I have money, but this is where I cheap out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clothes and handbags. I cannot roll my eyes more at luxury handbags in particular. Such a scam.

Stone jewelry because the lab-grown ones are as or more beautiful and come without the horrific human rights abuses. I actually have a hard time looking at the gigantic diamonds some people wear because of the blood history behind them.

Expensive sunglasses. Luxottica has a monopoly on the market and you aren’t actually getting anything unique.

I can tell cheap clothes from a mile away, they don't fit well and materials are synthethic (not elegant and not good for the environment!). Purses don't have to be designer, but those cheap Target purses are not fooling anyone.

DP here. I don’t think my cheapest purse is “fooling anyone” - I just don’t see it as a reflection of my self worth or net worth.

I have a high NW and I think expensive handbags are ridiculous. Will never pay for one of those overpriced monstrosities. It’s absolutely a scam.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Food. We eat out maybe 2-3 times a week, and even then it's pretty basic (wings, Chinese). I also am vigilant about not wasting food and we eat simply at home unless it's a special occasion - lots of pasta, soup, sandwiches. I do splurge on sourdough from our local bakery - $7 a loaf!

We share a car and it is a non-luxury brand.

Clothes. I will occasionally get a nice dress from Nordstrom but only for a wedding or similar. Day to day my family wears clothes from TJ Maxx, Target, and Walmart (esp the kids). We also don't buy clothes that often. I do have a LOT of shoes - my weakness - but nothing designer. I've been using the same handbags for years.

Our house. We bought a small and not updated house and I have no interest in moving or expanding our existing space. Our mortgage is $1600 a month and we live in an excellent school district.

I do have cleaners. I consider it worth every penny.

I spend a lot on makeup (Dior, Chanel) and perfume. And I will get a professional massage/facial every month or two, which I recognize is a total splurge.

We do spend on vacations/travel.

Combined we make a very comfortable HHI. (Low-to-mid six figures.)

Both my DH and I are spenders by nature but I manage the finances, and just approach it as I would a small business. I put on my MBA hat to manage our finances and recognize that I would much rather have cash in reserves than have had a bunch of BS experiences and things.

Eating out 2-3 times a week is not frugal.

Thank you for this meaningful feedback.

Agreed. We eat out or get takeout 2-3x a month as a family + 1 date night. When the pandemic happened and people on NextDoor were freaking out about restaurants not being open it took us a while to realize that most people must eat out WAY more than us if this was so disruptive to their lives. We don’t even eat at home out of frugality. It’s just our preference.

[Anonymous]

Definitely our house. Our mortgage is half our HHI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Food. We eat out maybe 2-3 times a week, and even then it's pretty basic (wings, Chinese). I also am vigilant about not wasting food and we eat simply at home unless it's a special occasion - lots of pasta, soup, sandwiches. I do splurge on sourdough from our local bakery - $7 a loaf!

We share a car and it is a non-luxury brand.

Clothes. I will occasionally get a nice dress from Nordstrom but only for a wedding or similar. Day to day my family wears clothes from TJ Maxx, Target, and Walmart (esp the kids). We also don't buy clothes that often. I do have a LOT of shoes - my weakness - but nothing designer. I've been using the same handbags for years.

Our house. We bought a small and not updated house and I have no interest in moving or expanding our existing space. Our mortgage is $1600 a month and we live in an excellent school district.

I do have cleaners. I consider it worth every penny.

I spend a lot on makeup (Dior, Chanel) and perfume. And I will get a professional massage/facial every month or two, which I recognize is a total splurge.

We do spend on vacations/travel.

Combined we make a very comfortable HHI. (Low-to-mid six figures.)

Both my DH and I are spenders by nature but I manage the finances, and just approach it as I would a small business. I put on my MBA hat to manage our finances and recognize that I would much rather have cash in reserves than have had a bunch of BS experiences and things.

Off-topic but are bakeries still even a thing? Or do you mean the bakery section at Whole Foods?

What do you mean by “are bakeries still even a thing”?

Yes bakeries are a thing. My husband insists on fresh bread - the kind that molds or goes stale in 3 days because it doesn’t have preservatives. We have multiple bakeries in Arlington. Randolph is better IMO, but we get bread at Heidelberg because it’s on the way home from swim lessons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can the pp who likes to buy and get bargains for others please tell us where to get deosner purses for pennies? Are they reps? Where? Thank you!

I think she meant “designer”. As in illegal knock offs from china.

DP but I have many high end designer knock offs from China. Yes, illegally imported. Since I also agree with PP that the real thing is a scam, I’m shameless about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll go out of my way to save 5 cents a gallon on gas.

DH, sitting on $10M in assets, drives 10 miles for Costco premium gas (more than 5 cents savings, but still).. I use this to my advantage.

I remember in my first - and only - year in BigLaw, a partner telling me how she'd driven 25 miles to save $10 on a baby carrier. I couldn't believe it. She must have made $1000 an hour.

For some people it’s about the chase and the thrill of the bargain. I see this in consulting partners and highly paid sales people - they just love to win. My time is the most valuable thing to me and I value my time at $60-80/hr depending on the task. If I can hire out a job less than that, I will.

Omg, I recognized myself in your description. I’m ex-MBB and it really is all about the thrill/chase for me (I posted about my extreme couponing hobby in a “how much do you spend on groceries” thread a while ago.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll go out of my way to save 5 cents a gallon on gas.

DH, sitting on $10M in assets, drives 10 miles for Costco premium gas (more than 5 cents savings, but still).. I use this to my advantage.

I remember in my first - and only - year in BigLaw, a partner telling me how she'd driven 25 miles to save $10 on a baby carrier. I couldn't believe it. She must have made $1000 an hour.

That’s crazy to me. I thought rich people know to spend money to save time, not spend time to save money.

[Anonymous]

Cars. My husband drives a 2010 Acura and mine is a 2014. Although we will be replacing the 2010 this year.

Vacations. We take one big trip every few years.

Home. We live in Potomac, but our home is one of more modest by Potomac standards.

The only thing we splurge on is education. Both kids did private school. One in college at private university and the other will likely do the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cars. My husband drives a 2010 Acura and mine is a 2014. Although we will be replacing the 2010 this year.

Vacations. We take one big trip every few years.

Home. We live in Potomac, but our home is one of more modest by Potomac standards.

The only thing we splurge on is education. Both kids did private school. One in college at private university and the other will likely do the same.

You are driving nice cars that aren’t too old. You go on vacation. You live in Potomac. Sorry, but that’s not cheap.

[Anonymous]

I love this thread. HHI $500K

My family only eats organic or non RbST dairy and my kids only eat organic of the “dirty dozen” (I feel like my husband and I have absorbed all the pesticides already…) but I buy 80% of those items at Aldi.

I will not pay full price for an airline ticket for my child who cannot use a carry on bag— I buy him the cheapest $149 basic economy and call the airline to have them link our seats— they don’t want a 3 y/o unattended.

2/3 hand me downs, 1/3 things that are fun to buy like holiday clothes.

I use The Ordinary for skincare and then dermatologist treatments. No spa atmosphere but my skin looks amazing.

Cars are purchased from reliable makers and then are driven forever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cars. My husband drives a 2010 Acura and mine is a 2014. Although we will be replacing the 2010 this year.

Vacations. We take one big trip every few years.

Home. We live in Potomac, but our home is one of more modest by Potomac standards.

The only thing we splurge on is education. Both kids did private school. One in college at private university and the other will likely do the same.

You are driving nice cars that aren’t too old. You go on vacation. You live in Potomac. Sorry, but that’s not cheap.

It's all relative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cars. My husband drives a 2010 Acura and mine is a 2014. Although we will be replacing the 2010 this year.

Vacations. We take one big trip every few years.

Home. We live in Potomac, but our home is one of more modest by Potomac standards.

The only thing we splurge on is education. Both kids did private school. One in college at private university and the other will likely do the same.

You are driving nice cars that aren’t too old. You go on vacation. You live in Potomac. Sorry, but that’s not cheap.

PP here. HHI $800K. Net worth $7.5 million. I still say we are frugal compared with others in our situation.

[Anonymous]

Our motto is "money is to make us happy".
We had a rental property that made us money monthly, but didn't make us happy with all the annoying renter issues -so bye bye

We splurge mostly on experiences, vacations, lessons/sports for kids, weekend eating out, etc.
We are not materialistic - buy used or on cheap on most things including cars.
Reno only if it's a major eye sore, functional issue - not chasing trends.

We would be happy living in a RV, living on our saving (from being frugal) and just enjoying life.

.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our motto is "money is to make us happy".
We had a rental property that made us money monthly, but didn't make us happy with all the annoying renter issues -so bye bye

We splurge mostly on experiences, vacations, lessons/sports for kids, weekend eating out, etc.
We are not materialistic - buy used or on cheap on most things including cars.
Reno only if it's a major eye sore, functional issue - not chasing trends.

We would be happy living in a RV, living on our saving (from being frugal) and just enjoying life.

.

I was nodding along until I got to “we would be happy living in an RV”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cars. My husband drives a 2010 Acura and mine is a 2014. Although we will be replacing the 2010 this year.

Vacations. We take one big trip every few years.

Home. We live in Potomac, but our home is one of more modest by Potomac standards.

The only thing we splurge on is education. Both kids did private school. One in college at private university and the other will likely do the same.

You are driving nice cars that aren’t too old. You go on vacation. You live in Potomac. Sorry, but that’s not cheap.

PP here. HHI $800K. Net worth $7.5 million. I still say we are frugal compared with others in our situation.

Exactly. There’s a difference between being thrifty and being miserly.