People in your category cannot differentiate between Wants and Needs. You're every Capitalist's wet dream. A bonafide consumer. You feel that you have to reward yourself every living moment for breathing. As you say you prefer "to make more money than to save"....You somehow feel that saving is a negative thing that's designed to take your money away from you...But if you peek just a little further down the road,you'll see that saving/investing is actually you rewarding yourself for the Nice times you always crave.

Buying more stock index funds on Friday. I hope the market dips a bit before then to get some discounted stock

"My wife"

This will be your most costly mistake. All tge frugal spending, all the hard work saving. Gone in an instant when she changes her mind about you.

Enjoy

Christ another ashin

What is it with you canucks? This thread sucks

this man talks about living frugal, then posts an essay.

someone frugalize/cliffs this post for me.

Smart

Ill have to look into that because Im surrounded by wealthy towns

Cliffs:

Run a Budget
Invest & Save Before paying bills
Live at or below means
Dont blow money on stupid chit

Thats about it.

- a wife with as much to lose as you will think twice before ruining the marriage
- a cheating wife like above will be more willing to sell off assets and split rather than wanting everything you have because she has nothing
-choosing a wife that has a similar income to yourself is smart
-prenup

Ha I think it's much easier to be frugal if you're a guy. I like to spend more money on clothes, but for me that means buying something from Brooks Brothers/Ralph Lauren vs Banana Republic. I still only need like 5-7 shirts to get me through the week. And obviously, I don't need beauty treatments, etc. I do wish, however, there were more girls like you who at least had some concept of a budget/money. So many of the girls I talk to my age are still in the high school mode of obsessing over brands and getting their "retail therapy" in. I just can never see myself dating (or god forbid, marry) women like that because it's just so in-congruent with my philosophy.

Is there a place where girls that know about basic personal finance hang out or something haha? Tinder/Bumble/the morons I hang out with definitely aren't helping.The thing is, we're not miserable for not spending our money on new toys. I loved cars as a kid and always wanted to own a Benz. I now have the money to buy one if I wanted it, but I've come to realize as I stopped spending so much money that having a fancy car is only nice for the first couple of months you have it. You'll get some confidence, girls will think it's "hot" (albeit the wrong type of women for anything besides a fling), brahs will complement you on it, etc. Once that initial euphoria is over though, what you're left with is a depreciating asset that costs significantly more for basic necessities like gas/insurance, will break down more, costs more to fix when it breaks down, etc. Plus, your friends will eventually stop caring about what you drive within the first 3-4 times they sit in your car, so even that is gone. Are all these incremental hassles really worth it for the initial rush you get?

I think the best way to do this lifestyle is to first pay off all your high interest debts (i.e. credit cards), make steady progress on smarter debts (i.e. student loans, mortgage payments, etc.), and then set a particular % of your salary you want to save and take it right out of your paycheck. For me, this was 20% (including any company match), so I told the company to take out 16% of my paycheck right away and put it into a 401k for retirement, since I already have emergency/medical funds established. After you've established this baseline, you can theoretically spend 100% of your paycheck and still be OK. If you want to go deeper into the rabbit hole, then you can start analyzing what you spend on a weekly basis and what all you can cut out. For me, I noticed that I was spending $40 or so on eating out. I learned how to make a really cheap lunch, which saved me around $30 net of the extra groceries. This is essentially an extra $120 a month in spending that I can allocate toward something I care about more, which for me was travel/nicer clothes.

So again, we're not miserable because we don't own a bunch of things. We just have figured out what we care about, don't skimp on that, and enjoy the security of knowing that we could lose our jobs/have a medical emergency and not risk becoming homeless to pay for it.

Sig worthy. Damn good post.

Agreed. Sad because the only thing I want in life is a GTR

Spot on, repped.

i live relatively frugal. i'm able to save almost £1,000 per month and pay the majority of the mortgage and bills at home.

it makes me laugh when people spend £50+ on phone contracts. they have to have the latest apple or android device, then can't use their device for half the month because they've run out of data. whereas i pay around £15 per month on a sim only contract and have unlimited data and calls. plus i get calls abroad included in that - all run off a device i paid £150 over a year ago that does everything the latest phone does.

getting a rewards card/credit card is a good idea if you're decent with your finances. pay it off every month and you get rewards and discounts for your normal spending habits

OP you have it totally wrong I didnt come on this planet to live no frugal lifestyle, that is why I went to college and I work my ass off so I can afford to buy nice things and still save money, you should try it.

I am frugal

- 10 year old car does 60 mpegs
- wear cotton trader clothes and tk maxx bargains
- wear $800 loafers - they have lasted me 7 years and with good maintenance should last another 7 = $60 per year...
- live with parents, pay more rent than apartment costs but get all my laundry done for free.
- only got one thing left, omega watch, selling next month
- NO DEBT
- $10/ month phone bill

Now when I have expendable I go out and blow $1k in a day BUT only when I want to. I can LIVE for next to nothing if I had to.

No car finance, no mortgage, no holiday finance, no credit cards

life is goat srs.

Just by having no debt I am richer than 90% of society.

lol @ a lower-middle-class brah wearing $800 loafers

-good job on the car. Modern tech has mpgs even greater than that. Make sure to get a steal on one when this one kicks the bucket.
-I really want to start bargain clothes shopping. I'm just not into fashion or buying clothes at all.
- you got me on the loafers. I'm not exactly sure why you even have them. Waste of money.
-I'm not sure why you'd stay with your folks if it's MORE expensive living with them than by yourself.


Not all debt is bad. Part of Being frugal is managing your debt to your advantage. Rewards from credit cards is a great example. Rent from rental properties would be another.

I don't think you know the definition of rich.

Lol, living with parents isn't "living".

I don't take anyone's advice serious in here that lives with mommy and daddy that are over 18.

Brb because everyone has a stable financial system in place at 18 years, one day old.

Currently 26 and live with parents.

Lol at anyone that moves out at 18.

Life is goat.
Lives with mum.

Northerners.

How much of your paycheck do you guys have left over each month after the bills are paid?

Goat postI put money into my Roth and student loans before i pay my bills, after that I have $1000 each month savings towards a home.

I like to live with no strings attached therefore in my mind I always have to be able to fit my life into 2 luggages and a sports bag so whenever I buy something, I try to throw something else away to keep it in balance. Could be some sort of mental issue but imaging my life fitting into two bags firstly helps me save money and not spend it on useless chit and gives me the feeling that I could move anywhere at anytime if I wish to do so.

Guess some people are spenders, the others savers. I have enough clothes to combine and make new outfits without actually having to buy new stuff. Buy stuff from ebay/amazon rather than right from the shop with their prices, use vouchers and go to shops during sales if I really need something. I think people are too attached to items and see their value through the items they have/buy. Got to have the newest phone, the fanciest car. I say fuk that and have a personality that impresses people, don't put so much effort into impressing people with your "valuables"

Sooo frugal Right now brahs, had to cut down from an oz to now just a quarter a month.

*Also make papa johns pizza last 6 days crew* unless im high tech feeling then bish will be gone in mins.

LOL you do realize that the bad reputation of living with your parents is only cultural, right?

Here in Europe a lot of young adults live with their parents, i believe it´s 40% of everyone under 25 years old.

Do you try and negotiate in retail shops?

What are some tips in general? Im a terrible negotiator, but I know its beneficial in life, especially with saving money.

Most retail shops, JcPenny, Macy's etc will have coupons that they will use towards a consumers purchase, I don't collect coupons, nor do I go out of my way to find coupons, but if you bring it up to a cashier, and ask them, they will more than gladly provide a coupon..

Actually yesterday went to Aldi's to get some groceries, asked the lady politely if she had any coupons to use this week, stated she had $5.00 coupon for groceries over $35.00.. Boom, $5 for gas.

Proper way to negotiate anything in this world is to make the person your negotiating with your friend, once you've broken that barrier of Salesman/Friend, it's much easier for you and him to talk about price.. Probably wont work with your grocery bill at Walmart, but will work in Ma and Pa stores..

Not really helpful for negotiating price in retail shops but when buying online, a quick Google search will almost always find you some kind of discount code for a business. Also if you know you're going to be making big purchases or several purchases from a retailer check some of the gift card resell websites. You can usually snag gift cards around 10% off face value for a lot of businesses. Not so much at places like Walmart or Target, but I do a lot of DIY projects around my house and frequently buy some Lowe's gift cards at a discount to save money. I'll also get on Ebay and buy their $15 off $50 and $50 off $250 coupons for about a dollar each.

For instance I installed some cabinets in my laundry room a few months back, I figured the total price at $550. Bought two $50 off $250 coupons and a gift card that was just over the amount I knew the cabinets would cost after the discount. I split up the cabinets and made two purchases meeting the $250 requirement so I could use the codes and used the gift card for both purchases. Saved almost $150 for about 10 minutes worth of work.

Edit:I was just about to ask how it is looked upon in other countries after seeing the other posters comment on living with his parents.