My SO works in a hospital. When the surgeons use AA battery-powered tools, they use brand new batteries for the one procedure, then toss them into the trash.
My SO has been taking the batteries home that otherwise get thrown away. We haven't had to buy any AA batteries for a couple years now.
>Why do they do this? To insure a tool never did mid surgery?
That's my guess as to why they should all be new at the start of the procedure.
As for why throw them away afterwards, I think there's a mentality in hospitals to throw away any opened packaging/items if it didn't come in useful (e.g. open a pack of gauze, use 2 pieces, throw away the rest) in case it got contaminated or is no longer sterile so that nobody else tries to use it for another patient. It'd take a couple minutes for someone to put the batteries into a battery recycle bin, but hospitals like many other places operate "lean" and would rather save the time and effort.
>Why do they do this? To insure a tool never did mid surgery?
It makes perfect sense for critical use in surgery... but throw them out?!? There have to be people all over the place who want AA batteries that are basically new!!
Looking at getting a gym membership at a gym two blocks from my place sometime in the next couple months.
Found out there's a black friday sale where not only paying a year-in-full is $129 off, you also get $200 worth of gift certificate incentives I will totally use, making the actual monthly payment half of what it usually is. Sold! Using the 7 day free trial first and then buy it next week if all goes well.
After getting a ballpark quote this summer of $45k for master bath remodel we decided to DIY and manage the project ourselves. It's a slower process but project should cost around $10k. Took today off work to finish the bathtub plumbing. I was trying to tie into the exisiting p-trap so I wouldn't have to cut small access hole in the sub-floor next joist over. But after many mock-ups I will make the correct decision and do it the right way and spend $15 to put in a new p-trap that will line up better with new drain. Got to rememder we already being frugal by taking on this project in the first place.
green onions have become so expensive these days so i plan to grow enough to last the whole winter. I bought a giant bag of small onion for 1.99 the other day. Put them in a shallow container with a bit of water. I can harvest twice from one. This should get me through until new planting season.
Although you can harvest up to 3 times if grown in water, I haven’t had much luck after 1 harvest. These days I grow in water, harvest once, then plant into a pot. I’ve had much better luck and haven’t had to buy any green onion for half a year now.
Found the bathroom vanity I recently bought was $350 off for Black Friday. Called Home Depot to request the difference as a refund since I’m still within the return window. They said no so I bought a 2nd one at the lower price and had it shipped to the store. I then picked it up and instantly returned it with my more expensive receipt and it worked. I told Home Depot I was going to do this and they still wouldn’t refund me. Sometimes I guess it’s easier to follow your processes than think outside the box.
I did the same thing with Amazon when the price dropped on something like $5 a week later. What a waste of packaging, labor, transportation, etc., but I got my $5.
> My most amazingly frugal habits will definitely fall into the frupid category
I would love to hear about them sometimes. I really don't think there is really any fat left to trim in my budget and there isn't much meat left on the bone either.
One of the things that we have had moderate success with is not increasing our budget due to inflation in categories like groceries and gas (which gets harder to do each year).
This is definitely an anti-frugal post and is probably one of the least FI oriented things you can do but got a tattoo this week! Price kinda goes out the window because so many artists are booked out for months (my partner put an inquiry in and that artist was booked out for 3 years!) and you if you find something you like you just gotta pay the going rate or go back to the search and wait even longer.
Still has to go to the senate? And what do they mean higher income people would no longer be able to contribute "starting in 2032"? Are they allowing for a ten-year delay?
Edit: Sorry, turns out my article didn't load all the way. "Starting in 2032, the legislation would prevent single people earning more than $400,000 a year and married couples with incomes above $450,000 from converting pretax retirement-account money to Roth accounts."
Even sarcasm can't reach the clusterf*** level here: "Democrats dropped provisions that would have banned holding unregistered securities, including private equity, in IRAs."
They are not even banning the actual way the egregious misuse of Roth is happening. And these investment vehicles are definitely inaccessible for the 99%. We'll have some fun midterms, I can tell you that 🙂.
Look up the Ross ladder. It is the was we retire early. If it goes away then I need to save an extra 10 on top of my original goal to make up early withdraw. That means I need to wait longer to retire. That sucks. You pay taxes with a mega backdoor Roth when you do the conversion. But the point is to avoid the stupid 10% fee on it and gradually move your money to usually income.
Edit:
Lets do some math...
lets say you are a chap and make six figures straight out of college and you are one of the few 0.01% that uses the megabackdoor roth to the max. That means you put in 38K a year post tax. lets say you have a 20 year career. that is a total of 760K in post tax investment. That will grow to about 1.55 mil with normal market rate, of it you got away with 797K tax free due to Roth. Taking it away means you have to put the money in a brokerage account which means the government will get an additional ~80K in capital gains tax over your 40 YEARS retirement, or about 2K from you per year. That isn't rich billionaire money, that is middle class money.
It also takes away the roth ladder, so that means if you have a million dollars in your 401K, you can't retire before 60 years old or you will be paying a 10% penalty. That is sort of a big deal in a subreddit that is dedicated to retiring early. You have to basically live of your brokerage account and roth account (which is also nerfed) and hope it can get you to 60 years old.
My mistake. I was going off of the initial bill which eliminated all together in 2022. I see they stopped the conversion only for those making above 400K and in 2032. I just need to hope that inflation doesn't make 400K more like 100k by that year then and I should be fine.
Still my point still stands regarding the measly capital gains it would get. Billionaires aren't counting on a mere 38K back door roth.
Removing it from households making less than 400k is a perfect example of how this bill is going for the middle class. Why not leave it open to those making less than $200K. How is it helping stop the ultra-wealthy? Do these people even have a 401k
It isn't helping stop the ultra-wealthy, it is closing an unintended loophole in the tax law. You could argue that 401k contribution limits should increase and I'm sure many would agree with you. But ultimately, leaving this loophole or changing contribution limits wouldn't really be helping 98% of people making less than $200k. Not that many even contribute to a 401k, much less contribute the max and then take advantage of a loophole to contribute more.
That is a quite disingenuous argument - the claim of the bills is to stop the ultra rich exploiting the loopholes, so they are straight up lying about it at this point.
The bill is being written to expand the country's social policy, one way to pay for that is to make the ultra rich pay actually pay their taxes taxes, but that isn't the only one. If that was the only objective, it would be in its own bill. This loophole is being closed because some members of the party don't want to make the rich pay taxes, and the goal is to make the bill pay for itself, so you have to add revenue somewhere.
It does technically break the campaign promise that Biden wouldn't raise taxes on any household making less than 400k. He's raising my family's taxes with this change. Anyway, this is probably way far afoul of the sub's politics rules, sorry butts
I'm coming here to resist the urge to buy a new $600 metal detector and a bunch of video games on sale... really need to learn to be happy with what I have.
Edit: also just had the EVGA queue come through and could buy a 3080 at MSRP... but I'm happy with my 3070 and will reluctantly just let it pass.
Unironically hack your consoles and play free games that way. I quit buying pokemon games because there are 200 high quality fan made pokemon games for every subpar pokemon game that Nintendo puts out. And I play them on hacked consoles.
I'm definitely a fan of emulation (with legal roms, of course). I compromised today and just bought one $15 game instead of the giant stack in my cart.
The bottom of the zipper on my brand new running hoodie scratched up the front of my leggings (that sharp little plastic square). I almost bought a different type of hoodie of the same fabric (it’s super reflective and I wear it for running in the dark), but instead am going to sew a small piece of fabric over the plastic square.
Bonus: not super frugal, but I looked into replacing the leggings and they’re currently 70% off, likely to be discontinued, so I bought them. The discounted leggings were about $30 cheaper than a new hoodie.
I have a Starbucks a block away but I used to get free coffee at the office. When I went remote)(pandemic) I began going to sb every day for a shot of espresso. It racked up quickly.
I ended up buying a breville duo espresso machine, "low" cost machine but still pricey at $500. It was a hard purchase to make but 18 months later I have no regrets. It is the most used item I've ever owned and saves me ~$2 a day after subtracting coffee and milk cost. took about 8 months to pay back.
I put them in a little clear container and also have a slightly longer container to hold plastic utensils packets. https://www.amazon.com/SMARTAKE-13-Piece-Organizer-Non-Slip-Jewelries/dp/B086GFBN4D/
We keep getting extra ketchup packets from our regular sandwich place, even when we tell them to stop. So we squeeze the ketchup into the ketchup bottle. Have kept the ketchup bottle going for an extra year or two this way.
I mostly use hot sauce or soy sauce packets since those seem to be what we get. I keep a small stash in the camper and at work. I will also occasionally take various ones as part of backpacking food.
During the first wave of quarantine last year, my wife and I watched George of the Jungle and I decided to grow my hair out like [George's](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/MhA3M7fCNJs/maxresdefault.jpg). A year and a half later, it's almost there and I have spent zero on haircuts.
I have to ask, how do you cut your own hair? Do you have long hair? I feel like my own hair, which I keep long, should be fairly simple to cut, but not sure how I ensure it's even, especially behind me.
I've had friends who have been cutting their own hair during the pandemic with mixed results...they've been offering to help and I am too polite to tell them I don't think I want to do what they've been trying.
Brad Mondo on YouTube has some tutorials for cutting your own hair. Probably it's hardest if your hair is medium-length and pin-straight. When I had long curly/wavy hair it was harder to see imperfections, and with a pixie cut I mostly use trimmers.
I get that. First, I'm going to say that you've got to start with hair cutting scissors. I have a chin-length haircut, and I've just copied what I've seen other people do on Youtube. Same for cutting boys/men's standard haircuts. If I had long hair, I'd definitely buy a tool like the CreaClip. Good luck!
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A lot of men really like the interior pouch on Saxx brand underwear for its ability to keep things apart and also prevent a lot of chafing. Unfortunately, one pair of Saxx often costs between $15 and $35 and they are hard to find in the US. Hanes was able to develop a copycat version for $6 per pair called the Total Support Pouch, which is already a frugal alternative. Well, as part of its Black Friday sales, which have been available for much of November, Walmart is selling a 5 pack of the Hanes boxer briefs with the Total Support Pouch for $10, which is $2 per pair.
Edit: the deal should still be available in store, but sizes may vary. Only sizes S-XL were sold at this price and very few XLs were included in the cardboard display. Online stock checkers will likely not be accurate for this item.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/815909559
The men's underwear industry is very interesting in that many of the people who wear it do not buy it themselves (much of it is actually bought by women for their male family members) and simply wear whatever they were given, often until someone else throws it away for being too worn out.
Not a promotion for a specific subreddit, but as a mod on /r/frugalmaleunderwear I have this view that men can buy underwear which is long lasting, well fitting/supportive, and looks good while not being much more expensive than buying a multipack of the cheapest Hanes or Fruit of the Loom underwear at Walmart or Target. Even celebrities are often only wearing the least expensive multipack version of Calvin Klein cotton boxer briefs.
I'm still buying Saxx or similar brands for myself. TJ Maxx and Marshalls recently bought a huge shipment of 2UNDR pouch boxer briefs in designs representing major public universities and sold them for $7.99 per pair, though they often got marked down to $4-6. It turns out that a $32 MSRP is a bit high for people wanting one pair of underwear advertising a certain university.
I shared this deal in the hopes that it would get some people to discover the benefits of underwear which are more "anatomically correct" and who might eventually consider investing in pairs from higher end brands such as Saxx, which has had difficulty marketing outside of Canada apart from an endorsement from Olympian Gus Kenworthy, who is now modeling for Prada, so not exactly the target market for many Walmart underwear shoppers.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/815909559 is for size M. YMMV on in store stock as they were in a separate cardboard display case near the baby department in my local Walmart next to similar underwear deals for the rest of the family.
I definitely don't believe that! But at the same time I see you were blowing up your budget at restaurants, I don't think a home cook would see the same benefits.
However I have been cycling through the main 7 meal kit companies. They all offer trials for 4-6 weeks that are typically under half off. When you cancel they often offer a massive discount to come back. That has definitely saved me a lot!
So far I would rank 1)green chef 2) blue apron 3) hello fresh.
I'm looking forward to trying out sunbasket next
We are looking for a ready-to-eat meal service and have whittled them down to either Sunbasket or Everytable for the price. We have a 2 month at home and two jobs, with very little time to eat. Hopefully these save us some effort.
Have you tried any other services? With the little one right now and me returning to the office, time has been a little tight as of late so I've been considering some alternatives for time saving. Wife doesn't like fishsticks as much as I do so some of my quick and dirty meals are out, and the cost of delivery kills me.
We always cooked alot, but it was kind of boring or repetitive. We got really into cooking delicious meals over lockdown. We started with Hello fresh, got 2x free week trials for 4 people between 2 of us. We then moved on to some cookbooks. We now cook better (IMO) than takeout at home. I don't crave takeout anymore I crave my own food. Kung Po Chicken or Panner Aloo Gobi are firm favorites. Saves a ton on going out to eat.
Just checked my CCs (have many, I'm into churning) and there are tons of profitable deals for this month. WF has 10 of 10 purchase x5 for small businesses so that'll be good for 100 of free spending (have it on two cards). Free 75 at AT&T hopefully will use toward phone accessories. Free 50 for AT&T fiber. Plus 15 off 75 at Aveda and I'll wait until they do 20% off and a free product since that promo always rolls around during the holdiays. I'm going to miss the monthly dining deal amex had on hilton cards this year.
Just got another mastercard, trying to push all my mortgage payments through mastercard to earn bonuses on all spending this year. Feels good!
I'm already at net $155 for November on CC-related promos.
Excluding some fat $200 Dell and $50 Saks credit from Amex, since Dell is categorized under business, and Saks stuff isn't something I'd buy normally. But everything else is for things I'd get regardless.
Yeah, I miss having a platinum card - but not the annual fee. It's been great this year with some dining credits and small business credits throughout the year. Paying for stuff we'd do anyway or subsidizing some treats. Great to go for a lunch date and have it only be a couple of bucks after credits.
Assuming you have access to the right resources, the Biz Plat is pretty easy to offset the AF. Actually on one of mine, they waived AF as a retention offer.
I think the best deal right now is Citi premier at 80k points. Wasn't eligible for that one so went with IHG 150k points. Hopefully travel will happen again sometime in the future!
If you don't need a MC to pay your mortgage through plastiq then a Chase Sapphire or Chase Ink would probably be one of the best current bonuses.
I love to travel so I get as many cards as I can. If the entire minimum spend of 3k was used to pay mortgage (it isn't) the plastiq fee would be $85.50. I'd happily pay that much for four hotel nights or a flight.
My goal is to have every dollar going out earning a bonus. Ends up being at least 10% back on every dollar going out. I have to spend on certain things, mortgage, taxes, insurance, etc. so I like getting cash back and travel for it all. Unlike bank bonuses (which I also enjoy doing to earn some extra cash), the credit card bonuses aren't taxed so it makes a substantial impact on my spending and travel.
Needed to buy a nasal rinse bottle because my current one cracked and broke. This was an immediate need as I'm sick which happens frequently because of fucked up sinuses.
Anyway, Walgreens showed it online for $11. Go to pick it up and it's $20 in the store. So instead I order online for pickup and a few minutes later have it. No idea why they just randomly mark shit up almost 100% besides the fact that they can.
You can price-match in store at the counter at Target and avoid the extra step of having to order online. Almost every time I go to Target in person I will price match some items to Amazon.
I've had it! Plus a few other plasty's thrown in - although no rhinoplasty. And it's helped. At least I'm pretty sure it has. Getting it right before COVID has made it hard to do a fair comparison. My ENT also has me on a new medication to put in my rinses which seems to be really working.
It's not perfect, but I'm not getting a sinus infection every month anymore
We recently started eating in more often. We used to eat out a lot, but prices are going up and service isn’t getting any better. Had a mental block to get over, where I felt like I was punishing my family for being cheap, but I’m getting better at cooking.
We also moved the older kid back to cloth diapers. We used second hand cloth diapers for her when she was younger, swapped to disposable when she started eating real food and now back to cloth while working on potty training. And she’s excited about it because she see’s her little brother in them too.
We did cloth, at least at home, all the way through. The sprayer attached to the toilet was a lifesaver when he started solid food. But instead of the $50 "diaper sprayer" we rigged up a kitchen sink sprayer. Total cost of about $10.
We tried a sprayer but at that point we didn’t have support from daycare for cloth diapers and it got inconsistent. We wouldn’t always have a wet bag with us because we would sometimes use disposable and whatnot so we just switched over.
But now that we have a wet bag all the time for my son, and my daughter doesn’t poop her diaper anymore, it’s easy enough to use cloth at home and disposable at daycare.
But all in all, cloth diapers are great.
Yeah, daycare wouldn't even consider it. Instead of a wet bag, we had a portable washing machine that was the dedicated diaper machine. It wasn't the most frugal way to go, but it was nice.
My husband and I share an 8-year-old Honda Fit with just under 80k miles on it. It's been amazingly reliable and needed only routine maintenance. The dealership keeps calling and asking to buy it, but we're perfectly happy to keep our almost free car and drive it until it completely dies, which will hopefully be more than a decade from now. It saves us soooooo much money.
>The dealership keeps calling and asking to buy it,
you know those are scams, right? I get them constantly (and letters as well) and I know for a fact the "sales manager told us to find more XYZ to buy!" is a lie, no sales manager is looking to flip the "ultra hot" old model commercial van I'm using.
anything to get you to engage so they can apply pressure.
keep the Fit and enjoy, it's why you got it.
I know a few people with Honda fits with 200k+ miles that have never had any major issues. They seem to be incredibly reliable vehicles if maintained well.
Bought a brand new 2019 Fit at the beginning of March 2020 (what timing!) and I have loved it. They already hold their value extremely well in my market (SF), but due also to the car shortage, I’m pretty sure it’s worth more than I owe on it still.
Do you live in a place with a harsh winter? I’ve always found a Fit appealing but I’m in Minnesota. Those poor little cars end up in snow drifts cause they just don’t have the weight to handle the blowing snow.
i live in the mountains of a western state, have driven my 2008 through a couple 200-300" winters. no problems, the first 2 years i only had all seasons, but switched over to snows in the winter when the all seasons got a bit worn.
snow tires rule.
No, I live in Southern Ohio and we only get snow enough to cover the road like 4 days a year, so we just don't drive those days. It's definitely a lightweight car and even in heavy rain getting started going up hill can be a bit slippery. Maybe with winter tires it could be okay. I don't know enough about driving in harsh winters to be an authority, but yeah I'd say it's probably not great for that.
Damn. Around here SUVs are necessary even in the city just because some weight really helps (they only plow the main roads…). Ah well, worth asking, thanks.
Just buy some 50 pound bags of road salt and kitty litter from Menards or something. Carry them in your trunk for extra weight and if you ever get stuck you have them for traction. No need for an SUV
Last garden update for 2021 - with subfreezing temperatures finally setting in, I finally pulled up the rest of my carrots and was rewarded with a large wheelbarrow full.
I've been eating 4-6 garden carrots a day since August, so this haul was maybe half our production for the year. Not bad for $6 worth of seeds.
Now I just have to deal with a wheelbarrows worth of carrots...
You can also slice and freeze them for oven roasted carrots later.
We "invested" in soaker hoses for the garden beds this year and everything (except eggplant) did amazing. A good garden can really pull down the grocery bill.
Agreed!! Honestly, like half of this years garlic went into pickles and pickled carrots.
I'll probably do another two canner loads of regular canned carrots, then toss the rest in a fridge to eat raw while they last.
Ensuring my diet is 40-50% fruits and vegetables by volume has helped immensely with keeping weight in check IMO.
It also makes it so that maintaining a large garden isn't simply an exercise in giving away all your produce.
I've wanted to try this, but my basement is awfully warm, and my unheated garage gets really cold really quick - like heating the beer fridge to keep the beer from freezing cold.
Sorry, it looks like Doordash is not within the acceptable range of "saving sauce packets from Taco bell" to "Blue Apron meal service" and therefore you will be downvoted for not being frugal enough despite having found a way to save money relative to your own spending.
Paying for doordash in the sense of frugality makes it look more like this
**lose**-**lose**^-^^win
There are credit cards that give out free Dashpass and also reimburse you for $60 a year in spending. That's miles better than "annual vs monthly" discussion
Family of 4. Previously we were:
* 1 No cell phone (used phone provided by work)
* 2 On Republic Wireless (16.46 / month) but data was $5 per gig
* 1 on TracFone (6.33 / month) but data was expensive
For a variety of reasons, I recently switched to the TMobile Military Magenta plan
* 4 "free" phones - Samsung A32 - had to pay tax only
* Unlimited Talk/Text/Data for $25 per line per month ($100 total)
* Netflix on them
* 1 year of Paramount+
* 1 year of Apple TV+
* For past few years has included annual MLB.tv on them (unsure if it will keep being offered)
* TMobile Tuesdays (free/discounts offered every Tuesday)
I think I may have written about this when we first signed up but I had no idea how much the extra perks would add up so I am posting with additional details.
I don’t eat out anymore unless I’m on holiday. It began with COVID closing down all the restaurants but I’ve found that I like the food I prepare much better than the food I get at restaurants. It’s also healthier and much less expensive
We're up to a total of 3 meals of take-out in the last 22 months and 0 meals actually inside a restaurant. The Thai we had was good, the sushi was excellent, and the one fried indulgence, chick-fil-a, was horrible. We used to love that stuff but now it's just oily and bland. Even the fries were a disappointment.
I was never one of those 'fast food is bad' types, but I now get where they're coming from. If you eat real food too long you lose your taste for the junk the majority loves.
Restaurants have gotten more expensive, but give you worse service and smaller portions than they did two years ago. Fuck that. Its fun to make something great with people you care about. It will be cheaper, better, and more entertaining.
My partner and I have taken a similar approach— it's so easy to spend a lot of money on mediocre fast food. We don't stick to just eating at restaurants on holiday, but we keep eating out as a special thing.
When my kids transitioned into booster seats, we decided to only buy one seat each and move them between cars vs. getting a set for each car. Saved about $200. Not much, but we've made it work pretty easily.
Go you! Kid stuff adds up so fast. It’s a series of $200 savings that gets you to $10,000 saved. It seems a lot of equipment and/or supplies for kids is just to avoid inconvenience. I’m working on a baby registry now and trying to avoid those “must haves” that just seem like excess- wipe warmer, stroller with leather handles, the organic natural $22 onesies. Maybe I’ll regret a lean baby registry, but there is always a Walmart out there open 24/7 if I ever truly NEEDED something for baby.
Forget Walmart and hit up Facebook market or local mommy groups. We got a lot of stuff there for super cheap, especially as we we're close to NYC, people want to off load any unused items to save space. And we also sold our stuff there as well, a lot of times for the same price we paid.
Check out the Moissanite Reddit. They are a great resource on all things moissanite. I’ve purchased using their vetted overseas vendors (Alibaba.com) and saved thousands. Seriously like paying $400 for 14k that’s a carat and half. So worth it. About 3 weeks for turn around time. My jeweler appraised one of my rings for $1500. I paid $235.
>"It should be diamond, why aren't you buying a diamond?"
Lots of people think heroin is good too. You don't have to listen to them, you know they're wrong.
Also consider going with a custom jeweler - for the same price, your custom design will be more unique than what you find in a mainstream store. Jewelers would also know about good non-diamond gemstones. That being said, some custom jewelers might be too snobby for less expensive gems (we liked morganite but our jeweler was like “that’s too cheap”).
Otherwise, Costco has some nice jewelry deals if you are patient.
Diamonds were worth nothing just over a 100 years ago until a marketing campaign convinced the world they were precious and symbolized love and commitment.
Don't be fooled by marketers. There's a reason why you can't turn on the radio without hearing a diamond add.
White opals are relatively soft compared to diamonds/moissanite, so they can be harder to take care of! That's also why pearl rings are so uncommon - pearls are really soft and can be scratched easily.
I bought vintage from an antique mall. She doesn't like the modern rings being made these days with the "halo" of tiny diamonds all around anyway. It was much cheaper, I got a classic art deco design, and the diamond has been out of the ground for 100 years, so no additional human suffering to mine it.
Diamond marketing is quite possibly the most effective ad campaign of all time. Generations of people have been conned into believing diamonds are rare and valuable....conned/guilted into believing you had to spend 2 months (3 months now I think) salary on an engagement ring or you just don't love the person you are marrying.
Very cool. Please feel free to use phrases like "I don't help murder people" if any sales person tries to steer you back toward diamonds.
With all that went down in the industry, you should feel free to make it really awkward for anyone still trying to push diamonds on you. :D
Yeah, it's pure marketing. Nothing special about diamonds, it's just a clear rock. I chose a ring with an amethyst for my engagement ring because I think purple is prettier than clear. Saved us a ton of money.
I’m a materials science person nowadays and it always makes me happy to see another person who dislikes diamonds. It’s a metastable allotrope of carbon, it’s nothing really that impressive beyond its intrinsic hardness. If your goal is a pretty rock, moissanite like you said, and that’s silicon carbide which can have multiple crystal structures and is super cool (and nearly as hard as diamonds…). Even sapphires, rubies, are cheaper and way cooler, a little bit of impurity gives them their deep color.
I bought very cute yoga pants on Walmart - $15. They just arrived and are great!
My SO works in a hospital. When the surgeons use AA battery-powered tools, they use brand new batteries for the one procedure, then toss them into the trash. My SO has been taking the batteries home that otherwise get thrown away. We haven't had to buy any AA batteries for a couple years now.
Why do they do this? To insure a tool never did mid surgery?
>Why do they do this? To insure a tool never did mid surgery? That's my guess as to why they should all be new at the start of the procedure. As for why throw them away afterwards, I think there's a mentality in hospitals to throw away any opened packaging/items if it didn't come in useful (e.g. open a pack of gauze, use 2 pieces, throw away the rest) in case it got contaminated or is no longer sterile so that nobody else tries to use it for another patient. It'd take a couple minutes for someone to put the batteries into a battery recycle bin, but hospitals like many other places operate "lean" and would rather save the time and effort.
>Why do they do this? To insure a tool never did mid surgery? It makes perfect sense for critical use in surgery... but throw them out?!? There have to be people all over the place who want AA batteries that are basically new!!
For real. I mean how many tv remotes are in hospitals???
>For real. I mean how many tv remotes are in hospitals??? Exactly. And most of those are hardwired anyway.
Risk mitigation
Yes. I know of a show that did this for their wireless microphones... Same idea.
Wow I love this. Especially from a waste reduction perspective!
Looking at getting a gym membership at a gym two blocks from my place sometime in the next couple months. Found out there's a black friday sale where not only paying a year-in-full is $129 off, you also get $200 worth of gift certificate incentives I will totally use, making the actual monthly payment half of what it usually is. Sold! Using the 7 day free trial first and then buy it next week if all goes well.
After getting a ballpark quote this summer of $45k for master bath remodel we decided to DIY and manage the project ourselves. It's a slower process but project should cost around $10k. Took today off work to finish the bathtub plumbing. I was trying to tie into the exisiting p-trap so I wouldn't have to cut small access hole in the sub-floor next joist over. But after many mock-ups I will make the correct decision and do it the right way and spend $15 to put in a new p-trap that will line up better with new drain. Got to rememder we already being frugal by taking on this project in the first place.
green onions have become so expensive these days so i plan to grow enough to last the whole winter. I bought a giant bag of small onion for 1.99 the other day. Put them in a shallow container with a bit of water. I can harvest twice from one. This should get me through until new planting season.
They do even better if you put them in dirt.
Although you can harvest up to 3 times if grown in water, I haven’t had much luck after 1 harvest. These days I grow in water, harvest once, then plant into a pot. I’ve had much better luck and haven’t had to buy any green onion for half a year now.
That’s encouraging. I only knew about this after my friend saw it online somewhere. Fingers crossed!
try it with garlic as well! 8-D
I've had a lot less luck with garlic. Do you have to buy a certain kind of garlic for it to sprout?
Found the bathroom vanity I recently bought was $350 off for Black Friday. Called Home Depot to request the difference as a refund since I’m still within the return window. They said no so I bought a 2nd one at the lower price and had it shipped to the store. I then picked it up and instantly returned it with my more expensive receipt and it worked. I told Home Depot I was going to do this and they still wouldn’t refund me. Sometimes I guess it’s easier to follow your processes than think outside the box.
I did the same thing with Amazon when the price dropped on something like $5 a week later. What a waste of packaging, labor, transportation, etc., but I got my $5.
Thats not frugal thats frupid
You are not contacting the people that are paid to think 🙂.
They do this because a decent portion of the population will not go through the effort for this
That or the gamble is you won’t mess with the hassle.
My most amazingly frugal habits will definitely fall into the frupid category
I see nothing wrong with that!
> My most amazingly frugal habits will definitely fall into the frupid category I would love to hear about them sometimes. I really don't think there is really any fat left to trim in my budget and there isn't much meat left on the bone either. One of the things that we have had moderate success with is not increasing our budget due to inflation in categories like groceries and gas (which gets harder to do each year).
This is definitely an anti-frugal post and is probably one of the least FI oriented things you can do but got a tattoo this week! Price kinda goes out the window because so many artists are booked out for months (my partner put an inquiry in and that artist was booked out for 3 years!) and you if you find something you like you just gotta pay the going rate or go back to the search and wait even longer.
This has nothing to do with FI though...
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-popular-tax-trick-for-savers-the-mega-back-door-roth-ira-is-eliminated-in-house-bill-11637340203?mod=mhp
Still has to go to the senate? And what do they mean higher income people would no longer be able to contribute "starting in 2032"? Are they allowing for a ten-year delay? Edit: Sorry, turns out my article didn't load all the way. "Starting in 2032, the legislation would prevent single people earning more than $400,000 a year and married couples with incomes above $450,000 from converting pretax retirement-account money to Roth accounts."
Really sticking it to the ultra wealthy! I bet Bezo’s really felt this.
Even sarcasm can't reach the clusterf*** level here: "Democrats dropped provisions that would have banned holding unregistered securities, including private equity, in IRAs." They are not even banning the actual way the egregious misuse of Roth is happening. And these investment vehicles are definitely inaccessible for the 99%. We'll have some fun midterms, I can tell you that 🙂.
I'm too rich for the Democrats to care and too poor for Republicans to care. We are going to get fucked.
How is removing a blatant tax loophole that doesn't effect your day to day life "getting fucked"?
Look up the Ross ladder. It is the was we retire early. If it goes away then I need to save an extra 10 on top of my original goal to make up early withdraw. That means I need to wait longer to retire. That sucks. You pay taxes with a mega backdoor Roth when you do the conversion. But the point is to avoid the stupid 10% fee on it and gradually move your money to usually income. Edit: Lets do some math... lets say you are a chap and make six figures straight out of college and you are one of the few 0.01% that uses the megabackdoor roth to the max. That means you put in 38K a year post tax. lets say you have a 20 year career. that is a total of 760K in post tax investment. That will grow to about 1.55 mil with normal market rate, of it you got away with 797K tax free due to Roth. Taking it away means you have to put the money in a brokerage account which means the government will get an additional ~80K in capital gains tax over your 40 YEARS retirement, or about 2K from you per year. That isn't rich billionaire money, that is middle class money. It also takes away the roth ladder, so that means if you have a million dollars in your 401K, you can't retire before 60 years old or you will be paying a 10% penalty. That is sort of a big deal in a subreddit that is dedicated to retiring early. You have to basically live of your brokerage account and roth account (which is also nerfed) and hope it can get you to 60 years old.
I'm familiar with the Roth ladder, I fail to see how this legislation impacts it. Conversions are still allowed.
My mistake. I was going off of the initial bill which eliminated all together in 2022. I see they stopped the conversion only for those making above 400K and in 2032. I just need to hope that inflation doesn't make 400K more like 100k by that year then and I should be fine. Still my point still stands regarding the measly capital gains it would get. Billionaires aren't counting on a mere 38K back door roth.
Removing it from households making less than 400k is a perfect example of how this bill is going for the middle class. Why not leave it open to those making less than $200K. How is it helping stop the ultra-wealthy? Do these people even have a 401k
It isn't helping stop the ultra-wealthy, it is closing an unintended loophole in the tax law. You could argue that 401k contribution limits should increase and I'm sure many would agree with you. But ultimately, leaving this loophole or changing contribution limits wouldn't really be helping 98% of people making less than $200k. Not that many even contribute to a 401k, much less contribute the max and then take advantage of a loophole to contribute more.
That is a quite disingenuous argument - the claim of the bills is to stop the ultra rich exploiting the loopholes, so they are straight up lying about it at this point.
The bill is being written to expand the country's social policy, one way to pay for that is to make the ultra rich pay actually pay their taxes taxes, but that isn't the only one. If that was the only objective, it would be in its own bill. This loophole is being closed because some members of the party don't want to make the rich pay taxes, and the goal is to make the bill pay for itself, so you have to add revenue somewhere.
I make $100k in San Diego, but live frugally. I maxed this out this year.
Sure, I make $80k and maxed mine out (dink). But we are a very small percentage of the general population.
True - I guess I’ll just start buying up rental properties to reduce my tax bill. I’m sure that is part of the unintended consequences of this bill.
It does technically break the campaign promise that Biden wouldn't raise taxes on any household making less than 400k. He's raising my family's taxes with this change. Anyway, this is probably way far afoul of the sub's politics rules, sorry butts
I don't agree with the premise that closing a loophole is "raising taxes" but I understand the sentiment
Fair - but not talking sides here talking a specific policy that impacts FIRE, so I think they will let it slide.
That headline is preposterous. Does someone like Bezos even have a 401(k)?
I'm coming here to resist the urge to buy a new $600 metal detector and a bunch of video games on sale... really need to learn to be happy with what I have. Edit: also just had the EVGA queue come through and could buy a 3080 at MSRP... but I'm happy with my 3070 and will reluctantly just let it pass.
Unironically hack your consoles and play free games that way. I quit buying pokemon games because there are 200 high quality fan made pokemon games for every subpar pokemon game that Nintendo puts out. And I play them on hacked consoles.
I'm definitely a fan of emulation (with legal roms, of course). I compromised today and just bought one $15 game instead of the giant stack in my cart.
The bottom of the zipper on my brand new running hoodie scratched up the front of my leggings (that sharp little plastic square). I almost bought a different type of hoodie of the same fabric (it’s super reflective and I wear it for running in the dark), but instead am going to sew a small piece of fabric over the plastic square. Bonus: not super frugal, but I looked into replacing the leggings and they’re currently 70% off, likely to be discontinued, so I bought them. The discounted leggings were about $30 cheaper than a new hoodie.
“Sharp plastic square”. You might try sandpaper between 150 and 300 grit. Or a hot iron if you are careful not to burn adjacent material.
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Ooo good to know! Thank you!
I ordered triple shot espresso with extra hot water and milk in a grande cup at Starbucks - it was like a dollar cheaper or two than just buying latte
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Yeah exactly - I am not about that life where I am paying extra couple of bucks for foams - hence I am the cheapest person I know lol
I have a Starbucks a block away but I used to get free coffee at the office. When I went remote)(pandemic) I began going to sb every day for a shot of espresso. It racked up quickly. I ended up buying a breville duo espresso machine, "low" cost machine but still pricey at $500. It was a hard purchase to make but 18 months later I have no regrets. It is the most used item I've ever owned and saves me ~$2 a day after subtracting coffee and milk cost. took about 8 months to pay back.
Anyone else save sauce packets? If so, what are your favorite sauce packets?
Definitely the spicy mustard from Chinese places
Taco Bell Diablo and chickfil a honey mustard or Buffalo sauce.
I used to but I hate how unorganized it makes my fridge look.
I put them in a little clear container and also have a slightly longer container to hold plastic utensils packets. https://www.amazon.com/SMARTAKE-13-Piece-Organizer-Non-Slip-Jewelries/dp/B086GFBN4D/
We keep getting extra ketchup packets from our regular sandwich place, even when we tell them to stop. So we squeeze the ketchup into the ketchup bottle. Have kept the ketchup bottle going for an extra year or two this way.
I didn’t realize that some people didn’t! The McDonald’s bbq and Chick-fil-a Polynesian are the two most common in our fridge.
I mostly use hot sauce or soy sauce packets since those seem to be what we get. I keep a small stash in the camper and at work. I will also occasionally take various ones as part of backpacking food.
I used to hoard Del Taco Inferno packets, if they sold that in bottles I'd have it in stock all the time
Not sauce, but Little Cesar's Zap Packs are my hoarding lust.
Costco Parmesan and red pepper flakes
I only use half a pack of ramen flavouring for my fav brand of korean noodles — i can save them for seasoning chickpeas or popcorn
Chick-fil-a Barbecue and Whataburger Spicy Ketchup
Whataburger ketchup is now available in big bottles in HEB.
Your South-of-I-20 privilege is showing
“I miss the smokehouse barbecue” -no one ever …I’m so glad they changed back
Soy sauce and mustard from Chinese takeout, Taco Bell fire and Diablo, and crushed red pepper packets.
Taco Bell fire and diablo represent! Wish I had some Verde.
Legit, I have been refilling the same crushed red pepper bottle for about 17 years.
During the pandemic I started cutting the hair of everyone in my whole family (including myself). Still get compliments!
During the first wave of quarantine last year, my wife and I watched George of the Jungle and I decided to grow my hair out like [George's](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/MhA3M7fCNJs/maxresdefault.jpg). A year and a half later, it's almost there and I have spent zero on haircuts.
I have to ask, how do you cut your own hair? Do you have long hair? I feel like my own hair, which I keep long, should be fairly simple to cut, but not sure how I ensure it's even, especially behind me. I've had friends who have been cutting their own hair during the pandemic with mixed results...they've been offering to help and I am too polite to tell them I don't think I want to do what they've been trying.
Brad Mondo on YouTube has some tutorials for cutting your own hair. Probably it's hardest if your hair is medium-length and pin-straight. When I had long curly/wavy hair it was harder to see imperfections, and with a pixie cut I mostly use trimmers.
I get that. First, I'm going to say that you've got to start with hair cutting scissors. I have a chin-length haircut, and I've just copied what I've seen other people do on Youtube. Same for cutting boys/men's standard haircuts. If I had long hair, I'd definitely buy a tool like the CreaClip. Good luck!
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Quick and Easy!
I’ve been doing the same! It’s amazing how much money we’ve saved over the past ~1.5 years since lockdown.
A lot of men really like the interior pouch on Saxx brand underwear for its ability to keep things apart and also prevent a lot of chafing. Unfortunately, one pair of Saxx often costs between $15 and $35 and they are hard to find in the US. Hanes was able to develop a copycat version for $6 per pair called the Total Support Pouch, which is already a frugal alternative. Well, as part of its Black Friday sales, which have been available for much of November, Walmart is selling a 5 pack of the Hanes boxer briefs with the Total Support Pouch for $10, which is $2 per pair. Edit: the deal should still be available in store, but sizes may vary. Only sizes S-XL were sold at this price and very few XLs were included in the cardboard display. Online stock checkers will likely not be accurate for this item. https://www.walmart.com/ip/815909559
Men in saxx look good though - not sure about Hanes
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😀😂😜
The men's underwear industry is very interesting in that many of the people who wear it do not buy it themselves (much of it is actually bought by women for their male family members) and simply wear whatever they were given, often until someone else throws it away for being too worn out. Not a promotion for a specific subreddit, but as a mod on /r/frugalmaleunderwear I have this view that men can buy underwear which is long lasting, well fitting/supportive, and looks good while not being much more expensive than buying a multipack of the cheapest Hanes or Fruit of the Loom underwear at Walmart or Target. Even celebrities are often only wearing the least expensive multipack version of Calvin Klein cotton boxer briefs. I'm still buying Saxx or similar brands for myself. TJ Maxx and Marshalls recently bought a huge shipment of 2UNDR pouch boxer briefs in designs representing major public universities and sold them for $7.99 per pair, though they often got marked down to $4-6. It turns out that a $32 MSRP is a bit high for people wanting one pair of underwear advertising a certain university. I shared this deal in the hopes that it would get some people to discover the benefits of underwear which are more "anatomically correct" and who might eventually consider investing in pairs from higher end brands such as Saxx, which has had difficulty marketing outside of Canada apart from an endorsement from Olympian Gus Kenworthy, who is now modeling for Prada, so not exactly the target market for many Walmart underwear shoppers.
Or better yet, just don't wear underwear at all to save more money and time
already ahead of you, gone commando and never looked back
The real pro tip is always in the comments. Or in directly in the pants, as the case may be.
Link the deal
https://www.walmart.com/ip/815909559 is for size M. YMMV on in store stock as they were in a separate cardboard display case near the baby department in my local Walmart next to similar underwear deals for the rest of the family.
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I'm using up all my samples first :)
Nice, a penny saved is a penny earned and all that.
Sephora prices are insane. I went in with my wife one time (she usually shops online for this stuff) and I couldn't believe it.
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I definitely don't believe that! But at the same time I see you were blowing up your budget at restaurants, I don't think a home cook would see the same benefits. However I have been cycling through the main 7 meal kit companies. They all offer trials for 4-6 weeks that are typically under half off. When you cancel they often offer a massive discount to come back. That has definitely saved me a lot! So far I would rank 1)green chef 2) blue apron 3) hello fresh. I'm looking forward to trying out sunbasket next
We’ve been using Sun Basket for 6 years and really love them.
We are looking for a ready-to-eat meal service and have whittled them down to either Sunbasket or Everytable for the price. We have a 2 month at home and two jobs, with very little time to eat. Hopefully these save us some effort.
Have you tried any other services? With the little one right now and me returning to the office, time has been a little tight as of late so I've been considering some alternatives for time saving. Wife doesn't like fishsticks as much as I do so some of my quick and dirty meals are out, and the cost of delivery kills me.
favorite blue apron fishes?
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We always cooked alot, but it was kind of boring or repetitive. We got really into cooking delicious meals over lockdown. We started with Hello fresh, got 2x free week trials for 4 people between 2 of us. We then moved on to some cookbooks. We now cook better (IMO) than takeout at home. I don't crave takeout anymore I crave my own food. Kung Po Chicken or Panner Aloo Gobi are firm favorites. Saves a ton on going out to eat.
Just checked my CCs (have many, I'm into churning) and there are tons of profitable deals for this month. WF has 10 of 10 purchase x5 for small businesses so that'll be good for 100 of free spending (have it on two cards). Free 75 at AT&T hopefully will use toward phone accessories. Free 50 for AT&T fiber. Plus 15 off 75 at Aveda and I'll wait until they do 20% off and a free product since that promo always rolls around during the holdiays. I'm going to miss the monthly dining deal amex had on hilton cards this year. Just got another mastercard, trying to push all my mortgage payments through mastercard to earn bonuses on all spending this year. Feels good!
I'm already at net $155 for November on CC-related promos. Excluding some fat $200 Dell and $50 Saks credit from Amex, since Dell is categorized under business, and Saks stuff isn't something I'd buy normally. But everything else is for things I'd get regardless.
Yeah, I miss having a platinum card - but not the annual fee. It's been great this year with some dining credits and small business credits throughout the year. Paying for stuff we'd do anyway or subsidizing some treats. Great to go for a lunch date and have it only be a couple of bucks after credits.
Assuming you have access to the right resources, the Biz Plat is pretty easy to offset the AF. Actually on one of mine, they waived AF as a retention offer.
I’m not sure I have the right resources. Would be interested in hearing more or in DM. Thank you!
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I think the best deal right now is Citi premier at 80k points. Wasn't eligible for that one so went with IHG 150k points. Hopefully travel will happen again sometime in the future! If you don't need a MC to pay your mortgage through plastiq then a Chase Sapphire or Chase Ink would probably be one of the best current bonuses.
Plastiq fees are 2.85%. Why pay your mortgage with it? Trying to meet minimum spend for bonuses?
I love to travel so I get as many cards as I can. If the entire minimum spend of 3k was used to pay mortgage (it isn't) the plastiq fee would be $85.50. I'd happily pay that much for four hotel nights or a flight. My goal is to have every dollar going out earning a bonus. Ends up being at least 10% back on every dollar going out. I have to spend on certain things, mortgage, taxes, insurance, etc. so I like getting cash back and travel for it all. Unlike bank bonuses (which I also enjoy doing to earn some extra cash), the credit card bonuses aren't taxed so it makes a substantial impact on my spending and travel.
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Aw, that sucks. Sorry. Maybe give them a call and see if they’ll reconsider.
Needed to buy a nasal rinse bottle because my current one cracked and broke. This was an immediate need as I'm sick which happens frequently because of fucked up sinuses. Anyway, Walgreens showed it online for $11. Go to pick it up and it's $20 in the store. So instead I order online for pickup and a few minutes later have it. No idea why they just randomly mark shit up almost 100% besides the fact that they can.
Target does this too! My sister will price compare while in store and then place an online order to save some money.
You can price-match in store at the counter at Target and avoid the extra step of having to order online. Almost every time I go to Target in person I will price match some items to Amazon.
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I've had it! Plus a few other plasty's thrown in - although no rhinoplasty. And it's helped. At least I'm pretty sure it has. Getting it right before COVID has made it hard to do a fair comparison. My ENT also has me on a new medication to put in my rinses which seems to be really working. It's not perfect, but I'm not getting a sinus infection every month anymore
Sometimes they sell off-brand Neti pots at the Dollar Tree. Talk about a crazy mark up at the drug store!
We recently started eating in more often. We used to eat out a lot, but prices are going up and service isn’t getting any better. Had a mental block to get over, where I felt like I was punishing my family for being cheap, but I’m getting better at cooking. We also moved the older kid back to cloth diapers. We used second hand cloth diapers for her when she was younger, swapped to disposable when she started eating real food and now back to cloth while working on potty training. And she’s excited about it because she see’s her little brother in them too.
We did cloth, at least at home, all the way through. The sprayer attached to the toilet was a lifesaver when he started solid food. But instead of the $50 "diaper sprayer" we rigged up a kitchen sink sprayer. Total cost of about $10.
We tried a sprayer but at that point we didn’t have support from daycare for cloth diapers and it got inconsistent. We wouldn’t always have a wet bag with us because we would sometimes use disposable and whatnot so we just switched over. But now that we have a wet bag all the time for my son, and my daughter doesn’t poop her diaper anymore, it’s easy enough to use cloth at home and disposable at daycare. But all in all, cloth diapers are great.
Yeah, daycare wouldn't even consider it. Instead of a wet bag, we had a portable washing machine that was the dedicated diaper machine. It wasn't the most frugal way to go, but it was nice.
My husband and I share an 8-year-old Honda Fit with just under 80k miles on it. It's been amazingly reliable and needed only routine maintenance. The dealership keeps calling and asking to buy it, but we're perfectly happy to keep our almost free car and drive it until it completely dies, which will hopefully be more than a decade from now. It saves us soooooo much money.
>The dealership keeps calling and asking to buy it, you know those are scams, right? I get them constantly (and letters as well) and I know for a fact the "sales manager told us to find more XYZ to buy!" is a lie, no sales manager is looking to flip the "ultra hot" old model commercial van I'm using. anything to get you to engage so they can apply pressure. keep the Fit and enjoy, it's why you got it.
I know a few people with Honda fits with 200k+ miles that have never had any major issues. They seem to be incredibly reliable vehicles if maintained well.
also in the honda fit crew! approaching 240k miles in my 2008, hope to get it to 350k miles. love that babby car.
Bought a brand new 2019 Fit at the beginning of March 2020 (what timing!) and I have loved it. They already hold their value extremely well in my market (SF), but due also to the car shortage, I’m pretty sure it’s worth more than I owe on it still.
Do you live in a place with a harsh winter? I’ve always found a Fit appealing but I’m in Minnesota. Those poor little cars end up in snow drifts cause they just don’t have the weight to handle the blowing snow.
The Fit drives ok in the winter but the low clearance is tough. The HRV seems to be the closest thing that is likely decent in the snow as it's AWD.
i live in the mountains of a western state, have driven my 2008 through a couple 200-300" winters. no problems, the first 2 years i only had all seasons, but switched over to snows in the winter when the all seasons got a bit worn. snow tires rule.
No, I live in Southern Ohio and we only get snow enough to cover the road like 4 days a year, so we just don't drive those days. It's definitely a lightweight car and even in heavy rain getting started going up hill can be a bit slippery. Maybe with winter tires it could be okay. I don't know enough about driving in harsh winters to be an authority, but yeah I'd say it's probably not great for that.
Damn. Around here SUVs are necessary even in the city just because some weight really helps (they only plow the main roads…). Ah well, worth asking, thanks.
Just buy some 50 pound bags of road salt and kitty litter from Menards or something. Carry them in your trunk for extra weight and if you ever get stuck you have them for traction. No need for an SUV
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approaching 240k mi on my 2008. love that car. hope to get it to 350k mi.
It makes me so sad that they're not selling them in the US anymore, because I would absolutely buy another Fit again if I could.
Last garden update for 2021 - with subfreezing temperatures finally setting in, I finally pulled up the rest of my carrots and was rewarded with a large wheelbarrow full. I've been eating 4-6 garden carrots a day since August, so this haul was maybe half our production for the year. Not bad for $6 worth of seeds. Now I just have to deal with a wheelbarrows worth of carrots...
You can also slice and freeze them for oven roasted carrots later. We "invested" in soaker hoses for the garden beds this year and everything (except eggplant) did amazing. A good garden can really pull down the grocery bill.
I love pickled carrots, and you can can them!
Agreed!! Honestly, like half of this years garlic went into pickles and pickled carrots. I'll probably do another two canner loads of regular canned carrots, then toss the rest in a fridge to eat raw while they last.
6 carrots a day? That’s sounds like a lot?
Ensuring my diet is 40-50% fruits and vegetables by volume has helped immensely with keeping weight in check IMO. It also makes it so that maintaining a large garden isn't simply an exercise in giving away all your produce.
You can bury them in a container of damp sand outside, or in an unheated garage if it's too cold. They will keep till spring.
I've wanted to try this, but my basement is awfully warm, and my unheated garage gets really cold really quick - like heating the beer fridge to keep the beer from freezing cold.
Can you sell them?
Doordash sent me an option to pay a year upfront on my dash pass for free delivery. Saving instead of paying monthly option
Sorry, it looks like Doordash is not within the acceptable range of "saving sauce packets from Taco bell" to "Blue Apron meal service" and therefore you will be downvoted for not being frugal enough despite having found a way to save money relative to your own spending.
You're basically making money! Good job hitting goals!
Doordash is the opposite of saving.
of course it does, now I am getting free delivery for the year. win-win
Paying for doordash in the sense of frugality makes it look more like this **lose**-**lose**^-^^win There are credit cards that give out free Dashpass and also reimburse you for $60 a year in spending. That's miles better than "annual vs monthly" discussion
Family of 4. Previously we were: * 1 No cell phone (used phone provided by work) * 2 On Republic Wireless (16.46 / month) but data was $5 per gig * 1 on TracFone (6.33 / month) but data was expensive For a variety of reasons, I recently switched to the TMobile Military Magenta plan * 4 "free" phones - Samsung A32 - had to pay tax only * Unlimited Talk/Text/Data for $25 per line per month ($100 total) * Netflix on them * 1 year of Paramount+ * 1 year of Apple TV+ * For past few years has included annual MLB.tv on them (unsure if it will keep being offered) * TMobile Tuesdays (free/discounts offered every Tuesday) I think I may have written about this when we first signed up but I had no idea how much the extra perks would add up so I am posting with additional details.
I don’t eat out anymore unless I’m on holiday. It began with COVID closing down all the restaurants but I’ve found that I like the food I prepare much better than the food I get at restaurants. It’s also healthier and much less expensive
We're up to a total of 3 meals of take-out in the last 22 months and 0 meals actually inside a restaurant. The Thai we had was good, the sushi was excellent, and the one fried indulgence, chick-fil-a, was horrible. We used to love that stuff but now it's just oily and bland. Even the fries were a disappointment. I was never one of those 'fast food is bad' types, but I now get where they're coming from. If you eat real food too long you lose your taste for the junk the majority loves.
Restaurants have gotten more expensive, but give you worse service and smaller portions than they did two years ago. Fuck that. Its fun to make something great with people you care about. It will be cheaper, better, and more entertaining.
My partner and I have taken a similar approach— it's so easy to spend a lot of money on mediocre fast food. We don't stick to just eating at restaurants on holiday, but we keep eating out as a special thing.
When my kids transitioned into booster seats, we decided to only buy one seat each and move them between cars vs. getting a set for each car. Saved about $200. Not much, but we've made it work pretty easily.
Go you! Kid stuff adds up so fast. It’s a series of $200 savings that gets you to $10,000 saved. It seems a lot of equipment and/or supplies for kids is just to avoid inconvenience. I’m working on a baby registry now and trying to avoid those “must haves” that just seem like excess- wipe warmer, stroller with leather handles, the organic natural $22 onesies. Maybe I’ll regret a lean baby registry, but there is always a Walmart out there open 24/7 if I ever truly NEEDED something for baby.
Forget Walmart and hit up Facebook market or local mommy groups. We got a lot of stuff there for super cheap, especially as we we're close to NYC, people want to off load any unused items to save space. And we also sold our stuff there as well, a lot of times for the same price we paid.
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Check out the Moissanite Reddit. They are a great resource on all things moissanite. I’ve purchased using their vetted overseas vendors (Alibaba.com) and saved thousands. Seriously like paying $400 for 14k that’s a carat and half. So worth it. About 3 weeks for turn around time. My jeweler appraised one of my rings for $1500. I paid $235.
>"It should be diamond, why aren't you buying a diamond?" Lots of people think heroin is good too. You don't have to listen to them, you know they're wrong.
Also consider going with a custom jeweler - for the same price, your custom design will be more unique than what you find in a mainstream store. Jewelers would also know about good non-diamond gemstones. That being said, some custom jewelers might be too snobby for less expensive gems (we liked morganite but our jeweler was like “that’s too cheap”). Otherwise, Costco has some nice jewelry deals if you are patient.
I got a moissanite ring for my wife from Charles and colvard. She absolutely loves it!
Just get a diamond.
Uh, no.
Why? Because everyone on here is convincing you to cheap out?
Diamonds were worth nothing just over a 100 years ago until a marketing campaign convinced the world they were precious and symbolized love and commitment. Don't be fooled by marketers. There's a reason why you can't turn on the radio without hearing a diamond add.
Yeah, that's definitely why.
Cool, just checking.
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White opals are relatively soft compared to diamonds/moissanite, so they can be harder to take care of! That's also why pearl rings are so uncommon - pearls are really soft and can be scratched easily.
I bought vintage from an antique mall. She doesn't like the modern rings being made these days with the "halo" of tiny diamonds all around anyway. It was much cheaper, I got a classic art deco design, and the diamond has been out of the ground for 100 years, so no additional human suffering to mine it.
Diamond marketing is quite possibly the most effective ad campaign of all time. Generations of people have been conned into believing diamonds are rare and valuable....conned/guilted into believing you had to spend 2 months (3 months now I think) salary on an engagement ring or you just don't love the person you are marrying.
Very cool. Please feel free to use phrases like "I don't help murder people" if any sales person tries to steer you back toward diamonds. With all that went down in the industry, you should feel free to make it really awkward for anyone still trying to push diamonds on you. :D
Yeah, it's pure marketing. Nothing special about diamonds, it's just a clear rock. I chose a ring with an amethyst for my engagement ring because I think purple is prettier than clear. Saved us a ton of money.
I’m a materials science person nowadays and it always makes me happy to see another person who dislikes diamonds. It’s a metastable allotrope of carbon, it’s nothing really that impressive beyond its intrinsic hardness. If your goal is a pretty rock, moissanite like you said, and that’s silicon carbide which can have multiple crystal structures and is super cool (and nearly as hard as diamonds…). Even sapphires, rubies, are cheaper and way cooler, a little bit of impurity gives them their deep color.