“From Savings to Snafus: 69 Cost-Cutting Decisions That Went Horribly Wrong!”
No matter how much we were carrying or how bad the weather, I never wanted to spend money on the bus, even though it was less than $2 a ride. Sometimes I would give all the groceries to my boyfriend and put him on a bus by himself, and then I would walk home.
I spent pretty much all my downtime scouring circulars, coupon websites, and sorting my coupons. What started as a fun, frugal hobby turned into an obsession, to the point where I refused to buy basic things (milk, toilet paper, scouring pads) unless I knew I was getting an unbeatable deal.
My boyfriend was wonderfully patient with me, even though he hated it, at least in part because our weekly grocery bills were only $20 to $30 for the two of us, and often less than that. But we’d have like eight tubs of cream cheese, a carton of tomato paste, two dozen paper towels, etc. in our tiny one bedroom apartment.
I didn’t care at all about nutritional value, either. Oh, and I was *that person* who would get into shouting matches with staff if the store wouldn’t accept my coupon.
I kept going even after we became financially stable. It was never so bad that I had to pinch pennies to that extent to begin with.
The last year or so, I’ve been prioritizing healthy eating, which means I’ve almost completely tapered off couponing.
I guess if I had to do it over, I’d spend an extra $20 a week and buy ingredients for nutritious, frugal meals, instead of spending so much freaking time couponing and eating cheap processed c**p for 2+ years.
My main thing is that you skimp on the daily things so you can buy experiences with it. How much does that diet coke that costs $1.50 from the vending machine actually increase your enjoyment out of life? Not much. But that $100 you saved over three months because you didn’t continually buy stupid things can be used for 2-3 days in a hotel.
I think a motto for frugal should be “experiences > stuff.” That’s the way I look at it.
I moved to a new place and didn’t have bowls, plates, and utensils. I had some friends who had extra and we just needed to meet up and I could pick them up. Our schedules don’t mesh and it takes a couple weeks before I can meet up with them. In the meantime I’m heating food in my pyrex measuring cup and using my measuring spoons as utensils.
Being able to eat out of a proper bowl and use a proper spoon was awesome. I should have just spent $20 and gone to Target to pick up some bowls, plates and utensils. I found out where the line crossed from being frugal to cheap was for me.
I’ve been saving 40-50% over the last couple of years, pretty happy with it, and I easily have enough money to do something special for my mother who is getting older (she’s always wanted to go to Italy) without really making much of a dent in my savings. So I’ve committed to traveling with her next year for a few weeks so she can do that (and paying for both of us), but I’m so used to being very careful with money that I’m feeling huge anxiety about the expenses constantly, even though I can actually afford it. I don’t know if it’s a hangover from growing up not wealthy and having to be careful or what, but I really need to learn to relax and enjoy some big things when they are worth it :/.
I had these moments watching my parents. Both my parents are immigrants from Latin America to the USA. They had to be frugal to survive, and I am frugal as a result of watching them save up and, in fairness, do a lot of clever and cool tricks to save money. But I also learned not to take things too far like they did at times.
When my parents moved from one house to another when I was in college, I came back home to help them move. I knew it was going to be bad, as they were semi-hoarders, but nothing could prepare me for how bad it was. My mother had a spare refrigerator she got for free somehow in the basement. I never opened the fridge much, but I did use the freezer to store fish that I would catch out fishing and give to my parents.
Anyhow, I can’t even recall all the contents of that damn basement fridge that I forced my mother to throw away. Jars and jars of jam and Miracle Whip she bought on clearance that were years past their date. Jars of old tea she didn’t want to throw away so were “saved” for later–and forgotten. The worst part I will never forget was jar after jar after jar of pickle or jalapeno juice. That’s right–old a*s brine. After my parents would finish either a jar of pickles or jalapenos, they would save the brine in jars. I asked my mother again and again why they would do this, and she either pretended not to hear me or would just tell me to shut up.
I have lots more stories, but this is the first one that popped into my head that sums up what absurd lengths my parents would go to save things and be cheap.
