Irrational frugality

[RobbieB]

What you need is a teapot. One bag will make a whole pot of tea. If you don't drink all the tea you can save it in the fridge for iced or just warm it up in the micro.

[Sunset]

You can take teabags back on the plane

[robnplunder]

Sometimes, I just recite "life is too short" and buy the first one I see. Let's face it. Most of us on this board will have lots of money left around when we die. Why waste the precious time thinking about saving $1.00 unless you enjoy that sort of thing?

When I was in accumulation mode, I was frugal to a fault. Now that I am retired, I can be more generous to me and others b/c my retirement budget allows for it.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by samclem Speaking of frugality and gas: For every $100 we spend, our supermarket gives us 10 cents off per gallon of gas, but just on one fillup. The max fillup is 35 gallons. When it is time, DW and I both go in separate cars to opposite sides of the pump and do a single sale. Plus I bring my 5 gallon can. We got 34 gallons in our two cars plus the can last time. It's a bit of a hassle, but only takes about 15 minutes, and we saved $30 last time.

Kroger? We play this trick when we visit my Dad's.

[audreyh1]

There are quite a few things I will do, but only if convenient to me and easy to work into our everyday life. I will buy Amazon or iTunes gift cards when I can get a discount. I tend to track the best gas prices locally and switch between - we only fill up about every 2 weeks (or even longer!) so this is easy to time with our normal errands.

But I rarely agonize over the cheapest purchase of an item. We tend to buy the higher quality items, but not the most expensive. I sometimes chide DH for obsessing over a $5 or $10 difference for an item that is already above $100 - as what matters more is whether an item is a better match for our needs. Old habits die hard though. These things have been ingrained into us.

No coupon clipping, although we'll save and use a coupon printed at checkout if it matches what we would buy anyway. We have carte blanche to buy whatever we like grocery wise, and quality is the first concern. Then good value for good quality. Love Costco for this. HEB provides lots of good value too.

[HadEnuff]

I like pre-made hamburger patties, separated by wax paper, frozen. then I can grill up exactly the number of burgers I need. But my market upcharges their pre-mades by almost 100% over the large "Family Pack" ground meat (same % lean quality).
So I bought this little press and the wax sheets on Amazon and I press them myself. My wife thinks I'm nuts. It takes about 10 minutes to do 5 lbs.
But not only does it save a nickel, it makes it so much easier to cook burgers (one of my favorite meals).
it makes me happy.

[EastWest Gal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by samclem Speaking of frugality and gas: For every $100 we spend, our supermarket gives us 10 cents off per gallon of gas, but just on one fillup. The max fillup is 35 gallons. When it is time, DW and I both go in separate cars to opposite sides of the pump and do a single sale. Plus I bring my 5 gallon can. We got 34 gallons in our two cars plus the can last time. It's a bit of a hassle, but only takes about 15 minutes, and we saved $30 last time.

We save up our gas points for the gas guzzling van. I also started using the coupons they send us which gives us 2-4x points and other extras. From December through February this year DH spent no money on gas. My Prius doesn't use much gas anyway so our gas bill is nil. Lately their extra pints have been in junk food and baby/toddler food do we haven't been able to save as much.


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[Choices]

IRRATIONAL?
I buy paper towels maybe twice a year and guard them. The other morning I laughed out loud when DH cut the bottom from a toothpaste tube so we could use all of it! He does the same with the dogs' toothpaste of course it is 10 dollars a tube.
But, hey, you don't get to where you're sitting on a stash o' cash by throwing money away!

[friar1610]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Choices IRRATIONAL? I buy paper towels maybe twice a year and guard them. The other morning I laughed out loud when DH cut the bottom from a toothpaste tube so we could use all of it! He does the same with the dogs' toothpaste of course it is 10 dollars a tube. But, hey, you don't get to where you're sitting on a stash o' cash by throwing money away!

I do the same thing. The tube of doggie toothpaste is getting pretty empty at the moment but I can still squeeze out enough for a brushing. Once I
I can't anymore I will cut the tube open and probably get another brushing or 2.

BTW, every night after dinner when I go into the bathroom to floss my teeth (using a generic brand of floss) my dog plops himself on the floor waiting to have his teeth brushed. Since he only gets his teeth brushed evert 2 or 3 days, he's often disappointed.

Hmmm... I wonder if we could save on toothbrushes by sharing the same brush?

[kcowan]

Why are people who buy toothpaste for their dogs participating in this frugality thread? LOL

[samclem]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcowan Why are people who buy toothpaste for their dogs participating in this frugality thread? LOL

Pay to have a pooch's teeth cleaned or a tooth pulled and it all becomes very clear!

[travelover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcowan Why are people who buy toothpaste for their dogs participating in this frugality thread? LOL

I just had my dog's teeth cleaned. It cost $720. By brushing, it greatly reduces the need for cleaning.


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[kaneohe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Choices IRRATIONAL? ................ The other morning I laughed out loud when DH cut the bottom from a toothpaste tube so we could use all of it! He does the same with the dogs' toothpaste of course it is 10 dollars a tube. .......................

That's a great idea! I had recently noticed how much I could squeeze from one of those small travel tubes.....because the top part is much flimsier than a normal size tube. I had contemplated using pliers on the normal tube but the cutting the end off sounds better.........unless the oozing then goes to waste.

[GreatLaker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Choices IRRATIONAL? The other morning I laughed out loud when DH cut the bottom from a toothpaste tube so we could use all of it!

Oh my have I been doing this wrong?

I hold the bottom of the tube against the edge of the counter, then drag it toward the top, forcing all the paste up to the opening. Less mess than cutting it open.

Like a no-cost version of these gizmos:



Time for a test to see which method extracts the most toothpaste from the tube.

[sengsational]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjquantz All the time! My thoughts are that as long as the problem can be reduced to an objective measure (pennies per square foot), then THERE IS A RIGHT ANSWER.

Quote:

Originally Posted by spncity All justified by saving in the big bucks categories of... 2. Being married to an expert "fixer"

I'm the fixer around here, probably because I irrationally want to get more mileage out of things I should just throw-out!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERD50 And if you apply that logic to cheap toilet paper, they are all roughly the same!

I read 8 pages on irrational frugality, RO water tanks, regular in high-test cars, but this made it worth it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mulligan I wanted to take a year off from this annual PIA.

I did the annual PIA and caved a bit too, but only because I expect Google fiber to be here shortly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunset so the sudden devalue means I must rebalance my stamps

Quote:

Originally Posted by traineeinvestor I dislike being ripped off in principle more than I feel the loss of a few dollars here and there.

This last one is the one I identify with the most. Luckily DW does all of the grocery shopping, but I often catch myself spending very many minutes to optimize an online purchase to the tune of $1 on a $30 order or something. If one liked to shop, then it's nothing...you're having fun. But for me it's not fun, so I have to remind myself I can afford the difference, and go ahead and click "buy".

[Options]

Frugality is an excellent lifelong habit. It builds an excellent "margin of safety" into any portfolio while increasing optionality throughout life. Sometimes Many times, it's a series of bad decisions over time that do us in. Luck plays a much larger role in life than we are led to believe and optionality is one way to prepare for bad luck (particularly those times when we come *this* close to disaster during a life event).

Having the wrong relationship with spending throughout life can lead to regret later, even in retirement. Running out of money in retirement because of failure to account properly for longevity risk is only one of those regrets:

https://retirementresearcher.com/lon...t-live-hit-65/

https://retirementresearcher.com/thr..._hsmi=33622832

Quote:

What is the underlying population for which mortality and survivorship is being calculated? It may seem natural to base calculations on the aggregate U.S. population—as is done with the Social Security Administration life tables—but clear socioeconomic differences have been identified in mortality rates. Higher income levels and more education both correlate with longer lifespans. This may not be a matter of causation (i.e., more income and education cause people to live longer), but perhaps some underlying personality trait leads some people to have a more long-term focus, and that in turn may lead them to seek more education and practice better health habits. The very fact that you are reading this somewhat technical tome on retirement income suggests you probably have a longer-term focus and can expect to live longer than the average person. In this case, mortality data based on population-wide averages will underestimate your longevity.

Emphasis added

[jonat]

I agree - a lot of people aren't FI on retirement because they've been encouraged to spend all their money as it comes in. This includes people buying way more house or car than they can afford, taking frequent expensive vacations without sufficient savings, etc.

Frugality is part of living below one's means long enough that when you need the money later you have it. It doesn't have to mean reusing dryer sheets (though that's certainly an option), but that mindset is the right one.

[cyber888]

I know a gal once who was so poor that there were times she could not afford to buy toilet paper. So I said -what did u do? she said she and her Mom would go to public toilet or toilet in supermarket and get free toilet paper available there. That's frugality and toilet paper for u.


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[HadEnuff]

And who can forget this classic Super Bowl ad?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qpZz570Y_I

[Going Sailing]

We sailed into Monterey once. We were there for a few days, rented a car, drove around. My wife was thrilled. She found roadside artichokes that were 12 for a dollar. "They were less than a dime each!" She wasn't thrilled when I pointed that rental car was $73 making the effective price of the artichokes more than $6 each...