Reposting from the mildly infuriating sub. I just found out that ikea sells their food storage lids and containers separately! I plan on checking them out next time I purchase food storage containers because its SO wasteful to have a broken lid and having to replace the whole thing or throw them out because you can't use one without the other. Finally, a solution to the dreaded worn out food storage lids!

Edit I've gotten a few posts stating that ikea changes the style of these every few years. So just wanted to add that this might not be the longterm solution I was hoping for (and if this IS the case I will not be purchasing in the future, because it wouldn't solve this issue longterm).

Another edit because I'm babying this post lol. According to a Google search the popular core products stay the same and some specialty colors and sizes are phased out. I'm waiting to hear more feedback on this issue, and maybe I'll try to avoid the ones that are specialty.

Also quite a few people have pointed out that pyrex, glasslock and snapware will replace your lids for free if you contact customer service- TIL!

For half the year, finally hit close to zero waste. With $10-20 per month power and water bill.

Captured 50% of solar energy and ​water. ​Biked & ​Walked over 75%. Ate 25% from small garden. ​Purchased 75% of things refurbished or used

Spent
4kw Solar Panels $1500 on ​Ground mount​. 16kw LFP battery $1500.

Used ​Solar(during ​day) & Natural gas(at ​night) to dry clothes​, washed clothes during showers. Reduced wardrobe to 6 outfits.

I live alone, so buying bulk isn’t really a need for other things.

I’ve been trying to determine if getting a CostCo membership would be worth it or not. And pet food & litter is a factor I’ve been weighing.

I have a 45lbs dog and a large breed cat, and I try to feed them both on the higher end of quality food (kibble for both). By that I mean *above* what’s at Walmart and grocery stores, but middle-range for pet stores. Typically $50+ per 30lbs bag of dog food, for example.

I only buy gas about twice a month, so I’m not sure how much that would save me on my car consumption. And since I’m only cooking for myself, I don’t think the rest of Costco is worth a lot to me. I also live in the city, if that helps.

In my area anyway, they cannot deny you from their pharmacy, liquor store, or even their food court just because you don’t have a membership, so those three are no incentive.

Is the savings on pet food (and I guess 24 fill-ups on gas per year for a sedan) enough that I can justify the membership?

Maybe this is common knowledge, maybe it's not and YMMV. It defintely doesn't work for every household, but I don't live a particularly unique life either.

Early in the summer I switched to time-of-use (TOU) billing with my electric company. That means during the 12 hours that I choose (8pm-8am) I get a rate of 10.28 c/kWh; and during the rest of time (8am-8pm) I pay a higher rate 30.08 c/kWh. The non-TOU rate is 19.32 c/kWh all day.

If you're like me and never home during the day, there is some serious money to be saved. I run my laundry, dishwasher, and generally cook during the off-peak hours; it's also when I turn down the A/C to sleeping temps instead of running it all day long. Since I'm not at home, I also don't run the TV or computer during the peak times.

This month my bill was down almost 60% from last year ($210 down to $130) with only some minor lifestyle changes. This dispite the fact that our summer has had more prolonged heat waves than previous years.

Hoping this helps a few people explore your options and save a few extra dollars!

For years I've used cheap carrier locked phones from Walmart. This went okay for a while, However the last one I bought is very very bad. This is coming from someone who consistently bought one of the cheapest phones for years(tcl ion x). I'm just so ready to be done with this phone. I desperately want a better phone but don't have the money. I'm very open to buying used and refurbished. I've just never done that before and am looking for tips and guidance.

Thank you all!

Edit: Thank you all for your comments and advice

I like to know that in a case of emergency I can call someone, but AAA is getting bit expensive for my taste, almost $200 a year for two people, for a service that I used twice in 20 plus years.

I don't want to get roadside assistance trough insurance company because they don't provide much, and they are known to jack up the price if they see you use it.

I'm located in New York/New Jersey/Pennsylvania

Can’t believe we only have a little over a week to go until August!!

How did week 3 of No Buy July go for you?

This is the thread to post how on how you did during the third week!

Check in with your successes.

Check in with your failures.

Check in for accountability.

Or simply follow along to see how others did during this third week!

If you like what you see maybe you’ll consider joining in for the rest of the month by only buying essentials and cutting out discretionary spending!

See what this is all about by checking out the original post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Frugal/s/vQOnCd5gFN

Also to Note, I’ll post the FINAL check in post August 1st!

I hesitate to put links here, but you can always search for a trusted link. The first is Supercook Here you type in the ingredients you have on hand. It assumes you have water salt and pepper, and it spits out a recipe or recipes using those ingredients, not requiring you to go buy anything extra. Great!

The second is Camelcamelcamel. Amazon plays games with prices. They will up the price on a popular item for a few days, then return it to regular price, calling it a "sale" Camel will allow you to track an item you interested in, also allow you to get a detailed price history of it on Amazon. It has now gone live on Walmart prices as well.

I’m going to take a 4 hour train ride and there are 2 different trains that can take me there but one is $28 but takes 1.5 hours longer to reach my destination, which one is worth it? My partner says I should just take the one that is $28 more expensive but I’m thinking I’d rather just sit and relax for an extra 1.5 hours and save the $28, which option os more reasonable in this situation? (This is a businesses trip not a vacation)

I’m pretty frugal but have been extra frugal lately and finding ways to add cheap “stretchers” to meals that are 1. heathy 2. cheap 3. focus on adding protein cause meat is expensive 4. delicious

Today was a can of $1.99 on sale Progresso chicken noodle soup with a $1.25 can of garbanzo beans and the liquid and a cut up carrot and some onion (probably 50 cents total) - this got me about 4 meals worth so basically my meals were over 20 g protein each and less than $1.50 a meal and super satisfying. I added a little extra salt, some garlic powder, some black pepper for extra flavor

Another I did recently was a spaghetti / pasta sauce with onion, celery, green pepper, carrot and tomato paste and crushed canned tomatoes, garlic, seasonings. I used 1/2 ground beef, 1/2 lentils and wow that was great with some pasta. And was cheaper than without the lentils per serving.

Got any other stretcher hacks?

Maybe it's just my stores, but I'm finding it hard to view these two as frugal options when the food stuff you buy tends to expire very very quickly, if it hasn't before you even made it out the door.

I wanted to buy milk (for example), and even the name brand we carry at Walmart was set to expire in 2 days, while the Walmart/Sam's brands were set to expire in 3. With the name brand, we literally have the production facility 3 miles up the road.

I've even found 'fresh' tea by the gallon on the shelf that was 10 days out of date, and not an employee around anywhere to point it out to (if they would have even cared.)

I've already ended my Walmart+ subscription, and am considering letting my Sam's membership go as well.

Am I late to the party with this opinion, or is it more of an it's just me and my location type of thing?

My husband definitely gave me the side eye when I told him I wanted to go grocery shopping at Target and Trader Joe's, and go check out a couple new to us places like Cash Saver and Price Chopper.

Target and Trader Joe's have a reputation of being more costly than Walmart, but they ran some really good ongoing deals that I keep seeing. I saved $30 on stacked rewards from Target the other day and when I price compared, I got my products for even cheaper than what Walmart was offering.

Again, I don't know if this is just my area, or if it's starting to trend everywhere, and I'm mostly just curious if others have found it to be similar to their areas.

Have you found some little hole in the wall gem that offers the best deals compared to your big chain places? Cash Saver seems to be mine, but I definitely have to plan my day around my husband being available to be with me if I want to go to that one.

Just finished a road trip (to get there and back to a bike riding tour). Two of us, retirement age, no kids with us. Some fun along the way, most really low cost, but some planned $$ and definitely which could be adapted to any locale :)

1. Collected fossils in a known deposit. These are 1 to 100 million year old leaf fossils. The local residents have a ‘optional $5 donation box’ to help maintain the area. I donated as requested. Look for rock collecting sites on your trip.

2. Picked 4 boxes of wild blackberries. Just can’t beat free!

3. Picked a box of apples from a tree that was signed ‘free’

4. Passed through a small town festival that had raspberry ice cream for $2 (wish I could’ve eaten two!)

5. Hiked to a natural hot springs and soaked da feet :)

6. Wine tasting with appetizers! By buying bottles (I was pretty sure I would) and using a coupon it came to $68 for a special couple hours treat.

So many things to do and see right??

With my current financial situation, I can no longer afford to spend money mindlessly. However, I find that being frugal can be inconvenient sometimes - and I don't have the patience.

For example, using longs hours of public transport over cabs (this saves A LOT).

Being around people who spend a lot of money (because they can) doesn't help either.

I'd appreciate some of your experiences on how you started living frugally and how it became a habit.

Hello, I have a blacklyte gaming chair and preferably I would like to keep it and ship it to my other location. It is from Maryland to Texas, but if it's way too expensive to do so then I'll try to sell it instead. But I would really love to keep it if possible but not sure how I should do it, as there's many different options but I'm not sure which would be the cheapest to do, if even cheap at all? I can try to disassemble it if that helps. I also plan to ship other things but those shouldn't be too crazy (boxes with clothes and stuff in it, and my gaming monitor [Although not sure if it would be pricey to buy a monitor box as I don't have the original box anymore] whether I should do it via Amazon if they have it or via UPS or FedEx themselves?). I plan to use USPS for the boxes and monitor but should I do it all together in one if that makes it cheaper or USPS for boxes and UPS/FedEx for monitor or something like that? Thank you.

This is somewhat of a unique situation. I get my phone reimbursed through work, but my wife does not. I’m looking for a plan that has a more expensive 1st line and a 2nd line for cheaper, regardless of total cost.

For example, T-Mobile has a 2 line plan for $170 and they throw in a 3rd line free. The way they split it on the bill is by charging $56.67 per line. With that plan, my work would reimburse my $56.66 and we’d have to pay the rest.

Is there a provider that does like $100-150 for a primary line, with a cheap 2nd line? Even if it was a $200 plan with $150 for the primary line and $50 for the 2nd, I’d still come out ahead compared to that $170 T-mobile plan.

Theres been great deals on solar for off grid ​DIY battery station, Plug In Solar fo4 ​Renters (400W-1200W wireless shutoff outlet) for some States, and roof solars.

HQ ​Solar ​Panels are as cheap as $32/100W. Might find cheaper used. Found new one AreSol on ebay.

LFP Battery Power Stations for $100 to 250/ 1kWhr. My favs are Pecron,Anker,Segway. The first two have decent customer service.

Solars cables 12AWG are $1/ ft on Amazon & Walmart. Check their polarity with multimeter

Solar Federal Tax Credits ends by 2032-2035 large 4kw-20kw system

Today, I am cleaning out my garage and toren between tossing stuff and keeping it, because it may be usefull for something in the future. Tell me some of your recycle stories of day to day items that most people would toss into the trash and never think twice about doing so, such as repurposing a gallon milk jug to an oversized funnel, repurposing a paint can into a useful and handy tool, repurposing glass pint jars into paint containers for future touch ups.

So I live in a ski town, so we don't really need AC here, and a lot of places don't have it. The place I'm living in only has heat. I also have my own washer and dryer, and it's a very small studio.

I received my first Xcel bill and was baffled; it is $141. Can I do something about this? Am I really just using that much energy, or am I getting ripped off? Also, I'm not sure if it's worth mentioning, but when I first moved in, they were in the process of installing a new water heater... idk if somehow that could be related? Maybe some sort of technical issue with how it was installed???

Last year, I lived with my partner at the time, in a one bedroom. We did NOT have a washer and dryer. We only had heat. and even in the winter when we were blasting the heat, the most our bill was, was like $40.

The place I'm living in now, it seems like a townhome/multi family home type of setup. There are some units on the frontside, 2 floors. On the backside, there are 4 basement units. I believe they had originally been connected to the above units, but they had been renovated to have their own washer and dryer, kitchen, stairs removed to upstairs access, etc.

On the listing for the unit, it said "rent includes utilities. Tenant is responsible for 25% gas/electric". But then on my lease, it just says "x-25% gas/electric", and then on that same line, it says "billed out by Management". So to me, it seems like it would have been a situation where the landlord gets the xcel bill, and then bills me 25% of that.. but I am confused because I got my bill directly from Xcel.

I always shop the clearance items and reduced bakery racks at the Albertsons near me. Today they rolled out a new system that prices the clearance and bakery items differently. Where previous reduced loaves of bread and bakery items would be $.99 - $1.99 with generic stickers, the new specialized AI pricing system only reduces the specific items by 10-20%. Anyone else notice this? An old bag of 4 bagels which used to be $.99 is now $3.49 but a fresh bag is $3.99. Cakes, muffins, rolls, etc. were all only discounted a little and just slightly lower than buying fresh items. A couple of cakes were 30-40% off, but they were birthday cakes that seemed overpriced to begin with. Also, clearance items scattered throughout the store that used to carry 1/2 off stickers now have only slightly reduced tags. The only place I noticed the older system was in the meat and deli department which still had the 50% off stickers on items that were near the end of their sell by dates. I know their new system is supposed to help them cut down on food waste and inventory issues but it feels like the discounts I could find by searching for clearance food is being taken away for a little more profit margin. I didn’t buy anything off the bakery cart today and it seems like most of these items will end up in the garbage anyway because the people who shop the cart for the savings won’t find them and those who have a little uneasiness about buying something that isn’t fresh won’t bother anyway.

My prior post about YouTube Music v Spotify got closed. So, here's an update.

I was going to use YT Music as a substitute for Spotify Premium. However, we play it on an Alexa device. And YouTube Music (being Google) will not work natively on an Alexa.

An Apple Music is a a real PITA to set up some as simple as a Smooth Jazz channel.

So, we're staying with Spotify Premium and downgrading You Tube to the Light version because we can't use -and don't want - the Music aspect.

Just a few years ago, I was able to find decent sized sunscreen bottles for $1.25 at Dollar Tree. These days, they only have the small portion pocketable stuff.

Does anyone have budget suggestions for bulk sunscreen? Most sunscreen I’ve seen is closer to $7 these days… I’m not picky on ingredients either. Mineral oil as an additive is fine. I just want something cheap since I’m hoping to go to a waterpark quite a bit and I’m about as white as they come lol

edit: northern Illinois, if it matters

I've been cutting my own hair for the past few years. The times that I've gone to the salon to get my hair cut I didn't end up liking the result (and it's expensive). This has been one of the best decisions I've made.

I also never get my nails done, it just feels uncomfortable to me. If there's a major event that I'm going to and I want to look better and get my nails done then I'll just let my nails grow and paint them myself. So much cheaperrr

Ended up buying restaurant depot massive size sugar, flour and rice. I don't want to end up making more wrong choices by impulsively buying food grade buckets from home depot or similar places. I saw some reviews saying the lids break, or that buckets have too much of a strong smell which doesn't go away, not air tight, etc.

I just want to make sure to store them in a way so that they don't go bad for more than a year.

What should I do to make sure they don't go bad ? Any suggestion on how to store them please.

Update: Thank you, everyone, so much for all the great suggestions. I am going through all of them.