Frugalty "hacks" that worked for you?

[EasterJoy]

I’m always amazed when people write to advice columnists (reading the Agony Aunts is one of my few addictions) for recipes - online is so much easier & faster!

If beans sit around for too long they will get tough. I’m not sure how to store beans long-term except by canning. Perhaps in an oxygen-free bucket? Canning also makes beans more convenient. I would suggest canning them plain, then they can be used in a variety of recipes. I do that with ground beef.

Lentils cook very quickly & taste so wonderful. I can no longer eat them due to too many carbs - I miss them.

Beans ought to be good in their original packaging for about a year. Yes, for longer-term storage, the packaging needs to be air-tight, because moisture loss is the reason they eventually lose their capacity to re-hydrate enough to cook up soft. Some authors say that beans that will not longer re-hydrate can still be used if ground to a flour, but there does get to be a point where you just want to say, “let’s live so we avoid going there at all.”

 

[ToeInTheWater]

I would not take extra packets and napkins from a restaurant because somebody is paying for them and it isn’t me. Ketchup, mustard and napkins are not that expensive. As for napkins, make some for your family out of cloth then you are not adding to the land fill.

Just to clarify again as people keep accusing me of somehow being dishonest or greedy here (and yet, chiding me I’m not saving much money anyway) - by “extra” I mean 2 or 3 packets of something, not 20-30 packets, and most of the time those packets are either offered to me (in the case of ketchup) or given to me without even asking (in the case of soy sauce). And I am sure the price of these “complimentary” items is factored into the price of my order already - they are not actually completely “free”.

And I am certainly not going to restaurants and paying money hoping to recoup the difference between that and a homemade meal by taking packets of condiments.

And speaking of that, while I certainly realize eating in and cooking is usually both cheaper and healthier than eating out – not everyone has the time to do that every day. Sadly I don’t.

I’d hoped people would just pick up the tips that might work for them and ignore the rest, but I guess it can’t be CAF without someone judging someone.

 

[EasterJoy]

Just to clarify again as people keep accusing me of somehow being dishonest or greedy here (and yet, chiding me I’m not saving much money anyway) - by “extra” I mean 2 or 3 packets of something, not 20-30 packets, and most of the time those packets are either offered to me (in the case of ketchup) or given to me without even asking (in the case of soy sauce). And I am sure the price of these “complimentary” items is factored into the price of my order already - they are not actually completely “free”.

And I am certainly not going to restaurants and paying money hoping to recoup the difference between that and a homemade meal by taking packets of condiments.

And speaking of that, while I certainly realize eating in and cooking is usually both cheaper and healthier than eating out – not everyone has the time to do that every day. Sadly I don’t.

I’d hoped people would just pick up the tips that might work for them and ignore the rest, but I guess it can’t be CAF without someone judging someone.

Take the packets or don’t take them. The restaurants do not begrudge the customers, but it will make essentially no difference in what your bank account looks like a year from now. Honestly, you’d probably do better financially by staying out of restaurants as if they had upside down pentagrams on them. If the restauranteur can get you in the door as a customer by giving you unlimited access to the condiment bar, it is the restauranteur who will come out money ahead.

Look at all of your expenses, including your “fixed” expenses, and investigate whether any of your expenditures can be lowered. If you save $10 a month on your heating or cooling bill by bumping the thermostat a few degrees in the cheaper direction, that is miles more than you can save by never buying your own ketchup. If you cut your serving size of meat from 8 oz to 6 oz or from 6 oz to 4 oz, you’re obviously cutting the cost of a major food item by 25-35%! Consolidate your shopping trips, save gas, save wear and tear on your car, save time, save money. Don’t look for things that are free. Look for ways to provide what you need for less and look for things you want but can do without. That is how to save money.

Don’t get penny-wise and pound foolish. If a gym membership is the only way you’re going to stay fit, keep it. Being unfit is very expensive and miserable in the long run.

 

[ToeInTheWater]

Take the packets or don’t take them. The restaurants do not begrudge the customers, but it will make essentially no difference in what your bank account looks like a year from now. Honestly, you’d probably do better financially by staying out of restaurants as if they had upside down pentagrams on them. If the restauranteur can get you in the door as a customer by giving you unlimited access to the condiment bar, it is the restauranteur who will come out money ahead.

Since when did I ever claim I go to restaurants just so I can have “unlimited access to the condiment bar”? That is a straw-man.

I certainly realize it is cheaper to make home cooked meals 3 times a day, 7 days a week. But not everyone has the time to do that. I think one other poster mentioned getting hot sauce packets from Taco Bell. I doubt that person is going there every single day either.

Look at all of your expenses, including your “fixed” expenses, and investigate whether any of your expenditures can be lowered. If you save $10 a month on your heating or cooling bill by bumping the thermostat a few degrees in the cheaper direction, that is miles more than you can save by never buying your own ketchup. If you cut your serving size of meat from 8 oz to 6 oz or from 6 oz to 4 oz, you’re obviously cutting the cost of a major food item by 25-35%! Consolidate your shopping trips, save gas, save wear and tear on your car, save time, save money. Don’t look for things that are free. Look for ways to provide what you need for less and look for things you want but can do without. That is how to save money.

I agree with all of this, but I meant for this topic to be about “hacks”, easy tips most people could implement that could save them a few pennies a day, that could add up with time. Since I’ve noticed that many common “frugality hacks” often mentioned such as making your own laundry detergent, beauty supplies, etc. may save money, but hardly save time.

Again, if people think getting ketchup from restaurants is too “cheap” or “penny wise pound foolish” or whatever, then I have no issue with them deciding not to do it.

What I don’t appreciate is the judgmental “oh you are a thief, taking things that you didn’t pay for” or “you are being too cheap, that’s pathetic” attitude.

ETA: But just to make it absolutely clear, this is a disclaimer: **I am NOT advising that anyone spend money going to fast food shops or restaurants merely to score free sauce packets. I am NOT advising taking 20-30 packets a time. I am certainly NOT advising taking packets without paying for any food or drink items at all. **

 

[bitterhope]

Since when did I ever claim I go to restaurants just so I can have “unlimited access to the condiment bar”? That is a straw-man.

I certainly realize it is cheaper to make home cooked meals 3 times a day, 7 days a week. But not everyone has the time to do that. I think one other poster mentioned getting hot sauce packets from Taco Bell. I doubt that person is going there every single day either.

I agree with all of this, but I meant for this topic to be about “hacks”, easy tips most people could implement that could save them a few pennies a day, that could add up with time. Since I’ve noticed that many common “frugality hacks” often mentioned such as making your own laundry detergent, beauty supplies, etc. may save money, but hardly save time.

Again, if people think getting ketchup from restaurants is too “cheap” or “penny wise pound foolish” or whatever, then I have no issue with them deciding not to do it.

What I don’t appreciate is the judgmental “oh you are a thief, taking things that you didn’t pay for” or “you are being too cheap, that’s pathetic” attitude.

ETA: But just to make it absolutely clear, this is a disclaimer: I am NOT advising that anyone spend money going to fast food shops or restaurants merely to score free sauce packets. I am NOT advising taking 20-30 packets a time. I am certainly NOT advising taking packets without paying for any food or drink items at all.

Most places stick tons of packets and napkins into the bag without anyone even asking if they are needed or wanted. Just throwing them away would be wrong. They give them out to be used. Most won’t accept the things back since they can no longer vouch for them. If they are left on tables, the get tossed in the trash.

Many places now charge for the more expensive condiments, or charge a fee for more than X amount of them. As long as someone isn’t just taking the “not free ones” I cannot understand why it would offend anyone. Especially Taco Bell sauce packets. My kids drink that stuff like koolaid. We are always filling an extra bag of those things, but honestly it is just enough to make it through one meal. The kids will put 3-4 packets on each taco. The people at the Taco Bell know this and have the bag packed for us when we get there. Apparently that is what they have those packets for–to be taken for free.

We don’t often eat out, but Taco Bell is our second choice, Little Caesars is our first choice. Both have very affordable family prices. Normally we pack a cooler with picnic stuff and eat that on the road instead. Tonight we will have a restaurant night if the kids get enough unpacked in their new rooms. It’s a good treat to motivate them into working, and a nice break for mom and dad. I have no idea what restaurants are in this area so we might have new first and second choices now.

 

[ToeInTheWater]

Most places stick tons of packets and napkins into the bag without anyone even asking if they are needed or wanted. Just throwing them away would be wrong. They give them out to be used. Most won’t accept the things back since they can no longer vouch for them. If they are left on tables, the get tossed in the trash.

That’s actually how I get most of my extra packets. I don’t even ask for them. So maybe I shouldn’t even have brought this up as a “hack” in the first place.

We don’t often eat out, but Taco Bell is our second choice, Little Caesars is our first choice. Both have very affordable family prices. Normally we pack a cooler with picnic stuff and eat that on the road instead. Tonight we will have a restaurant night if the kids get enough unpacked in their new rooms. It’s a good treat to motivate them into working, and a nice break for mom and dad.

I grew up poor, as in, below the official poverty line. When I was a little kid, an outing at McDonalds was a special treat, maybe once a month, if that. So was pizza.

It also occurs to me that “make all your own food from scratch” can actually be pretty expensive for someone who lives in a “food desert” where there either is no fresh produce available at all, or is overpriced due to lack of competition, or is of poor quality. My parents live in an urban area that is not that bad, but certainly there has been an egress of “grocery stores” in the last couple decades. They actually travel out of their local neighborhood to buy most of their groceries. Luckily although they are getting old they are still well enough to navigate public transportation, and have the time to do that as they are both semi-retired.

Sadly, I wouldn’t be surprised if some people in such places really do think it’s cheaper to order from the Dollar Menu at McDonalds than to either “overpay” for poor quality groceries or spending time and money travelling to access such groceries.

 

[Allegra]

I certainly realize it is cheaper to make home cooked meals 3 times a day, 7 days a week. But not everyone has the time to do that. I think one other poster mentioned getting hot sauce packets from Taco Bell. I doubt that person is going there every single day either.

Well…not EVERY day. They’re closed on Christmas!

Seriously, I do go there a lot. A burrito makes a good snack when you’re running from one thing to another. They often put a fistful of sauce in there, and I would only use one or two on a single burrito. So, I save the sauce packets. I think they last a long time and we don’t have a jar of taco sauce spoiling in the fridge.

 

[Allegra]

That’s actually how I get most of my extra packets. I don’t even ask for them. So maybe I shouldn’t even have brought this up as a “hack” in the first place.

I grew up poor, as in, below the official poverty line. When I was a little kid, an outing at McDonalds was a special treat, maybe once a month, if that. So was pizza.

It also occurs to me that “make all your own food from scratch” can actually be pretty expensive for someone who lives in a “food desert” where there either is no fresh produce available at all, or is overpriced due to lack of competition, or is of poor quality. My parents live in an urban area that is not that bad, but certainly there has been an egress of “grocery stores” in the last couple decades. They actually travel out of their local neighborhood to buy most of their groceries. Luckily although they are getting old they are still well enough to navigate public transportation, and have the time to do that as they are both semi-retired.

Sadly, I wouldn’t be surprised if some people in such places really do think it’s cheaper to order from the Dollar Menu at McDonalds than to either “overpay” for poor quality groceries or spending time and money travelling to access such groceries.

When you’re single, that is reality. Smaller, single portions of premade food IS cheaper than buying all the ingredients to make the same meal. Although I don’t recommend McDonalds for health reasons. Trader Joe has a lot of really nice frozen and premade entrees that are the right size for a single person or a couple.

 

[ToeInTheWater]

Well…not EVERY day. They’re closed on Christmas!

Seriously, I do go there a lot. A burrito makes a good snack when you’re running from one thing to another. They often put a fistful of sauce in there, and I would only use one or two on a single burrito. So, I save the sauce packets. I think they last a long time and we don’t have a jar of taco sauce spoiling in the fridge.

Yes, that brings me to another advantage of sauce packets - unlike jarred sauces, you don’t wind up with a large jar of leftover sauce that you have to stick in the fridge once you open them.

I have actually started buying smaller jars of pickles and such (and using a cents off coupon if I can) because even though the larger sizes are “economical”, they can take over your fridge. Once I even had one of my fridge door shelves come crashing down because I had too many jars of condiments stored there. Luckily the shelf didn’t actually break, it just got “jarred” (no pun intended) loose from where it snapped into the door.

ETA:

When you’re single, that is reality. Smaller, single portions of premade food IS cheaper than buying all the ingredients to make the same meal. Although I don’t recommend McDonalds for health reasons. Trader Joe has a lot of really nice frozen and premade entrees that are the right size for a single person or a couple.

I am also a Trader Joes devotee.

I think one big caveat to frugality tips is that what is “frugal” depends a lot on one’s own circumstances. A family of six that lives in a rural area where guns and ammo are cheap may save money by hunting deer and other animals and putting the meat in the deep freezer for a year. They may also save money by growing vegetables in a home garden. Someone who lives alone in the city, would not find such tips to be at all useful. (I personally have a black thumb and have killed every houseplant I ever got my hands on. I doubt I could even grow herbs on the windowsill. My mother does that, though.)

 

[DarkLight]

When you’re single, that is reality. Smaller, single portions of premade food IS cheaper than buying all the ingredients to make the same meal. Although I don’t recommend McDonalds for health reasons. Trader Joe has a lot of really nice frozen and premade entrees that are the right size for a single person or a couple.

Vegetables are my bane as a single person. I never liked canned or frozen - the texture to me is just gross. But there’s been more and more of a trend to sell fresh veggies in “value packs” that there’s just no way I can eat. I’d love to fix myself more salads, but unless I eat a big salad every day I can’t go through a bag before it rots.

 

[Bonnie]

I have actually started buying smaller jars of pickles and such (and using a cents off coupon if I can) because even though the larger sizes are “economical”, they can take over your fridge.

I started doing that, too, when our population went from 4 to 2. It took me a while to realize that buying the large economy size is a false economy if it grows mold before we can finish it. I also buy individual celery sticks because we just can’t eat up a whole bunch.

 

[Allegra]

Vegetables are my bane as a single person. I never liked canned or frozen - the texture to me is just gross. But there’s been more and more of a trend to sell fresh veggies in “value packs” that there’s just no way I can eat. I’d love to fix myself more salads, but unless I eat a big salad every day I can’t go through a bag before it rots.

This is probably not anyone’s definition of “frugal”, but our local grocery store has really started selling a lot of freshly cut veggie mixes in their produce department That way, you can have a mixture of veggies for just slightly more than the price of one. They have a couple soup mixes, a stew mix, a fajita mix, and sweet potato squash mix, greenbeans and onion, etc. Obviously, these are not economical options for families of four or larger, but for one person or a couple, they are perfect.

 

[bitterhope]

I started doing that, too, when our population went from 4 to 2. It took me a while to realize that buying the large economy size is a false economy if it grows mold before we can finish it. I also buy individual celery sticks because we just can’t eat up a whole bunch.

Even with a large family I rarely buy the large size of things like mayonnaise, ketchup, or anything at all that has an expiration date. Unless I need a large size for a particular recipe, I don’t get that. It saves no money if you toss half an unused jar. I can’t stand tossing food.

I also refuse to have more than one refrigerator. It raises the electric but it also makes it too easy to forget that you have something in one of the two before it goes bad. I figure if my mom had 12+ kids at home most of the time and she managed with just one fridge so can I. I do have one very small deep freeze that use for meat. I don’t like the freezer in the fridge for meat. It seems to not keep as well.

Keeping waste to a minimum is the best money saver. Also avoiding buying unneeded items. Learning to do many repairs and routine maintanence also helps a lot. Most repairs are quite simple and inexpensive, and YouTube can teach you how for free.

 

[Bonnie]

I do have one very small deep freeze that use for meat. I don’t like the freezer in the fridge for meat. It seems to not keep as well.

Nothing keeps for very long in the attached-to-the-fridge freezer. Those freezers go thru a defrost cycle to keep ice from building up, & that means the food goes from frozen to not-so-frozen & back again, which effects quality - especially of ice cream (). If you want to keep anything frozen for more than 2-3 months, get a deep freeze, even if it’s a small one.

Because of space issues, I’ve had a mini-fridge for the past 17 years, tho sometimes I’ve had a 2nd mini-fridge in another building. Now that I’m going to have a real kitchen, I bought a side-by-side full-size fridge & freezer. That’s going to be interesting once it can be set up. It will take some getting used to as well as planning, so I don’t leave things in the freezer for too long. And of course I’m keeping my best friend, the large, upright deep freeze.

 

[Xantippe]

Well…not EVERY day. They’re closed on Christmas!

Seriously, I do go there a lot. A burrito makes a good snack when you’re running from one thing to another. They often put a fistful of sauce in there, and I would only use one or two on a single burrito. So, I save the sauce packets. I think they last a long time and we don’t have a jar of taco sauce spoiling in the fridge.

Speaking of Taco Bell and frugality, the new potato-rito is $1.

tacobell.com/food/burritos/beefy-potato-rito

I had one for dinner tonight–it’s more than OK.

 

[stinkcat_14]

Speaking of Taco Bell and frugality, the new potato-rito is $1.

tacobell.com/food/burritos/beefy-potato-rito

I had one for dinner tonight–it’s more than OK.

That does look good. I haven’t been there is years.

 

[Greenfields]

One that worked for me was barter,gardening in exchange for fuel or meat when I helped farming families

 

[DarkLight]

Does it ever get tiring though? My issue was always, I feel like I’m saving a few dollars here and there, but the big expenses never change. How much is it worth it to save $5 when you can’t do anything about the $500?

 

[Allegra]

Speaking of Taco Bell and frugality, the new potato-rito is $1.

tacobell.com/food/burritos/beefy-potato-rito

I had one for dinner tonight–it’s more than OK.

They had a special burrito over the summer that was a buck and really good. It had little crunchies in it and the same incredients as a taco supreme. It’s gone now though.

 

[Xantippe]

That does look good. I haven’t been there is years.

Not to overbuild expectations–but it’s definitely at least $1 of food.