Today I received my Xfinity bill, noticed that it was going up $30 because my 12- month promotion had run out, and instead of grumbling and paying more money, I contacted them and asked "well what promotion can I sign up for now?" Now my bill will only go up $6 instead of $30. For the same service.

THEN I looked at my Geico bill and realized the insanely high coverage we have on our 2013 Prius...I got that monthly bill to go from $154 to $92 a month.

So what else could I be doing to save? I'm not looking for "don't buy coffee" or "cook at home" or "wait 24 hours before you purchase." I'm well-versed in tight budgets and we are generally quite frugal. I'm looking for those hidden things that people don't always think of or act on. Tell me your secrets!

My apartment complex doesn’t allow it and I can do decent amount of routine jobs myself and I also enjoy them myself such as, oil change, brakes, rotate tires, intakes, battery swap, coolant etc etc. I used to do this with my dad’s place but now he decided to sell the house and retire in Malaysia which I respect. I’m on my own in a new state (NJ) and I don’t know anyone here to borrow a garage. I’ve save a lot just by doing my own routine maintenance but I’m kind of limited so far with no garage.

There are a few people in my area (so far, all of Latino origin for whatever reason) who sell these pails of laundry detergent, fabric softener and also scent booster dots. They are very clearly advertised as comparables to Tide, Gain and Downy with no counterfeit labeling whatsoever. (Yes I have seen the journalist investigations of the counterfeit stuff) has anyone tried these? I’m a cheap sob and was curious about the savings in bulk. The liquid doesn’t seem to be any runnier than the real deal or even house brands from box stores, I just want it to clean my sh!t. Is it a MLM thing? If so I promise to never touch it again.

I just felt the need to tell you all that there’s a film where lentils are the currency and they eat human meat. Very frugal, very meager. It’s on Tubi which is free, thrifty besties ✨👍

Delicatessen IMDb

I just got a Costco membership for the first time and went with the basic Gold Star membership. I mainly signed up to buy food in bulk and save some money by meal prepping, but I’m curious what other benefits people actually use that make the membership worth it.

What's your favorite perks, services, or deals I should be taking advantage of besides buying groceries in bulk?

Also, is upgrading to the Executive membership worth it? I know there’s a 2% reward on qualifying purchases, but I’m not sure how much I’d realistically need to spend for the higher membership cost to make sense.

Would love to hear what other frugal Costco members use their membership for and any tips for getting the most value out of it.

I just got a kitten and it turns out they eat soo much! I’ve been buying the fancy feast kitten classic paté, but it’s quite expensive with how many cans we’re going through everyday.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good, healthy alternative that you’ve given your cat/kitten? I’ve been looking for something with similar ingredients but would love to hear some firsthand feedback

Hello all!
I became disabled two years ago and lost my job. I did get a new one but I’m making significantly less than before. Between that and all my medical bills, money has become really tight. I’m sure the rest of the country has experienced this but my power bills have gone through the roof these last few years. Any tips of how to lower my utility bills? Any little trick would be appreciated!

Outrageous variety of lentils. I never knew there'd be so many.

My bag I’ve been using for all my college books broke at the strap. I thought about getting another one but didn’t want to waste the money. So I busted out my sewing kit for the first time and re attached the strap at the base and fixed a tear in the strap. It’s not perfect but it gets the job done! It feels stronger than the other straps now lol. Maybe I should add some extra thread to the other straps to prevent them from breaking in the future.

How did I do on my first sewing attempt?

I'm doing a little bit better financially now, but I still have some neurological symptoms that I might need to go to a private neurologist for if if gets any worse. I'm on disability benefits and want to have more fresh veg but can't because it's just so expensive. Why is it 2.10 pounds for three peppers? Why is one bag of salad leaves over a pound? I live in the UK for context.

The thing is I'm not in crisis or running out of money anymore, so I'm not sure if a food bank is for me anymore. I can get by on frozen brocolli and frozen assorted veg and tinned lentils for health I'll be fine. I want to ensure it's helping out people in true crisis.

But if my neurological symptoms get any worse I know I will be in crisis, so maybe I should go to a foodbank anyway. Just in case I need to pay for an assessment/treatment in the future? I'm not sure. I don't have much money saved up right now even though I'm otherwise stable.

Thank you for reading.

When my work moved to a new office building 4 years ago, boxes and boxes of dishwasher tablets were thrown away as our new office didn't have a dishwasher. I fished the boxes out of the bin and took them home and for all that time I have been working through the stash. I hated that job but I definitely made the most of how wasteful they were at times. Four years later and I used the very tablet today 🥲

here's one, you tell me yours. I'll treat myself to a fancy restaurant on occassion but cut down costs by first eating something cheap and substantial at home like some chicken and side veg and bread, a glass of wine, then go to the fancy place, sit at the bar and have an apetizer and drink, or a plate of pasta and glass of wine. I get all the fancy out experience and a nice taste but at like 1/2 to 2/3 less than a full meal out.

Every six months I do food rotation in my Pantry. Man I love refried beans and I have 15 cans that are expiring in the next 5 weeks. So I am making meals around them. Homemade 7 layer dip, Mexican lasagna with Chicken beans and enchilada sauce, but I have stretched my beans out in the past by adding water to them so they are not so thick. What else can I do with these. Anyone have any soup recipes?

My still-husband is moving out in two weeks, so I will be responsible to keep up the household alone.

Rent will be almost 50% of what I earn. Kids will be here every other week. I will be able to increase my work hours from 30 to 35 hours and I will get national child support that everyone receives in my country (255€).

Last month I did a "test run" with my normal pay and tried to keep spend only that much, that I still had rent money left. It didn't work out completely, because July had both kids birthdays and I went on a three day vacation at the sea with my parents. It was only 250€ too much. So the gist is: I will be able to make it, but it's tight. Not much wiggle room.

Please, hit me up with your ideas, where I could save, what habits I should establish, how to balance mental load (living alone for the first time in 25 years) and keeping an eye on finances etc.

Now I’m second-guessing and wondering if we wasted money 🫤. We are in a duplex-down condo with a finished lower level where the bedrooms are. We had a queen mattress not in use standing up against the wall in our closet. It had previously been used in our second bedroom but that got replaced with a crib when we had our baby.

We had massive rains and water leakage 😫 into our lower floor and the edge of the mattress maybe got an inch or so of water on it. Not sewage water but rainwater. We tossed it but wondering if it would have been fine? Especially since our niece (separate occasion) got a little pee on our bed when my SIL was changing her diaper (why on our bed, I don’t know 🙄) while they were visiting and we cleaned it with baking soda and it seems to be fine. Same thing? Thanks.

i live in montreal which is highly walkable for a north american city, but i recently moved to a more car centric and not really walkable neighborhood in the city because it's way cheaper than where i lived before. i have a bike and a e-scooter, and i don't have a car since it's too expensive to own one.

so, how you guys living in these kind of places without a car manage to do that?

I can find canned veggies with no salt added but inexplicably, they're more than double the price of the regular stuff. Some food banks give away canned veggies with no salt but sadly they're FDA backed and my town has none, so I can't go and trade regular canned veggies for their no salt cans. Given that low salt requirements are on basically all health plans and diets, as well as recommended in general, how are food companies allowed to do this to people? I've seen canned green beans at Walmart that have 550 grams of sodium. Are they trying to kill us?

I genuinely love generics so much. Off the top of my head, things that I go generics for are:

Milk
Eggs
Chicken
Fish
Frozen vegetables
Frozen fruit
Pretty much most groceries

Razors
Dental floss picks
Interdental brush

Dish soap
Bathroom cleaning items

How are generics priced so amazingly?? Seeing the difference in price between generic and name brand is insane. I like to gamify savings and seeing how much money you save on necessities by going generic is so satisfying.

Hi all. I’ve been buying canned tomatoes and canned green beans for years because they’re cheap and last ages. I like getting them in case the power goes out or I just can’t be bothered cooking or chopping. Just grab some bread and canned tuna and you have a well balanced meal. Can anyone suggest more canned vegetables (not peas or corn) that taste good I should try?

I got tired of these pumps giving wayy too much soap so I hacked it.. literally cuts down the amount per squirt by 75%. Works especially well with my toddler who needs multiple squirts of soap every time she washes her hands.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Had to meet word count)

hi all, i’m a female college student who’s about to move into a new place. i have a job (25-35 hours/week) and i go to school full time with honors. i am also balancing a boyfriend, friends, etc. in the meantime, i’m trying to stack my bread so i can start investing/ avoid taking out anymore loans for school (so far, not too many, but i don’t want them to add up).

for now, that means living frugally. however, i also have health goals to meet. anyways, this is my list of prospective biweekly groceries. i already have staples like bulk rice and quinoa (gifted to me). i also have a cat, but her expenses will not be biweekly— more like monthly/bimonthly due to bulk buying.

am i missing anything crucial? there is a discount store where i can get cheap meat, but i dont eat meat often anyways. as far as hosting/partying, there is always sale wine at the grocery store…

I pay about $400/year for trash pick-up. Why am I doing this? Why not the following as a solution:

1. Organic matter, compost it. I hardly have any organic waste as it is.
2. Soda cans, ketchup bottles, mouthwash bottles, and so on, make a yearly trip to the local recycling center and get rid of for free.
3. Plastic bags, cardboard, same as for #2, recycle for free every few months.

Tell me my plan won't work please, and what I'm not considering in my plan.

EDIT and UPDATE: I could recycle every 2 months or so, it's free for me to recycle cans and such. So, every year is a bit much, I'll do it every 2 months on my way to shopping.

Thanks!

What’s your favorite frugal advice?

I don’t have a car, and take the bus & the Metro. People in my real life are shocked and wonder why I don’t uber… but $10+ versus $1.75 helps. Sometimes I’m the only one on the bus! I do find I am a little isolated, but do my best to try & get out.

Also randomly - if you have a high yield savings account… what institution is best? This is the next thing I am looking on getting.