I did a semi-unfrugal thing today. I drove to Costco to buy a new pair of pants. While I was there, I bought a new shirt. I’ve lost a lot of weight this year, you see; but more than that, I’ve lost a lot of girth. My Crossfit workouts and improved diet are starting to pay off.
On January 1st, my size 38 jeans felt tight. Today, my size 34 jeans were feeling loose, and I no longer had a belt that would hold them up. (I need a new belt, too.) So, I bought a pair of size 32 jeans at Costco, along with a medium-sized shirt. I know I could have just walked to Goodwill and bought a belt, but I couldn’t help myself. It’s been about ten years, I think, since I’ve worn size 32 pants and a medium shirt. I had to see if I could fit in them again. And I do!
Now that I’m done tooting my own horn, here are a few finance articles from around the web:
First up, David sent me an article that marries two of my passions: finance and comic books. An anonymous family was about to lose their home to foreclosure, a home that had been in the family since the 1950s. (Which makes me wonder why nobody in the family had bothered to buy it outright in sixty years…) As they were packing stuff to move, they found a bunch of old comic books, including a copy of Action Comics #1 in very good condition. This comic, which features the first appearance of Superman from 1938, could fetch up to $250,000 at auction, which ought to save the family homestead.
Next, my very own wife shared a USA Today story about 40 wealthy families who have agreed to donate most of their money to charity. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are asking other billionaires — including George Lucas, Ted Turner, and Paul Allen — to sign a pledge that they’ll donate at least half of their wealth to philanthropic causes. So, make sure you let the billionaires in your life know about this so they can join!
Meanwhile, Frugal Dad’s frugal daughter offered a guest post on 10 ways to save on back-to-school shopping. I think it’s fun to read personal-finance advice from a kid’s perspective — especially when the advice is good!
Finally, this list of ten stock-market myths that just won’t die from The Wall Street Journal just makes me tense. Yes, some of the items on the list are myths. But the “de-bunking” of other myths is, well, hogwash. It’s cherry-picking of the worst sort. You can’t dismiss long-term results in one breath and then dismiss short-term results in the next. If you do that, any investment sucks. It’s a list of myths that creates more myths.
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I don’t think that buying clothes to fit a new sized body is at all unfrugal. Walking around in clothes that fit improperly just because you didn’t want to spend money would be cheap.
Congrats on the wieght/size loss!
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Wonderful news on the weight loss – there’s nothing like clothes that fit *right* to motivate you to stick to the healthy lifestyle. So you did the right thing.
Love all the good news links – today’s post was the heartwarming edition of GRS
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I don’t think you need to justify your one day of unfrugalness (yea I know its not a word). Its no biggie. I don’t think its a problem since you’re not going into debt over it. Besides everyone should have clothes that fit them.
Congrats on losing weight. =)
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Congrats, J.D. It might have been a teensy bit un-frugal, but some things just deserve celebrating! This is definitely one of those things.
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Congrats!!!! A 32/medium is something to definitely toot your horn about!!!!
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J.D.
Congrats on the weight loss. It would be cool i we can hit a CF WOD together. I’ve been doing it for a little more than a year and it’s been great.
Mike
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Congrats on the weight loss!
If I can’t get back from a size 10 to a size 8 before school starts, I will have to buy new professional clothing. If it were the other way around I would have NO PROBLEM buying new clothes, but it is way too depressing to shop for bigger clothes unless you’re pregnant.
DH and I are on a “no eating out” diet (aiming for 5 fruits and veggies) in order to cut back down. DH is currently aiming to fit into his size 32s too. You’re an inspiration.
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Going from a 38 to a 32 really is great! You work out a lot and dont’ let it overwhelm you. It is easier to maintain a small weight then it is to get there in the first place – you’ve done the hard part – don’t stress yourself out maintaining – it’s easier than you think and shouldn’t result in any sort of burn out.
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Congratulations JD, that is awesome news. Losing weight is just about the best reason I know to buy new clothes.
I read that article about the Gates’ and Buffet’s efforts to get more of the megarich to follow their example when considering the distribution of their wealth. I applaud them for their philanthropy but that article just brought home to me some of the things I find repugnant about wealth distribution in society as a whole and the practice of making money off of things that are so far from the actual products and currency as to be less than distant cousins.
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I was actually kind of sad when I lost weight because it meant I had to buy all new clothes, and I was pretty happy with my old ones!
It’s expensive to buy new clothes. I ended up trimming down my closet by 2/3 and just doing laundry more often. Now I’m at the other end of the spectrum…where I pretty much go through everything I have in a week or two and I am ready for some new clothes.
@Nicole: I went on a gluten-free diet (diagnosed with Celiac disease in my case, but the diet can work for anyone) and dropped from a 10 to a 4/6 effortlessly in 3 weeks. I lost a total of 12 pounds and have kept 10 of those pounds off.
-Erica
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Erica– I know what my problem is… I have insulin resistance, so the diet that works for me is similar to gluten-free but no white rice etc… and of course pumpernickel is ok for me. But I’ve been slacking off and am almost back to the weight I was 5 years ago, which is why I have no clothing in that size. DH’s problem is portion size. He does well when he listens to his body instead of his mouth.
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I’m a frugal person, but when I lost all my weight, I hired an image consultant and had a blast shopping. Now I hire her because she can find stuff in two hours that would take me weeks to find — and she is a gem, in that she will shop at Winners, and she finds stuff for great prices. So it totally pays off the cost of the consultant.
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J.D.,
First of all, congrats on the weight loss. As a size 38 myself, I’d give just about anything to get back into size 32 jeans and a medium shirt.
After reading the article on stock market myths, I wanted to point out this article by Paul Farrell from a couple months ago:
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/american-investors-predictably-stupid.aspx?GT1=33002
He basically maintains that Wall Street views individual investors as predictably stupid prey, and points out that this predictability has already been factored into Wall Street trading models. As a former trader, I’m afraid I have to agree, as much as it pains me to do so.
I still try to buck the trend and make money in the market, but the high-frequency trading platforms are making it tougher every day.
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Being fit is, in and of itself, frugal so I say no guilt to buying new clothes.
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Congratulations! I wouldn’t sweat the Costco clothing too much, it’s not like you went out and loaded up a credit card with a new wardrobe or anything, and I’m betting you’ll get years of use out of your clothing!
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Definitely not unfrugal. Buying those clothes was a reward for all of the hard work you put in. Just like your mini purchase, they were the result of a lot of hard work!
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JD – that is wonderful (about the weight loss). The new clothes purchase was not unfrugal. Why? Because you could easily afford the purchase and it gave you enormous satisfaction. You of all people should know frugality is not the idea that you never buy something new again. You know you can have anything you want, just not everything you want. Do what works for you ;0) I myself have recently lost 25 pounds – I don’t think words can describe how awesome it feels. Keep it up!!!
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JD,
I thought the WSJ piece was one of Mr. Arends’ better columns; normally his work is not terribly insightful and often just plain wrong. I’m not sure why you make the claim that he can’t dismiss long term results and short term results, or to what exactly you’re referring. In any case, he’s absolutely correct that the timing of when one makes his investments will have quite a bit to do with the ultimate returns, and in an even bigger picture, there are just no guarantees. We all latch onto this idea about the stock market’s great historic performance “10% annually, on average, over a little more than a century, perhaps.” But the past century is not the same thing as the next century. In the past 150 years the entire world, more or less, industrialized at quite a rapid clip. The U.S. became a superpower after two incredibly destructive wars devastated Europe. All this economic growth was propelled by dirt-cheap energy and dirt-cheap labor, both of which might be in rapidly diminishing supply. To look at the 20th century and all the specific historic developments and events that shaped the U.S. and our economy, and certainly played a large part in our economic growth; and then to say “Well that growth happened over the past 100 years; 100 years is a long time; therefore, it will probably happen again” could be construed as just a touch naive.
All this being said, I wholeheartedly agree with you that the best time to invest is when you have the money to invest, and the best way to do it is in low cost index funds. What Mr. Arends was saying is that there are still no guarantees. It’s an important point to establish because many people rely far too heavily on what they hope their investments will return.
Ed,
I read your linked article, and while I don’t disagree that the feeling on Wall St. is that most people are idiots, I also don’t disagree with the fact that most people are idiots. Or, to put it more nicely, they’re not really in a position or have an educational foundation to understand the intricacies of the markets. To think that Wall Street would guess any differently would be foolish. I thought the article was heavy on populist-sensationalism and short on any real evidence or useful information.
The author also seems unwilling to recognize just how much his brilliant Wall St. sharks personally lost themselves in the latest bubble-bursting. He prefers to stir the flames of “fat cats” controlling the “sheep.”
Basically, I’m not sure his point.
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@ Erica Good advice to Nicole! I’ve also gone on a gluten-free diet and have lost a few pounds without even trying to. It has been a month and a half.
Clothing just has to be replaced J.D. and COSTCO purchases are usually much more frugal than any other store.
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Good article JD, but I am more impressed with your weight/size loss in such a short time! I have been diligently going through the same process exercise and a slight diet change since Feb. 1. I haven’t managed to tighten my belt much, but have lost 18 lbs. Keep up the good work!!
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“comic … $250,000 at auction”
Man, and you thought buying *pants* was un-frugal. Some other person out there is expected to trade a house for 50 sheets of paper.
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Congrats on your loss of girth, JD!
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Frugal….
Forget the new belt until you get to your smallest girth. Buy a cheap revolving hole punch and you’ll be able to adjust all of your belts to work for now. You will even be able to trim some belts down in length without them looking too dumb. Hint: If you cut off the end of a black belt and it isn’t quite black on the cut, use a Sharpie!
Plus, you end up with a new tool that can be used for all kinds of things.
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GOOOOOOOOOOOO JD!! Excellent work!!!
On the topic of size 38 and frugalness, something bothers me. I’ve always been a thin, fit guy (size 29 or 30 waist and a small shirt size). When I go to an outlet mall, even in Texas, or a Ross/TJ Maxx style store, the men’s clothing wracks are inevitably stocked the following way:
About an inch of clothes in Small.
A foot of wrack space for clothes in medium.
10 feet for large.
20 feet for XL.
25 feet for XXL.
This is universally true in Canada and the US that the cheaper discount outlets and “last call” stores all have sold out of the smaller sizes. I would save so much money on clothes if I was an XL size. And don’t get me started on finding a pair of size 30 jeans at a discount store, they start at 36 and go up from there.
If you work in retail as a buyer, can you explain to me why you people over stock in super large sizes? If someone is really obese, they are far less likely to care enough about their appearance to buy brand new designer clothes. You don’t need to stock so much XXL and XL and size 38+. For evidence, go down to TJ Maxx and compare yourself.
Rant over.
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this list of ten stock-market myths that just won’t die from The Wall Street Journal just makes me tense.
I view that article as one of the most important ever published in the Wall Street Journal. I have placed a permanent link to it at the home page of my blog.
I have been warning people for eight years now that Buy-and-Hold is the ultimate Get Rich Quick scheme. Many have applauded me for being the first person to talk about stock investing in way that made real sense to them. But truth be told there have been two or three who have expressed less than complete agreement with my investing ideas (I think it would be fair to say that J.D. is in that group).
This article is one of few that I have seen in the Old Media that make the essential point — that the claim that timing doesn’t work is a marketing pitch that makes millions for The Stock-Selling Industry while doing harm to the middle-class investors who place their trust in such mumbo jumbo.
Here are the key words from the article:
“This hoary old chestnut [the claim that timing doesn't work] keeps clients fully invested.”
Thanks for linking to it (while also properly expressing your personal doubts re the message), J.D. And congratulations on that weight loss. I need to do whatever you’re doin’!
Rob
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The idea that Wall Street sees Main Streeters as idiots doesn’t bother me. That happens regardless of one’s expertise – in the restaurant world, bartenders and servers think that their consumers are idiots. Construction contractors definitely think their customers are idiots. Politicians think their constituents are idiots.
As for me, if I continue to achieve the same results in my investing that I have over the past 12 years, by buying/holding and reallocating when risk and opportunity levels justify, then I’m happy being an idiot in the eyes of Wall Street.
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Rob #25, those are two completely separate ideas — the idea that one should invest all they can, and the idea that the market can or cannot be timed. WSJ (and you) are conflating them.
Read Chapter 13 of Larimore, Lindauer and LeBoeuf’s fantastic Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing to read examples of market timing and why it fails. Yes, there is a tiny percentage chance that if you believe you can time the market, you will come out ahead. But in general, it’s a losing proposition. It’s bad advice for the vast, vast majority of people to try to convince them otherwise.
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Mike #26 — great comment! You’re exactly right!
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Congrats on the weightloss! I went through the same thing. I was in a slopply, n*t-huggin size 36 and couldn’t stand it about 3 years ago. I started gym in May 07 and thought that I could eat more…and ended up touching 200 lbs. Oct 07, I bought a new, slightly damaged Mens Abs Diet book for $7 and based all my eating principles around the content in the book. Mostly reducing HFCS and Trans Fat intakes to 0 g, while increasing the amount veggies, whole wheats, increased protein blah blah blah.. By December 07, I was down to 180 lbs, and since then I have been around 165lbs – 170 lbs since then. About a size 32 now, and not wanting to go any skinnier.
I think I dealt with using the belt to tie my pants to my waist while having for another 6 months after the initial weighloss until I finally bought new pants for work from Kohls and heavily discounted from Macys. Make sure you get your new necksize as well, since your shoulders and chest area have probably condensed down a bit! Its expensive to loose weight in the short term, but long term…just think about the savings in not having to take fat medications, surgeries, etc… You just genuwinly feel beter about yourself!
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Geeze — I think the jeans at Costco ($12.99 for the Kirkland brand at our local one) are a best buy — our local Goodwill charges $10 + for jeans with no rips/holes/wear and you can’t always find your size when you need them! I buy them for our family there as they are also made from the heavy weight denim that lasts a couple of years – Congrats and Woo Hoo!!
and you should check out Costco for belts — hubby got a 2 pack for $18.50 there last week (yes, leather).
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WSJ (and you) are conflating them.
I am grateful to you for the way you said things, HoneyBee. You and I do not agree. But I have been wrong before and it could be that I am wrong again. So I am grateful to you for telling the other side of the story.
Rob
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You should definitely talk about the ups and downs of your weight loss journey. Congrats!
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Uhhh how is this unfrugal?
What’s wrong with not buying used stuff?
Yeesh.
Costco isn’t Dior.
BUT, congrats on the weightloss
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I read the top 10 stock myths and immediately rolled my eyes. Most of the people who write financial articles like that have no idea what they are doing.
I especially had a problem with #1, #3, #5, #9, and #10.
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Thats awesome on the weight loss! Regarding crossfit – I have looked into it and it seems to be a bit of a scam. Why won’t anyone tell you how much their fee is before you go in and do their free workout? I’d like an idea before I go there – am I going to get some high pressure sales pitch when I walk through the door?
I am not doubting that it works, but its weird that you can’t find prices listed anywhere online for any gym (Im in the DC area).
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Hey, Libby. I wouldn’t say Crossfit is a scam, not by any stretch of the imagination. You don’t even need to join a gym to do it. (Many folks go to Crossfit for a few weeks, then buy all the stuff to do it themselves at home once they understand the exercises.)
However, Crossfit gyms *can* be expensive, though I don’t think there’s any set pricing. Mine costs a lot of money. I’m happy to pay it because I get results and because I can afford it. Not everyone is in the same boat. Your best bet is to ask the gyms you’re looking at how much they cost. And remember: If it’s too much, negotiate!
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@Libby – I was VERY skeptical of crossfit before I joined in a few months ago in Seattle. I think there is probably a lot of variation between the different gyms around the country based on who is running them. I’m generally turned off by high-pressure sales techniques, but the place I went to had their prices clearly stated on their website so I could research before going in.
I’ll just say I was shocked when there was pretty much no pressure at all to sign up and when I finished the one month beginner program they even said to not continue if we didn’t feel like it felt right. It is sort of a fun community to be around, hopefully you can find a gym that is better than what you have come across so far.
It is very pricey, but I know I could cover it and still reach my savings goals as I am pretty frugal. It is easier for me to convince myself to spend if I see something as an investment in some way and I think education, fitness, and social spending all can create long term benefits when used under the right circumstances.
J.D is right that you can also do almost all the workouts at home and most with no equipment so that is a pretty big bonus if you need to quit for financial reasons down the road. So far I like the structure and attention from the trainers during the class and the social aspect of working out with a group.
Wow, I never thought I would write in support of this just a few months ago….
Congrats J.D. on reaching your fitness goals!
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