I’m frugal, not a cheapskate, but there are some things I just won’t spend my money on any more. They may be cleverly marketed as essential, but I’m not buying it (or them)! I don’t miss them! Perhaps I will relax and shell out for some of the goods and services on this list in the future, but at the moment I am happy to do without and I don’t have any sense of deprivation. Here is my list of 15 things I don’t waste money on.
Don’t waste money on these things
Plug in air fresheners
Yuck! Indoor air pollution. Just open a window.
I find so called air fresheners one of the most ridiculous products. They don’t and can’t freshen your air. In actual fact they simply mask smells. They are not good for people with asthma and breathing difficulties either. Horrible things!
A tumble dryer
I don’t have a tumble dryer and line dry everything outside in the summer. Winter in the UK can prove trickier for drying laundry, so I use a dehumidifier or a heated airer if I need to. Both are much cheaper to run than a dryer.
We splashed out on a Meaco dehumidifier similar to this one*
A cleaner
When I got married years ago and had more money than sense, I employed a cleaner for a few hours each week. I wish I had done my own cleaning and put the money in a high interest savings account!
Ok, it saved us a few hours at the weekend, but we could easily have whizzed round in a couple of hours and given our two up two down terrace a good going over.
A gardener
I love doing the garden. Fresh air and exercise – you can’t beat it for stress relief. Mr Shoestring is my head gardener and he doesn’t charge :).
Gardening as a hobby actually saves us money. We have two small veggie patches, a fruit bed and a greenhouse and grown quite a bit of our own food in the summer.
A car wash
It really only takes 15 minutes to wash my little car so I save myself at least a tenner. I take the vacuum cleaner and some cleaners out and give the inside a good going over too.
It smells a lot less chemically when I do it too. The car wash people always leave a very artificial air freshener hanging from the mirror when they do it, which makes me feel sick!
Hair colouring
I always colour my hair myself. A while ago I invested in a little pot and brush to enable me to mix up half a pack of dye at a time. It costs about £2.50 tops. I even cut my own hair on occasion. This may be a bit extreme for some, but when I need to be super frugal that is what I will do.
Newspapers and magazines
I no longer waste money on these. You can get them online. I beg old ones from work colleagues to line the cat litter trays, though.
When I look back, I dread to think how much money I spent on glossy magazines. I did enjoy reading them, but they also made me dissatisfied with my life – my clothes, my home and my lifestyle. Better off without them I think.
Branded goods (unless they are second hand)
I can’t afford to pay for a marketing campaign. Designer clothes really don’t appear to be better quality much of the time. I frequently pick them up second-hand and sometimes the quality seems quite shoddy.
Generally speaking I don’t waste money on branded goods because I can always find a cheaper alternative. The number of expensive designer and branded items I pick up in as new condition at boot sales is amazing!
Salon beauty treatments
I go for a DIY approach. For example, I don’t pay to get my nails done; I am a gardener so what would be the point?
VERY occasionally I will go and get my eyebrows waxed at the local beauty college at just a few pounds, but generally I am a low maintenance kind of gal.
I’m not saying I’m not partial to the odd massage – luxury! But again, I can get this done by the trainees at the local college, or I ask for vouchers for birthdays and Christmas.
Gym membership
I have paid for expensive gym memberships in the past but now I just walk, do yoga and dig the veggie patch. I am pretty fit for a woman of a certain age…
Now that we have finally bitten the bullet and got Archie the Shoestring cockerpoo, I will have no excuse not to walk even more!
Painting and decorating
We have learned some skills over the years and Mr S is particularly handy. Doing your own DIY, as we did here, saves hundreds of pounds.
We have our limits, though, and know when to call in the experts. You won’t catch either of us messing about with the electrics, for example.
New furniture
I have purchased used items of furniture and home ware almost exclusively for many years. You can get quality items this way at a fraction of their purchase price new.
There is a lot of choice now that many of the big charity shop trains have furniture shops, such as the British Heart Foundation. Facebook Marketplace, eBay and Gumtree are also good. You can also pick up furniture for free from Freecycle and Freegle.
We have also done a bit of up cycling on occasion, such as refurbishing this old garden bench. It was free!
Expensive moisturisers
I always use one as I have dry skin, but I haven’t found any difference between my £2 pot from Aldi and the expensive stuff they sell in department stores.
These days I like a more natural type of moisturiser as I am trying to minimise the chemicals in our home, but I can still pick up a large pot of Jason Vitamin E Moisturising Creme*
Furniture polish and cleaners
I use a mix of white vinegar and water, which does the job very effectively without nasty chemicals. For a lot of general cleaning I use my home made lemon spray or this home made cleaner.
Again, because I am quite sensitive to a lot of chemicals, I found the Mr Sheen type furniture polishes made me queasy. Harsh oven cleaners are the same. I feel better without them and save money too.
Pricy greetings cards
I am often stunned at the price of birthday cards, for example. £4 for a card that will end up in the recycling in a few days?? I have been known to make my own Moon Pig type affair using print outs of photos, but when I don’t have time I pick them up in bulk from stores such as Home Bargains for 29p to 99p a card or at the boot sale even cheaper.
What do you refuse to buy as you think it is a total waste of money? What else do you save money on?
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Helena says
I’m glad you said ” PRICEY greetings cards” as I sell Uk-printed, UK artists’ images cards at 1.60 to 2 pounds each as one of my small businesses. I can tell.people where Home Bargains is, if they like, and I have done, but I want to stay in business!
I avoid wheat because it makes me ill, but stay away from most branded gluten free goods as they are expensive and full of fillers. I became allergic to a type of
gf flatbread as it contained a type of Swiss cheese mould that was being used as a preservative! I try to make my own goods or buy things that never contained wheat in the first place. On the road it’s not as easy, but I try to plan ahead. Disclaimer: This might not work for coeliacs, but you know that already).
Amy | Style Within Grace says
I agree that greeting cards are crazy to buy at that price! I’m don’t really care about brand names either and am all about diying!
Tracie says
Washing powder & conditioner. Just changed to an eco egg as I thought I may have skin sensitivity. It’s great. Seven quid & it lasts a year. Odd having washing that smells of nothing but I am used to it now. Also bin bags. I now empty the non straight into. ..the bin!
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
I use an eco egg too. It’s brill!
Margie from Toronto says
.Allergic to many scents so definitely no air-fresheners!
.I live in an apt. building with a shared laundry room -I use the dryer for sheets & towels only, hang everything else on my rack that I stand in the bathtub in front of a large sunny window. I live in Canada where it’s Winter 7 months of the year – my sheets & towels would never dry.
.I clean my own small apt.
.No garden
.No car
.Sorry but I gladly pay to have my hair professionally done – the one time I tried colouring it myself was a disaster – only get it done about every 3 months.
.Down to one magazine that comes out every two months & I receive another as part of a membership to a Senior’s organization that gives me lots of discounts & perks
.Companies can pay me if they want me to advertise their products.
.I might treat myself to a manicure once a year. I get my feet done by the foot clinic nurse at my doctor’s office every couple of months and then I can paint my toes myself.
.no Gym – I live close to two large city parks & a beautiful lakeshore plus I don’t drive so aside from public transit I walk everywhere.
.I would pay for painting and decorating. I’m barely 5’2″ and I have some medical disabilities so not within my range of abilities.
.Haven’t bought any new furniture in at least 5 years. I will need a new mattress & a new couch within the next few years so I’m saving now. I look after my things and make them last. I have no objections to second hand if I can find what I want (except for a mattress).
.I’ve used Nivea and Vaseline since I was a teenager and people always tell me what great skin I have – and really, most of the time you’re paying for the pretty packaging rather than the product.
.I use baking soda, vinegar and lemon juice for much of my cleaning needs but do use a furniture polish. But – I probably use two cans for the whole year and I buy the “no name” product (your “own brand”).
.Pricey greeting cards are an issue – the cost of most is ridiculous! I only buy for very special occasions and send electronic ones for others (I buy a year’s membership & it is certainly worth it).
Great list
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
I think I read somewhere that the beautiful actress Joanna Lumley has always used Nivea too
Sam says
Reading this list is a reminder for me of some of the things that I have stopped doing over the past few months. They are:
Going to the hairdressers to get my hair dyed. Now I do it myself. I do still get it cut at the salon.
Reading magazines – I used to buy three a month.
Paying a fortune for creams to put on my face. Now it’s Tesco’s own brand.
Many of the others I was already doing e.g. hanging washing up to dry — never had a tumble dryer.
Will have to try Moonpig or similar. All my family’s birthdays seem to come at once and as you say they cost a fortune and end up in the recycling after a few days.
ratnamurti says
I seldom buy skincare as I seem to be always given it!! Lucky me. I have finally, after many years, found a great hairdresser who cuts my hair beautifully, but have gone back to dyeing it myself at home. I have been gifted 2 pedicures and now feel that I would like to learn to do it for myself. No manicures. Just a few clothes which last for years. When I lived on my own, I never bought toxic stuff but I have found that when you’re flatting people are going to use them anyway, which I find difficult.