r/Frugal

I need to drive 5 days to work and with all the kids classes and stuff, I end up driving 400 miles a week. I don’t have the option to WFH and this “war” looks like another forever war with the gas prices creeping higher by the day. I’m done hoping that the situation would resolve soon and the gas prices will come down. I’ve lost all hopes and am feeling terrible. How are you all managing this situation?

EDIT: I meant 400 miles a week, not month. (Edited post)

I have started trying to make more food items from scratch. I have been successful at salad dressing, spaghetti sauce, english muffins, scones, yeast rolls, chex mix, cookie dough, lime cremora, etc. I had difficulty with hamburger buns and naan bread. I know that food items from scratch are better for us as we control the ingredients. Time is always a factor as I am working full time. I am trying to prepare items ahead of time and then freeze it. Any frugal fails that you remedied? Any advice appreciated.

I just did a total of my grocery bills for September and only spent $119 for the month. Single guy here but my tip works for families to save money. Treat your pantry freezer and fridge like a cooking challenge. Use up stuff create new meals and only buy fresh ingredients you need. Save money in these hard times. Freezer finds alone gave me a week of meals! My best freezer find was some beef bones to which I made a great soup broth.

I’ve never been to a Bins because I’ve never lived close to one until now. To those who have, what advice do you have? What’s there to know? How are they different than regular thrifting? How are they different than a regular Goodwill?

Now I know the basic idea of them. They are the leftovers and you have to look in these huge bins for things. You need to dress appropriately meaning grub clothes and gloves.

What else?

We need to buy firewood for the winter, and the most cost effective way is to buy a bulk lot of logs, which are usually either done by tipping a trailer onto the driveway, unbagged, or buying a stack of wood contained in a crate and you unload it yourself.

We moved into this house last year, and had to spend a lot of our initial budget on unexpected repairs to the plumbing. Unfortunately, we do not have enough of a budget to buy a woodshed this year, and will have to do it next year when we have the budget to buy a secure woodshed and fill it. Therefore, we have to buy pre-bagged wood by the pallet which is anywhere from a 20% to 50% mark up.

It is galling to pay so much for a mark up.

I know the other sort is cheaper, by a lot in some cases, but we just cannot store it well! It is so annoying!

It will be stored in the open air and we don't have anywhere available to store much of it inside so it has to be waterproof and easy to distribute under the only outdoor shelter we have available so bagged is the only alternative.

And the price of oil is just ridiculous. I am this close to just installing a battery and throwing the oil tank away.

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Putting this here because I am unable to keep repeating myself.

- I am in the UK.

- I live in a small UK house with a small UK property. There is not an abundance of room here to store a large quantity of wood to buy in bulk.

- There is no wood in my area that is available for free that also has delivery. I do not drive a vehicle that has capacity for meaningful amounts of wood.

I spend lots of my free time training hard in a gym, but that's not necessarily "fun". It's unpleasant.

Music is free on Youtube, so no need for me to pay for Spotify Premium. I also think most podcasts are garbage, so no need for Spotify.

Online video game subscription can cost me about fifteen bucks a month, but I have no time for video games anymore, so I took off that subscription out of my life.

Should I rely on completely free Youtube or spend something? I can play my offline games I guess. Or read what books I have. What are your suggestions?

Thanks.

Hi! My cat gets litter EVERYWHERE! I have tried to buy enclosed litter boxes, I vaccum everyday!! I can’t take it no more. We have a self cleaning litter box. Could pine pellets work with a self cleaning litter box? My cat just turned a year old this month. Does anyone have any other recommendations?? Is there a reason why I shouldn’t buy them? This is my first cat, and I have no idea what I’m doing, and/or what’s the best for him.

Bought a shed kit at Home Depot mid September. Was getting ready to start setup ourselves this weekend and went on the Home Depot website to see if the manual was online. The price had dropped $700. Since it was within 30 days of purchase I called customer service and they refunded the difference. I’ll be making reminders to price check on larger purchases in the future!

The .99 cents minimum 'service fee' charge is atrocious for throwaway items. I mean, at times the produce is fit for garbage and many times when you go make the trip to the store even when you were not planning on going out, the item is missing. Now they want .99 plus tax as service fee, so you need to buy more than $12 to bypass the minimum fee. Lost the appeal. Keep it and let it rot.

I was very happy to recently acquire a vintage sewing machine that works like a dream! But it won't be adequate for some of the heavy duty requirements that some of my projects might have.

My first thought was to invest in something heavy duty. That thought evolved to looking for another vintage machine that could handle the jobs I need it to do. From there, I remembered that I actually have such a machine, in a closet, that I put away some years ago because it needed some servicing.

After checking with a friend who is a professional seamstress, I was convinced that digging out that machine and getting it repaired would more than meet my needs.

I'm happy to have been led to this conclusion and reminded that repairing good sturdy equipment is often worthwhile. The flip side of the lesson is knowing what you have, thus having what you need. It's a nice symbiosis.