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I feel good about it. I do splurge every now and then though. It's good to have a balance. My bf clowns me for being frugal but I feel why spend more if you don't have to? I'm not stealing. Why should I feel bad for being frugal if stores keep having sales and keep sending me coupons?
The term "frugal" is so flexible to be almost meaningless. You can save part of your income and live on less than you have coming in. You can spend actually what you have coming in or you can spend more than you have coming in and go into debt.
"Debt" simply means paying interest to have the thing you bought sooner than if you had bought it later for cash.
There is no such thing as "good debt" or "bad debt" or "toxic debt" and those are all as meaningless as "frugal".
Buying a house in not "good debt" by any stretch of the imagination. Tell me that would would like to have bought a house in Detroit five years ago or ten years ago or any other number of years ago. Cleveland? St Louis? Buffalo? Los Angeles? Chicago?
If you are "frugal" you have no debt and any income you receive is your money to spend as you wish. If you have a dime's worth of debt of any type you are not "frugal". You are just selectively frugal about some things.
The term "frugal" is so flexible to be almost meaningless. You can save part of your income and live on less than you have coming in. You can spend actually what you have coming in or you can spend more than you have coming in and go into debt.
"Debt" simply means paying interest to have the thing you bought sooner than if you had bought it later for cash.
There is no such thing as "good debt" or "bad debt" or "toxic debt" and those are all as meaningless as "frugal".
Buying a house in not "good debt" by any stretch of the imagination. Tell me that would would like to have bought a house in Detroit five years ago or ten years ago or any other number of years ago. Cleveland? St Louis? Buffalo? Los Angeles? Chicago?
If you are "frugal" you have no debt and any income you receive is your money to spend as you wish. If you have a dime's worth of debt of any type you are not "frugal". You are just selectively frugal about some things.
I disagree. It's all about where you can get return on investment. If you carry debt at 2% and can take that money (that you owe) and invest it and make 8% in the stock market, you should be in the stock market. That is the frugal thing to do even if you do have the debt.
I disagree. It's all about where you can get return on investment. If you carry debt at 2% and can take that money (that you owe) and invest it and make 8% in the stock market, you should be in the stock market. That is the frugal thing to do even if you do have the debt.
Being frugal doesn't mean I do without. It means I spend my money intelligently and with forethought. Being frugal in my day to day life means I can be extravagant when I choose to be, on things that are important to me.
Since I don't have a printing press in the basement, it just makes sense!
Reminds me of something that happened years ago. My son (who was 12 at the time) came to me and asked if "we" (meaning me) could buy him a pair of air jordan (or some other silly such shoe).
I asked him, "how much?"
He said, "150."
I replied, "dollars??" (with pretty much that same look on my face)
"Yeah, is that a problem?" he asked.
"Oh no, dear ... not at all," I replied, at which time I got up off my chair and started to walk out the back door.
He asked, "Where ya going, Mom?"
I said, "Uh, to pull a couple of hundreds off the tree."
In the end, we compromised. He mowed lawns around the neighborhood and had saved a bit of money. I kicked in half and he paid the other half. I could have probably paid the full amount but why? What kid needs a pair of shoes that cost 150 dollars? And this was back in the early 90's, for cryin' out loud!!
I wish I could tell you that my little lessons about life and money rubbed off on him but, sorry to say, they haven't. He's got a boatload of debt and a lot of sleepless nights.
I do not disagree with your 2% and 8% and all the rest but I do disagree with where it is leading.
You are guaranteed today, you are not guaranteed tomorrow.
If you have the lake house, that boat, those PWC, that Tahoe, and you are up to your eyes in debt at least your have the stuff and the fun that it brings.
If you miser your money like Scrooge you get the breast cancer or the prostate cancer and all of your money is gone anyhow to the medical pros.
When you are 66 years old and sick and broke, nowbody is going to buy you a boat.
If you are 27 years old, and you want a boat, but a boat. If you want a pleasure horse, buy a horse.
My logic is 100% more irrefutable than yours. Your want to save money for four decades so that your can pay medical bills? Go right ahead. Save your money for forty years. In the meantime, I will be having fun for forty years.
Listen to Dave Ramsey radio show some time. Listen to how much of his advice is about saving money so that later in life you can pay medical bills to strangers. Give your money to the church and pay insurance premiums to insurance companies and pay medical deductibiles. That is the Dave Ramsey meaning of life.
Screw that. Me and my old lady are going on a three week cruise to Greece. We may not have Sharon Ramsey's money but we are not paranoid about money either.
I do not disagree with your 2% and 8% and all the rest but I do disagree with where it is leading.
You are guaranteed today, you are not guaranteed tomorrow.
If you have the lake house, that boat, those PWC, that Tahoe, and you are up to your eyes in debt at least your have the stuff and the fun that it brings.
If you miser your money like Scrooge you get the breast cancer or the prostate cancer and all of your money is gone anyhow to the medical pros.
When you are 66 years old and sick and broke, nowbody is going to buy you a boat.
If you are 27 years old, and you want a boat, but a boat. If you want a pleasure horse, buy a horse.
My logic is 100% more irrefutable than yours. Your want to save money for four decades so that your can pay medical bills? Go right ahead. Save your money for forty years. In the meantime, I will be having fun for forty years.
Listen to Dave Ramsey radio show some time. Listen to how much of his advice is about saving money so that later in life you can pay medical bills to strangers. Give your money to the church and pay insurance premiums to insurance companies and pay medical deductibiles. That is the Dave Ramsey meaning of life.
Screw that. Me and my old lady are going on a three week cruise to Greece. We may not have Sharon Ramsey's money but we are not paranoid about money either.
First let me state that I'm not a huge 'Dave fan'
I agree with some of what he says, and not others.
I've probably listened to him less than a dozen times in the last 3 years.
That said, unless he has REALLY changed from 10 years ago, alot of what I'm hearing atributed to him is flat out WRONG!.
In your case, you are missing the second part of "Live like no one else, so that later you can live like no one else!"
Methinks you miss That second part!
He is saying... To do these things once you can afford them.
BELIEVE ME. You won't need to be 60+ to afford them!
So you go buy that boat (And then worry about affording them)
And you go buy that horse (And then worry about paying for it, it's feed, and it's care)
I'll sit here, debt free, and buy what I want for cash, and then ENJOY IT, rather than worrying about 'what's the monthly'!
(And I'm not even 30!)
Frugal is watching the exact same movie in 2013, on cable or Netflix, with 20-cent can of generic pop from the fridge and a handful of chips from a 2-dollar-a-pound bag, and cuddling up on the sofa and laughing about how cool it is to be frugal. Instead of paying $30-40 to go and stand in line to see it at the cineplex tonight, including concessions and gas money, and maybe baby sitter.
I do not disagree with your 2% and 8% and all the rest but I do disagree with where it is leading.
You are guaranteed today, you are not guaranteed tomorrow.
If you have the lake house, that boat, those PWC, that Tahoe, and you are up to your eyes in debt at least your have the stuff and the fun that it brings.
If you miser your money like Scrooge you get the breast cancer or the prostate cancer and all of your money is gone anyhow to the medical pros.
When you are 66 years old and sick and broke, nowbody is going to buy you a boat.
If you are 27 years old, and you want a boat, but a boat. If you want a pleasure horse, buy a horse.
My logic is 100% more irrefutable than yours. Your want to save money for four decades so that your can pay medical bills? Go right ahead. Save your money for forty years. In the meantime, I will be having fun for forty years.
Listen to Dave Ramsey radio show some time. Listen to how much of his advice is about saving money so that later in life you can pay medical bills to strangers. Give your money to the church and pay insurance premiums to insurance companies and pay medical deductibiles. That is the Dave Ramsey meaning of life.
Screw that. Me and my old lady are going on a three week cruise to Greece. We may not have Sharon Ramsey's money but we are not paranoid about money either.
No, you might be too broke to afford medical care for what it takes and maybe you should be.
I have the house that is paid for. Car paid for, etc. I choose to live within my means and also to plan for the future the best I can. If you want to live for today like a spendthrift, go for it! I won't stop you!
Meanwhile, I will live an austere lifestyle until where I see things are going. And it does not look positive from my vantage.
And you are a contradiction in terms. So you jet off somewhere with no health insurance and yet someone is to pick up the tab?
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(with pretty much that same look on my face)
