Food, especially champagne, beer, whisky and chocolate, but also veggies, meat and fish.
Books and comics.
Headphones.
Home (still renting after all those years).
Riding the bus. Yes, I could walk to and from work. Yes, I could take the bus to one town from my job or my house and walk the rest of the way. Sometimes I do.
But if I don’t feel like walking, I will take the bus. Using my “disabled senior citizen” (a/k/a crippled old lady) discount, of course.
There is only one ‘Corndog’ I’ll direct my limo driver too: Sonic drive-in!
(At happy-hour, to get 1/2 price drinks)
This, exactly.
Very often buying ‘cheap’ does not mean the same as buying ‘inexpensive’
For example: coffee
Why buy some vile swill that does not satisfy? If you really cannot afford the good stuff, then rather do without.
To me, frugal buying means planning, and buying that which is planned. Not letting anything go to waste. For each item considering: “Do I want this, or do I need this?”
You have apparently never encountered toilet paper that is apparently made from sandpaper- I have. And I will spend the couple of dollars to not use that. ( and keep a roll in the car for cheap vacations- cheap, '70s styles resorts in the Catskills have the worst TP.
Bras. I buy good bras every time.
I’m kinda bust-less, so good bras are not important when I’d rather go without. I bought 2 recently though, cute and colorful. With the dreaded underwires. I cannot deny the fun factor they’ve provided. They weren’t really expensive, maybe mid-range. I’d do that again.
While I agree on the Aldi wine, some of their beer is surprisingly good- the Maibock they have every spring is a good example.
You can skimp on alcohol if you know how to go about it. You don’t want to skimp on spirits meant to be drunk straight, but there are definitely brands/variants that punch above their weight. If you’re going to mix into cocktails or mixed drinks, there’s really no advantage to aiming particularly high-end, as most subtle differences are going to get wiped out by fruit juice, bitters, liqueurs, etc… You generally want middle-of-the-road- the Jim Beam white, Skyy Vodka, El Jimador tequila, or Plantation rum level stuff, not Knob Creek, Belvedere, Patron or Diplomatico Riserva.
I like Ketel 1 for mixes because it is so smooth, I even prefer it to Belvedere which has more of a taste albeit a good one. For this same reason, though, I prefer Belvedere for infusions because the taste is a good match for the more subtle taste of the fruit.
I understand everyone’s priorities differ, but this is the exact opposite of my way of thinking.
So far in 2019, I have flown roundtrip from here in Krakow to Berlin, Venice, Thessoloniki, Vienna, Nuremberg, Amsterdam and Lviv (Ukraine), with all fees and taxes included, for a total of under $350, (USD) all in.
Of course these are all short flights of under 2 hours each (except for Thessoloniki, which was a little bit longer) and I was in the equivalent of a flying Greyhound Bus (I typically use Eurowings, Wizz Air, easyJet or Ryanair) where every single extra costs you a little something and personalized service is non-existant, but I figure that I can put up with being a bit cramped and uncomfortable for a couple of hours to save enough to be able to get to my destination and then stay in a nice hotel in the heart of the city and not worry about having to pinch pennies on my vacation.
Thanks to some connections with friends, I know well the perks of flying First Class, and I have flown up front to Europe from Salt Lake some dozen different times, (back in the late 1990’s-early 2000’s back when “First Class” actually meant something) all for just the cost of tax, and believe me having the flight attendant say to you, “Would you care for a second Bloody Mary before takeoff, Mr. XYZ?” is indeed pretty sweet, as is knowing the people sitting next to you paid some $3,000 or $4,000 for the identical service that cost you $125, but even for long-haul flights, when it is coming out of your own pockets, it seems to me an incredible waste of money, especially these days, when all First or Business Class basically equals anymore is just a little bit more legroom and a couple of “free” (snicker, snort) cocktails combined with the thrilling chance to board the plane 10 minutes before everyone else.
Even in the old days, it wasn’t close to worth the extra money, these days, it seems like throwing money away, when you could take 3, 4, or 5 additional trips with the savings.
It took me a little while for this lesson to sink in, but it is a for sure, 110% money-saver (not to mention time you could be relaxing) in the long run.
Short, $10 cab rides and $3.00 metro tickets add up damn fast.
I will never skimp on…bicycle tires.
For the road bike, Continental Ultra Gatorskin. When they’re new, they’re virtually puncture proof. It’s worth a lot to minimise the number of times you have to change an inner tube on the road.
For the cross, Kenda Small Block 8. When you’re off road, you want a tire that will get you out of trouble if you make a mistake. On this rubber, you can turn sharply on a sheet of ice. Not that I recommend trying it.
For the mountain bike and foldie - OK, there I’ll look at the price.
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Yeah, I’m fortunate to fly business and occasionally first class for work. Is it nice? yes. initially. Is it worth it? absolutely not.
After the novelty of stretching out and playing with your seat and having a slightly nicer wine and meal, I’m still stuck in an uncomfortable metal tube for many hours. The entertainment is no better and I can’t sleep on a plane anyway so it is absolutely a waste of money for me. Give me a copy of “private eye”, a tablet full of netflix, a nintendo switch and the free booze and food I get in economy anyway and I’m happy.
Put it this way. I flew return, business, to Boston a couple of weeks ago and it cost roughly the same amount as flying us as a complete family of four, economy, London-Bangkok-New Zealand-Hong-Kong-London next Easter.
Others mentioned booze. Any vodka above rock-bottom is pointless, you can’t reliably tell expensive from cheap. I do however spend a lot on a specific whisky. Balvenie 21 year old portwood. I got a taste for it when it was about £60 a bottle. It now runs me about £120 but it is incredible. Christmas in a glass and the smoothest thing I’ve ever tasted. I’m not a whisky drinker or even much of spirit drinker at all but I’ll happily spend that amount for something that makes me smile every time I have a sip.
An interesting one. I ride a bike to work most mornings and punctures were a fairly regular occurrence. My wife did the same and had the same problem and she switched to kevlar armoured road tires (just a standard city-bike type) and has not had an issue since. I switched a year ago and the same thing. The tires were three times the price but definitely worth it.
Same with winter tyres for the car, we drive to the alps in the winter and we have spent the money on a set of steel-wheels and good quality snow tyres. They have paid for themselves many times over in terms of getting us out of trouble and stopping us getting into difficulties in the first place. No skimping there.
It depends on the length of the trip. I’m flying first class to Australia - 20 hours isn’t good in a tight seat for my legs and knees - the last trip - Tanzania to Amsterdam to Minneapolis - had me laid up for a few days afterwards - just crampy and awful. Being able to sleep relatively flat will make for a far more pleasant vacation.
And if I get the $75 upgrade fare flying to Orlando, I jump on that sucker. $75 is completely worth not having the toddler brigade going to Disney kicking the back of your seat for four hours.