Reply to How to stop being so frugal/cheap?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have a really hard time spending money even if it's something I need, I can't buy it. For example $15 pizza, $13 deodorant, $25 water bottle, $50 dollar jeans, $60 jacket. Normal things that people buy everyday for those prices and it just seems too hard to buy it and when I do I feel a lot of guilt. Growing up my parents were super cheap though. I can afford it all but I physically can't.[/quote]

It sounds like your decisions are motivated by some kind of aversion to spending money, instilled in you by your parents, such that you feel guilty for spending money.

Is it that you don't think pizza should cost $15? (That actually seems like REALLY cheap pizza to me...) 
Is it that you don't think you deserve a nice pizza (here conceptualized as $15)?
Is it that you had a $15 pizza yesterday and think that should only happen once a week? A month? A year?

What ARE your rules here? Evaluate how well your rules match your values.

For example, the $50 pair of jeans might last longer than the $20 jeans. If you are intentionally buying cheaper stuff because saving money is important, but you need to buy a new pair of jeans every year, are you really saving money?

What values are you trying to express with your money?[/quote]

To me that cost for a pizza might be a tad bit too much, I kind of think I don't need nicer stuff. With the $50 jeans, I would love to buy them but just paying that much for one thing isn't worth it for me, so I would rather buy a new pair every year. It's not really about saving money, it's just the cost of specific items and it depends on the item. For example, I could buy $50-$60 shoes but ones over $100 (which most good shoes are) would be too much.[/quote]

That is a kind of poverty mindset, though, OP. Even though the financial reality is not there, the mindset remains "buy the cheap thing now and every year from now on instead of a slightly more expensive thing every 2-3 years instead." As a former poor person (credentials: raised on welfare, school lunches, utility vouchers, secondhand everything not very often), I think it's important to note that that mindset, when divorced from the financial reality of poverty, is DISORDERED. It's a thing to be challenged, not indulged. If you're evaluating your values and deciding to move away from consumption in general, fine, but if you're just consuming more because you think you're being "frugal" by spending $30 on crappy jeans that end up in a landfill every year, something else is going on.[/quote]

DP here. For some things this is true but not for all things. The $30 Costco puffer coat has been just as warm and lasted me just as long as an LL bean one or a Patagonia one. Lululemon doesn't last twice as long because it costs twice as much as other brands. [/quote]

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