Frugality in the other areas of your life

[gone-ot]

...lot's of LITTLE things are summarily just as important as a SINGLE thing.

[Ryland]

I tend to live an extravagant life, everything I own is paid for including my electric car and house, I'm sitting on a nice leather couch under the light of a fancy LED bulb and I didn't even go to work today other then the 3 hours that I spent working on a friends house because he got hurt.
I think I'm doing well for having just turned 30.
I don't like to waste so I don't buy trash if I can avoid it, I recycle all my metal and turn it in for cash, I only work 20 hours a week so I spend my money on what is important, like good food, tools and objects that I think will last me a long time.

[Arragonis]

If you can afford to do it then this is the best move you can make

Originally Posted by sid

I paid off my mortgage in less than six years. 25 years later, I still think it was the best financial move in my life.

but it depends on what house you buy, where, and how much your income is vs expenses. It isn't for everyone, so don't panic if this is not you.

We moved to an "expensive" area about 8 years ago by the usual technique of buying a property needing work. Since then we have done the work required and reduced the mortgage amount by >50% by overpaying so hopefully we will be mortgage free quite soon, and if not then this house is a large part of our retirement fund when A-Junior has finished school and we can sell it.

[Frank Lee]

I paid my mortgage off in about 1/4 the time too. It was somewhat hard to do in the '90s as ALL the conventional wisdom, coffee talk, and buzz from financial "experts" was that doing such a thing was stupid, and if I was smart I'd extract every penny of equity from everything I had access to and dump it in the stock market. Right.

[gone-ot]

...I don't know which is worse: (a) pissing "into" the wind or (b) putting money "into" the stock market...about the same results (just making "other" people rich off "my" money).

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

...I don't know which is worse: (a) pissing "into" the wind or (b) putting money "into" the stock market...about the same results (just making "other" people rich off "my" money).

Hasn't worked out too badly for me. I started putting money in the market in 1987, right after the "Black Monday" downturn, and have kept at it fairly consistently over the years. Even after taking out money for downpayments on a house and some other things, the accounts are worth about 3 times what I've put in. And unlike putting money towards paying off the mortgage early, I don't have to try to sell the whole thing if I need a bit of extra cash for something.

The real problem with the market, I think, is that too many people forget that old, old advice to buy low and sell high. They wait 'til everybody else is investing, and climb on board just before the crash. Then when the market's on the downslope, they sell out for less than they paid - only to miss the recovery a few months or years later.

Same with houses: what percentage of the people who bought between say 2003 and 2008 are still above water?

[slowmover]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

...lot's of LITTLE things are summarily just as important as a SINGLE thing.

Yup. Cost prediction and cost control via budget allocation. Cost reduction is the harder part as it generally involves spending money, thus a clearer understanding of long-term needs is needed. Attendance upon all details, at depth.

A better central HVAC system with high SEER? No, better ductwork layout and seal, plus humidity control foremost, followed by heat exchangers on the high side for hot water production. Better windows? No, 60-yr. old solid redwood windows are great, but need Low-E tempered glass plus internal and external UV "controls" [blinds, drapes, shutters, etc].

The obvious isn't always obvious at first glance.

The LITTLE things are in learning how to use them well. Properly, at some juncture. Same as with vehicles. Using an energy-consuming item less seems easy, but is not the same as using it well which has more to do with longevity/reliability.

.

[Diesel_Dave]

I personally am so much of a penny pincher that my fingerprints look suspiciously like Abraham Lincoln's head. That being said, my wife's been working on me and I've loosened up a little.

One of my classics was when I started grad school. I didn't have money and for the first 6 months I only got paid $700/mo--and I lived on that! I slept on an old air mattress and used the box as my desk (sitting on the floor). Those 2 items was all the furniture I had. Cooked all my own meals in the one pot I had. Ate it all on the one plate I had...It's something most people would never do. But you know what else most people have never done? Graduate with a PhD, paying their own way--with absolutely no debt. That was a good feeling!

[slowmover]

Graduate with a PhD, paying their own way--with absolutely no debt. That was a good feeling!

You met your wife afterwards . . . right? (And congrats).

[Diesel_Dave]

Originally Posted by slowmover

Graduate with a PhD, paying their own way--with absolutely no debt. That was a good feeling!

You met your wife afterwards . . . right? (And congrats).

How did you know? Actually we did meet while I was still in school, but we didn't get married until after I graduated.