What motivates you to be frugal?

[Anonymous]

I am not frugal. It is just that I always want value for my money, and that usually means that I do not care for the brand name of things. This is true for clothes to real estate, schools and colleges to cars. We live very comfortably. We travel and entertain and give charity. And we find we can do that because we don't particularly value things that others do, and do not spend money on stuff we do not care about.

[Anonymous]

What motivates me is the feeling I get when I spend money, I feel awful, sometimes sick to my stomach. When I save money and see my savings account balances I get happy and feel secure.

[Anonymous]

Money to me means security and freedom from worry. That's what motivates me. Plus, I love being a little philanthropist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What motivates me is the feeling I get when I spend money, I feel awful, sometimes sick to my stomach. When I save money and see my savings account balances I get happy and feel secure.

I also get very anxious after spending money. Sometimes I will even return what I purchased. I don't really know why I am like this.

[Anonymous]

My wife and I often talk about our long-term financial goals - the prospect of an early retirement to a beautiful estate is enough of a carrot to keep me avoiding purchasing more plastic crap, a newer car, clothes I don't need, or the latest gadget, etc. When you have a clear idea of what makes you happy (good relationships and meeting ambitious goals), the bombardment of corporate advertising loses its appeal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not frugal. It is just that I always want value for my money, and that usually means that I do not care for the brand name of things. This is true for clothes to real estate, schools and colleges to cars. We live very comfortably. We travel and entertain and give charity. And we find we can do that because we don't particularly value things that others do, and do not spend money on stuff we do not care about.

+1 The path to true wealth and happiness involves both smart long-term purchases/investments and avoidance of consumerism. Ben Franklin taught generations of Americans to become wealthy by always spending a little less than you make. Savings = security

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to work part time when the kids are in middle school and high school. I am the primary earner.

Don't you think working PT was more important when they were younger?

NP here. Good to be around when that age because that's the age when they can get into serious trouble if left to their own devices in an empty home (not knocking the working folks who can't afford to be at home during this age).

+1

I worked FT until DC1 was in middle school, have bee PT since then. Prior to that we had budgeted for only 50% of my FT salary, so it was not a big deal to lose it when I went PT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:my parents were not frugal, even though they made a decent middle (and at times upper middle) income for most of their professional lives, and now have very little of an accumulated nest egg to show for it. I am an only child and feel a sense of responsibility to help them in their old age now that they are retired (luckily my mom has a good pension with cost of living adjustments).


We also went through a period when my father lost his job (after the 1987 Black Monday stock market crash) and had to cut our living standard essentially to 1/3 what it originally was. He was eventually able to find work again, but at a completely different level of compensation. Luckily, my mom's job kept us going, but we had to sell the house in the suburbs, and move to a 2 BR apt. That had a big impact on me.

So I guess my frugality is a reaction to both of those things. Having a large savings cushion is a security thing for me. Also, will always live below our means, in case one of us loses our jobs. We purchased a house affordable on one spouses income only. And even though we could afford for me to stay home with the kids, I can't see myself ever doing that, because I want to maintain the ability to support the family/myself in case of divorce/husband job loss, etc. We clip coupons, drive a ten year old car, brown bag lunch 90% of the time, don't shop high end fashions/beauty maintenance, cook at home, don't outsource housecleaning, garden services, etc. We are saving and investing 50% of our take home pay, which makes me happier than a Prada bag could ever do. But we spend on private school for the kids, and lots of kid activities and good, but not lavish vacations. Since my husband and I both didn't grow up with a lot of money (just middle class, not dcurbanmom "middle class", we already feel like we're doing better than our parents and feel quite satisfied with our quality of life. It doesn't bother me that we don't have fancy house or cars that other people in our peer group expect us to have, based on our income/professional status. HHI: 750K, equally split.

How does your household keep up two very high paying jobs, with more than one child, while outsourcing no housework? No snark. I am amazed and want to know how.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's almost a game for me. I love getting something for less, or figuring out how to fix something that's broken rather than paying to repair or replace it.

I am like this as well. I did not grow up poor. But I had no idea how wealthy my family was because despite having money, my parents were frugal. My parents spent money but they were never wasteful. I remember my grandmother using butter wrappers to grease pans for baking and rinsing off tin foil for reuse. They were millionaires several times over. She simply could not stand to waste anything. She was an environmentalist before it was "cool".

To me being frugal feels like a responsibility. Wastefulness and excess just feels wrong to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to work part time when the kids are in middle school and high school. I am the primary earner.

Don't you think working PT was more important when they were younger?

No - that is why I worked full time then. I witnessed the trouble that MS and HS got into with no parents at home as my SIL got pregnant in HS b/c no one was home and she had the house to herself.

I also thought the compounding effect of savings was more important so working FT enabled me to max out my 401K as well as save for college. Now we have over 200K in a 529.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or to watch your spending?

The other "cheap" thread got me thinking.

Is it for security or is it just how you are?
Or do you find expensive things frivolous ( like a $120 clothes hamper)?
I guess my question is: what motivates you to watch you money?

Sorry if this seems like a really basic question, I would love to be more of a saver.

Fear of being "poor", not being able to pay my bills and feed my family. Its pretty simple.

My fear is greater than my desire to consume. I take the same approach with over-eating.

[Anonymous]

fear, pure and simple. fear of life's valleys.

[Anonymous]

I like the idea that by not spending today, if we see something we like tomorrow we have the option of getting it. We rarely do, but its nice to know that its an option.

[Anonymous]

After the economy shit the bed in 2008, I realized that we are very lucky and I dramatically changed our spending habits. I stopped buying anything that we did not need. And I mean need. I used to buy ridiculous presents for everyone all the time. No more. I do not buy new clothes for myself every season. Kids get new clothes when their old ones are outgrown or worn out. Winter coats are bought big and last for as many seasons as I can make them and then they are handed down. If something broke, I tried to see if we could fix it ourselves. We could afford to buy a much bigger, nicer, better house and are choosing not to do so. I would actually like to move, but we can afford our mortgage with one person working. And we can easily afford, private schools, retirement savings, and college savings. We drive our cars into the ground. Make it last. Wear it out. Make do with what you have. That is us now. I don't clip coupons, but I don't buy what we won't use. When I do buy new stuff, I usually buy it online with a promo code and always shop through a portal so I can have some portion of my purchase refunded to me. I try to spend our money in a way that serves us as a family -- gives us more time together, gives us experiences together, keeps us healthy and connected.

[Anonymous]

My kids keep me more frugal. If I didn't have kids then I would splurge on myself more, but when I have others I am responsible for, I need to make sure they will be at least comfortable.