Frugal Living Tips and Tricks

Frugal Living Tips and Tricks Frugal Living Tips and Tricks help you save money, cut waste, and live well on less.

Learn smart budgeting, DIY ideas, and energy-saving habits to stretch your budget, build savings, and enjoy a simple, sustainable lifestyle.

Got my wife one present. AirPods that must have been refurbished
12/26/2025

Got my wife one present. AirPods that must have been refurbished

My dad already started drinking again after going to a $30,000 treatment facility for over a month
12/26/2025

My dad already started drinking again after going to a $30,000 treatment facility for over a month

For Christmas, my brother gifted everyone in the family a family photo with a matching size frameI take care of our moth...
12/26/2025

For Christmas, my brother gifted everyone in the family a family photo with a matching size frame
I take care of our mother, who has early on-set dementia full time. I live with her, I make her meals, I manager her meds, I manage and take her to doctors appointments, physical therapy, and neurologists. I help her with her daily routine and doing her laundry. I also work full time. Today is the only day off I have and it isn’t even paid, I have to use PTO. Anyway, here is the family photo my brother gave all of our family a copy of,with a matching frame, for Christmas. Without me in it.

My wife had a birthday earlier this week. I didn’t send her this and my name doesn’t start with an AAlready had suspicio...
12/26/2025

My wife had a birthday earlier this week. I didn’t send her this and my name doesn’t start with an A
Already had suspicions for a while of her infidelity but this is the first concrete evidence I have. Happy Holidays everybody

I just had one job for the family Christmas dinner
12/26/2025

I just had one job for the family Christmas dinner

31 And Almost at 250K NW - Looking For Feedback!Hey everyone,I’m thrilled to share that my goal this year is to hit a ne...
12/24/2025

31 And Almost at 250K NW - Looking For Feedback!
Hey everyone,

I’m thrilled to share that my goal this year is to hit a net worth of $250,000, and I’m so close! As I turned 31 this year, I'm starting to think more about my financial future and what’s next.

For next year, I'm planning to save up cash for a down payment on a house and an engagement ring, which means I won’t be as aggressive with my investments. However, I’ll definitely be maxing out my Roth IRA to keep my retirement savings on track. One challenge I’m facing is that my current employer doesn’t offer a 401(k), so I’m relying on other options.

I have two brokerage accounts: one with Betterment, which is a robo-advisor focused mainly on index funds, and another with M1 Finance where I invest in individual stocks and ETFs. My Empower 401K is from my previous employer and it’s a target date fund.

I’m curious to hear from you all—where were you or where are you at 31? Am I doing well, or do I have some catching up to do? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

What $124 of groceries looks like for a family of 5 in Northern Nevada (Walmart)Food prices have been so volatile lately...
12/24/2025

What $124 of groceries looks like for a family of 5 in Northern Nevada (Walmart)
Food prices have been so volatile lately, so I’ve been paying a lot more attention to our grocery budget. We’re a family of five in Spring Creek, NV, and we usually do a food grocery run every five days. Most of our food hauls end up looking pretty similar to this one. We have a separate haul usually once a month for the more expensive items like detergents, shampoo, conditioner, diaper, wipes etc. that’s a big one.

This trip totaled $124 at Walmart. Some weeks are easy, others I feel bad because I constantly have to say no to the kids wanting the $9 cereal boxes or $8 bags of chips or Ferrero Rocher, but usually I buy them a bag of chips or a chocolate bar as long as it’s $5 or under… I think that’s fair. They’ll thank me later when they see that I’m actually saving money aside for their 529. At least I hope. But I digress… I’m genuinely curious how this haul stacks up in other states?

If you spent $124 where you live, would you walk out with more, less, or ab out the same?

Also, bonus question, how do you handle kids upset at the store because they can get a $10 bag of Hershey nuggets (or similar)?

Made a $5 bet that I’d spend less than $30K this year. It’s super close though. 😬Next year might be a splurge year for m...
12/24/2025

Made a $5 bet that I’d spend less than $30K this year. It’s super close though. 😬
Next year might be a splurge year for me. Might spend more like $35K. 💸

Cracked $200kIn early 2023, near the end of our first mat leave, we were watching Ramit Sethi’s show on Netflix and real...
12/24/2025

Cracked $200k
In early 2023, near the end of our first mat leave, we were watching Ramit Sethi’s show on Netflix and realized we had no idea about the fees we were paying our advisor. That kick started our financial journey and taking control.

We fired our advisor, got rid of around $40k in credit card/student debt, got rid of our whole life insurance and got term, combined our finances, started investing for our kids education. We are in a very different place now, and on Friday my Wealthsimple account crossed $200k for the first time (only had around $40-42k invested when we started this journey).

A major goal before turning 35 in Nov was to have $100k invested in my TFSA. By the time my birthday hit I had around $115k!

Info:

Me (35M), Wife (36F), 2 kids (3&1)

HHI: over $190-200k but wife just started working this week after second mat leave (so haven’t had this for over a year). So we did a lot of this work without our full income potential.

2 paid off cars, but looking to get a mini van (big into camping now) in the next 3-6 months. Eyeing a used Toyota Sienna which are around $60k CAD in our area. Goal is to pay cash, but might need a small loan for

Feedback on my budget after tracking all expenses for 6 monthsFor the past 6 months I've tracked every dollar in and out...
12/24/2025

Feedback on my budget after tracking all expenses for 6 months
For the past 6 months I've tracked every dollar in and out of our budget. It wasn't always easy, but it was helpful to get a handle on how much we're actually spending. Curious to hear what others think of our budget.

A few points...

- HHI is 225k. My spouse's contributions to her 403b + the employee contributions come to 15% and I have a pension that will provide me with 80% of my final three years of my salary (Yeah, I'm stuck at my job, can't leave that).

- 12k is our take-home pay after retirement and insurance contributions. We are fortunate to have jobs with great healthcare that's overall provided at an affordable price

- Yes our 4k mortgage sucks. We just moved a year ago and our interest rate is 6.6%. House was listed at 675k and we put down 20%. We were having a baby and were in the worst school district in our state, and moved to one of the best school districts in the area. I miss our old 3% 2k mortgage but we are MUCH happier in our new house. It's beautiful, new construction and at an amazing location

- We also moved near my parents, who are assisting with childcare. That's why we don't have daycare fees listed

- Our senior dog runs us 300(!) a month. This was the most shocking to me. Between her health insurance (which we use constantly) and her special diet plus grooming schedule, she's an expensive gal. She's a rescue from a puppy mill with a laundry list of issues.

- Our cell bill is so low because my wife gets a stipend from work if she loads her email on her personal cell. We put that immediately towards the cell bill

- My student loans should be forgiven under the PSLF program next year. I am currently trying to convince my wife we should just take our savings and wipe out her loans (which are under 15k).

- We have approximately 140k in savings. This is spread across 6 months of emergency money along with money in a money market. Nothing risky (S&P, VOO). We were getting our footing but the plan is to start investing 1000 per month. My plan is to always be above 120k ready for a massive emergency and to use anything over that for travel, house repairs and renovations. the house is new, but very basic.

- We also need to establish a 529 for our son.

Open to answering any other questions or critiques people might have.

What are your thermostat settings?Is 65 too low? I don’t want to be too stingy but I’m trying to save a bit since all my...
12/24/2025

What are your thermostat settings?
Is 65 too low? I don’t want to be too stingy but I’m trying to save a bit since all my expenses are going up😢

Is home ownership out of reach for a typical middle class household? (median household income of $80,000 per year?)
12/24/2025

Is home ownership out of reach for a typical middle class household? (median household income of $80,000 per year?)

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