Don’t cheap out on anything which separates you from the ground. This goes for shoes, wheels, your bed, and so forth. You’re better off going for good quality which will last on these items.
More expensive doesn’t always mean quality, though. I’ve had $100 sneakers that fell apart quick.
There’s actually quite a few. Can’t think of them all, but the idea of things like making your own shampoo concoction is overkill to me. You can get a 39oz bottle of shampoo for like $7.50 US. Bought a bottle in January of this year and still have more than half the bottle left.
Just seems like the effort and cost savings aren’t worth it to me for something like this. Plus it’s questionable if it even works as good.
Basically though, I think people confuse cheap with frugal. Frugal is being about getting the bang for the buck, not depriving ones self for the sake of saving a few dollars. Mobile phones are a good example. Is there really a need to get a $1000 flagship phone when I can get a $200 lesser name phone that can do all the same things as the top tier one can? Sure, the photos might not be as high quality, but they’re way good enough for every day use.
There’s a great book that speaks to this in regards to food called “make the bread, buy the butter”, but the same mentality can be applied to many aspects beyond food.
I will say on the phone side though I was always a mid-tier phone buyer. Always owned my phone outright. Last upgrade my carrier (T-Mobile) hooked me with a deal. Flagship phone for $100. Rate didn’t increase, and it was cheaper than a mid tier.
I just got into gardening. Raised beds, apple trees. Feels a lot more like farming at this point. It’s a great worthwhile activity, but I’m not sure I could actually feed myself AND maintain a full time job at the same time. Between watering, pest control, pruning, etc it’s quite a lot of work. I could see maybe saving a few bucks on apples and potatoes though for sure lol.
I have gardeners who visit twice monthly for the front yard and they’ve been instructional and helpful with the garden. They weed it and tell me how much to water it and other care needs.
They cut my frustration and work by 75%. Highly recommend hiring gardeners.
Tempting BUT… I got clean off hard drugs a bit over a year ago so it’s kinda MY project and therapy yknow. I wanna figure it out. Still in the frustrating start up and learning phase, but even now it’s pretty fulfilling. Maybe in 15 years when my back is broken I may do that 😄
Are there any local groups or societies that you could join? Some sort of buddying up programme where you help each other out, or something.
I think this really depends on what you plant. We have blackberries (which do very well in our area) and they need no work whatsoever besides picking. We probably get a few hundred dollars worth a year.
I’ve found raised beds to be a waste of money. I’ve had better luck just amending my soil. I would look into what grows best in your area. It will be the least upkeep and most reward.
If your goal is feeding yourself and you family beyond just “having veggies from the garden sometimes”, it is fundamentally impossible for an individual to do that. The reasoning behind that is that the only reason we as a society are able to have jobs that are not “farmer” and “cook” and “someone who makes tools for farming” is that the industrial revolution has brought us mass-scale farming with tractors and reacted tools that can do in seconds what would take you hours to do.
Yea I’m def not trying to do that lol.
I got the impression that in The Walking Dead when a community gets a vegetable garden, it’s barely going to produce enough to sustain many people; they’d need more than that to fight off starvation.
It does make me wonder about the practicality of the story of The Martian, where he’s only trying to extend his time limit and does it with tons of high-calorie potatoes.
As fiction goes, it’s relatively plausible - Watney’s a good enough botanist to be selected for the space program, and in the bit of the novel/film he’s working on potatoes, he’s not doing much else, so can dedicate as much time as is necessary to get what he needs. For plot-convenience reasons, he’s in a situation where he’s got enough space, starter potatoes and existing food to make it all work, too. Andy Weir got those quantities by consulting experts rather than guessing, so they should be realistic.
Anything involving cheaping out on shoes. 100% of the time you’ll regret it.
I read that as “anything involving eating out of a shoe”. Good alternative to a bowl.
I wouldn’t say cheaping out, but definitely buy what fits. If you’re lucky it’s a cheap shoe, but if not you’re probably still better off buying what fits.
Mayo, never buy cheap mayo. My Dad used to make these breakfast sandwiches where he would scramble sausage and eggs and then mix mayo in and put on toast with cheese. They are delicious. Always mixed in the mayo in the same pan while it was still hot, but off the burner with no issues until I used cheap mayo once and I ended up with eggs and sausage swimming in oil. Like I just poured in veg oil.
To be fair, aioli is one of the easiest and cheapest condiments to make yourself, and offers so much room for creativity (if you’re into that). You don’t have to get a food processor, either. Ignore the food snobs and use a blender. Thank me later.
(Essentially: an egg, garlic, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and a light oil [I prefer olive, but others can work too]. All told, a quart of aioli will run you less than $0.20, and you can’t beat the pride that comes from knowing you made it that damn delicious.)
Socks are not “just as good” as coffee filters.
The reverse of that is also true.
Yea that’s jail house tactics lol
saving food scraps to make broth - it’s good for reducing waste, but pointless for saving money - broth cubes cost nothing and the scraps will just take up space in the freezer that could be used for better cost saving activities.
Microphones. If you want to create content of some sort and are looking to invest in audio, buying a super cheap microphone won’t get you far. There won’t be a huge difference (if any) compared to your phone mic. Buying a mid-tier microphone will serve you much longer.
A tip I got long ago was not to buy “gamer” or “business” type mics and other audio stuff. Instead, buy used music gear. You tend to get way better stuff for the money in both audio quality and durability.
I bought cheap floss once and it was awful
That old thing about washing your clothes in the shower. The washing machine is cheaper cos it uses cold water.
A cheap chair, a very used chair, or even a slighly used chair is too big a gamble. It is either go all in on a very good chair for long term expectations, or expect to have a soon battle with back pains.
Also, don’t fall for the marketing of the “gaming” chairs or any of those that look like racing seats. I had a maxnomic and it is horrible for long sitting sessions. Finally spent the money on a Herman Miller Mirra and I can sit for hours with no issues.
Herman Millers are Goated, though i will say their business practices are not the best anymore unfortunately. Though second hand, always go for it.
I think the best middle ground is refurbished. There’s a few good companies out there that do it, but I can only really attest to Crandall furniture’s quality. I bought a Steelcase Amia from them a year and a half ago and it’s made all the difference in my home office.
I have an Autonomous chair I got in 2020 after watching a JayzTwoCents vid. My wife and I both got one for about $400 or so each. I’d say it probably won’t still hold up after another 5 years but it’s miles ahead of the $90 chair it replaced. And my back still doesn’t hurt after sitting in it for 8-12 hours a day.
Ooh good stuff. I’ll need to look into that as well.
