Where do you draw the line between frugal and stupid? (items, money)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
In the process of living on the cheap, we can often diverge into a path of stupidity. The problem is, it's tough to know when you've gone too far. When frugality myths are simply not true?
Does frugality actually involve sacrifice and denial, or it's all about how far you take it?
I think it comes down to whatever someone kind of enjoys doing that determines if it's frugal or stupid.
I've known people who take used tea bags and hand them in the window to dry so they can re-use them. I don't know how practical that is, but if they combine 2 or 3 used ones, they say they can get a normal strength cup of tea from them, and then they compost them.
It's not stupid for them to do this because they take great pride in being thrifty, they enjoy it. If someone were to be miserable doing something like this, then it would be stupid.
I like keeping the heater down to 60 or 62 degrees and some people might think that's too frugal but I'm okay because I like wearing sweatshirts and using blankets when watching television.
People who have the time, might enjoy cutting coupons and comparing prices and visiting many stores to save a penny but someone who works and would have to lose sleep or time off work to do this might be overdoing it.
Dude, I agree with your mom. You could have had a family weekend together, grandmom was doing the cooking and seeing her grandkids. Leave your wife at home and give her a free weekend, so she's happy. You and your oldest son together would get the job done in a day.
Why would you want a stranger from CL working with your mother?
And I wouldn't charge my mother for gas to visit her. Home cooking would be enough...
Let's clear this up: I'm no "dude".
There are other factors at work here. First of all, nothing would have been accomplished, we'd have been a distraction for her, no work would have gotten done. Or very little anyway.
Second, my 20 year old son was with her, so I wasn't concerned about her hiring someone off of CL and endangering her safety.
Third, there'd be no "home cooking". She does this sort of thing camping style, not wanting to mess up the kitchen or have to clean the oven in the rental unit, so it would have been fast food expenses or her going to purchase more food that could be consumed without cooking (sandwich stuff, for example).
Fourth; she makes these kind of requests knowing full well I really just cannot up and spend the weekend there for various reasons. School responsibilities, things I must do at home and only have weekends to get done, dealing with the pets (or bringing them along). As well as my self-employment activities which I primarily do on weekends only. It's not logical. Why wouldn't you, as a person trying to get something done, opt for bringing in someone who was available to do the work without conflict? I mean, if your goal was really to get something done.
Finally, she said she'd pay for the gas because I simply don't have the extra money in my budget for an unplanned trip. I am a full time student and I commute an hour for school, I am on a tight budget. Spending $120 to $150 without planning ahead for the expense doesn't work for me and my family. That $120-150 is there for emergencies, and again it would have been cheaper for her to just pay someone who actually needs the work.
It was not about "visiting her". I can visit her, with the kids, when she is home, which is about 45 minutes away.
The point of describing that scenario was to illustrate how she claimed she could not afford to hire local help but was willing to spend more than what it would have cost to hire someone in order for us to come down instead.
driving out of your way to buy something cheap is stupid, you're not adding the cost of gas..when you're wasting time saving money, as in feeling like you've wasted your day off, then it's stupid. If you enjoy what you do, that's different. I love thrift stores and rather shop in them than regular stores. So it's a winwein situation for me. But for someone who hates used stuff, it could feel like a hardship. Stupid to me is when you feel really bad afterwards for trying to be too frugal or waste money while trying to save it..Also, risking your health, or even life, to be frugal is very stupid...
When I first saved a lot of money I went overboard driving around saving 2-3 bucks on a 50 dollar item, then I realized I was spending that in gas and it was too stressful. At one point we were frugual to the point of causing a lot of stress and anxiety, we don't do that for several years.
If you enjoy doing an activity, then it is not stupid even though you are only saving a minimal amount of money doing so. Instead it is simply a hobby which doesn't cost you anything.
Why not. Are we just talking about normal clothes?
Like someone else said. Throw a load in before work, get home put it in dryer, hang clothes. Hardly 15 minutes really.
Even if you don't have a washer/dryer at home it takes perhaps an hour to go to the laundromat and it might cost $5 or so a week maybe a little more.
so what i hate doing laundry,i do a terrible job with it and you save next to nothing doing it yourself.
in the laundromats near me all of the machines take money from a card
when the people who work there do someones laundry they have to write down the weight and how much money they put into the washing machines and dryers
I pay 70 cents a pound
It costs them about 40-45 cents a poundf and that doesnt even include detergent
I drop my laundry off about once a month and its usually 40-50 pounds
So i can do something I hate for an hour and a half to save 10-12 dollars, or I can pay someone to do it.
This is a no brainer.I wouldnt work for 10 bucks an hour, so I sure as hell won't be doing something I hate for that rate. And they do a much better job than I ever would anyway.
so what i hate doing laundry,i do a terrible job with it and you save next to nothing doing it yourself.
in the laundromats near me all of the machines take money from a card
when the people who work there do someones laundry they have to write down the weight and how much money they put into the washing machines and dryers
I pay 70 cents a pound
It costs them about 40-45 cents a poundf and that doesnt even include detergent
I drop my laundry off about once a month and its usually 40-50 pounds
So i can do something I hate for an hour and a half to save 10-12 dollars, or I can pay someone to do it.
This is a no brainer.I wouldnt work for 10 bucks an hour, so I sure as hell won't be doing something I hate for that rate. And they do a much better job than I ever would anyway.
I've been to laundromats before and it does take awhile....so I can get that. Paying $10 for them to wash,dry and fold my clothes in a basket is a "no brainer".
Now if were talking at home (we have a washer, dryer at home and always will) then it really isn't that hard. I can wash and dry the laundry and then fold in under 30 minutes. I'm not going to pay someone for a menial task that takes 30 minutes a week if that.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Allegedly this will keep families from needing 2 incomes ....
