According to a recent survey, 90% of Americans claim to have frugal habits. With financial literacy being a hot topic in recent years, more and more people are adopting frugal habits to help them save money and live financially stable lives.
While these habits can certainly help people save money and manage their finances, not all frugal habits are created equal. Some frugal habits can cost more in the long run or negatively impact overall well-being.
Here are some frugal habits that are not worth the effort.
Clipping Coupons
Looking for coupons to save a few cents at the grocery shop or get a cheap meal will not result in significant savings compared to the time spent finding those offers in the first place. Mark Joseph, Founder of Parental Queries, narrates his experience with coupon clipping, which he didn’t find very rewarding. “I tried clipping coupons for everyday items to get discounts.”
Joseph says, “However, this was more time-consuming than it was worth since I only sometimes had the items the coupons were for, and the ones I did have usually weren’t much cheaper than the non-discounted items.”
Doing It Yourself
“If something in your house requires fixing and you don’t have the technical knowledge to do so yourself, you should have it fixed by a professional,” advises Susie Italiano, an accountant and personal finance blogger.
While she was lucky to be able to unclog her kitchen sink using a drain snake and a few Italian imprecations, it was a different story for her friend, who fudged up her car by learning how to fix it through YouTube videos. The desire to acquire new skills is commendable, but until you do, hire someone else to handle issues.
Not Having ‘Fun Money’
“Unless you are deep into a mountain of suffocating debt and you are working incredibly hard to escape it, your budget should always include a little bit of ‘fun money’ to spend every month on stuff that you want but don’t need,” Italiano says.
The finance blogger believes it is ideal to have drinks with friends and buy yourself a book a couple of times per month without it being seen as squandering your money. “Being frugal to the point of making yourself miserable and preventing yourself from experiencing life isn’t worth it,” Italiano concludes.
Bulk Buying
Italiano admits this can be an excellent idea if you are a big family or buying non-perishable items. But, a bad idea if you are purchasing items that will rot or expire before you can consume them, and you’ll find yourself throwing a lot of them away.
Italiano suggests that the good way to go about bulk buying is to plan how to use those products fully and plan your meals so you can bulk buy items without causing any waste.
Saving Change
According to Skye Sauchelli, founder of Thriving and Inspiring, a personal development blog, If you don’t have a job that provides you cash and don’t have money on hand often, saving your change in a jar isn’t that helpful. “I don’t have cash on me often, and I’ve had a change jar going for years.”
They say, “If I had to guess, I probably have less than $5 in there.”
Comparing Prices
Comparing prices while trying to live on a budget is always a good idea. Therefore, it makes little sense to go to many places simply to save a few cents on a small number of things. According to James Cutajar, owner of the food blog pastawith.com, considering this tactic to save money would involve driving across various stores, finding a place to park, and then waiting in line at each store means exchanging a lot of time just to save at most a few dollars. And those dollars may actually be spent on the extra fuel being consumed to drive between the stores.
To evaluate if this is worth it, he advises that you consider how long it would take to do grocery shopping from one store compared to the time it takes to visit multiple stores. And compare that with the money saved. Doing this sum will place a $ number on how much it costs/saved per hour.
Buying Cheap Commodities
Founder and co-owner of GulfPhysio, Kieran Sheridan, fell into the trap of thinking that one big thing they could do for their finances was to spend as little money on stuff as possible and, as a result, to buy the lowest choice for each given product, for years, especially when they were remodeling their first apartment.
The result was that they left Home Depot several times with the cheapest option available, only to have it perform poorly, break, or not function at all. Thankfully they have a good return policy. Similarly, low-cost apparel lasted for about two washes before falling apart. They discovered that sometimes it pays to spend more, and it’s even better if one can purchase something used, from a time when things were meant to last longer than the crap that clogs today’s shelves.
This article was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.
Amaka Chukwuma is a freelance content writer with a BA in linguistics. As a result of her insatiable curiosity, she writes in various B2C and B2B niches. Her favorite subject matter, however, is in the financial, health, and technological niches. She has contributed to publications like Buttonwood Tree and FinanceBuzz in the past and currently writes for Wealth of Geeks.