Tired of hearing the same old advice about saving money and living frugally?
It turns out that sometimes, being anti-frugal can actually pay off.
Here are 10 financial tips that go against the grain but have proven successful for those who dare to break the mold.
Pay a Mechanic Instead of DIYing Your Oil Changes
Some people can do an oil change and change the brake pads themselves…. but never do.
It gets to the point where they drive the car twice as long as supposed to between changes and start to get worried, but still don’t do it.
For people like that, paying a mechanic is much more frugal than ruining a car through negligence.
For every frugal tip, you have to know whether you will actually do the tip or never get around to it.
Try a Meal Delivery Service
Not liking cooking and not being good at it doesn’t have to mean defaulting to fast food.
A meal delivery service can be faster than fast food, and since the meals arrive ready to make, it can cut grocery trips from weekly to every other week.
For those budgeting $600/month for groceries, a meal kit service can make it significantly easier to come in right at that number, without going over or blowing the eating-out budget.
Take advantage of new customer promos that give you the best deal, and you can try different ones.
Here are some monthly delivery services you can check out:
Only Drink at the Bar
It might run up a regrettable tab sometimes, but having and drinking beer at home can lead to worse financial decisions, like buying things online until passing out, ordering Uber Eats for chicken wings at 1:00 am, or making late-night donations to GoFundMe campaigns.
There’s also the atmosphere factor. And honestly, most people drink less out. A few $8 pints are pricy enough. At home, there’s no issue drinking the whole $8 six-pack.
So if you will have a hard time making sure you keep it under control at home, then maybe take it to the bar.
Consider a Car Payment Over a Beater
Conventional wisdom says avoid car payments but sometimes they’re the smarter move (gasp!).
After a car is totaled in a city with poor public transit, the options can come down to spending all savings on a 20-something-year-old car for $1,000 that will have countless problems, or taking out a $15K car loan on a used Corolla with low mileage.
Even with a low-mileage, reliable car and a high APR due to a thin credit history, it can still be the more financially sound choice in the long run.
Eating Cheap Food
Being locked into making recipes that are always cheap can mean never eating the food you actually want.
Making things that are slightly more expensive (don’t go overboard) will make your meals that you will actually eat.
That means making beef stew occasionally, even though cuts of beef cost more than ground beef, and both cost more than chicken.
Sometimes, beef stew is just what you want instead of lentils and rice.
Buy on Sale Now Instead of Waiting
Waiting for a bigger discount, another season, an end-of-year markdown sale, or a thrift store find sounds frugal in theory.
But it means putting off buying things it would be nice to have now, hoping a better deal eventually materializes.
For some, buying on sale when the opportunity is there beats the uncertainty of waiting for a deeper discount that may or may not come.
Get a Cleaning Service
A cleaning service might seem like a luxury, but when two or more adults split it, it can help stop most of the fighting about chores: whether that’s roommates, a partner, a parent, or adult children at home.
The same logic applies to a laundry service. For people who genuinely cannot abide laundry, $100/month, or less in urban areas, for clean, folded laundry is a significant time and mental health saver.
Invest in a Quality Washer
After spending a lot on dry cleaning, switching to a top-of-the-line washing machine that can handle suits, woolens, cashmere, and dressy clothes without damaging them can pay for itself in about two years and launder dress shirts better than a corner shop charging $3 a shirt.
Use Delivery Services for Heavy or Bulky Items
Supporting local family-owned pet stores is admirable, but hauling cat litter can wreck your back.
When a slightly higher unit price on a delivery service like Chewy is cheaper than the 20% coinsurance for a sciatica flare-up, the math starts to favor the convenience option.
Pay for a Budgeting App
Could you log all transactions manually each week? Yes.
Could you do it all in Excel? Also yes.
But using a paid budgeting app can help make it easier and more fun. If you aren’t going to do it yourself, then consider buying something that will make you do it.
