Things people do to save money, but actually not

Bought a fancy expensive new coffee machine to replace a different fancy coffee machine... to save a bit of money on electricity. I could buy quite a bit of electricity for what this has cost...quite a lot.
 
My dad got a £15k campervan. His argument was he would save that amount over 5 years by not going abroad. He went abroad 4 months later and hardly used the campervan as he was constantly having problems with it.
 
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My gf did similar over the weekend. Picked the cheap travelodge with no parking or breakfast vs the £10 more expensive Premier Inn 1/4 mile away. Cost an extra £12 for overnight parking in a council car park and £30 for breakfast in a local cafe...

I guess it did save her money, since I ended up paying for the parking and breakfast :cry:

And a general example: people who spend £300/month on a new more economical car to save £15/month on tax and £20/month on fuel

BOGOF/3 for 2 etc. deals are quite good at catching people out - yes it might work out cheaper, but only if you were actually planning to buy the extra items anyway. If you only need 1 bag of £1 salad, but buy 3 for £2 and then throw 2 of them away because they went bad before you ate them, then you wasted £1 rather than saving £1!

I just did this for booking between a Premier Inn vs other accommodations in the area, including a Holiday Inn, which came with breakfast. On the Holiday Inn site it listed "parking" being one of the perks of the hotel, so I booked it, but immediately I got an automated email.

"Check-in from 3pm. Check-out until 11am. We're no longer accepting cash payments.

Parking is available at ASDA, a 2-minute drive away / 5 minute walk, for £5 per vehicle per night. Cars must be registered at reception where payment will be taken."


I googled it....5 mins walk is a bit optimistic...and a faff with camera gear besides the £5 parking charge....so i canceled and booked at the Premier Inn with Parking at the door.
 
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How do you know? Did your friend really tell you their bottle of no brand washing up liquid only lasted a quarter of the time of fairy? Or did you actually just make that up? because I’m pretty sure fairy used to use that line in their adverts.
Sounds made up to me, we switched to Lidl own-brand washing up liquid and have seen ZERO difference compared to Fairy that we used for years.
 
Had a flight from Heathrow to LA then short flight elsewhere in CA. Same airline (United) for both tickets, as a single booking.

Work decided it would be cheaper if I flew with BA to LA then United for the short flight. BA flight was late to leave Heathrow --> late to arrive to LA --> I only had 1 hour to disembark, past security, pick-up bags, run outside I think it was Terminal 1, and run to Terminal 7 or 8... --> Lost the United flight which was the last flight of the day --> booked hotel to stay overnight --> booked second flight day after.

If it was a single booking, cost of hotel/flight would be picked up by the carrier, instead work paid approximately $900 (+my time), all for a saving of £200 on flight tickets. :p
 
Heinz ketchup half sugar half salt. I picked it up as it was reduced by 50p, thinking it was the real article. First world problems and all that jazz. Unpacked it at home, and the bottle had this subtle blue border which I've never seen before. Tried it, and I had to throw away the £3.49 bottle because it tasted absolutely rank. Bad form on Heinz' part imo as the bottle looked the same when picking it from a shelf where the bottle's border appeared green to me. Not colour blind but severe sight impaired.

This is the offending bottle in question.

KVj9hLu.jpg
I made this mistake too. Was revolting.
 
Heinz ketchup half sugar half salt. I picked it up as it was reduced by 50p, thinking it was the real article. First world problems and all that jazz. Unpacked it at home, and the bottle had this subtle blue border which I've never seen before. Tried it, and I had to throw away the £3.49 bottle because it tasted absolutely rank. Bad form on Heinz' part imo as the bottle looked the same when picking it from a shelf where the bottle's border appeared green to me. Not colour blind but severe sight impaired.

This is the offending bottle in question.

KVj9hLu.jpg

I made this mistake too. Was revolting.
aye, this stuff should be made illegal. utterly utterly rank. in fact, they should load up a rockets full of it and launch it over the front lines in Ukraine, that'd end the fighting pretty damn sharpish as every one would be boking into their helmets.
 
Sounds made up to me, we switched to Lidl own-brand washing up liquid and have seen ZERO difference compared to Fairy that we used for years.

Fairy is one of the few things where I buy the branded version rather than supermarket own brand - I've definitely found it lasts better than the cheaper versions (saying that, I've not tried the competition for many years now, so they may have improved since)
 
Refusing to get a hotel in a convenient location because it’s more expensive than other options. Pick the cheaper hotel to save money.

Proceed to spend time and money getting to where you want to be.

^ this is something I never do, but my parents have just done it visiting Washington DC. Got an out of town hotel then have had to gets taxis to and from it. Whyyyyyy.

Corporate travel bookers do this all the time because it reduces spend against their budgets. Taxis and rental car expenses come out of another budget. No-one ever considers the total cost.
 
Fairy is one of the few things where I buy the branded version rather than supermarket own brand - I've definitely found it lasts better than the cheaper versions (saying that, I've not tried the competition for many years now, so they may have improved since)
Even if there is a slight efficiency, it would need to be double that of the stuff I get from Lidl, just to break even.
 
Stopped buying wine during the fortnightly shop in an attempt to drink less and save money… now I Buy wine at the corner shop for double the price.

Similar, but tried to buy wine from Majestic as it's a bit cheaper than supermarkets when you do the Mixed Six thing. Only issue is i then drink a lot more than normal because it's in, so i do in fact spend more
 
Fairy is one of the few things where I buy the branded version rather than supermarket own brand - I've definitely found it lasts better than the cheaper versions (saying that, I've not tried the competition for many years now, so they may have improved since)

Fairy may be slightly better if you dump dirty pots into the sink until you completely saturate the soap.
Most of my bubbles go down the drain as we use the dishwasher for main loads. Washing up liquid is only used for rinsing a few lightly soiled items.
Own brand all the way, though you have to make sure to close the lid or some of them gum up in hot weather and you have to clean the lid.
 
Even if there is a slight efficiency, it would need to be double that of the stuff I get from Lidl, just to break even.

Very true, but then I'd also have to take into account the time and additional fuel cost to get to Lidl vs Morrisons - we're talking a few pence at best difference.

So here's another example for the OP - spending an extra £5 in fuel to drive to a further away supermarket to save £1 on a bottle of washing up liquid :p

Fairy may be slightly better if you dump dirty pots into the sink until you completely saturate the soap.
Most of my bubbles go down the drain as we use the dishwasher for main loads. Washing up liquid is only used for rinsing a few lightly soiled items.
Own brand all the way, though you have to make sure to close the lid or some of them gum up in hot weather and you have to clean the lid.

No dishwasher here (except for me :()! Might try the Morrison's own brand stuff again next time we need some though (probably not for a couple of months, literally just picked up a 1l bottle of fairy this morning)
 
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Booking a later train home to save £25 to then hang about in a pub or similar for a few hours spending £50 in the process.
Haha true.dat. Especially from Marylebone to Birmingham. Was tight as anything so would get the dirt cheap ticket but then spend a hundie in the boozer next door.
 
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