How thrifty are you?

I spend money on dinners and vacations but daily, as Cubans say in Spanish, I walk with my elbows.

i am the original improvident lackwit

I have about 9 months worth of bills saved up, plus an assload of unused available credit, and yet, if I spend more than $20 in a day, my stomach gets queasy. I do it anyway, but in 2010, I went from like 10k to 2k in the span of a year due to not keeping track.

nowadays, I keep a 'soft budget' in my head and keep track of things daily rather than waiting to assess the damage at the end of the month. also doesn't hurt that my salary has gone up significantly since those days and that I'm single with no kids and soon to be living alone in my own apt.

I have a long history as a deep-dyed penny-pincher, but in the past few years my financial situation has become stable enough and our household income large enough that I've been trying to retrain myself to spend a bit more on pleasures. The old habits are so ingrained by now that what now feels like free-spending to me would probably look like ridiculous thrift to most people.

Not too far off from Neanderthal's position, really -- some savings I had six years back ended up going due to various things I won't go into, but everything has happily reconstructed and I'm now at twice the amount I was. Avoid CC debt like the plague; I happily use my card but then aim to pay it all off as soon as the charges get listed; I have no outstanding debt on anything else otherwise. For me I'm currently in a happy situation expense-wise where, thanks to good fortune in particular re: rent, I can afford to set aside some money from each regular paycheck towards the long term savings I mentioned and that's rapidly built up. Combined with a strong pension situation as a backstop in a few more years and a life insurance policy via mutual funds I also regularly add to, I'm sanguine enough; I pretty much do the major shopping each week for the two of us and we always have space for a couple of meals ordered in or gone out for each week in turn.

Meantime, I use my writing work as my 'indulgence' money for the most part, whether it be for vacations, home improvements (a new office chair will be the next thing on the list) or just simply getting more music and the like, though I've tried to use some of my steadier work for extra savings along the way as well, separate from the main accounts, sometimes for things like fancy new glasses or a new phone or the like as the situations arise, though I'm planning on some combination of more long-term savings and increased charity giving in the near future. I give in to some extra indulgence every so often -- this weekend is an example, with friends visiting the city and a chance to roam and eat out and visit museums and the like, where normally it would not be so busy -- but it gets paid off pretty quickly. I may spend down my paycheck to nothing every two weeks, but the point is that I've budgeted precisely so I can do that without feeling worried.

I'm in the same position: freelance dough goes in the bank, rarely touched. Credit card debt nil. I have "good" debt, i.e. mortgage.

First option, which of course should not be the first option

There's at least two levels ahead of it- "I'm financially fucked and owe money everywhere", and "I owe fifty bucks at the end of each pay packet" before one gets to the heady position of the first position.

No such thing as "good mortgage debt" for ppl my age in Ireland imo.

I have v low overheads for a self-sufficient and arguably functional adult but am conscious that this might not be the case if my lifestyle is ever altered significantly

whenever I buy myself niceish things they seem to end up being undrunk/played/worn

pursestrings option is closest to my sitch I guess

Have never run a balance on a credit card; now for the last 15 years I've been making a decent income, so you might say "well easy for you to have no debt" but what I find quite shocking is that something like a third of people with household income of $150,000+ are paying interest on credit card debt, so I guess compared to those people, I'm a skinflint?

90% of everything I buy, from groceries to clothes to electronics, is on sale, or pre-owned, though I don't often buy used groceries.

am too depressed to spend money on things

I have two major indulgences - books and opera - but will generally eat whatever is on special offer, walk for 45 minutes rather than spend £2 on a bus, etc. I have never owed anything other than student debt and, subsequently, a mortgage. I am the kind of idiot who will go shopping for a pair of trousers and come home with five shirts I didn't need because they were 70% off retail price though.

i've been maxing out at around twice the federal poverty level the past few years, so it's not really a matter of splurging or saving deliberately or with discipline, the austerity is imposed from without. mostly i buy only what i need, and can't afford some things i need. occasionally i buy something like a book that i don't need for my (unpaid) research/writing work, but that's almost more to have the experience of buying something, and being able to, than to have another book (which i have no real need for). i should be living on nothing but basic staples, rice and beans, eggs, that kind of thing, but it's hard not to buy 'more expensive' food to enhance my well-being, emotional satisfaction, etc. when there's any kind of bank-balance cushion for it.

I think my account has only gone out of overdraft a few times in the last decade, the last time was about 6 years ago when I got a 5 grand redundancy payment. And that didn't last very long. I'm a lot better with money than I was 15 years ago when I had a bit of a gambling problem, but that isn't saying much. I have definitely got thriftier at food-shopping since I stopped buying processed food and started getting into cooking. But even when I'm perilously close to the roof of my overdraft I still have a tendency of spending what I can't afford on shit like taxis and wine. From this autumn there will be a lot less money coming in. so I will have to get my shit together.

I joke about my weirdness in this area a lot. I can be really cheap about small stuff--DVDs, books, parking especially. (I'll drive around for 10 or 15 minutes rather than overpay for parking.) Bigger costs, like getting work done on the car or house, I don't shop around and always overpay. I'm getting a little better, though--a friend at work always has a guy when it comes to home repair, so I've checked with him the last couple of times and saved money.

I don't understand money at all, it seems illusionary now I have any of it. I try to be thrifty but then I'm a drunk who suddenly stops caring.

I'm fairly bad with money - I'm 33 and I started saving for the first time about a year ago. I've probably built my life, consciously or otherwise, around reaching a point where I can both waste and save money without thinking about either.

I'm naturally super stingy but have been convinced by the benefits of paying for good quality stuff rather than going for cheapest and replacing it. Luckily I'm in a position where I can do this without worrying too much. I still think carefully/research endlessly over pretty much every single purchase, though, from baby clothes to cars.
I get really anxious if I don't have a savings buffer though and generally have in the back of my mind stuff I could give up/sell if necessary.

I hate accumulating 'stuff' so only buy things I think are really necessary.

I kinda have to hope that I die before retirement age because I'm terrible with money. The least I can say is that I take care of all of my financial responsibilities before I flush whatever's left down the toilet. I haven't overdrawn in years and my credit is actually improving.

(Example: I have about $40 to get me through payday on Friday, and I'm rubbing my hands together in anticipation of hitting the checkout button on a filled-up Amazon cart. I'm not saying I'm not ashamed, but I'm probably not as ashamed as I should be.)

I don't like spending large amounts and will put off doing so for ages even for things I need (I also go in circles researching them but this only wastes time and never saves money tbh), but I am v careless with small amounts of money: charity shop books and video game bundles which I never get round to, snacks & meals out instead of eating what's in the fridge in time...

not a great combination as it all adds up (and adds clutter) without having anything particularly shiny to show for it. I never understood how friends from my 20s could just suddenly e.g. buy a synth on a whim or how my friends now manage to travel but I guess they're just doing better at spending money on things that will actually give them something cool or some good memories and not just a constant stream of disposable trash

(tangent: I get totally irked by the guy in the office who won't go to the pub unless someone else is paying, doesn't put money in people's leaving collections, but has a new electric car and buys every new gadget and seems to have a new designer watch every few months - not sure if this is semi-reasonable or if he makes me so bitter precisely because he's the opposite of me spending-wise)

(tangent: I get totally irked by the guy in the office who won't go to the pub unless someone else is paying, doesn't put money in people's leaving collections, but has a new electric car and buys every new gadget and seems to have a new designer watch every few months - not sure if this is semi-reasonable or if he makes me so bitter precisely because he's the opposite of me spending-wise)

no, that guy's an asshole, fuck him

I am cheap but when I bother spending I spend it on good stuff.

last year was hard b/c we moved overseas and I started a new job in a place where salaries are determined by seniority, and while after you've started your past experience is converted into seniority in the new job, that conversion process takes a year. and in the meantime you start with the salary of someone with no seniority. so until a month and a half ago it was pretty tough chez moi. we have a generous welfare state but getting enrolled in that also took a long time. after these processes finished we got back all the money we should have been getting all along, so now everything's great. but last year, I couldn't go out to bars with people after talks, couldn't have lunch with people except at the (heavily subsidized) work canteen, couldn't pay for entertainment, etc.; and we have a 2 hr train commute to work each way. But we covered the basics: housing and food were stable and even good: basic quality of life here is very very high: baguettes that in the USA cost $4-5, when available at all, here cost 80 cents, and so on.

Important context rly is whether or not one has their own home, or a guaranteed retirement income, etc. 'savings' tho i mean rly, whats that for?

Other context, we travel a good bit.

I'm pretty thrifty on day to day stuff, terrible at saving, willing to pay for the best when I buy a big ticket item, good at keeping credit card debt at zero.

My achilles heel is expenditures on food -- too much eating out (and too much low quality crap when I eat out) and a pantry full of things I bought to try once and don't want to incorporate into daily eating.

I worried about savings when we lived in the USA but now, I'll have a great pension, my kids' university will cost 600 euros a year in fees, my health insurance is inexpensive and amazing. I mean, I'll save still, because we're now making more money than we "need" and I'm not just going to get into exotic taxidermy or whatever, but it's not crucial for us like it used to be.

I thought for sure there would be more people who fly by the seat of their financial pants. Y'all some responsible m-f-ers up in here.

^watching my father and mother struggle to pay their bills in their 60s after years of bad decision-making (including borrowing over 5k from me over 15 years) is enough to remind me of why I shouldn't do that

xp to the extent that I/one has the means to, its just easier to be a bit financially responsible imo...leaves more time for existential worry

as bad as my anxiety currently is, nothing approximates how bad it gets when I am struggling financially. there was a brief two month period in 2011 where I wound up paying a huge deposit for a new place (until my roomies could pay me their share two months later) and I was living having to do payday advances and I couldn't function at all. every moment of the day was doing math in my head about what I needed to be able to eat and pay my bills.

with that being said, not everybody has the luxury of being able to sock things away, so I make sure not to waste my good fortune lest it decide to leave me soon

All my chickens will come home to roost when retirement age rolls around.

Delicious chickens

I'm pretty stingy.

Had my car for 14 years before finally getting a new one last year. Not been on holiday for 18 years. Not been to a restaurant since before even then. Haven' t been to the cinema for 5 years or bought music for 6. Then again did buy a new set of golf clubs a couple of years ago. Considering the p low wages I earn I have a fair bit saved that will probably never get spent, which is stupid, but I have a fear of one day being destitute for some reason don' t know why so doubt my spending/saving habits will ever change.

I do like to throw money at issues sometimes to make them go away though. like my jerkhole roommate is always more than a month late on rent (yet he always seems to have money for booze) and he eventually paid up through July cos I was on his ass every week and actually served eviction notices/etc, but it stressed me out so much that now that I only have ~2 months left with the guy, I've reminded him, but because it's not gonna kill me to take the hit once or twice, I've just stopped harping on it cos I get myself too worked up and angry. i even offered to 'buy him out' if he would just move but he opted not to (probably cos he hasn't lined up another sucker to leech off of yet).

also didn't negotiate as well when I was told all my tires were bad, just dropped the hammer at once. big purchases that are necessary like ccar repairs usually don't set me off, unless the'yre the $2800 engine repair I had to do a few years ago

Not been on holiday for 18 years. Not been to a restaurant since before even then.

you haven't eaten at a restaurant in 18 years? Daaaaamn.

have you never been forced to eat at a restaurant along the way? like due to convenience, work, travel, or social obligation?

gunpoint

I am TERRIBLE with savings/budgeting, so my wife handles it all and keeps me from spending us into bankruptcy. It's a good thing I can't get into my 401k for another 20 years or I'd be spending it right now. Like, literally, as I type this I'd be buying crap.

gunpoint

lol.

XP
No, I don't hang out with co-workers ever, and don't really go anywhere except to work and back. It's funny that my not eating out seems strange when I have the same reaction when I read the London restaurant thread on ilx, genuinely amazing to me that people happily spend money on this on the regular, sounds nice.

heh - yeah i am prob your polar opposite here. i dunno, i guess i have none of the ties that tend to demand spending. as a result the happiness i get from good food and a glass of wine, with a book, especially on a more quiet or routine day like eg a monday or whatever, is life-sustaining for me.

I'm about average with money, I guess. I don't typically carry a cc balance, and I contribute to my 401k, but I only have a few months worth of savings if something were to go wrong, and I drive an ancient car that's in constant need of repairs. I also throw money away paying rent instead of investing in a home.

I'm attempting a big purge of material posessions because, while I like to point to single expensive purchases as where my money's going, it's a lie. It's the small one-off things like books, magazines, music, dumb one-off purchases like owning some piece of kitchen equipment but hey this one is better and on sale. So I have too much stuff, none of it useful. On the bright side, I have a backlog of reading material that I'm actually getting down to.

I think part of it is the small validation of small purchases that don't feel like wasteful spending, but when they add up, they definitely are.

novelty ilx emoji are my only defensible expenditure

I managed to convince myself several years ago that I didn't need stuff and so I purged a lot of stuff and then at some point I became panicked and realized that I'm actually way into stuff so I pushed the stuff acquisition into overdrive and never looked back.

But, yeah, it's all just books and comics and movies. Nothing big or worthwhile or impressive to anyone but me.

Some library somewhere is going to get a sweet donation when I die. That feels kinda good.

I used to think that, but really, it'll just end up at a book sale and most of it in the clearance pile

five people on all of discogs are really looking for this rare warp records box set, I'm sure whoever is handling my estate will contact them

Some library somewhere is going to get a sweet donation when I die. That feels kinda good.

I've pondered that myself with what I have! I think I'll gauge interest from my de facto nieces and nephew in later years on that front if they'd like anything -- but as the oldest of the three of them isn't even three years old yet herself, this won't be for a while. Otherwise, yeah I suspect donation on some front...

Kind of a corollary to the post I made over on the music collection thread I revived on ILM a couple of weeks back, but having 'fixed' shelving for my CDs at present -- one now full-to-the-brim bookcase sized rack -- is helpful in terms of an artificial limit on spending there. That said I can see where/how I'll allow for more -- probably getting box sets on the cheap, especially ones that are in a book-style format -- while newer things I'll just buy straight up digital, which is pretty much my Bandcamp approach anyway. There's always going to be something around to catch my eye, and a bookstore visit the other day prompted me to think about how much having some texts around about San Francisco and its history would be fun, though at the same time library work means I can just order them all anyway. We'll see, since similarly I'm near maxxed out on bookshelf space, intentionally (I have plans to get one last new bookshelf at the end of the year, but that's to intentionally replace a much older one that's in bad shape, so an upgrade rather than an extension -- in terms of actual room, there's not much more I can do, and I'm glad of that.)

I'm pretty thrifty and save a good amount to several retirement and various savings accounts, but not enough. I could be saving A LOT more. I hate that I don't. I should probably be saving at least 10% more of my income.

I don't think I buy much that I don't need, other than beer. It's just the timing of buying such things, it always feels like it's a bad decision, even when it really isn't that bad.

I feel like having an adorable child gives you leeway on expenditures. If you're low on cash you can wave the kid around and people will assume that's where the money went and it's all good.

not thrifty but still manage to somehow save without trying

but i also don't buy dumb shit i'll never use or don't really need

generally been blessed though

having kids = every goddamn dime is accounted for ime

Withdrawing the d is a bit late now

I figure enjoying my money in the present will make up for not having any kids to take care of me when I get old.

I'm unemployed at the moment and have cc debt I won't be able to pay off for a few years, so I'm thrifty mostly by necessity - most of my clothes are hand-me-downs, I rely heavily on the library, and whatever I have goes to groceries, medicine, and rent - but when I had more resources, books and concerts were my main indulgences. It worries me that I'm in my thirties and have never been good at saving, but I'd like to remedy that if my situation ever becomes stabler. I'd probably need to prioritize transition costs first (at least to deal with my main sources of dysphoria), though, for the sake of my mental health.

while I like to point to single expensive purchases as where my money's going, it's a lie. It's the small one-off things like books, magazines, music, dumb one-off purchases like owning some piece of kitchen equipment but hey this one is better and on sale. So I have too much stuff, none of it useful

This

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I'm very thrifty when I'm low on available funds and can get through a day on hardly anything. However, I wouldn't say I'm generally thrifty when I have sufficient cash.

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