Frugal Mama article in today's Washington Post

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like the constructive thing would be to help her recast her blog. It's interesting and beautifully presented. It's just that with her rising HHI and the expensive house, she's no longer (although she probably once was) in the penny-pinching demographic. Maybe the blog just needs to evolve a bit, to make it clear that she's targeting the "income under $250K in DC" crowd rather than the shoe-string budget crowd.

pp here. Warren Buffet has a BILLION dollars and people consider him frugal. But, then again, guys generally don't tear each other down.

Warren Buffett is a fascinating genius. So people find him interesting. That's the difference.

You don't even know how to spell his name. You are the perfect demographic for the WaPo these days.

[Anonymous]

Frugal mama has an expensive laptop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm frugal. We invest half our net income.

That's just living within your means. We save/invest half our net too but that still leaves us plenty of money. I definitely make choices (some similar to frugal mama, like no cable) but am not frugal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh, good point to whoever explained about saving the cost of cable. My DH would never go for no cable, but I would be fine with it. I wonder how much less expensive it is to just have internet, no cable? Our whole bill is around $100 a month total.

We have Internet and phone for $70-75. It would cost about $150 if we added cable (after a one year deal). So for us it's about a $75/month savings. We started down the no cable route to save money. Now we could easily afford it but don't feel like we need it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like the constructive thing would be to help her recast her blog. It's interesting and beautifully presented. It's just that with her rising HHI and the expensive house, she's no longer (although she probably once was) in the penny-pinching demographic. Maybe the blog just needs to evolve a bit, to make it clear that she's targeting the "income under $250K in DC" crowd rather than the shoe-string budget crowd.

pp here. Warren Buffet has a BILLION dollars and people consider him frugal. But, then again, guys generally don't tear each other down.

Warren Buffett is a fascinating genius. So people find him interesting. That's the difference.

You don't even know how to spell his name. You are the perfect demographic for the WaPo these days.

I'm much happier being dumb enough to be the WaPo demographic than unkind.

C'mon, many of these posts claiming to be "constructive" are really just snotty.

[Anonymous]

I just think her definition of what frugal is is so wrong and out of touch, "spending where your heart is".

[Anonymous]

Frugal mama reminds me of my friends with tens of thousands in credit card debit (not educational debt). Anyway she was trying to be 'frugal' to pay down her debt. Then one day she shows me her new $500 iPhone. There is a reason some people don't have savings. She justifies unreasonable expenses behind frugality.

Congrats lady your kids can't have cable so you can brag about your $1000 table. (btw that's worth almost two years of cable if you already pay for Internet.)

[Anonymous]

OK, 8:46, which posts seem snotty to you? I see a lot of criticism, but it's not snotty.

Actu

[Anonymous]

Ugh.

Actually, I've been impressed by how calmly and reasonably people have been pointing out the problems.

[Anonymous]

Then one day she shows me her new $500 iPhone.

Not all $500 iPhones actually cost $500. Mine cost $100 because I was entitled to an almost free upgrade after having my previous phone for four years, and signing up for two more years with a service provider that I actually like. Not the best example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Then one day she shows me her new $500 iPhone.

Not all $500 iPhones actually cost $500. Mine cost $100 because I was entitled to an almost free upgrade after having my previous phone for four years, and signing up for two more years with a service provider that I actually like. Not the best example.

This was before you could get them for $200. She told me she paid $499.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Then one day she shows me her new $500 iPhone.

Not all $500 iPhones actually cost $500. Mine cost $100 because I was entitled to an almost free upgrade after having my previous phone for four years, and signing up for two more years with a service provider that I actually like. Not the best example.

This was before you could get them for $200. She told me she paid $499.

But also, not the point. If you have a perfectly good phone and you're thousands of dollars in debt, you keep the phone until it doesn't work.

[Anonymous]

Did any of you actually read the fucking article? They don't had savings because he was in medical training. It's is typical and the norm for doctors. His income will now ramp up significantly and he could probably start to sock away as much as most of you make in a year into their investments. Unless you're a doctor or spouse of one you're out of your league here and just blowing hot air. I hate DC women. You're all such know it alls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did any of you actually read the fucking article? They don't had savings because he was in medical training. It's is typical and the norm for doctors. His income will now ramp up significantly and he could probably start to sock away as much as most of you make in a year into their investments. Unless you're a doctor or spouse of one you're out of your league here and just blowing hot air. I hate DC women. You're all such know it alls.

We don't know it all. We just know more about frugality that Amy Suardi.

[Anonymous]

Uh -- her retirement plan is Dr. Suardi and likely her parents. Any parent who funds a child's study of medieval studies or whatever must be wealthy.