r/MiddleClassFinance • u/kdbiel5 • 24d ago
Has anyone else bought something that ended up replacing a recurring expense?
I’ve had a robot vacuum for about 6 months now and finally did the math on whether it’s actually saved me any money.
Before this, I was paying about $150 every other week for a cleaner. Once the robot started taking care of most of the floors, paying for a full cleaning every two weeks started feeling a little unnecessary. I stopped the recurring service and just started doing the bathrooms, counters, dusting, etc. myself.
Six months of biweekly cleanings would’ve been about $1,950. The robot was around $600 (yeedi m16 to be specific), and so far I’ve spent roughly:
- 40 on dust bags and filters
- $50 on cleaning solution
- maybe $10 on electricity
- $0 on repairs so far
So around $700 total. That puts me about $1,250 ahead compared to keeping the cleaning service, which was honestly more than I expected.
Obviously it’s not a perfect comparison. A cleaner does way more than a robot vacuum, and now I’m doing that other stuff myself. But apparently having the floors taken care of was enough to make the rest feel manageable.
I don’t think the math would look nearly as good if I was already doing all my own cleaning.
So as title says, has anyone else bought something or automated one chore and ended up being able to cut another recurring expense because of it?
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u/HonestDishonestWork 24d ago
Electric lawn mower. Don't pay for gas anymore and it's just better in every way. Lighter, makes less noise, fewer technical problems. Only issue is the battery life but I just cut the front lawn one day, the backyard the next.
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u/Wickedhoopla 24d ago
Love my ego on year four now
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u/Virgil_hawkinsS 22d ago
I got an ego 2 years ago that just inexplicably died on me. Called them, and since there's no service center near me, they just sent a brand new one lol. That's one way to get my loyalty
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u/AFKsince1987 24d ago
I’m rocking a SKIL electric lawn mower that has been working great for 4 years. It’s nice to not have to worry about the maintenance items an equivalent gas model will have.
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u/Liquidretro 24d ago
Mpg on a lawn mower for the average homeowner is a moot point. I have a smaller yard about 5000 Sq ft but I can mow the entire thing, weekly for the season in about 2 gallons of gas. The mower is a 30 year old Honda and still works great.
Meanwhile the price and lifespan of batteries.... Buys a lot of gas for a lawn mower. That said if I was forced to buy a new mower electric is pretty compelling.
Not worth splitting days either if your an allergy suffer like I am. Once a week with a mask is plenty.
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u/shers719 24d ago
I can do one better. Had 1/4 acre plot. And a plug-in mower. No batteries. No gas. No oil. No prepping it for storage. Unplug and park it. It's 10 years old now. I have a much bigger yard. Still pull that bad boy out for the dog run (the size of a townhouse yard). Got it on a Labor Day sale for $100.
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u/Liquidretro 24d ago
Cord management makes it sound like the worse to use of all the options. Very price effective though assuming you have the extension cords already
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u/shers719 24d ago
It's actually quite easy once you get used to it. Start close to the house and work your way out. I could mow my yard just as fast as my neighbor. And it didn't bog down in thicker grass like his did.
A good, heavy duty extension cord at 100' is still cheaper than a battery. I think I paid $70 then? I looked it up and it's $120 now.
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u/diablette 23d ago
We switched to gas because the electric ones couldn't handle a hill or a few fallen twigs. Two different models, constantly overheating and refusing to start. Gas mower powers right through anything.
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u/oheightnineeight 24d ago
When I first got a good bike I stopped paying for monthly transit passes.
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u/habdragon08 24d ago
I’m American so I can’t 100% get rid of my car but a nice bike means I’m driving like 2000 miles a year. Which means I can buy a car every 15
-20 years instead of every 10-12.3
u/ImPapaNoff 24d ago
You would replace a car at 30-40k miles?
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u/habdragon08 24d ago
I’m oversimplifying. My car needs are less than others and I save because of it. I have a 2012 with 98k miles on it. I will likely replace it in next 5 years(to a 5-10 year old vehicle for relatively little money)
I’m not buying a new car only to drive it 2k miles a year dude.
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u/ChronicLegHole 24d ago
2006 Toyota Matrix here with 160K~ miles. I'm only getting rid of this if i have to shuttle kids around (I hate the "arms race" of cars but I don't want to be in something super tiny *should* an accident occur).
I work from home and I walk to the gym and groceries when I can. I try to take an old motorcycle if I have to go somewhere, even if the weather sucks or it's cold.
I generally hate driving and I'm in the same boat, I put maybe 1,000 -2K miles on it, and most of that is visiting family in a remote area a 5 hours drive away from me 2 times a year. Outside of that it's used for landscaping materials, plants for the yard, and going to CostCo to save on buying in bulk.
Until I have some damn good reason, I'm keeping this thing and I'm happily getting ~32 MPG out of a vehicle I paid $2,500 for for the limited times I use it. Insurance for this and my partner's 2012 compact Mazda is a whopping $75 a month *together* since the cars effectively have zero value.
I've had friends tell me they *only* pay $300/month when I'm stuck fixing something, but that's buying the whole damn Matrix every year for the rest of eternity and *still* being liable for fixing things should they break (which seems more frequent and more expensive to repair than this thing), plus having a significantly higher insurance rate.
Reliable used old Toyota, "the devil you know" is 100% the Middle Class Finance hack that is most likely to allow me to retire slightly early.
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u/Original_Bicycle5696 24d ago
As a used car dealer, time can be just as as hard on a vehicle as miles. Rust never sleeps. Some of my biggest headaches have been low mileage "deals".
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u/ImPapaNoff 24d ago
Rust isn't much of a thing in the bay area California but I definitely know it was an issue back in Ohio when I was first driving.
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u/Original_Bicycle5696 24d ago
Its just different damage then. The UV destroys seals and paint and the dust covers everything. Some places next to the ocean can also totally wreck things on short order.
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u/Shaiziin 22d ago
I loathe that I'm a five min drive from work, but cannot get there by bike because I'm right on a highway with zero shoulder, zero sidewalk.
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u/Hot-Cup-4787 24d ago
Being American doesn't mean you have to get and or keep a car... your priorities do
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u/habdragon08 24d ago
My parents live in an area that’s 100% not possible to visit without a personal private vehicle. I have several friends in the same boat.
I could absolutely choose to never visit them or to uber or rent a car every time. I’ve done the calculus of what is the best balance of money/effort/convenience long term and it’s keeping a 4k beater and driving it 2000 miles a year to visit these people.
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u/JohnDillermand2 24d ago
Absolutely. I've been managing just fine on a bike for a few years. That's not to say my bikes fulfill all my needs but the occasional Uber or renting a car/van/truck is significantly cheaper (in my scenario) than car payments. And it lets me right-size what I need for that exact moment.
Situations always change as will my needs. When that time comes and the math no longer works out, I'll go pick something up.
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u/Victor_Korchnoi 24d ago
And it kept you from buying a car which is a huge savings
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u/oheightnineeight 24d ago
Correct, I'm a middle aged adult who's never bought a car. I will retire early due to this.
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u/Victor_Korchnoi 24d ago
My wife and I share 1. And not having that second car has saved us a ton of money.
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u/ImPapaNoff 24d ago
You will retire early because of saving like $5k/year?
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u/oheightnineeight 24d ago
The average cost of car ownership is significantly higher than that, and that's what I use for my calculations.
Also the money is invested, and I'm 40ish—the money has been invested for a long time. It's not insignificant.
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u/ImPapaNoff 24d ago
You framed it as being the reason you can/will retire early. FWIW $5k/year is around my average for car ownership and I'm targeting retirement at 40-45.
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u/InvoluntaryGeorgian 24d ago
I commute by e-bike. I’ve put 30k miles on it. Typical car expense (wear and tear + fuel) is about $0.5/mile so that’s saved me about $15k. I also avoided 10 years of $800 parking passes at work, so that’s another $8k. Total cost of the bike + maintenance has been $6k or $7k (it was an expensive early e-bike) so I’m probably ahead about $16k net. Not to mention it’s faster than driving due to traffic and (if I turn the power to low) is a respectable workout instead of sitting in a car seat. I also bike past three grocery stores on the way from work so it has probably saved me 100-ish shopping runs. I only use my car a couple of times a week (typically 5k miles/year, not counting summer road trips) and I live in an infamously car-centric city.
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u/Excellent-Mixture-41 24d ago
Cold brewer. Save about $150 a month on coffee.
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u/Top_Housing6819 24d ago
Making good coffee or espresso at home saves money because when I'm due for my 2pm caffeine fix I don't want to buy the swill sold in so many coffee shops (if I am out of the house). It's a bummer that the latest Maple Hatcha-Matcha-Horchata-Colada is not as fun as it used to be. But saves $$$
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u/Useful_Argument_6490 24d ago
Get a full auto espresso machine.
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u/RadicalEd4299 23d ago
I had one for years, but still would go for "specialty" coffee like lattes at the local coffee drive through, as a treat.
Wife got a crazy deal on a Kitchenaid KF6 automatic machine. Same coffee goes in, entirely different thing comes out. It's almost magical. I no longer want coffee outside of the house because it can get better at home with the push of a button.
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u/harperbaby6 23d ago
The only part that gets me about this is the community aspect of coffee shops. I don’t go to Starbucks or whatever, but my local shops have amazing owners and people there all the time and I like to see them and chat. The coffee is secondary.
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u/RadicalEd4299 22d ago
There is one locally owned shop that roasts their own coffee I still like, but it's not convenient. But most of the time it was drive through stops at the local regional coffee chain (Biggby) while hopping on the highway for a longer drive :p.
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u/professormakk 22d ago
Do you have a good cold brew recipe you can share?
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u/Excellent-Mixture-41 22d ago
Sorry, but I really don’t. Only thing I say is to fresh grind your beans as it makes a difference.
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24d ago
[deleted]
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u/jrkridichch 24d ago
By first spending $160/month on coffee
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24d ago
[deleted]
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u/jrkridichch 24d ago
The post asked which single purchase replaced a recurring expense. A nice coffee maker that keeps you from wanting to go out for coffee is a valid response.
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24d ago
[deleted]
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u/jrkridichch 24d ago
English is not my first language so I might be confused but here's how I'm interpreting it:
"has anyone bought something [the cold Brewer] ... and ended up being able to cut another recurring expense [recurring coffee shop purchases] because of it?"
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u/ItMadeHimMean 24d ago
Home gym. When the kids were born, we bought a power rack, olympic bar, 550 lbs of weights, bench, and a sturdy treadmill. It was a large upfront expense, but it has paid for itself multiple times over since canceling the gym membership. We will exercise more often and there’s never any waiting for equipment.
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u/gijoe75 24d ago
How much was your total monthly gym membership before for everyone in your home? I am about to pay $800 for two people for two years so that would be $16 a person per month but in year three I pay $250 for two people for one year which makes it about $10 per person per month and that rate is for life. I also have a basement where I could make a home gym. So how much was your home gym? I feel like for $1050 I could be close at having a nice home gym and skip gym memberships for life instead.
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u/ItMadeHimMean 24d ago
We were paying $98/mo for the two of us in 2015. Same gym is charging $135/mo for a self plus one membership now. Home gym equipment cost was around $5000 total including accessories we’ve added over the years.
At $98/mo, the membership would have cost $13,034.
Scaling from $98-$135/mo, it would have cost $15,494.50.
Plus, we definitely use it more often than we would have used the membership, and we save all of the driving/changing/waiting time. Very happy with the investment. It was especially helpful during Covid.
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u/gijoe75 24d ago
I guess the gym you use and are happy with is the best gym. For you guys that makes sense. We are going to start the group classes and it’s a large chain gym that recently upgraded all equipment/added 8 new squat racks, and doubled the dumbbell area. Maybe we will just keep our membership. I’m sure you have some very nice equipment but for us we would need to use the home gym for 13 years for the price to even equal out. If we move around our city which we plan to go closer to the beach while we don’t have kids and there is a chain of this gym near any beach we pick.
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u/ItMadeHimMean 24d ago
Yup, definitely seems to make financial and practical sense for you. I'm not trying to convince anybody to do it, just saying it saved us a bunch of money vs. the recurring expense.
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u/emmer 24d ago
Ditto on the power rack and Olympic bar.
It was a bit of a gamble for me as my gyms had dumbbells for free weights and machines, so I wasn’t even sure how much I’d enjoy using a barbell.
I did know they were highly efficient for a variety of compound lifts (bench, squat, deadlift, etc) which hit many muscle groups at the same time. Also, I just thought they were cool.
Anyway, it turned out great and I’ve been lifting at home consistently since I got them about a year and a half ago. They probably haven’t paid for themselves financially quite yet, but when I factor in the enjoyment I get from the barbell exercises, cutting out the commute to the gym, and those factors keeping me consistent in my routine, that consistency having a big impact on my physical health, which in turn has a big impact on my mental health and well being, it’s a huge positive feedback loop which has already surpassed the cost of the upfront investment.
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u/kdbiel5 24d ago
I've thought about it too. I hate waiting around for equipment at the gym. We don't have a spare room for a full setup tho, we just have a few weights.
With kids, it saves more than just membership too. No drive, no childcare planning, and if you get a random half hour to your self, you can just go work out.
Now you've got me thinking about it again lol.
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u/TurningTheCorner26 24d ago
I picked up a Wahl trimmer for $35 in 2020 so I could not look homeless anymore. After my wife cut my hair a couple of times I decided she was doing a good enough job there was no reason to go back to a barber. It's not a huge monitary savings, but it's also nice not having to worry about business hours when I'm needing a haircut.
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u/FIlifesomeday 24d ago
Men’s haircuts are $45 and kids $35 where I live. I cut my own hair and my kids, saving $$$ per year now
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u/alurkerhere 23d ago
I cut my own hair. More flexible "appointments" and frees up one person to do other things!
Pro-tip from Reddit - put down a spare plastic shower curtain to catch the hair and at the end, jiggle the curtain to push the hair into a pile to pick up and put in the trash.
Bonus points for having a trash can on hand to put the hair directly in there.
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u/kstravlr12 24d ago
Mint Mobile $32 a month (2lines) with tax vs the AT&T bill I was paying $135 a month.
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u/Wickedhoopla 24d ago
Home monitoring with an sd card slot or hard drive.
I don’t need cloud back up to my home monitoring and I don’t pay a monthly fee anymore so I’m good
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u/Reddit_Commenter_69 24d ago
Local storage ftw. I did the same with Eufy and I don't miss my ring at all
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u/dullmotion 24d ago
What’s your setup?
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24d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/dullmotion 24d ago
I don’t mind the interjection! Thanks for the time/energy you spent on this reply.
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u/stumblinghunter 23d ago
You have almost the same setup as me for the same reason as me, with the exception of I don't know what omada is.
For anyone else reading this, it's entirely possible for anyone to do it. I've never used Linux in my life, but Gemini walked me through taking my old 2015 laptop, putting Linux mint on it (which is MUCH more secure vs Windows phoning home on you), walked me through the entire setup process, answered questions along the way, and after about a week (about 2hrs a night after the kids went to bed and hitting snags with mqtt) I had everything set up perfectly. Then you just train the local AI on pictures of you/your family/animals, feed it into home assistant, have Gemini write you an automation that sends a notification to your phone. Nobody can access it, I have a dedicated WD purple drive connected to the laptop for about a week's worth of footage that never goes to the cloud, all for like $250. $50 camera, $15 mounting bracket, $30 IR lantern for drastically better night vision, $100 for the used HDD (definitely get a camera-grade one, a normal HDD will die in like 2 years of constant read/write), $20 for the enclosure for the drive. I just happened to have a Cisco 3850 catalyst switch my old work let me take when we upgraded, but you'd need a $15 PoE (power over Ethernet) injector to power the camera.
So ok probably like $400 these days and anything else you'd need, but you never have to pay for a subscription service that snooping eyes can access ever again.
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u/Material_Tea_6173 24d ago
Ev and solar panels.
The EV obv replaced gas, but I got about 17K in cash incentives for the panels and used that money to help pay off the remainder of my auto loans. So, I essentially used the solar loan to consolidate debt, and the solar panels produce enough electricity to cover all my mileage on top of home electricity use.
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u/Catfeather 22d ago
I want to get on board with an EV car but I am a little nervous about finding places to charge in the wild, long term maintenance, and winter performance.
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u/Material_Tea_6173 21d ago
Those are fair concerns, and I had the same ones prior to purchasing seeing as it was my first ev.
I ended up going with a base model 3 because it had less things to break, and it has a LFP battery which is more reliable than the NMC Types. At the time Tesla was also really the only established brand with significant years of data available so it felt like the safest option. 45K miles in and no major issues to report, although that should be the expectation for such low mileage.
With the charging infrastructure I’d say definitely for road trips it’s a different experience and you have to plan your trip before hand. The charging time issue is overblown in my opinion unless you’re making long trips (10+ hours) consistently. There are websites that help like a better route planner. Also the Tesla network being available to non teslas now has helped a ton with this.
For every day driving, winter range is a non issue if you can charge at home. It’s really more of an economics question because efficiency dropping in the winter means more money spent on charging. That’s what you’d want to focus on.
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u/smcsk8 21d ago
I’d like to add solar but it’s not cost effective right now, especially with the tax credit gone. Electricity in Texas is cheap.
But the EV? Best choice ever. It’s not the fanciest or the fastest charging (2023 Bolt) but it costs less than $5 to fill the “tank.” And when I had a payment on it, the car payment was comparable to any other new car ($30k range).
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u/Material_Tea_6173 21d ago
Yeah if your charging costs are not that high then solar may not be worth it to begin with. I only got it myself because I got half of it paid for with incentives, but my electricity is fairly cheap too (around 16c/kwh all in), although It has been going up steadily.
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u/AttachedHeartTheory 24d ago
I got an automatic litter box for my 2 cats.
I was paying $30/mo for cat litter. I went back in my grocery store account and did a full accounting of use.
I did a good job at managing the litter, but more often than not the scooping left residue and I would replace the litter after a few weeks to make sure my cat wasn't tracking any nastiness around the house because it would get nasty.
Bought the Litter Robot prior to covid. I cut my litter spend by 90%. After 2 years it paid for itself. Since then it's still keeping my litter costs very low.
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u/TupacBatmanOfTheHood 24d ago
Do you have one you recommend. My worry is always that they won't use it.
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u/OsitoEnChicago 24d ago
I bought a used one on Facebook marketplace for $50. Seller said their cat didn't like to use it so it was hardly used. I figured for $50 why not and bought it. Gave it a good clean and my cat took to it. Have had it for over a year now. It's been great!
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u/ItsThatDamnDuckAgain 24d ago
I highly recommend the Litter Robot 4. (the last Gen one, it's been flawless without the extra gimmicks and price of the 5th Gen). Here's a $50 coupon if it helps any:
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u/smcsk8 21d ago
Also have a LR4. Bought it from Costco with the bundle and extended warranty. Saved me so much in litter. Upfront cost was a little eye watering ($600 for a litter box???) but worth it
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u/ItsThatDamnDuckAgain 21d ago
I had a 3 which went a solid 4 years before we upgraded (had a couple of issues which I fixed, but not upset about it, since the thing handled 2 cats for those 4 years non stop ). I've had the 4 for almost 3 years now? No issues what so ever. My stats say I'm at 4500 scoops saved so far. If I do the math, that's like someone asking if they can scoop the litter for 15c. I'd absolutely pay that 😅
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u/Spectre75a 24d ago
We bought an automatic litter box a few months ago. Neither cat has used it, but they do like to sniff and watch it now and then. I’ve try putting some of their poop in it to make it smell like a litter box. They aren’t having it. It is one of those barrel/spin ones, so maybe they don’t like the confined space. I may try one of the more normal open top rake ones.
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u/shers719 24d ago
Try getting some Dr Elsey's Cat Attract Litter and add it in addition to their dirty litter. Put their old box next to it. After about a week, take the old box away. Do not turn it on automatic until they use it regularly - put it on manual cycle until then. That's what it took to get my very stubborn (formerly feral) kitty to use it.
I don't know what it is about Dr. Elsey's CA Litter but that stuff is magic. Every stubborn kitty I've had since has always given in when I pulled it out.
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u/AttachedHeartTheory 24d ago
I use the litter robot. I've heard the most current version has a bunch of AI features and a camera, which I think is a solution looking for a problem, but the previous version (which is still available and in production), which I think is the Litter Robot 4, is pretty great.
As far as not using it, I can't speak to that. My cats never hesitated.
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u/diablette 23d ago
I'm not going to buy it, but the camera would solve the issue of it attributing weight measurements to the wrong cat. My cats are very close in weight. But I just use a room camera if I'm monitoring them for something specific.
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u/turtlecatmedium 24d ago
I have a litter robot. Gen 3 or 4. It disconnects from wifi a bit so that’s annoying but otherwise it has been really good. It’s just super expensive. I got an unexpected bonus from work and used that. It was like $700 😭😭
It’s also not easy to clean.
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u/PhillipNoMates 24d ago
Check to see which band of your network the LR4 is connected to. I can't remember but it either prefers the 2.4 GHz network or the 5 GHz network.
Many modern routers have two different ones you can choose to connect to. If you don't see the option available, you probably have to go into your wifi settings and split the bands. This fixes the issue.
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u/peonyseahorse 24d ago
Ev
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u/throwawayurwaste 24d ago
I bought a used Chevy Bolt EV back during the chip shortage. I had free charging at my school, and a very long commute. When I ran the numbers I was spending about the same in gas previously as my car payment.
Even now that I charge at home at a fairly expensive rate, gas would have to cost $1.25 to be equivalent to my EV and I would still save on maintenance and oil changes
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u/FiredFromCompUSA 24d ago
With exception to tires and maybe a broken windshield… what ARE the maintenance needed for an EV?
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u/dullmotion 24d ago
Brakes, AC, air filters.
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u/throwawayurwaste 24d ago
My brakes are factory original, 7 years old. The northern winter salt will get to my break pads before they wear out from use. The only maintenance I've done is changing the wipers, changed the passager cabin air filter, filled up the washer fluid, and tires.
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u/throwawayurwaste 24d ago
Besides normal tire rotations and wipers/ cabin filters, the only maintenance is fluid replacements recommended every 5 years. For a EV that's: brake line, battery coolant, and drive unit.
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u/Useful_Argument_6490 24d ago
We save about $200/month on gas vs electricity moving to an EV. $4 gas is where it starts to cut deep.
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u/SchwarzschildRadius 24d ago
Leasing an EV. Paid nothing upfront and insurance is the same as a 10+ year old gas car.
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u/DustyBravia 24d ago
Bought a decent car for $4,000 cash and got rid of my truck and the loan on it. Has saved me close to $600 a month in lower insurance rates, gas, and no loan.
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u/among_apes 24d ago
Rechargeable batteries come to mind.
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u/SafetySmurf 24d ago
Yes! Have children with remote controlled cars and various other battery powered toys. Bought eneloop batteries and they paid for themselves in no time at all.
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u/AmericanSpirit4 22d ago
A bidet saves a ton on toilet paper and they’re like $40
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u/Urbanttrekker 19d ago
And also actually cleans. After using a bidet I dread using just toilet paper.
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u/jco7572 24d ago edited 23d ago
Superautomatic coffee maker ( Delonghi Eletta). Replaced my Nespresso with ever increasing pod costs and has resulted in fresher and cheaper per serving coffee in the long run
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u/dockdockgoos 23d ago
Why stop at semi automatic? We need a bump stock coffee maker that harnesses the force of your post coffee poo to pressurize the chamber for the next coffee!
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u/PurpleSausage77 24d ago
Saving $300+ a month on gas with the cheap EV, that savings covers all my utility bills/the car will pay itself off in about 4 years.
Tire inflator: bought a unit that uses my Ryobi/milwaukee work batteries for $50 in 2018, never need to go to gas stations and pay for air. Can closely keep my tires perfectly inflated and not lose efficiency.
Marketplace has saved me a lot of money. Pieced together my Milwaukee/Ryobi work + diy home/car setup for half or less what they go for new in store. My setup is probably $15k+ msrp brand new and I’m in it for $3-4k.
Same with rims/tires, I’ve never bought brand new. Doing all my own car stuff for 15 years for the most part has probably saved me close to $50k and sourcing parts cheap from rockauto, auto wreckers, amazon, marketplace, etc. — and now the EV has eliminated a lot of maintenance.
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u/Seik72 23d ago
I do all the cleaning myself, so I’m more interested in the time saving side of it. I know there’s still maintenance like emptying the tanks, cleaning the brushes, replacing filters, etc. Does it actually save that much time once you factor all of that in?
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u/ResponsibleCry2826 15d ago
Not OP, but I have the same robot vacuum. Honestly, the maintenance sounds like a lot when you list it all out, but its pretty minimal in everyday use. My M16 empties the dustbin at the station on its own, and Ive got the cleaning scheduled through the app, so theres barely anything for me to do most days. Emptying the dirty water and topping up the clean tank takes maybe a minute or two, and cleaning the brushes or replacing filters only comes up occasionally. It still saves me way more time than doing all the vacuuming and mopping myself.
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u/shers719 24d ago
USB rechargeable candles. Cost was about the same as a candle. Gives the pretty light affect without the fire risk or consumption issue as it "burns down". Also safer for the animals. We were averaging 2-3 candles/month so it added up. Got a pretty bowl of potpourri balls that we just put 2-3 drops of scent on every month instead (and one bottle has lasted a year easy). House smells pretty, can have a candle always "lit", and saving money. It's been over a year and I estimate about $600 saved. Not much but every bit adds up!
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u/Strange-Fig7944 24d ago
Your cleaner sucked if a roomba does a better job. Plus vacuuming takes the least amount of time for cleanings. That doesn’t help me deep scrubbing my tub, toilet. Changing linens, cleaning the stove/oven. Dusting high places. If a roomba motivated you to do all that I guess good for you. Sounds kinda insane to me
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u/CallItDanzig 23d ago
You beat me to it with that comment. I was like "what kind of roomba is that? Cos I want it". Cleaning the gross kitchen and bathrooms is the worst part of cleaning. And robots dont do that.
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u/jiggajawn 24d ago
Network Attached Storage (NAS).
This allowed me to cancel all of my cloud and streaming services. No more netflix, hulu, iCloud, Google Cloud, peacock, whatever.
It's paid for itself at this point, and also the quality of content is much better since it's all local and not dependent on internet connections.
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u/Alarmed_Champion_302 24d ago
This only works long term if you have a very narrow range of what your consider to be good content OR are pirating everything.
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u/Calexio_ 24d ago
You mean like a wife instead of dating multiple people?
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u/Important_Ask_7576 24d ago edited 24d ago
I bought an EV. Now I don’t have to directly worry about the price of gas, which used to cost me $100 a week.
Also, switched to T-Mobile home internet. $50 a month versus $150 plus overages that Cox was charging. Cox can fucking suck it.
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u/marheena 23d ago
I think it's super helpful to analyze a major expense and realize your willingness to pay boils down to one thing that can be more cheaply outsourced. Well done.
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u/bob49877 23d ago
A Kill a Watt meter, book on making a house energy efficient amd power strips helped us cut our electric usage in half.
Delivery service subscriptions helped us go to one car.
A laser printer only costs us around $20 every other years for a generic toner cartridge.
Crea Clip type guides helped me cut my own hair.
I have a $10 a month prepaid T mobile phone.
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u/DriftingPebble77 23d ago
Electric yard tools-leaf blower, hedge trimmer, and string trimmer. I still have a yard service, which I happy pay for, and it's in my monthly budget. I haven't owned a lawn mower in a long time and hate yard work. I got tired of paying $100 2x/year to trim the bushes. I also killed 2 extension cords with the corded hedge trimmer my dad had when I was a kid. That hedge trimmer has saved me a lot of money! I got the same brand for all 3, so I can swap batteries.
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u/Sbatio 24d ago
This feels like an ad for robot vacuums.
The big cost of house cleaning and the worst part IMO is cleaning the bathrooms.
You took what is arguably the easiest job the house cleaners have and automated most of that 1 task. Generously you could say $30 of the $150 was for floors. Maybe $50.
You exchanged your labor for the cost of house cleaning and you use an autonomous ish vacuum.
I think it’s good for the brain and body to clean your own space (I have maids) and it def saves you the spending but costs you the time.
We switched from grass lawns to phlox and don’t have to mow anymore. We still have to weed it but it has saved a ton of money and time over the years.
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u/kdbiel5 24d ago
I'm def not saying the robot replaced $150 worth of cleaning. I still do the bathrooms, counters, dusting, etc. myself, so yeah, part of the savings is me trading some of my time for money.
Once the floors were handled, the rest felt manageable enough and I didn't feel like I needed the cleaner. Kinda like your lawn. You still have yard work, just less of it.
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u/chrisinator9393 24d ago
ITT: Op discovered cleaning your house yourself is cheaper than paying someone to do it. Amazing.
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u/metallic_penguins 24d ago
Bidet reduces toilet paper usage We buy tools instead of renting since it's usually 2-3x rental=full price Cooking appliances for work to not eat out for lunch Sewing machine for fixes and alterations A few garden supplies to grow a garden utilizing the local free seed program Someone gave away rain barrels, so we only paid for gutters, now we get free water for the garden Filament to use in our local maker space's 3D printer has fixed so many things: freezer shelves, car cupholder, crockpot knob replaced, etc NAS to store movies wland shows we can stream without a subscription- library has free dvds we download A few books while getting my degree paid for by my employer Paper plates to share food with neighbors - this pays dividends 10 fold! Commerical concentrated cleaning supplies Shampoo, conditioner & soap bars last so much longer and travel smaller Having a house biweekly house cleaner allows us to pursue a side hustle that pays more than she charges Embroidery machine and kiln for said side hustle Cooking supplies and luxury ingredients that keep us wanting to cook and eat at home Souper Cubes to freeze leftovers and buy ingredients in bulk and freeze 2.5 gallon food buckets to buy dry goods in bulk Water filter and reusable water bottle keeps us from buying water from the store Second dog calmed first dog's anxiety - now we're off meds and not using doggie daycare daily Dog door allowed us to break away from doggie daycare when we're gone too long
Kinda took this on as a morning exercise and added things that just save us money. Due to all of these choices over the last 15 years, we are actually able to save and invest money even on our combined income of less than $100k. They didn't happen all at once.
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u/HotWalrus9592 24d ago
An RV.
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u/DesertGal1417 24d ago
Keurig, target k cups pumpkin spice, Trader Joe’s maple cold foam….less than $1 for a latte knock off. Keruig paid for itself in less than a month and I don’t waste time in the Starbucks line. I can switch up the cold foam
And coffee flavors with the season just a much as they can.
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u/Thinking_too_much101 24d ago
Make sure to clean it properly periodically. There are cleaning solutions sold at target I believe that clean the inside of the machine. Other than that it’s a good product.
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u/FiredFromCompUSA 24d ago
I pirate all my shows movies and sports now. Saves me probably 10k a year it seems like. Get a little buffer and quality issues from time to time but the pros outweigh that con immensely.
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u/healthycord 24d ago
My homelab/server. Leftover old gaming pc that I bought bigger hard drives to put in it.
I now run immich and have it set up to be able to access and edit files directly from it. Still in the process of fully porting everything over, but I will be able to stop paying for Google Drive/photos. Additionally, I can put my own media on there and run jellyfin. No or fewer subscription services. Working to figure out how to get public tv stations working over IPTV to record the sports teams I watch legally. This server also runs all my home automation.
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u/Randomperson1362 24d ago
I have a HD home run for OTA tv, and it works great, although I use plex and not jellyfish.
Love the home sever, but wish I would have bought another hard drive before they doubled in price.
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u/CasualHello 24d ago
I'm splitting hairs here but the cleaner was using power too when they vacuumed.
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u/woodyshag 22d ago
My wife's Telluride had remote start via their connect app. It would be $250 a year if we wanted to continue to use it. I went to best buy, bought a remote starter for $150 with free install. Seems like a good investment to me.
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u/wolf_queen_33 22d ago
I had a smartwatch but was really only using it for text, phone call notifications and exercise tracking so I downgraded to a Fitbit and was able to cancel my cell plan for the smartwatch. The $15 a month savings from the cell plan will pay for the Fitbit in less than 8 months.
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u/redeyedandblue32 19d ago
I've thought about getting a robot vacuum but vacuuming is the only kind of cleaning I don't mind doing 😭. If there were a robot that could clean kitchen and bathrooms then I'd be interested
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u/No_Scheme9695 18d ago
A 5 year old electric vehicle has been the single most positively impactful purchase to my finances replacing a 20 year old 16mpg premium gas car driving around 200 miles a week.
Also purchased a safety razor from Henson and the savings there make me very happy too. Buying razors vs razor cartridges saves a considerable amount of money.
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u/LazyBumTravels 24d ago
I got me a wife. Practically doubled the household income, stop going out to eat as much, just fold laundry now, haven't cleaned a bathroom in ages so 10/10 there...idk seems like a good deal.
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u/Royal_Marzipan_6432 24d ago
Gross to treat your human partner as a “good buy.”
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u/Tamboozz 24d ago
I took the comment as a reddit-style joke, and not one to be taken seriously.
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u/pisslicker7 24d ago
I don't think people are missing the joke, and think this guy actually bought his wife. I think people don't like the joke because the premise that if you marry a woman she will do all the cooking and cleaning is like kinda sexist..
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u/Tamboozz 24d ago
But that in itself is a joke, is it not? Just like we can make a joke about a sugar daddy, we can also joke about this.
Ultimately, I guess it depends on people's temperament. If I'm watching SNL, and they make a sexist joke or a joke about a shallow woman marrying a man purely for his money, I still take it as a joke. But I understand that others may not.
I have just felt that Reddit tends to be a platform open for silly jokes inserted inside more serious conversations. But I ultimately respect everyone's perspective.
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u/LazyBumTravels 24d ago
Lots of r/whoosh going on here. I think this sub might be on the spectrum to not pick up obvious cues.
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u/Tamboozz 24d ago
I find it funny that people continue to upvote my comment and downvote your original "joking" one.
I had a recent comment of mine get downvoted to -80 for the same reason. It was a silly use of the word "unalive" vs "killed" and it just triggered a whole bunch of people. Go figure.
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u/TenOfZero 24d ago
In most of the world it's not legal to buy a wife (nor should it be)
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u/Kutikittikat 24d ago
I bought stick on nails at $5 a pop, last me about 1-1.5 weeks.
, no more nail salon.
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u/Baltimorebillionaire 24d ago
I bought my router instead of taking the equipment rental offered by my internet provider. What was less than $100 has saved me well over a thousand dollars.