I've had no ISP-provided Internet access since Feb. 2023 or so and, while it's been a pain at times, I still haven't caved into returning to the evil monopoly that is Spectrum, so far, and probably won't for as long as I can't land a remote job. ArrowDL, while not perfect, has been pretty good at download management for the most part in conjunction with mobile data-hotspotting.

Is there any way to get either YouTube Premium or Spotify at a heavily discounted rate? Are there any cheaper alternatives?

Hey, c/frugal, I was reading through this little post, (https://lazysoci.al/post/23833029) when a comment about baking bread reminded me of something I had heard back on reddit: that apparently baking bread is a great way to be frugal.

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I need to get some sort of gift for a friends birthday (who lives nearby) and for a kid of my extended family (lives further away).

Do you have any recommendations for gifts that go along with sorta frugal lifestyle? I can't think of anything right now (pressure is on, birthday 1 is tomorrow)

I'm looking to have tasty and balanced food while maintaining a reasonable budget and being more organised.
I know how to cook. I already have tasty yet not complicated meals I'm use to make but I never needed to be organised about it before.

So I decided to start to write menu in advance, do a some meal prepping probably a bit of batch cooking.
I found resources online to start following a plan but maybe you have advices for the beginner that I am.

Thank you!

about adapting to frugal lifestyle after an incomebreakdown 🫠

my adhd is giving me a hard time not spending for any impulsive ideas but I am left with only round about a quarter of my former income and I can't adapt well. I had enough before and since half a year I don't, but my brain wants to spent money like before.

we don't eat expensive, but we snack expensive. i usually don't buy a lot of clothes but I lost a lot of weight and most doesn't fit anymore (and I'm going to look for a new job soon, so I need at least one proper outfit).

we got a cat and a dog, which had super heavy health scares last year. so I pay for the insurances instead of waiting for the worst. the dog is allergic af and I have to buy expensive special food. i am a single parent and have to take care of the teenagers needs as well.

I'm going to sell my car soon, because I just have to to get by. social aid doesn't pay anything at this point because I was couple of bucks over the limit so far. But they don't

Buy Nothing Challenge

I would like to reduce my ecological impact and disassociate from the consumerist mindset. I don't like the direction the US government is taking and I would like to decouple from the US economy.

My challenge is to buy nothing* for one month, and at the end of the month, see if I can continue for another month.

*I will continue to purchase items that I consider necessities.

Necessities that I will buy as required:

YES: Food

YES: Health and medication

YES: Daily necessities (toilet paper, toothpaste, shampoo, etc.)

YES: Bills (phone, rent, insurance, taxes)

YES: Repairs (home, bicycle, vehicle)

YES: Gas/Transportation (walk or bike when you can)

YES: Receiving gifts, trades where no money is exchanged

YES: Camping, hiking, bicycle travel

YES: Giving charity

Items I will avoid purchasing during the challenge:

NO: Fast food, coffee shops, restaurants

NO: Entertainment devices, books, subscriptions

NO: New clothes or impulse purchases

NO: Hair servi

This isn't about how to find a cheap flight, but if you have a ultra basic no-frills essentials-only bottom-dollar economy ticket, and need to figure out how to pack and make the most of it. I'm most experienced with Flair Airlines and flying in Canada but I expect many airline procedures to be similar, ymmv. In the past you could often get away without measuring the bag but they have been getting a little stricter about it recently.

• Think beforehand what you actually will bring and what you plan to bring back. Will you pack food that will be gone before you return? An empty bottle? How many days of clothes do you need? How much in souvenirs will you get (if any?) Toiletries and extras, are there small things you will be able to pick up at minimal cost (such as soap bars that you get at a hotel)? Keep in mind that anything that you forgot to bring and end up buying at your destination will amount to more luggage on the return trip.
• Wear multiple layers of clothes to serve as next

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/26917080

When uploading photos using the desktop website, make sure to select Full Resolution in the Upload Preferences.

You must have exactly six 5x7 photo cards in your cart for the code to apply.

If you have a friend with a costco membership, you can ask them to buy you some $25 Costco Shopcards, which you can use at the entrance to get into the store and at checkout to verify you can make a purchase. Anything you have over $25, they'll allow you to use an alternative method of payment to pay for it.

They make you turn in the card at checkout, so it's certainly not worth it if you go more than a handful of times a year, but for those who go less, it's a good way of avoiding the membership fee.

Stolen from Reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/1ftmkwt/oc_foods_cost_vs_caloric_density/

But I loved it. Also this has Shrimp removed, because it was on the OG chart due to an error and this is an updated version.

EDIT: Here is one for protein! https://www.reddit.com/r/budgetfood/comments/1fp2ytb/foods_cost_per_gram_of_protein_vs_protein_density/#lightbox

Mine--don't laugh--is random fruit from fruit trees hanging over walls and over the sidewalk.

Although, I once tried to take a plum from a wasp who was sitting on the fruit, and she turned and looked at me, and I quickly let go and let her have it.

$40

I recently moved to a new city and don’t know anybody here yet.

I want to try out some things and meet new people and avoid sitting at home all day (but sometimes is ok)

My ideas are hiking, volunteering and reading. What would you recommend? Any good ideas?

It's been a week since I posted the last one...right?

I'm afraid I haven't been very frugal this week. Got some things mildly on sale, but still too much, so I don't think they count and won't post them.

I know someone would immediately jump in with water if I didn't caveat that, haha. Tap water is the most frugal drink, yes I know, but for me plain ol' water more of a basic survival thing. And I like to be happy too, not stuck permanently in survival mode, even if I'm also being frugal.

So.

One of my "vices", if you can call it that, is fancy tea.

I'm American and we're not really a tea-drinking culture, so I was taken by surprise when I got into drinking tea and learned you can get surprisingly nice quality loose leaf tea online that blows grocery store tea bags out of the water, and it's not a terribly expensive habit. Grocery store tea in tea bags is basically 'tea dust' left over from processing better teas, and basically almost any loose leaf tea is a better quality than bagged tea dust, so you don't have to break the bank to see immediate improvement in your tea quality.

And that surprised the heck out of me!

I eventually realized that's because tea is a dry good and c

I was just thinking in the back of my head about how cheap LEDs have made types of lighting that would've cost way too much (both to install, and in electricity usage) no longer stupidly expensive.

For example, I noticed on Amazon some cheap furniture that has LEDs/power outlets sort of integrated right into them. Looks pretty cyberpunk-ish to my eyes. And I know years ago that sort of thing would've been marked up to high heavens.

Fancy lighting in general has changed drastically in price/design.

So...what are some things, due to changes in demand or changes in tech or changes in anything...that would've been really expensive back in the day, but which no longer seem to be, making them more frugal than they used to be?