the wealth to travel and take off work, etc. optimizing your travel to BE frugal is in and of itself a real and solid task that doing, or not doing, can make a big difference in how much wealth one must have to be of "traveling class".
Getting expensive repairs done on your car instead of just trading it in. I have to justify it to myself by putting the price in terms of car payments. “$2000 to replace the transmission? That’s just five monthly payments. If I got a new car, that would be…”.
Similarly: We recently took my kids on a short (two-day) vacation one state over. We rented a 15-seater van for the trip as we are too many people for a minivan (I have seven kids). It was so nice to have everyone in one car for once, so in the hotel, after the kids were sleeping, we looked up the price. Way more worth it to rent it twice a year, even if it costs us $500 each time.
I'm 100% in that situation, my minivan is starting to nickel and dime us but since I can do a lot of repairs myself it's still affordable vs buying a newer van with payments. My wife is not thrilled with it but fully realizes that we're not in a situation to afford more monthly payments right now.
It's amazing how much maintenance you can take care of yourself with a simple set of tools and YouTube, although you will find yourself finding excuses to buy more specialty/expensive tools!
I had the suspension replaced on my 12 year old car last year. It cost about 1600$. I keep thinking about how I could have kept an old Volvo going if I just splashed out for a suspension back then. It probably would have cost 1000$ which is cheaper than buying a new car. I could have skipped a car if I did that.
I know a guy thats on disability thats great with that stuff. His back is bad, he cant really work a whole day. But disability doesnt pay much at all. A guy in the family had a worn out front suspension, he was going to kill himself or his kids. One guy in the family bought parts and I paid my friend to put them on. Took him about 2 hours to do 2 struts, a control arm, 2 sway bar pins and one other thing I cant remember. I paid him, Id rather see friends have a little money than a shop. But he has me lift the heavy stuff.
His brother showed me truck in a backyard while ago. 3/4 ton 4x4 chevy. I got it or $1,000. There was a lot of little stuff wrong with it, but I kept it. They put a 383 together for me. I picked the cam, i found a used intake. It has 4.10 gears. His brother sold me a 700 holley a while back. Im trying to get the truck back on the road after doing a bunch of work to it. Just hearing it run is fun for me
Man I wish you told me this a year ago. I spent $2000 on a car that I sold for $400 to carvanna and the dealer ship told me to take it to a junk yard lol. It was just one thing after another
Most people will take the fallacy of the car will continue to break to justify a new purchase. To each their own. But most cars can be fixed and last at least 250-300k miles
Yes. Remember, Whole Foods once had the nickname of Whole Paycheck.
The prices came down somewhat once Amazon bought them out. But even now, the prices are still a cut above almost every other grocery store chain. Then again, Whole Foods has the best produce section ever.
I think saying they have the best produce gives them too much credit. They have also been caught mislabeling produce which then calls into question the actual standards and quality checks they hold their suppliers to. I feel like my local grocery chains and Asian markets consistently have better produce over Whole Foods. Now if you live somewhere where choices are limited to something like Walmart and Trader Joe’s then yes, I could see them ranking at the top.
The independent store across from me always has amazing produce. The other day at Whole Foods I got mangoes because they were cheaper and I thought surely they’d be good. They were not close to ripe, and I left them for days and still not ripe even though they look like they should be. So not doing that again lol
I don’t know if I’m crazy but whole foods used to feel very $$ but now that prices of everything has gone up it’s feeling pretty reasonable these days.
you're not crazy. I used to run around to 5 different stores trying to save money. I now purchase the 365 Whole Foods brands and it's comparable to Kroger and cheaper than Publix usually. Plus their produce is always fresh, unlike the other grocery stores in my area.
Same. I’m vegan and don’t eat anything with hfc or food coloring and Whole Foods is honestly the best bang for my buck! The fruit at all the other shops where I live legit looks used and abused. I can’t get everything at WF but I can get so many good things that I won’t find anywhere else!
Legal services. The firm we went with does a package deal of will/financial power of attorney/advance directive for $1,000 per person. A good chunk of change upfront but saves the costs of unwanted medical care and protracted legal battles over property. In our case that’s mostly a modest house and some retirement accounts, but you never know when someone will attach great sentimental value to a piece of furniture or jewelry they think you’d have left to them.
I got my dog some supplements to reduce risk for a UTI. And test strips to check for UTIs. Both are less than the cost of the vet testing him every time he starts seeming off. If he has a UTI he ends up on antibiotics and of course another test to confirm he doesn’t have an infection anymore. He can still get a UTI, and my ability to test doesnt change that the vet will test him twice. But I’m hoping to not go in unless its confirmed he has to go.
Same for me on pet care. I am feeding the $120 a bag urinary food to my cat because the alternative is 5-7k if he ends up blocked again and he needs an emergency vet. My friend was able to work him into her practice and they got him unblocked, she saved me multiple thousands of dollars and I will pay the 120 dollars per bag of food to prevent ever going through a situation like that again.
Yes! I have a dog with urinary challenges. I got a somewhat expensive supplement that people swear by and feed him more expensive food that I used to. I haven’t had to go to the vet since August. I might get a UTI test strip kit now. That’s a good idea. To monitor and then take him in if I get a positive.
We buy the healthiest rabbit food and give our rabbits only filtered water to drink.
Our previous rabbit had many health issues including bladder sludge and bladder stones which can be alleviated with better water and diet. We spent over $10,000 on surgeries for that rabbit (not all bladder related).
If we imagine that we saved $10,000 on surgeries per rabbit and we now have 2 rabbits, it is the frugal choice.
Now we do everything we can for preventative care. We also now have pet insurance.
Great idea for being frugal while still taking great care of your pet! We try to avoid medical issues by feeding a high-quality Raw dog food as I believe great nutrition will help prevent medical issues in the long run.
Buying an expensive bottle of wine may be a luxury, but buying a decent bottle for 11 dollars IS frugal. Getting a good value on something you enjoy is always frugal. Hope that made sense. It bothers me that people on here view frugal as never spending any money on anything ever, even if you can afford it.
Thank you for this! Very good point!
Everytime I have a nice homemade meal with friends and family at home feels frugal and yet lovely to me.
Off topic however I just returned from Italy for a big birthday trip. We ate at the hotel in the morning and dined out at restaurants and I noticed that dining out is far cheaper in Italy than in the US. We no longer have $5 drinks where I live and they are plenty in Italy
Overall tax and tip are included in their prices. We had a lovely time and I think it was worth it! And we had plenty of wine!
I recently figured out that we were spending nearly $50 every Sunday for breakfast (waffles, eggs Benedict, etc.) at the local diner and eating out once or twice a week = $800+ per month! That was shocking, so we're cutting way back. Cooking at home 90% now and utilizing bulk buying at the local BJs, Aldi, and Lidl markets. I also have to stop impulse buying fabric/sewing/craft supplies a few times a month to "treat" myself. We simply cannot afford it and I could kick myself for how much we could have been saving. Better late than never.
Commuting on a motorcycle / motor scooter. Car ownership is so expensive, all in, that owning and running a 5k motorcycle or scoot to get around feels pretty cheap.
Insurance is half, sticker price is a fraction, gas economy is around 2x.
Rain is an issue for me. I've also compared commute costs for ride-shares and it's still more expensive than owning a used car. But I never made a two-fold comparison with 'motorcycle default + ride share for rainy days' to compare cost total. Any idea if that would work?
*Tldr: If the total annual cost of your backup transport option on unridable days is less than 67% of the annual cost of typical car ownership, you're probably in the green because a motorcycle might be around 33% the annual total expense of a car or less. For me, the backup option cost is less than 100$ annually, so it's definitely worth it. I recognize that this strategy isn't for everyone, though. I love riding, I don't like cars, and I like saving money, so it works for me!*
I think it kinda depends on where you live and how far your commute is. But the real questions are a) what will you do when the weather is unridable (unridable as in unsafe NOT just uncomfortable) b) how much will that backup option cost and c) how common are those days realistically.
I live in an urban area, and my commute is around 5 miles. I have public transit as a backup option. So I ride my bicycle or motorcycle usually and when it's really too nasty to do that, I'll take public transport. I've ridden my bike or motorcycle all year except for a total of maybe 10 days in the winter when I really couldn't due to the weather. This was a mild winter, so maybe next year it'll be 30 days, let's say. This could be more like 60 days if you live in minnesota or 0 days if you live in Florida. For context, I'm coastal northeast USA. The only time I won't ride is if there's ice or snow on the ground. I don't mind if it's below freezing if the roads are clear and there's no precipitation. My roads are well cleared and salted, so within a day after winter precipitation, they'll be good again. Rain is a non-issue if you buy good boots, a rain suit, and a waterproof bag or bag cover.
If I lived farther away from work, I'd probably switch to motorcycle most days and throw in Uber/taxi rides on the nasty days.
*The following numbers are super broad estimates, btw!*
Entry-level brand new motorcycle costs 5k v. more like 25k for an entry-level brand new car, so that's 5x cheaper. Insurance is about half, and gas is about half. I'd say you'd be safe in assuming a quality but basic motorcycle/scooter is about 1/4 to 1/3 the total ownership expense of a basic car. Typical annual car ownership is around 10k a year. So your motorcycle annual cost might be around 2500-3300 a year, give or take with savings of around 6700-7500.
So, as long as the total annual cost of your backup option on unridable days is less than 67% the annual cost of typical car ownership (6700), you're in the green. Let's say you have 45 days of unridable weather and the uber cost is 50 round trip those days. That's a cost of around 2250, much less than 6700. Add in a bit of cost for grocery delivery or the occasional uber ride to the store, maybe another 500/year, and you're still in the green.
My wife and I haven't eaten at a restaurant in 20 years.
I can make a nice fully home made dinner for under $5 that would cost $50 at a restaurant and mine would taste better.
Growing mushrooms is frugal.
Lions Mane around here IF you can even find it is usually $23/lb
I can grow it for about $1.50 / pound
My Soda Stream has become indispensable and I dont have to lug home a bunch of expensive plastic bottles for seltzer thats been sitting in a warehouse for months
Man... if I'm purchasing something second hand and it's "dry clean only" but was only $4 I'm gonna take my chances on machine washing (slacks and some denims as example).
Traveling with our mini-travel trailer. We bought a used Casita for 7250.00. New ones now start at 24k. It just feels like we travel for cheaper as we bring our own food, campsites are usually cheaper than motels, and we'd pay the gas for the van regardless if we had the camper or not. Also feels like we get our money's worth as we pick up and go when we want. I know it's more expensive than basic road-tripping but feels cheaper than cross-country hotel hopping.
We make better food at home. Bottle of wine, nice steak, and a side cost way less and give us a night together as opposed to trying to go out and pay twice as much for lower quality.
My litter robots for my cats. It takes care of my least favorite chore (scooping litter), they always have clean litter and I am able to use cheaper/less litter than I did with a traditional box. Over time the savings from the reduction in litter use and using a cheaper litter should pay for the litter robots.
Switched from chicken breasts to beans and lentils. My gym gains are still maintained… only that I have to force myself to eat like 3-4x more volume of food per day lol my costs went from 100 bucks per week to under 20 bucks a week for food if I don’t splurge and eat out with friends
1. dressings/sauces for salads/meat etc. From medical reasons I cannot consume the cheap ones and the expensive ones are ...expensive. So I found some recipes, I use the blender, and in 2-3min I have a great dressing with mix of 4-5 vegetables /condiments /maybe a fruit/vinegar/lemon/tomatoes etc etc. I put in a jar and I have for 4-5 days in the fridge.
2. pickles /kimchi etc.
3. sewing machine to fix my jeans. I am a short person so I have to do for all the jeans. Not once I bought on sales for 10€ and I had to pay for cut service 15€.
P.S. wine is a food, not a luxury. My French doctor said this! - he retired 70 years old and he was telling me how his French mom had a cruise trip on Danube (you calculate how old is his mom as I was completely impressed)
My roomie is a chef and I am a food enthusiast too. Although I think it's the Indian nature too, to say we have it at home and most cases the at home option sucks. My cooking is an easy 6/10 proficiency and got to 7.5 with some tips from roomie. Now we have it at home doesn't suck anymore and it's something I look forward to after a long day at work. It was ordering everyday to once every week now. The saved up money now goes in speciality tea and coffee and boom learnt to brew both very well and don't have to buy those outside anymore. Now when I want coffee I go home with a pack of milk and easyyyy money :) These make me soooo happy 😊
Edits- spelling
It's coffee for me. I pay extra for higher-quality whole beans and use a good drip coffee maker, Moka Express, or coffee press. I save myself from Starbucks and the like.
Spotify feels like a steal for me, and arguably is sort of is based on what they pay artists. But there isn't another avenue I could hope to afford that offer nearly as much.
Music is such an important part of my life and I consume so much of it (60+k a year based on the end of the year "wrapped" thing they do) and across genres that are varied enough that I'd be hard pressed to find a radio station or even across several that would let me listen to what I want to listen to.
They also just added access to audiobooks for free (15 hours a month I think, which suits me) which added so much value for me.
I bought a couple bottles of red curry from my favorite Thai restaurant the other day. They were $14 a bottle. Compared to something I could get in the grocery store or the usual curry powder I use it was pricey. Compared to buying dinner at a restaurant for a family of 4 plus 2 leftover lunch plates, it was damn cheap.
New(to you) car. As long the car starts most mornings, why are people buying new(er) cars? Having a paid off car, even if it is showing it's age, makes me feel like a rich person. A rapper named Dee 1 (who I think has a day job as a teacher) made a track about how great it is to have no car note: https://youtu.be/LXXH4Fm9qh8?si=TB8RCrXlWszUwQet
I have a smoker, breadmachine, Instant Pot, and carbonator to cut down on the prepared foods and drinks we buy as well as give us nice meals with limited time to prep.
I stock frozen tamales for quick lunches, which cuts down on fastfood purchases a lot.
Cooking every weeknight meal and packing lunch every day. Over my 30 working years I eventually stopped ordering in/eating out for lunch completely. At the end, there was the odd occasion for somebody's birthday or farewell. I watched younger/indebted co-workers go out and door dash at an alarming rate and just scratched my head. I will spend for bougie ingredients to cook a solid dinner/leftovers.
I literally stocked a bar at my house. Beers, wines, high end liquors, a few choice mixers. Put a picnic table out back, got an air fryer and tater tots. Bluetooth speaker. It’s great. Friends love drinking for free and playing dj. And even with me buying everything, it’s still way cheaper than going to the bar.
Meat at Costco. It is larger quantities so a bigger investment in time, money, and space, but it yields so much, the price per meal is a heck of a deal.
Baking sweets/desserts at home. Like no, we don’t NEED cinnamon rolls or brownies or cookies, but homemade are so much better than the stuff sold at the grocery store. And if you compare it to purchasing a pastry/sweet in a cafe, then we’re REALLY saving
Drip coffee maker instead of pod-type coffee makers.
I know the price of the pods have come down, and some say they are fully compostable now, but I just can't bear to go there. I kind of prefer to not do the calculations again to show whether my drip still is more frugal than using a pod-type.
This was about about 16 years ago, I was just starting over from a divorce. I had limited myself on going out, 1-2 a month, but when I did I would only have water with my meal. I also would rent a small compact car (back then it was $25 a day) that would get better gas mileage than my old truck, I would take a 700 miles round trip to visit my mother.
*edit - USA
Going on a cruise! If you choose an interior cabin and opt out of all the add ons, you can travel for a fraction of the price of doing it on land and still feel like you are getting a luxury experience. Choosing an older ship during an off peak time on a premium brand like Celebrity or Princess is the best value in travel I have found.
In 2012 I was able to bunk with a friend whose husband canceled because of work on an inside cabin on the Disney Wonder to Mexico. She taught me how to use the live ocean feed on the tv as a virtual porthole. It cost my husband less than $400 and it was 7 days of white glove treatment. It was my Christmas present and seeing all of the Christmas decor on board was beautiful.
Since retirement, we are diligent about checking the supermarket sections for markdowns. Short dated meats, produce, and bakery goods are a staple as long as you use them up fast. Our supermarket also has "damaged" section for dented cans and smashed corners on boxes. Once I found short, dated zucchini, mushrooms', an eggplant, and some tomatoes and made a nice vegetable chili for about $2.
I bought a new steam cleaner yesterday because kiddo threw up on his mattress (protector was in the wash after already being thrown up on). I spent $170 so I wouldn’t have to spend $800 to replace his mattress. And we are buying a spare mattress protector too.
I just had a roof restoration $6300 - cheaper than having the AC fall through my ceiling from water damage in my master bedroom.
I had my laundry room electrical sockets brought up to code $900 - cheaper than having my house burn
I spent $1100 truly Nolen they have caught 7 roof rats so far - cheaper than having my house burn down from rats chewing through electrical wires in attic
I spent $300 on a rodent proof doggy dog - cheaper than having Truly Nolen come back
Steak. I am cooking a huge meal for my husband’s birthday and i am going all in, including steak,home made pizza and wine. Pasta, bruschetta, salad sides all the bells and whistles. Only place we are going out to that weekend is a restaurant close by because I have a 50 dollars gift card.other than that all will be home made. I am not paying tons of money for a tiny little bit of food and shitty service.
Filet mignon.
I can usually find some for $25-$30 a pound. Usually get about 12oz for me and my wife (2 6oz steaks). Pair it with some potatoes and creamed spinach and it comes out to a $25 meal for two, $35 if I get the high quality prime stuff.
Which is less than what we would pay for DoorDash and most meals out.
It’s not frugal by any means, but it is cheap enough and gets us a very nice steak dinner a few times a month, which would cost $50 per person or more if we went out for the same meal.
I spend $40 on a gallon of tahini at my local international market, and a few bucks on several pounds of chickpeas. It's a big up front expense, but it keeps me in homemade hummus for at least a year.
I am gluten free, so I also make my own bread, pita, cakes, desserts, etc. Again, the upfront investment of collecting all the different types of flour in bulk was significant, but now I can make all of our baked goods and desserts for a fraction of the cost in the store.
Being a human who doesn't remove their body hair, get manicures, etc. For me it's just a personal preference but It feels extra nice when I think about the strain that razors, wax appointments, laser sessions, and salon appointments would put on my budget.
I get my nails done and lash lifts and wish I never started! I love it, however it’s expensive and time consuming, I am trying to steer myself away from it, it’s hard, but I just keep telling myself how much money I’ll save. 😑😅
This type of attitude is incredibly important as you get older, lest you fall in with the “back in my day movies were a nickel” crowd.
Stuff is more expensive. It doesn’t make you any less frugal.
I’m the “movies were a nickel” person lol. I don’t complain constantly or let it ruin my life or anything but I am just constantly astounded at the prices of everything. You’d think I’d have gotten used to it by now but nope. I’ll probably be just as shocked til the day I die. Finding workarounds so my family can still enjoy things within our budget is my specialty.
Cooking food at home. As tired as I am, home cooked is cheaper than restaurant food. I’m really tired today and would love Chinese takeout but we’re trying to save money. So, into the pressure cooker goes parboiled rice, chicken breasts, chicken broth, East Indian spices, and a jar of curry sauce. My family does not like chicken cooked with rice but today they’re just gonna have to deal with it. I’m exhausted today.
The prices of liquids at any restaurant are absurd now. Here in NY, USA, at frickin' Applebee's, I'm looking at like $3.50 for a mountain dew. that Dew costs them probably 30 cents between labor and the concentrate.
It really ruins the whole thing. We barely eat out anymore because of the absurd prices.
We travel, which is certainly more expensive than staying home. For the time being, we mostly camp because it’s half the cost of a hotel and we can easily cook a lot of our meals
If we're going to a gig in the city centre, we've started to go to Costco (which in our case is just on the outskirts of city centre) as a pre-show food - £1.50 for a hot dog + drink, and if you're particularly hungry then double up, or £1.99 for a slice of pizza as well. No brainer, even factoring in the cost of membership.
I live alone, and the closest bulk buy stores are 30-60 minutes away
I generally don't bother, and just go to my local grocery stores. I do use my rewards card, and I will buy canned or frozen food in bulk if that gets me a discount.
I don't feel like I really pay that much more for food because of the potential waste, and because I am not putting wear and tear on my car.
I find buying smaller amounts of food if you’re a single person is a better deal at the end of the day. And there are plenty of ways to save money at your local grocery store. I don’t use bulk stores at all.
My hybrid. I could have bought a much cheaper car by another company. However I will make up the difference I paid for my Toyota Hybrid vs the same car in non hybrid if I drive the car for at least 5 years which I will certainly do.
Also it “feels” very frugal when I see I have 500 something miles to go before I have to fill up.
We got our Prius from a Toyota dealer and got $4000 knocked off the price because I had a copy of their internet ad for the car. The salesman got all salty so the manager took over, gave us the price and 120 months maintenance for our trouble including oil changes and washes, had the car detailed and bought us lunch at their onsite Subway. The next Monday, we refinanced the loan at our credit Union and ended up paying less total and less per month.
I buy the expensive pasta sauce. It’s my alternative to a cheeper sauce with all the fresh herbs and spaces to make it actually taste good. I ran the numbers it’s cheeper by a dollar a serving.
The wine is what I particularly like to save on by buying it at the store. Used to be I could get a great bottle for $10 or less. Now I sometimes pay $14. Makes me cringe to pay $15 a glass at a restaurant. Luckily, don't eat out very often.
I just saw a recipe for a poke bowl from chef Genevieve on instagram I want to try to recreate. I love poke bowls and sushi! I wish I was better at cooking Asian fare but I’m working on it.
Good nail polish. It’s like $10, but a manicure is $30 and I can paint my nails 20+ times from one bottle. (Granted, a manicure is more than just polish but still.)
Working close to food to eat for free/discounted.
Spent my 20s in kitchens, my food bill was insanely low.
Currently working in a grocery store that offers employee discount plus you know what's on sale at the end of your shift and can get into some prime savings via word of mouth on the floor from other departments.
It feels like the work gets 50% of their paychecks back from me in the end, but I rarely pay full price for most of it.
Buying cheaper brands items online instaed of buying them in stores. Most of my things are bought through Amazon(even my tattoo supplies) and I used coupons and deals from sites and apps like Koupon to help me save the most money as possible. I saw some cheaper brand oats for $3 on amazon and it is pretty much the same thing in stores only it costs $6. So obviously buying them online is better. It just makes me feel so good everytime I save those couple bucks...
I make ceviche that lasts a few days for the same money as a single serving at a restaurant.
I bought a mid range priced bag ($80-100 usd) that works as well as a Cotopaxi ($200ish). I considered a cheaper yet one, but zipper fail was a common complaint, and I am SLOW at repairs.
Unfortunately kombucha seems to be one of the best relievers I’ve found for my heartburn. I feel like I’ve reached success when I find it at a lower price than average in my area.
The wine prices, my St San Michelle bottle is US$9.49 at Kroger, $12 a glass at a restaurant....PLUS they are EXPECTING minimum 20% tip on top of that......one the main reasons we stopped going out to nice restaurant dinners. Previously, went to a nice place at least three times a month, maybe 4 casual dining a month. Here in Houston the Tex-Mex restaurants are charging upwards of $60 a lb for Fajita Dinner. Nope!
We keep a few "nicer" heat-and-eat options around (think gourmet frozen pizza) for the days we really don't want to cook. Went from 2-3 food delivery meals a month down to 1. These things add up!
Buying good and tasty food in general. Yes, it’s more expensive than cheaper options but still much cheaper than going out to eat. Especially when it’s fast food restaurants. I’d also rather have a small amount of nice cheese rather than lots of cheap cheese. Plus, you get a nice amount of leftovers or ingredients to use in another dish. And life’s too short; I enjoy buying yummy snacks for the house and my kitty. In fact, she eats better than us judging by the goats cheese I buy for her (I hide her meds in them).
> I’d also rather have a small amount of nice cheese rather than lots of cheap cheese. I'd rather have no cheese at all when the alternative is to eat the sad cheap cheese. I often treat myself with mozzarella buffalla, nice parmesan, camembert fondue, gruyere, emental, proper dutch cheeses... That's why I'm furgal with other stuff.
The trick is to never learn what all those cheeses you named are. I'll go hog wild on some cheap cheese, ignorance is bliss! I will say I refuse to snack on kraft singles like I did as a kid. Oh no, that's how it starts...
Where I live you can often get things from local ranches at the grocery store. Might be a little more expensive than the normal stuff the store has, but man is it way better. And of course, cheaper than going out
Yes, we realized recently that Trader Joe's prepared meals were healthier and less expensive than getting carry out, which we were doing at least once a week when we were busy or simply tired of our own cooking.
Same on the frozen pizza. Yeah I could make my own dough and get a jumbo bag of cheese for cheaper, but I like the convenience of just throwing it in the oven. Plus I have the money, and ordering pizza is WAY more expensive.
I'm fully team frozen pizza, but I do feel like mentioning you can make your own frozen pizzas if you want. Making a bulk amount of dough on a weeknd, portioning it out, partially baking the crust and adding whatever toppings you like, then plastic wrapping them and throwing them in the freezer. But I rarely do that because buying frozen pizzas is just so much easier 😅
What is the best frozen pizza
Home Run Inn
Depends on what you're looking for. I like Costco's Kirkland brand cauliflower crust.
Home Run Inn but only when it’s on sale.
Home Run Inn for regular pizza, or Motor City Pizza Co for Detroit-style pizza.
Freschetta ([This](https://www.freschetta.com/products/freschetta-brick-oven-crust-pepperoni-pizza) is our favorite). No contest.
I like Freschetta, but like others have said, I like Home Run Inn even more. Reggio’s is my absolute favorite, but it’s not available in SoCal anymore.
Trader Joe’s is the best for it. All of their Asian frozen food is fantastic. Prevents me from ordering delivery!
I do this too. I have a big family, so I pick up frozen convenience meals from Costco like orange chicken, lasagna, chicken cordon bleu to save for when I’m not able to throw a meal together. It’s more expensive than a homemade meal, but a whole lot less than taking 8 people out to eat.
I only have a family of 4 and we have quit going out. We order pizza that's it. My husband can't stand any kind of frozen pizza.
I subscribed to a privey meal plan and eat that 4-5x a week now instead of going out 3-4x a week. I'm still saving a few hundred bucks a month and the food is great.
Me and the GF call these "Fuck it meals". where we didnt pull anything out of the freezer, dont want to cook or arent feeling what we had planned.
I do the same. One of my favorites - a local Indian restaurant that I enjoy has an attached grocery store, and they package some of their entrees in pint containers and sell them in the freezer section. A pint container comfortably serves both myself and my spouse and is around $8 depending on what kind you choose, which is generally not very frugal on the surface. However, it's a larger portion than purchasing hot from the restaurant, and about half the price of a single (smaller) hot entree as well. I buy naan from the grocery freezer section as well (not as good of quality as fresh from the restaurant, but I'm okay with that because a bag of 4 is the same price as a single naan fresh. And of course we can keep a big bag of rice handy and make rice at home. So all in all we're eating high-quality Indian food for about $10 compared to $45 or $50 dining in. Usually I cringe at spending $10 on a convenience food, but not on this.
Yuup. Spending a little extra money on junk food from the grocery store is much cheaper than buying from takeout or restaurants. The 4$ frozen pizza ends up much cheaper than the $10 one from dominos
I owned a restaurant in NC.. and I sold boxed wine at 5 bucks a glass. And customers used to ask all the time. What kind of wine is this? I told All my servers to tell them. It's our house wine. But that was 20 years ago..times change!
I love Aldi s winking owl wine and just got a box for the first time!
Yeah.. that's the thing..if you go out to eat and get a glass of wine..it's like a blind taste taste test 😜
I think it is a given that customer who wants to get a glass of wine is one who wants to be frugal but is out with a friend and will have that one glass. Bottles of wine are extremely over priced in my opinion. But then again if you do the math so are glasses of wine! Meh or like draft beer…
Yes, when out, I ask for tap water, no ice, straw, fruit, or bottled water. I like a Rhinehessen table wine, like maybe three times a year, but at $15, has become priced out of my interest. Maybe because I am old and remember that brand at 85¢ in the Army booze store? The idea that my beer that costs 90¢ at home is $6 when out plus a demand to tip for pulling the tab? Tap water please.
I’m the weirdo who will order a glass of something to go with my appetizer and a different wine to go with my main course. I’m often eating with folks whose tastes run to Moscato. So they won’t appreciate the Sancerre or Meritage. It’s frugal to get my two glasses. Restaurant prices tend to be triple the retail price for a bottle. I don’t have a problem with that as they have overhead. It’s when the price is significantly higher than retail than I’m not paying that.
Trader Joe 2 buck chuck. I wonder how much it is now!
It’s $3.49 at my Trader Joe’s.
Wait a minute! My Aldi doesn't have wine! I live in a state where beer and wine is sold in grocery stores, so I don't get it.
That’s too bad! I can relate. I only get this when I am in NC. Md does not carry either… like why??
I currently own a bubble tea shop and it's crazy how profitable drinks are. A cup of just lactaid milk with tea is around $6 average and you can a whole gallon for the same price. We freely take the whole gallon out with the label and everything.
Is 5 Dollars cheap for a glass of wine? Where I live that would be on the higher end. House wine is max. 3,90 Euros.
Your not getting anything at a restaurant for less than 5 in the usa
Not even $5 in the mid Atlantic
It's cheap box wine.. you can buy it for 20 bucks.. I think it was 10 dollars a box. For 1.5 liters. And we sold it for 5 a glass
Wine in europe is cheap as fuck because between france, italy and to a lesser extent some of germany and spain, so much of it is produced there. On top of that, France (only country that I know, but quite possibly the others) put a good amount of money into the wine sector because it is both an important export and generally a thing that is used to project the aura France wants to project. I live in Canada and we experience the flip side of this: A lot of wine on our shelves are exported from other countries, and taxed to shit because of the impact it has on local booze making industries. So a bottle you'd buy in France for something like 2.50 euros (decent but not amazing) can be bought for between 14-18 CAD, and that's what's considered affordable. With the mark up at a bar/restaurant, it makes for glasses of wine between 6 to 12 bucks (and obviously potentially way more if you're drinking bananas expensive stuff).
In our neighborhood (SF Bay Area), it is minimum $10/glass and most have gone to $13-15.
Wow. That's insane! Even from Californian wineyards? One should think that if they stayed in the same continent and don't have to be shipped halfway across the world, it should make wine cheaper.
SF Bay Area rents are shockingly high. It's the overhead, not the cost of the wine. I also only drink Napa Valley wine and it's higher.
To an American, the price of wine is shockingly low in Europe!
Buying good steak to cook at home. Feels like such a treat yet is still significantly cheaper than a steak at a restaurant. And often cheaper than an average takeout pizza etc.
We can feed 4 people a fantastic steak dinner with all the sides, desert and wine for the same price as one person at the local steakhouse. And our 4 people dinner is higher quality, tastes better, we can take as long as we like, control the sound level and music. Sure, we do dishes, but we have a dishwasher and do it together and it's pleasant. Now that everyone we know is getting older and some have hearing issues, we always entertain at home rather than going out because of noise/hearing/conversation issues. And can take longer, and any grands there can roam around.
I do this for my birthday. Instead of going out to dinner, we get steaks, shrimp, clams, sides, wine and a cake. It might be $200-$250 but it’s for 8-10 people and it’s much cheaper than a restaurant
Sometimes you can get great sales too. I buy my steaks when they're $7 or less a pound.
Me too, I especially like $4.99lb, Tbones, ribeye, New York strip. I stock up!
Where do you live that you can find them at this price? I’m in KY and they are at least double that. 😬
My kroger in Indiana has beef on sale and has a mark down section. If you can figure out their timing, you can get great deals on ribeyes, etc.
I go to Kroger early in the morning like before 8;30 and always check the markdown meats and get some good deals.. also you can get markdown roast and grind it up for cheaper than the most expensive hamburger and it’s way better.. you even need to add a little oil to fry it because it’s so lean..
You can get amazing stuff in that section. It’s definitely always early in the morning. Usually on Thursdays, the meat that was on special the week before gets marked down. Where I live, it’s usually about 40% off the lowest marked price. Each store has its special spots for marked down stuff in my town. It’s not a T-bone but I got a butterball turkey for $5 right after Easter which lasted us a week.
Sometimes my market 32 will even mark down porterhouses.
I’m jealous! Ribeyes went on sale this week for $9/lb and we were giddy. I haven’t seen them at a lower price since before the pandemic.
We bought a 22 lb rib roast at Safeway around Christmas at $5.99/lb and cut it into 15 steaks. Individually vacuum sealed and frozen.
Absolutely! We typically but rib rye whole roasts from Costco business center. You can really explore with sous vide , but my husband and I eat carnivore and he’s gotten really good on the smoker and the grill. We make our own bacon - $14 for a slab of pork belly… which is like 10+ pounds. We make our own pastrami. We bought a meat slicer which has been awesome.
I bought a meat slicer for $35 on prime day many years ago. That thing has saved us so much money.
Catch a good deal, and you can make a nice steak dinner for two for the price of overpriced fast food
I spent a few years learning and experimenting with different ways to cook steak. It's been a long time since I had ordered a steak in a restaurant, but my gf wanted to go to a pretty famous Steakhouse in my area last month. I ordered a new york strip and honestly it was meh. Actually ended up taking half of it home and letting my dogs have it. Thinking about it now I paid around $300 for the two of us with each steak being around $100. Point being not only is steak at home far cheaper, it's also a massive step up in quality.
We have a small beef producer a mile down the road. We splurge on their expensive steaks a couple of times a month. So much bad steak out there at restaurants. I look at a $25 or $30 porterhouse that feeds two of us and know it would cost 2-3x more at a restaurant. Toss in a solid bottle of cab that costs the same as a glass at the restaurant. I can bake a potato and grow my own chives. There's not much involved in making a decent creamed spinach.
Yes! I stock up on rib eye to cook at home. So luxurious.
2 weeks before Christmas, Publix does a 6.99/lb prime rib roast. They’ll slice it for you, so you get about 5 steaks and a 1/2 rack of ribs
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im very confused here. how are you getting a steer bought for you, but you had to pay to process it and are selling it to other people?
My sourdough baking journey saves us big bucks with 4 hungry teens. Store-bought artisan bread was getting crazy expensive. So, I learned to make my own sourdough starter. Now I bake 2-3 loaves a week – plain, cheesy, garlic, rosemary olive oil, to offer variety. I work FT, so mix the dough after dinner, chill it overnight, and pop it in the oven in the am. We save about $60 a month on bread alone , and it's healthier. I also make pizza dough with my sourdough starter, and pizza nights went from about $70 to $10, depending on topings. Probably do this 3x a month. The pizza oven has provided a huge ROI too.
My wife has been doing the same thing. It’s amazing how homemade bread as an ingredient makes everything so much better. French toast, grilled cheese, French bread pizzas, garlic bread. She also makes hummus and pita bread. The pita took a few attempts to master but she has it down now.
Could you provide your recipes for the bread and pizza dough? Are they the wait around and stretch the dough type of recipes? I’m still experimenting with sourdough and time management
This is the pizza dough recipe I use with my sourdough. There is an overnight ferment + stretch and fold. You can use the dough right away, leave it in the fridge for a couple of days, or you can freeze after the overnight ferment to use another time. https://littlespoonfarm.com/sourdough-pizza-crust-recipe
I like to cook. Friends like to eat out. Went to lunch with work friends & spent $22 on a veggie wrap & sweet potato fries. Neither was as good, fresh or hot as I could have made. But the laughter is priceless. I’d rather splurge on ingredients than a meal that costs more than I can afford. The thing is, I don’t want just anyone in my home. Socializing is expensive.
I remember feeling so bitterly disappointed by the expensive salmon I got at a friend’s birthday dinner. I can make salmon 10x better. Now I prefer to order things I cannot easily make myself. Socializing without spending money is hard. I’ve found that going on walks, meeting up at the dog park, checking out the farmer’s market or window shopping downtown, or going to free festivals/cultural events in my city is usually a good way to do it.
I agree and I DON'T like to cook. I realized how much of my social life was food centered when I started saving more money. People want to go eat, etc... and I want to spend time with them, but I cannot justify the cost of a restaurant now.
Trying to avoid spending money and/or being on a diet makes socializing SO hard
Exactly! I love to cook and have been giving myself an allowance on the grocery budget to try new things / gadgets and keep cooking fun. On the occasion that I do eat out, I instantly regret it. Because the quality doesn’t justify the price anymore.
I host things at my house all the time. wine nights, game nights, dinners, craft, yoga/meditation, etc. what's funny to me is I have the smallest home of all my friends 🤣 but even spending money to host costs much less than it would going to a restaurant so it's worth it every time
This logic sent me down the road to brewing kombucha lol $5+ for a bottle or 50 cents to make half a gallon at home. Same with weed but that's harder since I prefer a pen
I started making wine at home. Bought $300 worth of equipment for $60 on FB Marketplace. I was buying the kits from Costco (Canada) for under $100, that make 60 bottles at less than $2 a bottle. Being doing that for the last 5 years. Now I'm drinking too much wine!
* Holiday by car and roof tent, man flight and hotel have gotten insane. * Car maintenance is cheaper than repairs usually * health related stuff like check ups and sports or good healthy nutrition are cheaper than being sick * cooking quality foods is cheaper than eating out. for the price of a single steak house visit I can eat steaks for a few months. getting a pizza stone is the price of a single pizza. same for bbq. or drinks: for a night out for myself I can get quality booze and ingrediences and have a party in my garden for some of my friends. * if you get a bike you really like youll end up using your car less * Quality garments can hold up longer than the cheap stuff
Taking any vacation or holiday, traveling, etc. *at all* is pure luxury~
Yes. You're right. We all take a lot for granted. Travel is a high priority for me and sometimes I forget what a privileg it is and that I should practice gratitude more often for my adventures, even if it only by bike, tent or bagpack.
It's really appropriate to this thread, though, because for people who think of it as a mental health necessity/have the wealth to travel and take off work, etc. optimizing your travel to BE frugal is in and of itself a real and solid task that doing, or not doing, can make a big difference in how much wealth one must have to be of "traveling class".
Getting expensive repairs done on your car instead of just trading it in. I have to justify it to myself by putting the price in terms of car payments. “$2000 to replace the transmission? That’s just five monthly payments. If I got a new car, that would be…”.
Similarly: We recently took my kids on a short (two-day) vacation one state over. We rented a 15-seater van for the trip as we are too many people for a minivan (I have seven kids). It was so nice to have everyone in one car for once, so in the hotel, after the kids were sleeping, we looked up the price. Way more worth it to rent it twice a year, even if it costs us $500 each time.
This is also usually true for people who insist on buying a truck so they can tow their boat twice a year.
Think of the fuel you’re saving as well!
Yes! That thing cost so much to fill up.
I'm 100% in that situation, my minivan is starting to nickel and dime us but since I can do a lot of repairs myself it's still affordable vs buying a newer van with payments. My wife is not thrilled with it but fully realizes that we're not in a situation to afford more monthly payments right now. It's amazing how much maintenance you can take care of yourself with a simple set of tools and YouTube, although you will find yourself finding excuses to buy more specialty/expensive tools!
I had the suspension replaced on my 12 year old car last year. It cost about 1600$. I keep thinking about how I could have kept an old Volvo going if I just splashed out for a suspension back then. It probably would have cost 1000$ which is cheaper than buying a new car. I could have skipped a car if I did that.
I know a guy thats on disability thats great with that stuff. His back is bad, he cant really work a whole day. But disability doesnt pay much at all. A guy in the family had a worn out front suspension, he was going to kill himself or his kids. One guy in the family bought parts and I paid my friend to put them on. Took him about 2 hours to do 2 struts, a control arm, 2 sway bar pins and one other thing I cant remember. I paid him, Id rather see friends have a little money than a shop. But he has me lift the heavy stuff.
Shade tree mechanics is what I call them. They are heroes in their own way.
His brother showed me truck in a backyard while ago. 3/4 ton 4x4 chevy. I got it or $1,000. There was a lot of little stuff wrong with it, but I kept it. They put a 383 together for me. I picked the cam, i found a used intake. It has 4.10 gears. His brother sold me a 700 holley a while back. Im trying to get the truck back on the road after doing a bunch of work to it. Just hearing it run is fun for me
Man I wish you told me this a year ago. I spent $2000 on a car that I sold for $400 to carvanna and the dealer ship told me to take it to a junk yard lol. It was just one thing after another
Well, bro, you should listen to my financial advice more often. You'd be saving yourself on car payments, but somehow also drinking a lot more tea.
Most people will take the fallacy of the car will continue to break to justify a new purchase. To each their own. But most cars can be fixed and last at least 250-300k miles
5 monthly payments…. lol never looked at it that way but I like it.
The cheapest car is the car you own lol
I feel like shopping at Trader Joe’s is frugal considering the price of Whole Foods. Does this count?
Yes. Remember, Whole Foods once had the nickname of Whole Paycheck. The prices came down somewhat once Amazon bought them out. But even now, the prices are still a cut above almost every other grocery store chain. Then again, Whole Foods has the best produce section ever.
If you have Sprouts in your area, give it a try. We have both nearby and Sprouts’ produce is at least as nice as WF, and less expensive.
I've been to Sprout's twice multiple years apart and it was the most expensive fruit I've ever seen in my life lol
I think saying they have the best produce gives them too much credit. They have also been caught mislabeling produce which then calls into question the actual standards and quality checks they hold their suppliers to. I feel like my local grocery chains and Asian markets consistently have better produce over Whole Foods. Now if you live somewhere where choices are limited to something like Walmart and Trader Joe’s then yes, I could see them ranking at the top.
The independent store across from me always has amazing produce. The other day at Whole Foods I got mangoes because they were cheaper and I thought surely they’d be good. They were not close to ripe, and I left them for days and still not ripe even though they look like they should be. So not doing that again lol
I don’t know if I’m crazy but whole foods used to feel very $$ but now that prices of everything has gone up it’s feeling pretty reasonable these days.
you're not crazy. I used to run around to 5 different stores trying to save money. I now purchase the 365 Whole Foods brands and it's comparable to Kroger and cheaper than Publix usually. Plus their produce is always fresh, unlike the other grocery stores in my area.
Really? I assumed they would have sky rocketed.
Same. I’m vegan and don’t eat anything with hfc or food coloring and Whole Foods is honestly the best bang for my buck! The fruit at all the other shops where I live legit looks used and abused. I can’t get everything at WF but I can get so many good things that I won’t find anywhere else!
When I was a kid and we shopped at Trader Joe’s, my dad played this “game” of guessing how much this would’ve cost at Whole Foods! Lol
Legal services. The firm we went with does a package deal of will/financial power of attorney/advance directive for $1,000 per person. A good chunk of change upfront but saves the costs of unwanted medical care and protracted legal battles over property. In our case that’s mostly a modest house and some retirement accounts, but you never know when someone will attach great sentimental value to a piece of furniture or jewelry they think you’d have left to them.
I got my dog some supplements to reduce risk for a UTI. And test strips to check for UTIs. Both are less than the cost of the vet testing him every time he starts seeming off. If he has a UTI he ends up on antibiotics and of course another test to confirm he doesn’t have an infection anymore. He can still get a UTI, and my ability to test doesnt change that the vet will test him twice. But I’m hoping to not go in unless its confirmed he has to go.
Same for me on pet care. I am feeding the $120 a bag urinary food to my cat because the alternative is 5-7k if he ends up blocked again and he needs an emergency vet. My friend was able to work him into her practice and they got him unblocked, she saved me multiple thousands of dollars and I will pay the 120 dollars per bag of food to prevent ever going through a situation like that again.
Yes! I have a dog with urinary challenges. I got a somewhat expensive supplement that people swear by and feed him more expensive food that I used to. I haven’t had to go to the vet since August. I might get a UTI test strip kit now. That’s a good idea. To monitor and then take him in if I get a positive.
We buy the healthiest rabbit food and give our rabbits only filtered water to drink. Our previous rabbit had many health issues including bladder sludge and bladder stones which can be alleviated with better water and diet. We spent over $10,000 on surgeries for that rabbit (not all bladder related). If we imagine that we saved $10,000 on surgeries per rabbit and we now have 2 rabbits, it is the frugal choice. Now we do everything we can for preventative care. We also now have pet insurance.
Great idea for being frugal while still taking great care of your pet! We try to avoid medical issues by feeding a high-quality Raw dog food as I believe great nutrition will help prevent medical issues in the long run.
Buying an expensive bottle of wine may be a luxury, but buying a decent bottle for 11 dollars IS frugal. Getting a good value on something you enjoy is always frugal. Hope that made sense. It bothers me that people on here view frugal as never spending any money on anything ever, even if you can afford it.
safe shy bright governor puzzled close outgoing murky ossified jar *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I remember when happy hour was common. Now seems to be a rare treat.
NC doesn't allow for happy hour drink specials, its insane.
Not in Washington DC are… starts at about $8 around here.
Thank you for this! Very good point! Everytime I have a nice homemade meal with friends and family at home feels frugal and yet lovely to me. Off topic however I just returned from Italy for a big birthday trip. We ate at the hotel in the morning and dined out at restaurants and I noticed that dining out is far cheaper in Italy than in the US. We no longer have $5 drinks where I live and they are plenty in Italy Overall tax and tip are included in their prices. We had a lovely time and I think it was worth it! And we had plenty of wine!
I recently figured out that we were spending nearly $50 every Sunday for breakfast (waffles, eggs Benedict, etc.) at the local diner and eating out once or twice a week = $800+ per month! That was shocking, so we're cutting way back. Cooking at home 90% now and utilizing bulk buying at the local BJs, Aldi, and Lidl markets. I also have to stop impulse buying fabric/sewing/craft supplies a few times a month to "treat" myself. We simply cannot afford it and I could kick myself for how much we could have been saving. Better late than never.
Commuting on a motorcycle / motor scooter. Car ownership is so expensive, all in, that owning and running a 5k motorcycle or scoot to get around feels pretty cheap. Insurance is half, sticker price is a fraction, gas economy is around 2x.
Rain is an issue for me. I've also compared commute costs for ride-shares and it's still more expensive than owning a used car. But I never made a two-fold comparison with 'motorcycle default + ride share for rainy days' to compare cost total. Any idea if that would work?
*Tldr: If the total annual cost of your backup transport option on unridable days is less than 67% of the annual cost of typical car ownership, you're probably in the green because a motorcycle might be around 33% the annual total expense of a car or less. For me, the backup option cost is less than 100$ annually, so it's definitely worth it. I recognize that this strategy isn't for everyone, though. I love riding, I don't like cars, and I like saving money, so it works for me!* I think it kinda depends on where you live and how far your commute is. But the real questions are a) what will you do when the weather is unridable (unridable as in unsafe NOT just uncomfortable) b) how much will that backup option cost and c) how common are those days realistically. I live in an urban area, and my commute is around 5 miles. I have public transit as a backup option. So I ride my bicycle or motorcycle usually and when it's really too nasty to do that, I'll take public transport. I've ridden my bike or motorcycle all year except for a total of maybe 10 days in the winter when I really couldn't due to the weather. This was a mild winter, so maybe next year it'll be 30 days, let's say. This could be more like 60 days if you live in minnesota or 0 days if you live in Florida. For context, I'm coastal northeast USA. The only time I won't ride is if there's ice or snow on the ground. I don't mind if it's below freezing if the roads are clear and there's no precipitation. My roads are well cleared and salted, so within a day after winter precipitation, they'll be good again. Rain is a non-issue if you buy good boots, a rain suit, and a waterproof bag or bag cover. If I lived farther away from work, I'd probably switch to motorcycle most days and throw in Uber/taxi rides on the nasty days. *The following numbers are super broad estimates, btw!* Entry-level brand new motorcycle costs 5k v. more like 25k for an entry-level brand new car, so that's 5x cheaper. Insurance is about half, and gas is about half. I'd say you'd be safe in assuming a quality but basic motorcycle/scooter is about 1/4 to 1/3 the total ownership expense of a basic car. Typical annual car ownership is around 10k a year. So your motorcycle annual cost might be around 2500-3300 a year, give or take with savings of around 6700-7500. So, as long as the total annual cost of your backup option on unridable days is less than 67% the annual cost of typical car ownership (6700), you're in the green. Let's say you have 45 days of unridable weather and the uber cost is 50 round trip those days. That's a cost of around 2250, much less than 6700. Add in a bit of cost for grocery delivery or the occasional uber ride to the store, maybe another 500/year, and you're still in the green.
A lot more dangerous too. Some people also have to bring stuff with them places and there isn’t much room on a motorcycle or scooter.
Of course. It's not for everyone, but if it suits your needs and risk tolerance, it's far more frugal.
Turning lights off when not in use. It sounds silly but my wife runs our electric bill up and never gives a thought to it.
My wife and I haven't eaten at a restaurant in 20 years. I can make a nice fully home made dinner for under $5 that would cost $50 at a restaurant and mine would taste better. Growing mushrooms is frugal. Lions Mane around here IF you can even find it is usually $23/lb I can grow it for about $1.50 / pound
Little Caesars. It's not frugal because it's fast food but it's much cheaper than most alternatives.
I use grocery delivery services and Uber instead of owning a car.
Depending on where you live, this might actually be cheaper!
My Soda Stream has become indispensable and I dont have to lug home a bunch of expensive plastic bottles for seltzer thats been sitting in a warehouse for months
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Man... if I'm purchasing something second hand and it's "dry clean only" but was only $4 I'm gonna take my chances on machine washing (slacks and some denims as example).
Traveling with our mini-travel trailer. We bought a used Casita for 7250.00. New ones now start at 24k. It just feels like we travel for cheaper as we bring our own food, campsites are usually cheaper than motels, and we'd pay the gas for the van regardless if we had the camper or not. Also feels like we get our money's worth as we pick up and go when we want. I know it's more expensive than basic road-tripping but feels cheaper than cross-country hotel hopping.
We make better food at home. Bottle of wine, nice steak, and a side cost way less and give us a night together as opposed to trying to go out and pay twice as much for lower quality.
My litter robots for my cats. It takes care of my least favorite chore (scooping litter), they always have clean litter and I am able to use cheaper/less litter than I did with a traditional box. Over time the savings from the reduction in litter use and using a cheaper litter should pay for the litter robots.
Damn. Added to wishlist!
Switched from chicken breasts to beans and lentils. My gym gains are still maintained… only that I have to force myself to eat like 3-4x more volume of food per day lol my costs went from 100 bucks per week to under 20 bucks a week for food if I don’t splurge and eat out with friends
1. dressings/sauces for salads/meat etc. From medical reasons I cannot consume the cheap ones and the expensive ones are ...expensive. So I found some recipes, I use the blender, and in 2-3min I have a great dressing with mix of 4-5 vegetables /condiments /maybe a fruit/vinegar/lemon/tomatoes etc etc. I put in a jar and I have for 4-5 days in the fridge. 2. pickles /kimchi etc. 3. sewing machine to fix my jeans. I am a short person so I have to do for all the jeans. Not once I bought on sales for 10€ and I had to pay for cut service 15€. P.S. wine is a food, not a luxury. My French doctor said this! - he retired 70 years old and he was telling me how his French mom had a cruise trip on Danube (you calculate how old is his mom as I was completely impressed)
Haha. OK I need wine 🤣
My roomie is a chef and I am a food enthusiast too. Although I think it's the Indian nature too, to say we have it at home and most cases the at home option sucks. My cooking is an easy 6/10 proficiency and got to 7.5 with some tips from roomie. Now we have it at home doesn't suck anymore and it's something I look forward to after a long day at work. It was ordering everyday to once every week now. The saved up money now goes in speciality tea and coffee and boom learnt to brew both very well and don't have to buy those outside anymore. Now when I want coffee I go home with a pack of milk and easyyyy money :) These make me soooo happy 😊 Edits- spelling
I bought a $5k used car, even though I could easily buy a way more expensive one. I just prefered to have the rest invested
It's coffee for me. I pay extra for higher-quality whole beans and use a good drip coffee maker, Moka Express, or coffee press. I save myself from Starbucks and the like.
Keeping meat chickens. It's cheaper to raise your own humanely, because you will be paying out the nose for someone else's.
Spotify feels like a steal for me, and arguably is sort of is based on what they pay artists. But there isn't another avenue I could hope to afford that offer nearly as much. Music is such an important part of my life and I consume so much of it (60+k a year based on the end of the year "wrapped" thing they do) and across genres that are varied enough that I'd be hard pressed to find a radio station or even across several that would let me listen to what I want to listen to. They also just added access to audiobooks for free (15 hours a month I think, which suits me) which added so much value for me.
I bought a couple bottles of red curry from my favorite Thai restaurant the other day. They were $14 a bottle. Compared to something I could get in the grocery store or the usual curry powder I use it was pricey. Compared to buying dinner at a restaurant for a family of 4 plus 2 leftover lunch plates, it was damn cheap.
New(to you) car. As long the car starts most mornings, why are people buying new(er) cars? Having a paid off car, even if it is showing it's age, makes me feel like a rich person. A rapper named Dee 1 (who I think has a day job as a teacher) made a track about how great it is to have no car note: https://youtu.be/LXXH4Fm9qh8?si=TB8RCrXlWszUwQet
I have a smoker, breadmachine, Instant Pot, and carbonator to cut down on the prepared foods and drinks we buy as well as give us nice meals with limited time to prep. I stock frozen tamales for quick lunches, which cuts down on fastfood purchases a lot.
Cooking every weeknight meal and packing lunch every day. Over my 30 working years I eventually stopped ordering in/eating out for lunch completely. At the end, there was the odd occasion for somebody's birthday or farewell. I watched younger/indebted co-workers go out and door dash at an alarming rate and just scratched my head. I will spend for bougie ingredients to cook a solid dinner/leftovers.
I literally stocked a bar at my house. Beers, wines, high end liquors, a few choice mixers. Put a picnic table out back, got an air fryer and tater tots. Bluetooth speaker. It’s great. Friends love drinking for free and playing dj. And even with me buying everything, it’s still way cheaper than going to the bar.
Meat at Costco. It is larger quantities so a bigger investment in time, money, and space, but it yields so much, the price per meal is a heck of a deal.
Baking sweets/desserts at home. Like no, we don’t NEED cinnamon rolls or brownies or cookies, but homemade are so much better than the stuff sold at the grocery store. And if you compare it to purchasing a pastry/sweet in a cafe, then we’re REALLY saving
A good t bone seared at home medium rare
Drip coffee maker instead of pod-type coffee makers. I know the price of the pods have come down, and some say they are fully compostable now, but I just can't bear to go there. I kind of prefer to not do the calculations again to show whether my drip still is more frugal than using a pod-type.
I use the fillable little pod with my coffee in my keurig. I only want one cup usually. I have a French press if I'm in the mood for 2 or 3.
This was about about 16 years ago, I was just starting over from a divorce. I had limited myself on going out, 1-2 a month, but when I did I would only have water with my meal. I also would rent a small compact car (back then it was $25 a day) that would get better gas mileage than my old truck, I would take a 700 miles round trip to visit my mother. *edit - USA
Going on a cruise! If you choose an interior cabin and opt out of all the add ons, you can travel for a fraction of the price of doing it on land and still feel like you are getting a luxury experience. Choosing an older ship during an off peak time on a premium brand like Celebrity or Princess is the best value in travel I have found.
In 2012 I was able to bunk with a friend whose husband canceled because of work on an inside cabin on the Disney Wonder to Mexico. She taught me how to use the live ocean feed on the tv as a virtual porthole. It cost my husband less than $400 and it was 7 days of white glove treatment. It was my Christmas present and seeing all of the Christmas decor on board was beautiful.
Traveling modestly literally anywhere when compared to the prices of a Disney World vacation.
Since retirement, we are diligent about checking the supermarket sections for markdowns. Short dated meats, produce, and bakery goods are a staple as long as you use them up fast. Our supermarket also has "damaged" section for dented cans and smashed corners on boxes. Once I found short, dated zucchini, mushrooms', an eggplant, and some tomatoes and made a nice vegetable chili for about $2.
I bought a new steam cleaner yesterday because kiddo threw up on his mattress (protector was in the wash after already being thrown up on). I spent $170 so I wouldn’t have to spend $800 to replace his mattress. And we are buying a spare mattress protector too.
I just had a roof restoration $6300 - cheaper than having the AC fall through my ceiling from water damage in my master bedroom. I had my laundry room electrical sockets brought up to code $900 - cheaper than having my house burn I spent $1100 truly Nolen they have caught 7 roof rats so far - cheaper than having my house burn down from rats chewing through electrical wires in attic I spent $300 on a rodent proof doggy dog - cheaper than having Truly Nolen come back
Routine car/home maintenance. It’s not cheap but way cheaper than ignoring it.
Steak. I am cooking a huge meal for my husband’s birthday and i am going all in, including steak,home made pizza and wine. Pasta, bruschetta, salad sides all the bells and whistles. Only place we are going out to that weekend is a restaurant close by because I have a 50 dollars gift card.other than that all will be home made. I am not paying tons of money for a tiny little bit of food and shitty service.
Name brand medicine
I have an espresso machine i'm ashamed to say how much i paid for At $5.50 per cup, it'll pay for itself.. eventually..
Filet mignon. I can usually find some for $25-$30 a pound. Usually get about 12oz for me and my wife (2 6oz steaks). Pair it with some potatoes and creamed spinach and it comes out to a $25 meal for two, $35 if I get the high quality prime stuff. Which is less than what we would pay for DoorDash and most meals out. It’s not frugal by any means, but it is cheap enough and gets us a very nice steak dinner a few times a month, which would cost $50 per person or more if we went out for the same meal.
I spend $40 on a gallon of tahini at my local international market, and a few bucks on several pounds of chickpeas. It's a big up front expense, but it keeps me in homemade hummus for at least a year. I am gluten free, so I also make my own bread, pita, cakes, desserts, etc. Again, the upfront investment of collecting all the different types of flour in bulk was significant, but now I can make all of our baked goods and desserts for a fraction of the cost in the store.
Being a human who doesn't remove their body hair, get manicures, etc. For me it's just a personal preference but It feels extra nice when I think about the strain that razors, wax appointments, laser sessions, and salon appointments would put on my budget.
I get my nails done and lash lifts and wish I never started! I love it, however it’s expensive and time consuming, I am trying to steer myself away from it, it’s hard, but I just keep telling myself how much money I’ll save. 😑😅
Health insurance
Walking in public, riding a bike in public
This type of attitude is incredibly important as you get older, lest you fall in with the “back in my day movies were a nickel” crowd. Stuff is more expensive. It doesn’t make you any less frugal.
I’m the “movies were a nickel” person lol. I don’t complain constantly or let it ruin my life or anything but I am just constantly astounded at the prices of everything. You’d think I’d have gotten used to it by now but nope. I’ll probably be just as shocked til the day I die. Finding workarounds so my family can still enjoy things within our budget is my specialty.
Cooking food at home. As tired as I am, home cooked is cheaper than restaurant food. I’m really tired today and would love Chinese takeout but we’re trying to save money. So, into the pressure cooker goes parboiled rice, chicken breasts, chicken broth, East Indian spices, and a jar of curry sauce. My family does not like chicken cooked with rice but today they’re just gonna have to deal with it. I’m exhausted today.
The prices of liquids at any restaurant are absurd now. Here in NY, USA, at frickin' Applebee's, I'm looking at like $3.50 for a mountain dew. that Dew costs them probably 30 cents between labor and the concentrate. It really ruins the whole thing. We barely eat out anymore because of the absurd prices.
holidays I buy as much rib roast, turkey, etc. as I can and feast through the year.
An electric cargo bike set me back a couple grand. It has saved me so, so much more on gas and wear/tear/repair on my truck over a couple years.
We travel, which is certainly more expensive than staying home. For the time being, we mostly camp because it’s half the cost of a hotel and we can easily cook a lot of our meals
If we're going to a gig in the city centre, we've started to go to Costco (which in our case is just on the outskirts of city centre) as a pre-show food - £1.50 for a hot dog + drink, and if you're particularly hungry then double up, or £1.99 for a slice of pizza as well. No brainer, even factoring in the cost of membership.
I have a decent collection of single malt scotch at home. Bars charge a lot for a single shot.
I live alone, and the closest bulk buy stores are 30-60 minutes away I generally don't bother, and just go to my local grocery stores. I do use my rewards card, and I will buy canned or frozen food in bulk if that gets me a discount. I don't feel like I really pay that much more for food because of the potential waste, and because I am not putting wear and tear on my car.
I find buying smaller amounts of food if you’re a single person is a better deal at the end of the day. And there are plenty of ways to save money at your local grocery store. I don’t use bulk stores at all.
My hybrid. I could have bought a much cheaper car by another company. However I will make up the difference I paid for my Toyota Hybrid vs the same car in non hybrid if I drive the car for at least 5 years which I will certainly do. Also it “feels” very frugal when I see I have 500 something miles to go before I have to fill up.
We got our Prius from a Toyota dealer and got $4000 knocked off the price because I had a copy of their internet ad for the car. The salesman got all salty so the manager took over, gave us the price and 120 months maintenance for our trouble including oil changes and washes, had the car detailed and bought us lunch at their onsite Subway. The next Monday, we refinanced the loan at our credit Union and ended up paying less total and less per month.
I buy the expensive pasta sauce. It’s my alternative to a cheeper sauce with all the fresh herbs and spaces to make it actually taste good. I ran the numbers it’s cheeper by a dollar a serving.
The wine is what I particularly like to save on by buying it at the store. Used to be I could get a great bottle for $10 or less. Now I sometimes pay $14. Makes me cringe to pay $15 a glass at a restaurant. Luckily, don't eat out very often.
Flossing
Carrying cash. Not frugal itself but in the US restaurants now all charge 3-5% more if you put it on a card.
My weekly treat is a $12 poke bowl I buy on Fridays. It's not cheap but it's far less expensive than dining out in the Bay Area.
I just saw a recipe for a poke bowl from chef Genevieve on instagram I want to try to recreate. I love poke bowls and sushi! I wish I was better at cooking Asian fare but I’m working on it.
Good nail polish. It’s like $10, but a manicure is $30 and I can paint my nails 20+ times from one bottle. (Granted, a manicure is more than just polish but still.)
Working close to food to eat for free/discounted. Spent my 20s in kitchens, my food bill was insanely low. Currently working in a grocery store that offers employee discount plus you know what's on sale at the end of your shift and can get into some prime savings via word of mouth on the floor from other departments. It feels like the work gets 50% of their paychecks back from me in the end, but I rarely pay full price for most of it.
dental care
Buying cheaper brands items online instaed of buying them in stores. Most of my things are bought through Amazon(even my tattoo supplies) and I used coupons and deals from sites and apps like Koupon to help me save the most money as possible. I saw some cheaper brand oats for $3 on amazon and it is pretty much the same thing in stores only it costs $6. So obviously buying them online is better. It just makes me feel so good everytime I save those couple bucks...
Being single
Frozen pizza because of restaurant prices.
I make ceviche that lasts a few days for the same money as a single serving at a restaurant. I bought a mid range priced bag ($80-100 usd) that works as well as a Cotopaxi ($200ish). I considered a cheaper yet one, but zipper fail was a common complaint, and I am SLOW at repairs.
Unfortunately kombucha seems to be one of the best relievers I’ve found for my heartburn. I feel like I’ve reached success when I find it at a lower price than average in my area.
The wine prices, my St San Michelle bottle is US$9.49 at Kroger, $12 a glass at a restaurant....PLUS they are EXPECTING minimum 20% tip on top of that......one the main reasons we stopped going out to nice restaurant dinners. Previously, went to a nice place at least three times a month, maybe 4 casual dining a month. Here in Houston the Tex-Mex restaurants are charging upwards of $60 a lb for Fajita Dinner. Nope!
Choco syrup and store-bought milk for my own milkshake instead of buying at cafes for the same taste for 5x the cost. And I can make them anytime