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We're very affluent, but frugal. We're often around other affluent people who think we're a bit crazy.
You should see their faces when they see my 5 year old style flip phone I bought for $19.99.
I do my own lawn & garden work, one of the only ones in my 'hood.
I do my own pest control too, which I'm pretty sure is unique to our neighborhood.
I never take our car to a car wash, or detail place like our friends do. I do it myself.
We have not had cable TV in 6 years, and never will have it again. Antenna in attic & share a relative's pay tv account.
We have 2 TV's, 1 DVD player, 1 house, 1 car, no motorcycles, no boats, no RV's, no toys like all our friends have.
We get DVD's and books at the library...never buy them. I read the Wall Street Journal and Consumer Reports there too.
I buy some clothes at Goodwill. I use to get my haircut at beauty schools for $5 until we moved.
We seldom throw out ANY food. We only go out to eat at early bird, and not very often.
I dont buy expensive Scotch, or Whiskey, or Wine, or smoke cigars like my friends do. No golf, private clubs, or pool either.
We price shop everything, and haggle on anything over $100. Aldi's is our friend. WalMart's too expensive for food.
We buy used cars that are about 3 yrs old w/ low miles, & drive them to 150,000 mi. We gave our 2004 Toyo Highlander to our Son to take to college. We just replaced it w/ a 2015. We drive very little & combine trips.
We sell, or donate, anything we don't use or need anymore.
We seldom buy anything that is not on sale, or have a coupon for.
We shop healthcare around as a cash payer always getting 3 estimates. We make providers give us written quotes for everything before we go. We tell them we can't afford insurance. We haggle on anything over $1,000.
I dont eat meat, and eat old style Oatmeal for breakfast most days. We dont buy many beverages, just drink water & tea.
We bathe only when we need to.
We buy/sell homes by owner, or use a discount broker. Just saved $17,000 on our last home sale that way.
We never run the dishwasher, or clothes washer, unless its full. We never leave lights on.
I have/wear clothing articles that are 20 yrs old. If they're not torn, have holes, or heavily soiled/stained I wear them.
Many of these things might not sound extreme to you, but to our rich family & friends, these things are pure lunacy.
Because of living this way, I'm semi-retired at age 58. No debt. Could stop working totally tomorrow. Never made really big money. Just lived way below our means, saved, invested, and spent wisely.
A few of those seem goofy but most of them don't. However, all of them taken in conjunction seem a bit extreme. So I have to ask, why? Most people employ what you employ to allow them an end goal; it could be living in a neighborhood they really like, having discrertionary money to travel, or eat out, or indulge one hobby or another.
When my brother went to law school, he and his wife were frugal. They still are. She grew up on a farm in Iowa. While at school, they lived in a small rented house, shopped at thrift stores and he told me they went to food banks and got the cheese and milk at these places and ate a lot of mac and cheese dinners. I remember him talking about the big slabs of gov't cheese. When he did his law internship at a corporation he said his parking space was between a Mercedes and Audi. He parked his old station wagon there and wore his thrift store suits and shoes to the job. He now is a partner at his own firm and dresses in regular suits, drives an SUV. No designer brand cars or clothes though.
Yea I find it distasteful. My wife's boss has "optional jeans friday". If you want to wear jeans you have to donate $5 every Friday to some charity.... that her boss is involved in. This is not a company policy, just a 'policy' in her group. Also, not a small firm, but a large accounting company. I told my wife that to me, that sounded unethical at best, perhaps illegal at worst, and potentially grounds for her boss to get fired. She's not willing to raise a stink. If it were me, I'd refuse the $5.
Depends on how much money is involved, if she is making 6 figures I would just work and not cause waves and look for something new. Wearing jeans EVERY day is a big deal for me so if I have to dress up then its not a good fit, BUT if the money is super good I will tolerate it until I find something better.
IF this is crap wages (like less than 30 hr) then I would just wear the jeans and ignore the boss, if you get fired its not really a loss because its not a good job.
Depends on how much money is involved, if she is making 6 figures I would just work and not cause waves and look for something new. Wearing jeans EVERY day is a big deal for me so if I have to dress up then its not a good fit, BUT if the money is super good I will tolerate it until I find something better.
IF this is crap wages (like less than 30 hr) then I would just wear the jeans and ignore the boss, if you get fired its not really a loss because its not a good job.
I always hated wearing jeans to work. It is like the worst of both worlds. I can't wear how and what I really want and have to try and make jeans look professional. It would drive me crazy. It is so much easier to just pull out a pair blue black or grey slacks and wear a shirt and tie with it. 2 secs to decide.
And horrible advice btw. If crap wages? Why do you think she's working there unless that is pretty much what her resume dictates?
I always hated wearing jeans to work. It is like the worst of both worlds. I can't wear how and what I really want and have to try and make jeans look professional. It would drive me crazy. It is so much easier to just pull out a pair blue black or grey slacks and wear a shirt and tie with it. 2 secs to decide.
And horrible advice btw. If crap wages? Why do you think she's working there unless that is pretty much what her resume dictates?
Also you think anyone cares about your jeans?
No they didnt, I wore jeans my entire career.
My point is the amount of pay dictates what I am willing to put up with, has nothing to do with my resume. If you are paying crap wages you WILL get what you pay for. I took a job nights at a liquor store as a professional engineer to keep from eating into savings after a lay off. The regional manager came in and I was wearing jeans and I shook her hand professional to professional and she said you should be wearing black pants, how long have you been working here .... I responded way to long, she started back peddling because crap jobs have high turn around, I quit about a week later.
If you respect yourself and know you are an expert and a professional you dont have to take that crap. Now if I was making 80 hr I might have pandered. But if its 15 hr it better be a super awesome place to work other wise I will start getting super rude and hostile.
Depends on how much money is involved, if she is making 6 figures I would just work and not cause waves and look for something new. Wearing jeans EVERY day is a big deal for me so if I have to dress up then its not a good fit, BUT if the money is super good I will tolerate it until I find something better.
IF this is crap wages (like less than 30 hr) then I would just wear the jeans and ignore the boss, if you get fired its not really a loss because its not a good job.
Right. Imagine the reason one could give others for being fired. "I refused to pay my boss's tax toward something he said he was personally involved in."
Right. Imagine the reason one could give others for being fired. "I refused to pay my boss's tax toward something he said he was personally involved in."
I believe people need to position themselves so that they can walk off the job on the drop of a hat leaving the employer in the lurch. They should have co-worker friends to get references from and use them as their "supervisor" and families should form networks to insulate themselves from these d(ck heads.
Not only should they walk but they should actively sabotage the company on the way out costing them as much money as possible or putting them under if they are capable of it.
Millennial are leaning that companies are not your friends, they are a barely tolerable necessary evil in order to cash flow into your own family.
The exception is small family business, but mega corps, you maximize your take and you get out. Make sure you have your rear covered. I would also have frineds in small companies conduct fake reference checks and record the phone call and if they said anything remotely false slap them with a 7 figure slander suit, most states are a one party recording or just do it through email.
Slander can get a manager or HR dept in hot water. Do what it takes to bury bad companies and managers, make them pay dearly for their treachery.
I have not been able to find a new engineering job in almost a year so I am about to have a friend call into the HR dept and record what they say then take that straight to a lawyer and see if I can get 7 figures for it.
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