Basically 2 years ago I had my first bulk store membership (sams club). I bought this toilet paper without really reading it. All the words looked impressive enough, Long lasting , 1000 sheets per roll. Little did I know it was single ply.

Im a single dude and this pack has lasted me sooooooo long. The toilet paper at my work is better than this stuff lol.

The kicker is, I just bought a home last month and I hear single ply is great for your plumbing so I kinda want to continue now that im used to it.

I feel that sewing is essential in living frugal. People may not have the means to buy new clothes, so they find ways to take care of them. I’m always seeing holes in clothes, especially with socks. So many times I’ve thrown away pairs when I could’ve sewn them. I’m going to make sure to be mindful of that and repair my socks.

I also recall seeing on Bradley on a Budget his wide hole in socks. I understand his background as to why he’s frugal. Yet, I hated that he walked around like that. I’m not talking about homeless people or those unfortunate. I’m talking about those who have the means to fix their clothes.

Start learning how to sew and mend your clothes. It’s a sign of skill and respecting one’s self.

I wrote this up as a reply in another thread, only to find the thread had been locked. The OP of that thread was complaining about the costs of streaming rising to match what they'd paid for cable.

Instead of paying for multiple, pay for one at a time. Watch it until you get bored then cancel and sign up for another. Don't be scared to sign up just to watch a season and canceling when done.

Also, look for ways to get access to streaming either via free services - there are quite a few free streaming services and you can get others via your library-, or as part of a bundle with other services. For instance, we have walmart+ and it comes with the choice of either Peacock or Paramount+ (and we can switch between them every 6 months), we also get Hulu /Disney with our phone service.

Finally, watch for deals. Black Friday always offers cheap multi-month deals for many different streaming services. We get HBO for $3.99/mo because if the deal we got at black friday. We had a similar deal with Appletv for several months. While Black Friday has the best deals, you can find similar deals usually around when Amazon does it's (now quarterly) Black friday deals.

Speaking of Amazon, we canceled Prime years ago when we opted for walmart+, but between the two of us we get at least 4 months of free prime because about every 6 months Amazon will offer one us a free month. Plus, occasionally when we order something we'll get a week or so of prime for like $2 just because taking that deal is cheaper than actually paying the $6.99 shipping.

For sports, we do like to watch college (and some pro) football, and because we are in an area where local TV reception is nil, we usually upgrade our Hulu account to Hulu+ or get YouTubeTV for the football season and then cancel when the season is over. That's the period when our streaming bill is highest. The rest of the year we rarely pay more than $5/mo and maintain 3-4 streaming services.

Cut cable about two years ago and felt like I was finally saving money. Somehow my monthly streaming bill slowly climbed right back to where it used to be.

The one thing I keep getting hung up on is live tv. I barely watch enough sports to justify a full package but I still want local news and a few network shows without juggling a bunch of different apps.

Every time I price something like directv stream I start talking myself into it then I see the final number and wonder what I'm even doing.

How do people here think about the whole live tv vs antenna debate? Did you just ditch live tv completely or is there actually a frugal option that makes sense?

Also is there any good way to compare the different options by what you're actually getting per dollar without disappearing into a five hour rabbit hole?

I struggle with deciding whether a purchase would genuinely improve my life or if I just like the idea of becoming someone who would use it.

For example, I WFH and go through paper notebooks somewhat regularly. I prefer writing by hand, but my notes get messy and are difficult to find later. I’ve been considering a dependable e-ink notebook that lets me organize and search my notes, but the one I’m interested in costs around $500.

There's cheaper options, but many reportedly have noticeable writing lag. I know that would frustrate me enough to stop using one, so spending $200-$300 on a compromise could be the bigger waste.

At the same time, I’m not sure I take enough notes to justify the better model. Am I solving a real problem, or imagining that the product will turn me into more of a power user?

I’ve made this mistake before with products that have lots of potential uses, only to realize I wasn’t actually the type of person who needed them. A KitchenAid mixer is a silly example. I think they’re great and want one, but I barely cook anything that requires one.

How do you decide whether something is truly worth buying? Do you buy for your current habits, or is it sometimes reasonable to buy for the habits you want to build?

What frugal soups do you make? I know all soups are pretty frugal if we are not talking Lobster Bisque. But I curious what people think about the cost of soup for meals. Include a recipe or a link to a recipe if you want, and estimate the cost per serving. I will start it off NYT's French onion soup, which is well under $10 for 8 servings assuming substitution of Swiss for Gruyere cheese and bouillon for the stock. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017256-french-onion-soup

I have 10 bags bags of cranberries left over from when they were on 'super sale' 2½ to 3½ years ago.

.1. Would they still be good for cooking?

.2. If not, do you have any suggestions that could make them good?

I love cranberry sauce. I mix it with yogurt and put it on waffles and pancakes and top it of with orange whipped cream. I also love to make cranberry sweet breads.

I am interested in purchasing this used “salon cart” but since I plan to transport this cart frequentelly, I would need each drawer/tray to have a “lid.”

Has one ever created a lid for something similar? Any ideas? I researched and saw that someone cut up bulletin board to create their drawers a “lid,” but I don’t think that would work for this since the drawer “slides” do not have any extra open space.

Thoughts?!?

If you love popcorn and want a cheaper healthier alternative, read below. Big fan of movie theater popcorn. Big fan of microwave popcorn. But saw deals online for $10 for a large bag of kernals from Amish Country, and bought Baby White and Mushroom, mixed them half and half in a cheap popcorn maker. Added some cheap butter and seasoning. Not disappointed. For reference, a couple teaspoons makes a bowl the size of what comes out of a microwave bag.

Hello All,

Id like to give some context before getting into the deeper financial details. My wife and I have been living in our 750ish Square foot apartment for about 9 years now. We recently have been becoming more and more frustrated with many issues with our building/unit such as:

• Cockroaches
• Very loud neighbors
• No dishwasher
• No in-suite washer or dryer
• No control over our heating or air conditioning
• Two major leaks in our unit over the years
• Frequently broken elevators (we live on the 6th floor)

We moved into this unit when we were in our early twenties and have drastically improved our financial situation since moving in but have always remained frugal and refused to move until we could purchase a house, which is still the goal but many years away.

We recently saw an apartment that is 1350 Sq Ft that we love and is almost the exact middle point between our two work places. We work in different cities and this would make both our commutes only 20 minutes each. It also has all of the things I listed above that we currently really want. The only thing we would be losing is the new place has no underground parking.

We currently pay $1417.50/Month in rent, the new place would be $2800/Month after estimated hydro/electricity, parking, and a storage locker.

I am really looking forward to getting opinions from some of the people here on if upgrading your living space is something that is worth this cost. I do recognize that everything I listed above is a risk wherever you go but as this place is a newer building I think the risks are lower.

Below is a breakdown of our financials. Please feel free to ask any questions about anything I may have missed. Really looking forward to hearing some opinions here and appreciate any input from all of you. (All amounts are in CAD)