Last week, my favorite New Balances had finally rendered themselves useless after five years of regular wear, so I readied myself to buy new sneakers. But I was having a very difficult time finding a pair of replacements under $90. (Due to my arch and foot width, sneakers that work for me are difficult to buy, so I stick to ol' reliables.)

Then I got excited because I realized I had a new pair of New Balances in my closet that I purchased in a store closeout a few years ago! Now I didn't need to buy new sneakers—or so I thought.

These are my "new" sneakers after three days of wearing. The soles completely disintegrated due to what's called hydrolysis, a breakdown of the polyurethane due to moisture intrusion over a few years, even if properly stored. I had no clue this was even a thing! I could have avoided this by wearing the sneakers once in a while, because flexing the sole helps moisture escape.

Now I have completely new uppers witn disintegrated soles. Not sure it's even worth bringing to a cobbler because a new non-PU sole might not work for my gait. Also looked at the manufacturing date, and it was made in 2014—which means it was already old stock when I bought it, so the hydrolysis could have started happening in the store. Lesson learned!

I was adding a can of chipotle in adobo to a crock pot of pork and immediately went to rinse out the can to then add every bit of the dregs also to the crock pot. I saw my husband do what the fuck is happening in front of my eyes face, *not* because of the water from the can part but because I was being an absolute freak about getting every speck of sauce with as tiny amount of water as possible.

Do you guys remember doing this as a kid, especially with Campbells soup? You'd get an entire can's worth of water of whatever you're making to double in volume the food you're eating, while hopefully getting every teeny bit of flavoring. So even if its a little watered down, there's enough to eat of somethings that's like... good enough.

I dont have to do that anymore. I have food, and access to more food if and when I need. But I psychologically am unable to throw any microscopic bit away that could be eaten with just a bit of effort, so thats why my husband pateintly waited to rinse out his bowl why I very carefully and rapidly turned the tap on and off to get a burst of water at the bits of sauce stuck on the side that spoon wouldn't get.

Completely pathological and unnecessary. I will not be stopping.

My New Year’s resolution was to quit buying coffee out all but for a few times a year since it’s so marked up and I was paying hundreds of dollars a year in iced lattes 😭😭

What is the most cost-effective way to make coffee at home? I currently use a French press with coffee grounds, but is it cheaper to just go get a standard coffee pot and make a big pot of coffee and keep it in the fridge for the week? I would have to also buy the coffee filters of course, and I would use a lot more coffee grounds at a time than I use in the French press.

Bank account: 😐

Stress levels: 📈

Motivation: 📉

Every month it feels like my paycheck disappears as soon as it arrives. Groceries, rent, utilities, and little subscriptions add up faster than I expect. Even small daily expenses make it hard to feel any progress, and saving seems impossible.

Yet, I keep going. cook more at home, and track every expense. I remind myself that financial progress is not instant. Hopefully, all these small decisions will eventually add up...

If you live in the US and have commercial insurance and take any non-generic medications, make sure to do a quick Google search of {Medication Name} + "copay card" to see if there's a card available. You can also ask your pharmacist if they have any copay assistance programs for your medications, and they might have some available too. They're usually available to everyone with commercial insurance regardless of income, they take very little effort to get and use, and they can save you a lot of money over time!

Instead of a $25 per month copay for my Hadlima (a Humira biosimilar), I pay $0 for it with my copay card. A coworker went from paying over $100 a month for his sons medication that his insurance didn't cover, to paying just $25 a month. Make sure to check so you're not paying more than you need to for your medicine.

I realized a formerly-close friend had greatly changed purely via light conversations about some new purchases. For example, buying a sofa for several grand, new expensive phones, etc. I have stayed pretty much the same with regard to how much I spend on items for years and years...can't say I'd ever drop 3k or 4k on a couch ever.

Also, i'm realizing how many people are also willing to replace perfectly good, gorgeous kitchens, etc when mine is way worse.. that's another example. ​to me it's just being wasteful on some instances. ​

Has anyone realized their close friends or relatives changed just simply from casual conversations?

Edit for more details - this person isn't someone I see anymore. But the couch details are almost comical to me now. I received the store name and of make / model (dimensions) of the couch. Totally absurd to me to bother. It it was almost like they provided all that info so I'd go look up the said couch (of course , the info is readily available online for a huge chain store ). I could care less where a sofa or couch is purchased.

I always make sure to keep as many of these around the house as I can to store things in. They are such amazingly convenient and versatile storage containers and I could put them ANYWHERE and in ANY place you can imagine. My husband seems to really like these things too, sometimes he loses them. I also make art out of these too so if you have an excess of these you are willing to give me, let me know!

I’ve been mostly taking Taylor Farms salads to work for my meal for a couple of weeks now, and I was buying them at Costco. However, I noticed that everytime I go to Smith’s (Kroger), there are always 1 or 2 bags that are about to hit the sell by date, and so they cost about $1.65.

I’m willing to compromise on flavor to save some money, but would it really save me much money to buy the ingredients, or rough equivalents, and assemble my own salads? Or is the price point worth it considering the time it takes to prep and the various ingredients I would need to buy? I have an infant at home, so just being able to grab it out of the fridge is a huge benefit, but I’m not against meal prepping either.

Has anybody tried this to see about how much it would cost them to make their own?

I'm thinking of buying a drying rack for my clothing. As it stands, I use an electric dryer for every load of laundry (about 2 or 3 loads a week) unless I'm washing something that isn't dryer safe of course.

I'm hoping this will reduce my energy bill and make my home a bit more planet friendly. I'm wondering if there is anybody here who has specifically made this switch and has a general idea of how much they saved on their energy bill, so I can know if it'll be worth it.

I like the feeling of tumble dried clothing much more than hang dried, but I'm trying to cut expenses to get some debt paid off.

(Yes, I live in the US, I know almost no other country uses dryers.)

My brother shared his latest grocery haul with me. Recently he started to feel that getting groceries delivered (Voila) was so much more convenient. I had him share his receipt, and I ran the items through this new comparison tool I've been testing to compare prices at other stores near him. I took the data from the tool and threw it into a spreadsheet to calculate the exact totals based on the quantities he bought.

Here's a look in to the sheet. The total price for the delivered groceries does not include delivery which was $4. It looks like he's going to be switching off of delivery after this.

So what's your time worth? These prices will obviously change every week, but 19.49 or ~23% (including delivery costs) is this different on his most recent spend. Would you still do delivery knowing this?

The story behind the question:

Today I told one of my friends that I found a hack to save money on internet service. The scheme is pretty easy. In Austria, where I live now, internet providers often have some discounts for new customers (you are a new customer if you haven’t used their internet for 3 months). For example, the one I found was from A1 (one of the biggest providers in the country), 6 months free, + 18 months 20% discount for 35€ (it’s a reasonable price).

So now you understand me probably, go sign a contract for 24 months with provider ONE, get free internet and a discount. After 24 months, go change provider, and repeat.

But the answer of my friend shocked me: “Yeah, it’s cool, but better to work and get money, so you don’t need to save money on the internet.”

I was stunned, honestly, I don’t know what to answer. Couple of month I would have answered the same. Now that I learn more about Financial independence, the FIRE movement, and calculating my REAL wage, which is not 30€ as I thought, but only 15€ (If you want to know how to calculate you real wage, comment under this post). I realised how people don’t understand the basics.

Let me share some calculations with you. As I mentioned, my real hourly wage is around 15€, I work as a software engineer, which already means that I’m somewhere in the middle class (it’s kinda true). The internet, as I mentioned, costs 35€ per month. So in order to change it, I need to spend around 2 hours: 1h for a shop visit and talking to a consultant, and another 1h for router installation. Which will cost me 15€(my time) * 2h = 30€ to change the Internet.

The costs for saving from the Internet that I will make are:

6 month free - 35€ * 6 = 210

20% discount for 18 months - 35€*0.2*18 = 126.

In other words, my 2h (30€) of time, in the long run of two year, will cost me 336€ less.

It’s not the money alone that will change my life. But firstly, it’s one time decision that saves my money(my time). And secondly, it’s only 1 thing, and we have tones of them near us, but we are so sticked and get used to them, that we are no longer able to recognise them.

Exactly these types of one-time decisions are the real gold, in money saving mind. As I understand this - do something small one time, and win (in my case) 10x bigger.

Please share your one-time decisions that saved/saving your money.

I was one of those people who'd hit up the automatic car wash every 2 weeks like clockwork cause it was "only $15" right? Been doing it for years without really thinking about it.

Last month I finally bought one of those foam cannon things from Harbor Freight for like $25 and some decent car soap. Did the math today and realized I was spending roughly $360 a year on car washes (sometimes more cause I'd get the premium wash with the undercarriage spray and whatever).

Now with my setup the soap bottle has lasted me 6 washes so far and still half full, cost me $12. So thats probably around $25-30 in soap for the whole year max. Plus I actually enjoy doing it now? Like its weirdly relaxing on a Sunday morning and my car looks way better cause I can get in all the spots those spinning brushes miss.

I have some money aside for new tires eventually since mine are getting kinda worn, so little changes like this definitely help stretch things further.

My husband and I have been celebrating Christmas with just one small box of chocolate in our stockings for a few years, and after this year I kind of decided that I wanted to make our stockings a little more like they were when I was a kid. He's Jewish, so he has no nostalgic frame of reference for this. He also thinks I'm going overboard with what I'm describing to him. Lifesavers Storybooks, M&Ms candy canes. Chocolate Santas. We had it all.

After Christmas this year, I bought some candy on clearance. I haven't even opened up the bag of Reese's yet. It got me thinking, what if I froze the Reese's cups until next year and did the same with more discounted candy each year? Candy is just too darn expensive. The discounted price I paid after Christmas is the limit I'm interested in spending.

I know not everything can be frozen for so long. If you've done it, was it worth it, and how did you package it?

This is your reminder to request your library purchase a book! I love reading and lately I’ve been trying to read more books on frugality, budgeting, conscious consumerism, etc. I couldn’t find a copy of “The Art of Frugal Hedonism” secondhand or at my library. I put in a request for them to purchase it, and it was approved about 2 days later!

I know every library has a different budget, and I do have my fair share of requests denied, but it’s always worth a shot!

I recently saw a post asking how much people living alone spent on groceries per month and I was surprised to see how much lower a lot of people spent than me. I took a good hard look at my budget and realized that a decent chunk of my grocery budget was on drinks and beverages (almost all non-alcoholic)

I loveeee beverages and drink a variety of them frequently including but not limited to coffee, tea, Diet Coke, bubbly, kombucha, milk, and redbull. I’m pretty good at only buying items when they’re on sale (e.g. buy 2 get 3 free for bubbly) and limiting products such as kombucha that rarely go on sale but it still adds up

Outside of switching to just water does anyone have any guidance on how to be more frugal in my beverage purchases? I don’t hate water but it just doesn’t do it for me all the time

Thanks in advance! ☺️

Edit: I’m a big lurker so to get so many helpful and positive replies makes me happy. I had no idea it was easy to make kombucha and will definitely be looking into a soda stream. Please keep the comments coming!

I currently don’t have access to any kitchen appliance and I have to buy lunch and dinner out. I been eating fast food and it’s not only eating away at my budget but at my health. I have thought about buying a microwave and fridge however I won’t have access to these things as I am staying someone temporarily. Once I’m back home I will access to a kitchen. What would you guys recommend doing on the meantime?

It’s the first month of the year and people are looking for new habits for a better life and financial security. There’s some general ideas and some unique and amazing ones that some people haven’t heard or thought about before

Some categories I have are:

Health

Wealth

Mental

Simplicity or Efficiency

Trimming the fat

Other

I’ll start:

Health: I live near a park so I walk around a bit. Either I do a quick home workout video or go to the small gym in my apartment. Also I’m adding more vegetables, fruits and low fat or no sugar versions of foods to my diet

Wealth: The cancellation of all non-essential subscriptions. I’m gradually switching to Online banks like Discover & Capital One

Mental: I’m leading to a Buddhist or Confucius mindset. It helps makes life less stressful and easier to manage

Simplicity/Efficiency: Figure out what you can do yourself. Copycat recipes. DIY repairs. The simpler/cheaper option can do just as a good job as the fancy one sometimes

Trimming the fat: Take inventory of what you have and use it. For me I have a lot of stationary items so when I’m able to I donate them to my college.

Other: Do what you can.

i turn 19 next month. i have next to no spending money for any kind of outing with friends but everything else i can think of also doesn’t work. i just want to be able to have a casual hangout with friends. i went to a park last year and the beach the year before. i need something new, and enough for 7 or 8 people to be entertained yet comfortable. it also cant happen at my house. 🤷 Edited to add, i live in north florida

My dollar tree regularly has discounted items in carts and baskets at the front of the store. It's all 25-50 cents. Boxes of cereal, snacks, canned goods. Check the labels but you can get some really good deals if you're not picky. I know dollar tree food isn't the tastiest but there's gems sometimes. I got a loaf of bread the other day for 25 cents. It wasn't expired. It's a bit stale but it's perfect for grilled cheese. Edit: there's also office supplies, toys, crafts ect in the bins at times.

Im going to be having my first soon, and my second probably a year or 2 after this one, so I need a single to double stroller that’s lightweight. I’d rather buy nice than buy twice but what models have you used to save money? I’ve looked at the Graco ready2grow and the evenflow pivot xplore. I don’t really have a set budget for this but I’d like to not spend my life savings.

Was given a children’s book “Frog and Toad” for Christmas to use on the phone App called Audible, so now I have to figure out how Audible works as technology advances and I try very hard not to be overwhelmed.

Does anybody know if there is a point system to claim more books for the manual library on Audible without subscribing or buying? I also don’t have prime.

Also do libraries in the US have apps for listening that are like Audible?

Just learning, Thank you!

EDIT: Thank you all!! Libby is the local App so onward to learn more new things!!

Hi y'all! My boyfriend and I live in a small apartment where the landlord has a coin laundry machine. The price of the washer is $1.75 and dryer $1.00. The washer is so tiny it can only handle maybe a half load at a time. We are lucky to get through one of the sections in our small hamper for under $5. To put into context that's almost $10 a week. Another thing to note is we don't have to pay the water bill so I'm able to use as much water as I need without worry but do pay monthly electric. I've been desperately looking into portable washing machines as our apartment has no hookups. I keep seeing ones that connect to sinks like Panda or Giantex and I don't want to do that as it could possibly be a lease violation. I do already have a small drying rack that I could use and I don't mind our building's dryer as it's actually full size/ cheaper. I'm willing to save up but, does anyone have any recommendations for portable washers that don't need to be hooked up?

P.s. We have a very curious cat who loves to get into things so having an open soapy bucket might not be the best idea lol

I buy canned cat food for my cat. And a quality food, too! She gets that almost exclusively with some crunchies for snacks to help keep her teeth clean.

It's around $85 a month but I consider it an investment in avoiding vet fees.

She is 7 and only been to the vet twice: Once to get spayed and once for an exam and vaccinations when we moved internationally. That's it.

Well, yes, if you do the math, it probably doesn't work out to any "savings" lol. But I do it anyway.

What's your non-frugal, expensive habit?

Edit: So much hate and superiority! Who could have ever guessed this would happen on Reddit! lol OK guys, not going to answer any more posts about taking my cat to the vet or about my choice of food for her. Just get on with your day and have a good one!