Ridiculed for being cheap??

[ls99]

I'm surprised, however, that none of them learned from your example. I would think your early retirement would have opened their eyes to the benefits of frugality.

.

I would not know if they learned or not. DW and I moved a few hundred miles away, shortly after my exit, into our fully paid off second hand home.

Which by the way they knew nothing about, since I never mentioned it.

Giving it some thought, not likely they learned anything. Their free-spending habits, keeping up with the latest electronic gizmos, doohickeys, new cars, and paying for all manner of useless cr*p, and having a good time was far too important to them. I think to them I was just that weird foreigner with strange compulsion for not pi$$ing money away.

 

[hankster]

I get ribbed by people about my older pickup truck. A coworker or relative will pull up with a new rig (with its outrageous monthly payment) and ask me when I'm gonna get a "real truck" and get rid of that old thing. I just smile and tell them how fond I am of the monthly payment ($0).

Dave Ramsey, who promotes LBYM and being debt free, puts it this way: "If broke people are making fun of your financial plan, you're right on track."

 

[NW-Bound]

When I was working at megacorps, I used to go to the trashcans near laser printers to pick up discarded printouts. Use: the back side is perfectly blank to use as scratch papers for my engineering calculations and equations. Coworkers look at me as crazy. I know, I know, paper is cheap. But if discarded printouts work, why not?

I wonder who else in this forum has done that, since some also recycle dryer sheets?

 

[Khan]

When I was working at megacorps, I used to go to the trashcans near laser printers to pick up discarded printouts. Use: the back side is perfectly blank to use as scratch papers for my engineering calculations and equations. Coworkers look at me as crazy. I know, I know, paper is cheap. But if discarded printouts work, why not?

I wonder who else in this forum has done that, since some also recycle dryer sheets?

For a while, I worked in a building where someone would come once a week and trim the plants. I fished the trimmings out of the garbage and replanted them. Some of their descendants are still living in my home and at the former office.

I don't have a dryer.

 

[freebird5825]

When I was working at megacorps, I used to go to the trashcans near laser printers to pick up discarded printouts. Use: the back side is perfectly blank to use as scratch papers for my engineering calculations and equations. Coworkers look at me as crazy. I know, I know, paper is cheap. But if discarded printouts work, why not?

I wonder who else in this forum has done that, since some also recycle dryer sheets?

guilty as charged.
i would take it home and use it for shopping and home project lists, notes, fire starting, shred it for packing material if needed, scratch paper for masters' techie courses, etc etc.

 

[FIREd]

When I was working at megacorps, I used to go to the trashcans near laser printers to pick up discarded printouts. Use: the back side is perfectly blank to use as scratch papers for my engineering calculations and equations. Coworkers look at me as crazy. I know, I know, paper is cheap. But if discarded printouts work, why not?

I wonder who else in this forum has done that, since some also recycle dryer sheets?

When I order something online or do some online transaction at Vanguard, I always print out a receipt. Once I have verified that the transaction is indeed complete, I put the receipt back in the paper tray, upside down, and print something else on the back.

But now, I found even better. I print out the receipt using a cheap PDF printer. That way I use no paper, no ink and when I don't need the receipt anymore, I just erase the PDF file.

 

[FinanceDude]

Perhaps some folks would be offended by a passive investing strategy where mostly low-cost index funds were selected as an investment portfolio. I know for sure that [-]scum sucking, commission-driven, 12-b1 loving low lifes [/-] stock broker/investment advisors would surely be offended by such action. So, the answer is yes.

Funny......noone here offends me.......

 

[NW-Bound]

When the business venture I was with closed down, I took home several reams of paper that had our business address printed on as letter head. I intended to use them as scratch paper, but my daughter once turned in her college term paper printed on the back side!!!

The prof's comments on her paper included the instruction not to use recycled paper. But he did not substract from her grade. I was astonished when I learned of her action, and told her she shouldn't have done that. She said she didn't care, and that the prof had no reason to look at the back side!

Sadly though, she is the same one that goes out to eat and shop several times a week.

 

[Dawg52]

Agree to disagree with your friend. Just tell her she looks great.

Yeah, tell her she has a million dollar figure. But don't count that in her AA when trying to retire.

 

[ejman]

For years I drove my Chevy Sprint (Think Geo metro) to my job as controller for a Mega Corp Divison.... During my "I'm tired of working I'm leaving party" I was "roasted" and the subject was since I jogged at lunch everyday (instead of eating lunch at restaurants as all other managers did) I jogged because I had to "uncrimp and untangle" from the Chevy Sprint. I loved it! They are all still working....

 

[unclemick]

God, I hope so! I love it when I can p*ss-off the 'Joneses' and their peers!

Ah yes the shear joy of it - a little bit of studying this forum - a reasonable 'born again act' could could be crafted - perhaps a dog eared - with homemade bookcover and penciled used book price(fake or real) copy of Your Money or Your Life or Millionaire Next Door - some sheets of old engineering paper with compound interest curves or even better - memorized rule of 72 at 4 decimal places out to where the numbers double and quadruple.

A good act and sometimes you have trouble keeping a straight face as they back away from you.

Not that I ever did THAT!

heh heh heh - besides I worked mostly with engineers - some were even frugal .

 

[friar1610]

In a economic downturn such as this, the fact that I don't have nail appointments, massages, expensive haircuts, salon highlights, housecleaners, $20/bottle wine, Lexus-leasing, range-buying, the latest/greatest AV technology, high tech toys makes me feel, well, rich.

I've been driving a 1997 Lexus ES-300 since 1999 and intend to get many more years out of it. (After all, it's a glorified Toyota Camry and they last a long time!)

I would never have bought a Lexus except that when I was working for a high-tech company populated by a lot of young, aggressive people wanting to drive the latest and greatest car, I came upon a deal. (I was working there as a "second career" after retiring from the Navy, so I wasn't into the status stuff.)

My immediate boss had the Lexus on a 24 month lease. At the 18 month point in the lease, he got promoted and a Lexus was no longer good enough for him - he needed a Mercedes. So I bought the Lexus from the leasing company before it got in the hands of a retailer and saved a pretty penny. (He just couldn't stand to drive the Lexus another six months in his newly exalted status!)

He was really surprised that I wrote a personal check for the purchase price (doesn't everyone get a car loan?) I'm sure he's driving his Mercedes - or a replacement for it - and still working. I'm still driving his Lexus and am happily retired.

 

[Sparky]

I've been driving a 1997 Lexus ES-300 since 1999 and intend to get many more years out of it. (After all, it's a glorified Toyota Camry and they last a long time!)

I would never have bought a Lexus except that when I was working for a high-tech company populated by a lot of young, aggressive people wanting to drive the latest and greatest car, I came upon a deal. (I was working there as a "second career" after retiring from the Navy, so I wasn't into the status stuff.)

My immediate boss had the Lexus on a 24 month lease. At the 18 month point in the lease, he got promoted and a Lexus was no longer good enough for him - he needed a Mercedes. So I bought the Lexus from the leasing company before it got in the hands of a retailer and saved a pretty penny. (He just couldn't stand to drive the Lexus another six months in his newly exalted status!)

He was really surprised that I wrote a personal check for the purchase price (doesn't everyone get a car loan?) I'm sure he's driving his Mercedes - or a replacement for it - and still working. I'm still driving his Lexus and am happily retired.

Great story! Something that we can all emulate.

 

[friar1610]

I wonder who else in this forum has done that, since some also recycle dryer sheets?

Several years after retiring, my printer is still full of paper, printed on one side, that my wife brought home from the library where she worked.

When that's all gone, I'll start using the letterhead I bought for resumes back in the old days.

 

[NW-Bound]

heh heh heh - besides I worked mostly with engineers - some were even frugal .

Thinking back, all my engineer friends were frugal, or at least appeared to be. True nerds/geeks do not care for status symbols. But they all complained the reason they couldn't join me in early retirement was their spendthrift wives.

 

[freebird5825]

Thinking back, all my engineer friends were frugal, or at least appeared to be. True nerds/geeks do not care for status symbols. But they all complained the reason they couldn't join me in early retirement was their spendthrift wives.

baloney! salami! pepperoni! that one has whiskers!
just wave a new high capacity storage device or high end mathematical or image processing software package or digital camera or network router advertisement in front of them and the guys pulled out the ol' credit card faster than you could say Einstein. i'm an engineer myself, of the female persuasion. all i can say is...boyz and their toyz!

 

[NW-Bound]

Yeah, but those toys are cheap, compared to sport cars, boats, and planes.

Come on! I said they are frugal, not that they are ascetic!!

PS. I got 4 running computers here at home, just for myself. DW, DS, DD all have their own. So, 7 total. All dual-core CPUs. Not the latest, but no Pentium II here.

 

[calmloki]

For years I drove my Chevy Sprint (Think Geo metro) ... I jogged because I had to "uncrimp and untangle" from the Chevy Sprint. I loved it! They are all still working....

Oh yeah - 3 cylinders, no waiting! Bought my old Sprint for $200, replaced the clutch, and drove it like a Spanish mule for 5-6 years. Sister got a great kick out of me driving up to her place of work one day and getting out while taking a call - my cell phone cost more than the car! Wrote off mileage for the rentals every year and every year the mileage paid for all costs and more than bought the car again. 50MPG in tune and 40MPG doing absolutely nothing to it as the last several years went.

Now we have old BMWs - plenty of bells and whistles, decent performance, plenty fun and cheap to buy.

 

[freebird5825]

Yeah, but those toys are cheap, compared to sport cars, boats, and planes.
Come on! I said they are frugal, not that they are ascetic!!

PS. I got 4 running computers here at home, just for myself. DW, DS, DD all have their own. So, 7 total. All dual-core CPUs. Not the latest, but no Pentium II here.

um...i have a sports car and a boat.
i'm afraid of heights, so that covers the plane thing.
i'm just bustin' 'em on ya.
dh2b is the techno-buyer here. i used to spec and order high end digital laboratory test equipment, so i lost my taste for that.
PS we have 2 laptops, 1 desktop for us 2, plus various used computers (3 in today's herd) that dh2b scavenges parts from. he will assemble a working computer system for folks we know whose broke and can't afford new ones right now. i think that is so cool.

 

[tmm99]

Thank you everyone for the posts/thoughts.

I can honestly say that I have no ill feelings toward this friend regarding the way she spends her money. It's her choice to do whatever she wants with her money as much as it's my choice to spend (or save) the money I earn. At the end of her life, I hope she is in a good place financially, and she may be if she plays the rest of her cards right. (She has rich parents and in-laws, plus she is not one of those crazy people who spends everything she makes or who are in CC debts. She just doesn't save as much as I do, but that is more the norm with my friends anyway, at least, compared to me.)

I hope to be in a semi-secure place in my later years and saving money now is my way of trying to achieve that. It does bother me that she makes those little irritating (irritating to me) comments to me though. And I really want to know why people pick on frugal people. It must be something about us that pushes their buttons!

One time, another friend of mine and I were talking and she was suggesting that I did this and that with my clothes (or my makeup? This happened years ago, so I cannot remember exactly, but I do remember that I was getting really irritated) and finally, I had to tell her that I didn't have the same passion she did to try to look good or try to impress people in general.

Is that it? Maybe that's the kind of stuff that irritates my friends. That I just don't care.

tmm

 

[Own2Feet]

I hope to be in a semi-secure place in my later years and saving money now is my way of trying to achieve that. It does bother me that she makes those little irritating (irritating to me) comments to me though. And I really want to know why people pick on frugal people. It must be something about us that pushes their buttons!

 

[freebird5825]

hmmm...comments about your spending habits, appearance...what's next? i used to get the ol' dress for success baloney. yawn.
i'm hypothesizing that you are a very secure person acquainted with some pretty insecure people.
so just do your own thing!
and grin a bit

 

[Khan]

I hope to be in a semi-secure place in my later years and saving money now is my way of trying to achieve that. It does bother me that she makes those little irritating (irritating to me) comments to me though. And I really want to know why people pick on frugal people. It must be something about us that pushes their buttons!

Maybe you could tell her that her irritating comments 'are irritating' and you will stop associating with her if she keeps up that crap?

 

[Own2Feet]

"And I really want to know why people pick on frugal people. It must be something about us that pushes their buttons!"

Could it be the same thing that pushes some people's buttons when they see a thin/fit person? (even if that person isn't going around trying to rub thinness/fitness, or frugality for that matter, in their faces): They suspect that person feels superior to themselves, and whether or not it's true, they resent it.

 

[freebird5825]

I hope to be in a semi-secure place in my later years and saving money now is my way of trying to achieve that. It does bother me that she makes those little irritating (irritating to me) comments to me though. And I really want to know why people pick on frugal people. It must be something about us that pushes their buttons!

independent thinker vs being beholden to latest fads
strong vs weak life goals
stress-free vs worried about the next mail delivery of bills

on and on and on...