What thrifty tips do you NOT recommend?

[ArcheryAnnie]

There's been discussion on other threads about some "thrifty tips" which don't seem all that sensible, like rinsing the sauce off spaghetti hoops to reuse the cooked pasta (wastes sauce and calories), or boiling soap to make shower gel (wastes electricity and soap - better just use the soap bar). What other thrifty tips have you either invented or tried, that you would warn other people off?

Here's mine: people have said a pinch of cheap curry powder helps elevate all kinds of dishes, including baked beans, tinned tomatoes, etc, and helps ring the changes in a monotonous diet. Here's what curry powder doesn't elevate, kids: porridge oats. Many, many years ago (pre DS), desperate for something other than plain porridge made with water, which had formed the bulk of our diet all week, we tried currying the porridge with an onion. Now, if I make or buy terrible food, I'll still usually eat it anyway, and just determine not to buy or cook it again. Not so this: oats, curry power and the onion all wasted. Don't ever repeat my mistake!

We are going round in circles in that not every tip applies to every person. If you are a cleaner it probably makes sense learn to do some of your own plumbing jobs. If you are a plumber it may make sense to hire a cleaner and work more hours yourself. The advice should be to do the calculation (which I haven’t, but you get the idea).
The definition of salaried seems to have shifted, but I suppose that’s one for pedants’ corner.

@SlowingDownAndDown I agree that not everything applies to everybody but I see it offered up as though it is possible for everyone (or at least that is how it comes across to me).

It's like 'grow your own food' or 'make your own clothes'. These are only cost savings if you have already got access to the necessary raw materials/tools plus the time to acquire the necessary skills.

A while back I read Ruth Goodman's book 'How to be a Victorian'. It was fascinating on the subjects of cooking and sewing. Cooking was plain and repetitive because even for the middle classes the raw ingredients were expensive so there was no opportunity to be experimental.

Sewing skills were taught to all working class children though boys would generally drop it much sooner than girls. Basic repair skills would have been learned. Middle class girls would also be expected to be able to sew to a high standard. RG commented on the complexity of patterns in women's magazines with an awful lot of assumed high level skills.

I was using salaried in the colloquial meaning of fixed pay with no opportunities for overtime. This has been my experience for practically all my adult life. Though my employer generously allows me to start as early as I like and finish as late as I like without charging me for the extra utilities I use so I suppose I should be grateful😉.

We all look at these tips through the lens of our own experience. What will be a saving for one may be an expense for another.

Yes, I suppose the thing is with social media, tips are even more self-centred than ever.
I’m sure you’re right about salaried. I suppose it’s because I come from a background with a lot of contractors, some on day rates and some on hourly rates as well as staff who got overtime and staff who didn’t that I’m used to spelling out whether people get overtime or not..

It reminds me the first time I saw the overtime advice was about thirty years ago in a rather wacky book. It also recommended looking after a friend’s pet, shutting it in your living room then claiming for a new carpet when the inevitable happened

And that means that the poverty tourists don’t think it’s all that bad as they don’t get the grinding crushing reality of no choice that comes with it.

Correct.

Buy another fridge to put the yellow stickered price reduced items in. Jeez !!

I thought the chicken stock was to make bone broth. Very nutritious and trendy.

Only if you normally buy Posh Stock