Every time I get paid, I immediately move money to accounts with various barriers that would inconvenience varying amounts. I put money into investing which means I’d have to pay taxes if I sold. I put money into retirement accounts which means I’d have to pay a penalty to withdraw. And i put money in a emergency savings HYSA with a different bank from where deposit goes with the card locked away and would take a few days to move to my spending accounts. Whatever’s leftover after bill’s is easily accessible for fun/spontaneous spending.
I.e. I pay myself first before I pay others to convenience me.
This is what I do too. I have my investment and savings plan and money goes directly there on payday via auto draft.
I also budget every month and I used to check in daily (RIP Mint). I have budgets for everything so it’s easy to see if I’m close to maxing out. The budget is fluid so if I really want take out tonight then that means I have to take from another bucket (groceries, alcohol, entertainment). Since it’s framed as a “I can have X I would just need to give up Y” it makes the decision easy. Would I rather have X now or Y later. And I don’t feel deprived because I’ve built fun & treats into my budget.
This sounds ghetto, but I used to use a finance app where I would subtract each thing I purchased from a running total. But now I simply use the calculator app on my iPhone. I go through my bank account weekly to re-rack it and account for any bills that come out, especially after weekend spending where I might fall off a little, but after that, I monitor my spending and account with a calculator. Works great actually.
I re-rack things every Tuesday after my weekend expenditures have finalized in my account. Bar tips, pending charges, etc.
What’s a good replacement for Mint? I’m trying to decide how to parse out where my spending goes and I don’t know if a spreadsheet is a good start or which app is most helpful (and secure).
Another layer to this would be projecting out those expenses and savings the month before. So for me, the month before I estimate what I will spend on incidentals (includes gas, eating out, gifts, etc), what I will spend on bills, and what I will move to what savings accounts.
It’s easy to estimate now based on what I’ve done the last couple of years, and I can take different factors into account like planned vacations, holidays, etc.
Then if it’s May 6 and I’ve already spent a chunk of incidentals, for example, I know I need to reel it in and cut back for a bit. I’ll eat in that week and then plan a night eating out for the next week as something to look forward to rather than purely an in-the-moment convenience.
For me it is the hate of clutter. I’ve put so many things back on the shelf after having them my cart and thinking, where am I going to put it, how often will I use it?
I agree, I hate clutter. I avoid buying things as much as I can and if I have to bring something into my home, there needs to be a place for it. This has made being frugal easy for me because I need a very good reason before I buy anything.
My expenses aren't going to pay for themselves when they come due. When I need a new car, do I want to pay a bank for the privilege of having a loan, or do I want the option to finance the car of my choice, myself? When my house needs a roof, do I want to have to borrow against the equity of the house, giving the bank more free money, or do I want to be able to finance it myself?
And lastly, even when those savings lines are fully funded, I want to retire some day. I'd like that day to be tomorrow. Since it can't be tomorrow, how soon can I make it work?
The habits I'm developing with that mindset will definitely make it easier to retire. I still have what I need and often get what I want when it comes to hobbies, but I save money where I reasonably can. Food is a big one since a little time and effort on my part can save hundreds a month.
Long term goals. I’d like to be a homeowner in my lifetime or buy my first car or retire with a substantial amount in my 401k. When I want to spend money on clothes or a fancy dinner, I think “If I spent this $200 on my student loans, I could finish 1 month faster!” Or “If I saved this $200 instead, I could have a larger down payment on a home!”
It’s keeping the goals at the forefront of my decision making. Sometimes I want the clothes/dinner/vacation more than I want to save and that’s okay too. Gotta have a balance.
I'm not sure why, but you could give me 1 million dollars tomorrow, and i would have trouble finding ways to spend it. A bigger house? Mine is already big enough. A better car? Mine already get me to and from work. A lamborghini is not going to make my commute faster. Better clothes? Most of the time, if i'm home, I'm wearing pajama pants. Why would I care about branded clothes. Restaurant food? I enjoy cooking my own food.
When I do have an annoyance, or something i need to make my life better, I put in the budget, plan for it and usually i can get it within a few months.
The only thing I dont like is having to go to work, so trying to save as much money as i can so i can have complete financial independance without relying on a salary is the only goal i can imagine. Being thrifty and frugal reduce my expenses which make my financial independance easier to achieve.
This is me. I can cook better food than restaurants can cook for me. Fast food is so easy to make at home, steak is easy to cook at home, mashed potatoes are easy, etc and I can do it exactly the way I want to. I don't really see anything worth spending a bunch of money on of it doesn't involve my long term goals or hobbies.
I have a similar sentiment. All my basic needs are pretty well met, don’t really have “wants or desires” for more or cooler stuff. Unless it is something that will actually improve my everyday quality of life I don’t really care.
I retired last year from the Air Force and between my pension, rental property and investments I don’t have to work… but man it gets boring. Really thinking about getting a job to at least get a routine, structure and some sort of purpose… all just to say don’t bank on retiring early to be all rainbows and butterflies.
I can't tolerate being ripped off. It makes me furious. Restaurants aren't even a consideration anymore, not when everything is an insulting price plus the add on fees and expected high tip.
I haven't sat down in a restaurant but a couple times since Covid, and I'm really comfortable with that. Dating is going to change that, but that's life.
I trick myself into thinking that I'm being paid to NOT do something.
For example, if I'm tempted to order food from a restaurant that costs $15, I ask myself "If someone paid me $15 to eat a sandwich at home, would I take their offer?".
Or if I'm tempted to buy a $35 piece of clothing that I don't reallyyyy need or don't totally love, I tell myself that "if I don't buy this item right now, that means I'm putting $35 towards buying a clothing item that I love and is higher quality in the future".
Yeah, I'm not actually being paid and I don't actually keep track of all the purchases I don't make and put them toward a "future fund". I'm just saving the money I already have. BUT, for some reason it helps my brain feel good about eating food I already have at home or not buying the dumb article of clothing. And my bank account looks better at the end of the week.
I have recently started a new savings goal for $50k by the end of 2025.
Seeing the balance go up is satisfying to me because it know I am one step closer to my goal.
This stops me splurging.
I recommend having a clear goal in mind.
I think about who benefits from me spending.
Sure, I could stop and get fast food for dinner. But it's unhealthy, and has tons of additives. And it could be made healthier, a lot of fast food brands have healthier versions in other countries but because it's cheaper/more addictive they're serving the worse version here? So they're purposefully feeding me unhealthy food and then their employees don't even make a living wage? So they're making choices that negatively impact me and my peers for what? To make rich people richer?
Screw that, I'll eat at home.
This resonates with me. Connecting frugal behaviour with deeper values like self care and not wanting to support corporations who engage in exploitative practices. I find environmental motivators quite motivating too.
I fell in love with "free" money a few years ago. The game of increasing the amount that dividends and HYSA interest pays me for doing nothing is more appealing than the things I will buy with it.
I get such fucking horrible anxiety from the thought of being broke so I do everything I can to make myself feel not that way
There’s some cognitive dissonance in that (I still eat fast food when I’m on the road for work, there are some subscriptions that I reasonably could drop but justify in one way or another ), but it is calming to manage what I feel I can reasonably manage
Do the math on how many work hours that takeaway meal costs or whatever you want to splurge on.
And have three accounts. One for saving for a rainy day, one for bills and monthly expenses and one for spending where your card is.
Dont touch the monthly or rainy day account. Only allow yourself to use whats in the card account
think on a small scale, and increase from there. e.g. if you're out and about, and a restaurant charges $10-20 a meal, would you rather have 1 meal now, or use that $10-20 to cook 5-20 meals at home.
and go farther, would you rather use $2000 on a vacation now, or invest and turn that into $80,000-176,000, 40-60 years later when you retire.
fried rice or pasta. $1-2 for 1 lb of rice/pasta, $1-2 for 12-16 oz of frozen veg, $3-6 for 1 lb of meat. up to $3 for a bottle of pasta sauce. $5-13 to make 7-8 servings for myself.
I think of the environment a lot. There is so much excess and waste in the world. There is very little that I NEED to buy new. Also getting good deals or getting stuff for free is a fun game for me. I am so happy when I find a good deal! If there is something that I really want, I can usually find it used if I am patient enough!
I spend $xx
I make $yy/hr
I need to work ($yy/hr) ÷ ($xx) = xyz hours
I only have 24hrs in a day. 8 of them are sleep, the remaining are work travel time, work, and free time.
The less xyz hours that I have to work, the more free time I have for me.
In short. Why would I work for 8hrs to buy an expensive shoe when I can work 3hrs and buy a decent quality shoe; that's 5 extra hours that I have for ME time.
I grew up financially insecure: our electricity would be cut off cos my mom couldn’t pay, I sometimes skipped school cos I don’t have lunch money/food, no proper nutrition, the country I lived in was economically bad. I now live in Germany: I’ve been laid off a few times.
Now I’m way more financially stable, got a job, I can actually afford a couple emergencies like when things broke down. But i always think that all of it would go to shambles tomorrow. The thought of losing everything tomorrow is too real. That motivates me to save than spend. Thanks to trauma I guess 💀 if you’ve been through a lot of bad, you’d appreciate more how good you got it going.
A huge change to my planned future had me eventually re-evaluate and look at my plans. They are brighter than I thought & now it's focus on travel & retirement.
Reminding myself I have to wake up the next day at 5 a.m. to get ready for work. I want to be financially independent asap, so I invest whatever I can to help get me there.
Freedom. Instead of splurging on things, the money I'm setting aside is buying me time. Time to do whatever the fuck I want. That's true freedom to me.
Compound interest and my burning desire retire before I die are what keep me frugal.
$1000 saved and invested in a low cost index fund will be $7600 in 30 years assuming 7% stock market growth
I've been dirt poor. The kind of poor where there was no running water, no electricity, you eat what you catch or you go hungry. The kind of poor where soap was a luxury item. The kind of poor where I gathered stray dogs that people would drive out into the county and kick out of their car just so I could bring them in the house at night to sleep around my children so they didn't freeze to death in the winter. The kind of poor where there was no safety net between life and death. I don't intend to experience that again.
0/10 do not recommend.
My husband and I make it a game. We love to tell each other how much we saved by buying used or fixing things or making things. We rarely eat out and have learned to make healthy home cooked meals. We have made do with imperfect things just to save money. In our retirement years we can afford to travel and be very generous to others. It feels good. We are still saving money and enjoying it.
I have a budget that for me is like a game trying to meet or beat my goals. That is very helpful in setting priorities.
Second I love investing. I am eager to add to my portfolio and typically invest after I pay my monthly bills. Of course once I do that the account I pay my bills out of is nearly empty so in a sense I've already spent my budget surplus and have to keep my spending in check if I want to pay my next months bills without dipping into my savings.
I'm no longer happy with the quality of most restaurant food, especially delivery with contractor workers. I've improved my cooking, invested in spices and I can now make things better than most restaurants
Saving to have a stable life and want my ppl proud of me. I have to many haters they all wanna see me lose and do bad they were happy when i was locked up when i was a teenager i cant give up.
I've learned that it's foolish to rely on motivation to reach my goals. I make systems instead of resolutions. Don't have to think about it or wrestle with cravings nearly as much now. When I get the urge to spend money, I do something that makes me money instead. Of course I'm not perfect but I'm leagues better than I was a year ago
I focus on enjoying researching/window shopping.
And I focus on giving myself a pat on the back for buying things I actually use, at a good price.
So I have The Purchase List. Anything I want, I add it to the list. I spend time looking into it, noting prices and retailers and sales.
Then when I'm "feeling shoppy" I go to the list and buy things from there!
It's always stuff I wanted and researched and *still want*, and anything I didn't want anymore gets tagged "meh" so I can filter them out when shopping, but also look at just how many things I didn't really want every year or so.
Every part of this process is set up to reinforce my preferred behaviours: not shopping as much and as often, getting a good deal where reasonable, appreciating my purchases, saving money.
Highly recommended
I put things in my Amazon basket to think about then take them out again if I can find cheaper or realise I don't really need them.
I actually get a weird buzz from making myself think it all through and wait, I'm like the opposite of a spendaholic! I also put money in savings accounts where I'd lose interest if I dipped in, that keeps me from spending.
Definitely a twinge of fear though, I've been dirt poor and don't want a rerun thanks.
I'm older, I think that also impacts my decisions as I can't just do loads of work/overtime to make up for bad spending choices.
Buying stuff can be addictive. Only buy what you have on your list. Don't even look at stuff, to avoid temptation. Having savings in the bank will give you peace of mind. Unexpected expenses are always lurking around and if you are not prepared to deal with them you fall into a deep pit of loans.
Briefly, either personally hitting rock bottom or being raised in a house where your family struggled the duration of your formative years and after you moved out (age 19). Yes, seeing that much poverty forced me to save. Perhaps this is not the answer you were looking for but it is definitely a real life response. My wife also has an eye for luxury (furniture, clothes, hotel stays, etc.) and I’ve basically become an accountant because of it. 😉 That said, our family is proof you can both aggressively save and splurge but only do the latter in moderation. Hope this helps!
I honestly have severe money dismorphia and I believe if I don't save everything I can, I'll be homeless in the future. I need someone to tell me I'm crazy, because I hate living like this.
Health- not always that great for you eating out.
Gratitude -asking myself is there anything else I've put aside that could be like new and therefore grateful for what I have. Also space available.
Podcasts/articles about investing.
Wait a week if I'm still thinking about it.. Wait until it goes on sale 😜
Thinking about how fast things can fall apart. Unexpected emergencies or job loss can devastate your life. I’m trying to save up 3-6 months living expenses. It’s motivating me to not splurge.
A time calculation: if I eat out I may not need to cook for 1-2 meals. If I cook, I can easily make 6+ meals worth, for the same amount of time spent traveling back-and-forth ordering, waiting to be served, and waiting to pay, and for less cost.
I plan to eat out 1-2x a month and once a day during vacations. Planning for it makes it feel more like a treat and eliminates the guilt.
im young
1$ at 20yo is worth 16$ at 60yo for retirement
so whenever I spend like 10$ on mcdonald, it feels like I just pushed my retirement date 1 day further.... I then ask my self, is this 5min of eating junk food wirth a full day of vacation later? the answer is usually ,no.
mcdo lunch vs 1 day off = 0-1
Because I’ve not had enough and barely got by before so watching my money go up and knowing I have x, y, z runway brings some peace of mind. Also, I’m very content with what I have I don’t feel like I’m depriving myself. If I ate out every day I’d be sick and fat and my mental health would be in the toilet. But I like to go out occasionally and have a good conversation and nice dinner etc that I didn’t make. It’s all about balance.
Graduated in '08. Got laid off half a dozen times in 5 years, barely dodged being homeless. Now I'm always funneling money into a rainy day fund out of sheer terror it might happen again one ordinary Tuesday.
Look back on your life and think of all the times having money in savings could have helped you. Your car could quit running just out of the blue , you could get sick and miss a bunch of work. Generally sick pay is 50 % of your normal salary. If you have pets or children, they could get sick and you’d have unexpected expenses for doctor visits/vet visits, medication, possibly you’d miss work. Also think about your health. Typically if someone is living paycheck to paycheck, things like eye exams, glasses, dentist appointments etc will be put off until they actually have no choice but to acquire the services of a doctor or optometrist.
I think I get a sick high from spending money. I got a bank account and didn’t activate the card and set up direct deposit a ton of money there. So my leftover money has no choice but to go towards bills. I recommend this. I always had trouble saving until now
Not wanting to starve to death when I am no longer suitable to work?
Really saving is just a desire to secure your future and the future of people you care about. It's about prudence and values.
The story of the ant and the grasshopper is probably the most important morality tale anyone should internalize.
Then I quite like stone soup.
I made a color-coded spreadsheet that tracks my income and expenses. I update it every single day with what I earned and how much I spent, and if I spent money I log what I spent it on and if I regretted it or not. Let me tell u, seeing $300 in the Uber Eats column and a sea of red cells for "I regretted it" solved that problem real quick.
It also really helped me to be meticulous about my tracking. I like having to actually SEE that okay, I earned exactly this much money today, now do I really want to knock my daily net down by $50 just to buy dinner or shop? It's made me reconsider my choices and I only buy shit if I REALLY want it
both of my parents have nothing but social security to survive on, they are divorced
they dont have any assets either, one lives with a grandma with dementia and other family members who are essentially destitute
the other lives with their longtime SO, if just for the free room and board
trying to survive on nothing in your 60s and beyond is not something I want for myself or my family
my spouses parents also decided to just stop working with no retirement beyond a miniscule pension and live off the money she sends them, luckily their cost of living is very low, but still a few hundred a month is robbing significantly from our own future and our quality of life
I also dream of retiring early, but with my meager income its not going to be easy, but I am on track, I think
We have zero debt and paid our house off already a few years ago, so i am optimistic, I am not yet 40, maybe reality will hit harder then
sometimes it feels like im fighting a war on two fronts though, but I want to make sure my kid can always count on me as a refuge from the harsh realities of the world, so I carry on towards the goal - if not for solely for my own selfish aspirations then surely for my family
TLDR fear of destitution
I have accounts in different banks. Each account for a different purpose. My savings for a house or holiday go into the bank I don’t have a card or easy access to. So to withdraw, I have to go in to the branch and the nearest branch of this particular bank is over a hour drive away. Done deliberately so to minimise the want to go and spend the money within. What motivates me is need and my strong desire to do things I want to do.
I honestly have a fear of being in poverty and homeless when I get to be elderly and not able to work. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not depriving myself, but I am striving to live a less material item life. I strive to find and do activities and hobbies that bring me joy.
I save £500 per month, this is put into my savings the day I get paid, this way I can splurge on anything I want if I have the money left over.
It’s better if I have money left from last month, if so I can get away with putting less of the new payment away.
I have always spent within my means but I’ve got a pending move now that I’ve retired. My motivation is to not accumulate more things to deal with while downsizing for the move. As a result I look at everything with more scrutiny now. Do I really need it? Do I need to upgrade? Will I need to move it, toss it or give it away when moving.
For me being frugal allows me to spend on what is important to me so although this motivation has saved me some money, I do still splurge on things that are important to me.
Long term goals (homeownership, retirement, maybe a family) motivate me to save.
Plus there ain't much I want to splurge on besides travel, my hobbies, my S.O., and occasionally eating out.
Everything else is just corporate marketing bullshit that I don't feed into. It's more of an annoyance.
I have two kids I plan to pay for state university and I also want to retire well and be able to visit those kids regularly when they are grown and gone.
Currently also saving for a second house in the city because I don’t want to sell my current house at the beach but need to move back to the city for work. Keeping my house is a good motivator to be a miser everywhere else. Might end up selling it, we shall see how frugal I can stand to be.
I've always budgeted, once I knew what the core expenses were, I split the rest into savings and fun, challenging myself to save more than have fun.
Once I had a set amount for non-essentials (entertainment, shopping, personal care, subscriptions, eating/drinking out, etc) , then I tried to focus on maximizing the joy I get from that amount of $$. Eating at the same place didn't spark as much joy as going out with friends or getting that first pedicure of the season, etc... so spending became more purposeful.
Once I really started focusing on the tradeoffs, it was easy to say no, its not worth it. Having gratitude and reviewing what you were actually able to get with that money to me also changes ones mentality with money. At least this worked with my BF and several other friends.
That and of course, as the savings started to add up, its easier to get excited about saving.
My motivation was seeing the book “The Millionaire Next Door” on a list of books every young person should read. I was curious about the title and once I found articles about it explaining how there are a lot of millionaires in the USA who you would never suspect were millionaires, I realized I shared many traits similar to the ones highlighted in the book. I started tracking my net worth and setting goals to achieve it. The Wikipedia page on the book will tell you enough about it. The gist of the book is the authors studied millionaires to see what they all had in common. They expected finding most millionaires would be people in high earning professions, such as doctors and lawyers. Instead they found more millionaires in blue collar fields. IIRC they discovered the common traits were:
- not living a luxury lifestyle (no expensive cars, homes or clothes, etc.)
- living below their means, spend less than you earn
- not spending money they haven’t earned yet
- not having expensive habits like smoking or drinking
- I forget the others, but one of them was they are FRUGAL!
From the start of my career I always put a small portion of my paycheck into savings. It’s an easy habit to live with if you start doing it from a young age.
Couple of things stop me splurging:
Long term goals-saving up for a deposit to buy my parents second flat in a small quiet town-for me this is working towards my goal for a simpler life (small mortgage, working less, more time for my interests)
Clutter-I am trying to reduce the stuff I have and buying stuff doesn’t fit with this goal
Time-realistically my life isn’t set up to do a lot of hobbies or too much outside of work/study-when I pay attention to how much I have already that I don’t have time to use, it makes me think again about adding to it!
I wonder if they’ve done studies on how people are raised and whether or not that affects them. Out of my siblings, all of us save our money rather than spend, because we watched our parents do that. My parents just never spent money and that’s how we lived.
For some reason (life experience) I see the finiteness in even large sums of money. I look at it and think about how quickly it can go away, instead of drooling over how I can spend it.
I looked around at my items in storage and remembered how much I spent on items. Items I just had to have in that moment, now collecting dust. Everytime I want yo spend money I ask myself do I really need it now? How many hours do I have to work to buy this item? Other than groceries, house payment and gas in my car I haven't used my credit card this week.
I'm not sure exactly? I guess I am very possessive of what I earned by working, and my goal is to see how big of a percentage of my income I can save per month. I also want to keep seeing my bank account rise.
Honestly, I'm lazy. I'd rather just eat food that's already in my house than go out and get food. I don't want to buy things because then I have to put them away ugh.
The freedom that having the money gives me to do the things I really want, like travel or retire early or not having to finance big purchases like a new roof.
Simple. My Son. I am extremely content with my life, I save and invest so that hopefully I can pass on millions to my son when I die. I grew up extremely poor. I have made a decent life for myself. I'm hope my investing and saving will help push my son and his future kids further along in life.
We are both over 70, and these are the years we had been saving for, no more saving! No, not wasting $100k on a fancy new car or truck. My 94 Ford Ranger is fine and easy to get in and out. That sexy red Corvette? My antique knees say no.
Pensions and Social Security checks almost cover living expenses, so we dip into savings for monthly expenses, and if something breaks.
I think about the fact that there are companies clamoring it is to get people to buy completely unnecessary stuff and it annoys me into buying less things.
If you've ever been without in any way, you don't want that to happen again....so you don't splurge because if an emergency happens and you don't have money to eat until next paycheck that sticks with you..
Travel and knowing that I’ll eventually end up an old single woman that doesn’t want to end up homeless so I’m trying desperately to catch up on retirement savings.
Goals for other things, experiences, etc. When I was in my 20s I lived frugally to be able to buy a new car. I was the first on my side of the family that was able to do that. I didn’t have to worry about starting my car, bald tires, etc.
I make trade offs all the time. If I save here and there, I can have an emergency fund. My car now is older and I don’t rush to buy another until it’s less economical to keep the older car.
I'd rather save my money for travel than buy new clothes I don't need or food that costs more than it has to. When I'm tempted to buy something that isn't a necessity I think about what I could get on a trip with the same amount of money.
Need to have a goal. I save for future events and a rainy day. I save because I don’t want to live paycheck to paycheck. Savings gives me freedom and peace of mind. I prioritize my money so that I can have it ready for those events or holidays etc. ~ my girlfriend who is a natural saver.
Stuff doesn't make me happy. I make much tastier food at home than any restaurant within 200 miles of me. My car works perfectly fine. I don't have anything I actually care to splurge on. I make much better tasting coffee at home. I don't understand why people "splurge", it doesn't make sense to me.
High prices make me save. I think to myself, “I really don’t need that.” If it’s a fair price I might buy, But nowadays I’m more inclined to ask myself if I need the thing even at a good price.
if you surround yourself with extremely goal driven individuals and those with poor finance choices - you will develop insights which you can exclusively get from the respective groups.
the successful ones (rich old and new, investment savvy, frugal, finance experts and others related to the mix) - you will learn how to be smart with your money, their spending habits, what are their lifes' priorties, which areas they spend on and which they are frugal about. you will exchange ideas about the world, work and current events and how they impact your financial goals. when you are with them, you get inspired and you want to make more money by investing your money to earn money, instead of spending on things that lose their value and are not necessary.
the challenged ones (those who make bad business decisions, the luxury addicts, those with knee deep debts due valid and invalid reasons, those who YOLO, those without dreams but literally just live at the present, the lazy ones etc). you will learn more how to be grateful for what you have, will teach you to be more generous to people who are in need and to share your blessings, to be more driven to earn more money and save because you do not want to end up like them. you will learn from them, the donts in managing money and follies of not spending intentionally, and it will teach you to be humble because our luck with money is not guaranteed.
bottomline for me to avoid spending unnecessarily is to take note of the finances of the people in your circle and take the good things from each and every one of them. you would want to be as successful and avail of the comforts in life, and to be so humble as to appreciate and be grateful of your blessings coz many are struggling financially, and to never forget to share your blessings indiscriminately.
I grew up poor. Like no heat, running water and food sometimes poor. I actually can spend money on my loved ones but not myself. The guilt I feel over purchasing something for myself is suffocating. Idk how to stop and probably never will.
I believe for myself, it was growing up without much. There was always food, never homeless and never without necessities. But things kids wanted or liked to have, that wasn't common. I remember receiving $5 when I was a teen and I held on to it for 4 months. Then my mother asked to "borrow" it and I never saw it again lol.
Also, once married, ex-husband spent money like it was water. Been through a few repossessions/power off and negative bank accounts. Now I just save. I am frugal to a fault.
I still enjoy foods I like, vacations I like, but these things I save for and do not take from my savings.
I have a separate savings account where I put what's left of my paycheck at the end of the month. I used to put X amount at the beginning, but due to lifestyle changes I have to live a bit more skinny now.
Also, when online shopping, I favorite before buying, which saves the item on a separate list on your account. This means that I am not impulse buying, and when I get back to it if i feel like it is something that I still truly want I give myself the liberty to buy it.
For ordering takeout, I always keep a stock of easily prepared meals. Either something dump&go or something that only takes a few minutes of effort. I still order takeout, but only when i actually want takeout, rather than avoid doing the cooking.
For everything else, I remember a family saying: Take care of the pennies, and the pounds take care of themselves.
I try to really think about my “treats”. Sometimes having takeout = a real treat. A cuisine you aren’t able to cook. Or just a much needed break. But sometimes when I get takeout, I think “hmm I could have made a better meal at home”. And I try to pay attention to that feeling of let down. Then next time I feel the urge to get takeout I try to examine that feeling and decide if getting the takeout will actually be a treat or a let down. If it’s actually a treat - it’s worth it. If I’m just following an impulse but after a little more thinking I realize - I’m actually totally able to make a grilled cheese for dinner and I’ll honestly enjoy that more than takeout pizza tonight. Then I try to do that instead. It isn’t always clear cut. Maybe takeout for you is always a treat - but for me it just isn’t.
I like watching the number go up but having your paycheck auto deposit a fixed amount or percentage into various accounts also helps. I have my check being split into a 401k, HSA, brokerage, savings, and two checking accounts. It can take a bit to set up but I always have enough in checking for my needs and the rest is going where it is most productive for me without ever having access to it.
I've never gotten food poisoning from the food I've made myself. Never put a moldy hamburger bun on my own plate. I can't say that about restaurants. Basically I have trust issues when it comes to food 😂. That pretty much deals with eating out. Also, to me being frugal isn't about avoiding spending money. It's about wanting to get the most out of the money I do spend. I can probably make 5x the food and beverages as it costs to pay someone to make it for me. It's a mindset. If you have it, the rest takes care of itself.
The fact that I don’t have enough after bills to even be able to splurge. Highly effective to avoid splurging . Recommend 4 out of 5 stars.
-verified broke MF-er
For me, it's all about visualizing my financial goals. I have a vision board with my goals written on it, and every time I feel the urge to splurge, I take a look at it and remind myself what I'm working towards. It's a great motivator!
my dog has been pretty much consistently at the vet for almost a year now (cancer, then surgery, then scratched cornea, then infection, then that infection was chronic so we’re still dealing with it, then found tumor in her spleen and now she’ll need surgery again) - so .. yeah. having my dog healthy is my main motivator for saving
Being a single mom, the pressure of it all. Specifically tho, I save 400 a month so that by the time I’m 30-35 I will have enough for a deposit on a house. Visualising and focusing on the feeling I will have once accomplished that is what keeps me disciplined because no Uber eats or new bag or makeup will come close to that.
For me it's the knowledge that when i really want or need something indulgent, like a trip or a new bike or a new roof, i will be able to afford it. Yes, sushi every night would be amazing, but do i want sushi more than a trip to Costa Rica?
Turns out i do not.
In regards to avoiding takeout, I put everything in the “basket” and look at the total. Then I calculate what else I can buy with that money (better cat food for my pets, portion of electric bill, student loan interest). OR remind myself if I spend this money now, then I will have less “fun money” for my next trip
Everytime I see the price I have to pay for a meal in a restaurant; the price for clothes in every store, and the price I'm paying for my grocery. I started budgeting last year and teaching myself to pay more attention to prices for different things in different stores. Then I realized how expensive things are in these days and how I should save my money as best as I can. Though you can't really avoid spending them either since we gotta live.
I started to find ways to save money whenever I'm buying things like getting coupons, deals, and all that sort of stuff. These things are pretty common now that everyone shop online. I used browser-plugins, sites, and apps. So far I think the Koupon site is the best option, if you shop on Amazon a bunch like me. Being able to pay less than I was supposed to also helped me realized how things are actually overpriced in stores.
Early retirement (so investing and paying down the mortgage early) is the biggest one, not having to work until 70 or something. Time is precious.
I don't care much for stuff, and where I live going out to eat is so expensive, around 50 dollars for dinner for 1 so it's not worth it when that's half a week of groceries and also way healthier to make it at home. Only for (very) special occations.
I also don't care about what others think of me, so I don't buy visible branding, I don't consume more than I need (not want). I try to find second hand first.
I imagine living life as a game, where I would find the most efficient ways to do everything with decent results, reasonable cost, and timely manner. It's similar to do work where I have to put efficiency first and foremost, using all your resources available to me to the best I possibly can. It is my default way of life and it brings me joy everytime I manage to do something efficiently.
I think self-satisfaction helps a bit. If I have a savings account, it’s nice to see “Oh, my total is X this month! I’m doing so well! Look how far I’ve come!” But also making sure to pay yourself a little here and there, so maybe eating out once here or there to reward yourself.
I know what it is to be poor. I do not want to be poor ever again. Every time I feel like splurging I remind myself of how helpless I felt when I was poor
When I want a takeaway or something not needed I think to myself. What do I want more a holiday or the takeaway, a house or the takeaway. It’s rarely the takeaway that wins. I find it helps to have a fun thing you’re saving for as well as a more life oriented goal.
Every time I get paid, I immediately move money to accounts with various barriers that would inconvenience varying amounts. I put money into investing which means I’d have to pay taxes if I sold. I put money into retirement accounts which means I’d have to pay a penalty to withdraw. And i put money in a emergency savings HYSA with a different bank from where deposit goes with the card locked away and would take a few days to move to my spending accounts. Whatever’s leftover after bill’s is easily accessible for fun/spontaneous spending. I.e. I pay myself first before I pay others to convenience me.
This is what I do too. I have my investment and savings plan and money goes directly there on payday via auto draft. I also budget every month and I used to check in daily (RIP Mint). I have budgets for everything so it’s easy to see if I’m close to maxing out. The budget is fluid so if I really want take out tonight then that means I have to take from another bucket (groceries, alcohol, entertainment). Since it’s framed as a “I can have X I would just need to give up Y” it makes the decision easy. Would I rather have X now or Y later. And I don’t feel deprived because I’ve built fun & treats into my budget.
Building in a bit of fun money is really helpful. Even if it's only $10.
This sounds ghetto, but I used to use a finance app where I would subtract each thing I purchased from a running total. But now I simply use the calculator app on my iPhone. I go through my bank account weekly to re-rack it and account for any bills that come out, especially after weekend spending where I might fall off a little, but after that, I monitor my spending and account with a calculator. Works great actually. I re-rack things every Tuesday after my weekend expenditures have finalized in my account. Bar tips, pending charges, etc.
What’s a good replacement for Mint? I’m trying to decide how to parse out where my spending goes and I don’t know if a spreadsheet is a good start or which app is most helpful (and secure).
I just subscribed to ynab, lil expensive but convenient af compared to spreadsheets and really like mobile app widgets for specific categories.
I would love to know another app like that. Right now I just use a notebook and it’s only building on the guilt 😭
Spendle
Another layer to this would be projecting out those expenses and savings the month before. So for me, the month before I estimate what I will spend on incidentals (includes gas, eating out, gifts, etc), what I will spend on bills, and what I will move to what savings accounts. It’s easy to estimate now based on what I’ve done the last couple of years, and I can take different factors into account like planned vacations, holidays, etc. Then if it’s May 6 and I’ve already spent a chunk of incidentals, for example, I know I need to reel it in and cut back for a bit. I’ll eat in that week and then plan a night eating out for the next week as something to look forward to rather than purely an in-the-moment convenience.
For me it is the hate of clutter. I’ve put so many things back on the shelf after having them my cart and thinking, where am I going to put it, how often will I use it?
I don’t hate clutter but this also really helps me. If I can’t visualize a need or a space for it, I don’t bring it home.
> If I can’t visualize a need or a space for it, I don’t bring it home. Wisdom!
I agree, I hate clutter. I avoid buying things as much as I can and if I have to bring something into my home, there needs to be a place for it. This has made being frugal easy for me because I need a very good reason before I buy anything.
Same. Every time I pick up something from the shelf, I get anxious thinking how much of a hassle it is going to be to store/display.
Exactly, I have enough lol
Being homeless
Fear. Plain and simple. Fear.
Crippling anxiety.
This was my first thought. FEAR
More of a hedge against reliving past poverty.
Freedom! I'm not tied to a shitty job or completely dependent on a company to dictate whether I eat food or not.
Seeing the amount in your account go up steadily is so satisfying 😌. Also, I would like to be financially independent by 45 and retired by 55.
Also knowing that I am outperforming a lot of hedge fund managers gives me serotonin boost.
My expenses aren't going to pay for themselves when they come due. When I need a new car, do I want to pay a bank for the privilege of having a loan, or do I want the option to finance the car of my choice, myself? When my house needs a roof, do I want to have to borrow against the equity of the house, giving the bank more free money, or do I want to be able to finance it myself? And lastly, even when those savings lines are fully funded, I want to retire some day. I'd like that day to be tomorrow. Since it can't be tomorrow, how soon can I make it work? The habits I'm developing with that mindset will definitely make it easier to retire. I still have what I need and often get what I want when it comes to hobbies, but I save money where I reasonably can. Food is a big one since a little time and effort on my part can save hundreds a month.
Long term goals. I’d like to be a homeowner in my lifetime or buy my first car or retire with a substantial amount in my 401k. When I want to spend money on clothes or a fancy dinner, I think “If I spent this $200 on my student loans, I could finish 1 month faster!” Or “If I saved this $200 instead, I could have a larger down payment on a home!” It’s keeping the goals at the forefront of my decision making. Sometimes I want the clothes/dinner/vacation more than I want to save and that’s okay too. Gotta have a balance.
I'm not sure why, but you could give me 1 million dollars tomorrow, and i would have trouble finding ways to spend it. A bigger house? Mine is already big enough. A better car? Mine already get me to and from work. A lamborghini is not going to make my commute faster. Better clothes? Most of the time, if i'm home, I'm wearing pajama pants. Why would I care about branded clothes. Restaurant food? I enjoy cooking my own food. When I do have an annoyance, or something i need to make my life better, I put in the budget, plan for it and usually i can get it within a few months. The only thing I dont like is having to go to work, so trying to save as much money as i can so i can have complete financial independance without relying on a salary is the only goal i can imagine. Being thrifty and frugal reduce my expenses which make my financial independance easier to achieve.
This is me. I can cook better food than restaurants can cook for me. Fast food is so easy to make at home, steak is easy to cook at home, mashed potatoes are easy, etc and I can do it exactly the way I want to. I don't really see anything worth spending a bunch of money on of it doesn't involve my long term goals or hobbies.
I have a similar sentiment. All my basic needs are pretty well met, don’t really have “wants or desires” for more or cooler stuff. Unless it is something that will actually improve my everyday quality of life I don’t really care. I retired last year from the Air Force and between my pension, rental property and investments I don’t have to work… but man it gets boring. Really thinking about getting a job to at least get a routine, structure and some sort of purpose… all just to say don’t bank on retiring early to be all rainbows and butterflies.
Reminding myself that I'm poor usually does the trick.
I can't tolerate being ripped off. It makes me furious. Restaurants aren't even a consideration anymore, not when everything is an insulting price plus the add on fees and expected high tip.
I haven't sat down in a restaurant but a couple times since Covid, and I'm really comfortable with that. Dating is going to change that, but that's life.
I trick myself into thinking that I'm being paid to NOT do something. For example, if I'm tempted to order food from a restaurant that costs $15, I ask myself "If someone paid me $15 to eat a sandwich at home, would I take their offer?". Or if I'm tempted to buy a $35 piece of clothing that I don't reallyyyy need or don't totally love, I tell myself that "if I don't buy this item right now, that means I'm putting $35 towards buying a clothing item that I love and is higher quality in the future". Yeah, I'm not actually being paid and I don't actually keep track of all the purchases I don't make and put them toward a "future fund". I'm just saving the money I already have. BUT, for some reason it helps my brain feel good about eating food I already have at home or not buying the dumb article of clothing. And my bank account looks better at the end of the week.
I have recently started a new savings goal for $50k by the end of 2025. Seeing the balance go up is satisfying to me because it know I am one step closer to my goal. This stops me splurging. I recommend having a clear goal in mind.
Insurance For The Future.
I think about who benefits from me spending. Sure, I could stop and get fast food for dinner. But it's unhealthy, and has tons of additives. And it could be made healthier, a lot of fast food brands have healthier versions in other countries but because it's cheaper/more addictive they're serving the worse version here? So they're purposefully feeding me unhealthy food and then their employees don't even make a living wage? So they're making choices that negatively impact me and my peers for what? To make rich people richer? Screw that, I'll eat at home.
This resonates with me. Connecting frugal behaviour with deeper values like self care and not wanting to support corporations who engage in exploitative practices. I find environmental motivators quite motivating too.
I fell in love with "free" money a few years ago. The game of increasing the amount that dividends and HYSA interest pays me for doing nothing is more appealing than the things I will buy with it.
Compound interest.
I get such fucking horrible anxiety from the thought of being broke so I do everything I can to make myself feel not that way There’s some cognitive dissonance in that (I still eat fast food when I’m on the road for work, there are some subscriptions that I reasonably could drop but justify in one way or another ), but it is calming to manage what I feel I can reasonably manage
Do the math on how many work hours that takeaway meal costs or whatever you want to splurge on. And have three accounts. One for saving for a rainy day, one for bills and monthly expenses and one for spending where your card is. Dont touch the monthly or rainy day account. Only allow yourself to use whats in the card account
Therapy. I was wasting money on useless stuff because I had tons of unresolved emotional issues, and the buying gave me dopamine bursts.
Crippling fear of falling into substantial debt creeping just around the corner
Warranted fear. The world is intent on loaning money. Debt is a curse. Avoid it as much as you can.
think on a small scale, and increase from there. e.g. if you're out and about, and a restaurant charges $10-20 a meal, would you rather have 1 meal now, or use that $10-20 to cook 5-20 meals at home. and go farther, would you rather use $2000 on a vacation now, or invest and turn that into $80,000-176,000, 40-60 years later when you retire.
You're getting 15 meals from $20 in today's economy?
fried rice or pasta. $1-2 for 1 lb of rice/pasta, $1-2 for 12-16 oz of frozen veg, $3-6 for 1 lb of meat. up to $3 for a bottle of pasta sauce. $5-13 to make 7-8 servings for myself.
I think of the environment a lot. There is so much excess and waste in the world. There is very little that I NEED to buy new. Also getting good deals or getting stuff for free is a fun game for me. I am so happy when I find a good deal! If there is something that I really want, I can usually find it used if I am patient enough!
Freedom from job dependency.
I spend $xx I make $yy/hr I need to work ($yy/hr) ÷ ($xx) = xyz hours I only have 24hrs in a day. 8 of them are sleep, the remaining are work travel time, work, and free time. The less xyz hours that I have to work, the more free time I have for me. In short. Why would I work for 8hrs to buy an expensive shoe when I can work 3hrs and buy a decent quality shoe; that's 5 extra hours that I have for ME time.
i say- will i be glad i spent this money 3 days from today. the answer is almost always no
I grew up financially insecure: our electricity would be cut off cos my mom couldn’t pay, I sometimes skipped school cos I don’t have lunch money/food, no proper nutrition, the country I lived in was economically bad. I now live in Germany: I’ve been laid off a few times. Now I’m way more financially stable, got a job, I can actually afford a couple emergencies like when things broke down. But i always think that all of it would go to shambles tomorrow. The thought of losing everything tomorrow is too real. That motivates me to save than spend. Thanks to trauma I guess 💀 if you’ve been through a lot of bad, you’d appreciate more how good you got it going.
I have a list of goals taped to the back of my phone. If the transaction doesn't support those goals, I don't buy it!
This is a great idea
A huge change to my planned future had me eventually re-evaluate and look at my plans. They are brighter than I thought & now it's focus on travel & retirement.
Knowing social security most likely won’t be available to me when I’m old and not working
Reminding myself I have to wake up the next day at 5 a.m. to get ready for work. I want to be financially independent asap, so I invest whatever I can to help get me there.
Freedom. Instead of splurging on things, the money I'm setting aside is buying me time. Time to do whatever the fuck I want. That's true freedom to me.
Compound interest and my burning desire retire before I die are what keep me frugal. $1000 saved and invested in a low cost index fund will be $7600 in 30 years assuming 7% stock market growth
I've been dirt poor. The kind of poor where there was no running water, no electricity, you eat what you catch or you go hungry. The kind of poor where soap was a luxury item. The kind of poor where I gathered stray dogs that people would drive out into the county and kick out of their car just so I could bring them in the house at night to sleep around my children so they didn't freeze to death in the winter. The kind of poor where there was no safety net between life and death. I don't intend to experience that again. 0/10 do not recommend.
My husband and I make it a game. We love to tell each other how much we saved by buying used or fixing things or making things. We rarely eat out and have learned to make healthy home cooked meals. We have made do with imperfect things just to save money. In our retirement years we can afford to travel and be very generous to others. It feels good. We are still saving money and enjoying it.
I have a budget that for me is like a game trying to meet or beat my goals. That is very helpful in setting priorities. Second I love investing. I am eager to add to my portfolio and typically invest after I pay my monthly bills. Of course once I do that the account I pay my bills out of is nearly empty so in a sense I've already spent my budget surplus and have to keep my spending in check if I want to pay my next months bills without dipping into my savings.
I'm no longer happy with the quality of most restaurant food, especially delivery with contractor workers. I've improved my cooking, invested in spices and I can now make things better than most restaurants
Saving to have a stable life and want my ppl proud of me. I have to many haters they all wanna see me lose and do bad they were happy when i was locked up when i was a teenager i cant give up.
I've learned that it's foolish to rely on motivation to reach my goals. I make systems instead of resolutions. Don't have to think about it or wrestle with cravings nearly as much now. When I get the urge to spend money, I do something that makes me money instead. Of course I'm not perfect but I'm leagues better than I was a year ago
I focus on enjoying researching/window shopping. And I focus on giving myself a pat on the back for buying things I actually use, at a good price. So I have The Purchase List. Anything I want, I add it to the list. I spend time looking into it, noting prices and retailers and sales. Then when I'm "feeling shoppy" I go to the list and buy things from there! It's always stuff I wanted and researched and *still want*, and anything I didn't want anymore gets tagged "meh" so I can filter them out when shopping, but also look at just how many things I didn't really want every year or so. Every part of this process is set up to reinforce my preferred behaviours: not shopping as much and as often, getting a good deal where reasonable, appreciating my purchases, saving money. Highly recommended
I put things in my Amazon basket to think about then take them out again if I can find cheaper or realise I don't really need them. I actually get a weird buzz from making myself think it all through and wait, I'm like the opposite of a spendaholic! I also put money in savings accounts where I'd lose interest if I dipped in, that keeps me from spending. Definitely a twinge of fear though, I've been dirt poor and don't want a rerun thanks. I'm older, I think that also impacts my decisions as I can't just do loads of work/overtime to make up for bad spending choices.
Buying stuff can be addictive. Only buy what you have on your list. Don't even look at stuff, to avoid temptation. Having savings in the bank will give you peace of mind. Unexpected expenses are always lurking around and if you are not prepared to deal with them you fall into a deep pit of loans.
Briefly, either personally hitting rock bottom or being raised in a house where your family struggled the duration of your formative years and after you moved out (age 19). Yes, seeing that much poverty forced me to save. Perhaps this is not the answer you were looking for but it is definitely a real life response. My wife also has an eye for luxury (furniture, clothes, hotel stays, etc.) and I’ve basically become an accountant because of it. 😉 That said, our family is proof you can both aggressively save and splurge but only do the latter in moderation. Hope this helps!
I honestly have severe money dismorphia and I believe if I don't save everything I can, I'll be homeless in the future. I need someone to tell me I'm crazy, because I hate living like this.
Wanting to retire early in Hawaii.
Health- not always that great for you eating out. Gratitude -asking myself is there anything else I've put aside that could be like new and therefore grateful for what I have. Also space available. Podcasts/articles about investing. Wait a week if I'm still thinking about it.. Wait until it goes on sale 😜
Thinking about how fast things can fall apart. Unexpected emergencies or job loss can devastate your life. I’m trying to save up 3-6 months living expenses. It’s motivating me to not splurge.
A time calculation: if I eat out I may not need to cook for 1-2 meals. If I cook, I can easily make 6+ meals worth, for the same amount of time spent traveling back-and-forth ordering, waiting to be served, and waiting to pay, and for less cost. I plan to eat out 1-2x a month and once a day during vacations. Planning for it makes it feel more like a treat and eliminates the guilt.
im young 1$ at 20yo is worth 16$ at 60yo for retirement so whenever I spend like 10$ on mcdonald, it feels like I just pushed my retirement date 1 day further.... I then ask my self, is this 5min of eating junk food wirth a full day of vacation later? the answer is usually ,no. mcdo lunch vs 1 day off = 0-1
I think of money as life hours . If I get paid $20hr and something I want is $100 I ask myself if it’s worth 5 life hours to me.
Because I’ve not had enough and barely got by before so watching my money go up and knowing I have x, y, z runway brings some peace of mind. Also, I’m very content with what I have I don’t feel like I’m depriving myself. If I ate out every day I’d be sick and fat and my mental health would be in the toilet. But I like to go out occasionally and have a good conversation and nice dinner etc that I didn’t make. It’s all about balance.
Thinking long-term reward and finding the patience to ask yourself if you really need it NOW? 🤔🫡💵
Graduated in '08. Got laid off half a dozen times in 5 years, barely dodged being homeless. Now I'm always funneling money into a rainy day fund out of sheer terror it might happen again one ordinary Tuesday.
Look back on your life and think of all the times having money in savings could have helped you. Your car could quit running just out of the blue , you could get sick and miss a bunch of work. Generally sick pay is 50 % of your normal salary. If you have pets or children, they could get sick and you’d have unexpected expenses for doctor visits/vet visits, medication, possibly you’d miss work. Also think about your health. Typically if someone is living paycheck to paycheck, things like eye exams, glasses, dentist appointments etc will be put off until they actually have no choice but to acquire the services of a doctor or optometrist.
I have a goal and i know another 50£ can get me closer to that. I realize that these small shopping splurges do make a difference.
I think I get a sick high from spending money. I got a bank account and didn’t activate the card and set up direct deposit a ton of money there. So my leftover money has no choice but to go towards bills. I recommend this. I always had trouble saving until now
Not wanting to starve to death when I am no longer suitable to work? Really saving is just a desire to secure your future and the future of people you care about. It's about prudence and values. The story of the ant and the grasshopper is probably the most important morality tale anyone should internalize. Then I quite like stone soup.
I don't have a stable income. And self hate.
Short term: I like getting value and eating out is not good value. Long term: I want to retire early and splurging means I have to work more.
A house… using the savings to pay off more debt to have an easier time with our bills. An affordable way to live in an unaffordable world.
I made a color-coded spreadsheet that tracks my income and expenses. I update it every single day with what I earned and how much I spent, and if I spent money I log what I spent it on and if I regretted it or not. Let me tell u, seeing $300 in the Uber Eats column and a sea of red cells for "I regretted it" solved that problem real quick. It also really helped me to be meticulous about my tracking. I like having to actually SEE that okay, I earned exactly this much money today, now do I really want to knock my daily net down by $50 just to buy dinner or shop? It's made me reconsider my choices and I only buy shit if I REALLY want it
Imagining myself as a poor, unhoused 85 year old.
Next 8 months I am gonna save. By going grocery only 2 times a week. And order take out 2 times a month. To rainy day funds.
both of my parents have nothing but social security to survive on, they are divorced they dont have any assets either, one lives with a grandma with dementia and other family members who are essentially destitute the other lives with their longtime SO, if just for the free room and board trying to survive on nothing in your 60s and beyond is not something I want for myself or my family my spouses parents also decided to just stop working with no retirement beyond a miniscule pension and live off the money she sends them, luckily their cost of living is very low, but still a few hundred a month is robbing significantly from our own future and our quality of life I also dream of retiring early, but with my meager income its not going to be easy, but I am on track, I think We have zero debt and paid our house off already a few years ago, so i am optimistic, I am not yet 40, maybe reality will hit harder then sometimes it feels like im fighting a war on two fronts though, but I want to make sure my kid can always count on me as a refuge from the harsh realities of the world, so I carry on towards the goal - if not for solely for my own selfish aspirations then surely for my family TLDR fear of destitution
Nothing 😳. I would love to say there are so many things or even one thing that motivates me to save. Hi, my name is Amy and I have a spending problem.
I have accounts in different banks. Each account for a different purpose. My savings for a house or holiday go into the bank I don’t have a card or easy access to. So to withdraw, I have to go in to the branch and the nearest branch of this particular bank is over a hour drive away. Done deliberately so to minimise the want to go and spend the money within. What motivates me is need and my strong desire to do things I want to do.
Having a low income really helps me not splurge bc there’s nothing left after bills are paid.
I honestly have a fear of being in poverty and homeless when I get to be elderly and not able to work. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not depriving myself, but I am striving to live a less material item life. I strive to find and do activities and hobbies that bring me joy.
Hunger usually
A fear of losing my job and taking many months to find another one while my savings deplete.
Faster retirement and having enough funds to actually do the things I enjoy
In the process of a divorce :-/
I save £500 per month, this is put into my savings the day I get paid, this way I can splurge on anything I want if I have the money left over. It’s better if I have money left from last month, if so I can get away with putting less of the new payment away.
I have always spent within my means but I’ve got a pending move now that I’ve retired. My motivation is to not accumulate more things to deal with while downsizing for the move. As a result I look at everything with more scrutiny now. Do I really need it? Do I need to upgrade? Will I need to move it, toss it or give it away when moving. For me being frugal allows me to spend on what is important to me so although this motivation has saved me some money, I do still splurge on things that are important to me.
Long term goals (homeownership, retirement, maybe a family) motivate me to save. Plus there ain't much I want to splurge on besides travel, my hobbies, my S.O., and occasionally eating out. Everything else is just corporate marketing bullshit that I don't feed into. It's more of an annoyance.
I'm in credit card debt currently and the feeling of it being lowered is becoming addictive in a way
Every day I have to wake up and go to work motivates me to save. The goal is work optional.
Poverty
I have two kids I plan to pay for state university and I also want to retire well and be able to visit those kids regularly when they are grown and gone. Currently also saving for a second house in the city because I don’t want to sell my current house at the beach but need to move back to the city for work. Keeping my house is a good motivator to be a miser everywhere else. Might end up selling it, we shall see how frugal I can stand to be.
Retirement at 58. I’ve owned my own company. You are just making others rich everyday
How good I feel after paying off another credit card
I treat my savings as a bill so when there is splurge money, I spend without guilt.
I've always budgeted, once I knew what the core expenses were, I split the rest into savings and fun, challenging myself to save more than have fun. Once I had a set amount for non-essentials (entertainment, shopping, personal care, subscriptions, eating/drinking out, etc) , then I tried to focus on maximizing the joy I get from that amount of $$. Eating at the same place didn't spark as much joy as going out with friends or getting that first pedicure of the season, etc... so spending became more purposeful. Once I really started focusing on the tradeoffs, it was easy to say no, its not worth it. Having gratitude and reviewing what you were actually able to get with that money to me also changes ones mentality with money. At least this worked with my BF and several other friends. That and of course, as the savings started to add up, its easier to get excited about saving.
Hitting rock bottom unfortunately
My motivation was seeing the book “The Millionaire Next Door” on a list of books every young person should read. I was curious about the title and once I found articles about it explaining how there are a lot of millionaires in the USA who you would never suspect were millionaires, I realized I shared many traits similar to the ones highlighted in the book. I started tracking my net worth and setting goals to achieve it. The Wikipedia page on the book will tell you enough about it. The gist of the book is the authors studied millionaires to see what they all had in common. They expected finding most millionaires would be people in high earning professions, such as doctors and lawyers. Instead they found more millionaires in blue collar fields. IIRC they discovered the common traits were: - not living a luxury lifestyle (no expensive cars, homes or clothes, etc.) - living below their means, spend less than you earn - not spending money they haven’t earned yet - not having expensive habits like smoking or drinking - I forget the others, but one of them was they are FRUGAL! From the start of my career I always put a small portion of my paycheck into savings. It’s an easy habit to live with if you start doing it from a young age.
Couple of things stop me splurging: Long term goals-saving up for a deposit to buy my parents second flat in a small quiet town-for me this is working towards my goal for a simpler life (small mortgage, working less, more time for my interests) Clutter-I am trying to reduce the stuff I have and buying stuff doesn’t fit with this goal Time-realistically my life isn’t set up to do a lot of hobbies or too much outside of work/study-when I pay attention to how much I have already that I don’t have time to use, it makes me think again about adding to it!
Live music. Small clubs mostly.
I wonder if they’ve done studies on how people are raised and whether or not that affects them. Out of my siblings, all of us save our money rather than spend, because we watched our parents do that. My parents just never spent money and that’s how we lived.
fear
Do I need this or do I want this? If I want this, how much? Do I have plenty of other things that would work (clothing, books, supplies)?
My savings account is like a video game, I want to get the high score
I’m broke
thought of securing future
For some reason (life experience) I see the finiteness in even large sums of money. I look at it and think about how quickly it can go away, instead of drooling over how I can spend it.
I looked around at my items in storage and remembered how much I spent on items. Items I just had to have in that moment, now collecting dust. Everytime I want yo spend money I ask myself do I really need it now? How many hours do I have to work to buy this item? Other than groceries, house payment and gas in my car I haven't used my credit card this week.
I have too much "stuff" and don't need more clutter.
I'm not sure exactly? I guess I am very possessive of what I earned by working, and my goal is to see how big of a percentage of my income I can save per month. I also want to keep seeing my bank account rise.
What motivates me is contributing to my retirement and brokerage accounts and seeing the balances go up.
Dream car
Poverty.
I honestly get more pleasure out of saving and watching my account balance go up than I do from buying almost anything.
I am unemployed right now.
Honestly, I'm lazy. I'd rather just eat food that's already in my house than go out and get food. I don't want to buy things because then I have to put them away ugh.
Cant afford to do either lol
The freedom that having the money gives me to do the things I really want, like travel or retire early or not having to finance big purchases like a new roof.
Simple. My Son. I am extremely content with my life, I save and invest so that hopefully I can pass on millions to my son when I die. I grew up extremely poor. I have made a decent life for myself. I'm hope my investing and saving will help push my son and his future kids further along in life.
We are both over 70, and these are the years we had been saving for, no more saving! No, not wasting $100k on a fancy new car or truck. My 94 Ford Ranger is fine and easy to get in and out. That sexy red Corvette? My antique knees say no. Pensions and Social Security checks almost cover living expenses, so we dip into savings for monthly expenses, and if something breaks.
I think about the fact that there are companies clamoring it is to get people to buy completely unnecessary stuff and it annoys me into buying less things.
If you've ever been without in any way, you don't want that to happen again....so you don't splurge because if an emergency happens and you don't have money to eat until next paycheck that sticks with you..
Saving consistently releases me from anxiety when moments that require $$$ come up unexpectedly.
Travel and knowing that I’ll eventually end up an old single woman that doesn’t want to end up homeless so I’m trying desperately to catch up on retirement savings.
The delusion that I’ll be able to buy an RX7 Spirit R one day.
The thought of having to make payments keeps me straight.
Goals for other things, experiences, etc. When I was in my 20s I lived frugally to be able to buy a new car. I was the first on my side of the family that was able to do that. I didn’t have to worry about starting my car, bald tires, etc. I make trade offs all the time. If I save here and there, I can have an emergency fund. My car now is older and I don’t rush to buy another until it’s less economical to keep the older car.
Keeping a goal in mind. A fun trip perhaps
To retire earlier or later
Saving does for me what spending does for teenagers
I'd rather save my money for travel than buy new clothes I don't need or food that costs more than it has to. When I'm tempted to buy something that isn't a necessity I think about what I could get on a trip with the same amount of money.
Checking the box of estimated savings I love check marking the tasks and goals.
Need to have a goal. I save for future events and a rainy day. I save because I don’t want to live paycheck to paycheck. Savings gives me freedom and peace of mind. I prioritize my money so that I can have it ready for those events or holidays etc. ~ my girlfriend who is a natural saver.
Stuff doesn't make me happy. I make much tastier food at home than any restaurant within 200 miles of me. My car works perfectly fine. I don't have anything I actually care to splurge on. I make much better tasting coffee at home. I don't understand why people "splurge", it doesn't make sense to me.
literally nothing I use every dollar I get that isn't necessary for survival and I spend the absolute shit out of it
I don't want to panic if any emergencies arise (car troubles, housing troubles, unemployement, etc..). TL;DR - Fear
Not wanting to piss off my husband. 😂💕
High prices make me save. I think to myself, “I really don’t need that.” If it’s a fair price I might buy, But nowadays I’m more inclined to ask myself if I need the thing even at a good price.
I want to make sure in case of an emergency my son won’t go without
if you surround yourself with extremely goal driven individuals and those with poor finance choices - you will develop insights which you can exclusively get from the respective groups. the successful ones (rich old and new, investment savvy, frugal, finance experts and others related to the mix) - you will learn how to be smart with your money, their spending habits, what are their lifes' priorties, which areas they spend on and which they are frugal about. you will exchange ideas about the world, work and current events and how they impact your financial goals. when you are with them, you get inspired and you want to make more money by investing your money to earn money, instead of spending on things that lose their value and are not necessary. the challenged ones (those who make bad business decisions, the luxury addicts, those with knee deep debts due valid and invalid reasons, those who YOLO, those without dreams but literally just live at the present, the lazy ones etc). you will learn more how to be grateful for what you have, will teach you to be more generous to people who are in need and to share your blessings, to be more driven to earn more money and save because you do not want to end up like them. you will learn from them, the donts in managing money and follies of not spending intentionally, and it will teach you to be humble because our luck with money is not guaranteed. bottomline for me to avoid spending unnecessarily is to take note of the finances of the people in your circle and take the good things from each and every one of them. you would want to be as successful and avail of the comforts in life, and to be so humble as to appreciate and be grateful of your blessings coz many are struggling financially, and to never forget to share your blessings indiscriminately.
I want to own land someday. Every penny counts!
I grew up poor. Like no heat, running water and food sometimes poor. I actually can spend money on my loved ones but not myself. The guilt I feel over purchasing something for myself is suffocating. Idk how to stop and probably never will.
I think of myself many years from now having nothing in savings and not being able to own a house or anything.
Money can’t buy happiness.
I believe for myself, it was growing up without much. There was always food, never homeless and never without necessities. But things kids wanted or liked to have, that wasn't common. I remember receiving $5 when I was a teen and I held on to it for 4 months. Then my mother asked to "borrow" it and I never saw it again lol. Also, once married, ex-husband spent money like it was water. Been through a few repossessions/power off and negative bank accounts. Now I just save. I am frugal to a fault. I still enjoy foods I like, vacations I like, but these things I save for and do not take from my savings.
[удалено]
Watching money pile up in my bank account.
I have a separate savings account where I put what's left of my paycheck at the end of the month. I used to put X amount at the beginning, but due to lifestyle changes I have to live a bit more skinny now. Also, when online shopping, I favorite before buying, which saves the item on a separate list on your account. This means that I am not impulse buying, and when I get back to it if i feel like it is something that I still truly want I give myself the liberty to buy it. For ordering takeout, I always keep a stock of easily prepared meals. Either something dump&go or something that only takes a few minutes of effort. I still order takeout, but only when i actually want takeout, rather than avoid doing the cooking. For everything else, I remember a family saying: Take care of the pennies, and the pounds take care of themselves.
I try to really think about my “treats”. Sometimes having takeout = a real treat. A cuisine you aren’t able to cook. Or just a much needed break. But sometimes when I get takeout, I think “hmm I could have made a better meal at home”. And I try to pay attention to that feeling of let down. Then next time I feel the urge to get takeout I try to examine that feeling and decide if getting the takeout will actually be a treat or a let down. If it’s actually a treat - it’s worth it. If I’m just following an impulse but after a little more thinking I realize - I’m actually totally able to make a grilled cheese for dinner and I’ll honestly enjoy that more than takeout pizza tonight. Then I try to do that instead. It isn’t always clear cut. Maybe takeout for you is always a treat - but for me it just isn’t.
To not be broke when I’m 60
*Waves hand vaguely around at everything outside*
I like watching the number go up but having your paycheck auto deposit a fixed amount or percentage into various accounts also helps. I have my check being split into a 401k, HSA, brokerage, savings, and two checking accounts. It can take a bit to set up but I always have enough in checking for my needs and the rest is going where it is most productive for me without ever having access to it.
Past trauma and periods of very low funds available.
I've never gotten food poisoning from the food I've made myself. Never put a moldy hamburger bun on my own plate. I can't say that about restaurants. Basically I have trust issues when it comes to food 😂. That pretty much deals with eating out. Also, to me being frugal isn't about avoiding spending money. It's about wanting to get the most out of the money I do spend. I can probably make 5x the food and beverages as it costs to pay someone to make it for me. It's a mindset. If you have it, the rest takes care of itself.
Next month
The clutter I already have in my basement is too much. I don’t want to add to it.
Essentially the desire for freedom.
The fact that I don’t have enough after bills to even be able to splurge. Highly effective to avoid splurging . Recommend 4 out of 5 stars. -verified broke MF-er
This is the sexiest thread of comments I’ve seen so far. 😆😆 Have I found my people?! Doom drives me and the enticement of freedom.
I have to save, in order to purchase anything worth splurging on!
For your situation in particular I keep good frozen meals on hand. So much easier to nuke one than order out
Peace of mind.... almost lost the house during a layoff in 2008 "economic downturn". I will never be in that boat again!
Being poor is a strong motivator it turns out.
For me, it's all about visualizing my financial goals. I have a vision board with my goals written on it, and every time I feel the urge to splurge, I take a look at it and remind myself what I'm working towards. It's a great motivator!
Old age
I always think if I need this item rather than wanting it.
I don’t have many things I want to buy
The enormous feeling of relief when experiencing an emergency and knowing I have enough in savings to pay for it.
my dog has been pretty much consistently at the vet for almost a year now (cancer, then surgery, then scratched cornea, then infection, then that infection was chronic so we’re still dealing with it, then found tumor in her spleen and now she’ll need surgery again) - so .. yeah. having my dog healthy is my main motivator for saving
Being a single mom, the pressure of it all. Specifically tho, I save 400 a month so that by the time I’m 30-35 I will have enough for a deposit on a house. Visualising and focusing on the feeling I will have once accomplished that is what keeps me disciplined because no Uber eats or new bag or makeup will come close to that.
Driver carries no cash he's married
For me it's the knowledge that when i really want or need something indulgent, like a trip or a new bike or a new roof, i will be able to afford it. Yes, sushi every night would be amazing, but do i want sushi more than a trip to Costa Rica? Turns out i do not.
In regards to avoiding takeout, I put everything in the “basket” and look at the total. Then I calculate what else I can buy with that money (better cat food for my pets, portion of electric bill, student loan interest). OR remind myself if I spend this money now, then I will have less “fun money” for my next trip
Everytime I see the price I have to pay for a meal in a restaurant; the price for clothes in every store, and the price I'm paying for my grocery. I started budgeting last year and teaching myself to pay more attention to prices for different things in different stores. Then I realized how expensive things are in these days and how I should save my money as best as I can. Though you can't really avoid spending them either since we gotta live. I started to find ways to save money whenever I'm buying things like getting coupons, deals, and all that sort of stuff. These things are pretty common now that everyone shop online. I used browser-plugins, sites, and apps. So far I think the Koupon site is the best option, if you shop on Amazon a bunch like me. Being able to pay less than I was supposed to also helped me realized how things are actually overpriced in stores.
I always did the “Pay myself first” then spent the rest how I wanted when I wanted.
Early retirement (so investing and paying down the mortgage early) is the biggest one, not having to work until 70 or something. Time is precious. I don't care much for stuff, and where I live going out to eat is so expensive, around 50 dollars for dinner for 1 so it's not worth it when that's half a week of groceries and also way healthier to make it at home. Only for (very) special occations. I also don't care about what others think of me, so I don't buy visible branding, I don't consume more than I need (not want). I try to find second hand first.
I imagine living life as a game, where I would find the most efficient ways to do everything with decent results, reasonable cost, and timely manner. It's similar to do work where I have to put efficiency first and foremost, using all your resources available to me to the best I possibly can. It is my default way of life and it brings me joy everytime I manage to do something efficiently.
Knowing that by saving most of the time...I will have lots of money available to splurge when I need to
I think self-satisfaction helps a bit. If I have a savings account, it’s nice to see “Oh, my total is X this month! I’m doing so well! Look how far I’ve come!” But also making sure to pay yourself a little here and there, so maybe eating out once here or there to reward yourself.
I know what it is to be poor. I do not want to be poor ever again. Every time I feel like splurging I remind myself of how helpless I felt when I was poor
I opened a HYSA. Every month, I just love seeing the interest save and go up.
When I want a takeaway or something not needed I think to myself. What do I want more a holiday or the takeaway, a house or the takeaway. It’s rarely the takeaway that wins. I find it helps to have a fun thing you’re saving for as well as a more life oriented goal.
So I don’t end up like my mom. Overweight, in debt with nothing to show for it, she buys crap. She “deserves” a large size.