Frugal fails? Where you try to save but ends up costing more...

[ExcuseMyIgnorance]

Last night, I didn't want to throw away some chicken that I thought was okay. Turns out it was definitely spoiled. That was a miserable hour in a Walmart bathroom.

In college, I used library computers instead of my own laptop so I wouldn't wear out my own machine. After doing this for 3 months, I came back to my laptop and its battery was shot. Turns out batteries don't like to go unused. #fail

I'll probably think of more later (I'm sure I will) but I wanted to see if you have any interesting frugal fails...

[FLA]

this isn't a major fail to most, but it's bugging me. I've been out of work pretty much since September due to illness. Not able to go back. So for 11 months I spent absolutely no money on myself, just MD copays and meds, lol. I used up HBA that I had on hand, for 3 months, I could not eat, so my weekly groceries were $6 for milk and generic cornflakes, lol. I deleted every store email.

But then I got a really good one from Sierra Trading, $80 PJs/nightgowns for $13. My nightgowns are in heavy rotation, as bending to put on pants sometimes results in a faceplant. All of my PJs were really old, gross, didn't fit. So I bought from ST, then they had an even better sale on them, I bought some more. Then I had to acknowledge, I am not going to wear my work dressy tops around my house. So I needed a few casual tops.

By the time I got done, I think I was close to $250, but it was a ton of clothes due to such good deals. OMG! But ironically, the same day a package came, I got an approval letter from long term disability! Thank God! I have not been up to trying everything on yet and i know some will go back but the two nightgowns I've worn have been heavenly. The guilt keeps coming back but I remind it I haven't even been to a movie in 11 months so back off on my comfy clothes!

[John Doe]

Every frugal purchase can be a potential pitfall.

Lots of folks spend big bucks on bicycle stuff, thinking they will drive less, and the bike and all its accessories end up gathering dust in the garage. Fail.

Lots of folks "cut the cord" to cable TV service, thinking they will save money, but then wind up spending just as much on Netflx and Hulu and Amazon Prime and so on.

Lots of folks buy bulk foods thinking it will save them money, but as studies show, much of it winds up going to waste for various reasons, so they end up spending more.

Lots of folks buy an electric car thinking it will save them on gasoline bills. But they wind up paying more.

Lots of folks buy rooftop solar panels thinking it will reduce their electric bills. But in the end they save little or no money.

Lots of folks buy insulation for their attic, thinking it will reduce their heating and cooling bills, yet it makes no significant difference.

Lots of folks pour money into home improvements thinking it will increase the value of their home and it never pays off.

Lots of folks buy home fitness equipment, thinking it will allow them to cancel their gym membership, but they never end up doing so, so they lose money.

Lots of people buy home soda makers, thinking it will allow them to buy fewer soft drinks, but it ends up gathering dust and the money is gone. Same with home coffee makers in an attempt to buy fewer Starbucks drinks. The coffee makers gather dust and convenient Starbucks location still gets plenty of business.

Lots of people buy campers, thinking it will allow them to save money on vacations. But the camper gathers rust in the driveway.

Pretty much any time somebody buys something with the plan to save money that requires discontinuing an activity, the activity continues and the gadget ends up gathering dust. Money lost. Fail. Rinse and repeat. The wheels of Materialism keep turning and the road to financial hell is paved with good intentions. A fool and his money are soon parted. There's a sucker born every minute. It's the American Way.

[FLA]

Every frugal purchase can be a potential pitfall.


Lots of people buy home soda makers, thinking it will allow them to buy fewer soft drinks, but it ends up gathering dust and the money is gone..

I've had mine 2 yrs or so and it gets used all the time. I was a nurse driving all day from house to house, every day I ended up buying a gigantic diet coke from a drive through. Wasteful but could not find something big enough to bring with me that actually could keep the drink cold for at least half the day. I was given the Soda Stream as a gift, I heard about Tervis Tumblers and they really do a phenomenal job of keeping drinks cold (buy Tervis on clearance, otherwise pricey). I would bring TWO 24 oz tumblers with me a day. Way cheaper than the drive through.

I stopped using it when I got sick, water was fine, I had run out of CO2. Got a canister with a BBB coupon and I'm back in business. But I don't drink nearly as much and it's diet caffeine free. I know, I know, the cheapest and healthiest thing is to stop drinking diet coke. But i figure now, a diet coke related disease is the very least of my medical priorities and one glass a day makes me happy.

when I got mine, they cost more, an analysis I read said you pretty much break even when compared to 2l bottles of soda. But no lugging bottles home from the store and then recycling, is nice. Now they can be found for $50 so I would assume they are now cheaper than buying the 2l.

[FIREseeker]

Every frugal purchase can be a potential pitfall.

Lots of folks spend big bucks on bicycle stuff, thinking they will drive less, and the bike and all its accessories end up gathering dust in the garage. Fail.

HA whenever I bike everyone's like, "Yeah, I own a (insert name of way more expensive bike than I have) but it has a flat tire. I should really ride it more."

It's like yeah... you just bought a bike because paying for something is the easy part. Actually riding it takes effort. Epic fail, bro.

[John Doe]

It's like yeah... you just bought a bike because paying for something is the easy part. Actually riding it takes effort.

Bingo. Well said.

[disneysteve]

I think people often get into trouble when they focus on price rather than quality or value. For example, when we were first married, we had fairly cheap cookware. It lasted a few years and then we replaced it with another set of fairly cheap cookware. Then again a few years after that. Finally, we decided to splurge and buy quality cookware. It cost 4 times as much but we will never have to replace it again. We've now had it for years and it still looks as good as it did the day we got it.

Sometimes buying cheap brands of things has the same problem. We have tried various dollar store products only to find that they were crap. Yes they were cheap but they didn't do the job nearly as well as the somewhat more costly brands. The savings wasn't worth it.

[Cristen Wyght]

A lot of people trying to save only look at the short term future and fail to look at the other factors that can affect this.

[Fishindude77]

One of the biggest ones, is when someone buys a new car with the rationale .... "That other one was eating me up in fuel, so we bought this new high mileage rig".

Might make sense if you're dealing with paid off stuff and buying with cash, but most folks buy their vehicles with loans. You can buy a lot of extra fuel, pay for a lot of maintenance, etc. when you don't have car payments.

[JBinKC]

On occasion when I attempt to repair something myself and failing to in the process.

[searching4stars]

Frugal Fails

Hmm. I know I've purchased inexpensive clothes to have them have holes in them after the second washing. I've bought things that were a good deal if I didn't have some at home. But it was only..... seems to be a favorite saying of mine. Books never read, cookbooks never used. They may have only been a dollar but if I didn't use them I paid a dollar to store them.


On to being more frugal.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

My DH bought and uses a bike. He's a rabid biker though, both of us used to commute by bike and he did all through college. We are also cord cutters and have amazon prime for our kids kindles and watching. I've always used my gym membership when I've had it. And we use our soda stream and have for years. We also have a single serve senseo which is great because DH doesn't get starbucks as much, he still does but less.

But there are tons of frugal fails. I'm pretty sure if we bought a camper we'd not use it enough to justify it. And we camp quite a bit.

Frugal fail? Buying dog clippers and trying to trim the dog then it not work out and throwing the clippers away after 2 uses that looked terrible.

Buying anything based on price rather than need or quality.

[tonyb3]

Anything that concerns this computer.