Expert Money-Saving Suggestions Are Actually Useless Advice?
Many money-saving suggestions could just be ways to shift blame to the poorest of people, say experts.
This article is more than 2 years old
Inflation is at an all-time high. The interest rates are going up and up (and may go up again). And all around the world, people are looking for easy tips and tricks to save money. From obvious things like taking a cue from grandma’s days and keeping leftovers for lunch the next day to odd ideas like putting tin foil behind a radiator, it seems everyone has money-saving suggestions that promise to keep pennies available for those fabled rainy days.
According to Vice, suggestions are basically useless and are a way for the government to pander to the poor or simply give lip service to those barely getting by. The original story, published about the economic situation in the UK, does sound fairly similar to what is happening in the US as well. Money-saving suggestions are everywhere.
However, the UK seems to have a bit more difficulty as recently, the government said that feeling cold (really cold) is actually good for you. Kind of like a ‘don’t worry, there kiddo, it’ll be warm soon,’ type of patronizing advice. A recent expert on donating in the UK said that all the recent money-saving suggestions are simply just a way to refocus.
Instead of truly helpful suggestions, the advice given is simply a way to make poorer folks seem unintelligent because clearly, they just didn’t know how to save or do something wise with their resources and decisions. Money-saving suggestions—or the types that seem very obvious—are just ways to stigmatize people who are having a hard time making ends meet.
Here in the US, citizens are constantly bombarded with money-saving suggestions like ways to save in the home, and better ways to manage money. Interestingly, it always seems like suggestions involve spending more money. Want to make your at-home dinners taste better? Grow an herb garden. Want to manage your money better? Maybe you should just find another job in order to get a raise.
Granted some suggestions are indeed helpful—the best times to run your dishwasher or yes, it is perfectly ok to run your dishwasher on cold. But some money-saving suggestions are a bit obvious and just feel like you’re being talked down to like an insolent child. In the UK, an energy company apologized after it wrote a blog post where it suggested that in order to save money and not turn your heat on, you should play games in the house, doing jumping jacks or even hula hoop.
One way that Gen Z members—at least in the US—are indeed finding success with money-saving suggestions is in cash stuffing. However, this method is not aimed at the poverty level that some folks are experiencing, but are helpful tricks and tips to not spend so frivolously. Cash stuffing is basically stuffing amounts of cash in envelopes to pay for different amenities. Nope, Gen Z doesn’t trust banks, just like your great-grandparents didn’t.
It works simply because you don’t spend and you see the money as a tangible thing and not just as a card that magically pays for something when you stick it in a card reader at the store. When spending physical cash feels more real, then you’re going to really think long and hard about spending $500 for the next tattoo that you don’t need.
So, next time you hear about “money-saving suggestions” try to think the suggestions actually make sense—like saving gas—or if the government is just trying to make it seem like you’re the one at fault for not being able to save.
It’s really just about thinking critically. Now that’s a money-saving suggestion that actually works.
