I don’t know about you, but our healthcare system is so expensive that I avoid seeing a doctor unless it's absolutely necessary. For example, my wife once experienced chest pain and dizziness, and we debated for hours before deciding to go to the ER. After a CT scan, EKG, and MRI, they determined it was likely anxiety or a panic attack. In the end, we paid $3,000 for something we didn’t really need, which only added to our financial stress.

When we had our first child, I signed up for a family health plan with premiums of $350 per paycheck, but the deductible was $1,500. I stuck with this for a year before realizing it wasn’t the best option. The next year, I switched to a lower-tier plan that cost about $100 a month but had a $7,500 deductible. This saved me $6,500 annually in premiums. Instead of paying a higher monthly premium, I put that extra money into a separate account. If we ever needed medical care, I had the funds available and could even negotiate for discounts on bills.

When my wife started working part-time, things improved even more. Her employer offered better health insurance than mine, and they contribute to a Health Savings Account (HSA). They gave us $500 for each quarter. This way, when our kids needed medical care, we could use the HSA debit card to pay the bills. If the bill exceeded the balance, we could arrange a payment plan, and the longer we took to pay it off, the more funds would be added to the HSA.

Finally, if your insurance offers hospital indemnity, definitely enroll, especially if you're about to have a baby. This coverage provides $1,000 if you’re admitted to the hospital and $100 for each day you stay. If you're having a baby, you'll likely stay for at least three days, which means a minimum $1,300 payout. This plan only costs about $15 per paycheck, or $390 per year, but you’ll need to cancel it the following year, or else you’ll end up paying for it again.

I'm single and live alone. But I was raised by frugal parents, and have always been and will always be a frugal shopper. I remember mentally calculating unit size prices when I was making grocery runs for my family at 12 or 13.

That said, there are obviously food things I can't/won't buy in larger sizes since I'll never use them in time, like produce or dairy or RTE things that don't freeze well. But I've also often had shelf stable or frozen items "turn" before I get to them. For the record, this may gross some people out, but I'm definitely a look/touch/smell/taste person when it comes to "best by" dates -- but my personal quality tolerance limit is like ~1-3 months post best by for "shelf stable" things even if something seems totally fine (longer for frozen).

For example, I recently went to use some peanut butter and realized the jar in my cupboard was almost 13 months expired. I did not use it. Then the (very) hypothetical math hit me -- of course when I was shopping I bought the 24oz jar for $5 rather then the 12oz jar for $3.50 because it was a better deal. BUT, I just threw away half of that "better deal" jar, so it would have been cheaper to buy the smaller jar regardless!

Anyway, TL;DR questions:

• What items are worth buying in larger sizes / bulk as a single person?
• How does unit size price impact your purchasing, when comparing against shelf life?
• Any tips/tricks for rotating your pantry to make sure you're not letting food go to waste?

Title. Want to cover myself from all these crazy Texas drivers when visiting my hometown in California soon. Don’t want to get ripped off.

Which health plan you guys think is best for people living in Pasco County FL? I noticed some of them use Cigna and United networks anyway... I work for the VA.

Looking to find which ones have the largest networks / decent coverage in Pasco County or Tampa area. I know BCBS is very good but I'm concerned if God forbid I get on ambulance and it brings me to a place that doesn't take BCBS...

Aetna UnitedHealth SAMBA NALC MHBP GEHA Compass Rose BCBS APWU Cigna (Husband) - Cheapest premium of all.

Hi all,

25/M and 24/W Husband and Wife in Midwest America here,

We have been living in a camper on my wife's family's property and are looking for ideas for the next step. We both have full-time jobs and have been saving for over a year. We have been offered a land agreement contract from family for $30,000, but the house on the land has been abandoned and will need to be cleared out. Is it a good idea for us to buy the land?

The idea is to buy a trailer that can be flipped to put on the property. We would continue living in the camper while we flip it. The next step would be to move in, save money, buy an actual house somewhere else and rent out the trailer on the land. The land is in a village with no stores, no gas, low income but is 10 minutes away from "civilization".

Do you all think this would be a worthy investment? This is deciding our future!!

Thanks so much!

Making pizza, the first two attempts to activate the yeast failed. I suspect the water was either too hot or too cold. Is there anything I can use this unactive yeast for?

I was frugal with my money when I made less than 60K - and since then allowed lifestyle inflation to catch up to the point where I'm eating out more than half the time.

this was about 10 years ago.

Since then my income has almost tripled - and as a result I spend more and more on takeout - mostly because I was wasting too much time cooking/cleaning/etc. I have a pretty busy schedule with work/relationships/caretaking.

after looking back on my bills the past year, I decided I need to stop this and start meal prepping and making meals ahead of time.

I've been doing this for about 3 weeks and it's just...too much. The time spent grocery shopping. the time spent cooking on sunday to prep meals. the time spent every day doing dishes. I Swear I run the dishwasher once every two days. And I still get take out /etc 3 times a week etc.

Even if I make easy to heat meals...that is still having to prep the meal on sunday, followed by doing the dishes at the end of the day (sink is full) after eating 3x day.

I tracked my time and I spend around 8-10 hours a week getting groceries, cooking, doing dishes, and general misc cleaning (trash, cleaning kitchen, stove etc).

Ive calculated Ive saved around 100 bucks a week

honestly, I don't think it's worth an extra 8 -10 hours a week to save 100 bucks a week, especially since my cash flow after all fixed expenses (including savings/retirement) is around 4,800 a month.

This would net me an extra 5K a year for basically 18 days of my time, time I will never get back.

My last post I had the wrong amount but checked with my husband since we are financing our iPhone’s and excluded that amount. We pay $178 a month for unlimited talk, text, and data with AT&T for our two phone lines. Is this too high? If so, I may try to call them and get it lowered.

Hi there! I'm taking the plunge into the world of canning. I've watched a bunch of YouTube videos, but I'm craving some real, homegrown recipes. If you've got a tried-and-true canning recipe, please share it! I'd love to learn from your experience.

No other purchase necessary

Hi all, I’m making hampers for my immediate family for Christmas this year and hoping to save money and hopefully be zero-waste when it comes to packaging.

I’m going to be using storage baskets that I previously owned however they are quite deep so will probably need a lot of hamper filling (normally shredded tissue paper/wood wool etc). Does anyone have any ideas on alternatives that I could use that would be cheaper and ideally reusable in some way?

Thank you!

I bought a clothing steamer in March of 2021 from Amazon. While getting my Halloween costume together last week, I filled the tank, flipped the switch, and nothing happened.

My husband took the cover off the unit and cleaned a few contacts, checked the connections, cleared the hoses, and unfortunately just couldn’t get it to work.

Today I decided to “call it” and was walking down the stairs to put it in the trash when I thought “maybe calling the company will do something”. I had low hopes after 3 1/2 years and no 3p warranty, but I called the customer service line on the seller’s Amazon profile page.

You guys, 4 minutes. From pressing send to being connected to a human to describing my issue. That even includes the rep asking me to check to make sure I received his email, which I had. All I needed to do was email him a screen shot or the order confirmation from Amazon, a photo of the steamer, and my shipping address and they’re mailing a replacement. I bought the steamer for $50 and they’re selling now for $70.

So even if you think something is out of warranty, give it a try, the manufacturer might surprise you!

I have rain boots, but those are not comfy for long (3+ mile) walks. I also bought "waterproof" hiking boots from Columbia, but they get soaked in less than 15 min. So....looking for something affordable (less than $50 preferably) that is comfy, waterproof, and long-lasting. I'm in the Pacific Northwest (in the US) so lots of deep puddles and intense rain here!

Title, the local deals are a PDF coupon that indicates "Entertainment". On the coupon is a redemption ID. I went to two restaurants and the staff did not recognize it or know how to enter these coupons.

An example is here: https://i.imgur.com/i4BPTRZ.png

Has anyone had luck with these?

It’s either that or buy hummus from the store at what $5 each? So I’d have to buy hummus 30 times to spend $150. Am I really going to buy that much? What else can I make in the vitamix to make it worth it?

I have found that I can feed my family of 4 w 2 teenage boys so easily buying ham. After trimming it, I'll usually throw ham in the air fryer to make a sort of ham jerky my kids demolish. I realize it isn't Friday, but I had to post that Target has hams for 99c a lb right now. I bought 3 and may go back for more. Next week will be soup heaven with the ham bone.

In a nutshell we made some upgrades to our previous home completely out of pocket and it's not something we want to do again.

In our current home we have larger, more expensive and extensive upgrades that are going to require professional installations.

So far our plan is to find contractors who offer financing for their projects but I'm wondering if we should look into a HELOC or something. Ideally we'd like to tap into our equity without having to refinance but we have no idea what options are available and what the risks or cautions are for doing something like that.

I would like to hear anyone's experience using equity for home renovations. We don't want to use personal credit cards because the interest rates are too high. Also want to add we are not diy people. I understand this would be most cost affective but we don't have the time and we don't want to screw this up! Thanks

Hey all, as the colder weather is drawing in, does anybody have any suggestions as to how I can save money on heating? I currently have not used any heating to save on electricity but it’s getting colder and I am also getting colder!! 😆. Anyone have any suggestions or tips as to how I can stay warm this winter frugally? Last year I stayed in one room and only heated that but just wondering if there is any way I can heat the room without using electricity, I.e indoor burning of some sort (without burning the house down!) Any response would be greatly appreciated 🙏

I have been buying 6 cans/case 460z of DOLE PINEAPPLE JUICE on the big A company for $17 for a couple years from Dole store.

On today trying to reorder and the Dole Store does not have any. And some reseller wants $39.00!!

My grocery has soe but $1 more a can. Guess I better grab some.

freeze it or any other ideas

Which grocery stores are promoting turkey deals right now? I typically stock up on a couple this time of year. What discount or deals have you seen?

I have a situation where I want to give my granddaughter one of my old phones so that we can chat from time-to-time. I am looking for a "plan" that allows you to add funds to an acount and spend down that account (lets say 10 cents per minute) until it needs to be re-funded with more money. My current provider (T-Mobile) has pre-paid/Pay-as-you-go plans that involve paying a monthly fee. I can do that all day/night with Mint for $15 per month. I am looking, instead, for service that I can control via re-charging of the account as needed, not monthly.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

I have unlimited data on my phone and also pay for wifi, which seems duplicative. I'm not a gamer but watch streaming regularly. Is there a way to get rid of my wifi and just use my mobile data?

For example, suppose you take up Mint Mobiles "$15/mo for first 3 months" offer for new customers, and once the 3 months are up, you cancel your plan with them and go to a different carrier that also has a similar "new customer" deal, and once that offer ends, you leave the carrier and find a new carrier that also has this "new customer" offer, if that makes sense.

How long would somebody be able to go doing this? I would guess they could probably go at least a whole year doing this. Again, hopefully this makes sense because for some reason I was having a really hard time trying to word this out properly lmao

Late-stage capitalism, specifically in the United States, has everyone functioning on a base survival level. having to cut out any extra amenities they may have purchased before. People can't even afford water or electricity in some cases so they have to reduce their use of those too. People cannot truly live or thrive under our current society. It has society functioning under a very restrictive mindset. It's like there is no point in being alive when everything is so difficult. Everything feels so colorless, dirty, broken, and depressing.

So I bought a packet of biscoff crumbs to make my bf’s birthday cake. I didn’t realise how big the packet is and now I need some ideas how to use it all up. I was planning to use some as a cheesecake base but not sure what else I can throw them into? Much help appreciated!

I live in a big US city. My local target is often 20%+ more expensive than the one in my hometown in Indiana. Am I able to price match purchases in my current Target with the cheaper prices I see online at the other rural Target?

Been thinking of cooking some curry coconut soup and I remembered I had 12 cans of this US restaurant grade coconut milk laying around in my pantry. I got it from a 4 star steakhouse restaurant that kind of gave it to me because it was extra and they didn't use this ingredient anymore.

Google says the shelf-life of canned coconut milk is 2-5 years. *shrugs*

It says it was canned in 9/22/2022, so it's been roughly 2 years since it's been canned, but I opened it up and tasted it and it tastes fine, but I want to know other people's opinion. I cooked coconut rice with it today and it seemed fine. Put the rest of the coconut milk in a Ziploc bag for later and put it in the fridge because maybe I'll cook curry with it later. You guys think can of coconut milk safe to consume/cook soup with? I really don't have that much experience with canned foods.

I opened it up and the consistency was fine and it tasted and smelled fine. *shrugs*

https://preview.redd.it/jryydyfumsyd1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=48cdac64db0e4e580ee241d6cb9e74ad3652e8bc

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Last week, I asked this community for advice on stretching our family's budget to include my daughter's friend who seems to be experiencing food insecurity and stress at home. You all came through in the greatest of ways! I have a mile long list of inexpensive meal and snack ideas, a bunch of leads on resources for both my family and the friend's and many of you reached out to helped fulfill a wish list of foods and personal needs items.

Over the past few days, boxes of food and toiletry items have been showing up at the house! Our bonus teenager was able to take home some of her most needed toiletry items and things like new socks and a few items of clothing. She is very excited to learn how to budget and cook along with my teens and I can already see the relief of anxiety in her spirit. She knows that there is food here for her when she needs it, and her confidence is growing daily with her personal items.

Thank you all for your words of kindness and wisdom, thank you for sharing your ideas with us and for helping us provide for this sweet girl! You all have made such a huge impact in her life and have restored a lot of my faith in humanity.