You know what really irritates the heck out of me?
Articles that promise life-changing money saving, healthy cooking, and/or housekeeping tips that then only provide moronically common sense advice that I already know and use.
OBVIOUSLY less processed foods are both cheaper and healthier. I actually manage to do the math on which foods are really cheaper in bulk and which ones will just rot on my shelf all by myself, thank you. And yes, baking soda is an excellent, non-toxic, relatively gentle abrasive. I know perfectly well how to turn leftovers into a second meal, make really cheap cuts of meat seem impressive, and use herbs and spices to bring flavor without adding fat or sugar. I know that Murphy's oil soap will take out grease stains, and that the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser is actually magic, but the store brand one is equally magical for nearly $2.00 less. On the other hand, if you want the bread to come out of the pan, go ahead and spring for the name brand cooking spray.
Tell me something I don't know! For example, how do you keep the kitchen trash from getting stinky before the bag is full? How do you keep soft butter on hand (in case of a biscuit emergency, obviously) without it going rancid before you use it up (my grandmother's tactic of including a stack of white bread to be slathered with the stuff at every meal so that the stick is gone in less than a week is not an option)?
The only thing more infuriating is when the advice is blatantly wrong. For example, coupons are not all they're cracked up to be. If you pay attention, you'll see that the store brand is usually cheaper than the name brand, even when you combine the coupon with a sale on double coupon day, so using the coupon "saves" money by spending more than you would have without it. Even better, if you downloaded that coupon from the internet, you probably got a nasty virus as a bonus. Also, switching from cable to Hulu for your television watching needs is NOT free. You're going to need to pay for high-speed internet access, which is more expensive than cable and often doesn't work anyway (because Comcast sucks!).
I'm glad I got that out of my system.
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2 comments:
My problem with coupons is that they are never for things I would buy, so if I used them I'd be spending money that I wouldn't normally spend.
The one place I do well with coupons is on TP, mostly because it's one of very few items where I splurge on the name brand.
Otherwise, my normal thrifty shopping strategies are usually better than the coupons.
Cereal is most definitely a trap.
And if one more article tells me to check the price/weight, I'm going to scream. Anyone too slow to do that without being told deserves to pay too much.
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