I see stuff all day, everyday that I love and would like to have, but I wouldn’t spend the money on it, so obviously I didn’t love it enough to want to buy it at that price.

This thought process really helps me out when I see a ‘want’ that I like. If I like the item so much that the cost is not enough to deter me (even if I think it’s expensive, to a reasonable degree of course) then I rationalize that I should get it as it is more difficult for me to spend money on things than a lot of people.

As a result I rarely experience “Buyer’s Remorse.”

My goal in life is to have as few bills as possible so I can save enough each month to pay for things outright, so that I don’t have more monthly expenses. I only want to pay what is required in order for me to have and do the things I enjoy. I hate monthly expenses. I want to get to a point where I only HAVE to pay:

- property taxes (annually)
- homeowner’s insurance (annually, if possible)
- car insurance (bi-annually)

Everything else would be under my control and I love that. Even when it comes to necessities like food and utilities, I like that I can control the expenses and amount I purchase. I didn’t count health insurance as I’m expecting that to be automatically deducted from my paycheck pre-taxes, through my employer. Cell, prepaid; only paying for what I use etc etc. Aaannnnd, I would have everything autopayed from the credit card and pay that off once a month. I like thinking about saving money but I hate thinking about spending money and the more actively involved I am in paying bills the more aware I am how expensive it is just to exist in this country.

at the end you have laundry detergent, PLUS whatever else you bought with your saved 60$. for some this is “stretching your dollar”, maybe they need that 60$ to buy food or shelter. what if you use that 60$ to buy a second home, or coffees, or books or a haircut or whatever. IMHO it can lead to overconsumption of a bunch of useless crap you probably don’t need anyways. buy the laundry detergent and spend the time you would have spent making your own on something useful. help someone else, spend time with your kids, go burn some calories.

I certainly do know some people who view frugality as “evil” and spending money as “happiness,” but that view is neither logical nor sensible.

I think I would feel more secure, but not necessarily happier. I feel very happy now and I know a lot of people with more money who are not nearly as happy. I think happiness comes primarily from inside, like how you look at your situation and your ability to enjoy the simple pleasures of life right now. I’ve had “friends” ask me why I live so “poor” and why don’t spend more like they do, but I feel like I live very richly and I can confidently say that I am happier than them even though they might have more stuff and eat out more.

It would be nice for my husband and I to not have to work so we could take some more time to travel, but I think we still would work plenty regardless of our financial situation. We love each other very much and have a fantastic marriage, but there is certainly a sense of pride that comes from doing good work and we’d both miss that. And, though we also work well together, we still do need our time apart. I think life without work would be boring because I really love challenges — and sometimes we avoid challenges if we aren’t sort of forced to them by work. And in fact, I recently read that one of the secrets to longevity is to keep working instead of retiring completely in old age. I believe it. The people I know that have retired have found it not nearly as fulfilling as they had hoped — which is why I’m glad to be focusing on living now and not waiting for some future that may or may not come and may or may not be as I expect.

And if you DO prefer the office to being with your loved ones, well, then you’ve got a whole other set of issues.

In fact, I’d go as far as saying that frugality has nothing to do with money. It’s about being conscious about how much value you’re getting out of the stuff in your life. The fact that frugal people tend to have less stuff and more money is a nice biproduct of the trait.

Of course, you all know this already…

I don’t think being frugal is an evil, either. I agree with those that talk here about spending your money on things you value. I would add one more thing: spending money on things you are that you are responsible. I don’t feel like I value my medical bills, but I sure am responsible for them, lol.

Regarding education being a necessary evil, I think for some that truly is the case. I don’t think all degrees will have the effect of shaping a person. My opinion is that if you need specific training for a field (ie., health care, law, engineering, etc.) in order to work in it, by all means. While not having a degree may some what limit one’s employment potential, it isn’t always necessary either. I never finished college, and while I will admit I wish I had (and may some day), and that it has hampered my career a little bit, I make more money than the “average” person that has a two year degree, and sometimes the average person that has a 4 year degree (depending on what stats you are looking at).

This is all semantics, any way. What is one person’s evil isn’t to another. I do feel sorry for those that don’t know how to enjoy their money,though. Spending money can bring you some joy. I don’t understand how anyone can say that is NEVER true.

It’s all about keeping a balance, life is too short to live like a miser. Pay off your debt (if you have any) – including your mortgage, setup an investment strategy that you follow forever, and have some “enjoy life” money.

Remember when you get older, you might not be able to enjoy the lifestyle you can afford at that time, so don’t hold onto your money too tightly! If you wait to long you’re not going to be able to go “to Barcelona to run with the bulls” when you are in your 70s!

My approach to money is similar — I try to live well with what I’ve got, though I find myself joking that I’ll do something “someday when I’m rich”. Though it’s usually something I probably won’t do anyways.

Des (#68) I was thinking the same thing! It seems like someone who works out everyday saying, I’m doing this now so that once I’m fit I can stop exercising.

Let’s assume a person gets a decent education, enough to cover all the basics and a bit more. In my scenario, I set this as a high school diploma or 2 year community college degree.

Is 4 years of college worth it for this person? If it broadens his/her horizons and/or point of view, then sure. If it awakens the person to a passion or field of study, sure.

However, what if the person merely uses college because a BA/BS is required for what they want to do? What if all they learn in college is how to pass tests by memorizing information, then forgetting it all a week later?

What has the person learned? How to think? Or how to manipulate?

Don’t get me wrong. I support the idea of everyone being able to attend college if they want to, and graduate without a huge financial burden. But I do NOT believe that it is the best, nor even a good choice, for everyone.

It was a townhouse In Arlington, Va. My wife and I paid $186,000 for it in 1991, when we were married. We put down $36,000, so the mortgage amount was $150,000.

Our first child was born in 1999, when I was 43 and my wife was 40 (I don’t recommend this, but we cannot go back and change what we did). We had no savings other than the amount used to make the down-payment on the house when we were married.

It was shortly after we were married that we developed our first budget together. We put all our savings into paying off the mortgage (nothing went into stocks except for amounts that we were required to put into employer plans to obtain employer matches). I don’t have precise recollection, but I believe that we paid off the mortgage in early 1996. So it took a little less than five years.

We were saving like mad in those days. We both were working and we had no kids and we were frugality zealots. Once we got the mortgage paid off, we were able to put the savings into hyper-drive.

Our circumstances were unusual. Most people would not be able to do what we did. But I think that most can do more than they realize they can do. The key is motivation. We had zero motivation in earlier days. Then we both became highly motivated not too long after we took on the mortgage (for reasons I won’t go into here).

Rob

1. Paid Off Home
2. No Credit Card Debt at all
3. All the frills of opening new credit cards and getting BIG benefits (like one free round trip ticket for opening a credit card and closing it in 3 months)
4. Have money to buy anything I NEED for me or my family
5. Make SAVING MONEY a goal rather than a by product
6. Gain more freedom than a ‘person with a anchor on their neck’ who get everything on impulse
7. Give money to kids when they need it (for college, wedding, home-buying etc).

By just putting $250 towards my kids accounts every month, I totaled up $16900 (after the market crash of 2008) in their accounts without even know about it.

Frugality or whatever you want to call it is what leads to the above. The only other way is to be a CEO of a big company or have inheritance. If you do not have this situation, you BETTER BE FRUGAL to achieve the above, or else you do NOT achieve it.

Decide and Do.

Kenny

ps: My apologies if you find this too Assertive, but it is as Black and White as above. So, don’t have to choose a path, but will not get the results if you do not choose the Frugality path either.

It goes beyond saving or spending — it’s choosing to do the right thing – for yourself and for others – with the blessings that life brings all of us.