5mo ago

frugal living

share your hottest penny pinching tips, anticonsumerist bias, environmentally dubious upcycling, or any number of ways you get dirty looks for saving every dollar you earn.

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Learn from the best Daniel Dancer, History's Biggest Cheapskate. Try fasting, it will make you energetic but your sleep schedule will get ruin
When the soap bar gets small, I wet it and add it onto the new bar so as not to waste that little piece.
- As opposed to what? Throwing it away? I though this was what everybody did 😭
Join a local mutual support network. Buy used furniture. Bike everywhere. Go vegetarian. Give mix CDs or handmade crafts as presents.
My lunch everyday is the same. 1/2 cup of quick oats mixed with hot water. Costs pennies and helped get me super fit!
- Oats are one of those things that I just get sick of after a little while.
  I'm team lentils and beans
Get rid of your car. They are insanely expensive. Not just to buy, but also taxes, insurance and other operating costs. At the same time bicycles are nearly free.
- Don't do this if you live 30 miles or more from your job though. In that case get the cheapest most reliable hunk of junk you can find.
There's a few obvious ones but my best life hack, as a dude, is regarding shaving razors and cream. Those Gillette things in the UK are damn expensive. They got like 4 razors, super fancy. And the cream too. You don't need it. I bought a massive bag of the classic razors off of Ebay and moved to the classic shaving soap. Lasts me months.
- I moved to using a safety razor and it works great. You can get blades for super cheap.
  Also, I don't need shaving cream, just hot water in my shower. That doesn't always apply to everyone though. Some people's skin/hair are different, and they need different things to shave.
  
  Safety razors have really improved my life. I moved to a area where getting any razors is a pain, and they don't last, that forced me to just buy a safety razor and blades.... So easy, lasts forever, high quality every time.
- I've been using the same set of cheap hair clippers on head and beard for almost 10 years.
  No razors, no paying for haircuts, no shaving cream, no cuts, no razor burn.
I dont have tips other than take out £70 in cash each week and see if you can live off £10 a day, excluding travel.
Work from home. It saves you a lot.
Forage for food
Grow a garden
Dried beans are an amazing value.
Buy not rent.
Learn Linux and reuse old computers. Corporations usually lease them and sell off old ones cheap.
Walk when possible.
Get multiple quotes for things.
Always haggle. I've haggled at Walmart.
Drink water if you eat out.
Moving out days are a great way to get cheap furniture. Troll apartment buildings at the end of the month and you can usually find some furniture getting thrown out. I still have some dumpster pieces that are in good condition.
Bake your own bread. It costs less, tastes better, and there are no plastic bags involved except for re-using ones you already have.
I keep wearing clothing even after it has worn holes in it.
Rice or pasta with cheap sauce and some grinded meat can sustain a person for quite a long time.
When you cut veggies those cuttings can be a broth base, which you can refrigerate as ice cubes if you boil down water content enough.
Research 2-3 meals that are easy for you to make and are tasty so that it becomes fun to cook.
If you put drop or two less of washing detergent you still will have clean clothes, so it can stretch that bottle for one or two more washings.
Cloths have natural progression from wearable outside, then wearable in home, then it becomes either cut to wiping clothes for cleaning or cover for dogs bed. I learned some rudimentary mending to be able to fix small holes or fix stretch bands in sweatpants and such.
Socks, once other one from the pair goes to Narnia, go to cleaning utensils pile.
Finding way to repurpose, reuse or upcycle stuff can save up some money.
Learning basic maintenance, and how to fix stuff song the house can save up a good bit of money, and with internet it's easy to learn.
Trying to get most of usability and life from devices is important to get right mindset. Don't consume, use brain, utilize stuff that you already have, realize that serotonin from experience of buying stuff is temporary and hollow in opposition to enjoying making things happen with limited resources.
Beginning of this year i went thru my subscriptions and cut out nearly everything.
Before going shopping i make a list of things to buy, so that i stay on track and try to speedrun whole shop thing. I rarely buy snacks and unnecessary shit now thanks to that
Being frugal for me means cutting costs of stuff that doesn't matter to me so that i can achieve my goals and splurge on experiences and things i want. Having a goal that you want to achieve helps a lot. I ask myself "is X going to help me with my goal of Y" or "is X more important than my goal Y". It helps with finding strenght to be assertive.
- Rice or pasta with cheap sauce and some grinded meat can sustain a person for quite a long time.
  Another tip is to mix ground beans (just use a blender, black beans and chick peas etc) into the minced meat as well at say 50/50
  
  Thats a cool one I gonna try out too!
- You mean you don't cut it open and scoop?
Talk to the butcher and ask if they have any offcuts, or trimmings they were going to throw away. Many butchers throw away fat, and will just give it to you for free. .

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