{"id":305089,"date":"2026-02-22T23:37:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T23:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/305089\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T23:37:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T23:37:29","slug":"it-can-be-a-money-pit-people-are-calling-out-the-frugal-tips-that-were-just-not-worth-the-time-money-or-frustration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/305089\/","title":{"rendered":"“It Can Be A Money Pit”: People Are Calling Out The “Frugal Tips” That Were Just Not Worth The Time, Money, Or Frustration"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’ve ever tried a money-saving tip only to realize that it 100% doesn’t work for you, then you know that very little of this advice is one-size-fits-all. I always think it’s interesting to hear other people’s perspectives on common money-saving tips, so when I came across this Reddit thread<\/a> about frugal tips that are totally overrated, I had to share it. Here are some of the top comments:1. “Not every DIY is cheaper. It is often only cheaper if you need something that cannot be mass-produced. And even then, buying the materials is often more expensive than modifying an existing product.”\"Person<\/p>\n

Oscar Wong \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u2014discolored_rat_hat<\/a><\/p>\n

2. “Driving around to find cheaper gas is pretty ridiculous. Like, I get filling up before going near the airport car rental, and not filling up at rest stops if possible, but otherwise just keep an eye out for what’s on your way.”<\/p>\n

\u2014MissDisplaced<\/a><\/p>\n

3. “I stopped buying things because they were ‘on sale.’ If it was something I didn’t need often, it was not worth the purchase price. I also stopped buying things I don’t have room for or did not plan to use within the current month. It just was not worth trying to find storage for it.”\"Sale<\/p>\n

Witthaya Prasongsin \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u2014tetcheddistress<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Therapists Are Revealing The Mind-Blowing, “Wait\u2026 Really?” Differences Between Their Male And Female Patients, And It’s Shocking<\/a><\/p>\n

4. “Making things (laundry detergent, yogurt, cheese, whatever) from scratch. If it takes more than three steps and\/or two hours, I\u2019ll just use less and\/or a coupon for it. Between procuring the ingredients\/equipment needed, the labor involved with execution and clean up, and then the learning curve of possibly making a shitty end product, I\u2019m okay with paying for the convenience of a consistently good product.”<\/p>\n

\u2014PutNameHere123<\/a><\/p>\n

5. “I used to collect some coupons, but it feels like a lot of stores have completely neutered them lately. It’s almost never for anything I actually buy on a regular basis. It’ll be like for one specific brand of granola bars, this particular chip type, or a box of snack cakes. Never just typical house supplies.”\"Person<\/p>\n

Andersen Ross \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

“When it IS something I would buy, it hardly ever takes it below what store brand costs anyway. And store brand stuff never gets coupons. Sales, yes. Coupons, no. You can’t combine anything, nothing stacks, and it never ends up being more savings than like $10. Maybe this is regional, but it’s just something I’ve noticed. It’s become more worth my time to just go to the store and see what’s marked down.”<\/p>\n

\u2014Mystical-Turtles<\/a><\/p>\n

6. “I have a family friend who refuses to use any lighting in their home to keep their electric bill low. In the meantime, they drive a new pick-up truck that they can barely afford. I would buy an affordable car and use lamps.”<\/p>\n

\u2014Winter_Bid7630<\/a><\/p>\n

7. “Baking bread. Although I\u2019m a great cook, I\u2019m not good at making bread. I\u2019ve tried dozens of recipes. I then tried a bread machine. Nope. I\u2019ve accepted defeat. There\u2019s nothing like a good crusty baguette, so I\u2019ll gladly pay $5 and save myself the aggravation and cost of ingredients.”\"Person<\/p>\n

Grace Cary \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u2014DareWright<\/a><\/p>\n

8. “Things that take a lot of time for not much difference, like going to multiple stores every week to save $20. Most of us just don\u2019t have time or energy for all that unless we rotate stores rather than visit each one every week. You save more by meal planning and not wasting food.”<\/p>\n

\u2014robin-bunny<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: My Jaw Needs To Be Picked Off The Floor And Surgically Reattached After Reading These 21 Unhinged Patient Complaints Medical Professionals Have Received<\/a><\/p>\n

9. “Credit card churning. I know it can save money, and I did do it for a while, but the mental headache wasn’t worth it for me. I just use a single cash back card with another as a backup and use it for everything. Keeps all my spending in one spot to help with budgeting, and the mental load decrease is so much nicer.”\"Person<\/p>\n

Javier Zayas Photography \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u2014OutsideImmediate9074<\/a><\/p>\n

10. “I feel like a lot of people don\u2019t properly account for their time and effort. Time and energy are resources just the same as money, and we should be frugal with those. I like to DIY stuff cause I enjoy doing the project, but when I don\u2019t enjoy it, I don\u2019t do it. And if I come up negative when accounting for effort, time, and frustration, then it\u2019s worth it to spend the money to buy the thing or hire experts.”<\/p>\n

\u2014sleepydorian<\/a><\/p>\n

11. “Fixing my car myself ended up with a friend breaking it more. I did replace the battery just fine, but even that took way longer than it was maybe worth.”\"Mechanic<\/p>\n

Kriangkrai Thitimakorn \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u2014greatexpectations23<\/a><\/p>\n

12. “I know travel hacking can be done, but I’m not organized enough, and I don’t enjoy it. The few times I’ve tried something, I end up not being able to use it when I wanted to or forgetting and not using it. I wish I could figure it out because travel is expensive!”<\/p>\n

\u2014After-Leopard<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: “He Impregnated Three Different Women At Once”: 25 Coworker Sex Affair Stories That Are Wild, Wild, Wildddddd<\/a><\/p>\n

13. “Gardening can eventually save you money, but it\u2019s a ton of work and can take a long time, like years, to break even. Once your system is in place and you know what works for your space and zone, it\u2019s a great frugal effort, but it can be a lot of up-front investment.”\"A<\/p>\n

Luis D. Barrera Gamboa \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u2014periwinkleravenclaw<\/a><\/p>\n

14. “Driving with windows down to save on gas instead of using your car\u2019s AC. The majority of fuel consumed by your car is used to overcome air\/wind resistance. The drag created by driving with open windows burns way more fuel than your car\u2019s air conditioning.”<\/p>\n

\u2014OCsurfishin<\/a><\/p>\n

15. “Making your own clothes. Thrifting and consignment are definitely cheaper (and less time-consuming).”\"Person<\/p>\n

Anastasiia Krivenok \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u2014GinaHannah1<\/a><\/p>\n

16. “For me personally, buying bigger items of perishable food for the better price per kilo ratio is a waste of money. This will probably work for other people, but I live alone, and I absolutely hate eating the same food more than three times. I live within walking distance of the store, so I am only buying three or four days’ worth of groceries at a time. So whatever is quickly expiring, I am buying smaller item that I\u2019ll finish quickly, otherwise it\u2019ll just rot in my fridge and will go to the waste anyway. Of course, the situation is different for things that can be frozen or have a long shelf life. But for something like yogurt or fresh fruit \u2014 no, thanks.”<\/p>\n

\u2014Frosty-Brick-3180<\/a><\/p>\n

17. “Turning off LED lamps obsessively may save 15 cents per month.”\"Finger<\/p>\n

Kinga Krzeminska \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u2014MysticDay95<\/a><\/p>\n

18. “‘StOp BuYiNg AvOcAdO tOaSt AnD sTaRbUcKs.’ I hate the assumption that I spend $15 every day on breakfast out. No, Sharon, I don’t spend $450\/month on breakfast. Cutting that out won’t magically afford me a 4-bedroom house.”<\/p>\n

\u2014lovelycosmos<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: “People Have No Idea How Bad It Is”: 23 Mind-Blowing Industry Secrets That Employees Wish More People Knew About<\/a><\/p>\n

19. “Cloth diapers didn’t save me as much as I thought they would. First, there’s a big up-front cost, then the costs of washing them twice each time in HOT water, then drying in the dryer, which takes forever. My water is heated by oil, and we went through so much oil doing this.”\"A<\/p>\n

Peopleimages \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u2014abbiyah<\/a><\/p>\n

20. “Buying the cheapest version of a product. Saving money on the purchase doesn’t always work in the long run if it breaks quicker.”<\/p>\n

\u2014roygbpcub<\/a><\/p>\n

21. “Buying a plane ticket that is $100 cheaper but departs at 6 a.m. So now you gotta get breakfast on the go, pay a taxi\/Uber to get you to the airport because train schedules suck that early. All of a sudden, you’re $200 in the hole to save $100, and you got a crappy breakfast.”\"A<\/p>\n

Jackyenjoyphotography \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u2014zomgitsduke<\/a><\/p>\n

22. “Raising animals, like chickens for the eggs, can be a money pit. But it depends on a lot of factors like the money you put into building the coop, the feed you are giving them, the treats, the time you spend taking care of them, etc. In season, you can sell the extra eggs. But for a few months, it’s possible you don’t have any eggs at all. So you need to buy them. Or put a light in the coop.”<\/p>\n

\u2014Brayongirl<\/a><\/p>\n

23. And finally, “I think most advice that people give doesn\u2019t move the needle much. The most important thing is to avoid taking unnecessary debt and paying high interest on it, and making good decisions on the debt that makes sense to take. Other than that, your time and energy are better spent on finding ways to increase your income and investing more of it.”\"Two<\/p>\n

Pixelonestocker \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u2014Absentrando<\/a><\/p>\n

Is there anything you would add? Let us know in the comments or via this anonymous form:<\/p>\n

Also in Work & Money: “It Totally Destroyed His Reputation”: 27 Real-Life Workplace Drama Stories That Are So Freakin’ Messy, It’s A Dumpster Fire You Won’t Be Able To Look Away From<\/a><\/p>\n

Also in Work & Money: People In “Dull” Jobs Are Spilling Their Industry’s Juiciest Secrets, And I’m Absolutely Grabbing Some Popcorn<\/a><\/p>\n

Also in Work & Money: “It’s Like A Freaking Hell Loop”: People Are Revealing Normal ’90s And ’00s Things Are Considered A Luxury Now<\/a><\/p>\n

Read it on BuzzFeed.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you’ve ever tried a money-saving tip only to realize that it 100% doesn’t work for you, then…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153531,114,153530,268,1077,85,46,266,267],"class_list":["post-305089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-airport-car-rental","tag-business","tag-cheaper-gas","tag-finance","tag-getty-images","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}