Are you frugal or high maintenance ??

KingsX

KingsX

Senior Member
Location
Texas
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I am frugal by nature. It tends to run in my family. From my point of view, living below my means and saving money is not just rewarding, it's fun.

A friend of mine is high maintenance. It took a while for me to understand why my frugal advice to her kept falling on deaf ears as she keeps lavishly spending money to her peril. Today, she is deep in debt and bankrupt. Her solution for her post-bankruptcy future is to try to increase her income [instead of decreasing her outgo.]

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around these two totally different financial natures.

If anyone has insights, lessons and/or experiences regarding this financial dichotomy, please post them here.
 

Hi Kingsx,I started over 40 yrs ago keeping a monthly journal of everything I spend,so I have a good idea where the money goes. It has worked for me,its part of my monthly routine,no plans to change. Sue
 
I don't believe I'm either frugal or high maintenance. I like to think that I'm a good money manager, but not necessarily "frugal." We have a comfortable retirement without having to make any sacrifices, but as we get older we don't seem to want for much.
 

moviequeen1 said:
Hi Kingsx,I started over 40 yrs ago keeping a monthly journal of everything I spend,so I have a good idea where the money goes. It has worked for me,its part of my monthly routine,no plans to change. Sue
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Me too!

I buy a cheap yearly daily planner at the dollar store. I record every purchase I make for that specific day.

Not only does it monitor/moderate my spending, it is also a good resource record to refer back to if necessary. Like when there is a purchase on my credit card that I don't remember.

Which brings me to a related topic. I use my rewards credit card for almost every purchase... then pay if off at the end of each month. so there is no interest charge. The end result is... the cc company pays me to use their credit card. When I try to explain this to my high maintenance friend, she seems to not get it. Meanwhile, she can't wait to get her credit cards back after bankruptcy.
 
C'est Moi said:
I don't believe I'm either frugal or high maintenance. I like to think that I'm a good money manager, but not necessarily "frugal." We have a comfortable retirement without having to make any sacrifices, but as we get older we don't seem to want for much.
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Being frugal is not just a lifestyle, it's a mentality. Those who are frugal by nature [as opposed to those who are forced to cut back on spending] enjoy the frugal lifestyle and don't regard it as a sacrifice.

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KingsX said:
Being frugal is not just a lifestyle, it's a mentality. Those who are frugal by nature [as opposed to those who are forced to cut back on spending] enjoy the frugal lifestyle and don't regard it as a sacrifice.

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Fair enough, but I was not equating frugality to sacrifice. I was simply stating our experience; we have not had to make any lifestyle changes in retirement. Things have pretty much continued as before. We have never been high maintenance people but I don't consider us frugal, either.
 
Really early in our marriage money management wasn't something well understood. We didn't know we were poor simply because scraping together 50 cents to go see an all night drive in movie wasn't a big deal. It's when buying a new 1963 chevy super sport left us with out being able to scrape that 50 cents together we knew we had to do differently. We had to decide between NEED and WANT. Need was the basis for buying. Easy when a series of low paying jobs with no benefits and only one of us working. But we stuck to our plan. Later when things began to fall our way frugal along with investing began building what we envisioned. Actually my wife envisioned I was shaky on the idea of walking away from a steady paycheck. But as always she was right and instead of early at 55 early retirement came at 54.

Since age 54 other series of fortunate events fell into place. As it stands now and has been for a few years after retiring frugal as a way of life is not in our vocabulary. My wife doesn't ask if she wants something she just buys whatever it is.
 
I am very frugal but we do save a bit for fun now and then. Usually that is when we travel to see my daughter and family. I take advantage of coupons but only for items we really need. Once in a great while we will go for seniors night at a local restaurant but 99 percent of the time we eat at home. Never,ever go out for coffee. Hang washed clothes in our basement or outside, Keep the heat pretty low which is how I like it anyway. Neither the hubby nor I need new clothes, comfortable sweats do the job and I can't think of one item I would like to have at this point. My last impulse buy was to get my sewing machine last year that I intend to make good use of and even that was greatly reduced or I would have walked right by it. Today was a good example of me being frugal. It gave me something to do and saved a few cents making gift cards from my Christmas cards for next year. cards1 (800x600).jpgcards2 (800x600).jpg
 
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i can't say i am frugal at all . i mean i don't spend more for something than i have to , but i certainly enjoy buying and doing the things we want .

i learned early on as a kid , that while a penny saved is a penny earned , it will always stay a penny without great compounding. . so rather than find ways of dealing with the pennies i spent my time learning how to compound better whatever i could save . to this day i spend my time concentrated on the income generation side and much prefer that to dealing with the pennies .
 
a penny saved , is less than a penny earned . inflation will see to that and that includes any tax saved .. without compounding that penny it will no longer even buy a pennies worth of stuff .
 
mathjak107 said:
a penny saved , is less than a penny earned . inflation will see to that and that includes any tax saved .. without compounding that penny it will no longer even buy a pennies worth of stuff .
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Who was it who called compound interest the eighth wonder of the world ??

My pennies saved are busy at work compounding interest.

Reminds me of these famous quotes from the classic money book, "The Richest Man in Babylon."

" Every gold piece you save is a slave to work for you. Every copper it earns is its child that also can earn for you. If you would become wealthy, then what you save must earn, and its children must earn, and it's children's children must earn, that all may help to give to you the abundance you crave. "

" You do eat the children of your savings. Then how do you expect them to work for you? And how can they have children that will also work for you? First get thee an army of golden slaves and then many a rich banquet may you enjoy without regret. "

" A man's wealth is not in the coins he carries in his purse; it is the income he buildeth, the golden stream that continually floweth into his purse and keepeth it always bulging. "
 
Ruth n Jersey said:
I am very frugal but we do save a bit for fun now and then. Usually that is when we travel to see my daughter and family. I take advantage of coupons but only for items we really need. Once in a great while we will go for seniors night at a local restaurant but 99 percent of the time we eat at home. Never,ever go out for coffee. Hang washed clothes in our basement or outside, Keep the heat pretty low which is how I like it anyway. Neither the hubby nor I need new clothes, comfortable sweats do the job and I can't think of one item I would like to have at this point. My last impulse buy was to get my sewing machine last year that I intend to make good use of and even that was greatly reduced or I would have walked right by it. Today was a good example of me being frugal. It gave me something to do and saved a few cents making gift cards from my Christmas cards for next year. View attachment 46970View attachment 46971
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That's a great idea, gift card holders from Christmas cards.

Mindlessly spending money is easy... too easy.

Being frugal keeps your mind alert and engaged.
 
C'est Moi said:
I don't believe I'm either frugal or high maintenance. I like to think that I'm a good money manager, but not necessarily "frugal." We have a comfortable retirement without having to make any sacrifices, but as we get older we don't seem to want for much.
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Same here, neither of us were ever 'high maintenance', but not really frugal either. We didn't buy things we could not afford, and when we put anything on a credit card we pay it off in full (cash back rewards). Never been in debt or had to claim bankruptcy, always paid our bills on time and saved during our working years (working overtime when possible) for an early retirement, which we are enjoying now.

We really haven't made any lifestyle changes since retiring, and if we want to go somewhere on vacation or buy a big ticket item, we can. As a child I was taught to respect the value of a dollar and I thank my parents for that, we didn't have that much money, but never wanted for any needs. I still use coupons, etc. to save when possible.
 
I'm frugal, being frugal was a big help to me in freeing up the money to save for my retirement.

IMO developing frugal/thrifty/spending habits is one side of the coin and earning/saving/investing is the other side of the coin.

It's not about scrimping or being miserly it's about making choices and focusing on the things that are important to you.

I've reached the saturation point in my life. I really don't need or want any additional stuff.

My focus is on my day to day comfort and future security which fortunately doesn't cost very much.

These threads interest me because we all seem to use slightly different approaches to reach similar goals.
 
Aunt Bea said:
I'm frugal, being frugal was a big help to me in freeing up the money to save for my retirement.

IMO developing frugal/thrifty/spending habits is one side of the coin and earning/saving/investing is the other side of the coin.

It's not about scrimping or being miserly it's about making choices and focusing on the things that are important to you.

I've reached the saturation point in my life. I really don't need or want any additional stuff.

My focus is on my day to day comfort and future security which fortunately doesn't cost very much.

These threads interest me because we all seem to use slightly different approaches to reach similar goals.
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I totally agree.

I have saved money all my life and still have much more "stuff" than I need and a big house to put it in.

Being frugal enabled me to get to my current happy place = peace of mind and retired comfort.
 
Frugal or High Maintenance? I am neither, and I know folks who are both. They are not mutually exclusive nor the only two options.
 
another important factor is that cost cutting only seems like increasing income , until it doesn't .

cost cutting has a bottom and once hit and expenses keep rising you learn the difference between the two .

increasing income by growing your money has no limits so once cost cutting hits bottom the increases in income take over .

that is why wall street reports both revenue and profits . profits can come from cost cutting and that can have very limited growth
 
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KingsX said:
I'm curious how you define someone as both frugal and high maintenance..
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How do you define "high maintenance"? To me, it is not the opposite of frugal.

Also, these threads are really just an excuse for a series of humble brags.
 

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