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Let's admit it, there must be reasons why we live frugal. Let's spare our income because we should budget based on our income in the first place.
Who among these people are you?
or which among these items (or it can be a combination) do you think is the culprit why you live frugal?
A. I just simply want to save for my future. I use force savings strategies, I live based on whatever money left on my pocket which sometimes not enough to pay the bills and day to day expenses so I live frugal more often than not. This is how I was brought up by my parents.
B. I just can't stick to my day to day budget or my daily lifestyle is just freaking expensive. I just can't let go of my morning coffee, I can't let go of my hobbies (like gym membership but you don't go to the gym regularly), I can't cut my cable (cos there's no live sports game in Netflix), I'm addicted to shop at Amazon, subscription here, subscription there, at time I get lazy packing my lunch so I eat outside most days of the week. I turn the heater on when the temp goes below 80.
C. Expensive house mortgage (more than 20% of my income). If only my mortgage is lower than 20% of my income, I do not need to live frugal.
D. Expensive car + low mileage + high maintenance= living frugal. I just can't drive Prius period.
E. Student loan. Self explanatory.
F. I had a big purchases like vacation, buying expensive stuff (other than car and house) and I'm recuperating
G. Unforeseen issues like accident and my insurance is not enough to cover the damages.
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So far, my reason for living frugal is A, B, C and G.
A. I have a growth mindset including my finances. My net worth must be increasing over time that's why I live frugal because I want to save for my future.
B. I'm improving on this area. House is just 10 minute drive from my office so I either pack my lunch and go home for lunch. Saves me $300 in a month.
C. I recently bought a house and the mortgage is about 25% of my gross income I can get a decent house with lower mortgage but I just fell in love in this house the first time I saw this and never search anymore.
G. ***** happens but I'd rather live frugal then recuperate the cost than pay for a higher monthly insurance. That's just me.
My reasons are a little different. It's so that I can stay home with my kids, and also because one of my kids and myself have some health issues that result in extra expenses and my daughter has to have the air conditioner set pretty cool or she breaks out in hives and has trouble breathing.
We also bought a more expensive house than we should have. It's pretty average for our city, but it was more than we should have been approved for. When we moved in, it took a whole paycheck to pay the mortgage, so basically half his income for the month and we had to be extremely careful with our spending. Now he's making more so things should be easier, but with the medical expenses and big electric bills, it doesn't really feel easier.
I was 21 and in college when my 57 year old father died, and threw us into poverty. From an upper middle class comfortable living.
My dad didn't have traditional savings and investments, he had some investments that would pay off on retirement (65), which required monthly investments he could no longer make. So...when the time came, instead of lots of money, my mom got like 20k.
And my mom was a stay at home mom, who had to cope. She got a job at the local library. Also, it was kinda common for the men to die early...and leave the family in straits.
So, it was pretty scary. I was dating the man I would marry, and we both determined that by the time we hit the age of mom and dad this would not be us.
Frugality was one of the ways to achieve this. We also used a savings system to manage money, where we'd divvy up the big payments into paycheck chunks, and stick that chunk into a savings account and then move it back when the bill was due, and had a separate savings account for our % saved...we started at 5%, then moved it up to 10, then when we paid the car off, we kept making the car payment to the savings account....
And it's not like we didn't do anything...we traveled, we bought a house, furnished it, bought vehicles, collect things, have hobbies we spend money on... we didn't deny ourselves things... and we reached our goals.
None of the above - the closest would be A.
I make good money, I could live comfortably on half of my paycheck, but I live on less. Pay all my bills, buy necessities, sometimes go out eat, go on trips several times a year, plus 6 weeks vacation overseas. I am debt free, no payments on anything.
While I like to spend money on trips and vacation, I am pretty savvy on everything else. Perhaps not so much on food - I buy quality, take care of my health.
I was brought up to be frugal. Want to retire early and enjoy life. I am saving for that.
This who have read my posts know I had serious medical issues in the late 90s, had no insurance went through the retirement and savings I had and actually wound up being homeless, living under a bridge next to the RR tracks. It was a lonely bridge so I didn't have to share with anyone. And, NO my family would NOT help me out, meanwhile giving my sibling money to buy several rentals!
I ended up finally, after 5 applications getting welfare in the welfare to work Clinton era requirements.
Because I had an application in for SSDI, I was exempt, but I also volunteered in the local hospital for the exchange if work requirement. I figured I'd been there enough, I knew half the info! I volunteered in the medical records department.
It's been a long haul since then, and my health insurance costs me $350/m to be sure I never see a bill. But that doesn't leave much from my SSDI check.
My OH just came out of bankruptcy just before we got together.
Now I worked hard to improve our credit, and we own a house.
We are and keep ourselves broke to plan for life happenings now and in the future. The future won't be as Rosy as our wages, like many others has been stagnant. Ivd returned to work part time to supplement my wanting SSDI check, and make $1 more than I did in 1989!
My OH has two part time jobs, and is looking for new full time job, but will keep one of the part time jobs. I hope my OH gets the recent job applied for, but they are slow in the hiring process as they had many many applicants.
Our retirement and savings is no where near what it should be, and we are going through some unexpected major expenses that have drained our efund.
We will survive.
If inheritances come through, we will have a nicer retirement but aren't counting those chickens until they hatch.
We have plans in place and now my OH will retire one year at age 70, and I the next at 67.
Eventually I could lose my SSDI for working and will have to choose full time, a very much hardship on my poor older body.
We did accumulate some debt updating the house, more than we should have. We will have all paid off in 3 1/2 years. We were a bit stupid on that!
But that will free up a lot of money to frugally sock away for retirement.
I've had a long hard tough life, some of my making and some the results of what happened to me.
It's 99% if what happens and 1% how you deal with it.
!
So I will never be with out health insurance again but copays do come and some are higher than expected.
Like the song by Gloria gainer goes " I ( we) will survive"...
Reason for your frugality
Let's admit it, there must be reasons why we live frugal. Let's spare our income because we should budget based on our income in the first place.
I worked in a career field that offers a 20-year pension. I wanted to retire on that pension. So I needed to focus investments on that time line.
My Dw and I both took courses on household budgeting and we became budget counselors. So we could better practice frugal budgeting and have more money to invest.
We saw a lot of people who were paying as much as 30% of their income to Income taxes, which is CRAZY right? So we took tax preparation courses and studied how to itemize our tax filings. As Tax Preparers, we were able to stop paying into Income Taxation, which gave us back that portion of our income and gave us more money to invest.
A - my grandparents lost their farms during the Great Depression. My parents grew-up as migratory farm-workers. When I was 6 they were just in the process of gaining enough affluence to become home-owners again. My up-bringing was largely focused on the effects of losing your affluence.
So yes, "This is how I was brought up by my parents"
B - we do not have that issue.
C - we skipped that.
D - As a retiree, I own a Prius and we love it. We re-charge our Prius using our home's solar power system.
None of the above - the closest would be A.
I make good money, I could live comfortably on half of my paycheck, but I live on less. Pay all my bills, buy necessities, sometimes go out eat, go on trips several times a year, plus 6 weeks vacation overseas. I am debt free, no payments on anything.
While I like to spend money on trips and vacation, I am pretty savvy on everything else. Perhaps not so much on food - I buy quality, take care of my health.
I was brought up to be frugal. Want to retire early and enjoy life. I am saving for that.
Regarding food...frugality with food is usually on the back end...making sure there is no waste. Considering they say that 40% of food purchased is wasted that's a biggie.
On the buying end, making sure you buy really fresh (I bought mushrooms yesterday, and most of the ones in the box were really old, with all the gills showing) and for better prices...in season.
While I was at the market buying said mushrooms yesterday a woman asked me why I was picking through them...I taught her what to look for. People really just pick stuff up, shove it in a bag and buy it. Amazing.
Let's admit it, there must be reasons why we live frugal. Let's spare our income because we should budget based on our income in the first place.
Who among these people are you?
or which among these items (or it can be a combination) do you think is the culprit why you live frugal?
A. I just simply want to save for my future. I use force savings strategies, I live based on whatever money left on my pocket which sometimes not enough to pay the bills and day to day expenses so I live frugal more often than not. This is how I was brought up by my parents.
B. I just can't stick to my day to day budget or my daily lifestyle is just freaking expensive. I just can't let go of my morning coffee, I can't let go of my hobbies (like gym membership but you don't go to the gym regularly), I can't cut my cable (cos there's no live sports game in Netflix), I'm addicted to shop at Amazon, subscription here, subscription there, at time I get lazy packing my lunch so I eat outside most days of the week. I turn the heater on when the temp goes below 80.
C. Expensive house mortgage (more than 20% of my income). If only my mortgage is lower than 20% of my income, I do not need to live frugal.
D. Expensive car + low mileage + high maintenance= living frugal. I just can't drive Prius period.
E. Student loan. Self explanatory.
F. I had a big purchases like vacation, buying expensive stuff (other than car and house) and I'm recuperating
G. Unforeseen issues like accident and my insurance is not enough to cover the damages.
-----------------------------------
So far, my reason for living frugal is A, B, C and G.
A. I have a growth mindset including my finances. My net worth must be increasing over time that's why I live frugal because I want to save for my future.
B. I'm improving on this area. House is just 10 minute drive from my office so I either pack my lunch and go home for lunch. Saves me $300 in a month.
C. I recently bought a house and the mortgage is about 25% of my gross income I can get a decent house with lower mortgage but I just fell in love in this house the first time I saw this and never search anymore.
G. ***** happens but I'd rather live frugal then recuperate the cost than pay for a higher monthly insurance. That's just me.
I am frugal because my income is not enough to live comfortably in my high cost state. It is going to get worse when I purchase my home.
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