For any younger people trying to be frugal: it works. Although it's harder for younger people as everything is stupidly expensive, which sucks, but everything always gets more expensive.
I have a reputation for being "cheap". It's somewhat undeserved, I'm pretty generous, like if I invite anybody somewhere: will cover the drinks and food.
But drinks and food don't amount to all that much. Read something about "lifestyle creep" decades ago, and if you avoid it: you should be good. Get to where you're comfortable and happy and stop there.
Buy a house if you can, and spending money on it just your assets. Like if you buy a new driveway or garage or something for your house, that's not really spending money, it's just making your own thing more valuable. This is pretty obvious, but hey.
The best thing I ever learned about money was to avoid lifestyle creep. You get to where you're OK and stay like that for as long as possible without upgrading as your salary and wealth increases but your expenses do not.
Middle aged dude. Being frugal has paid off.
byu/ImOnTheBus inFrugal
Posted by ImOnTheBus
5 Comments
congratulations! i am 22 and aim to be as frugal as possible to be the opposite of my poor but very financially irresponsible parents. when i read posts like this it helps reiterate that my frugalness will always pay off. it can be very difficult sometimes living below your means when everyone your age seems to be living crazy lifestyles
i also get called cheap, for silly things like limiting myself to one drink on a night out or not ordering lunch at work when everyone else is. i think people call others cheap when they feel like someone else being frugal is an attack to them because they’re defensive and insecure about being bad with money
call me silly but i think financial literacy and budgeting should be taught in schools. parents like mine sure aren’t teaching their kids to be good with money so they’ll grow up to be equally as awful. it should be a core topic
I like the term “lifestyle creep.” Even though I hadn’t heard it before, I knew immediately what it meant.
Part of the problem for everyone, not just young people, is we don’t learn to examine the idea of “enough.” Everything is presented as linear, as though best is infinity, and there is no such thing as enough.
When I was younger, I used to play “lottery game.” I’d imagine winning the lottery, and try to figure out what size prize would be enough to make various changes in my life. What I found was, the longer I played this game, the lower a prize was needed. But even more important, I started seeing how I could achieve various things without winning the lottery.
Curious what your tracking system looked like over the years – spreadsheet, app, or mostly mental accounting?
I have found the act of logging itself changes behavior more than any budget rule. Seeing a category total mid-month makes you pause before adding to it. That pause is where the savings actually happen. What was the habit that made it stick for you?
I agree. Instead of lifestyle creep, put every raise into your 401-k by raising your contribution level and keep your lifestyle the same. It will pay off exponentially.
Great post. During your twenties and thirties you won’t see the payoff. You’ll see friends living on incomes you don’t have or living beyond their means. Fight the impulse to buy or travel beyond your own income. It gets easier because you’ll meet material needs incrementally, but resist the pull of spending.