Reply to Spinoff: How do you live below your means?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Spinoff of the other thread about secrets of rich people, what does it mean to you to live below your means? I grew up upper middle class (dad is a doctor in low col) and I always thought my parents were cheap! It meant we didn’t take expensive vacations, drove everywhere we needed to go, only went to Disney once when we were 16/22 and did a timeshare tour to boot! Now that I want to take these grand vacations I say oh damn! Flights for $1000 to Hawaii?!? Nope! What are your hacks beyond not eating $10-$15 lunches after your $3 coffee everyday![/quote]

For us it has meant:
1) Buying a house well below what the bank said we could afford and that we could afford on one salary.
2) Paying off credit cards every month.  We used them for convenience and cashflow not as credit. Between DH and I we have three, we each have a separate card and one we share (for miles)
3) Max out 401k and kids college
4) Any bonuses went to savings, kids college, large capital expenses (that we did not make unless the extra money was there)
5) Eat in most dinners and brown bag most lunches
6) Public schools (not really a choice in that we never thought about private from the start, we are more of public as the default and private if public doesn't work out)
7) We do Quicken and periodically look at our spending to see if we have any $$ habits that we have been developing- probably every 6 months.
8) We are not collectors or clothes/shoe horses.  I have one purse I use all the time.  
9) I think we take expensive vacations, but when I compare to DCUM, they are not. 
10) We are not cheap, but frugal.  We would rather pay more for quality that ends up being less expensive in the long run.
11) We buy cars new and take care of them and drive them to the end of their natural life.
12) We are lucky in that my DH has traveled a fair bit for work and we have utilized the frequent flyer miles from that and our credit card.

Before we married (and met), DH and I lived in group houses and saved our money.  We both maxed out our retirement accounts early on and see the value of that.  Our children have heard this over and over and understand it too.  [/quote]

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