Frugal February 2021 + Use It Up

[Dave Gray]

It's year 8 of my Frugal February push.  Join me!  Here's my list of rules:

1) No impulse buys.  You can need a lamp and go to the store to buy a lamp.  But you can't browse and say "oh, I like that lamp."
2) No eating out.  Basically, this means you have to pack your lunch and prepare you dinners at home.  Of course there are exceptions, for birthdays or valentines day or whatever.  But in general...no food for convenience sake.
3) No premium on alcohol.   Essentially, beer at home is OK.  Beer at a bar is not.
4) You cannot buy any clothing or accessories.
5) You must make a budget and review your finances.
6) You must track each cent you spend and share your results.

Now, this is going to be a lame year for me.  Because of lockdown, I'm not doing any of this stuff anyway.  There's maybe some wiggle room on food (but not anything like a normal year).  I went over my bills pretty hard a year ago, so I don't think I'm going to get much wiggle room there, either.  It's going to be a lame Frugal February...not a lot of room for savings.

Update though: Last year, I switched to Mint mobile, which is just really cheap.  Recently (like within the last two weeks), I've noticed some unreliability in the service, but prior to that, it's been good.  I saved a ton of money and the data restrictions were a non-issue.  I never approached any limits or needed to buy more data.

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New wrinkle for this year is something called "Use It Up".

I'm going to make an effort to use up stockpile things in my house.  This includes:
- half-filled lotions, shampoos, toothpaste samples, etc.
- make-up
- craft supplies, construction paper, glue, popsicle sticks
- electrical replacements, like light bulbs, switches, batteries
- garage supplies, like wood, materials
- pet supplies, treats, food (especially for my fish tanks)
- filter replacements
- food (canned goods, frozen foods, dry goods)

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

I am actually doing the opposite regarding stockpiles because of the lockdown.  E.g. Rather than wait until we are on our last tube of toothpaste to get more I am keeping 3-4 full ones in the closet and ordering more when we are down to three full tubes.  Similar on cleaning items, non perishable food, batteries etc.  In case something is the next “toilet paper “

[Dave Gray]

I am actually doing the opposite regarding stockpiles because of the lockdown.  E.g. Rather than wait until we are on our last tube of toothpaste to get more I am keeping 3-4 full ones in the closet and ordering more when we are down to three full tubes.  Similar on cleaning items, non perishable food, batteries etc.  In case something is the next “toilet paper “

I knew a guy who had a wife that did this.  I guess they did it together.  They were extreme couponers, and they basically had an entire room in their house set up with shelving that looked like a grocery store.

Fuck every bit of that, but it does keep your cost per item down.  I don't know if it's even worth it financially, since you're paying for real estate to use it, but they seemed to enjoy it, but whatever.

[Phishfan]

They were paying for the real estate either way. Assuming they aren't paying for other storage.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

I knew a guy who had a wife that did this.  I guess they did it together.  They were extreme couponers, and they basically had an entire room in their house set up with shelving that looked like a grocery store.

Fuck every bit of that, but it does keep your cost per item down.  I don't know if it's even worth it financially, since you're paying for real estate to use it, but they seemed to enjoy it, but whatever.

Not to that extreme.  But rather than wait until the peanut butter jar is almost empty to put it on the list, I always keep one full one.  Idea is if the stores closed for two weeks we wouldn’t starve.

[pondwater]

It's year 8 of my Frugal February push.  Join me!  Here's my list of rules:

I'm kind of doing this on a permanent basis. With my parents dying and getting a sizable inheritance I'm putting myself on a $2000 a month allowance. I've probably spent $8-10K in the past 2-3 months. But that includes relocating to FL, house and car insurance for the year, property taxes, and ten 620 mile drives back and forth between FL and MS. Excluding food, alcohol, and gas bills come to about $1k a month.

Not to that extreme.  But rather than wait until the peanut butter jar is almost empty to put it on the list, I always keep one full one.  Idea is if the stores closed for two weeks we wouldn’t starve.

If I can get shit cheap, I'm gonna stockpile to a certain extent. Hell, between what my parents had stockpiled and what I brought from MS. Let's just say I have plenty of peanut butter, soap, and toothpaste/brushes...

[ArtieChokePhin]

Funny how we talk about stockpiling basic necessities.  One thing I do every year on the day after Christmas (and this year was no exception) is hit all the Walgreens and Walmart stores close to me.  I stockpile body wash and cologne gift sets that are now half off.  I always end up enough shampoo, body wash, deodorant, and cologne to last me the entire year.

And with them being half off, it's a very good deal.   For example, the Axe Gift sets are $10 each and include a bottle of body wash, a stick of deoderant, and canister of body spray (if bought separately, you would spend well over $15).  On the day after Christmas, the price drops to $5, making it a sweet deal.

[Spider-Dan]

I try to keep at least one backup of most consumables in my home.  I'm a night owl, and I hate the idea of running out of something just as I reach to use the last bit.  I'm not going to the store at 1am.

[Dave Gray]

I got a little head start on this over the weekend.  My wife took a ton of leftovers from the fridge and I reconstituted everything into these little fancy tapas meals for my kids and nieces.  That was pretty fun.

[Dave Gray]

I've been making tons of food from leftovers and reserves.  Gonna keep that up -- it's been good.

Doing my budgeting, I've been getting food out more than I thought -- I have also been maybe buying few times, but picking up for the whole family (as opposed to just when I'd eat out for lunch at work), so I think there's actually some more to be saved here.

I noticed that I'm spending more on electricity and water than in the past, probably just because I'm here at home more and I've got more stuff running all day.  My gas cost is 1/4 of pre-Covid.

My cellphone is super cheap.  If you're looking, get Mint.

I refinanced my home this year and my kid doesn't have school tuition, so we saved there, too.

[ArtieChokePhin]

My cellphone is super cheap.  If you're looking, get Mint.

I'm with you on this one.  I've had T-Mobile for years.  Turns out Mint runs off T-Mobile's towers.   I just made sure me and my wife's phones were unlocked and we made the switch.  $20 per month for 10 GB of data per month and unlimited talk and text.  It's amazing.  The only catch is, we have to pay a year in advance.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

I have boost.  $30/ month.  A bit more expensive than mint, but not unreasonable.

[ArtieChokePhin]

I have boost.  $30/ month.  A bit more expensive than mint, but not unreasonable.

At least with Boost you pay by the month.  With Mint you have options depending on your plan.   But you have to pay either 3, 6 or 12 months ahead

[Dave Gray]

At least with Boost you pay by the month.

I'm the epitome of a "total cost" guy.  I will take the pay ahead option if it saves me money 10 times out of 10.  Literally the one time I don't do that is with things like a mortgage or car payment, where I can't swing the upfront cost.  But even then, I try to reduce timelines or pay extra monthly.

I think that's how so many people get screwed who live paycheck to paycheck.  They pay more for the exact same service I get.  And when we're talking about $10 a month for cellphone, it's negligible, but that kind of stuff adds up.

There was a deal on Disney Plus when they first launced where I paid ahead for 3 years.  It brought the cost down to something like $3 a month.  Not only am I saving over 50% (and that's assuming the cost doesn't increase in 3 years), but it's paid and I don't have to worry about it.

Same with stuff like XBOX Live.  I'm paid 3 years ahead.

In my line of work, I deal with people all the time who make bad financial decisions based on monthly-payment over total cost.  Sometimes they have to because they're broke, but other times, they're just programmed to do whatever is cheapest month to month.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

I too am a total cost guy.  Prepaying 3 months is not the issue.


If I was starting from scratch I would consider mint over boost.  If I was on a $100 plus a month plan I would consider mint.

However, I am happy with boost.  I have had problems with other low cost carriers (straight talk and one other). While maybe mint is great, I don’t know, not worth the risk.  Don’t want to deal with the cost of buying a new phone or paying to unlock my current one.  Don’t want to deal with the headache of learning a new set up if I need a new phone.