21 Ridiculous Things That Frugal People Never Ever Buy

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It’s tough sometimes being frugal. But I love it anyways.

My family has lived frugally for over a decade now and we’re well on our way to wealth because of it. It doesn’t take a lot of work to be frugal. But it does take patience, discipline, and motivation.

Now you probably already know what being frugal is. But let me tell you anyways: a frugal person is someone who doesn’t waste their money. They mainly only spend it on needs but will occasionally buy something they want as a planned purchase. There are some things, though, that frugal people, like myself, never EVER buy.

In this post, we’re going to look at some of those things. Some of the absolute worst purchases you could ever make. Today, let’s look at 21 things that frugal people NEVER EVER buy!

21 Things that frugal people never buy

1. New cars

There are a lot of things that could have been #1 on this list. But a brand new car had to be it. Frugal people just don’t buy new cars because we know how horrible of a financial mistake this is.

First off, brand new cars lose thousands of dollars the moment they roll off the dealership lot. It’s a fact. It’s also a financial trap that a lot of people fall into because they think 0% percent interest is a great deal. Well, it’s not. All that money your car lost in value was straight profit for the dealer and the company.

Second, that same car continues to go down in value for multiple years so you will lose A LOT of money by buying brand new.

Lastly, because of how expensive new cars are, the majority of people will finance these vehicles. This normally turns into a hefty car payment and a great deal of interest owed. Car payments will tie you down and rob you of your hard earned income.

Frugal people buy 2-4 year old used vehicles with cash. Not having to pay a loan every month allows you to spend, save, or invest that extra money!

For more on why new cars are a bad idea, check out this post here on breezyscroll.com.

2. Lottery tickets

Oh, man do I hate lottery tickets. I used to buy them when I was young and dumb but I NEVER WON. That always seriously ticked me off until one day I heard Dave Ramsey talking about how idiotic it was to buy them. His quote, “the lottery is a tax on poor people and on people who can’t do math,” hit me like a ton of bricks. But I learned and I cringe when I see people buying them now. I mean, you’re literally wasting money when you buy these things.

Frugal people don’t waste their money or their time on the lottery because it’s not a way to save or build wealth.

3. Big homes

Big homes are another purchase that frugal people just do not make. And there are a ridiculous number of reasons why.

Frugal people try not to waste and a huge house is just wasteful in regards to how big it is and how big the payment most likely is going to be. Big houses also have to be furnished and decorated. That’s expensive. Big houses also usually have big maintenance and repair bills. That’s never ending and insanely costly. There’s also the increased cost of property taxes, increased costs in your energy bills, and so much more. When it’s all said and done, big houses are not for frugal people because they’re just overly wasteful and expensive.

Frugal people buy modest, small to medium sized homes and look to keep costs down as much as possible. They also aim to pay their home off in a short period of time to free up more money for spending, saving, and building wealth.

4. Fancy vacations

Fancy vacations can be fun, and I’ve taken a couple, but only one since my wife and I started living very frugally. And that vacation? It was our honeymoon to Italy and it was completely paid for in all cash.

Aside from that one celebration, we’ve only taken modest vacations because fancy vacations are just too expensive. Frugal people skip fancy and find great vacations for as cheap as possible. We have no debt, so we do take one vacation every year now. This is perfectly acceptable as long as you’re not spending thousands of dollars of money you don’t have.

We also usually keep it to about a 4-5 day vacation at a small AirBnB within walking distance to the beach. Fun, cheap, and always great. Oh, we also buy groceries and cook meals why we’re there. And we eat out at a restaurant only once a day to keep the food budget down. This might not sound like a great vacation to you, but we love it.

Frugal people go on affordable vacations that they pay cash for and always find ways to save while having the most fun possible.

5. Fancy Jewelry

Fancy Jewelry is just so completely unnecessary…for guys especially. But even frugal couples would agree that a bunch of fancy jewelry is completely out of the question. Now I’m not opposed to buying my wife anything nice. But we both agree on the fact that she doesn’t need a bunch of fancy, expensive jewelry.

But we have bought a couple of nicer pieces of jewelry for her (engagement ring and wedding included) and we’ve done it in cash. And the next time I’m going to buy her an expensive piece of jewelry (or one that’s not too expensive), I’ll at least let her know that I’m going to get her something that costs a certain amount. If it’s not too bad cost-wise, as long as it fits in the budget, you can get it for your spouse.

Frugal people almost never buy expensive jewelry. Aside from engagement and wedding rings, frugal people might sporadically buy nicer, fairly inexpensive pieces of jewelry. But if they do, it’s always affordable, paid for with cash, and fits within their budget.

6. Expensive coffee

Another thing that frugal people don’t really spend money on is expensive, specialty coffees, lattes, and frappuccinos. Now if there was one exception on this list, it would probably be this one. My wife is definitely guilty of buying her fair share of these from various coffee shops yet stays extremely frugal in all other parts of her spending. I’ve also bought a few in my time. Some others do, too. But the key here is to stay frugal and stay away from these expensive drinks as much as you possibly can.

Frugal people make coffee at home and/or don’t drink coffee at all. The ones who make it at home find ways to either make it for extremely cheap in a regular coffee pot, in a Keurig, or specialty coffee machine. We bought my wife a specialty coffee machine so she can make her own drinks for around $1 dollar or less.

7. Bottled water

Bottled water is such a waste of money. But if there was one thing on this list that I wouldn’t yell at you for, it’s this one. Bottled water is such an unnecessary expense. Especially for the fancy $2-4 dollar filtered or purified bottled water.

I used to buy packs of Dasani and Aquafina all the time. And while they were convenient, $5-10 dollars per week can REALLY add up. Let’s do some math: If you buy $10 dollars of water per week, that’s $40 per month and $520 dollars a year! I’m glad you’re drinking water but let’s do this the frugal way.

Frugal people buy BPA-free, reusable plastic, metal or glass water bottles and continuously wash and reuse these for as long as they can. If you spend $30 bucks on 2-3 water bottles, that can save you over $400-500 dollars per year. Still healthy but much cheaper.

8. Soda at restaurants

This can be an easy way to save $5-10 dollars on your meal if you go out to eat. Restaurants have charged ridiculous prices on sodas for years. Well, frugal people skip these sodas and drink water with their meals. Whenever my wife and I go out, we order water and generally save between $4 and $6 dollars between the two of us. And this shouldn’t bother you because we go out to EAT at the restaurants, not drink soda. You can get sodas anywhere. But we go out for the food experience anyways, right?

Frugal people skip soda and order water for free at restaurants. The food still tastes the same, believe me.

9. The latest tech gadgets

The latest tech gadgets are just a huge financial trap these days. They may be awesome, but they’re so insanely expensive that it’s really hard to justify purchasing them anymore. I’m talking about the latest gaming consoles, TVs, phones, computers, smart home accessories, etc. I mean, almost everything these days is becoming a tech gadget so you have to be careful with what you buy.

Again, these gadgets are so expensive that companies are encouraging financing. The bad thing is that most people are just going along with it all. It’s not a lot of money to finance one or two things. But once you start doing it, then adding in all of your bills, then maybe one or two more things with financing, a car payment, and then one or two more things with financing, now it started to get pretty ridiculous.

These days, I buy anything tech-related with cash money and I never impulse buy a single thing. That’s dangerous. The last TV I bought was planned and paid in cash. I bought a new gaming console recently and that was in my budget and paid for with a debit card (using the money I already had in my checking account).

Frugal people never buy the latest tech gadgets when they first come out. They wait awhile until it goes on sale or comes down in price. Also, they plan their purchases using a budget and make sure to always pay with the money they have in cash or in their bank account.

10. Brand name food

One HUGE difference between frugal people and normal people comes from the brands of the food that we eat. Frugal people almost always try to save at the grocery store. And one of the biggest money savers is buying food in either the grocery store brand or an off-brand. Almost never name brand. The reason is simple: name brand is almost always more expensive. And food has come a long way. Most everything off-brand or store brand tastes pretty similar so there’s no need to spend more.

Frugal people buy off-brand and store brand food because it’s cheaper and tastes just the same.

11. Brand name clothes

Expensive, brand name clothes are another no-no for frugal people. These kinds of clothes, which are often way overpriced to start, are usually only worn by people that don’t watch how much they’re spending and are only worried about looking good in front of other people. Normal people care what other people think, frugal people don’t. Now obviously I don’t want people to think I’m some broke slob that can’t even afford a couple of decent pairs of clothes. But I don’t care if people know I got my decent shirt from Goodwill or Walmart. Those places are perfectly acceptable.

Frugal people often buy their clothes at Goodwill and high-quality consignment shops. If clothes are bought new, they are mostly purchased on sale and at places like Target or Walmart.

12. Impulse purchases

Impulse purchases are larger purchases made without thinking or planning. Basically, you go to a store and you see a $200 dollar purse and you buy it right there just because you want it. Or you go to an outdoor and sporting goods store and you see a beautifully-made Glock handgun for sale. You then get persuaded to spend the $450 dollars because they gave you a discount and an extra 10% off for signing up for the store credit card. Yep, I was with a friend of mine when that happened awhile back. He fell for the sales pitch. Great gun. Horrible impulse purchase.

Frugal people NEVER make large impulse purchases because the majority of them end up being terrible financial decisions. Frugal people also plan their larger purchases, make sure they fit within their budget, and pay for them with cash.

13. Purchases with financing

Financing is a horrible financial trap. It all sounds great – financing that couch at only $100 bucks per month or financing that 80 inch TV for only $75 bucks per month – until you wake up one day with everything in your life financed. And those “easy” payments all equal the better part of your monthly income. That’s when life starts getting stressful. Frugal people don’t do financing because we live below our means, meaning if we make a certain amount of money, we don’t spend more than that.

Frugal people don’t borrow money or finance their purchases. Smaller purchases are made with cash and fit in the budget. Frugal people also save up for larger purchases and make sure these purchases make sense in their budget.

14. Car washes and detailing services

If there is one thing on this list that I absolutely REFUSE to pay for, it’s a car wash or detailing service. And for multiple reasons:

First, the price. Car washes range from as cheap as $5 bucks to around $15 at a standard touch-less car wash. But those suck and do not clean well. You can get a hand wash, but that’s $20 or more. And full detailing? Yeah, that’s $100 bucks or more.

Second, I’ve been washing cars for a long time now and I just feel like I can do it better myself. The touch-less car washes don’t get all the dirt off and paid hand washes are too speedy so they don’t get all the nooks and crannies.

Third, it’s worth my time to wash my vehicles. If I can save $20 dollars in an hour from washing my car or $100 dollars from a full detail, I feel like that’s completely worth it.

Frugal people don’t pay for car washes and detail services. Instead, they do it themselves.

15. Paper towels (and other plastic dishes and utensils)

Paper towels and plastic dishes and utensils can be EXTREMELY expensive. With inflation causing increased prices in literally everything, plastic utensils and paper towels have gone up A LOT. Frugal people tend to stay away from buying plastic utensils as it’s just an unnecessary expense added into the budget. I understand that it’s convenient, but do you really want to waste a significant amount of money on these items if you already have reusable items at home?

Frugal people don’t buy plastic utensils and paper towels. Instead, we use our metal utensils, plates, cups, and reusable towels for whatever the need is.

16. Extended warranties

Aw, man, extended warranties are such absolute crap products. They cost a lot and are almost never needed. The sad thing is, many people fall for this added “protection” and buy the plan. Do you really think your BRAND NEW product is going to fail in 12-18 months? No, it’s not. Does it happen? Yes. But companies know the statistics. And they don’t sell those warranty products to protect you. THEY SELL THEM TO MAKE MONEY. And they make a lot of money when you buy it because only a small fraction of those products actually mess up. You waste money and those companies make huge profits.

For example, in my house, we don’t buy extended warranties. If our washer breaks, we either fix it or buy a new one with cash. For bigger purchases that we know we’ll need to replace, like our cars or our MacBook, we create a sinking fund and save up over time.

Frugal people don’t buy extended warranties. Instead they live below their means and do well with their money so that if things break, another item can be easily purchased.

17. Cable TV

With costs of cable TV going up and streaming services staying fairly cheap, A LOT of people are cutting the cord and getting rid of their cable TV altogether. My family did this years ago and has saved that $100 dollars ever since. So it’s not just frugal people on this one. But being frugal myself, this just made sense. Now we share a couple different streaming services with family and pay a fairly reasonable price per month.

But be careful not to get caught up in having too many streaming and subscription services. $5.99 to $14.99 isn’t a lot of money until you have 15 different services to pay for. And that’s easy to do these days because EVERYTHING has a subscription service. So be careful and choose only those that you actually use. Oh, and cut out cable TV, too.

Frugal people don’t pay for cable TV and try to limit all of the streaming services to only what they actually use.

18. Anything that can be DIY made

If there is anything that my wife and I can do to make something as opposed to having to buy it at an increased price, we DIY it. My wife likes to make a lot of gifts or bake a lot of gifts. And people love her cinnamon bread.

We also DIY holiday cards to each other and to family members. For example, we just made Mother’s Day cards for all of the grandmothers in our family. We let my son paint on some construction paper, or put paint handprints on the paper, and my wife finishes the cards with some Pinterest design that goes with the painted hands or designs. Our family loves those cards.

Frugal people DIY anything that can be made if they can save some money.

19. Any chore/repair that can be DIY completed

If there is any chore or repair that you can do yourself, do it. This has the potential to save you anywhere from hundreds of dollars per year to upwards of thousands of dollars per year (depending on what needs to be done).

A couple of examples of DIY chores and repairs that we’ve done in the last few years include:

Lawn care. I save $40 dollars just by cutting my own grass. It takes me an hour. I also do my own fertilizing, seeding, watering, and all other lawn care services that could cost $400-500 dollars per year. These take a few hours throughout the year but are worth it.
We fixed our toilet with a $15 dollar part and an hour of time. That saved us at least $200 or more dollars.
I changed the headlight bulb in my wife’s car. Dodge wanted to charge $175 dollars. I paid $30 for the light and it took me 5 minutes.
My cruise control went out on my old Honda Civic. The cruise worked but the button wouldn’t click and stay down. So I wedged a coin into the button area and boom! Cruise has worked fine for over two years now (it looks pretty bad but who cares?).

Frugal people always try to fix what they can and do every chore they possibly can to avoid paying someone to do it. If my wife and I can DIY it, we will.

20. Anything at retail price

As a frugal person, I would love to say that I’ve never bought something at retail price. But that’s pretty hard to do. However, I know that I always try to find a sale on whatever I’m looking to buy. If I can find a coupon, sale, or discount, I’m going to use it to save something off of the retail price.

Frugal people always try to find the discounts, sales, and coupons, no matter what they’re buying. Some extremely frugal people don’t ever buy anything unless they get it on sale or for some kind of discount.

21. Items NOT in the budget

Frugal people do not buy things that are not in the budget. That’s a fact. The budget tells us frugal people what we can and cannot spend. So if there’s something that’s not in the budget, we generally don’t buy it. If we have extra spending money that month, my wife and I will discuss it. If we green-light the purchase, it gets added to the budget. The budget helps us reach our financial goals and gives us permission to spend, so if you do want to spend money on something, make sure you can afford it and add it in to your personal budget.

Frugal people only spend money on stuff that is already approved and in their personal budget. We do not spend money on stuff that’s not in the budget. Simple and easy.

Finally

So hopefully you can see that, just from the 21 things on this list, frugal people are very disciplined. I mean, my family has lived this way for years. It’s tough sometimes, but we’ve gotten used to it and it has slowly allowed us to be able to have more and more fun over time.

You see, if you live frugally like this and stay disciplined, you will eventually get to a point where you will have no debt, money in the bank, and an income that you can use for whatever you want. That’s why we do it. I challenge you to do the same!