What are the biggest false economies?

[toptramp]

So I can stop being a mug and start saving.

AA/RAC breakdown cover, I've decided as of last night. I got a letter from them saying that it's only £39 a month to join and it's well worth it because a breakdown without cover could cost you £350! Some simple maths tells me that 9 months of paying for cover I might never need would cost £351, so I think I'd prefer to save my money so it's there if needs be and I can use it for another emergency if it happens. Breakdown cover is a fairly standard part of car insurance anyway...

Not paying for a boiler service. Service the boiler every year.

3-for-2 offers if you were only going to buy one. This is a scam to make you buy two. You still spend twice as much as you were going to.

£39 a month? Didn't they mean a year?

Looked like a month to me. That's why I was . Do they think I can't do multiplication?!

Sure it's £39 per month!

Sorry that made no sense at all

I think it's £39 a year, not a month.

Oops, just checked. It is per year. Sorry AA/RAC!!

The other tips are good though.

NOT having breakdown is false economy if you rely on the car for work, school runs etc. There are loads of cheaper deals with other companies. MoneySavingExpert is helpful.

cheap washing up liquid and cheap bin liners.

Cheap loo roll. You need to use more and it will make you unhappy.

cheap conditioner
tried it and it's all watery-useless

any cheap meat

Not a false economy, but AutoAid are fab. I think we pay around £39 a year for full cover ie home start, recovery, everything - much better cover than the £39 AA offer.

Cheap cola drinks, they are vile.
Agree with cheap washing up liquid, you just end up using twice as much
Membership of anything that you won't use often enough but you keep going because (for example) it's nice to get into the swimming pool free every now and then.
Cheap light bulbs (any sort) don't seem to last long.

disagree about cheap meat - cheap cuts are often great in the slow-cooker as it breaks down all the fibres and can be really tender.

cheap tinned tomatoes - you need twice as many to get the same flavour. The supermarket own ones are OK, just not the value brands, and there's only about 7p in it per tin.

Cheap cuts of good meat are great.
Cheap meat is a false economy as much of it is water and the rest doesn't taste of much.

Cheap muesli is essentially flour.

My main one is saving huge amounts of stuff 'that will come in useful someday'. Yes, it might, but if you end up with a cluttered house and can never find what you need when you need it, it's a false economy.

cheap bacon - you extract as much in water as it's left in the frying pan as so called bacon

"My main one is saving huge amounts of stuff 'that will come in useful someday'. Yes, it might, but if you end up with a cluttered house and can never find what you need when you need it, it's a false economy."

this is my house for exactly that reason

Cheap bin liners, and cheap wine!

Agree with cheap meat, i roasted some cheap chicken thighs the other week, i did 8 so we had some for salad the next day, dh ate all of them and complained there was no meat on them!

Love putting cheap cuts in slow cooker, in fact i have just sat down with a coffee aftre doing just that!

I try and plan meals each week so I only buy what I need, not what I think that I need.

Lw

yy I meant cheap crappy meat not cheap cuts like yummy feather steak etc

Cheap shoes give you sore feet and last nowhere near as long.

cheap bras

well for my tits anyway

Things like british gas homecare £156 a year!

Is it really so much more expensive to fix a boiler than a car?

Cheap shoes-wear out faster and hurt your feet.

Bin bags.

Mobile phone contracts-get a basic phone and pay as you go.

cheap bin liners that rip as soon as you put anything in them and make the bin stinky. End up triple-bagging or whatever and nixing any saving.

Cheap plasticy shoes.

Cheap mattresses! Oh my god the pain!