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+--- Thread: Garbage Frugal Life Hacks (/showthread.php?tid=254)
Garbage Frugal Life Hacks - FrodoSwaggins - 05-07-2025
Some of these life hacks for saving money might work for you, but they don't work for me and I'm going to tell you why:
- Make your coffee at home - Make my coffee at home? I already make my coffee at home! I make my tea at home. If I wanted, I could make it at work, but I'm going to use hot water, not K-cups. Who the hell is trying to save money / make ends meet and hasn't got the memo about not buying coffee everyday from Starbucks? And damn, if you're gonna buy coffee because you have an early appointment or something, go to the Sheetz or whatever and get it for $1.09 for 20oz., not $3 for 12 at a "cafe."
- Use manufacturer coupons - No. Manufacturer coupons will not help me, because I don't buy name brand anything. I buy based on unit price or, in the rare cases I have brand loyalty (soap, detergent, conditioner...) I'm buying from online retailers where I'm searching for the lowest price across retailers. Maybe if a supermarket is doubling coupons, that might help, but I haven't seen that in a damn long time.
- Walgreens / CVS coupons - First off, CVS coupon program was reliably nerfed 18 months ago and it's gone guys. Second, these coupons are always for stuff I don't use. Third, CVS A) overprices all their groceries and B) puts 90% of stuff on sale, so coupons either don't apply or only bring the price down to "normal" not discount.
- Cook food at home - I bake soda bread in a slow cooker, I'm maxxed out on "cook at home savings gainz" unless I start straight up robbing grocery stores for ingredients. Maybe I should follow that YouTube guy who can render toilet paper back into its component starches...
- Bulk buy / prep / freezer - Got two freezers, they're full, shit's still too damn expensive. Pantry is full of dry goods. Hell, I have brand new socks and undershirts on sale I'm waiting to start using (gotta ruin the old ones first).
- Costco / Sam's Club - I'm already digging deep in the clearance at ShopRite and using Walmart.com and Amazon for bulk dried goods, barely scratched the surface at Aldi's, how the hell is being $65 in a hole on my grocery budget every January going to help me save money at a club / warehouse store? They gonna GIVE me the food maybe???
RE: Garbage Frugal Life Hacks - gorzek - 05-07-2025
I think we should distinguish between "things I've already minmaxed" and "things that wouldn't help me if I did them" and "things I don't do in the first place."
I very very rarely drink Starbucks, for instance, so "don't get coffee at Starbucks" is not much help to me. I already make it at home as much as I can.
I wear my clothes until they wear out. I thrift semi-frequently.
"Turn down the thermostat" doesn't work for me because I have family members who would cut my head off if I turned it much below like, 68 in the winter.
I limit myself to very very few subscription services. Basically Amazon Prime, Netflix, Max (bundled with my Internet bill) and that's it. No Spotify, no Paramount+, no Disney+, no whatever the hell else they got lately. Enough is enough. Will probably dial back some of those anyway, but they aren't adding up to a serious amount of money here.
I also don't really have the space to do the kind of bulk shopping that makes a Costco or a Sam's Club or a BJ's actually worthwhile.
At the end of the day, all tips aren't for everyone. Just gotta use the ones that do work for you.
RE: Garbage Frugal Life Hacks - FrodoSwaggins - 05-07-2025
In my experience, as a family plan BJ's shopper, deals are on very specific items. If you're clothes shopping at the mall, you'll save money and find some great deals at BJ's. If you already thrifting, BJs won't help.
A lot of food at BJs is bulk, but the price isn't any better. Some of the stuff that is cheaper, isn't healthy.
Tires and car batteries can be a good deal at BJs, especially if you do your research first and don't just buy whatever.
On a sidenote, I recently saw a video talking about how a lot of car batteries off the shelf at stores are functionally broken off the shelf. Now, I'm not saying they're not repairable, but many of them are in a charge state that needs servicing, despite being brand new. So go ahead and replace your car battery there, but make sure you either have the know how to do a de-sulf or whatever else type charge it needs, or else make the service center test it when you buy it. -- I can confirm, bought a car battery from BJs, installed it myself, and when I had the car serviced a month later, the mechanic pointed out the 30 day old battery needed servicing (like, no additional charge, he was being honest). That jived with what the video I saw said, same issue.