For me, it’s refusing to buy fast food unless I have some kind of deal. My younger self would be horrified at how seriously I check every app before ordering anything. I used to pull into a drive-thru without thinking twice, now I’m out here comparing rewards points like I’m negotiating a house.
If there isn’t a coupon, i'm not going. Anyone else end up doing stuff like this that you never thought you’d care about?
What’s a habit your past self would be shocked you do now?
byu/James_B84Saves inFrugal
Posted by James_B84Saves
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I have just lost 93 lb, on my way to 100. No way my younger fatter self would ever believe this.
Frugal because I spend way less money on food now
Complete sobriety!
Not wanting to be around people… My younger self would be aghast by how much i avoid people and their demands.
My extensive oral health routine! I was scarred by a horrific tooth infection and have been overly diligent with my oral hygiene ever since.
Cut my own hair. Not that I got my hair cut often, maybe once a year, but I think teenage me would have been horrified at the thought of walking around with hair I cut by myself. Nowadays, I never wear my hair down, it’s always in a bun or braid, so no one can tell if I mess it up a little.
Buying drugstore skincare and haircare products (mostly all of it, a few items aren’t). I used to think I needed fancy name brand things and that the fancier and more popular on social media a product was then obviously it was better for me. Now I use cheaper brands and my hair and skin has never looked better lol.
I keep a notebook on my desk at work. Headers are the dates for each payday, underneath which I note the expected expenses during that period (before the next paycheck).
Every morning I check my bank account to see if those expenses set to auto-pay have been debited – if so, I highlight that one. Paid. If it isn’t set to auto-pay, I still know that it’s due. I pay a lot of those in advance for the satisfaction of marking it off as paid.
This helps me remember birthdays and things too – since those are expenses I can anticipate around a particular time.
Positive self-talk. She’d be proud of me to learn we speak kindly to ourselves these days and just do our best. 🙂
Actual exercise and no psych meds. (Down 100 pounds and am the healthiest I’ve ever been.)
Younger me would be floored.
I don’t hardly eat out at all anymore. I used to go to happy hour about once a week with a friend to unwind. It was a treat I worked into my budget
I go to regular yoga classes and never saw that coming. I’ve always been a bit anti-exercise and tried a few things only for health reasons. Then I tried yoga and fell in love. I can’t wait to get to class, and I’m more fit in my late 40s than I was when I was decades younger.
I meal prep every single week. It’s not that I was eating out before – I still ate groceries – but I shop purposefully for ingredients and actually use them, lowering my bill and making it so I eat fewer convenience foods.
Checking deals before buying anything. Younger me would scream, current me refuses to pay full price for fries
Going to the gym 3x week and ENJOYING it.
Enjoying a daily 20 minute nap around 1pm. Really clears the mind and makes me far more efficient in the afternoon stretch run. Also just a protein bar or shake for lunch…no carbs til after 5
Daily gym for four hours. I spent my younger years overweight, avoiding exercise and treating being fat as a hilariously defiant feminist joke. Now I’m out the doot @ 5.30am rain hail or shine. Family friends & colleagues are stunned & I feel fantastic every day
No hair cut or dye.
My hair has to be up constantly for work anyway, so what’s the point? I let it grow long enough to be able to put it up and trim it myself when the split ends get my hair tangly.
Teenager me would’ve been dismayed that I keep my hair long (my mothernever let me cut it as a kid so as soonas I was old enough I went a bit crazy with dye and short crazy hair), but honestly long hair is so much cheaper to maintain.
I used to drink a gallon a sweet tea a day. I had a real addiction. But ever since my early 20s I’ve only drank water. I literally don’t consume anything else outside of the occasional Starbucks coffee. But yea I don’t like sweet tea anymore or sodas. Basically anything sweet drink. Which is actually awesome because I always save money at restaurants and what not. I also don’t do any alcohol, never have. So yea. I save a lot on the fact that I only drink water.
Going to bed early. I used to be a big time night owl to the point my friends and family would joke that I was nocturnal. 3AM to 4AM was my bedtime for a long time. For a period in college, I would wait until the cafeteria opened, have breakfast and then go to sleep. I remember on a family vacation, a family member was shocked that I went to bed after she woke up. Now, my sleep schedule is normal and I am usually asleep by 10PM. I am a lot happier now and way more rested.
How cheap I am now with money
smoke.
Adding vegetables to everything. I was picky growing up. But it increases the nutrients to each meal and stretches the budget further
That I no longer drink like a navvy! Young me was a lush!
No one is gonna like this but…
I wash kitty litter. As in I was in a really tough situation and accidentally bought a bag of that composite plastic kitty litter that is used in those sifting tray set ups where the pee isn’t absorbed and goes into a pad below. I literally couldn’t afford a bag of litter for a month so…I washed it in the tub. It didn’t stink and my cat didn’t care. When I could I bought a starter kit and just kept washing it. The pads are cheap as all get out and going past a year now I’ve still used the plastic beads. Its fine. I wash them regularly and it’s way cleaner than any litter I’ve used before. There is just no reason to dump it.
My younger self would have said “what!?! No WHAT. Dude, WTF happened to you!?!” It worked so I worked it, that’s about it.
Now you know that so – you’re welcome.
That I would consent to releasing my information to a corporate app in order to get fast food or groceries , or fuel, etc and consider it normal
I plant and eat a lot of my own produce now. The garden cost some money to put together but it won’t be as expensive to maintain.
Drink every day.