We get it — every dollar counts when you’re trying to make ends meet. But some money-saving habits are more hassle than they’re worth, eating up your precious time and energy for ridiculously small returns.
So before you spend another Saturday morning clipping coupons or chasing the cheapest gas across town, let’s get frank about which frugal habits deserve the boot. Here are the top 7 “money saving” strategies that may actually be costing you more than you think.
1. Extreme couponing (unless it’s your hobby)
Remember those TLC shows where people walked out of grocery stores with cartfuls of free stuff? Yeah, that’s not reality for most of us. The time investment required for serious couponing — hunting for deals, organizing stacks of paper, planning store routes around sales cycles — can easily eat up to 10 hours of your time a week.
☑️ Reality check: If you save $30 a week but spend 10 hours doing it, you’re essentially working for $3 an hour. Your time is worth more than that.
💰 Smarter strategy: Use cashback and coupon apps like Rakuten or Honey that automatically hunt down discounts for you, or stick to manufacturer coupons for products you already buy.
🔍 Read more: Best free apps to save money on food — from groceries to restaurants
2. Making everything from scratch
Pinterest makes homemade look easy and economical. But let’s be real: Making your own laundry detergent, bread (remember all that lockdown sourdough?) or cleaning supplies often costs more in ingredients and time than just buying the store version.
Take homemade bread: Factor in flour, yeast, electricity for the oven and two hours of your day, and you’re looking at roughly the same cost as a decent store-bought loaf. Plus, let’s not pretend that the first attempt is going to be bakery quality.
⭐️ The exception: If you genuinely enjoy cooking and baking as a hobby, go for it. But don’t fool yourself into thinking you’re saving big bucks.
3. Burning gas to save pennies at the pump
Gas prices can vary by 10 to 20 cents per gallon between stations, so it makes sense to seek out the cheapest deals, right? Not if you’re burning gas to find them. Driving 15 miles out of your way to save 15 cents per gallon on a 12-gallon fill-up nets you a whopping $1.80 in savings — while you might’ve just spent nearly the same amount in gas getting there.
💰 Smarter strategy: Use an app like GasBuddy or Upside to find the cheapest stations along your regular routes — not “deals” that take you miles out of your way.
4. Bulk buying your way into food waste
Costco and Sam’s Club have convinced us that bigger is always better for our wallets, but bulk buying only saves money if you can actually use everything before it expires. That 5-pound bag of spinach is a great deal until half of it turns into expensive compost in your crisper drawer.
☑️ Reality check: Unless you’re feeding a family of six or host regular dinner parties, stick to reasonable quantities. Your wallet — and your refrigerator drawers — will thank you.
🔍 Read more: 100 best (and hidden) discounts for ages 50+: Groceries, dining, retail, travel and more
5. Washing disposables (and your money down the drain)
We’ve been there: carefully washing out plastic bags, aluminum foil and paper plates like they’re fine china. Look, recycling is great for the environment (and you should do it as much as possible), but washing disposables to reuse them falls into the “your time is worth more” category.
☑️ Reality check: If you spend 15 minutes a day cleaning disposable items to reuse them, that’s nearly two hours a week. For most people, those two hours could be spent on something more valuable — like picking up a side gig. Or just, you know, relaxing.
🔍 Read more: 10+ second-act careers for older Americans plus 13 side gigs
6. Multi-store shopping for the best deals
Sure, milk’s 50 cents cheaper at Store A, eggs are a better deal at Store B and Store C wins on produce. But unless they’re on the same block, the gas and time will cost you more than you’re saving.
☑️ Reality check: The hidden math includes gas, wear and tear on your car and the mental bandwidth on deal tracking. Not to mention the impulse purchases when you’re in nonstop shopping mode.
💰 Smarter strategy: Pick one or two stores with solid overall prices to make your shopping go-tos and call it a day.
🔍 Read more: This one $20 membership unlocks discounts worth hundreds (and anyone can join)
7. Micromanaging every subscription and recurring charge
Yes, you should review your subscriptions periodically. But don’t turn it into a monthly obsession, spending hours debating whether that $2.99 app subscription is really worth it or haggling with customer service over every $5 charge.
This habit might feel like money management, but it’s more like procrastination — a way to avoid bigger financial decisions that could actually change and improve your situation.
💰 Smarter strategy: Buckle up for a quarterly audit of your subscriptions and recurring charges. And prioritize your budget’s big-ticket items — your cable bill, phone plans and car insurance, for starters — where real savings live.
🔍 Read more: Is bundling your insurance worth the discount? The pros and cons of one-stop policies
Bottom line: Your sanity has value too
What we’ve learned is that the best money-saving strategies are the ones you can stick with long term — without spreadsheets, stopwatches or turning it into a part-time job. If a frugal habit stresses you out, eats up your free time or simply makes you miserable, it’s probably not worth the savings.
To avoid nickel-and-diming yourself, focus on knockout wins: negotiate that raise, finally learn how to invest, refinance brutal loans or pick up skills that boost your earning power. Those moves can pocket you thousands — and not the loose change between errands.
Because here’s the kicker: Penny-pinching your way to misery isn’t just exhausting — it’s among the most expensive habits you can have.
