Buying really cheap stuff. I’m not saying you have to buy top of the line but at least get something semi quality so you don’t have to constantly replace it
Cutting corners on professional equipment. A few years back I got a made in China arm for my microphone on Amazon. Cost about 1/4th what the German original did. About 9 months later one night it snapped, fell on my computer, and threw everything to the floor. A $100 item nearly cost me $4,000. I then bought the expensive German model and haven’t had any problems.
The “buy one get one half off or with discount” type of deals. Anything that incentivizes you to buy more by tacking it on as a bonus if you get it.
If you’re buying in bulk or such intentionally then it’s a good deal. But if you just came in for one box of lets say cookies for $5 and it had one of these deals. So you buy a second box too because its discounted and says if you buy two it will cost $8, as opposed to $10. So you get it thinking you’re saving money.
Instead what you just spent was $3 more than you had to on a second box you didn’t even come in for.
And it repeats throughout the whole store. It’s everywhere, especially in food. The flashy colored tickets, the bold letters, emphasis on how much you save, all to bait people to buy more things than they actually need.
Though it depends on what your actual goals and needs are. It might genuinely save you some and be good, but you could also be getting ripped off.
Buying things at a sale price without knowing the average price. Stores artificially inflate prices so that they can lower them and advertise something as being ‘on sale’.
Buying cheaply made or disposable things over and over, throwing them away; instead of buying well-made things just once or twice which can last for decades or a lifetime.
A lot of price matching and shopping around ends up wasting more than it’s worth.
Also my dad read that you saved gas money going slower. So he once added an hour to his commute so that he could save gas.
Even aside from the fact that that hour of his life was worth more than the 3 cents it saved him, he had to take a longer route to do it because you can’t go under 60 on the interstate.
Over the course of his life my father has change his home heating system numerous times. He went from electric board to electric furnace, then wood stove, then oil stove, back to wood stove and now propane stove. Every single time he tried to convince me he was saving 20% on his energy bill. It cost him so much money that he will never ‘’save’’ enough to pay for just one system.
Coupons. I knew somebody who drove all over the city so she could save money with coupons. The gas alone was probably more than she saved… let’s not even get started about depreciation on the car.
Saving money (or, more accurately, spending less on certain things)
Let me elaborate…. Actually, let Terry Pratchett elaborate:
“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.
Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.
But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet”
As a tax accountant, not maintaining a separate bank account for your small business.
The fees for the account will end up being less every year than what you get charged for the additional work of trying to disaggregate your personal expenses from your business expenses in the bank statements alone.
Car idling for 10 mins to get gas that’s cheaper by 3cents than the other station on the other side of the street, while there is no line at the slightly more expensive station.
Asking for pet health advice on fuckin reddit. shudders
I mean….them dying because you asked reddit instead of taking them to a vet will spare you from all future vet bills, so I guess it DOES technically save you money.
Buy now pay later/debt for anything that isn’t an appreciating asset or generates cash flow. Like a burrito, refrigerator, phone, wedding etc. I interned at a BNPL firm and I’m telling you all from firsthand experience it’s a scam.
If you’re an art/crafts person, seeing something you want and thinking, “I can just make it myself and it’ll cost me a lot less.” That is the devil whispering sweet lies directly into the tender ear of your hubris. If you don’t already have nearly all of the necessary supplies on hand, it will cost you more to make it yourself.
The dollar store. You’re paying way more per item, but I understand their utility is to help get by when you can’t afford a full item or to buy in bulk. If you’re not paycheck to paycheck though, it doesn’t make sense to shop there.
My in laws would drive all over town chasing grocery sales. Milk is cheaper here, chicken on sale here, bread is buy one get one at this store etc.
Even if you don’t make additional impulse buys at each store… who the fuck wants to waste that much time, energy, gas and mental bandwidth on groceries?
It was like a weird obsession and was exhausting just hearing about. Like… pick a fucking store and be done with it. Change it weekly if you want to. But ffs, going to 5 different stores to meal plan is bonkers.
Comments
Buying really cheap stuff. I’m not saying you have to buy top of the line but at least get something semi quality so you don’t have to constantly replace it
Telling the healthcare marketplace you only make 30k a year when you actually make 70k+
Driving across town to save 3 cents a gallon on gas.
91 octane gas if the auto doesn’t need it
Cheaping out on tires or shoes/boots. You’ll pay dearly if you use them a lot
DIY repairs without proper knowledge and skipping regular maintenance.
Cutting corners on professional equipment. A few years back I got a made in China arm for my microphone on Amazon. Cost about 1/4th what the German original did. About 9 months later one night it snapped, fell on my computer, and threw everything to the floor. A $100 item nearly cost me $4,000. I then bought the expensive German model and haven’t had any problems.
Avoiding doing maintaince on things.
Sure it’s cheaper today, and it’ll probably all be fine tomorrow, but sooner or later its gonna bite ya.
Renting a storage unit
Cheap shoes
Not paying annually for some subscriptions.
Lotteries/gambling, people convince themselves they will be ‘winners’ but few are.
The “buy one get one half off or with discount” type of deals. Anything that incentivizes you to buy more by tacking it on as a bonus if you get it.
If you’re buying in bulk or such intentionally then it’s a good deal. But if you just came in for one box of lets say cookies for $5 and it had one of these deals. So you buy a second box too because its discounted and says if you buy two it will cost $8, as opposed to $10. So you get it thinking you’re saving money.
Instead what you just spent was $3 more than you had to on a second box you didn’t even come in for.
And it repeats throughout the whole store. It’s everywhere, especially in food. The flashy colored tickets, the bold letters, emphasis on how much you save, all to bait people to buy more things than they actually need.
Though it depends on what your actual goals and needs are. It might genuinely save you some and be good, but you could also be getting ripped off.
Cheap tires
[deleted]
Not working overtime or trying to stay below a certain income threshold because of taxes. They don’t understand how taxes work.
Buying things at a sale price without knowing the average price. Stores artificially inflate prices so that they can lower them and advertise something as being ‘on sale’.
Buying the cheap work boots
Buying stuff just because it’s on sale.
Were you going to buy it at full price?
No? Then it’s not savings, it’s an expenditure.
Buying cheaply made or disposable things over and over, throwing them away; instead of buying well-made things just once or twice which can last for decades or a lifetime.
A lot of price matching and shopping around ends up wasting more than it’s worth.
Also my dad read that you saved gas money going slower. So he once added an hour to his commute so that he could save gas.
Even aside from the fact that that hour of his life was worth more than the 3 cents it saved him, he had to take a longer route to do it because you can’t go under 60 on the interstate.
Auto repair insurance
Over the course of his life my father has change his home heating system numerous times. He went from electric board to electric furnace, then wood stove, then oil stove, back to wood stove and now propane stove. Every single time he tried to convince me he was saving 20% on his energy bill. It cost him so much money that he will never ‘’save’’ enough to pay for just one system.
Shopping based on monthly payments rather than total cost (discounted to present value). Most common with cars and houses.
Coupons. I knew somebody who drove all over the city so she could save money with coupons. The gas alone was probably more than she saved… let’s not even get started about depreciation on the car.
Carrying a balance on a credit card to build credit. You don’t need to carry a balance to build credit
“Sales”, oddly enough
I read something like “Something at 30% off seems like a good deal until you realise you were convinced to spend 70% more than you normally planned”
Small thing but it made me more aware of my spending habits and Jfc how much fomo engineering there is
Time Shares
Saving money (or, more accurately, spending less on certain things)
Let me elaborate…. Actually, let Terry Pratchett elaborate:
“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.
Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.
But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet”
Skipping the dentist
Deal sites. You’ll go broke saving money.
People with basic tax returns paying hundreds of dollars for TurboTax to “maximize” their return.
Buying the cheaper and smaller packages of food at the grocery store.
The price for the amount of food is often a lot higher. It’s better to buy the larger sized ones, and then maybe freeze some of it.
Saving money in a savings account.
As a tax accountant, not maintaining a separate bank account for your small business.
The fees for the account will end up being less every year than what you get charged for the additional work of trying to disaggregate your personal expenses from your business expenses in the bank statements alone.
Fast food.
Yeah, it’s fast and it’s food but at what cost?
Skipping maintenance on cars.
Car idling for 10 mins to get gas that’s cheaper by 3cents than the other station on the other side of the street, while there is no line at the slightly more expensive station.
Some DIY home reno stuff you’ve never done before. Man I wish I had taken a summer job as a teen with a handyman to learn a bunch of that stuff.
DOGE.
Gardening.
Buying cheap tires. They usually wear out faster and/or have poor quality control, leading to premature or uneven wear.
Asking for pet health advice on fuckin reddit. shudders
I mean….them dying because you asked reddit instead of taking them to a vet will spare you from all future vet bills, so I guess it DOES technically save you money.
Buy now pay later/debt for anything that isn’t an appreciating asset or generates cash flow. Like a burrito, refrigerator, phone, wedding etc. I interned at a BNPL firm and I’m telling you all from firsthand experience it’s a scam.
If you’re an art/crafts person, seeing something you want and thinking, “I can just make it myself and it’ll cost me a lot less.” That is the devil whispering sweet lies directly into the tender ear of your hubris. If you don’t already have nearly all of the necessary supplies on hand, it will cost you more to make it yourself.
Rent to own is such a scam and so many people do it.
Buying something you don’t need because it’s on sale.
Timeshares.
People think they’re getting a great deal. They don’t have to pay for hotels. Huge fucking scam.
Moving to a cheaper state.
It doesnt save you money when your check is less or other things are insanely high.
I’ve heard driving with the windows down consumes more gas than windows up with the AC running.
The dollar store. You’re paying way more per item, but I understand their utility is to help get by when you can’t afford a full item or to buy in bulk. If you’re not paycheck to paycheck though, it doesn’t make sense to shop there.
My in laws would drive all over town chasing grocery sales. Milk is cheaper here, chicken on sale here, bread is buy one get one at this store etc.
Even if you don’t make additional impulse buys at each store… who the fuck wants to waste that much time, energy, gas and mental bandwidth on groceries?
It was like a weird obsession and was exhausting just hearing about. Like… pick a fucking store and be done with it. Change it weekly if you want to. But ffs, going to 5 different stores to meal plan is bonkers.