This question came to mind when driving back & forth between California-Arizona where vehicle fuel prices have a $2 PER GALLON difference. (I love my diesel vehicle. Fight me.)
So (1) would I drive 5 hours inland to Arizona just to save $2 per gallon?
Or (2) Would I buy a shit-ton of gas cans & fill them up in Arizona then haul them back to California?
As destitute as I am, would I move to Arizona for all-around lower cost of living? (3)
(1) Um, no.
(2) Sounds like a clever idea but ultimately ridiculous for so many reasons. No.
(3) Stupidly & stubbornly, no, I haven’t broken yet. I still love California too much to run inland away from this extortionately high cost of living.
BUT
I prefer to walk/run/bike rather than drive short distances.
Prefer DIY-ing or foregoing luxuries rather than paying for services I could do myself. Haircuts. Massages. Handyman repairs within my ability.
Yesterday I transported a seven-foot long, 70# piece of furniture across town by bus.
Hell yeah!
I declare you president of this club.
👑
How did the other people riding the bus feel about this LOL.
They were super nice! I was like, this bus is too full, I’ll get the next one and five different people said “no!” and got up to make room. It was very sweet, real holiday spirit kinda stuff.
That is nice.
One day a woman was mad at everyone for not giving up their seats for her as she had a stroller. It contained three cases of beer and a basket of laundry.
lmao can you blame her though
Eight
Nice try but “inconvenience” cannot be measured numerically. We need anecdotes.
One time i eight’d to save money.
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If you know anyone who works in nursing or similar, you can some times get medical grade staplers (and other semi specialty things) for free when they “expire” and need to be thrown out.
I’ve still got two staplers in my medical kit that expired in 2010. I assume it’s the sterile rating that is no longer valid since it’s a stapler. Haven’t needed them yet…
Super glue can fix some crazy cuts
That’s what it was designed for tbh
A lot, I’ve walked across a city rather than pay for a taxi
Hell yeah, that’s how I live too. It’s exhausting & time-consuming but at least money stays in my bank account 😛 And we’ve got great legs & a great ass & excellent cardiovascular health.
In a though spot? No new stuff. Rent, food, internet, electricity. Put everything to the side I can afford.
English is a tough language. It can be mastered through tough thorough thought though.
Username checks out.
Enough to use the stupid fucking fast food apps that need to ask which location I’m ordering from six times and every screen takes two seconds to load.

I almost never order snacks or fast food delivered, cheaper to walk to the store if I want it
I did surveys for money so I could buy things I otherwise wouldn’t. I made thousands doing it and bought SO much stuff I needed and wanted. I got entirely sick of them though as it really is a grind and stopped. It’s impressive how much stuff I bought with this money. (I’m happy to tell anyone how). Sometimes when I’m leaving for work I just think of everything I’m wearing or carrying that I didn’t pay a penny for.
I go to the hair salon school and let students cut my hair to save money (it’s super cheap) and began colouring it myself. I only get my hair cut like twice a year as well despite wanting to do it more.
I have like seven digital library cards, I give the library a fake address in their city and sign up. It actually only benefits them that they get more patrons reading books. I can request books at my library anyway that they don’t have in their collection and they’ll get it from another library too.
My health benefits through my workplace include orthotic sole inserts, but also you get two pairs of shoes. That’s two pairs of shoes a YEAR. I have coworkers who do it and don’t use the orthotic insert, just for the shoes. If you have workplace benefits look at everything they give you and use whatever you can.
I will price match at the grocery store to the penny. You just stand there and say “this is 5 dollars at Walmart” and nobody ever checks so if it’s really expensive I’ll tell them it’s a price I’ve seen it be before even if it isn’t that week. The cashiers will also say “this is X amount at X store” and ring it up without me asking sometimes too.
I’ll go to my doctor and get a prescription for something so it goes through my benefits even if I could buy something to treat it over the counter. I’m Canadian so it doesn’t cost me to go, and they’re legit conditions, but I don’t HAVE to go in. Universal health care for the win.
Our drug reps bring us food like once a week so that’s usually my lunch that day.
My workplace has an employee perks program where insurance or phone carrier or clothing stores or whatever will give you discounts. My phone carrier was going to charge me 30 dollars more a month to upgrade my phone, so I went and looked into their phone plans, and got an employee pricing plan for less than half of that with much more data and international calling, through the same carrier through an employee pricing plan dealer. It was even 5 dollars less when I went to pick it up on Tuesday because the plans change all the time. So now I get 100 GB of data, international calling and texting as well as all my usual features, for 45 dollars plus 1 dollar a month for a new Pixel 10. Can’t wait to hand my old phone in on Saturday to my carrier and tell them I’m done with their bullshit as they were going to charge me 100 a month. Fuck you Bell Canada.
A local church has a “good food box” program (for anyone who wants it, not just for low income people) where you get a bag of 10-11 fruits and vegetables every other week for 22 dollars. Saves me mountains of money at the grocery store and it’s very practical. It’s absolutely great, and you just pick it up at one of the two locations.
I have no idea, I’m quite frugal already without it being an inconvenience. If I’d step it up a notch to inconvenience I wouldn’t be saving much more.
I will pay to avoid inconvenience.
I usually consider
- how much I hate doing it
- how long it will take to do vs
- how long it will take to find someone to do it
- how much it will cost. The weight of what is acceptable changes depending on how much I need the money at that time.
I live in a tiny garage “apartment” with only a washing machine, no dryer, and essentially “babies first refrigerator” too small to even keep a tub of ice cream in the freezer just so that I don’t have to live paycheck to paycheck.
Maybe try putting in the ice cream before the baby?
Seriously? I have priorities man! I can do without the ice cream, but there’s no way I’m going without a baby on ice. What kind of life is that!?
I am a baby first person, too. But they seemed like they wanted ice cream more. To each their own, I guess.
I use spotify premium.
I cut my own hair. Doesn’t sound like an inconvenience, but in the summer our house has no AC, and you’d be surprised just how stuffy one person can make a bathroom in 30 mins. And my hair has mostly looked like shit for 25 years. (The local hair styling school charges $2 less than local salons, so it’s not super cheap here.)
Yes haircuts are so expensive! Grateful I embraced a Pocahontas/ carefree Hawaiian girl hairstyle 30+ years ago. I NEVER cut my hair. It’s just long & wavy & takes care of itself, and somehow never grows beyond waist-length 🤷🏼♀️

i live in a garbage can






