What "frugal" tricks have you found to just not be worth it, either in time or money?
What "frugal" tricks have you found to just not be worth it, either in time or money?
I've noticed sometimes that there's some half-baked videos or blogs or whatever that purport this or that frugal trick, but if you look at the time or math, it's not actually frugal for you.
What are some examples of that you've come across? The things that "aren't worth it"?
For me it's couponing. (Although I haven't heard people talk about it recently--has it fallen out of "style", or have businesses caught up to the loopholes folks used to exploit?)
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It's more of a generalized rule but:
Assume that your own time has value.
A lot of "frugal" tips operate off the assumption that you can spend your own time and it doesn't cost anything. But your time is valuable. Time spent trying to save a few bucks should be considered working time; ask yourself how much you would get paid by your job for the same amount of time. Maybe you enjoy doing whatever the thing is, so it can be considered recreation, but if it's some difficult or mind numbing slog, then that doesn't necessarily mean that you actually saved yourself anything, because you weren't getting paid to do work, and you could have been doing something more rewarding instead.
I feel this way about cooking. I hate cooking. It takes a lot of time. And lots of cleanup time. And time spent planning and shopping. Plus the tools, ingredients, and power/gas/water used all cost money. With all that in mind, a $9 bowl of chipotle is significantly cheaper by my estimation than cooking an equivalent myself.
I'm with you on cooking something like one meal. If I'm going to get out a bunch of stuff in the kitchen and put in that much effort, then I had better be eating for at least a few days off of what I make. Casseroles, stews, big pots of pasta, and holy hell was I excited when I learned how much curry I could make in one big crock pot and then put that on rice for like two weeks' worth of meals.
I just cook stuff that basically cooks itself. Crockpots, pasta, certain veggies and meats on the oven. After doing them many times I already know the timings for everything so I just put alarms to remind me of turning the fire off/flipping them in the oven once and that's it. Doing something else in between. Technically speaking you spend only a couple minutes actively cooking for each meal that way. Just don't forget to set the alarms or it's burnt (and move the particular meat from the freezer to the fridge the night before)
Then you need to learn how to cook properly, or get more experience. By the time you have driven to and from chipotle, and factor in that time, the cost of gas, the wear and tear on your car. Cooking is significantly cheaper. We only cook from scratch at home, and it rarely takes more than 15 mins to whip up a good meal that tastes better than most things you can buy, even sit down restaurants. When I cook, I clean as I go normally, so clean up aftewards is fast. If you clean up immediately after, clean up is fast. Time spent eating doesn't count. 20 minutes, McDonalds drive thru takes 20 mins.
Honestly, to me, that would be incredibly fast prep or your meals are pretty simple. Even easy meals I've made a million times take me half an hour. Most take one hour to cook and I still feel like I'm rushing around.
Or just used to cooking. My wife makes mostly Indian inspired dishes, which are surprisingly fast to throw together. We do a lot of Asian cooking also. When I regularly make it, I can do pad-thai in 15-20 mins. And some meals are simple but still taste better than take out.
I live somewhere where I have access to dozens of restaurants within a 5 minute drive and I can order ahead to avoid waiting. Cooking really is not an activity I enjoy so I have no interest in practicing unless I have to. That is not to say I never have food at home. I regularly make healthy super smoothies, sandwiches loaded with greens, prepared salads, and whole grain cereals. I wouldn't consider that cooking though.
I'm not looking to invalidate the experience of anyone who is good at or enjoys cooking. Just sharing my opinion that this is one area that is very commonly recommended for saving money that I personally don't find worth my time.
Fair point
If you are ever in a financially tight situation and/or change your mind about cooking at home, I found the key thing for me was to start with learning a few super easy recipes. Once you have a a few things down that you know how to cook easily by memory, it gets a lot easier. Cheers
I'd recommend learning how to cook chicken to that list, just as a handy tool to have.
Not to mention the difference in nutritional quality if home-made food is the staple of one's diet versus take-out. When you make your own food you can adjust the recipe to your own taste so that it tastes good without over-reliance on salt, saturated fats, and other hyper-processed ingredients (which is what's used to make take-out food taste appealing)
I hate how judgemental people are about food.
The scary thing is, food is directly connected to a person's ability to live. So when you get in there psychologically and root around, spreading shame and judgement, it might actually stick with someone. It might actually be just ONE more little straw on the camel's back to break it. Because food is so directly and intimately connected to a person's physical ability to be healthy, it might very well cascade into something bigger than you ever anticipated.
Especially with all of society yelling their own version of it. And family.
I really, really wish people would shut the hell up about other people's food habits. It doesn't really cost YOU anything, but it might actually make life easier on THEM.
I wasn't trying to be judgemental,but I understand what I said that made it come off that way. That was not my intent. Typing too fast and not thinking about what I said. The point I was trying to make was that you can whip up delicious food at home in the same amount of time it takes to run out and buy fast food. I totally understand I worded it badly in the beginning.
I would not habe worked in that time. I would have sat on the sofa and watched something on Netflix that I do not care about.
It is not a crime to be unproductive. In fact, we all need to be unproductive occasionally.
That may be a more valuable use of your time, for life satisfaction or mental health