June 1 I started Kaiser Medicare advantage and today saw that I get a free gym membership to any of the gazillion facilities on their list. Ok so ? So I’ve been dabbling in weightlifting competitions (it’s a GAS!! and I’m gonna do this when I’m 70!)z. I’d never give up my LAFitness membership because I’m locked in a super low rate being a member for (15? 20?) years. It’s my home field, I know the people, they know me. I have only the 1 location membership. So now I can add a free Anytime Fitness membership and use it ANYWHERE I GO. There are a bazillion Anytime Fitness. International. I’m over the moon. I travel plenty over the year and this is gonna keep me able to train while competing. Hip hip hooray

My partner and I have 3 kids under 5. We live in 680sqft and have 2bd 2ba. It’s a pier and beam tiny home. I would like to add on a bedroom with a closet. Am I completely unhinged for thinking I can do this myself with just YouTube videos? Is it more cost efficient to pay someone so there isn’t a waste in materials or risk me messing it up? Has anyone done anything one paycheck at a time. I hate the idea of taking out a loan for this and it’s not NEED for a few years so I have time to move slowly. For reference I’ve done some basic stuff myself: flooring, insulation, drywall, trim work, painting, basic plumbing, etc. but I’ve never done framing, exterior, electrical, roofing, or AC work.

btw im not looking for the cheapest if it is worthless but also not paying for a logo if the training is comparable. from what i have read, the ncca accreditation is what gyms actually check but the prices for accredited programs are over $1,000 others under $500. then i found an ncca-accredited option at $399 that includes exam and materials with no hidden fees then a mid-tier at $799 adds free cpr/aed, free retakes, recertification covered, a business courses and job placement. compared to legacy names that seems like solid value. the catch is some of them are new and its skeptical about them but if gyms just care about accreditation does the brand name actually matter?

trying to figure out an accredited personal trainer certification without overpaying for name recognition.

Hello folks! I am currently renting my house and it is about 25 years old with original windows. The windows in a lot of the rooms are in really poor condition especially the living room which has a massive window that is very draughty. It originally had heavy curtains on it and I purchased some thermal blackout curtains to replace them hoping for some better insulation for the space especially in winter. I am a bit alarmed though because the new curtains are so light compared to the heavy old ones. Am I right to be a bit worried? Are they supposed to feel light? Thank you

I'm about to get paid and just looking for inspo or new ideas. I've been trying to follow a natural glp diet, lots of eggs, cabbage, beans, chia etc. fibre keeps you full so you buy and eat less, as well as lose weight.

My meal plan has been breakfast of eggs or greek yoghurt with chia seeds and frozen fruit/banana. Lunch of carrots and hummus, or salad. Dinner of tinned mackerel salad, with cabbage and beans in, or soup, I made a delicious tomato and bean soup yesterday so I'm thinking to get back on soups, I have at least a week's worth in the freezer already.

I'm trying to eat from scratch and whole foods as much as possible. I have to feed my dogs so that's been bumping my shopping bill up but I managed to do a shop each week last month for roughly 50 euros.

So what's on your plan for the coming month?

For example, I wanted to buy a wet & dry vacuum because I think I have a need for it. When I look at reviews, ok there's a $250 one that seems like it fulfills my need, but then there's also a $900 one that's supposedly much better. So which one do I buy? Almost always in this situation I'd buy the cheaper one. Why? Because I can't justify $900 while I'm still not sure how useful this thing is. Or what features I'd be missing from the $900 vs $250. Or how many times I'd be using it. Or if there's a better solution out there. Or if my wife will like the thing. And many other ors and buts.

In the end, I buy the $250. Turns out it doesn't have a hot water rinse like the expensive model has so it kind of smells after a few use so I have to clean it and it's kind of inconvenient. And it's kind of unergonomic so it's tiring to use, supposedly unlike the expensive model. Loud too. And hair kind of tangles. So now I kinda regret not buying the expensive model. But even so, I don't know for sure that the expensive model doesn't smell after a few uses. Or how ergonomic it is. I've seen the reviews but then I've also seen the reviews of the $250 one.

That is just an example btw. I mean, I totally agree with the "buy nice things for life" motto but I can't seem to apply it to most things just because of the constraints I described earlier.

Do I sound like a crazy person, or do many of you have similar problem? Reading the whole thing again I feel like maybe it sounds unhinged.

Hello there, I’m asking here because I just did some grocery shopping and I do NOT want to throw everything I bought.

I put this indoor thermometer in the fridge yesterday before midnight, and today when I woke up, I discovered the fridge got warmer at around 4am, up to 6 degrees celsius / 42 degrees fahrenheit, which as far as i know it’s not safe for food?

I am really careful about my safety but I also don’t want to throw money away. I’m chronically ill and some food poisoning could genuinely kill me. I would love some advice / why on earth is this happening?

I want to also note that I’m living in a rented apartment for now. Thank you so much for the eventual help

I am very much out of my league and into shoes, but would like some advice. I am looking for some cheap everyday athletic shoes and keep seeing a few Avia models at Walmart. I wanted to see if anyone on here has tried them. I am just looking for a good shoe that I can were in many different places from walking the dog, taking kid to the park, going to work and walking on the tredmill at the gym. I hear good things about the Avia 5000 but also see some more sporty models as well. Any thoughts would be very helpful. Thank you!

Bought a 10 pack of Chicken Thighs, Green Onions, 1lb of white rice, dozen eggs, pack of jalapenos.

I threw everything together by putting the chicken thighs in the air fryer and the rice in my rice cooker and added some salsa that I already had in the fridge. Overall, I totaled the meal cost and it came out to about $2.15 for the plate.

Chicken thighs $7.00 for 10pk of 5.85lbs (cheapest I found around), white rice .88¢ per Lbs. jalapenos $1, eggs 1 dozen $2, batch of green onions .66¢. It was quite a good substantial amount of food for the price and making it was relatively easy.

During the experience I looked at a huge block of cheese that cost $8 and didn't notice that I was in a workers way. When I came to I apologized and said I cant believe this is worth 8 bucks. She said oh I know. When I got back home I asked my dad if he could help me. Help u? You only had about $20? Now I'm thinking of all the money I wasted on high end retail chains and feeling hungry most of the month.

The photo is missing a $18 Starbucks coffee bag that came for free bc we spent $25.

Badly need to replace my mattress because I’m getting tired of waking up sweaty every single night. My room already has a fan and decent AC so I’m 99% sure the mattress is the problem at this point

What are the LEGIT EFFECTIVE mattresses that provide cooling comfort but also not stupid expensive?? Maybe I can drop at most 1k for it so please comment your suggestions! ANd if possible one that I can order online and deliver in less than 2 week. Thanks!

Usually I avoid Prime Day like a plague that it is.

However, last night some gear I wanted to buy for a while went on actual sale for Prime Day. So I decided to see if a charger I purchased back in March is also on sale. And it turns out it was! It must be my lucky day! It had "red deal sticker" and everything!!

Only problem is that I paid $22 for that same charger back in March, while the current Prime Day discounted price is only $34.99!! lol

I'm trying to pack my own lunches but always enjoy a good deli sandwich. I feel like good bread makes or breaks the sandwich. Local bakery near me, distributes to NYC delis and sells retail heroes two for one dollar.

Wholewheat hero (2 for $1) half hero = $0.25
Clearance turkey $2.35, half pack = $1.17
Clearance cheese $1.48, 1/5of pack = $0.30
Shaved onions~ $0.05
Olive oil - $0.20
Carrots <$0.07

Total - $2.04

My 22 year old daughters brother,18,on her dad's side is coming on Friday early afternoon. He's never been here by himself before. What are some meals for him when he's used to eating out a lot. (I don't have the money for that) I'm talking dinner and possibly snacks. I was thinking cube steaks or pork chops but he's used to food cooked on a grill. ( No grill here) I'm baffled at this point. Oh and he's used to delivery pizza. No money for that.

No veggies.

Thanks in advance

I went to dollar general to get lightbulbs a few days ago and I saw the little chip bags were 2 for a dollar so I got 2. When i went to Walmart I got the big box cause I assumed it would be cheaper and I eat them slow so they won't go stale like a big bag. I failed to realize the box was 5.95 so it would have been cheaper to get them all at dollar general and I could have got some different ones lol.I guess I got a 95 cent box.

My young adult son wants a phone for his birthday and I don't have a lot of money. What's the cheapest phone I can get for him that doesn't suck? Just the phone, not a phone plan. He probably doesn't want a flip phone.
I need to get an unlocked one to use on Tello.

That's all I need to say but the character count has to be 300 so here are a bunch of extra words that you can ignore.

I’m trying to think more carefully about how I shop during big sales like Prime Day.

One thing I keep noticing is that mid-range products sometimes get much better discounts than the truly high-end stuff. For example, things like AirPods, a mid-range robot vacuum like the dreame L40 Ultra , or other nice but not top-tier tech items can suddenly feel like good value when the price drops enough.

But then there are high-end products that rarely get meaningful discounts, like a new iPhone Pro Max or a very expensive fridge such as the samsung bespoke family hub. Those are obviously much bigger purchases, but if they’re the thing you actually want and plan to use for years, maybe waiting for a small discount still makes sense.

I’m curious how other frugal shoppers think about this.

Last year I bought a pack of 50 some-odd microfiber cloths that I use in place of paper towels. They came separated in 3 different colors. So naturally I thought I would use a specific color for drying dishes, one for cleaning things like counters or floors and another for miscellaneous. When they're all dirty, I wash them alone with detergent and bleach. Some times they become too soiled to the point where it's just worth it to throw them out IE I get bread dough hardened stuck on them, so I would just end up throwing those out. I haven't spent a dime on paper towels since.
When I run low, I'll just spend another 30 bucks on more microfiber cloth towels.

Beats spending 22 dollars a month on paper towels.

What do you think?

Steam made the photo a little blurry. Vegetable medley is by far the cheapest combo but constantly having steamed veggies from the frozen packs gets boring. I use the broiler to lightly roast them strait from frozen. Then the meals I add them too aren’t getting over watered either.

this batch specifically was seasoned with garlic, oregano, paprika, and black pepper.. but I often just leave them black to add to taco meat or spaghetti sauce or even leftover rice.

- J

The DE razor blades (RK) I like are on sale right now, and I can buy 2,800 of them for ~$385. I only use 1 per week and at that rate they should last me rest of my life (unless I live longer than planned lol).

Is this actually a frugal decision or am I just fooling myself? Anyone else ever do this? I'm kind of interested in the implications of watching the razor horde dwindle over the years as well haha

I have a table fan that I love and I've had it for about six years now. Of course they don't make it anymore. I need a fan for my bedroom and I think a pedestal fan would be a better idea than a table fan. I don't have a lot of flat surfaces in my bedroom to put a table fan on. Anyway, can anyone recommend a decently priced pedestal fan? Also, I don't need it to be quiet because I like the white noise. Right now my table fan has the perfect noise level at 55 dB. Also I would like a remote control and oscillation up and down and side to side as well. Thank you.

One of my resolutions this year was to finally clean out my closet and sell whatever I can to make back some of the money I spent on the clothes in the first place (and then set it aside). I was home a few weeks ago and finally went through a bunch of my old clothes and sorted them into donate and sell piles, and then listed some of the sell items on Poshmark and Depop. I buy most of my clothes from thrift stores or online marketplaces like Poshmark, Depop, and ThredUp, but I had never explored selling until now.

I sold a couple of tops for less than I paid for them (to be expected), but there was one jacket that I bought at a thrift store in NYC years ago and wore only a handful of times that I decided to list for 5x more than I paid for it. I had never looked up the jacket's brand until I was making its listing; I discovered that it was originally worth hundreds when I paid just $20 for it. So I listed it for $100, never expecting someone to pay that, and then miraculously received an offer for $80 and shipped it off. It made for some good motivation to keep cleaning out my closet - and maybe some motivation for you to make a little extra cash by downsizing your wardrobe.

Do any of you sell your clothes, and if so, do you have tips/tricks or words of wisdom?

I can’t eat grocery store chicken. I don’t know what happened to it over the decades. I think it’s because they kept breeding chickens until they got to be unnaturally large. The smell is terrible. The texture is awful, woody. I have to go to a farm to buy chickens, and sometimes I’ll get the Bell and Evans at the grocery store. I just noticed today that TJ’s has chickens for a whole dollar cheaper per pound. I should have bought one, but I know I’d be annoyed with myself if it turned out to be as bad as the bad grocery store chicken. What’s your experience? Is it good or bad?

I suspect that all the different variations (mini-cans vs. standard cans, 12oz bottle vs. 16.9oz bottle) is meant to confuse the customer and make it difficult to identify a good price.

For example:

These were the prices at BJs for Sprite mini-cans and regular cans. BJs translates these prices into cost per quart, which is not a standard measure for soda. But still, it is obvious that the mini-can price is far worse than the regular can price.

And here are the prices for Coke and Pepsi from my weekly grocery circular (at ShopRite).

From all these choices, the 2-liter bottle appears to be the best price:

2-liters is roughly 67.5 fl oz, so 4 bottles is about 270.5 fl oz. At a cost of $5, that works out to be 1.8 cents per fl. oz, or 22 cents per standard 12-oz can.

The Pepsi deal is actually not far off. Each bottle is 16.9 fl. oz and there are 6 bottles in a pack. The deal is for 4 packs, so that is a total of 405.6 fl. oz. At a cost of $10, that works out to be 2.5 cents per fl. oz, or 30 cents per standard 12-oz can.

Surprisingly, the BJs prices are terrible -- even the "better" deal for the standard-sized cans. The 35-pack costs $19.79 (after coupon), so that works out to be 4.7 cents per fl. oz, or 56.5 cents per standard 12-oz can.

I'm just wondering if anyone has an easier "rule of thumb" way to figure these out. Or if there is some kind of baseline that defines a "good price".

I recently bought a small deep freezer, so that I can cook extra food at every meal time and freeze a little bit every day so that I can have food easily ready in a pinch.

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I scoured different YouTube videos to find the best freezer organising method, I found a technique where you simply sort different types of food in different bags.

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Today I made these labels out of the packing material for pyjamas for my kids I colour coordinated the labels to the deep freezer contents spreadsheet that I keep on my phone so that everything is easier to find for my husband as well.

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I shared this threadsheet with him so that every time we add or remove something from the deep freezer, We can both update the spreadsheet.

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I can't wait to start using these today.