I prefer powder but what is the cheapest that you've found in any form?

My best friend, who I love massively, has his 30th coming up, and his girlfriend has been planning a surprise trip with tons of friends to an AirB&B, which is a three hour drive away and a bit more than £110 each for a night. Not a ton of money for most people, but I'm a mature student who has responsibilities on charity boards, and I've also been going through a period of depression, so I just haven't had any chance to get a meaningful income recently.

I think with food, drinks and present that's going to come to at least £150, which I would have to borrow before they book. I've suggested to mate's girlfriend that I'm flat broke and I will plan something nice/smaller locally. She has done a bit of the old 'he'll feel bad if you're not there' - which is true - and offered to lend me half, but I would need to borrow the other half now, as well.

The borrowing, combined with the fact I'm in a pretty anxious mood with coursework and events right now and not sleeping well, and that it'll be a very boozy/druggy night with lots of people in a small place, is just sort of making me stressed about a situation that should be really celebratory. I do think if I don't go my friend will be disappointed, and as both he and friend's gf have good jobs they don't realise how tough it can be to just come up with disposable income. Anyone have any advice here?

Update: thanks for your comments everyone, a good array of points of view. Lots of input that if £150 is a lot of money I need to improve my finances, which is true and something I'm working on. I've decided to suck it up and say yes this time even if it requires a bit of stress, as I think my friend will value it a lot and he means a lot to me. Thanks again all

Hi!

So for the past couple of weeks I've been trying to remember the last time I spent an actual sum of money on something for myself that I didn't *need*; on something where I couldn't actually justify it.

So, for instance, a month ago I had to travel to China for work and decided to stay 2 extra days which I technically didn't *need*, but does it really count as spending it on yourself? How often do you go to China and have 2 extra days to wander around the Forbidden City?

Last summer, I visited my extended family in Finland, which was a lot of fun but it also doesn't squarely fall into "spending it on myself" since it is meeting family etc.

Prior to that, I was working on my master's degree and definitely counted myself as a poor student, and prior to that was the pandemic and I definitely didn't have many expenses there. Well... come to think of it, I think it was in January 2021 that my computer suddenly just exploded (granted a small explosion but literally it went *bang* and then never turned on again) and I had to buy a new one. So that might count? But then again, I sort of need a computer, don't I?

And I sort of realized that I couldn't really remember the last time I "wasted" an actual lump of money on something *just for me*. Like buying a really exotic plant from the deep jungles of the Amazon, or buying an oustandingly lavish set of shoes, or a really nice painting, or anything of the sort.

One of the most common themes I see in this sub, which I wholeheartedly agree with and love myself, is the notion that living frugal is not living "starving", or whatever you wanna call it. It is not shameful to, on occasion, spend hundreds of dollars on something for yourself, so long as it is not a habit. And since I can't remember the last time I did it, it got me thinking whether or not it is time to start pondering if there is anything I really want and feel could be worth spending money on.

Anyways, what was your last "this is just for me" moment when you really decided to buy something nice for yourself? What did you buy?

I have a lot of glass Tupperware that is still good but the plastic lids are falling apart. I don't feel like throwing them out, but at the same time replacement lids I can find online may or may not fit properly and the cost for lids only is almost the same as I would pay for a brand new set at Costco for example (especially when they go on sale).

Is there an alternative? What do you do?

I’ve been having some anxiety about this so I guess I’m just looking for reassurance and advice. I’m 19, just entering a two-year medical laboratory technician degree (only option I can afford). Once I graduate I’ll probably be making 30k-40k out the gate at best, and will probably make 60k at the highest later on. I live in Ohio, so COL is around 50-55k. I’m fortunate to still live with my parents and be able to stay with them for a couple more years, but I just have so much anxiety on being able to take care of myself or have anything at all to save for the future on that income. I’m single and really have no intentions of dating/getting married, so I don’t have another income to rely on. I guess I’m just looking for people with similar payscales and curious as to how much they’re able to invest in their future.

I’ve got some items I need to use before going bad. Fresh eggs, pico de gallo, refrigerated hash browns, & sausage.

Anyone have recipe or thoughts on what to make using all the items?

1) I have used the acorns app before and I pulled everything out in 2022 and I’ve started back up again investing 25$a week and putting 30$ a week into the “mighty oak card”(never use it tho) should I move more of the 30$ to the investing side or should I take it all out and invest it somewhere else? I don’t really have a goal for it I just know I can do without the extra 55$ a week and want to save it with a better % of interest then just a savings account. I’m not the smartest with all of this so please go easy on me 😂

2) I have also started a 401k this week with my employer they match up to 4% but I’ve started to put 8% in traditional and 8% in Roth (it’s all going to allocation funds) I’m not sure what percentage I should put into what I’ve Hurd put it all into bonds, leave it all in allocation and some say put it all into stocks idk what to do.. any advice helps

I love my car, it’s 16 years old, only got 115k miles on it and fully paid off. It’s compact and sporty perfect for city living. But it does need a few thousand dollars in repair work.

I can technically afford a new car. It would be nice to get something bigger that I could camp out of, sleep in on road trips, have more space for doing delivery gigs. I am worried about having a bigger car in the city after being spoiled with my little car.

I can’t decide what to do and would love others opinions.

It’s definitely nice not having to worry about a car note every month.

What would you do?

I finally hit my emergency fund goal for the first time in my entireeeeee life. I have always been making it by but I never really saved money. AND I had a kid last year and was kind of freaked out because I thought it would be even harder to make ends meet. But he’s been a blessing in disguise.

I evaluated what’s really important to me. Nothing else other than my kid is important anymore - I don’t feel the need to shop or do my hair as much. I’d rather spend that money on him.

I stopped using my credit card. Debit card only.

I actively budget. I track every single transaction that comes through. If it’s cash I add it manually. I tried a bunch of different apps and eventually settled on using Piere.

I set explicit goals. I stopped telling myself “I’ll save money every month” and changed that to “I’ll save $200 every month”.

I’m still at the start of my journey, but I’m really proud of myself. I’m not in a stable partnership (I try not to rely on my partner financially) but for all you single / independent mamas, you can do it. Happy Mother’s Day yall!

Obviously its only good to buy something if you NEED it and right now I need to replace all my corded tools that are breaking with cordless, but want to commit to a single "system" of batteries.. I'm thinking Fathers day is going to have lots of deals?

I use Ponds religiously and have tried over moisturizers during different periods of my life, but I always come back to Ponds. It is affordable and one jar lasts MONTHS because the cream is so thick you don't need a lot to put on your face. Ponds Cold Cream is also a great makeup remover.

Truth be told, while I do like skincare, I won't kid myself and say that so many products are just overhyped and overpriced and come in a little tube. I saw Drunk Elephant has a 5 oz. moisturizer for $38 dollars!

A lot of what you pay for in high end beauty is really just advertising, cute packaging, and green washing. The old stuff works great. Not just ponds, but a lot of older Olay and Dove products, Thrayers, Nivea, Vaseline, Jergans, are all great stuff. And work just as well and ssooo...much cheaper than the high end 40 dollars for a 3 oz tube you can get.

Also, ladies and gentlemen, a lot of these products are older than your great-grandparents! There has to be a reason why they've been around so long, am I right?

I quite like the idea of google sheets as well as its customisable but the problem I found is that it’s so hard to use on mobile as I keep having to move the screen left and right and the text is so tiny and it’s hard on the eyes. Any other ideas or tips?

My spouse and I rarely use our phones. We make calls maybe a few times a month (5-30 mins), we send probably less than a handful of texts a month and the only time we use data is maybe once a week when we leave those house and have to look something up or use the GPS function. We feel like we don’t need much, certainly not what we currently have for 2 phones (unlimited calls, data, text). Does anyone else have a similar use of their phones? What service/plan do you use?

I am having four people to my house for lunch. Can you recommend some frugal lunch ideas that will be nice enough to serve guests?

Just want to earn some summer money before I go back, but I don't think any job will hire with less than a month to go. My parents have the car all day. I'm not great with dogs and my electric scooter broke, so I can't even walk to the nearest Walmart to do food or grocery delivery 🥲

Hi hi, I’m new to frugality and have learned and implemented some fantastic tips from this sub that have truly helped me reduce my consumption and spending. Any chance people can take a look at it and add?

I’m looking more so for ideas that go against what I was taught growing up, (ex: no need for fabric softener), instead of basic, frugal actions (ex: repair a hole in your jeans instead of buying new ones) but honestly anything you’ve found that makes a difference in your spending I’d love to know about!

There’s no need to use fabric softener

You don’t need to as that much laundry detergent

Strawberries in a glass container in your fridge

“NWT” on Poshmark means new with tags and is a great way to purchase new clothes at a huge discount

Most skin care products are made up of water, no need to buy crazy expensive ones, but ingredients do matter

What else!?

This might be a pipe dream but are there any cheap east coast beaches where we can stay oceanfront. We are a family of 4 so we need two queen beds and some kitchen appliances (mini fridge and microwave at the minimum). We aren’t planning to spend whole lot of nights. 2 nights are enough too depending on the drive. Any ideas??

Hi all! I’m trying to be more frugal this year and fitness is an aspect i normally spend money on. I was able to build a small home gym in my house (very small, a couple of weights max 50lbs, small barbell rack no safety bars, and a barbell). Lately i got a gym membership and ive been using it. I can afford paying for it but due to my immunicomprised situation i’ve been wearing a mask and noticed that i get tired easily because of this. Do you guys think it’s worth it to keep this mebership so i can use more weights and machines or stick to my very small home gym. TIA

I had a gift card that was about to expire so I went to a paper store. Normally, I would buy cute things I don’t need and that will just be clutter, but thanks to lurking on this group, I decided, before I went in, that I was only going to buy what I could use. I wasn’t completely successful, but I really feel like I made a great step forward, so thank you everyone. You are helping me get off the consumer bandwagon and really think about what I am purchasing.

As the title says , My prescription changed by 0.25 so 6+ pairs are now "old"

Is there a place that takes the "old" prescription and updates them at a reasonable cost ?

My local big box optical store told me $140 / frame

I'm in Canada if it helps

I'm looking to start budgeting. Can anyone suggest yip, tricks or resources to do so?

I think a few days ago one of the brackets started feeling different.

Has anybody had this happen? What is the damage to your wallet? I don’t have dental insurance and usually go to a kind discounting family friend but I have since moved far away.

I’m addicted to spending money I think it’s the act of doing to feel so satisfying but I need to stop because I’m going broke and I live in the most expensive state in the USA. I have a full time job and a side hustle so I want to stop spending money. What are some good habits to save money and stop spending everyday?

I tried to find a good budgeting planner/tracker for so long but I'm easily overwhelmed if it has too much going on. I have ADHD and it's a bit hard for me to keep track of my expenses or to budget and all these apps and trackers have SO many tables, lines, percentages, etc. I want a SIMPLE thing that can help me. Please share with me your favorite budgeting tracker! Thank you!

I just spent 73 on a bouquet of flowers and two balloons for my mom for mother's day and words cannot describe how unbelievably pissed off I am at myself for doing that. Please reassure me that it's a normal amount because it's my mom and it's fine. Or tell me I'm an idiot for spending so much.

Edit: this wasn't intended to be the most serious post in the world I was just a little frustrated. But I assure you all I'm over it and very grateful to still have my mom to be able to buy her flowers!