Jesus

Yes he was very frugal. Turning water into wine instead of paying for it.

No chance he walked seven miles home from the bar though.

I've walked 6 kms to an airport before but I hadn't been out drinking or anything and it's not really that far.

I absolutely can't haggle. All my communicative deficiencies surface immediately when I come into situations where haggling would be appropriate. It is a life leak especially when travelling somewhere in India.

This is environmentally responsible. Everyone should do this to reduce the amount of plastic waste they produce.

I'm a fan of anything hating on Suze Orman, so I clicked on this article the other day and subsequently read this response.

Yesterday was the first I've heard of this FIRE movement, which basically means saving money and retiring early, or some version of retirement that doesn't involve a ****ty job (Financial Independence / Retire Early). ... There's as many ways to do that as there are people on the planet, of course, but Orman jumped in there with this awful "YOU'RE A HOBO IF YOU AINT A MILLIONAIRE" nonsense.

Reading the response, I found that while the guy's nom de plume grates my brain, a lot of the ideas he writes about resonate with me. For instance:

I think this nails one of the underlying problems with the modern idea of "retirement." Watching people budget and save, watching my dad deal with a fixed income, all of the planning seems to be around maintaining the status quo. Nothing must change in retirement.

And that, for sure, is a stressful proposition. Yeah, if that's your whole goal, you may actually need a few million. But what if "retirement" didn't buy into that idea? What if it allowed for changes in lifestyle and flexibility?

Of course, my dad looks at my life and says "you're not going to want to do any of the things you do today, when you're my age." And he might be right, but trying to predict what I will want seems like a bad longshot proposition to base my life on.

I've started making my own cold brew coffee. Initially it was to just save all the plastic I was wasting, but I'm saving a lot, too.

I think that the fear of uncertainty is something huge that holds people back. I don't know.... It was for me. And frugality helps to get rid of this fear.

With retirement and so..... It was big increase in the quality of life when I learned to leave jobs that make me unhappy easy and without fear. The prerequisite was clearly to be sure that I can deal with life on basically almost zero money.

I mean.... I don't hate money. Given all circumstances equal it is clearly better to have 20 millions than not to have. But it is so not worth it to be miserable.

May be for me going through immigration and watching my parents leaving all their life savings behind when they were around 40 y.o. has also influenced my attitude towards money to big extend.

Ok yea this is what I'm referring to. Mostly it's just not giving a **** about material stuff, getting full value out of a pair of shoes etc. But I'm very willing to go get sushi with friends or take a nice vacation

I just imagined this:

Shopkeeper: Madam, that exceedingly small tapestry you are looking at is a mere 4000 rupis.

Cartoon version of you having communication issues: What sort of fool do you take me for? I'll pay no less than 6000 rupis. (Internal panic sets in, throws 10k rupis at shopkeeper, grabs tapestry and runs out of shop)

here's a good book i read in my 20s and need to reread......https://www.amazon.com/Your-Money-Li...y+or+your+life It's called Your Money or Your Life

In the spirit of this thread, I just requested it at the local library.

Haha Yea! I like going to the library sometimes. Like when I just don't know what at all i want to read but want to be inspired

I simply visit a blacksmith for the same sort of feeling.

speaking of the library, i have a library cd by the silversun pickups, the one with panic switch, stuck in my car stereo for the past 3 years! i can't get it out! so i owe the library $10 and i can't play any other cds...awful situation

This is a good post and I have the same approach. Different people have different things that they value. This might be certain clothes, a car, day to day experiences such as eating out or going to the bar. For me, I spend a lot of money on things that I really value and enjoy (traveling, high end food, and experiences) and spend little money on many other things in my daily life (I don't eat out a tremendous amount of the time and when I do, it's mainly cheaper stuff; don't really get new/nice clothes; don't buy cars or material items).

I try to save money in every opportunity I can. Buying bulk at Sams Club or Costco is good, buying furniture on Craigslist in some situations is great, and many more.

I liked this video a year ago:

If you're good with money his "don't use credit cards, use debit cards" advice is horrible.

My credit card works as a month-long interest-free loan which gives me a small amount of cashback every now and then. Not using it is a major leak as I would lose out on interest on my money along with the cashback. The only reason to not use it is terrible budgeting skills.

Frank Abagnale made the point that only using credit cards massively reduces your risk to fraud.

Agreed, credit cards have a lot of free/good value. Most people aren't good with money, though.

There's an entire genre of financial advice aimed at saving people from their worst impulses rather than making the best decisions. See: WaPo's Michelle Singeltary, who has said there is no good debt and most people can't effectively use credit.

that's a big part of it too.
debit cards are utterly horrendous ESPECIALLY if you're poor.
You have way more risk and to top it off if someone steals your cc you freeze those charges. If someone steals your debit card people (especially if they don't have much money to begin with) start bouncing all kinds of checks/payments and even if you end up being made whole (not a guarantee at all) it's a huge headache getting it sorted out.

Another thing people don't realize is credit cards are great for large purchases because they extend warranties by a year.

Of course if you suck with money and are carrying a balance then credit cards are terrible don't use them.

Oh i agree most people are terrible with money so they're better off receiving sub optimal advice.

Best advice I've learned: If you aren't getting pussy, live with your parents, jerking off in the living room gets old quick.