A few years ago, I tried the "buy cheap shoes" route to save money, only to end up replacing a $30 pair of boots three times in one winter, completely negating the savings and ruining my feet in the process. I've also noticed people driving 20 minutes out of their way just to save 3 cents a gallon on gas. What "frugal" advice do you refuse to follow because the math just doesn't add up?
What popular "money-saving hack" is actually a massive waste of time or ends up costing you more in the long run?
byu/LiveFaithlessness876 inFrugal
Posted by LiveFaithlessness876
7 Comments
Cheap kitchen knives. The Wusthof classic knives we got for our wedding are still amazing. We were married in 1984.
Laundry with cold water no matter what you’re washing. Cold water is fine for lots of things but I wouldn’t make it a strict rule.
I guess it depends, high quality shoes do go on sale. I’m wearing a pair of memory foam shoes I bought new for $3 (and I thrift for more). I’d say some kitchen appliances. A cheap toaster does the trick for me but cheap blender wouldn’t. I own a vitamix, last me 10+ years, refurbished, still going. I hear about people buying cheap blenders that break all the time.
For a while I got obsessed with unplugging every appliance because I thought “vampire energy” was costing me so much money.
Definitely not worth the hassle
Never read the “Sam Vimes ‘Boots’ Theory of Socio-Economic Unfairness”?
Or
“Never skimp on anything that separates you from the earth shoes, tires, or mattresses.
Buying cheap today will cost you a lot tomorrow!”
Driving for petrol
My new Smart LG Energy efficient dryer… Settings include “damp, less, normal, more, very”, which means “soaked, wet, damp, damp, dry”… Since when does moral equal damp? I end up having to run the cycle like 3 times… AI doesn’t do the trick either.
The washer Clothes are ending up wrinkly straight out of the washer too, now I have to use “fresh care” mode to prevent wrinkles, it just sprays the clothes after washing them and getting them all twisted up.
Customer service straight gaslighting every time I call “call back if the problem occurs again” – “but I’m calling because it’s happening now, again” – “please call back if the problem occurs again, we don’t see any error codes”.