3 Types of Popular ‘Money-Saving’ Advice… That Should Go in the Trash
Please stop over-talking about the stupid carryout coffees.
When I was a newer writer on Medium, I used to talk a lot about money — or, rather, about not having money. To date, my best-performing articles are ones I wrote reflecting on growing up working-class, especially regarding how it affects my relationship with middle-class people to this day.
The majority of those pieces were received well. Nonetheless, I quietly let the subject drop over time. To be blunt: I was getting bored of the topic.
However, today, I stumbled upon a social media post where someone was showing off their “coupon stockpile” — that is, the area where they keep all the extra items they end up with by taking advantage of coupon deals. This person’s stockpile included a copious amount of toothpaste, deodorant, and body wash.
This got me thinking about popular money-saving advice such as couponing. When I sit and think about the money advice people often give others, I notice some common patterns that emerge amongst them. I quickly noticed that these patterns were pretty toxic. In some cases, they were outright tone-deaf.
For the rest of this piece, I want to talk about these patterns and why they suck.
