I’m not sure I’d ever call myself frugal, but I am going through a skint patch right now, so circumstances have forced me to assess my spending more closely. Things I will not compromise on:
Jeans. Cheap jeans are rubbish. I wear them every day, they need to fit well and last.
Wine. I’ve tried going down the Aldi route, and I don’t care how often they win ‘wine supermarket of the year’, cheap red wine might as well be grape juice.
Decent artisan bread. If I’m going to ‘sparingly’ eat carbs, I’m going to make it worth while.
Dining out. See above. Quality over quantity please.
About a year or 2 ago, we started flying first class. I REALLY had been against it, but now it would be hard to go back into “steerage.”
Air travel is so unpleasant IMO, that it didn’t make sense to have the very start and very end of every vacation be so unpleasant. And travel is so expensive, that on most domestic routes, the price of 1st class can be rationalized when you factor in free checked baggage, meals, etc.
I think I’m going to come back to point out something about toilet paper: which is that the stuff that’s cheapest by the roll is often not cheapest by the use.
For one thing, the size of rolls varies drastically. Sometimes the multipack rolls within the same brand will be smaller than the ones packed individually.
For another, if two ply costs more than one ply but less than twice as much, but you need to use twice as much one ply to get the same absorbency, then the two ply’s actually less expensive in use.
– and I think somebody mentioned dish detergent. Similar factor: cheap dish detergent is often watered down. A bottle of the same size costs less, but doesn’t go as far. That bottle of Dawn may well be cheaper per use.
Not exactly frugal, but i don’t really have a lot of possessions or fancy toys (tv is ~10 years old, live in a smallish apartment… etc) but:
Flights - i will not layover if there is a direct flight available, and i will avoid airlines like Spirit & Sun Country if at all possible.
My main hobby is running, and if there is a pair of running shoes i want, i buy them (though it would probably give me pause if there was a pair i actually wanted that was over $200)
Ooh, I forgot about holidays. I made a vow to myself when I turned about 35 that I would no longer stay in holiday accommodation that wasn’t at least as nice as my home.
Tools I use a lot. If it’s something specialized I’ll only use once, I’ll get a cheap tool and deal with the hassle. But if it’s something I’ll use regularly, the extra cost is worth it. Along the same lines: kitchen knives. Cheap knives are terrible. They dull quickly and don’t really cut all that great when they are sharp. A good knife makes kitchen work so much easier.
I started to say I skimp on absolutely everything. But after looking it up, I’d say I’m the opposite of a skimper.
: deficient in supply or execution especially through skimping : SCANTY
: to give insufficient or barely sufficient attention or effort to or funds for
What I do is give enormous amounts of attention and research to getting exactly what I want for the lowest price possible. After years of doing this, it occasionally happens that I know exactly where to look, and find a superlative price right away for exactly the right product. But more commonly I spend five minutes here and there over the course of months before making any purchase, and get twice the quality for less than half the cost most people can get.
But yeah, the whole toilet paper thing never did make sense to me. Why would I pay extra to buy something that leaves lint all over my nether regions? El cheapo Scott tissue is preferable in my book; it also happens to be the cheapest.
When I have the money to spare, I am willing to pay for fine restaurants though. What high end chefs are doing these days is amazing, and it’s an experience worth every penny. And I’ll pay for aged cheese or fine balsamic, but I’m still going to research to find the best quality/cost ratio available.
+1000. Especially for sleep time. I can’t believe I forgot to mention A/C.
Hand tools are another I forgot to mention. Especially wrenches, ratchet and sockets. The “good stuff” is not only durable, but more importantly they fit better, are much less clunky and easier to handle, have thinner walls ( great for tight access ) and they don’t slip. Good ratchets have finer teeth, and are yet strong.
I was going to say beer, but really many food and drink items. If I’m going to cook a steak I’ll pay more to get a good quality one from a real butcher shop (we actually have one of those here), for example. Or good cheese.
For hotels, I’m not willing to pay more for more luxurious accommodations, but I am willing to pay more for a more convenient location so I’m not wasting time on my trip simply traveling to and from the things I went there to see. I will, however try to seek out the best deal withing that area. My parents, who are way more frugal than I am, do not see eye to eye with me on this. They are the sort of people who if visiting New York would book a hotel way out in Brooklyn because it was cheaper, and then spend an hour every day riding the subway to and from Manhattan every day of their vacation.
For vacations in general, as I said before I don’t like to spend money on luxury accommodations or things like that, but I will spend it to fly to far away international destinations rather than taking cheaper vacations closer to home.
Cheap shoes are OK for small children, who will outgrow and/or destroy them very quickly, or a pair an adult will only wear once or a few times. However, if you’re going to wear those shoes all the time and won’t outgrow them, there’s no substitute for a quality pair.
I’m not especially frugal, but back in my post-college days when I was buried in debt and not fully employed I still splurged on my bed/bedding and broadband. I sleep 25-30% of my life so I’ll be damned if I’m not comfortable doing it and I spent the bulk of the remaining time online in one form or another, I ain’t waiting around for stuff to load. Even when you’re broke, time is money.
When it comes to food, I’ll cut corners here and there. I never bothered with eating “clean” or anything, but there’s certain items that I’m really specific about. Heinz Ketchup and Kraft Deluxe Singles are two staples that I don’t diverge from.
Funny you should ask this week, because both AMD and Nvidia came out with new CPUs and graphics cards, and I’m going to build a new PC with all premium parts. Should come to around $2K, which is over a tenth of what I spend in a year, counting absolutely everything.