Just curious what frugal people think of spending money on nightlife? (sale, old)

[rfr69]

A few years ago when I was younger was going out to the bars, spending a fortune. A few years older and the bar scene kind of lost it's appeal, still like going out and having a good time from time to time but not that often.

It's amazing how much money you waste out at bars, then after the bar normally a cab ride, food, etc.

Just curious if you frugal people enjoy nightlife, what you do to save money be it pregame before the bars or just go out in moderation, drink drink specials, go to hole in the wall bars, etc?

[MrRational]

One more time...
being frugal is not about WHAT you do... what you spend your money on.
It's about HOW you go about doing that... or perhaps how frequently you do something.

hope that helps.

[rfr69]

Originally Posted by MrRational

One more time...
being frugal is not about WHAT you do... what you spend your money on.
It's about HOW you go about doing that... or perhaps how frequently you do something.

hope that helps.

excuse me for bringing up a new topic instead of harping on one of the threads that are 12 pages deep and played out.

I'm definately not one of these lets not have any enjoyment out of life because we dont want to spend money people.

I was just curious how others tried to be frugal and still have an active nightlife.

Obviously going out in moderation is probably the most common and easiest one but just curious about other tips.

Maybe not going to bars with a cover charge. Drinking drink specials, Entertaining at your home instead of giong out. Getting drunk at home before you go out so you can get a drink to just sip on all evening while out.

I don't think this topic has really been covered and was curious to hear if any people have very active nightlifes but also keep costs down.

I think probably the number one way to be frugal is be an attractive women and have others pay for your drinks...lol. I remember my buddy and I used to go out with female friends and send them on rounds around the bar. Inevitably they would come back with a handful of drinks guys just bought for them. Helped keep our costs down lol.

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by rfr69

excuse me for bringing up a new topic instead of harping on one of the threads that are 12 pages deep and played out.

sorry about the snark

Maybe not going to bars with a cover charge. Drinking drink specials, Entertaining at your home instead of giong out. Getting drunk at home before you go out so you can get a drink to just sip on all evening while out.

I don't think this topic has really been covered and was curious to hear if any people have very active nightlifes but also keep costs down.

This might be more about the age or stage of life aspect then.
For a twenty something single in the city perhaps?

The price of admission (so to speak) to have those nightclub and drinks things in your life is to not have OTHER things in your life. It's really no more complicated than that... but yeah, people who are conscious of not wasting their money will tend to find ways to entertain themselves in other ways.

Which are you willing to do without or with less of:
Wardrobe? Furniture? Home? Car? Vacations? Investments? OT hours?

[Gandalara]

Originally Posted by rfr69

Entertaining at your home instead of giong out.

This is what my group of friends has done for years, and it's never anything fancy. Since I live in an area where we can usually be outdoors everyone brings their own BBQ, whether it be hamburger or steak or vegetarian, and preference of drink. The hosting home supplies a salad and chips. In good weather, we probably get together every week. If it rains , we go inside. November and December, everyone goes their own way ... and it starts all over again New Years Eve, LOL

The dynamics of the group changed (kids, moved away, break-ups of couples) over the years, but there's still 3 'originals'

Oh - and don't get drunk at home and then go out.

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by rfr69

A few years ago when I was younger was going out to the bars, spending a fortune. A few years older and the bar scene kind of lost it's appeal, still like going out and having a good time from time to time but not that often.

It's amazing how much money you waste out at bars, then after the bar normally a cab ride, food, etc.

Just curious if you frugal people enjoy nightlife, what you do to save money be it pregame before the bars or just go out in moderation, drink drink specials, go to hole in the wall bars, etc?

Years ago, when we were more into that, it was a choice we made, and we made financial decisions to accomodate it. That's the thing about money -- money is flexible. You tell it where you want it to go.

So if we were deciding to have a night out with friends, we curtailed our other spending -- not buying the more expensive chicken breasts, but bought thighs instead, made sure we combined trips in the car to not waste gas. Went to the library instead of buying books.

And as this time our with friends got to be an every weekend thing, we kept our cutbacks so we wouldn't hamper our enforced savings amount.

It truly can be done, you have to plan for it.

BUT -- you used the word "waste" in your post -- which is telling to me. You're ready to move on to something else. And when you find out what that is, you won't feel like you're wasting your money.

[GrandviewGloria]

Well, lets see....

I suppose we're frugal. Our first dates were free things offered on campus (Modern Dance Workshops, poetry readings, highbrow concerts...). We'd dine at the Cafeteria (which, to dirt-poor kids like us, was fabulous gourmet dining) Then, we'd go back to the Dorm and s--w like Wolverines. Cheap Date. Later, I'd pick up some big, hairy bodybuilder, and go to some free movie, then go wear him out (ok....same dude, actually...but his appearance kept changing, as the bodybuilding and endless sex first caused a Late-onset Growth Spurt, and later, Bodybuilder Hypertrophy...so, for me, it's like I was dating a bigger, hotter, dude every week).

Later, I started being invited to the select gatherings on campus, where the rich alums are schmoozed for donations. Being the perky, polite, little Indian Girl...the one without attitude... kept me in demand, as an example of whom those Donors would be helping with their Checks. There was this huge, hot guy at those gatherings, who looked like he was made of money: Armani Suits, Fendi Ties, Hilditch & Key Shirts, Brass Boot Shoes... Silk Socks from England... Silk Trafalgar Suspenders, with real Lizard trim...Silk BOXERS, for heaven's sake! Well, I started letting him ravish me, after each of those parties. Have to say, while I didn't drink, I was intoxicated by the expensive smell of his clothes.

Okaaaaay, okaaaay.... it was my Husband. I was going in a van, with friends, up to Greenville, Mississippi, to the legendary (and long-gone) Steinmart Saks Fifth Avenue Sales. Back then, I could snag (in today's Dollars) a fifteen-hundred-Dollar Armani Suit for him, for Twenty Bucks, English or Italian Socks for a buck a pop, eight-hundred-dollar Scottish Cashmere Sweaters, for four bucks....

But he really was a budding Real Estate Mogul: as soon as we were old enough to sign contracts, we started buying apartment buildings in off-campus slums....living in them while upgrading. So, I was doing it with this young, hot, Armani-clad Tycoon...

So, the primary goal for 'going out': finding someone to have sex with, was something we did accomplish. Only...we kept hooking up with each other, exclusively. And all through school, we never spent any money at all those ritzy campus parties.

Later, when we hit the Business World, people would 'take us out'. I was never clear on whether these jaunts were considered as real adjuncts to doing business, or whether those individuals...and couples...were hoping they could swing with us, if they got us liquored-up. Well, that always backfired for them, because we don't drink...and we sure as Hell didn't do drugs. And we managed to duck-out of every single one of these little 'clubbing adventures' before we had to pay for anything. "Oh, it's my Pager! The Children! The Children! So sorry! We've gotta go!" But we did, on each of those occasions, manage to find hotties to 'make it with' (each other).

We did, however, generally let our hosts get their money's worth. Instead of getting huffy, when a Jackson 'Bidnisman' would grope me, I'd use that as an opportunity to make him feel like a co-conspirator and a Stud...turning a potential enemy into a friend for life. DH has never been shy about whom he's been seen by in the showers at gyms. The news was out that he was a sight to be seen. And all the bisexual Bank Presidents and their wives were absolutely worked into a frenzy, to see 'it' ready-to-use, and actually experience 'it'. Plenty of those ladies managed to feel him up, before we'd rush home "To the Children" (actually, the thrill of being so desperately desired by those rich people was a great aphrodisiac, and we'd go get busy...). And I'm sure our would-be-seducers own 'Marital Relations' were spiced-up on those evenings.


Why anyone would want to waste time in bars and clubs is a mystery to me. But I will do a breakdown of why one might want to go out:

1. Finding people for Sex . Valid goal, if you ask me. I'm all fer it. However, it's far more thrifty to be in a monogamous relationship. Even kissing spreads disease (Papillomavirus, Gingivitis...). Disease costs money.

2. Consuming Alcohol or Drugs. Huge waste of money, particularly since intoxicants only make you dumber and uglier. The ancillary costs (loss of productivity, increase in risk of accidents, deleterious health effects, incidental legal expenses...) of booze and drugs are not inconsiderable.

3. Seeing and being seen. Valid objective. Except those places tend to be dark and loud. My Kids go to Ibiza. Sons are on the Beach naked (in the healthy Sunshine, while half the island is in hotel rooms 'sleeping it off'). They get plenty of exposure, apparently, because they do not go clubbing, later. No need. They're busy back at the villa, with the German and Swedish girls they gather-up on the Beach (Bodybuilding and Organic Vegetarian diets do have their rewards. I do, however, worry about disease, and possible Paternity Suits...Oh well, they're all middle-to-upper-class Blondes, so how bad could it be, to have more Grandchildren than anticipated...). Personally, I prefer to 'be seen' poolside, at a good hotel with a 'Scene Pool', or on the Beach in the Malibu Colony...or at some fundraiser (when Camera Crews are present, people tend to behave)...or second row at a fashion show (I doubt I will ever be Front Row material). But mostly, I 'meet and greet' in the Cardio Rooms at various gyms. You see a lot more skin than at a 'club', and can actually hear what people are saying (except in the 'pump rooms' at some gyms, where the hardcore dudes are listening to Death Metal..great music and mind-numbing tons of sweaty flesh...and that's where I tend hear: "I'd give my left --- to ---- a hot older woman like you!" Doesn't matter where you get your appetite, as long as yo dine at home...).

4. Listening to Music. Oh Pahleez.... The sound systems in our old Volvos delivered better listening than you get in a 'club' or a bar. The sound systems in our Lexus and Porsches were too 'good' and hurt my ears. This new, reeeeeeeeeealy expensive ride was supposedly fitted with 'low impact' speakers for me (I think the salesman simply disabled the 'megabass' thingamajiggies, and set the controls for the other obnoxious elements to 'low'. Most other people who buy these things are Sports Monkeys and Entertainers, and I think they have an economical 'De-Thumping' protocol, for the rare occasions when a legitimate person buys one). But anyway, the fifteen-Dollar one-piece Sony CD/Cassette/Radio jobbies we've always had (until we came to live in houses more-or less mandatorily wired for sound...the current one built by a Surgeon, who had the place fitted with pain-free speakers)...anyway, we far preferred listening to Thrill Kill Cult, Electric Hellfire Club, Spahn Ranch, Die Krupps, Throbbing Gristle, or Switchblade Symphony, at home, on our cheap little portable 'systems', than being in a club, having our hearing destroyed, listening to smarmy dreck that was far less edgy.

Today, if I want to hear Feindflug, Heimataerde, Colony 5, Hocico, Alien Vampires, Grendel, or Amduscia, I still just buy the music.

And yes: The idea of wasting money on 'drinks' and tips totally drives me out of my mind. I avoid restaurants when I can, because I hate tipping. I travel a lot on business, and sometime feel like a friggin' ATM. And 'Cover Charges' and 'VIP Fees'? Oy Gevalt! Nyet! Do you know how many songs I can buy, and pay my Assistant to load them, for what getting into a club costs?

[LivingDeadGirl]

I loved my time in bars. Music and dancing and meeting new people and laughing has given me wonderful memories. Being a woman, I didn't have to spend much in the bar but only on the clothes/makeup, etc required to look good once in the bar. You have to do the bar thing when you are young because once you get old, it's tough to stay up past 10:00 pm, it is impossible to recover from a hangover and you cannot see well at night anymore to drive home. Being frugal is about making choices and having options. Eg: I hate TV so don't have it. What I save on cable packages enables me to go to Europe every 2-3 years. It is a valuable skill to know how to be frugal.

[NJBest]

I think entertainment is one area where you shouldn't be overly frugal. I mean, don't go crazy and maybe even frequent places that have drink specials... but certainly don't cut it out of your life to save money. What's the point of a life if you don't live?

Spending a few grand on nightlife every now and then is worth it.

[jasper12]

I don't have cable, internet, go out to lunch, or ever buy food out, I buy clothes on sale, so...I enjoy going out to places with a liberal happy hour, buy beer on tap, and enjoy a few. That is going out "frugal style".