Being Too Frugal Is Bad For Your Wallet – How And Why?

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Too much is not too good. Likewise, too much of cutting costs is not good for your financial health. The ‘less is more’ principle can backfire anytime. You may end up incurring more expenses and tear your wallet in the long run.

Here are a few instances when being too frugal can push you towards more expenses and debt.

1. Skipping insurance policies: Who needs a dental insurance policy? Your teeth are fit and fine. Who needs a home insurance policy? You have a strong and beautiful home. You don’t even need a renters or a life insurance policy since you may not use it anyway.

This school of thought is terrible for your finances because no one can predict the future. Accidents can happen anytime. If you don’t get yourself adequately covered, then you’re putting yourself at risk.

Initially, it’s true that you would save money. But if your house catches fire or you break your leg, then your savings account could be exhausted due to sudden expenses.

2. Shopping inferior items: Sometimes, we focus on quantity instead of quality for saving money unconsciously. The lower sticker prices are quite tempting. But what we forget is that cheaper is not always better. Let me explain you with an example.

You buy a car at an incredibly low price. You go back to home with a smile on your face. But within a few weeks, your car starts showing its ‘true colors’. You encounter different kinds of problems every day and have to spend a lot of money on maintenance cost.

Probably, you would have saved more and faced less hassle if you had purchased a car with good mileage.

3. Skipping regular medical check-ups: I hope you have heard the adage – “a stitch in time saves nine”. Similarly, if you have a dental issue, then putting off a visit to your dentist is a bad idea – both for your teeth and finances. Your dental problem will aggravate with time and you’ll end up spending more in the long run. Fixing a small cavity in your tooth is cheaper than taking care of a badly damaged tooth that has been ignored for a long time. It’ll need extensive medical treatment.

4. Practicing super frugality on foods: Extreme frugality is bad when you’re putting your health at risk. I agree that cutting down on your grocery bill is a great way to save money. But if you’re spending money for buying low-quality foods, then it’ll have a bad impact on your health. It’s unhealthy. This can lead to big health issues or problems in the long run and frequent doctor visits. So, you’ll spend more in the long run.

5. Spending less on maintenance: Home, car and a few other things need proper maintenance. You can obviously postpone painting the house, replacing furnace filters and cleaning chimney but spending a small amount on these things can help you avoid huge bills for big repairs later. The cheapest option is not always good. For people who work in offices, you’d be surprised at how often equipment and general office space needs maintenance and cleaning. Companies like idealcleaning.co.uk offer both regular deep cleans for spaces and IT equipment cleaning, which although comes at a price, will save money in the long run that you’d have to spend on replacing equipment.

6. Extreme couponing: Don’t frown. I agree that couponing can help to save a lot of money. But extreme couponing is very bad. You may end up purchasing items you don’t require or you may end up buying more products than you could use.

Last month, I ended up having 6 jars of mayonnaise as a result of extreme couponing. Later I realized it was a total waste of money since most of my family members don’t eat mayonnaise.

Conclusion

Don’t try to be an expert on everything because it is humanly impossible. Few things should be left for the professionals and experts. You may think – “if a carpenter can fix a broken dinner table, then so can I”. But this is utter stupidity and you’ll realize this after hours of sweating and cursing. You don’t know the techniques of fixing a broken table and may damage it even more. This will cost you more money later. If the damage is beyond repair, then you would have to buy a new table soon.

Author Bio – Stacy B Miller is the content editor at Oak View Law Group. Her articles revolves around the topics related to debt, credit, laws, money, personal finance, etc.

12 thoughts on “Being Too Frugal Is Bad For Your Wallet – How And Why?”

  1. I have to admit I’ve been slacking off on the regular medical checkup. It’s free under my insurance plan, but the thought of taking a day off to do all the tests sounds so daunting to me. I know I should do it, but yeah -_-.

    I don’t do coupons though. It’s a bit too time-consuming for my taste. 😉

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  2. #5 is huge. Automobiles that are taken care of – regular maintenance and addressing anything when it first comes up – can be the difference between it lasting 80k and 200k miles. I’ve driven my last couple of cars right up to 200k without any major issues. I’m big on following the manufacturers recommended maintenance schedule. I know other people though who, literally, don’t take their car to a shop until/unless it breaks down. Which it does more often than it should since they don’t take care of it. :-/
    Financial Coach Brad recently posted…5 Steps to Help Your Child Avoid Student Loan DebtMy Profile

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  3. Good reminders in this post. I never understood the folks who spent hours each week with coupons.

    The idea of paying up for quality is definitely one worth considering too. In the long-run higher quality goods can certainly be an effective way to get value (and avoid the annoyance of having to repair or replace inferior items).
    Jay recently posted…Best Breakout Trading Signal for Trend FollowingMy Profile

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  4. #2 brought back bad memories. I remember I bought a cheap car off Craigslist. Within a few weeks, the car broke down. Then I got another cheap car and it broke down too. Because I needed a reliable car for work and was running out of cash, I went and got myself a lease. Although I hated the idea of having a lease, I felt it was the right decision for me at the time. You make very good points in the article. As the saying goes, too much of one thing is good for nothing.
    Dividend Portfolio recently posted…How To Invest $20000?My Profile

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  5. I don’t buy the least expensive option. I try to buy something in a middle price range. I will not buy the most expensive option because when I did, they just got stolen! I don’t use coupons because I can make everything inexpensively from scratch. I even make laundry soap and bathroom cleaner! They are both much easier on my sensitive skin.
    Pamela recently posted…Same Bandannas, Different WreathMy Profile

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    • Hi Pamela,

      Looks like you know how to live the frugal lifestyle and are very creative to be able to make many common household items that most typically buy retail. Thank you for sharing some of your real world experiences.

      Reply

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