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What "frugal" tricks have you found to just not be worth it, either in time or money? (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/frugal@lemmy.world
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I've noticed sometimes that there's some half-baked videos or blogs or whatever that purport this or that frugal trick, but if you look at the time or math, it's not actually frugal for you.

What are some examples of that you've come across? The things that "aren't worth it"?

For me it's couponing. (Although I haven't heard people talk about it recently--has it fallen out of "style", or have businesses caught up to the loopholes folks used to exploit?)

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[–] 36 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Flights with connections. Flying has become so tedious, frustrating, stressful, that saving money by spending yet more hours dealing with it, just isn’t worth it. I’d sooner cancel the trip

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  • [–] 18 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)

    I saved $500 per ticket on an international flight for my girlfriend and I and the extra connection should have only added a few hours to the trip.

    Then they cancelled my flight, and I got stranded in another country (Canada), spent over 10 hours in the airport getting a new flight, lost two days of the trip, which were the best days, lost the money I paid for the hotel for those days, and I only get a few days off a year and that was how I spent several of them.

    The Europeans and Canadians on the flight got their flight comped. Being an American, I had to fight for a meal ticket that didn't even cover the cost of two sodas. This was pre-pandemic too.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I disagree because you can save so much money. But my limit is one short stop, unless I am flying to the other side of the world and need a few days' break.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    I’ve only had a flight delayed once on a layover, it was a few hours but meant getting home at 3 am instead of 11 pm and was fucking miserable. I can’t even imagine if it was 5-10 hours or a day. For a family of four we could probably save $400 on round trip cross country (USA) but I would rather pay and have a direct flight. And the shitty discount airlines are not worth a bloodclot in my leg when I can’t bend them for 3.5 hours…even an inch of extra room can make a difference when it’s almost 4 hours in a tin can.

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  • [–] -1 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I just flew for the first time in quite a while and honestly its not bad. Just make sure you follow directions and don't cut it too close on leaving on time and it'll probably be fine. Get to the airport 1-2 hours before your flight and by that point anything that happens you just ask the nearest employee nicely what to do

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Except when your connection departs in 1h and there are 100+ in line for customs + other 50 in line for TSA checks. I still think they are worth it most of the time, but when flying internationally, I get why people tend to avoid connections as they can be super stressful.

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