Unfortunately, nothing in life is black and white. Not even saving money. A cheaper couch might seem like a great option in the moment, but it can come back to bite you when it needs to be replaced only a year later. And spending more up front, like buying items in bulk, can sometimes cost you less in the long run.
Living a frugal lifestyle might feel unnecessarily complicated at times, so today, we’re going to focus on what not to do. Redditors have recently been sharing examples of “tripping over dollars to save a dime,” so we’ve gathered some of their tips and anecdotes below. Keep reading to find a conversation with Toni Graham of Simple Frugal Life, and be sure to upvote the mistakes that you’ll be sure to avoid!
#1
Constantly having to get new hires and train them but they leave after around a year because you don’t pay them well. So you never have loyal or skilled employees. Well paid employees are more loyal and long term employees are more skilled.
Image credits: maverickhunterpheoni
#2
Driving around for cheap gas.
Image credits: Augustus58
#3
My mom wanted to renovate our roof but did not think professional contractors were worth the money..so she hired some guy from a local church and paid him under the table.
A storm came the following weekend and it rained inside our house. Cost more to replace everything than it would have to have gotten a professional roof installation.
Image credits: Shrek1onDVD
#4
Probably mentioned elsewhere, but here it is again. If you’re living alone, it makes *no* sense to buy the bigger version just because it’s cheaper per ounce/pound/liter/ml whatever than the smaller one *if it is going to go bad before you use it all!!*
Because then you’ve wasted 5 dollars instead of using 3 effectively.
Image credits: scummy_shower_stall
#5
My dad used to take my brother and I the BWW every Monday. He’d pay for wings and beers for the three of else. It was at least a hundred bucks a week he was spending. One day he asked for more napkins and the waiter said he wasn’t allowed to. They were trying save money by reducing the amount of napkins each table got. We’ve never been back.
Image credits: piper33245
#6
People who don’t understand the progressive tax system and turn down raises because “it’ll put me on a higher tax bracket.”
Image credits: SardauMarklar
#7
That guy who unplugged his fridge for a 2 week vacay, and all his food went bad and his fridge was full of mold and got ruined, all to save like a dollar in electricity.
Image credits: dav06012
#8
My father in law driving all over creation saving $0.04 on bananas or $0.49 on noodles. He spends more in gas by far than he saves on anything else. I understand being alert about sales, using coupons, and price matching, etc. but this approach has always seemed unwise to me.
Image credits: ThisIsTheNewSleeve
#9
I had a neighbor offer to pay me $200 to clean his apartment when he moved out so he could get his $150 deposit back
Image credits: Ok-Eggplant-4875
#10
Stayed at a hotel further away from Disneyland, ended up paying more than the difference in Uber fares.
Image credits: aokaroiz
#11
I know a guy who built a house in the county and to save $2k he got a small septic tank instead of the large one.
Well, now he has to get the thing emptied like twice a year,
at the same price as the larger one that needs to be emptied every 3-5 years.
Image credits: DorvidBorgie
#12
Adding more things to your cart to hit the free shipping minimum
Image credits: 1kiki09
#13
Friend of mine briefly lived with a guy who burned candles at night to cut the electric bill. My friend moved out after the dope managed to set fire to the coffee table and he still wanted to keep using the candles all night.
Image credits: BelmontIncident
#14
I used to manage a bar and grill. One time we had a mandatory meeting that brought all the employees in during off hours and the bar owner spent a half an hour telling us to try and get the pens back from the patrons who borrowed them to get the phone number of the person they wanted to hook up with. . Back before smart phones, this is how it was done. I was thinking that we were paying our employees about 100$ to talk about pens that I could get at the office store for about 5$.
Image credits: MattockMan
#15
Our very large company decided to “save money” by letting go of the cleaning people (paid $25/hr) because each staff member (paid 30-250/hr) could do the work for each of their own offices (trash removal, etc).
Image credits: Mydoglovescoffee
#16
Spending a ton of time to do something yourself instead of paying for a service/good that could do it easily/instantaneously. I know it’s technically saving money to do the thing yourself, but time has value and some frugal people forget that.
Image credits: Own_Kaleidoscope_415
#17
I had a boss stop everyone from working for 2 hours to look for something he lost. The lost item was spray mount and at the time cost less than $6. Seriously dude, just go buy another one. Lost $200 in billable hours for a $6 replaceable item.
Image credits: jodiarch
#18
My former employer had a policy that you had to take the cheapest flight available. We’d put hourly employees on flights with 2 stops and save $200… Then pay them time and a half sitting in airports all day. It cost more but the people who accounted for travel kept costs down on their metrics, payroll was on different books.
They had a similar rule for car rentals. Unless you were in a group you had to get the smallest car available because it was usually cheaper. It got stupid when you’d get a bigger car for the same price and then you’d have to fill out a report on why you violated the travel policy. It got really dumb because if you paid and expensed it they wouldn’t audit the expenses. I’d just put an SUV on my card and get reimbursed. On the company card you were stuck with the compact car.
Image credits: Particular_Ticket_20
#19
A relative ignoring a small upstairs bathroom leak rather than paying a plumber. Then years later having to pay to replace the entire bathroom floor AND a major section of her kitchen ceiling before she can sell her house.
Image credits: TheLuckyWilbury
#20
Driving 30 miles to Costco just to get gas, not even going into Costco. My mom does this but I think it’s really just an excuse to take the dog for a ride.
Image credits: 4Ever2Thee
#21
My mother used to drive around to every grocery store, using every coupon that came into her hands, buying things that she didn’t need or even have a plan for. Her food hoarding progressed over the years and is now completely out of control. Pantry moths, maggots, rats. I don’t even know what else. But she still has a stockpile of hamburger helper from when it was on sale 25 years ago so, I guess that’s what matters most to her.
Image credits: Dependent_Top_4425
#22
Went to Las Vegas because the flight was basically free.
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Image credits: Realityhrts
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