“What Is Something That Is Super Cheap, But Vastly Improves Your Quality Of Life?” (30 Answers)
Not everything in this world costs an arm and a leg. And while most people believe that their quality of life is largely governed by the amount of money they have, this illuminating thread proves us wrong.
Shared on the Frugal community on Reddit, the thread has people sharing the cheapest buys and even things that cost nothing they use to improve their life quality and overall wellbeing.
From small things like incense sticks to amazing things that are free of charge like long sleeps and walks in nature, there are many ways to get ourselves together without breaking the bank!
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The library. Free. So much joy and entertainment and learning right there.
Love the library! The Libby app is awesome, and I even get free movies from Kanopy.
I love Libby! My state has a digital library system, so I can access stuff from there on it
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And under attack by Republicans here in the US. Defend your local libraries!
I will say I've seen both sides be pretty unreasonable about the literature we offer at our libraries. A Liberal woman kindly informed me I should remove a certain book from our Young Adult collection because it talked about rape. I smiled and told her young people, especially teenage girls, should be aware of rape and not have it withdrawn because it's a difficult topic. I was told by one of my white coworkers(I'm a black woman) another white woman, possibly Conservative, cried to the Director because we had a book titled White Fragility on our New Books display. Kind of proved the book's point, but I digress. Both sides have some great views and some insane views. Both sides have amazing, caring people and awful, evil people. I share values with both sides, but my goodness, y'all are toxic as hell!
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Yes. Be there, stay there, read there, learn there and take books home with you, too. In some libraries, borrowing books is free.
my local library also has a community fridge and it allows CDs and DVDs to loan :)
My Mom was a librarian, she is now retired. I have great memories of going after school to her library and hanging out until it was time to go home.
Love the library, and would donate a kidney if they needed it, been a staple in my life since I was a small child (my family are all obsessive readers). I recently got into audio books as someone who drives for 8/10 hours a day. Absolute lifesaver.
They are so underused.I have found my passion of astronomy from them, and they saved me from depression during covid. I've already almost finished the entire astronomy and physics section in my library, yet I always manage to find new books. I could stay there for hours.
This is such a great one for parents!!! I check our max (50) kids books every two weeks. 1. I never have to get stuck in that reading-the-same-bedtime-story-one-million-times slump. (I really wouldn't do well with that.) 2. The twins feel like they get a birthday surprise or something every other week! They love seeing what I got - and sometimes come and help me even! 3. They get excited to bring stories down for visitors to read. 4. We can get books on whatever topic they are interested in that week. 5. We practice reading regularly (which is a feat in and of itself with two girls in the midst of the "F*** It Fours"). And 6. Now we do the audio books, so I plug their headphones in and they practice reading instead of screen time when I'm working. All for free!
Plus we can get movies, there are tons of activities - both there and to bring home, there are book recommendations, there is a play area, and much more!!
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Our library just bought a 3D printer and had a design class for kids. My son encouraged them to start a chess club. And yesterday, we went to the library and made catapults, using them to fling wildflower seeds to beautify the area around the library. Oh, yeah. It also has books.
One of my favorite places from the time I was oh, in Kindergarten. Which more than a handful of decades, now.
Don't vote Republican because state-by-state they're threatening to close libraries if they don't get their way.
Great place to borrow books at no charge! (Unlrss they're returned late.)
I work as a Library Technician—official job title as of last year, different from the official Librarian—and the majority of the people who come in are amazing. We have the odd drunk or crackhead who shows up, and a couple of men(as will happen)who had to be politely told to f**k off, but it's a pretty decent job to work.
it's a good thing we already have libraries. Can you just imagine trying to propose them now. A tax supported public institution that provides free services to anyone?
Perhaps, we could call it crowd-funded, rather than free. It makes me wonder what other things provide such a good return on investment that we should consider crowd-funding also
It’s NOT FREAKIN FREE ! My tax money pays for it ! The root of Library is book ! Libraries should have BOOKS ! If you want a computer, buy one ! If you want a meeting room, rent one at a motel ! If you want somebody to watch your kid, hire a babysitter ! Don’t sponge off me !
As a member of a community, we all have a responsibility to the betterment of the community as a whole. Books and reading are DEFINITELY key cornerstones to successful community for many, many reasons.
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In Texas, you can only visit the library in the city you pay taxes and if you want to go to another location (like, say, me- there's one literally one block away from where I work) you have to pay a set amount per book. Like, $20 for 20 books loaned out. Still a bargain, I guess, but I'll never go to the one in the city I live because it's actually really far from my house.
I love my local library. That and my folks house. They are my other library.
sometimes if you live outside of city limits the library is not free. :( it breaks my heart.
Long walks as often as you can. Preferably in nature.
Even better: walks with a friend. Healthy exercise, sun or at least fresh air and good conversations.
I received a microwave splatter cover as a Christmas present. I heard it was bought at a dollar store. It's my most valued, most often used gift of the past many years.
Blackout curtains for your bedroom window
God yes, especially during the summer when the sun in still blazing at 9pm and you’re trying to get to sleep.
We never had fresh flowers in the house growing up, but now that I’m almost 30 and married, I love getting the little $5 flower bunches at Kroger every week! I know $5 adds up over the year, but it makes me so happy seeing pretty little blooms on our dining room table. Sometimes little joys are worth the expense :)
$1 bamboo back scratcher (is this an age thing, I never needed one when I was young?)
Drinking water lol no sodas or carbonated beverages. My teeth, gut and overall health are a bit grateful.
I drink water 90% of the time, but sometimes I want some fizz. So I get some plain mineral water and add fruit to it. Strawberries etc are pretty good for flavouring. Sweetens it naturally and you get a serving of fruit too.
A hot shower.
And the little metal hair catcher I put in the drain so it doesn’t clog.
A hot shower is such a huge luxury that many people in the world do not have. Yet those of us who do, take it for granted.
Condoms
Walking my daughter to school.
We literally live across the street and I would drive her. The amount of time it would take for us to get from our apartment to the van, get buckled, and down to the exit of the parking garage, around the block and wait at the light, I could already be across the street.
Now we walk to and from, round trip is 20 mins, twice per day, so roughly 40 mins of low-impact cardio per day five days per week.
We have more energy and diminished pain (she has scoliosis and some fused vertebrae and I have fibromyalgia). Bonus: my pants are now too big.
Growing my own vegetables. Getting out in fresh air and working in it. Frees my mind and helps me relax. Plus is fresh vegetables.
Home grown vegetables taste infinitely better than the junk you buy at the store.
Binder clips. Handy for closing chip bags. Handy for anchoring picnic tablecloths to the table. Handy for posting things prominently so you remember to do them.
I keep some in multiple rooms of my house and in my vehicles.
I'm going to go with... Buying duplicates to cut down on the barrier to chores.
For example, cleaning the toilet. I could buy just one bottle of toilet bowl cleaner and carry it to each bathroom when I'm cleaning. But instead, I buy one for each bathroom and leave one by each toilet. This doesn't cost more than buying just one in the long run, since the cleaner is consumed at about through the same rate (although it's a little faster because I'm actually using it), but it means that it's that much easier to clean a toilet when I need to do it. And because it's easier to clean the toilet, they stay cleaner, which means it takes barely a few minutes to clean a toilet and I don't have to deal with the extra nasty level of grime that's hard to clean.
Another example would be having broom for each floor of the house. I'm more likely to sweep if I don't have to bring a broom from upstairs or something. Or buying extra rolls of trash bags and leaving the rolls near each trash can.
My mind boggles at the idea of being able to afford to live in a place that has more than one floor and more than one toilet/bathroom.
Yoga With Adriene on YouTube. I love her relaxed vibe and variety of offerings. So much better than having to go somewhere and pay for a class, and I always feel so good afterwards.
A hot cup of tea with a little honey.
A day spent hiking or biking.
Free YouTube yoga classes.
Exercise in general - no expensive gym needed. Work out at home or outside.
An afternoon on the sofa with a good book and a blanket.
Walks outside are easy, but I've tried multiple times in the past to be an "exercise at home" kind of person, and I just don't have the discipline to keep with it if I don't have a group workout to go to. But a lot of towns do have groups that meet in the park in summer time and stuff.
Buying treats for my pet, and showing him love through them. Quite rewarding
This is good for pet and owner. It gives trust to pet and owner, plus it is very helpful in training dogs.
A second vote for some dollar store bins.
Having ADHD causes me to forget to do morning routine things constantly. So I finally put everything in a basket - hair brush, hair ties, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, tongue scraper, ear cleaner. Basket comes out and everything is right there.
Also a pill organizer. I got two huge unopened ones from the thrift store and since I take several daily meds to keep me alive, it's kind of important to remember to take them. So on Sundays I refill and I have two so I only have to do it twice a month. It sits out on my counter as a reminder.
Dental floss
Taking walks or hiking in the woods. So rejuvenating!
Or simply birdwatching and listening to birds in the backyard.
A microwavable heat pack. Helps me feel relaxed and ease aches and pains
A walk beside the ocean. A cup of tea and a blanket and a book.
All of these suggestions are so good. Scrolling through I had that "these are my people" feeling. I love this sub
Lemon or cucumber water!
A crystal suncatcher prism in a sunny window (rainbows everywhere!)
A clean, organized home
Exercise in nature (hikes, yoga, wild swimming, etc)
Line dried bedding (the freshness makes me so happy)
Deep breathing
Tea and a book
Fresh flowers (bought or foraged)
Gardening
Volunteering
Really good food, not expensive either. Today I'm cooking mahi mahi over cheesy grits with asparagus . Less than $4 a serving. Everything was bought on sale. Last week was Mongolian pork with ramen noodles. Pork loin on sale for $1.48 a pound, ramen $.39 per packet.
Water bottle
here in japan water bottles cost around 1-5k or smth depending on what kinds ur going to buy. but stainless that keeps everything in the bottle hot or cold last longer
Cheap organizational containers- I tend to misplace things a lot, so having my items (office supplies, makeup, food, etc) allocated to different boxes saves me so much time and frustration. Also, it allows me to save space by vertically organizing my desk/cabinets via stacking boxes.
Used/resold books - I’ve gotten some classics for $2-3 at Half Price Books and at other great sales to add to my mini library and preoccupy me. Taking advantage of the library for free books/movies is also a great idea, and the library (or mine, at least) used to have a program where they were selling older books for $0.25-0.50.
Humidifier/diffuser/air purifier - The diffuser I got was from Five Below and had a low capacity, so it could only humidify a very small space, but all you do is put essential oils into the small sponge provided and it makes the room smell amazing. My tiny, drab dorm smelled like roses and was beautified by the changing rainbow light built in, which made my time in there less miserable lol. If you live in a cold, dry midwestern state like me, then a humidifier is a great investment and you can find a pretty good one under $20 on Amazon.
Used books at book sales are so amazing- Flyleaf Books also has an amazing used book section.
Note: this post originally had 60 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
https://ziasabers.com/product/fury-custom-lightsaber-10-sound-fonts/ its not like 5-20 bucks cheap but its great for the price and i can near guarentee it will make your life better
Zip ties, duct tape, fishing line, hot glue and wire coat hangers. Combinations of these items can temporarily fix about anything.
I'd like to add one. Stopping smoking or Vaping. It's hard to do, it wasn't fun, but OH MY GOD was it worth it.
Welcome to the club. I stopped 9 years ago after 55 years smoking 25 a day. It also allowed me to indulge my hobbies instead of burning money. 😊👍
Load More Replies... Hugs. I know there are people who aren't huggers, but I totally am. I love getting a hug from my kid. After my husband died, I was randomly hugged by two strangers in Costco (they asked), and I appreciated being seen so much. I love hugs from animals, too. Just being warm and fuzzy.
Something that didn't cost much but improved my quality of life; empty gel capsules and a pill splitter. It's healthier for me to do a half a pill, but the pills themselves were uncoated, and LOVE to stick in your throat, 5x worse when split. So by putting the halves in a capsule, it allows me to swallow them easily without choking. Plus, the taste is unpleasant, so this helps with that as well.
Do you think an exclamation mark is appropriate for hygge?
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People living in places with actual libraries and near accessible nature are so lucky! I've lived in a place like that and enjoyed myself immensely, but have since come back to my big city in Southeast Asia where none of those are doable lol
Buying and repairing an espresso machine has saved me a lot of money. Cost for machine and fixing the part that was broken $60. The owners just went out and bought a new one for $2000. I bought the part, cleaned up the machine, and now only spend $10 a week on coffee beans. Also trading smoking for vaping. Don't care if I look like a nonce, the health benefits are waaaaaaay better, helped me give up smoking, and now I'm no longer spending over $120 for four packs a week.
Well done. More toxins in cigarette smoke than the other stuff plus you're saving those around you not just yourself.
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Uncle Ben's Rice and some precooked chicken or beef. Easy and filling meal for one in less than 10 minutes that costs less than $5
A) So you simply can not bake..B) That is the reason. NOW I understand your stupid statement.
For me, the free version of the Cozi app for helping organise our family. Colour-coded entries for each person's calendar, shared shopping lists and to-do lists. There are other apps available of course but this is the one that works for us!
https://ziasabers.com/product/fury-custom-lightsaber-10-sound-fonts/ its not like 5-20 bucks cheap but its great for the price and i can near guarentee it will make your life better
Zip ties, duct tape, fishing line, hot glue and wire coat hangers. Combinations of these items can temporarily fix about anything.
I'd like to add one. Stopping smoking or Vaping. It's hard to do, it wasn't fun, but OH MY GOD was it worth it.
Welcome to the club. I stopped 9 years ago after 55 years smoking 25 a day. It also allowed me to indulge my hobbies instead of burning money. 😊👍
Load More Replies... Hugs. I know there are people who aren't huggers, but I totally am. I love getting a hug from my kid. After my husband died, I was randomly hugged by two strangers in Costco (they asked), and I appreciated being seen so much. I love hugs from animals, too. Just being warm and fuzzy.
Something that didn't cost much but improved my quality of life; empty gel capsules and a pill splitter. It's healthier for me to do a half a pill, but the pills themselves were uncoated, and LOVE to stick in your throat, 5x worse when split. So by putting the halves in a capsule, it allows me to swallow them easily without choking. Plus, the taste is unpleasant, so this helps with that as well.
Do you think an exclamation mark is appropriate for hygge?
Load More Replies... People living in places with actual libraries and near accessible nature are so lucky! I've lived in a place like that and enjoyed myself immensely, but have since come back to my big city in Southeast Asia where none of those are doable lol
Buying and repairing an espresso machine has saved me a lot of money. Cost for machine and fixing the part that was broken $60. The owners just went out and bought a new one for $2000. I bought the part, cleaned up the machine, and now only spend $10 a week on coffee beans. Also trading smoking for vaping. Don't care if I look like a nonce, the health benefits are waaaaaaay better, helped me give up smoking, and now I'm no longer spending over $120 for four packs a week.
Well done. More toxins in cigarette smoke than the other stuff plus you're saving those around you not just yourself.
Load More Replies... Uncle Ben's Rice and some precooked chicken or beef. Easy and filling meal for one in less than 10 minutes that costs less than $5
A) So you simply can not bake..B) That is the reason. NOW I understand your stupid statement.
For me, the free version of the Cozi app for helping organise our family. Colour-coded entries for each person's calendar, shared shopping lists and to-do lists. There are other apps available of course but this is the one that works for us!
