Asklemmy

Alcohol that you are supplying at an event. You should always have a good case of beer or wine, or spirits, or the appropriate refreshment for your honored guests, but anything beyond 1st/2nd round should be the cheapest hooch on the planet and it should run out fast. Every social gathering seems to attract booze hounds that will suck you dry, no need to pay premium dollar for their habit.

If you live in an area with a store like a dollar store/tree/general, getting snack foods from there is cheaper than going to a normal grocery store like Walmart. At least it is where I live.

I don't know if it's changed prices in other places with these types of stores, but at $1.25 for generic thin mint cookies, that isn't a terrible deal at all if you ask me.

I'm not sure I'd call this "cheaping out" but unless you can't even afford that or you have a specific reason you need a more expensive one, you should buy mid-range ($200 - $400) phones. The early '10s are over and mid-range is more than adequate for the average phone user. Plus quite a few mid-ranges still have expandable storage and/or headphone jacks.

Soap of any kind. It’s fine if you want a certain smell, but at the end of the day it all works the same. Goes for hand soap, shampoo, detergent, body wash, etc.

Mr. Clean Magic Erasers.

The "generic" name is melamine sponge. These work exactly the same and cost a fraction of the brand name.

If you want a good printer, look for an ex-lease laser printer. It may not be suitable for a whole department to use any more, but good enough for an individual.

I like the cheap Ferraris

Store brand foods are good a lot of times. They used to be garbage, but nowadays they're pretty good.

Frozen veggies instead of fresh is usually okay if you're steaming or roasting.

Automotive parts off Amazon have worked alright; Rebuilt my suspension for, like, $120. That's tie rod, sway bar, shocks, and struts. No issues for the two years since that repair.

A ton of hobbies have perfectly respectable aliexpress alternatives. Keycaps, Fountain pens, 3d printer parts. They rob intellectual property, but I like linux ISOs, so I don't exactly have a history of respecting that type of property.

Software in general can be cheaped out on; I don't think I need to champion FOSS on here.

Refrigerators and washing machines can be cheaped out on, as long as you do a bit of research about their reliability.

Lots of stuff is easy to DIY if you have some work space. Furniture, fish tanks, thermonuclear warheads. Learning to sew is valuable, not because you should make your own clothes -fuck that- but because you can mend the stitching on your current clothes.

Services can usually be cheaped out on. Youtube videos and a can-do attitude can get you through manicures and toilet repairs. Court clerks will sometimes be willing to walk you through basic legal stuff like name changes. Things you should educate yourself about beyond a short youtube video: Electricity, flammability (from heat sources), and anything involving significant pressure (pistons, compressed air, and power washers, mostly.).Also be a little careful with chemical reactions: cement hardening, for example, will produce a bit of heat. Usually this isn't a big deal and you can ignore it, but there have been idiots.The world's information is at your disposal. Provided you've got some common sense, and you never fuck around with the capacitor in a microwave, you should be fine.