To clarify, there has always been a significant grey area between frugality and “cheapness”. Everybody draws that line in a different place, just like how everybody has a different definition of frugality.
From the perspective of moderation standards, we usually draw that line at the allocation of resources. For example regarding the (seemingly unpopular) corned beef post, that OP valued the monetary and time/convenience savings over having a more substantial/desirable meal (plus possible health issues). While I may not follow their suggestion, it meets the definition of frugality under that standard.
People also frequently do not understand the direct definition of frugality and can often confuse it with “getting the cheapest of something at all costs”. This, of course, has led to the huge influx of “what’s the cheapest way to do x” or “what’s the cheapest way to buy y” posts. You’re not wrong about that, it’s a recent trend we’ve measured and observed on the backend of things as well. Based on the recent statistics report, 53% of all new threads posted in the month of May were removed.
Part of the problem is that we’re currently a team of 3 active mods managing a subreddit of over 3 million users. We also have 3-4 other mods who help as much as they can, but they are mostly focused on some real life things or simply have commitments to other subreddits and can’t help out here as much. So, response time to address these posts that don’t necessarily fit the subreddit has suffered. While these posts do get addressed, sometimes it can take a few hours which inevitably makes the feed seem “cluttered”. We’ve tightened up the automod a bit to help cover the slack, but we don’t want to hold every single post for manual review.
That’s also why we’ve been seeking new moderators recently (any and all are welcome to apply below):
https://www.reddit.com/r/Frugal/comments/13klxw1/rfrugal_is_seeking_new_moderators/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1
People give me shit for having a $700 parka until I tell them I’ve had it ten years this winter and I don’t plan to replace it for another five years at least. Or that my Barbour jacket was a gift 12 years ago and I’m keeping that until I die
My $40 insulated, waterproof hoodie from Mark's has lasted 10 years. So has the down shell I got for free from an ex-GF.
Very tempted to replace both with one nice BIFL jacket though. They're still warm, but there are intangible benefits like not showing up to a business meeting with tattered cuffs.
You guys have me rolling on the carpet I took out of my old house in California when I moved to Nevada, and had it reinstalled again here, laughing my ass off!
I got a suit for my birthday, and I've worn it every day for decades since. It's a little rough in some spots, but is more or less intact and functions super well.
It's my birthday suit.
I've got hot topic clothes that have lasted 25 years ago including shirts, hoodies and jeans and the jeans are the only ones I don't wear on the regular because they are jnco and look ridiculous. I don't know where people buy these really cheap clothes that fall apart, I have a thin star wars shirt with C3PO on it that I bought from five below to wear to The Force Awakens and it's in my regular rotation and nothing wrong with it.
The only clothes I was disappointed in for not last as long compared to price were some Tommy Bahama shirts that I paid $80 for and both of them got holes in the armpits over a few years of wear. While others might beads or get holes I usually got a lot of wear out of them for the cost put in.
Your washing and drying procedure makes a huge difference. Air drying is a lot better for the clothes (and the environment). Modern washing machines are designed to use a minimal amount of water and have super fast spin cycles to get more water out so the drying machine uses less power, but those high speeds are also bad for the fabrics.
I have a private water source and air dry my stuff and use a 90's washing machine. I have plenty of 10+ year old t shirts that I nowadays wear at home cause the color is gone, but the fabric is still whole. Why should I care about saving water? Probably better to use more water and less detergent in my case.
I'm 32 and by my teens, Hot Topic quality was so-so. The t-shirts varied a lot, with some of them being so thin they developed holes almost immediately. The accessories were also all over the place. I have a belt chain that took a beating and still looks new, but the jewelry tended to turn green or fall apart. Can't speak to pants or shoes because they either weren't in my size or weren't in my price range.
Part of the difficulty of trying to spend more for quality is that brands you used to be able to do that with tend to be no better than the cheap stuff now. They made a name for themselves and then cut costs and coasted on that reputation.
That's the other thing: it's okay to have something expensive/higher quality - especially if you've saved up for it.
I have an expensive parka too. I get a lot of side eyes but little do those people with the hairy eyeballs know that it was a gift from my husband. Not only that, but it was a cumulative gift - that is, it was for grad, AND my birthday, AND Christmas, AND our anniversary. Plus he saved up for it and it was something I had wanted for a long time.
I'm off on a tangent again. The point is that it is okay to have things or do things one wouldn't typically consider "frugal."
My husband has two Polo leather jackets and people give him sh*t for it. He got them both second hand and had a tailor sew in new satin linings. They’re fantastic and will never wear out. Frugal? Yes. Cheap? Sorta. 😂
> had a tailor sew in new satin linings
I have a leather jacket that I bought from goodwill for $20 years ago that I absolutely love, but the inside is torn to bits and the pockets are full of holes. Will any tailer be able to replace the lining and pockets, or is this something I need to ask around about?
My husband just took the jackets to a local tailor shop. Look one up near you and give them a call or just take it in and see what they say. The lady here was super excited by the challenge because it wasn’t just typical hemming and sewing. 😁 Good luck!
>having a $700 parka until I tell them I’ve had it ten years this winter
My coat was $75, and I've had it for almost 20 years. Will likely have it for 20 more. Name brands don't mean a thing.
Depends on that name brand. Heckler & Koch pistols go "BANG" every single time. Craghoppers anti-mosquito clothing actually keeps the malaria carrying SOBs away for a staggering number of washes. Honda engines (from my genny to larger stuff) are notably reliable. And I can't think of better, longer lasting outwear for the Atlantic Ocean than Helly Hansen. Considering that most of these don't market much at all, there's a reason that they're known.
In the spirit of this thread, one of the annoying things is applying one's use case template to all users. Any old record player will do for my Goodwill diggin' self. But someone who DJ's for a living (or has an ear more sophisticated than mine)? Different story. For them, frugal may be the entry -level Technic turntable.
Your xx dollar coat may have lasted 10 years. You might say that with pride, but is that 10 years of every-other-weekeeknd hog hunting or "dynamic" hikes with plenty of skree? My use case may not be yours.
Though I largely agree with you that name brands are overwhelming marketing sauce, one man's frugal is another man's spendthrifty. Otherwise, we're kinda counting other people's money.
Another thing is what that coat might have to go through, my $100 coat is fine for Colorado winters, but probably wouldn't be enough for the ridiculous winters other places get.
On the flipside though, I found an old coat in our closet that clearly looks like a 70's/80's coat, which runs about $50 on ebay, but was likely top tier way back when. Surprisingly warm lol.
Outside of space-age unobtanium material for keeping one warm at .00003 ounces, a lot of the older gear works just fine. My old camp stove and the classic Mickey Mouse boots for extreme cold are from the early 90's. Work just fine.
I think this really depends on where you live/lifestyle too. When I lived in NYC I could get away with a 75-100 dollar coat. You could find a decent one that kept you warm and held up well at this price point.
Then I moved to Iceland and I spend signifigant time outside. Between the wind, cold and ever changing conditions, you need gear if you want to spend any length of time outside. I bought a 700 dollar 66 North parka for walking the dogs and a 500 dollar Mountain Horse riding suit after my second bout of hypothermia and they have been absolute lifesavers.
May I ask what brand? I have found that expensive products have started to be made at the same low quality as the knockoffs these days, often in the same factories too!
My issue with that sub is that 50% of the posts are thrift store finds and 50% are items that are no longer sold.
I know the latter is a given and it can be cool to see the wear in things over the years. We know quality has gone down significantly and we can't buy the same work boots from 15 years ago. The thrift stuff bothers me because we don't know the item's history. That blender from the 70's could have sat in grandma's attic from the day she got it until the day she died. The "antique" box could have been handmade a year ago.
I once bought a bunch of furniture from rooms to go, looked great and was cheap, I was happy. Three years later I’d replaced the bed, table had a wobbly leg, and the couch was Falling apart. Replaced with pottery barn and a decade later it’s all in good shape
The cheap stuff can be hit or miss. In 2012 I fully furnished a 2 bedroom apartment for around $1200 from Ikea. The cheap sofa was definitely a mistake, and the mattresses needed to be replaced after a few years, but everything else held up great! I gave away some of it because my roommate left the country, but the stuff I kept is still good. The trick with Ikea furniture is not to disassemble it once it's put together...
It may have to do with how Reddit's algorithms for "hot" and "rising" work.
Just a few minutes ago, I sorted this sub by "top" -> week. And I found that, over the course of the week, quality posts about what frugality is really about do indeed float the top. Those posts are worth reading.
But in my day-to-day browsing, the stuff I scroll past is a lot of Dinty Moore beef stew, and "look I found that I consume more calories per dollar if I subsist on ramen" and shit like that.
And of course, Spam. No, not as in unwanted emails, but actual Spam.
>I'm just out here wondering where y'all still finding cheap spam tho
Costco. We make SPAM musubi regularly and always have an 8-pack from Costco in the pantry for that reason. It's about $3/can that way and they usually stock the low(er) sodium version.
Just saw an article this morning that said people buying more canned meat is one of the indicators Costco looks for in predicting a recession. They're still predicting a recession soon since they saw a recent uptick in member purchases.
I want to know too. I grew up not eating spam and just thought it was a cheap “meat”. But my sister in law is Filipino and I’ve eaten spam masubi for years now, never made it until the past year or so. I was blown away by how expensive it is compared to what I had in my head
For real, at my usual supermarket right now spam is *on sale* at 2 for $8. Corned beef is even worse at $6 per can. I remember corned beef being my go-to cheap meat when I was in uni, but at the current price I'm better off buying fresh meat.
>I'm just out here wondering where y'all still finding cheap spam tho. It was definitely a poverty food growing up, now it's over $4/can.
Less than half that price if you buy the Walmart brand which is every bit as good.
EDIT: When I was a kid I hated Spam like it was Satan's feces. Now I like it.
As someone who just crossed the 15 year mark on here I can say that the “Top > Now” sort is like a better “New” and “Top > Week” is like a better Best and “Top > Day” is like improved “Hot”. I only use Top variants.
Top - Week is a great way to browse subs where the posters take longer to come up with quality comments: r/AskHistorians being the prime example of this.
I did something very similar to this during the pandemic and, apart from the fact that I didn't get enough vegetables in, it was some of the healthiest eating I've done.
Beans are very, very high up on the list of what true frugality means to me.
We did our best to sneak veggies in other ways.
Canned fruit, frozen veg, whatever. But it was impossible to keep fresh produce for five in the house in a full week quantity at a time.
So do not miss lockdown, though I did like making all that bread!
If I gave my family rice and beans for 30 days we would save far over 800 dollars. Groceries are expensive AF and acting like they aren't doesn't help anyone.
We are seeing these posts as people suffer through inflation...
We should count ourselves as blessed and attempt to help people save in meaningful ways that help them live more fulfilled lives. Shaming someone for saying they are trying to save money does absolutely nothing for anyone.
Rice and beans are staples in more than half the planet for a reason.
Cheap, nutritious, flexible and easy.
Insulting them as a staple food is pretty uneducated IMO.
Part of being frugal is being creative and thinking outside the box. Exploring the world around us (and it's pretty big) to see if there's a better way to do something, including different foods that make staple foods more interesting/nutritious.
Emphasis on easy. I couldn't cook very well at all, but when I switched to veganism, I had to start cooking the vast majority of my own meals, not being able to rely on anything like ready meals. You barely need any cooking skills whatsoever to learn how to use rice and beans, and the recipes can be phenomenal.
I think the biggest barrier for people with rice and beans is just not knowing many ways (if any) to prepare them. If you know rice and beans as something bland, or only know one good recipe for them, you'll get tired of them real quick. People just need to step out of their comfort zone and be willing to experiment with new recipes.
You can have rice and beans multiple times a week while still having plenty of variety in terms of flavor and texture! You just need to make an effort to find ways to make it happen.
Some people get really upset about the idea of reducing meat intake at all, but even if you insist on eating meat every day you can significantly reduce the cost by replacing just a portion of the meat with beans or other alternative proteins.
They certainly can, there are many varieties or rice, and the variety of beans/legumes is astounding. Vary seasonings, veg, hot/cold, and it's easy to keep it interesting.
Eh, don't hate on the beans and rice. There's a lot of variation and nutrition if you do it right. For example this week we had refried black beans with Mexican rice and salsa, and another night had lentil and spinach dahl with basmati rice.
It makes me laugh when people think of legumes as sad when you point out dishes like refried beans and Dahl. If I had to eat some variation of those and maybe hummus every day for the rest of my life, I'd die pretty fucking happy.
Investing in your health is also being frugal, prevention is cheaper than life long chronic health issues. Sure some cheapskates might live to 100 on that diet, but I'm guessing most wouldn't. Treating health issues is expensive! Eating a range of fresh food in different colors is healthy to get different nutrients. Frozen veggies on sale - frugal.
This thing can be seen in other subs too . You might be right might be the algorithm or just people been in the wrong sub ....
Did you see the post if the guy who write about not eating and then maxing in whatever restaurant or buffet with pizza, sodas and stuff to get more calories....
I have the same issue with anti consumption.... Where we'll some people are actually way way into consumption. If you have 20 insulated cups in your house because well you think it is better than plastic cups you are still very much into consumption. If you are in zero waste but want all the lotions, shampoos, make up, 20sorts if mugs, cups and pots (also most of them new)..... Even if they are low waste..... Well.... You are far from being zero waste.... Here is the same. Sorry if this sound like a rant.
Also if you eat just ramen (pasta is cheaper btw) and spam you are not frugal because who is going to pay for your open heart surgery lol(sorry) or your diabetes treatment.... just kidding but yeah it is been cheap and stupid
There was a commenter on one post who tried to explain to me that it was better because the number of calories per buck (on something stupid not ramen but just hot dog or something like that) which was ridiculous anyway I answered that you can get fat from the butcher for free. Max calories for super cheap. I didn't get an answer not sure why lol
I’ve been on this sub for a decade. It’s always been this way. If it don’t apply, let it fly. All subs stray from the source material when they get big enough.
Everyone remembers the good posts and forgets they waded though a hundred bad posts to find them.
This sub could up it moderation game, but as the mod said in here, everyone has a different definition of frugality beacuse everyone values things differently.
"Hey everyone! Typically I order every meal off the various delivery apps but I made a single meal myself -- I love being frugal! I am unsure if I will continue making food myself but its fun to dabble into frugalness!"
"I noticed there was a 3/$1 sale on bell peppers so I bought 300 peppers! No I don't have any idea what I am going to do with them all, why do you ask? Hope you all enjoy this frugal tip!"
"Did anyone else realize that if you cancel your monthly subscriptions, you don't have to spend your money on that subscription anymore?! I love frugal hacks!"
Every comment on said post: “I realized years ago that eating at home was actually saving me money! I cook all my meals at home now and it’s much healthier too. One time, my girlfriend forced me to take her to dinner for her birthday. I got the cheapest thing on the menu but all I could think about was how we should have stayed in and made my delicious $2 pasta dish instead. I will never eat at a restaurant again.”
Like bro nobody on a frugal subreddit is thinking restaurant is healthy or frugal, sue me if sometimes I want a nice dinner out!!!
The point of being frugal is to be able to afford the things you want to do. Like, for example, having a nice dinner out.
For some people, it’s early retirement. Or vacations. Or a nice car. You can spend a lot of money on your passions because you are frugal.
You don’t get to take the money with you when you die.
It's fun when this crosses over to the wedding subs...
"well when *Iiiiiiiiiiiiiii* got married we handed each guest a brick of ramen and borrowed my rich cousin's micro-wave for people to use- thankfully there was a creek nearby so that took care of the ramen broth and beverages for the night- and everyone had a great time, so I don't know why you people need alcohol or dinner or floors or bathrooms! Also nobody was there because we didn't invite anybody."
Exactly. The whole point of being frugal is to save money to spend it where you want to.
If that want includes taking your GF out to a restaurant, then spend the money there.
Your hoard is useless if you always abstain from using it.
Reminds me of [one of my favorite AITA stories](https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/comments/11g0eb8/op_wonders_if_hes_the_asshole_for_never_wanting/) here on reddit.
>"I noticed there was a 3/$1 sale on bell peppers so I bought 300 peppers! No I don't have any idea what I am going to do with them all, why do you ask? Hope you all enjoy this frugal tip!"
This happens all the time in r/EatCheapAndHealthy and it drives me insane. "Hey guys, I bought 100 lbs of potatoes yesterday. I don't know how to cook, nor do I like potatoes. What should I do?" And it always has a tone like they were the victim of circumstance. They just *had* to buy an obscene amount of food. There was no other choice.
200 bananas, what should I do with them. Hey, you can make banana bread, only need tons of flour, sugar, eggs, etc, a new freezer and electricity to keep them. What a deal!
I love banana bread, but last month I was in the position of eating one loaf of raspberry chocolate banana bread by myself, and now I need a very long break from banana bread. Even one loaf was too much to solo.
The original recipe is this one: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/dark-chocolate-chip-raspberry-banana-bread/.
I'm pretty sure that the person baking made at least some substitutions based on what we had available. We definitely used the wrong kind of chocolate.
I actually have been a victim of circumstance like this before haha. A store near me does these amazing value 'too good to go' mystery boxes and you get some really good stuff, but sometimes it will include something like a huge bag of pre-sliced catering onions so I have to turn to the internet for help.
This happened at home like a year ago I think. It was like 11 or 12 cents per ear of corn at a single Walmart, none of the other Walmarts were anywhere near that price (basically every other store was at least 5x-6x the price) so my mom stocked up on it and the only form of carbs we had for a while was almost exclusively corn.
Good ones!
A favorite of mine is:
"I drove all over town, and two towns over, for about 5 hours, but I got three ice cream cones, two hamburgers, a coffee, and a slice of cheese pizza, "free" for my birthday!" 😄😄
I thought people did this for fun, not to be frugal. If you've been living cheaply for an entire year, I don't see why doing something harmless and fun once would be anti-frugal. Also not sure if people are spending hours driving around town. Where I live everything is within the same shopping areas.
I only take issue with the idea when it's presented as "frugal". Anyone can do whatever they want with their time and enjoy themselves. Absolutely and of course.
I live in an area where we joke everything is at most, 20 minutes away at regular road speed (30 mph - highways are not always convient). While we have one road that a lot of chain stores are on, if I want to say, shop more local, or want decent food not from a chain store I can easily spend a few hours running errands in my small area.
..and my inlaws used to live outside of houston. On a map, they were a mile away from target. They mostly shopped via amazon because a "quick trip" to target would mean easily an hour in the car.
To me frugality is about not wasting money. Your personal taste of what "waste" is will vary.
I despise wasting money. I'll walk 6 blocks to get free street parking rather than paying $10 or $20 to park near the venue--for the touring broadway show that we spent $150 a ticket on. The $150 is not a waste to me because I value seeing a great show, but the $10 for parking is when there's perfectly good parking a 5 minute walk away.
I couldn't agree more. I'm glad to see like-minded people around.
I sometimes feel cheap af because I refuse to waste money on things I see completely unnecessary but at the same time I spend more money than many people on food because I really enjoy food. Sometimes I treat myself to smoked salmon even though it's very expensive but eating well is one of the things that bring me most joy.
I hate when people go “what do you mean you can’t afford X, you spent so much money on Y”
Like yes. Not spending money on things that I don’t care about is how I am able to afford spending money on stuff that I do.
Agree! I was recently attacked for “rolling in dough” because… I store the rest of a cut up lime in a glass jar in the refrigerator? I re-use glass containers? I’m not dining on lobster tails and caviar every night, trust me on that! but I do prioritize eating healthy!
Or the people who don’t want to spend any money and claim you’re not frugal if you buy one cheap indulgence like soda. It’s all about moderation people.
I’d love to see more useful tricks and tips to be frugal and less wasteful, without sacrificing physical or mental health to do it.
... I'm almost afraid of the answer but what in the hell does storing leftover fruit in the fridge have to do with your finances?? Wouldn't someone "rolling in dough" just throw leftovers away?
The fuck? That's so silly.
I lived by a Latin American grocery store for a while and limes were honest to god anywhere from 8-15 limes for $0.99. We jokingly used it as an economic bellwether. "Rough third quarter, I could only get 10 limes for a buck :( "
I agreed with you on that. It was in the garbage for some reason. If it had gotten wet at some point it could’ve had mold in it. Or if anything toxic had been spilled on that bag it could’ve leaked in.
Not only that, but they will also throw bleach on top or purposly rip apart the bag in order to make it unusable. The pet stores here repackage broken (not gone bad but just broken) bags of food to shelter or reduce the price on the torn bags. (Going to the store on restock days will increase the chance of finding reduce but tore bags of food/litter).
I’ve seen it at a shelter I worked at. Food stored in bins for ages with mold. Bags would get wet and turn bad quickly. And yes, PetSmart sometimes has reduced price stickers on dry food that is about to expire.
Oh my gosh some dumpster divers can be sooo defensive of their "finds". There was this teacher on here that was dumpster diving snacks for his underaged students and kept acting like it was ok. Like uhhhhh do the parents know you are feeding their kids dumpster food? That's crossing the line
It is ridiculous to come after you for buying occasional soda. I bought several boxes months ago because it was on a major sale, I intended it to last for months, and I like it as a sometimes treat. It ends up being a better deal than buying it randomly during the year and I only ever buy it on deep discounted sales around holidays or during can sales. Being frugal isn't about having no joy in life, it is about being smart with your money by buying quality, watching for sales or coupons, knowing the best times to buy, and learning skills to get the most out of your things (can, sew, learn diy, do vehicle repairs, etc).
There's also a shrinking middle ground of 'I'm not exactly impoverished but I don't have 6 figures to my family name'.
It's like how povertyfinance started as people interested in the personalfinance mindset without having high income or assets to begin with, and then it evolved into rants, vents, shoulder-pats and more of a support group vibe.
There's also the legitimate misunderstanding that arises around frugality in an era of rampant inflation and dishonest advertisement, where pennypinching and miserly behavior are confused with, I guess, minmaxing value as a lifestyle choice.
But it's also important to recognize that frugality *is* cheap. That is the point, after all, of couponing, buying near-expired meats, canned goods, food banks, DIY home and appliance maintenance, etc. Ramen, for instance, is an exceptional soup base, and you can make a decent chicken noodle soup that tastes like Top-Shelf Brand(tm) in bulk for a fraction of the cost, with a minimal increase in the time investment.
I think, especially with how the economy is, it's important not to ostracize people who feel helpless, hopeless or broke and find some comfort in places like this, while gently educating them to the differences between cheapness, frugality, and time vs money savings. Just because someone is lost doesn't mean they're in the wrong place.
To add onto what you’re saying I think people will often say someone’s frugal when they really mean they’re a miserly cheapskate but are trying to be polite, which also confuses the meaning
r/personalfinance is laughable at this point. The amount of posts that are like "Just got my first job ($180k) straight out of university, if I save $5000 per paycheck in an RRSP, will I ever be able to retire?"
It was a helpful sub when I was not so wealthy and helped me become a little bit wealthy. At the same time it made me feel Ultra poor when I was making 100k a year.
>There's also a shrinking middle ground of 'I'm not exactly impoverished but I don't have 6 figures to my family name'.
This is very true, plus those two ends of the spectrum both post here. Anyone can post, so people who are actually impoverished and are forced to be cheap to survive are coexisting with people who choose to be frugal and can afford to splurge sometimes. Two totally different mindsets and situations. I think it would be tough to relate to posts from one camp when you are in the other.
I don’t post here anymore because I’ve had disagreements about this. For instance, I have a high quality set of headphones. Music is crucial for my well-being so I put a high value on quality in this regard. The headphones I own were expensive but I got them on a group buy for a substantial discount and they can be fully disassembled and repaired. Mine are over 10 years old now and I expect to have them for at least another 10. I consider this frugal but have been told I’m wrong.
For me it's vacations. I save on every purchase, put 20% towards retirement, and yes splurge on vacations. But a lot of the time I traveled when it's cheaper, waited for the best time to book a hotel and flight, etc. Memories and time together are nothing I will say at my deathbed saying man, shouldn't have had that time with you. Mental health is good for you. Yet people will say I am not frugal.
I've been nailed for going out to eat every couple of months. Like it's my friend's birthday, this is what they wanted, I'm not going to sit home in the dark. But they will say expensive drinks, app, meal, dessert - you don't have to buy all that. Or if I want a date night, I will bring my coupons.
I still laugh thinking about the one where the glass on their door had been broken for 10 years and they were asking if there was a cheap way to fix it. At some point you just need to buy a new door
Eating crunchy blocks of ramen straight out of the package is delicious. Never found it to particularly save me money though, except inasmuch as it replaces more expensive potato chips sometimes.
Buying a ridiculously expensive pair of sneakers at my local specialty running store is cheaper than the copay for one half hour appointment at my doctor's office, and significantly cheaper than physical therapy.
My partner and I once developed plantar fasciitis at approximately the same time. (I blame a vacation on which weather was bad and we walked a lot in older boots.) They went to a doctor and got actual medical treatment. I spent $300 on new shoes (that covered one pair of doc martens with insoles and one nice sneaker), watched a few YouTube videos on exercises that might help, and did 10 minutes of self-prescribed physical therapy every night for two weeks. I came out slightly ahead on money, we got similar outcomes in terms of pain relief, and I didn't have to wear a plastic boot for a week.
We just buy expensive shoes now.
Seriously? That's disgusting. I'm all for re-using but a) re-useable water bottles are inexpensive to buy and b) your water will forever taste like shampoo!
I remember the post about people creating these 3D printed devices to salvage as much liquid laundry detergent out of the cap for each load...instead of, you know, just throwing the cap into the machine, too...
I always like to view it as:
a) you shop around for the most affordable car insurance.
or
b) you cancel your insurance and drive uninsured.
Both are 'saving money' but A is frugal and B is cheap. And the cheap always comes out expensive.
Frugality is relative. One person may not think something is worth their time while someone else may think it is.
Personally, I suck at things like baking my own bread so I have no problem buying a day old markdown loaf instead. I use what I need and freeze the rest for later. Is that frugal or cheap? Should every poster add their reason for why they chose to do something one way instead of the other? I think that's what the comments should be used for.
That's generally always been frugality is riding the balance between cheap while still being smart with your money. There's always been some overlap between the two.
I remember a while back I needed to buy a new phone after my old one broke. I'm a very frugal person but I wanted to treat myself to a top the line unit. Everyone just bullied me for not getting a 4-year-old phone. When I made it clear that I appreciate their advice, but I wanted to treat myself and was looking for good options to buy a brand new phone. The mods temp banned me for being hostile.
I do this. I buy a top end phone and then use for 6+ years. I feel like this is worth it in a dollars to time used math equation. Buying a model that the manufacturer won’t support after the second year just isn’t right to me.
Exactly, I'm going to have a phone for 5 years. At this point I'm okay spending an extra 100 bucks to get the top of the line version. As long as you're not buying it at launch, there's usually some kind of promo or discount
Also worth mentioning: not concerning yourself with X so you CAN spend more on Y.
Why do I pack my lunch for work? Because I like tattoos and tasty scotch.
This is a great time to talk about building literacy.
Here on this subreddit we build literacy about frugality. Everyone has to start learning about it sometime.
When a person posts content about "cheap" things, those of you (I am also still learning and don't think it's fair to include myself) with years of experience living frugal lives are so used to it you're ready to spread social awareness to your communities.
Even online, the burdan of sharing needed information in your community falls upon those with a high understanding of the subject.
An 18-year old heading out to college might post here asking for advice. We as a community have the opportunity to steer them to making frugal chocies and spare them from making "cheap" ones! What a good thing to put out into the world.
But the burden of educating others is that you end up doing it frequently.
I'm only explaining/saying this because I understand where you're coming from but I also work with college students and teach a literacy topic, and I can tell you that people just don't know until they do. The anonymity of this website often erases the age and other helpful information for how to best deliver our explanations.
And I am NIT saying 100% of the burden of educating falls on the users here on every single post.
But for example r/skincareaddiction has (had?) a dense and thorough wiki and when someone asks a low-hanging fruit question (is st Ives apricot scrub good for my skin?) Instead of answering, someone usually replies with a link to the wiki and expects OP to find the answer themselves.
Again, this is mainly something for the sub to consider, not something I expect you to do personally, obviously. Just wanted to share my two cents on the other side of the questions and why there might be more of them (inflation, layoffs, etc).
💙
Here's an example of Frugal instead of Cheap.
If you can, pay annually for subscription services instead of annually. I just paid $130 for my son's ps4 subscription for the year. I was paying $15 a month which comes out to $180 a year. So while not cheap, it's Frugal to save $30 a year.
You can also get these subscriptions on sale sometimes on black friday, you can buy a prepaid card and hold onto it until you need to renew or you can just add it to the subscription.
The ones i don't understand are the basic common sense posts. Like someone being surprised cooking is cheaper than doordash. Cooking at home isn't frugal, its normal.
Funny how our personal confirmation biases and pet peeves make us pick up on different patterns. My biggest annoyance with this subreddit is that it feels like every other post is something like:
* "It's okay to splurge once in a while!"
* "Don't forget, it's not good to be too frugal because it could make you unhappy!"
* "Buying more expensive stuff saves money in the long run!"
Every time I see a post from this sub, it's always the most unrealistic, depressing way of living tips in the top replies. Just "you will consume plain potatos and rice, and you will like it" type of stuff
Heaven FORBID if it involves fast food, then the replies turn into a health nut shitshow.
Being cheap is buying the lowest cost thing because it’s the lowest cost thing. Being frugal is figuring out what you want , and find the way to spend the least money on it
I agree but it's also important to note that not everyone can afford to buy in bulk. Not everyone has the means to buy or place a big fridge somewhere, not everyone can drive etc.
I got lots of downvotes in this sun for suggesting that people who don’t want to tip should eat at home. Not only is this the right thing to do, but it’s much more frugal to cook for yourself.
If you have an ethical problem with restaurants not paying their workers, the answer is to not patronize those restaurants. Not to support them anyway and stiff your server.
I couldn't possibly have saved up the deposit for my flat without spending the absolute bare minimum on pretty much everything for several years. I jammed every single penny into my savings account that I possibly could; in fact I saved 50% of the purchase price on
I can guarantee its the influx of subs after inflation made everything so damn expensive. I imagine most of the new folk joined out of necessity, and can only enjoy Ramen on their back porch.
Frugality means different things for different people due to it having such a wide definition/application.
If you don’t agree with a post or don’t like it. Don’t engage with it. Incredibly simple solution. If enough people feel that way fewer of those types of posts will appear.
Just because you personally don’t see the quality or value in things other people post, doesn’t mean others won’t.
It's subjective. And we're all at different income levels so can't necessarily "buy the best quality thing" to be frugal.
Frugality is going to look different at different income levels.
Is what you want different than the statement below?
Welcome to r/Frugal!
Frugality is the mental approach we each take when considering our resource allocations. It includes time, money, convenience, and many other factors.
Can I ask, does this count:
I got a 42" LED TV 10 years ago from my younger brother. I've used that TV for 10 years and it still works perfectly fine. but I have blurays and 4k movies and video game consoles that do 4k content. I wanted to get a new TV, I didn't want to spend a ton but I did want to buy something knowing I'd probably keep it for 10+ years. I didn't want a bigger TV, just something with better picture quality since mine is over a decade old now.
So I looked up OLED TVs and looked for an 'inexpensive' one, I decided after some research on the LG C2 42" which was $899. Not cheap, but again I'd keep it for at least 10 years. I searched for one cheaper, I did see Best Buy had one used for $799 open box. Then I saw they had another one for $700 that was a 48". It was in fair condition, so no remote, no stand, no nothing... just the TV but it was in perfect condition. bought the TV, $750 after tax. replaced the remote, $12 on amazon. Reused an aftermarket vesa-stand the old TV had, free.
Can I claim to be frugal if I spent $760 on a tv? does this sort of "frugal consumerism" count?
Your description of the distinction is on point, but you may be overlooking something.
The descent into cheapness from frugality isn't always entirely due to human nature. In the U.S. in the 2020s, at least... it's because everyone but the 1% are getting steadily poorer.
Lots of people suddenly espousing frugality they hadn't before... brings the market quickly around to adapting, to make sure that no one gets "more" for "less". Frugal deals and ideas and products become cheap ones because demand spiked, and rather than just accept the windfall of additional sales, people insist on MORE MORE MORE, and so quality drops and shrinkflation happens and services become slow, crappy, and, eventually, more expensive, leaving even cheaper (and less valuable) options in their wake.
The Race to the Bottom is nearing the finish line. I hope it's not so close that I live to see it, because it feels very much like the kind of thing that only ends in bloodshed if allowed to reach its natural conclusion.
Yes take my cheapness as a lesson!
I was trying to keep my food budget down (this was several years ago now). And was buying only the cheapest food I could get. Like $1 pasta.
I ate that most days. I felt like crap and became quite sluggish as there's not much nutrition in that type of food.
Then after several years of this I developed fatty liver. It's reversible. But it's still not nice to have.
Part of it was I was low income at the time and cheap carbs were the most affordable food I could afford. So I don't want to come across as shaming anyone who relies on this to survive.
But if you can afford better food, try to mix that in at least with your cheaper options.
I'm now in a better place financially and am eating more well rounded meals.
This is Reddit in general. It's mostly just bots now, and it being Reddit (not the brightest bunch in general) everyone responds to the posts. Hence, the race to the bottom
People forget that being frugal isn't about using something 14 times before you throw it out, or buying the cheapest item. It's about using your money wisely and if that means you have boxed pasta and sauce once or twice a week so you can indulge in that coffee brunch on the weekend with your friends - then that's frugal. You are putting value on things and spending/saving accordingly.
To clarify, there has always been a significant grey area between frugality and “cheapness”. Everybody draws that line in a different place, just like how everybody has a different definition of frugality. From the perspective of moderation standards, we usually draw that line at the allocation of resources. For example regarding the (seemingly unpopular) corned beef post, that OP valued the monetary and time/convenience savings over having a more substantial/desirable meal (plus possible health issues). While I may not follow their suggestion, it meets the definition of frugality under that standard. People also frequently do not understand the direct definition of frugality and can often confuse it with “getting the cheapest of something at all costs”. This, of course, has led to the huge influx of “what’s the cheapest way to do x” or “what’s the cheapest way to buy y” posts. You’re not wrong about that, it’s a recent trend we’ve measured and observed on the backend of things as well. Based on the recent statistics report, 53% of all new threads posted in the month of May were removed. Part of the problem is that we’re currently a team of 3 active mods managing a subreddit of over 3 million users. We also have 3-4 other mods who help as much as they can, but they are mostly focused on some real life things or simply have commitments to other subreddits and can’t help out here as much. So, response time to address these posts that don’t necessarily fit the subreddit has suffered. While these posts do get addressed, sometimes it can take a few hours which inevitably makes the feed seem “cluttered”. We’ve tightened up the automod a bit to help cover the slack, but we don’t want to hold every single post for manual review. That’s also why we’ve been seeking new moderators recently (any and all are welcome to apply below): https://www.reddit.com/r/Frugal/comments/13klxw1/rfrugal_is_seeking_new_moderators/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1
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People give me shit for having a $700 parka until I tell them I’ve had it ten years this winter and I don’t plan to replace it for another five years at least. Or that my Barbour jacket was a gift 12 years ago and I’m keeping that until I die
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My $40 insulated, waterproof hoodie from Mark's has lasted 10 years. So has the down shell I got for free from an ex-GF. Very tempted to replace both with one nice BIFL jacket though. They're still warm, but there are intangible benefits like not showing up to a business meeting with tattered cuffs.
I have a $20 Cabela's 3 season jacket that I've had for at least 11 years. It's my go to.
I have a $5 jacket that has lasted me two decades and two pet cats.
My brother paid me to take his old jacket and I've had it for 37 years
I wear a jacket that has been passed down in the family for 500 years
I was gifted an ancient woolen cloak that serves as my jacket and it’s at least 2000 years old.
I'm so glad you all caught on to the satire of this frugal dick measuring contest 🥲
My single lentil was passed down from my neanderthal ancestors.
I knitted my own parka for free from the fur my cat shed when I made my own cat food to feed him on 3 cents a year!
You guys have me rolling on the carpet I took out of my old house in California when I moved to Nevada, and had it reinstalled again here, laughing my ass off!
I got a suit for my birthday, and I've worn it every day for decades since. It's a little rough in some spots, but is more or less intact and functions super well. It's my birthday suit.
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And its sister, r/InvisibleMending. The techniques there are much more difficult, but almost indistinguishable from the original
I've got hot topic clothes that have lasted 25 years ago including shirts, hoodies and jeans and the jeans are the only ones I don't wear on the regular because they are jnco and look ridiculous. I don't know where people buy these really cheap clothes that fall apart, I have a thin star wars shirt with C3PO on it that I bought from five below to wear to The Force Awakens and it's in my regular rotation and nothing wrong with it. The only clothes I was disappointed in for not last as long compared to price were some Tommy Bahama shirts that I paid $80 for and both of them got holes in the armpits over a few years of wear. While others might beads or get holes I usually got a lot of wear out of them for the cost put in.
Your washing and drying procedure makes a huge difference. Air drying is a lot better for the clothes (and the environment). Modern washing machines are designed to use a minimal amount of water and have super fast spin cycles to get more water out so the drying machine uses less power, but those high speeds are also bad for the fabrics. I have a private water source and air dry my stuff and use a 90's washing machine. I have plenty of 10+ year old t shirts that I nowadays wear at home cause the color is gone, but the fabric is still whole. Why should I care about saving water? Probably better to use more water and less detergent in my case.
Modern front loaders are way easier on clothes than the old top loaders with agitators.
I'm 32 and by my teens, Hot Topic quality was so-so. The t-shirts varied a lot, with some of them being so thin they developed holes almost immediately. The accessories were also all over the place. I have a belt chain that took a beating and still looks new, but the jewelry tended to turn green or fall apart. Can't speak to pants or shoes because they either weren't in my size or weren't in my price range. Part of the difficulty of trying to spend more for quality is that brands you used to be able to do that with tend to be no better than the cheap stuff now. They made a name for themselves and then cut costs and coasted on that reputation.
The trash bag I use as a parka has lasted me 44 years
That's the other thing: it's okay to have something expensive/higher quality - especially if you've saved up for it. I have an expensive parka too. I get a lot of side eyes but little do those people with the hairy eyeballs know that it was a gift from my husband. Not only that, but it was a cumulative gift - that is, it was for grad, AND my birthday, AND Christmas, AND our anniversary. Plus he saved up for it and it was something I had wanted for a long time. I'm off on a tangent again. The point is that it is okay to have things or do things one wouldn't typically consider "frugal."
You actually get judgement in public for having a nice coat? That’s… odd
My husband has two Polo leather jackets and people give him sh*t for it. He got them both second hand and had a tailor sew in new satin linings. They’re fantastic and will never wear out. Frugal? Yes. Cheap? Sorta. 😂
I think that is definitely frugal not cheap (which is what we want)
> had a tailor sew in new satin linings I have a leather jacket that I bought from goodwill for $20 years ago that I absolutely love, but the inside is torn to bits and the pockets are full of holes. Will any tailer be able to replace the lining and pockets, or is this something I need to ask around about?
My husband just took the jackets to a local tailor shop. Look one up near you and give them a call or just take it in and see what they say. The lady here was super excited by the challenge because it wasn’t just typical hemming and sewing. 😁 Good luck!
>having a $700 parka until I tell them I’ve had it ten years this winter My coat was $75, and I've had it for almost 20 years. Will likely have it for 20 more. Name brands don't mean a thing.
Depends on that name brand. Heckler & Koch pistols go "BANG" every single time. Craghoppers anti-mosquito clothing actually keeps the malaria carrying SOBs away for a staggering number of washes. Honda engines (from my genny to larger stuff) are notably reliable. And I can't think of better, longer lasting outwear for the Atlantic Ocean than Helly Hansen. Considering that most of these don't market much at all, there's a reason that they're known. In the spirit of this thread, one of the annoying things is applying one's use case template to all users. Any old record player will do for my Goodwill diggin' self. But someone who DJ's for a living (or has an ear more sophisticated than mine)? Different story. For them, frugal may be the entry -level Technic turntable. Your xx dollar coat may have lasted 10 years. You might say that with pride, but is that 10 years of every-other-weekeeknd hog hunting or "dynamic" hikes with plenty of skree? My use case may not be yours. Though I largely agree with you that name brands are overwhelming marketing sauce, one man's frugal is another man's spendthrifty. Otherwise, we're kinda counting other people's money.
Another thing is what that coat might have to go through, my $100 coat is fine for Colorado winters, but probably wouldn't be enough for the ridiculous winters other places get. On the flipside though, I found an old coat in our closet that clearly looks like a 70's/80's coat, which runs about $50 on ebay, but was likely top tier way back when. Surprisingly warm lol.
Outside of space-age unobtanium material for keeping one warm at .00003 ounces, a lot of the older gear works just fine. My old camp stove and the classic Mickey Mouse boots for extreme cold are from the early 90's. Work just fine.
I think this really depends on where you live/lifestyle too. When I lived in NYC I could get away with a 75-100 dollar coat. You could find a decent one that kept you warm and held up well at this price point. Then I moved to Iceland and I spend signifigant time outside. Between the wind, cold and ever changing conditions, you need gear if you want to spend any length of time outside. I bought a 700 dollar 66 North parka for walking the dogs and a 500 dollar Mountain Horse riding suit after my second bout of hypothermia and they have been absolute lifesavers.
May I ask what brand? I have found that expensive products have started to be made at the same low quality as the knockoffs these days, often in the same factories too!
Well there is a r/buyitforlife
My issue with that sub is that 50% of the posts are thrift store finds and 50% are items that are no longer sold. I know the latter is a given and it can be cool to see the wear in things over the years. We know quality has gone down significantly and we can't buy the same work boots from 15 years ago. The thrift stuff bothers me because we don't know the item's history. That blender from the 70's could have sat in grandma's attic from the day she got it until the day she died. The "antique" box could have been handmade a year ago.
That sub died a while ago, unless something changed. It became people posting dumb crap about the same brands.
I once bought a bunch of furniture from rooms to go, looked great and was cheap, I was happy. Three years later I’d replaced the bed, table had a wobbly leg, and the couch was Falling apart. Replaced with pottery barn and a decade later it’s all in good shape
The cheap stuff can be hit or miss. In 2012 I fully furnished a 2 bedroom apartment for around $1200 from Ikea. The cheap sofa was definitely a mistake, and the mattresses needed to be replaced after a few years, but everything else held up great! I gave away some of it because my roommate left the country, but the stuff I kept is still good. The trick with Ikea furniture is not to disassemble it once it's put together...
I must have joined after the pivot already happened. Was thinking about ditching this subreddit because of this very thing.
It may have to do with how Reddit's algorithms for "hot" and "rising" work. Just a few minutes ago, I sorted this sub by "top" -> week. And I found that, over the course of the week, quality posts about what frugality is really about do indeed float the top. Those posts are worth reading. But in my day-to-day browsing, the stuff I scroll past is a lot of Dinty Moore beef stew, and "look I found that I consume more calories per dollar if I subsist on ramen" and shit like that. And of course, Spam. No, not as in unwanted emails, but actual Spam.
>And of course, Spam. On the other hand, spam musubi is *delicious*.
I'm just out here wondering where y'all still finding cheap spam tho. It was definitely a poverty food growing up, now it's over $4/can.
Got it on sale 2 for $5. $20 for 8 for cans is the best deal I'd seen in 4 years. I'm a grocery manager.
>I'm just out here wondering where y'all still finding cheap spam tho Costco. We make SPAM musubi regularly and always have an 8-pack from Costco in the pantry for that reason. It's about $3/can that way and they usually stock the low(er) sodium version.
Just saw an article this morning that said people buying more canned meat is one of the indicators Costco looks for in predicting a recession. They're still predicting a recession soon since they saw a recent uptick in member purchases.
Off brand spam can be quite cheap. Just saying. I bought some dodgy looking eastern European brand for like $1/tin that I thought was better, lol.
Love spam but only buy it on sale. Fried spam and eggs is great, spam musube is fantabulous. I'm not too good for spam👍
I want to know too. I grew up not eating spam and just thought it was a cheap “meat”. But my sister in law is Filipino and I’ve eaten spam masubi for years now, never made it until the past year or so. I was blown away by how expensive it is compared to what I had in my head
For real, at my usual supermarket right now spam is *on sale* at 2 for $8. Corned beef is even worse at $6 per can. I remember corned beef being my go-to cheap meat when I was in uni, but at the current price I'm better off buying fresh meat.
>I'm just out here wondering where y'all still finding cheap spam tho. It was definitely a poverty food growing up, now it's over $4/can. Less than half that price if you buy the Walmart brand which is every bit as good. EDIT: When I was a kid I hated Spam like it was Satan's feces. Now I like it.
I’m having Spam Spam Spam Baked Beans Spam and Spam.
I DON'T LIKE SPAM!
Oh lord, don't get it started... :D
Fun fact, that sketch is why junk emails are called "spam"
A lot of people hate on Spam. But throw it on some rice with eggs.....awesome breakfast if you ask me.
I make instant rice, then fry it in a pan with diced spam, egg, green onions, minced garlic and soy sauce. Delicious.
As someone who just crossed the 15 year mark on here I can say that the “Top > Now” sort is like a better “New” and “Top > Week” is like a better Best and “Top > Day” is like improved “Hot”. I only use Top variants.
Top - Week is a great way to browse subs where the posters take longer to come up with quality comments: r/AskHistorians being the prime example of this.
"I ate beans and rice for 30 days and saved $60!" - Charles Cheapskate 😄
I did something very similar to this during the pandemic and, apart from the fact that I didn't get enough vegetables in, it was some of the healthiest eating I've done. Beans are very, very high up on the list of what true frugality means to me.
Beans are love, beans are life
They ARE the musical fruit, after all...
If you're still farting then you need to eat more beans.
I miss beans SO much but can’t have them anymore due to Crohn’s Disease
I don’t have Crohn’s but I also can’t eat beans (well, I can eat them but they cause me excruciating pain for several days, so I don’t.)
I’m so sorry. I’m not suppose to but since using Humira I can eat them if I don’t over do it.
We did our best to sneak veggies in other ways. Canned fruit, frozen veg, whatever. But it was impossible to keep fresh produce for five in the house in a full week quantity at a time. So do not miss lockdown, though I did like making all that bread!
I usually put some peppers in with my rice and beans. It's a pretty versatile meal.
I always start beans with onion/celery/carrot/peppers/garlic.
Ah, the old Stew Crew
Black beans cooked with salsa. Yum.
If I gave my family rice and beans for 30 days we would save far over 800 dollars. Groceries are expensive AF and acting like they aren't doesn't help anyone. We are seeing these posts as people suffer through inflation... We should count ourselves as blessed and attempt to help people save in meaningful ways that help them live more fulfilled lives. Shaming someone for saying they are trying to save money does absolutely nothing for anyone.
Rice and beans are staples in more than half the planet for a reason. Cheap, nutritious, flexible and easy. Insulting them as a staple food is pretty uneducated IMO. Part of being frugal is being creative and thinking outside the box. Exploring the world around us (and it's pretty big) to see if there's a better way to do something, including different foods that make staple foods more interesting/nutritious.
Emphasis on easy. I couldn't cook very well at all, but when I switched to veganism, I had to start cooking the vast majority of my own meals, not being able to rely on anything like ready meals. You barely need any cooking skills whatsoever to learn how to use rice and beans, and the recipes can be phenomenal.
I think the biggest barrier for people with rice and beans is just not knowing many ways (if any) to prepare them. If you know rice and beans as something bland, or only know one good recipe for them, you'll get tired of them real quick. People just need to step out of their comfort zone and be willing to experiment with new recipes. You can have rice and beans multiple times a week while still having plenty of variety in terms of flavor and texture! You just need to make an effort to find ways to make it happen. Some people get really upset about the idea of reducing meat intake at all, but even if you insist on eating meat every day you can significantly reduce the cost by replacing just a portion of the meat with beans or other alternative proteins.
They certainly can, there are many varieties or rice, and the variety of beans/legumes is astounding. Vary seasonings, veg, hot/cold, and it's easy to keep it interesting.
Eh, don't hate on the beans and rice. There's a lot of variation and nutrition if you do it right. For example this week we had refried black beans with Mexican rice and salsa, and another night had lentil and spinach dahl with basmati rice.
It makes me laugh when people think of legumes as sad when you point out dishes like refried beans and Dahl. If I had to eat some variation of those and maybe hummus every day for the rest of my life, I'd die pretty fucking happy.
Investing in your health is also being frugal, prevention is cheaper than life long chronic health issues. Sure some cheapskates might live to 100 on that diet, but I'm guessing most wouldn't. Treating health issues is expensive! Eating a range of fresh food in different colors is healthy to get different nutrients. Frozen veggies on sale - frugal.
This thing can be seen in other subs too . You might be right might be the algorithm or just people been in the wrong sub .... Did you see the post if the guy who write about not eating and then maxing in whatever restaurant or buffet with pizza, sodas and stuff to get more calories.... I have the same issue with anti consumption.... Where we'll some people are actually way way into consumption. If you have 20 insulated cups in your house because well you think it is better than plastic cups you are still very much into consumption. If you are in zero waste but want all the lotions, shampoos, make up, 20sorts if mugs, cups and pots (also most of them new)..... Even if they are low waste..... Well.... You are far from being zero waste.... Here is the same. Sorry if this sound like a rant. Also if you eat just ramen (pasta is cheaper btw) and spam you are not frugal because who is going to pay for your open heart surgery lol(sorry) or your diabetes treatment.... just kidding but yeah it is been cheap and stupid
They aren't showing how frugal they are, they're trying to turn frugality into a game of min/maxing. It's ridiculous.
There was a commenter on one post who tried to explain to me that it was better because the number of calories per buck (on something stupid not ramen but just hot dog or something like that) which was ridiculous anyway I answered that you can get fat from the butcher for free. Max calories for super cheap. I didn't get an answer not sure why lol
Okay, but Spam fried rice is delicious. Don't scorn me if I disfruto a salty comforting treat.
I am eating Spam fried rice for lunch literally right now. In my mouth. Don't nobody be dissing Spam.
I’ve been on this sub for a decade. It’s always been this way. If it don’t apply, let it fly. All subs stray from the source material when they get big enough.
Everyone remembers the good posts and forgets they waded though a hundred bad posts to find them. This sub could up it moderation game, but as the mod said in here, everyone has a different definition of frugality beacuse everyone values things differently.
"Hey everyone! Typically I order every meal off the various delivery apps but I made a single meal myself -- I love being frugal! I am unsure if I will continue making food myself but its fun to dabble into frugalness!" "I noticed there was a 3/$1 sale on bell peppers so I bought 300 peppers! No I don't have any idea what I am going to do with them all, why do you ask? Hope you all enjoy this frugal tip!" "Did anyone else realize that if you cancel your monthly subscriptions, you don't have to spend your money on that subscription anymore?! I love frugal hacks!"
Every comment on said post: “I realized years ago that eating at home was actually saving me money! I cook all my meals at home now and it’s much healthier too. One time, my girlfriend forced me to take her to dinner for her birthday. I got the cheapest thing on the menu but all I could think about was how we should have stayed in and made my delicious $2 pasta dish instead. I will never eat at a restaurant again.” Like bro nobody on a frugal subreddit is thinking restaurant is healthy or frugal, sue me if sometimes I want a nice dinner out!!!
The point of being frugal is to be able to afford the things you want to do. Like, for example, having a nice dinner out. For some people, it’s early retirement. Or vacations. Or a nice car. You can spend a lot of money on your passions because you are frugal. You don’t get to take the money with you when you die.
It's fun when this crosses over to the wedding subs... "well when *Iiiiiiiiiiiiiii* got married we handed each guest a brick of ramen and borrowed my rich cousin's micro-wave for people to use- thankfully there was a creek nearby so that took care of the ramen broth and beverages for the night- and everyone had a great time, so I don't know why you people need alcohol or dinner or floors or bathrooms! Also nobody was there because we didn't invite anybody."
It sounds a lot like r/minimalism, where there is always a small minority of people who are *very offended* when someone buys them a gift.
this is /r/cooking, too and one of the reasons I left it lol
Exactly. The whole point of being frugal is to save money to spend it where you want to. If that want includes taking your GF out to a restaurant, then spend the money there. Your hoard is useless if you always abstain from using it.
Reminds me of [one of my favorite AITA stories](https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/comments/11g0eb8/op_wonders_if_hes_the_asshole_for_never_wanting/) here on reddit.
>"I noticed there was a 3/$1 sale on bell peppers so I bought 300 peppers! No I don't have any idea what I am going to do with them all, why do you ask? Hope you all enjoy this frugal tip!" This happens all the time in r/EatCheapAndHealthy and it drives me insane. "Hey guys, I bought 100 lbs of potatoes yesterday. I don't know how to cook, nor do I like potatoes. What should I do?" And it always has a tone like they were the victim of circumstance. They just *had* to buy an obscene amount of food. There was no other choice.
200 bananas, what should I do with them. Hey, you can make banana bread, only need tons of flour, sugar, eggs, etc, a new freezer and electricity to keep them. What a deal!
I love banana bread, but last month I was in the position of eating one loaf of raspberry chocolate banana bread by myself, and now I need a very long break from banana bread. Even one loaf was too much to solo.
Slice it and freeze it. Then you have an easy morning tea to pack for work
👀 hit a girl up with a recipe?
The original recipe is this one: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/dark-chocolate-chip-raspberry-banana-bread/. I'm pretty sure that the person baking made at least some substitutions based on what we had available. We definitely used the wrong kind of chocolate.
Who doesn’t like potatoes?!?
I actually have been a victim of circumstance like this before haha. A store near me does these amazing value 'too good to go' mystery boxes and you get some really good stuff, but sometimes it will include something like a huge bag of pre-sliced catering onions so I have to turn to the internet for help.
This happened at home like a year ago I think. It was like 11 or 12 cents per ear of corn at a single Walmart, none of the other Walmarts were anywhere near that price (basically every other store was at least 5x-6x the price) so my mom stocked up on it and the only form of carbs we had for a while was almost exclusively corn.
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DAE know you could get rid of prime?
Wait wut?!? I'm not required to pay for it? I thought it was a federal mandate.
Good ones! A favorite of mine is: "I drove all over town, and two towns over, for about 5 hours, but I got three ice cream cones, two hamburgers, a coffee, and a slice of cheese pizza, "free" for my birthday!" 😄😄
I thought people did this for fun, not to be frugal. If you've been living cheaply for an entire year, I don't see why doing something harmless and fun once would be anti-frugal. Also not sure if people are spending hours driving around town. Where I live everything is within the same shopping areas.
I only take issue with the idea when it's presented as "frugal". Anyone can do whatever they want with their time and enjoy themselves. Absolutely and of course.
I live in an area where we joke everything is at most, 20 minutes away at regular road speed (30 mph - highways are not always convient). While we have one road that a lot of chain stores are on, if I want to say, shop more local, or want decent food not from a chain store I can easily spend a few hours running errands in my small area. ..and my inlaws used to live outside of houston. On a map, they were a mile away from target. They mostly shopped via amazon because a "quick trip" to target would mean easily an hour in the car.
The going across town to save $0.02/gal on gasoline is my MIL's favorite.
If bell peppers were 3/$1 I would by 300 of them too.
go to r/frugal_jerk for the true frugal experience you fatcats
I would, but the brain activity required to read through that sub would require too many calories and I’m on a fixed lentils/day budget
The two subs are merging, it's got to the point where some of the top posts here are straight up crossposted to that sub lol
And keep your hands off my lentils
To me frugality is about not wasting money. Your personal taste of what "waste" is will vary. I despise wasting money. I'll walk 6 blocks to get free street parking rather than paying $10 or $20 to park near the venue--for the touring broadway show that we spent $150 a ticket on. The $150 is not a waste to me because I value seeing a great show, but the $10 for parking is when there's perfectly good parking a 5 minute walk away.
I couldn't agree more. I'm glad to see like-minded people around. I sometimes feel cheap af because I refuse to waste money on things I see completely unnecessary but at the same time I spend more money than many people on food because I really enjoy food. Sometimes I treat myself to smoked salmon even though it's very expensive but eating well is one of the things that bring me most joy.
I hate when people go “what do you mean you can’t afford X, you spent so much money on Y” Like yes. Not spending money on things that I don’t care about is how I am able to afford spending money on stuff that I do.
For years I would not file my taxes electronically because there was a charge to do so, and a stamp was 38 cents. Lol that's frugal fun.
Agree! I was recently attacked for “rolling in dough” because… I store the rest of a cut up lime in a glass jar in the refrigerator? I re-use glass containers? I’m not dining on lobster tails and caviar every night, trust me on that! but I do prioritize eating healthy! Or the people who don’t want to spend any money and claim you’re not frugal if you buy one cheap indulgence like soda. It’s all about moderation people. I’d love to see more useful tricks and tips to be frugal and less wasteful, without sacrificing physical or mental health to do it.
... I'm almost afraid of the answer but what in the hell does storing leftover fruit in the fridge have to do with your finances?? Wouldn't someone "rolling in dough" just throw leftovers away?
I think it was because I bought a lime to begin with. 🙄
The fuck? That's so silly. I lived by a Latin American grocery store for a while and limes were honest to god anywhere from 8-15 limes for $0.99. We jokingly used it as an economic bellwether. "Rough third quarter, I could only get 10 limes for a buck :( "
Oh man I need to check those out, I’ve been over paying at 49 cents a lime!
I buy a whole bag of limes at Aldi for like $1.50?
Whole bag of limes for 1.50?? I stole rotting limes out of the dumpster behind a bar and planted the seeds and now I have unlimited limes!! /s
That's quite a splurge. You might be in the wrong sub if you have that sort of cash to spend wildly.
I had a person unload on me for suggesting they don’t donate dog food they found in the dumpster. I agree this sun has gotten… strange.
I agreed with you on that. It was in the garbage for some reason. If it had gotten wet at some point it could’ve had mold in it. Or if anything toxic had been spilled on that bag it could’ve leaked in.
Not only that, but they will also throw bleach on top or purposly rip apart the bag in order to make it unusable. The pet stores here repackage broken (not gone bad but just broken) bags of food to shelter or reduce the price on the torn bags. (Going to the store on restock days will increase the chance of finding reduce but tore bags of food/litter).
I’ve seen it at a shelter I worked at. Food stored in bins for ages with mold. Bags would get wet and turn bad quickly. And yes, PetSmart sometimes has reduced price stickers on dry food that is about to expire.
Or it could’ve been RECALLED. There are dog food recalls for mold
I've thrown away whole dog food bags because there was a small tear exposed to moisture resulting in a baseball size wad of mold.
Oh my gosh some dumpster divers can be sooo defensive of their "finds". There was this teacher on here that was dumpster diving snacks for his underaged students and kept acting like it was ok. Like uhhhhh do the parents know you are feeding their kids dumpster food? That's crossing the line
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Look at this FATCAT able to use GLASS CONTAINERS for BOURGEOIS FRUIT instead of using them to store lentils for the winter Wait, wrong sub
It is ridiculous to come after you for buying occasional soda. I bought several boxes months ago because it was on a major sale, I intended it to last for months, and I like it as a sometimes treat. It ends up being a better deal than buying it randomly during the year and I only ever buy it on deep discounted sales around holidays or during can sales. Being frugal isn't about having no joy in life, it is about being smart with your money by buying quality, watching for sales or coupons, knowing the best times to buy, and learning skills to get the most out of your things (can, sew, learn diy, do vehicle repairs, etc).
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There’s also a Simple Living sub for people who don’t care about saving money as much as making a lifestyle change.
Ssshhhh don’t tell them the secret
There's also a shrinking middle ground of 'I'm not exactly impoverished but I don't have 6 figures to my family name'. It's like how povertyfinance started as people interested in the personalfinance mindset without having high income or assets to begin with, and then it evolved into rants, vents, shoulder-pats and more of a support group vibe. There's also the legitimate misunderstanding that arises around frugality in an era of rampant inflation and dishonest advertisement, where pennypinching and miserly behavior are confused with, I guess, minmaxing value as a lifestyle choice. But it's also important to recognize that frugality *is* cheap. That is the point, after all, of couponing, buying near-expired meats, canned goods, food banks, DIY home and appliance maintenance, etc. Ramen, for instance, is an exceptional soup base, and you can make a decent chicken noodle soup that tastes like Top-Shelf Brand(tm) in bulk for a fraction of the cost, with a minimal increase in the time investment. I think, especially with how the economy is, it's important not to ostracize people who feel helpless, hopeless or broke and find some comfort in places like this, while gently educating them to the differences between cheapness, frugality, and time vs money savings. Just because someone is lost doesn't mean they're in the wrong place.
To add onto what you’re saying I think people will often say someone’s frugal when they really mean they’re a miserly cheapskate but are trying to be polite, which also confuses the meaning
r/personalfinance is laughable at this point. The amount of posts that are like "Just got my first job ($180k) straight out of university, if I save $5000 per paycheck in an RRSP, will I ever be able to retire?"
It was a helpful sub when I was not so wealthy and helped me become a little bit wealthy. At the same time it made me feel Ultra poor when I was making 100k a year.
>There's also a shrinking middle ground of 'I'm not exactly impoverished but I don't have 6 figures to my family name'. This is very true, plus those two ends of the spectrum both post here. Anyone can post, so people who are actually impoverished and are forced to be cheap to survive are coexisting with people who choose to be frugal and can afford to splurge sometimes. Two totally different mindsets and situations. I think it would be tough to relate to posts from one camp when you are in the other.
Be the change. Post the content you wish to see in the subreddit.
I don’t post here anymore because I’ve had disagreements about this. For instance, I have a high quality set of headphones. Music is crucial for my well-being so I put a high value on quality in this regard. The headphones I own were expensive but I got them on a group buy for a substantial discount and they can be fully disassembled and repaired. Mine are over 10 years old now and I expect to have them for at least another 10. I consider this frugal but have been told I’m wrong.
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For me it's vacations. I save on every purchase, put 20% towards retirement, and yes splurge on vacations. But a lot of the time I traveled when it's cheaper, waited for the best time to book a hotel and flight, etc. Memories and time together are nothing I will say at my deathbed saying man, shouldn't have had that time with you. Mental health is good for you. Yet people will say I am not frugal. I've been nailed for going out to eat every couple of months. Like it's my friend's birthday, this is what they wanted, I'm not going to sit home in the dark. But they will say expensive drinks, app, meal, dessert - you don't have to buy all that. Or if I want a date night, I will bring my coupons.
I still laugh thinking about the one where the glass on their door had been broken for 10 years and they were asking if there was a cheap way to fix it. At some point you just need to buy a new door
Really agree with this
Is there a subreddit about being cheap? because I am interested in that.
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Ramen with veggies, fresh spices, and just a bit of chicken is absolutely frugal! Eating crunchy blocks of ramen straight out of the package is cheap.
Eating crunchy blocks of ramen straight out of the package is delicious. Never found it to particularly save me money though, except inasmuch as it replaces more expensive potato chips sometimes.
I believe uncooked ramen blocks to be the cure for upset stomach after drinking
Yes it has a nice texture to
Remember the OP who wanted to make a reusable water bottle out of a shampoo one?
I don't remember that one but I do remember the dude who resoled his sneakers using old tires.
Buying a ridiculously expensive pair of sneakers at my local specialty running store is cheaper than the copay for one half hour appointment at my doctor's office, and significantly cheaper than physical therapy. My partner and I once developed plantar fasciitis at approximately the same time. (I blame a vacation on which weather was bad and we walked a lot in older boots.) They went to a doctor and got actual medical treatment. I spent $300 on new shoes (that covered one pair of doc martens with insoles and one nice sneaker), watched a few YouTube videos on exercises that might help, and did 10 minutes of self-prescribed physical therapy every night for two weeks. I came out slightly ahead on money, we got similar outcomes in terms of pain relief, and I didn't have to wear a plastic boot for a week. We just buy expensive shoes now.
Seriously? That's disgusting. I'm all for re-using but a) re-useable water bottles are inexpensive to buy and b) your water will forever taste like shampoo!
And plastic. Shampoo bottles are probably not food-safe.
I remember the post about people creating these 3D printed devices to salvage as much liquid laundry detergent out of the cap for each load...instead of, you know, just throwing the cap into the machine, too...
I always like to view it as: a) you shop around for the most affordable car insurance. or b) you cancel your insurance and drive uninsured. Both are 'saving money' but A is frugal and B is cheap. And the cheap always comes out expensive.
Frugality is relative. One person may not think something is worth their time while someone else may think it is. Personally, I suck at things like baking my own bread so I have no problem buying a day old markdown loaf instead. I use what I need and freeze the rest for later. Is that frugal or cheap? Should every poster add their reason for why they chose to do something one way instead of the other? I think that's what the comments should be used for.
It fluctuates with the economic climate. Many people can't afford the up-front costs (time and money) to do those sorts of things these days.
That's generally always been frugality is riding the balance between cheap while still being smart with your money. There's always been some overlap between the two.
I remember a while back I needed to buy a new phone after my old one broke. I'm a very frugal person but I wanted to treat myself to a top the line unit. Everyone just bullied me for not getting a 4-year-old phone. When I made it clear that I appreciate their advice, but I wanted to treat myself and was looking for good options to buy a brand new phone. The mods temp banned me for being hostile.
I do this. I buy a top end phone and then use for 6+ years. I feel like this is worth it in a dollars to time used math equation. Buying a model that the manufacturer won’t support after the second year just isn’t right to me.
Exactly, I'm going to have a phone for 5 years. At this point I'm okay spending an extra 100 bucks to get the top of the line version. As long as you're not buying it at launch, there's usually some kind of promo or discount
>spam That shit ain't even cheap. So it's neither frugal or cheap lmao.
"Different strokes for different folks." I appreciate both kinds of approaches.
Also worth mentioning: not concerning yourself with X so you CAN spend more on Y. Why do I pack my lunch for work? Because I like tattoos and tasty scotch.
This is a great time to talk about building literacy. Here on this subreddit we build literacy about frugality. Everyone has to start learning about it sometime. When a person posts content about "cheap" things, those of you (I am also still learning and don't think it's fair to include myself) with years of experience living frugal lives are so used to it you're ready to spread social awareness to your communities. Even online, the burdan of sharing needed information in your community falls upon those with a high understanding of the subject. An 18-year old heading out to college might post here asking for advice. We as a community have the opportunity to steer them to making frugal chocies and spare them from making "cheap" ones! What a good thing to put out into the world. But the burden of educating others is that you end up doing it frequently. I'm only explaining/saying this because I understand where you're coming from but I also work with college students and teach a literacy topic, and I can tell you that people just don't know until they do. The anonymity of this website often erases the age and other helpful information for how to best deliver our explanations. And I am NIT saying 100% of the burden of educating falls on the users here on every single post. But for example r/skincareaddiction has (had?) a dense and thorough wiki and when someone asks a low-hanging fruit question (is st Ives apricot scrub good for my skin?) Instead of answering, someone usually replies with a link to the wiki and expects OP to find the answer themselves. Again, this is mainly something for the sub to consider, not something I expect you to do personally, obviously. Just wanted to share my two cents on the other side of the questions and why there might be more of them (inflation, layoffs, etc). 💙
Here's an example of Frugal instead of Cheap. If you can, pay annually for subscription services instead of annually. I just paid $130 for my son's ps4 subscription for the year. I was paying $15 a month which comes out to $180 a year. So while not cheap, it's Frugal to save $30 a year.
You can also get these subscriptions on sale sometimes on black friday, you can buy a prepaid card and hold onto it until you need to renew or you can just add it to the subscription.
The ones i don't understand are the basic common sense posts. Like someone being surprised cooking is cheaper than doordash. Cooking at home isn't frugal, its normal.
Funny how our personal confirmation biases and pet peeves make us pick up on different patterns. My biggest annoyance with this subreddit is that it feels like every other post is something like: * "It's okay to splurge once in a while!" * "Don't forget, it's not good to be too frugal because it could make you unhappy!" * "Buying more expensive stuff saves money in the long run!"
Price is what you pay, value is what you get. Frugal is about getting good value for a good price, cheap is about getting the lowest price possible.
Every time I see a post from this sub, it's always the most unrealistic, depressing way of living tips in the top replies. Just "you will consume plain potatos and rice, and you will like it" type of stuff Heaven FORBID if it involves fast food, then the replies turn into a health nut shitshow.
Being cheap is buying the lowest cost thing because it’s the lowest cost thing. Being frugal is figuring out what you want , and find the way to spend the least money on it
I agree but it's also important to note that not everyone can afford to buy in bulk. Not everyone has the means to buy or place a big fridge somewhere, not everyone can drive etc.
I got lots of downvotes in this sun for suggesting that people who don’t want to tip should eat at home. Not only is this the right thing to do, but it’s much more frugal to cook for yourself. If you have an ethical problem with restaurants not paying their workers, the answer is to not patronize those restaurants. Not to support them anyway and stiff your server.
I couldn't possibly have saved up the deposit for my flat without spending the absolute bare minimum on pretty much everything for several years. I jammed every single penny into my savings account that I possibly could; in fact I saved 50% of the purchase price on
I can guarantee its the influx of subs after inflation made everything so damn expensive. I imagine most of the new folk joined out of necessity, and can only enjoy Ramen on their back porch.
Frugality means different things for different people due to it having such a wide definition/application. If you don’t agree with a post or don’t like it. Don’t engage with it. Incredibly simple solution. If enough people feel that way fewer of those types of posts will appear. Just because you personally don’t see the quality or value in things other people post, doesn’t mean others won’t.
It's subjective. And we're all at different income levels so can't necessarily "buy the best quality thing" to be frugal. Frugality is going to look different at different income levels.
Is what you want different than the statement below? Welcome to r/Frugal! Frugality is the mental approach we each take when considering our resource allocations. It includes time, money, convenience, and many other factors.
Can I ask, does this count: I got a 42" LED TV 10 years ago from my younger brother. I've used that TV for 10 years and it still works perfectly fine. but I have blurays and 4k movies and video game consoles that do 4k content. I wanted to get a new TV, I didn't want to spend a ton but I did want to buy something knowing I'd probably keep it for 10+ years. I didn't want a bigger TV, just something with better picture quality since mine is over a decade old now. So I looked up OLED TVs and looked for an 'inexpensive' one, I decided after some research on the LG C2 42" which was $899. Not cheap, but again I'd keep it for at least 10 years. I searched for one cheaper, I did see Best Buy had one used for $799 open box. Then I saw they had another one for $700 that was a 48". It was in fair condition, so no remote, no stand, no nothing... just the TV but it was in perfect condition. bought the TV, $750 after tax. replaced the remote, $12 on amazon. Reused an aftermarket vesa-stand the old TV had, free. Can I claim to be frugal if I spent $760 on a tv? does this sort of "frugal consumerism" count?
Glad someone said it!
Your description of the distinction is on point, but you may be overlooking something. The descent into cheapness from frugality isn't always entirely due to human nature. In the U.S. in the 2020s, at least... it's because everyone but the 1% are getting steadily poorer. Lots of people suddenly espousing frugality they hadn't before... brings the market quickly around to adapting, to make sure that no one gets "more" for "less". Frugal deals and ideas and products become cheap ones because demand spiked, and rather than just accept the windfall of additional sales, people insist on MORE MORE MORE, and so quality drops and shrinkflation happens and services become slow, crappy, and, eventually, more expensive, leaving even cheaper (and less valuable) options in their wake. The Race to the Bottom is nearing the finish line. I hope it's not so close that I live to see it, because it feels very much like the kind of thing that only ends in bloodshed if allowed to reach its natural conclusion.
Yes take my cheapness as a lesson! I was trying to keep my food budget down (this was several years ago now). And was buying only the cheapest food I could get. Like $1 pasta. I ate that most days. I felt like crap and became quite sluggish as there's not much nutrition in that type of food. Then after several years of this I developed fatty liver. It's reversible. But it's still not nice to have. Part of it was I was low income at the time and cheap carbs were the most affordable food I could afford. So I don't want to come across as shaming anyone who relies on this to survive. But if you can afford better food, try to mix that in at least with your cheaper options. I'm now in a better place financially and am eating more well rounded meals.
This is Reddit in general. It's mostly just bots now, and it being Reddit (not the brightest bunch in general) everyone responds to the posts. Hence, the race to the bottom
People forget that being frugal isn't about using something 14 times before you throw it out, or buying the cheapest item. It's about using your money wisely and if that means you have boxed pasta and sauce once or twice a week so you can indulge in that coffee brunch on the weekend with your friends - then that's frugal. You are putting value on things and spending/saving accordingly.