I’ve noticed sometimes that there’s some half-baked videos or blogs or whatever that purport this or that frugal trick, but if you look at the time or math, it’s not actually frugal for you.
What are some examples of that you’ve come across? The things that “aren’t worth it”?
For me it’s couponing. (Although I haven’t heard people talk about it recently–has it fallen out of “style”, or have businesses caught up to the loopholes folks used to exploit?)
I always thought couponing looked obnoxious.
I don’t care if I save $0.35 per grocery trip or $35. I really don’t. And I’m definitely not wealthy! But when it comes to all those valuable pieces of paper, I’ve decided I’m not making the cashier scan and verify them one-by-one, the people behind me in line wait the extra time, the bookkeeper add them up and send them in, and then whatever clearing house wage-slave collect and destroy them.
I realize that sounds judgemental, but that’s just my threshold. I genuinely feel everyone needs to decide how they want to live their life…
my grocery store’s app has a coupon section. I can scroll through them and add them to my loyalty card, so that they all get added to my order automatically. It’s at least as valid a use of my time as playing Crossy Road. I don’t use paper coupons.
I worked for a big chain store. Like, a really big chain store, but not that one.
At the end of the night, they would collect all the coupons from the registers, weigh them, and throw them away.
The store would get credited based on the weight.