Frugality

[Shaneard]

Wife will come home with a bag of specials from the supermarket, use by date tomorrow and just useless stuff we don't need, usually gets thrown out but she sees it as saving.
I buy a coupe of eye fillets for $20 and she complains but still eats it.
Still can't grasp that I spend less than her.
Go out ffor lunch and a beer is $9, I can buy a carton of 24 for $50, I have water, free and pass a breath test when they are out which is often.
Pay over $100 for a bottle of scotch which is cheaper than a few beers at a pub but people say it is extravagant, I don't see the logic.

I quit drinking over 7 years ago and have saved a ton of money on alcohol. I've spent that money on other things and don't know how I spent so much on alcohol

 

[Industrial Toys]

I should have said that I don't buy milk at a restaurant, but drink over a gallon a week. I would never order Soda Pop anyways. I drink enough Pepsi with Rum, buying the Pepsi for twelve cans at $3.99 CDN, and probably throw half of it out. No point mixing expensive Rum with Flat Pepsi.

 

[bunyip]

I quit drinking over 7 years ago and have saved a ton of money on alcohol. I've spent that money on other things and don't know how I spent so much on alcohol

That is my only vice and a carton lasts a month, don't smoke or gamble, I enjoy spending on something I want and won't compromise on cheap if it is not up to the task.
I spend a lot on fuel but that is out of my control, currently about USD5.70 per USG.
Coffee I like and costs 60c a cup at home, one a day and rarely when I go out at $4-5 a cup.
We buy pepsi but never coke, don't like coke and it is twice the price and i don't know why but water is what we drink most.

 

[k0ua]

How many times over did they loose $100 in lost productivity of the drivers? How much did they loose when they sold them? The epic penny pinchers almost always loose money doing it.

Without a doubt much productivity was lost and even more hate and discontent among the employees. Then there was the air conditioning thing. They finally got enough complaints from customers about sweat covered tech's showing up at business's to do service work that they gave in and the next bunch of trucks had AC and power steering.
I worked there 21 years and it took a long time for them to get any sense. Of course the family of owners grew up during the depression. I am sure that mentalatiy carried into their business decisions. Of course all of their expensive Lincoln's Land Rovers and Porsche's were all company cars, and you every drop of gasoline and the insurance that went into them was on the company tab. You can bet that all had power steering and AC too!.

 

[JasperFrank]

You needed three catagories here. Cheap. Frugal. And Stupid.
Cheap means you put a 15 year roof on a house you intend to live in for 30 years.
Frugal means you put a 35 year roof.
Stupid means you bought a 15 year roof and then intended to do it yourself 15 years later.

If there was one trade I could call myself, it would be a Refurbisher. I fix old things and make them work like new again. Cheap gets in the way. There are so many items now that are made "Not to last" and they are made that way intentionally. You can see it in the design and in the ways people designed the item so that it can't be repaired or put into a new use cycle. Bic Lighters are like this, as are most shaving razors and air "fresheners." Red Devil Vacuums, Big wads of plastic that only can be used once.
A cheap person just buys the low number. A frugal person looks at the overal cost. A stupid person works counter to both statagies, thinking they are doing one or the other.
I've been all three. Stupid in the sense that I buy used weed eaters and then spend many hours attempting to fix then. And they end up being burned out because someone didn't use the right Gas/Oil mix. More costly to fix then to buy new. Or think I'm going to repair something that was never intended to be repaired.
Cheap. I buy cheap Chain Saws. Its all about the sharpness of the chain. Run them till they have no usefull life left and then buy another. The mainteince I've seen on PRO saws out weights the cost of a new saw. Just the way it is.
Frugal. I maintain my '93 Ford Festiva. Its our pick up truck once the rear seats were removed.
Frugal is buying an entire case of canned string beans when they are on sale at 48 Cents per. You can't do that on your own. Cheap and Stupid would be attempting to CAN if you can buy the same thing at a lower cost than you could do it yourself.

I don't think Cheap ever works in the long run.
And sometimes thinking you are working on the cheap is stupid. Like, I got tired of rebuilding lawn mowers. I'm geting tired of rebuilding things.

New sometimes is the Frugal choice. If you are spending many hours to refurbish something then sometimes that is a loss.
As if I made 25 Dollars an hour, that thing, to repair, isn't worth my time.
And now you can buy anything so cheap, its odd to consider. What is frugal, what is cheap and what is stupid.
If you have a plan it is frugal, if you want something NOW it is cheap. If you want to maintain the Cheap things that you have, then you are Stupid.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Fleet vehicles in this country including Police, were historically always very poorly equipped. I always maintained that it was never wise for business owners to show up at work in expensive cars. Especially new ones, sometimes just days after announcing little annual raises on account of poor profits. Pretty STUPID for moral if you ask me.

 

[bunyip]

We had fleet vehicles when I was with the government, we called them poverty packs, vinyl upholstery, plastic floor mats, no aircon or ps and 4WD had split rims, management cars had all the fruit and couldn't understand why the troops were not happy driving around glued to the seats on 40 degree days.
A little later cars north of the dividing range got ac, the south gets as hot in summer but for about one month less.
Broken windows were not fixed and we had a car with a broken fuel gauge so we were instructed to check the log book before going out so we knew roughly how much fuel we had despite it being a warranty problem, just didn't want the car off the road.
Meanwhile prison vans had aircon for the villains but not the driver, civil liberty groups saw to that.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I once had the pleasure of being given a Ford Areostar Van for my service vehicle. 4 banger, manual transmission, no windows, no A/C, and something like the smallest 13" wheels you could buy. I had arguments with FORD dealerships insisting they never made a 4 banger. It did serve me well when I picked up my first 1000 pound, FORD 917 Flail mower. Slipped right in there like it was made for it.

 

[k0ua]

I am quite certain you cannot plant, grow, fertilize and cultivate and pick, prepare and can green beans for what you can buy them for in the store each day every day. And I cannot tell that our canned green beans are any better than the ones you buy in the supermarket. We don't can green beans. I don't think you can do most vegetables yourself compared to buying them.

 

[Industrial Toys]

The cost of produce here is crazy. Everything I grow seems to die, but I would love to play with a greenhouse. Kind of changes the situation a little. No, not much point having your own produce in season, when it's all around you cheap. Heck, I come across boxes of vegies on the side of the road that say FREE!

 

[fried1765]

Oooweeee, them boys from Carolina are good! Hit the nail on the head... Dad has never even owned a credit card.

Come on up to the Clemson area, Duffer, and I'll put them donuts and coffee on my gold card:thumbsup:

I am not at all sure being frugal necessarily has anything to do with the use of a credit card.
I am 78, and use one of two credit cards for everything!

I pay both cards off in full within the interest free grace period.
One (no fee) card gives me 5% cash back on gas, grocery store, and drug store purchases, up to $400 max. cash each year.
The other card ($65 yearly fee) gives me 2% cash back on absolutely everything I buy. No yearly limit.

Last year I got a total of just over $1000 cash back, paid the $65 fee, but paid zero dollars interest.
I love my credit cards!
They make me money!

 

[bunyip]

We have a few market gardens closeby and often see fresh produce on the road near a pothole the driver has hit, all bundled up and ready for the shelf, bit of variety and good quality if you are the first following vehicle.
The small trucks have big wooden crATES that are stacked a bit too high, still waiting for leeks but they don't seem to fall off, plenty of baby carrots, broccolini, radish and leafy asian veges.
Will probably get hit by a pumpkin with my luck.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Just waiting for the BBQ Asparagus season!

I too use my CC for everything. Points bought Cedar shingle for the front of my drive shed and underground water pipe.

I always pay it off. Well last year, I paid it early, then thought I had paid the next one, and man did I pay dearly for that! Good le$$on, never to let that happen again!

 

[Oaktree]

I am quite certain you cannot plant, grow, fertilize and cultivate and pick, prepare and can green beans for what you can buy them for in the store each day every day. And I cannot tell that our canned green beans are any better than the ones you buy in the supermarket. We don't can green beans. I don't think you can do most vegetables yourself compared to buying them.

It's not always just about the price. Those home-canned vegetables aren't gonna have the excess sodium, preservatives and who-knows-what-else that the store ones do. And the jars are re-usable as opposed to creating more trash for the landfills.
I'll can beans, beets and tomatoes, pickles too. Don't particularly like tomatoes...never eat them raw, but they're great in home-made spaghetti sauce or other dishes.

Up front cost on canning (buying the canner & a supply of jars) is a bit much, but over time it pays off. Most of the jars I have I've scrounged at the dump or at flea markets.

The other card ($65 yearly fee) gives me 2% cash back on absolutely everything I buy. No yearly limit.

Last year I got a total of just over $1000 cash back, paid the $65 fee, but paid zero dollars interest.
I love my credit cards!
They make me money!

I must have missed the smiley. You were kidding, right? "the more you spend the more you save!!"

I would never pay a yearly fee for a credit card.

 

[bunyip]

I have a credit card that gives me 1 point for every $1 I spend, 20,000 points and I get a $100 shopping card, I get about 5-6 a year, no fees and I always pay on time so no interest, I would use a debit card but as I work in health and allied industries we get a tax benefit but we have to direct the benefit to a debt, as I have none I got the credit card so it's a win win.
I pay absolutely everything on the credit card but will not do a cash advance as they charge a high interest ratye for that so I just withdraw from my bank account when I do need cash.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I pay way too much of an annual fee. But I got it when I routinely went to the States and had Medical Insurance from the card. I slso get extended warranty on all purchases. Maybe time to revisit the matter.

 

[bunyip]

My credit card offers free travel insurance if you get the 'platinum'card, it has a minimum credit limit of $6200, I made the application and thought this would not be a problem but it seems that I was not a worthy customer, I am debt free, high income, good health, no judgements re finance, no bad debts but for some reason I failed to meet their criteria so I got the ordinary credit card with a $6100 limit:laughing:
The motive is just so transparent, just get them in and have them paying the 19.9% interest (they claim to be one of the few offering under 20%) but I do get 'up to' a 55 day interest free period but you have to really watch the calendar to get the full 55 days as it is a trap for those who think it is 55 days from the spend date, it isn't, it is from the first day of the billing period to the due date so it can be as low as 28 days depending upon the month.
It is a con that is legal and makes them a lot of money, the card is a supermarket card but is financed by one of the big banks, I view it as a walk through a minefield and you have to be ever alert to all the booby traps along the way.
The banks take your money it is a fee, if I did it it would be stealing.

 

[Lnk]

My credit card offers free travel insurance if you get the 'platinum'card, it has a minimum credit limit of $6200, I made the application and thought this would not be a problem but it seems that I was not a worthy customer, I am debt free, high income, good health, no judgements re finance, no bad debts but for some reason I failed to meet their criteria so I got the ordinary credit card with a $6100 limit:laughing:
The motive is just so transparent, just get them in and have them paying the 19.9% interest (they claim to be one of the few offering under 20%) but I do get 'up to' a 55 day interest free period but you have to really watch the calendar to get the full 55 days as it is a trap for those who think it is 55 days from the spend date, it isn't, it is from the first day of the billing period to the due date so it can be as low as 28 days depending upon the month.
It is a con that is legal and makes them a lot of money, the card is a supermarket card but is financed by one of the big banks, I view it as a walk through a minefield and you have to be ever alert to all the booby traps along the way.
The banks take your money it is a fee, if I did it it would be stealing.

Yup, they can keep them. We taught our kids that spending money you don't have is foolish. There are thing that are acceptable to finance, like a house. We don't have a credit card at all. We have no debt. We have money and we are not millionaires. We are both middle class. The credit card offers we get, we use to heat our house in the winter time. If we go somewhere we carry our debit cards and cash. It is called planning ahead. We don't do anything without a plan. The big banks can fleece others, the cards that give cash back, do you ever find yourselves buying something just because you get a rebate? Just wondering....

 

[Industrial Toys]

I have never used a fraction of my limit yet they keep increasing it. That, I certainly don't understand. They are gonna be beat if I get diagnosed with an incurable disease. That's gonna be some party! :cool2: Too Bad, SO sad, he don't live here no more!

 

[bunyip]

On frugal, I had to pay up front for my fathers funeral, on the quote it had 'priest donation $600', I figured they had their hands in his pocket for a number of years so I told them to take it off as I was not paying a donation especially to an organisation that have recently had one of their highest ranking jailed for pedophile charges yet continue to support him.
A new quote arrived with "priest fee $600'.
I was not happy