Prismattic comments on Lifehack Ideas December 2014 - Less Wrong

10 Post author: Gondolinian 10 December 2014 12:21AM

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Comment author: Username 10 December 2014 11:13:47PM *  18 points [-]

This might not be a hack, but it is useful information.

“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.”

Along these lines, I asked reddit last week for ideas of things that you can buy which will cost more upfront, but would eventually pay for themselves. My stipulation for the post was that they had to make the money back within one year, didn't require much more time or skill, and would have to be backed up with a calculation. YMMV based on your habits and climate, but here's what made the cut:

  • Switching from disposable razors to safety razors
  • Buying a weight set off craigslist and ditching a gym membership
  • Buying a chest freezer off craigslist and buying meat only in bulk or when on sale
  • Buying the tools for any home project rather than paying someone to fix it
  • Buying a cable modem rather than renting it (or ditching cable and using a chromecast paired with internet services)
  • Switching to a programmable thermostat
  • Buying an electric mattress pad and turning the heat down 10deg in the winter
  • Insulating your home
  • Switching to a low-flow shower nozzle
  • Keeping an herb garden/indoor plant rather than buying fresh herbs
  • Using a menstrual cup rather than tampons
  • Using cloth diapers rather than disposable ones
  • Buying a washing machine rather than going to a laundrymat
  • Buying a smartphone off-contract and getting a cheaper plan
  • Using a breadmaker rather than buying store bread
  • Homebrewing rather than buying beer (probably the most questionable ROI here because of the time and beer consumption needed)
  • Buying a haircut kit and cutting your own hair
  • Brewing your own coffee instead of buying it
  • If you smoke, rolling your own cigarettes or switching to an e-cig

The meta life-hack here is to make personal questions engaging and use the internet to source ideas.

Comment author: Prismattic 11 December 2014 03:55:32AM *  3 points [-]

Not related to upfront costs per se, but here are some additional thrift tips.

  1. A top-loading freezer loses less heat when opened than a front-loading freezer. Regardless of which kind you have, though, packing all the space not taken up by food with bottled tap water will greatly reduce the heat loss and save you money on your electrical bill.

  2. If you're in the US, you're probably using fabric softener when you do laundry. I have experimented with the concentration of liquid fabric softener, and found that you can dilute it with water down to about 5-10% of its original strength and it still softens the clothing. I do laundry for a family of 3, and I only have to buy fabric softener once every six months or so, if that.

  3. Laundry detergent is not quite as extreme as fabric softener, but I've found that diluting it (or if powder, just using less) to about 80% of its original concentration works fine, unless your clothes are really dirty or really smelly.

  4. Still on the topic of laundry. Most of the time, there is no reason to wash your clothes with hot water. Unless they are really disgusting, cold water works fine, and save electricity.

  5. If you don't want to switch from disposable razors, you can greatly extend their life by stropping them (against your arm works fine; just remember not to do it in the damaging direction).

  6. If you eat out (not very thrifty to begin with, but sometimes time is precious), remember that even a non-alcoholic beverage is probably adding $2 to your bill ($2.40 with tip). Switch to water when eating out, and if you do so once a week, you're saving about $125/year.

Comment author: CBHacking 11 December 2014 08:02:16AM 2 points [-]

Diluting (liquid) laundry detergent instead of just using less sounds weird to me, but maybe your washer works differently than mine.

In similar vein: slightly counterintuitively, front-loading washers are more efficient than top-loading. If water is expensive where you live, selling off the old one and switching is a good fiscal choice. Also consider getting newer toilets, if yours are old and use a lot of water per flush; the new designs are a lot more efficient.

Another perk of the "bottles of water in the fridge/freezer" trick is that it will keep food cold much longer if your power goes out. In some parts of the world (or if you're just expecting huge windstorms, as apparently much of the US west coast is right now) this is valuable. Just remember not to fully fill the bottles (or gallon milk jugs, or whatever you're using) and then cap them!

If you drive to work each day and could take the bus (or train or other mass transit), look closely at what you spend on gas, tolls (if applicable), and car maintenance (my rule of thumb: the car maintenance is probably about as much as you spend on gas, though this obvious varies with the price of gas, age of the car, and how good you are at doing your own maintenance). A bus pass may end up being significantly cheaper, even at the cost of some time. If you have to pay for parking at work, the bus is almost undoubtedly cheaper... and all this assumes your employer won't offer discount or free transit passes, which skews the advantage even harder. If transit isn't available, look at setting up a carpool. All of these options also mean more time to do things like read a book (or the Sequences, as I'm currently doing), work on a personal project, or get an early start on the workday (by answering email if nothing else).

Alternatively, in good weather, consider a bicycle; even if you have to buy the bike you'll come out ahead if you can use it semi-regularly (especially if you consider the benefit of the exercise). A serviceable bike for road / paved trail riding is pretty cheap.

If you're dating, learn to prepare some good / commonly-liked food at home; it'll cost a lot less than a night out, gives you a chance to give your partner something you made yourself (or together, which some people find fun), and snuggling on the couch for a movie is a lot nicer (and more private) than a commercial cinema.

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