What do CHEAP(frugal) people have no problem spending money on ???

[kaerflog]

I was reading the "I can't save money" thread and I see a lot of frugal people and I wonder what do you guys have no problem spending money on ??
I wouldn't considered myself cheap but I'm frugal as hell.
Whats the difference the 2 ?? To me, being CHEAP affects others.
Example: I'm frugal but I always leave 20% even if the service was so-so. When my friends want to do stuff that involves money, I'll join. For me, being FRUGAL means I have to buy everything at the absolute lowest price. If I find something cheaper after I already bought it, it drives me crazy. It also drives me crazy when people buy stuff at retail price when it has ZERO effect on me.

So when it comes to spending money, I have absolutely no problem spending money on:
- Vacations. Looking forward to the next vacations actually motivate to go to work everyday. Its like theres something to look forward to. My wife is on the opposite end. She's always like, thats a lot of money for the trip.
- Gadgets. I always got to have the latest gadgets. back then it was computers and laptops. Now its phones. Gotta to have the latest phone but lately I've cut back on that too.

Now for us, we will probably spend the next 10 yrs working and looking forward to semi-retirement.

 

[rudeguy]

we all have our things that we justify spending money on and things we can't imagine spending money on.

For me its:
Cell phones
Shoes
Cable/internet

I spend more on those than most. I don't mind becaue I get a ton of use out of them. But things like every day clothes or fancy cars? Hell no.

 

[maddogchen]

20% tip? need the latest gadgets?

you don't sound frugal at all!

 

[smackababy]

What we should be discussing is how ridiculous frugal people are about some products. For instance, underwear. Why cheap out on crap underwear? It is going to be cradling your goods for an extender period of time; buy something nice!

 

[maddogchen]

What we should be discussing is how ridiculous frugal people are about some products. For instance, underwear. Why cheap out on crap underwear? It is going to be cradling your goods for an extender period of time; buy something nice!

yeah seriously. good comfortable underwear that you can wear multiple times between washes, inside-out, front-back...

 

[shortylickens]

upper class and lower class people see money differently.

theres tons of books on this.

 

[smackababy]

upper class and lower class people see money differently.

theres tons of books on this.

Yeah. Lower class people typically see my throwing it at them through the drive through window after they fuck up my order.

 

[DesiPower]

We are Frugal, and vacation is one thing we don't have problem spending on.

 

[vi edit]

It's funny you mention vacations. I'm cheap when it comes to them. Travel, hotels, going out to eat, dragging all the crap along, ect. But my wife is the opposite.

So to sort of counteract that I picked up a Hilton Grand Vacation timeshare for about 1/8th the retail price in the resell market that gives me enough points to do 2 "okay" week long vacations in off peak times per year, or one swank vacation in premium times once a year. The properties we can stay at are basically fully furnished apartments so I can hit a walmart the first day and feed the kids easily without needing to go out to eat. Plus a lot of the properties are minutes away from the major attractions so it's easy to get to things once you get there.

I basically pushed myself into a $1200 a year maintenance fee to prebuy those stays. Now I can't play the cheap card when my wife says she wants to go to Orlando or Myrtle Beach for a week each year. It's already bought (sort of).

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Travel.

I'm pretty freaking frugal and almost refuse to spend money on non-essentials, but it gives the financial freedom to go traveling any time I want.

I just went to Iceland 3 months back for a week, I'm planning to go to Europe 2 months from now for another week. Financially these trips are expensive, but I don't (or try) not to stress because I take on absolutely zero debt by going on these trips and can pay them off immediately without having to change my lifestyle at all.

The point of being frugal isn't to just see your net worth get really high (though its nice) it's so that you have the financial freedom to do things that are actually important to you at any time.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Most of the cheap people I know spend the money on trips or big ticket items (like houses).

Or they hoard it all so that the battle their children wage for inheritance is that much more epic.

 

[dank69]

What we should be discussing is how ridiculous frugal people are about some products. For instance, underwear. Why cheap out on crap underwear? It is going to be cradling your goods for an extender period of time; buy something nice!

Frugal people don't wear underwear.

 

[shortylickens]

Iceland is the shiznit. And nobody fucking knows it.

I just told you guys it was the shiznit and I bet nobody makes the decision to visit.
See? NOBODY KNOWS!

 

[smackababy]

Iceland is the shiznit. And nobody fucking knows it.

I just told you guys it was the shiznit and I bet nobody makes the decision to visit.
See? NOBODY KNOWS!

Um, I saw D2: The Might Ducks. I know what assholes Icelanders are!

 

[rudeguy]

Oh I forgot guns and gun accessories.

My holster draw is a bit out of control...

 

[smackababy]

Oh I forgot guns and gun accessories.

My holster draw is a bit out of control...

I can't understand people who buy cheap guns. Especially, if they are for self defense. The saying "you get what you pay for" shouldn't be a factor in life or death if you can help it. Cheaping out on that Chinese knockoff to save a couple bucks certainly is going to be money well saved when your gun doesn't operate properly when you need it to.

 

[ControlD]

I'm not sure there is anything I am not somewhat frugal in buying. Running shoes maybe, but even then I tend to buy last year's models at a significant discount rather than the latest and greatest. I am willing to go with the <$1000 surround sound system rather than the $5000 killer system. I have a Pebble instead of something fancy. I buy i5 processors rather than i7. I tend to go for the "sweet spot" when buying stuff. I don't mind spending money on my toys, just not top dollar.

I guess I have no issue spending money on entertainment. Well except I won't pay for HBO lol. I pay for Netflix, Google All Access, Amazon Prime and cable so that's a chunk of change I somewhat willingly pay every month.

 

[dullard]

If you have to even consider the tip percentage, then you aren't cheap or frugal. That is because a cheap/frugal person would never eat at a restaurant that requires tips.

I used to be extremely cheap. But then, I used to be a poor student and had nothing to spend. Now I shop for value. I am willing to pay top dollar, but only if the item/service gets me my money's worth. I will also first shop around and wait for a sale (sometimes waiting 6+ months), if possible. I consider shopping for value as the definition of being frugal.

Here are my definitions:

1) A cheap person will spend $10 year after year for a crap item that doesn't last (and will probably spend $5 during that year multiple times attempting to fix that item). The cheap person can only buy the lowest price item, regardless of quality. I happen to know many cheap people.

2) A frugal person will spend $20 for a better version of the item that the cheap person bought, and will get something that will probably last ~10 years without needing to be fixed. I know very few frugal people.

3) The rest of the population will spend $50 for that same type of item and replace it in 1 year because they are tired of it and want a newer version. I know many of these people.

 

[DesiPower]

It's funny you mention vacations. I'm cheap when it comes to them. Travel, hotels, going out to eat, dragging all the crap along, ect. But my wife is the opposite.

So to sort of counteract that I picked up a Hilton Grand Vacation timeshare for about 1/8th the retail price in the resell market that gives me enough points to do 2 "okay" week long vacations in off peak times per year, or one swank vacation in premium times once a year. The properties we can stay at are basically fully furnished apartments so I can hit a walmart the first day and feed the kids easily without needing to go out to eat. Plus a lot of the properties are minutes away from the major attractions so it's easy to get to things once you get there.

I basically pushed myself into a $1200 a year maintenance fee to prebuy those stays. Now I can't play the cheap card when my wife says she wants to go to Orlando or Myrtle Beach for a week each year. It's already bought (sort of).

Ofcourse being frugal we too look for the best deals. We will not stay at hilton at full price but then we wont be staying at Motel 6 either. We go twice a year and if we are going to beach we will get a sea side condo, but will look for good deals, timeshares, maybe even airbnb. When going for cruise we will look for off season deal but will choose the best ship at best port and not worry about extra air ticket expense, while going to Disney we will stay in their accommodations and so on... We try to do off season and not travel during holidays, kids being young, we can take them out of school for few extra days and me and my wife have plenty of PTO so that helps.

 

[rudeguy]

I can't understand people who buy cheap guns. Especially, if they are for self defense. The saying "you get what you pay for" shouldn't be a factor in life or death if you can help it. Cheaping out on that Chinese knockoff to save a couple bucks certainly is going to be money well saved when your gun doesn't operate properly when you need it to.

That's why I stopped going into the gun thread. There is one person in there who flames and insults anyone who buys a decent gun. He's convinced Turkish knock offs are the only thing worth buying.

I'll stick to guns that I know will go bang when I need them to.

 

[inachu]

The most frugal of all people was already interviewed a few years ago.
A man and woman built their tiny house themselves and their combined income is only $6,000 a year and they grow their own food when they can and everything they wear is used clothing. Nothing they own is new.

I think for them it started out as an experiment but now they decided to stay like that.

 

[Ns1]

AYCE chinese buffets (as long as the dinner price is <$9.99)

 

[IronWing]

Yeah. Lower class people typically see my throwing it at them through the drive through window after they fuck up my order.

^^ I award one cookie for this post.



For me, hiking boots. I don't care how much they cost as long as they fit and last awhile. I'll buy my shirts at thrift stores but boots have to be damn good. Also music.

 

[kaerflog]

Ofcourse being frugal we too look for the best deals. We will not stay at hilton at full price but then we wont be staying at Motel 6 either. We go twice a year and if we are going to beach we will get a sea side condo, but will look for good deals, timeshares, maybe even airbnb. When going for cruise we will look for off season deal but will choose the best ship at best port and not worry about extra air ticket expense, while going to Disney we will stay in their accommodations and so on... We try to do off season and not travel during holidays, kids being young, we can take them out of school for few extra days and me and my wife have plenty of PTO so that helps.

I think this description of FRUGALNESS describe me the best.

 

[Exterous]

Iceland is the shiznit. And nobody fucking knows it.

I just told you guys it was the shiznit and I bet nobody makes the decision to visit.
See? NOBODY KNOWS!

Hey - I went! Granted that was in no way based on your information because I don't remember you saying anything but still...

1) A cheap person will spend $10 year after year for a crap item that doesn't last (and will probably spend $5 during that year multiple times attempting to fix that item). The cheap person can only buy the lowest price item, regardless of quality. I happen to know many cheap people.

2) A frugal person will spend $20 for a better version of the item that the cheap person bought, and will get something that will probably last ~10 years without needing to be fixed. I know very few frugal people.

I agree. I consider myself frugal but I will spend money on something when there is a good chance it is good quality and will last a while. When the $60 shoes were lasting me <8 months I started getting $140 shoes. 5 years later and the first pair is still serviceable so I plan to keep getting these when needed. Not cheap but over the longer run it works out in my favor. Tools, quality home stuff (toilets, appliances, fertilizer, water heater) and electronics are some of the other things that I am willing to spend more money on to get better quality products. I offset that by almost always buying things on sale or with coupons. I also don't tend to buy any of them until I need them. I'll try and fix electronics and appliances before replacing them.

As for vacations my travel and hotel stays tend to be free or incredibly cheap so I'll spend a bit more on experiences.