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Frugality isn’t just about saving money—it’s about using your money efficiently. And some methods of saving cash take more time and effort than they’re worth. Worse, some habits actually encourage you to spend more.
“What’s a worthwhile money-saving strategy and what’s not depends largely on your personal circumstances,” personal finance expert Stefanie O’Connell tells tells mental_floss. “For example, when I was making less than $30,000 a year, I would spend hours hacking costs—couchsurfing, taking public transit, DIY-ing everything. At that time, the extra $5 a day or $20 here and there really did make a significant impact on my financial life, even if it took an extra two hours to get somewhere or get a task done.”
O’Connell says that as she started to earn more money, her time became more valuable. The frugal habits that once worked in her favor no longer made sense. “Before I could meet all my monthly expenses and financial goals, I never dreamed of conveniences like taking a cab to the airport,” she says. “I only began to consider convenience over saving once I could more than meet my monthly expenses and financial goals.”
Your own mileage will vary, too, but we asked a few personal finance experts which money-saving habits generally aren’t worth it.
1. CLIPPING COUPONS
Depending on your method, couponing can be quite a bit of work. “You’ll spend valuable time, attention, and mental bandwidth tracking and organizing your coupons,” Paula Pant of Afford Anything tells tells mental_floss. “But at best, you’ll save only a small amount of money, and at worst, you’ll wind up buying items you don’t need.”
Pant has a point. Coupons actually encourage consumers to spend more, and they usually succeed in doing so. A 2003 study from NYU [PDF] found that customers actually spent more money on items when they shopped with coupons. According to the study, “When coupons were not clipped, [the households surveyed] were very…
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