I want to be able to participate at my friend’s Christmas party. I am so broke I can’t even bring food, no gift for anyone and of course everyone has gifts for eachother. I don’t want a gift but I hate to be the “cheap” one.
Mostly agree, but a lot of thrift stores in the US have gotten significantly more expensive and lower quality over the past 10-20 years. You can blame resellers (like vintage stores) for at least the second part of that, but also fast fashion in general.
I have been to hundreds of thrift stores across the country. Rarely are any two the same. Rarely are they the same store if you visit it months later. And some are expensive but if they are, they usually have better stuff. Visit the stores in the areas that are generally poor and you will still find lots of hidden jems at deep discounts to the retail price. So much so that it’s always worth the extended trip outside of your neighborhood.
Heck I have a some near me that I know as different places to look for things. One area is cheaper, one more high end goods, one tends to have older stuff, just because it depends on the people donating!
I cook a lot, I strongly agree with avoiding things that only do one thing.
That slapchop looks real handy, don’t it? Wait till you gotta clean it. Any time savings are instantly lost, and now you have nooks and crannies for bacteria/detritus to hide in.
Look, generally speaking: if you don’t see professionals using something, there’s likely a good reason for it. Maybe you’re doing something smarter than a pro. But that’s rare, remember that.
Sometimes the reason the pros aren’t using a thing is because they have spent 10 hours a day, 6 days a week for 20 years learning how to do it that way. Sometimes the tool is just more sensible.
You’re right, sometimes it is. However, in a society whose existence is centered around consumption, beware the salesman. The point is to think about the purchase: most of the time you don’t need it.
To add onto this, Goodwill is the worst thrift store, so try to poke around and find some mom and pop thrift stores. They do more good with donations and charge far less when you’re buying (plus will usually help you out if you are really in a bind and need something)
Piracy, some people buy 3 streaming subscriptions for 50€ a month just to watch one show.
Also depending on where you live you could take the supermarket advertisement magazines, they are free and if you live in an area where you can walk to your nearest stores it can actually save some money
I also know an old man who sells vapes, cigarettes and alcohol to kids (he couldn’ save up enougth for a good retirement). You’d be suprised how much 12yo actually pay for a vape you can buyat every store for 10€. He once told me he get’s his products from our cheap neigthbour country and only pays ⅓ of what he’s charging.
Don’t see this one yet, but learn how to invest with small amounts. It first… Do these things:
First cut loving expenses where you can, such as: use less power, eat more rice and beans, don’t buy meat, take mass transit, or walk if possible.
Next ensure you stay healthy, always brush and floss, do basic exercise. Keep it simple to stuff you don’t need to buy, do pushups, situps, lunges, go jogging.
Then from the cost cutting, put some money into a savings account. Try to get to at least a month or two of living expenses.
Once you’re there (months of living expenses) open a free retail trading account such as E-Trade, or Robinhood. Buy what you can of the big ETF’s such as VTI, VOO, SPY, SPYG etc… do this every month and don’t get discouraged when it goes down. After a year you’ll start to see dividends payout (literally) they will be small at first. Never sell it, always let the dividend reinvest. After 2 years you’ll start to see a noticeable return on investment. After three it gets better yet… There is a YouTube channel called Chris invests that is really good for this kind of thing. I highly highly recommend it.
Think about it in a multi year strategy. So far, since it’s inception the market always goes up. Billionaires get richer when it goes up, even if hedge funds short the crap out of it, so it’s still a good bet.
Now I hope I don’t eat those words, but I’ve literally pulled myself out of poverty with this strategy which I started around 2007 or so. I’m not rich, I still have to work, but I can now have nice things.
It’s at it’s highest ever point? The whole point of growth ETFs is buy and forget, you’re not supposed to check it everyday and be upset when you’ve “lost” money because the markets are down from the day before.
Get a 2nd hand multicooker off eBay. They slow cook, do rice/lentils/soups and lots of other things. I got one that was a bit bashed about but worked perfectly for £20.
Grow herbs either inside or outside. Rosemary, Thyme, Bay and garlic and a few others will grow fine. For the rest, get dry. Herbs add instant flavour to rice, lentils etc.
A small chicken (about £4) equals 4 meals. When the carcass is stripped, put it in your multicooker, just cover with cold water, add a whole carrot, a whole onion, both halved, some peppercorns, 3 or 4 bay leaves and 2 teaspoons salt. Slow cook on a very low heat for 6 hours. Get rid of all the solids and you now have chicken stock.
Just a nice easy Christmas and New Year, at home just me and my partner, no responsibilities, no social obligations, cozy pyjamas, playing games and relaxing together and generally living actual real life for a couple weeks instead of the constant treadmill.
Pretty much every item of clothing I own is from the thrift store or has been second handed in some way. I love being able to find clothes that are more my style without the $70+ price tags and I’m able to maintain a business casual wardrobe required for my office.
Furniture that isn’t beds are all second hand as well, I just steam clean everything upholstered. Buying brand new is a money making sham that only fills our landfills unnecessarily.
Also, learning how to cook has saved us a lot of money of takeout and prepackaged meals. There are so many ways to learn now too.
We also no longer own a vehicle, we walk, bike, or transit everywhere. I do maintain a license so I can rent a car when necessary though. Vehicles nickle and dime you to death when you own the outright or cost a years wages or so to buy, plus gas and insurance prices are insane. It costs me $500 a year to ride the bus.
I’ve saved literally a couple thousand+ dollars and a shit load of time by cutting my own hair.
Buzzed is easy mode if you’ve got the head for it (definitely NOT a good look for everyone, so proceed with caution).
Actual styles are doable by feel / with a double mirror setup, but that ofc comes with a learning curve, and it WILL look janky until you get a feel for it.
I spent $30 on an electric clipper over 15 years ago - paid for three haircuts since then, which were all mandatory purchases in basic training. Easily the best $30 I’ve ever spent.
Also, super short hair takes like two drops of shampoo per shower, so if you go the buzzed route, you’ll save a lot on hair products too.
I will second this. YouTube can teach you step by step how to cut your own hair. I’ve been doing it for years, and currently have a fancy asymmetrical one side buzzed cut that I do myself. The learning curve is going to result in you looking awkward a couple of times, but the amount of time and money saved over the years is tremendous.
Thirded. June of 2020, the cheap clippers were already all sold out, so I bought a really nice set of clippers at an inflated price. But since I used to pay about $20 every month for a haircut, they paid for themselves fast. And now every time my partner cuts my hair, its like money going into pur pocket.
Bookshelves don’t have to just be for books, either! Ours is a mixed setup with a few plants, books, of course, some video games since it’s near the TV and boardgames. We also put a few eye-catching objects on it to add some color and inspire conversations.
Edit: BookS, plural! Though, I bet it could be striking if you put one single book on the shelf and filled the rest of it with other objects.
We did just get some bookshelves to put in our basement! We have more space down there so it’s helpful for getting stuff stored, but doesn’t add to our spaces where we stay the most. I think it’s really wall decorations that stress me out and makes the room feel barren.
Maybe get a shelf and put just your very favorites en it. Those you just can’t help but return to. Rotate them once in a while if that choice is too hard. Books are pretty, there’s a reason rich people buy false books by the meter just for decoration.
I feel hanging shelves and putting tchotchkes on em really add a lot of personal touches. I went with some geometric shaped shelves that I placed in a pattern on the wall and put some object de arte on em and that did a lot of good for making it feel more homey. I’m embellishing a bit on “object de arte”, I got a go set, a red wax elephant, a Star Trek ship and a small plant on there, just some stuff that relates to my interests and a few splashes of color.
If you’re nervous about putting holes in the wall, some wire frame shelving units can work, too, and you can get them in all sorts of shapes and sizes these days. If you search using the keywords “geometric” or “asymmetrical”, you can easily find some designs that help break up the flat lines of a book case style shelf that I feel adds a dynamic feel to the decoration.
Lastly, if you can splurge for it, there’s always the classic paintings. Find an artist you like and go for a print or two. I went with stuff by Kandinsky, but I really like that sort of abstract, dynamic piece, to my boyfriend’s chagrin, so maybe talk about it with the people you live with first more than I did (he’s come to tolerate it plenty fine though and we get compliments all the time so haha I win).
I do really enjoy geometric and abstract stuff so I’ll have to look into them, we really just want to give our home some more personality so it feels like home. We have some artwork but never know which room they really fit in since they’re all kind of different moods and aesthetics.
To parrot some of the other comments, the holes needed to hang artwork and photos are very easily covered up with a lil spackle (or even toothpaste!) and paint, but also command hooks work very well for hanging things even up to ten pounds, and come off cleanly if you remove them slowly and according to the instructions.
I’ve hung paintings in spots and later decided they don’t look right there and moved em. Sometimes it’s helpful to put it up to see how it works in the space and move it later.
asklemmy
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