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So who else is trying to be as frugal as they can?

glocke12

glocke12

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 7, 2008
999
7
Just wondering if anyone else is in the same boat as me..(im sure there are).

Money just doesnt seem to go as far as it used to. As a result Ive had to cut out alot of things. Satellite tv, sunday afternoon drives, concerts, lunch outings at work, monetary gifts at work for things like new babies, etc...

It actually doesnt bother me, as it has allowed me to be creative with how I spend my time. I end up doing more reading, taking my dog on more walks, etc..but Im starting to get alot of flak from my friends who dont have a problem spending $20.00-$30.00 or so several times a week on entertainment.
 
I am often amazed at the money some people spend, however, it's their money and I'm sure they've (or their parents) worked hard for it.

I spent a lot more in the most recent past but opted to buckle down so I could put funds aside for something bigger and better that would last me a very very long time. So in a sense I've become more frugal. I still go out and have fun but I try to limit my purchasing of crap I don't actually need. No more saying that this hard drive is a good deal so I should grab it and let it sit in my office for years untouched. Just things like that. I have a good setup that affords me the opportunity to not be persuaded to eat out daily so I also save there.

Let your friends give you flak. I've seen this happen and the kid that's getting the crap is the kid who owns a home and has a nice new car that is paid in full. Sorry but things like that are way better than friends who don't respect your adult decisions.
 
I'm trying to be frugal, partly because I now have to be.

My wife was out of work for 17 months, and finally landed a job 8 weeks ago. The pay for that job is quite a bit less then what she was getting - about 25% less.

We have satellite TV because cable TV is more expensive, I make lunch at work and instead of driving in and paying to park, I take the subway. Still I'm looking to make my paycheck go even further but I have two kids and we try to provide for them without going overboard.

This year I told my wife we'll start Christmas shopping next month and buy a little at a time and use cash instead of credit. Plus we decided not to get any "big" present for them, but just some small things.

I sold my MBP and with the proceeds to build out a core i7-930. Some people may thing this was a bit of an extravagance but my Laptop was a few years old and I needed something with more horsepower/storage. I saved myself over 1,500 dollars by building it myself. A comparable MacPro would have run me 2,500 and given the proceeds of the laptop paid for the desktop, it literally did not cost me anything

All in all, I think many Americans are embracing frugality because like me, they have too.
 
I just moved back into my apartment at college. Money? Job? What are they? :p

Seriously though, yes... This summer I looked at what I was earning, and what I was spending money on, and decided to cut back some... I ended up saying 2x as much as I did last summer, by only working ~1 day more per week.
 
maflynn said:
I'm trying to be frugal, partly because I now have to be.

My wife was out of work for 17 months, and finally landed a job 8 weeks ago. The pay for that job is quite a bit less then what she was getting - about 25% less.

We have satellite TV because cable TV is more expensive, I make lunch at work and instead of driving in and paying to park, I take the subway. Still I'm looking to make my paycheck go even further but I have two kids and we try to provide for them without going overboard.

This year I told my wife we'll start Christmas shopping next month and buy a little at a time and use cash instead of credit. Plus we decided not to get any "big" present for them, but just some small things.

I sold my MBP and with the proceeds to build out a core i7-930. Some people may thing this was a bit of an extravagance but my Laptop was a few years old and I needed something with more horsepower/storage. I saved myself over 1,500 dollars by building it myself. A comparable MacPro would have run me 2,500 and given the proceeds of the laptop paid for the desktop, it literally did not cost me anything

All in all, I think many Americans are embracing frugality because like me, they have too.
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How far do you live from work? I moved from 14miles away from work to 2 miles away and bought a bicycle. It's working out pretty well, even in miserable weather, it's ok because of the shower here. That could save even more than the subway.

How much did those parts come out at for the i7 hack? Do you have a link to a build thread for it or something, I want to build one up to replace my current one (freeing it up to become a server)
 
I spend very, very little. A splurge for me is $10. I can't stand buying things that only end up being physical and mental clutter.
 
I have no disposable income at all at the moment. Been like this for a couple of months now and is going to continue for another few weeks at least. I can't even go out for a beer, or order in takeaway. The car had about £15 of petrol left in it over 6 weeks ago, and still has some of that in it now - haven't been able to afford to use it more.

Sometimes you just have to buckle down. It does feel suffocating at times to not be able to spend money, but I'm starting to get used to it funnily enough (though I'm definitely looking forward to getting past this).
 
steviem said:
How far do you live from work? I moved from 14miles away from work to 2 miles away and bought a bicycle. It's working out pretty well, even in miserable weather, it's ok because of the shower here. That could save even more than the subway.
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The distance isn't what the limiting factor but my safety. The only way into the city other then the subway is to go through a tunnel which is not that safe at the very least. I work in Boston which is also known to be rather unfriendly to bikers and finally the straw that is breaking the camels back is that I have to pick up my children from daycare at the end of the day. Not too feasible to plop to 4 year old girls on the back of a bike ;)

How much did those parts come out at for the i7 hack? Do you have a link to a build thread for it or something, I want to build one up to replace my current one (freeing it up to become a server)
Click to expand...
The parts before rebate cost me < 1000. I visited insanely mac to see what i had to worry about and what I didn't. I then visited tomshardware.com to get a feel of what to watch out for, and what I should get.

In the end, I waited for the sales and picked up the following components. The only headache in building a hackintosh was the motherboard selection. I should have opted for a P6T Deluxe, or a Gigabyte motherboard. I finally got OSX running but it was troublesome finding an easy to follow guide with the P6T MB. The step by step for the P6T Deluxe is a lot easier to follow.

  • Case:......Antec Three Hundred.........30
  • PSU:.......EarthWatts 650 Watt.........90
  • CPU:.......Intel Core i7-930.............200
  • MB:........ASUS P6T......................200
  • Ram........OCZ 6GB DDR3-1600 .......190
  • Video:.....GeForce GTX 260............180
  • HD:........WD Caviar Black 500gb.......70
  • Optical:...LG Lightscribe burner.........20
 
I've been pretty frugal my whole life. I'm almost 32 and finally my career 'clicked' the last 2 years and I am making more than I ever thought I would in my field. So, the last year I have been spending a lot of money on things I haven't been able to afford in the past (new furniture, nice lenses for my camera, etc). But I am saving a lot too. So at the moment I am being less frugal than in the past but even back then I still needed a night out to blow off some steam even if it wasn't financially a smart idea. :eek:

But also, living in the city with no car and working from my home suite saves me a lot right off the top.
 
I'm a Scot.. so I'm tight fisted by nature. If I buy a you a pint, doesn't matter if it takes minutes, hours or weeks, I'll make sure you return that pint to me!

I'm a student, but I pay for everything (us Scots get free tuition fees so that helps). I get a student loan to help out, but I work 20 hours a week in order to keep my head above the water. I've got rent and bills to pay, as well as food. I'm 21.. I'm too old to rely on my parents. I sometimes enjoy actually living on the edge money wise - if I'm skint and can't afford food, I literally eat bread and pasta (kindly donated by my parents..) till next pay day. Keeps me in reality when that happens.

I've got a budget worked out - I've got two bank accounts, and as soon as I get paid, I put into another bank account the rent money, bill money and food supply money. Then what I'm left with, I can do whatever I want with. Works most of the time, but when I get drunk, I end up eating into the other bank account for things like pizza's at 3am and taxi fares..
 
I am. Lost a really, really, really, high paying job over 2 years ago. Was out of work for over a year. Been consulting for the past 5 months but am earning much less than before. Looks like this gig will go permanent (still less than I made before) plus I have a nice long-term consulting gig lined up that can be done at night and on weekends.
 
For most stuff, yes, unless I love something. I'm too cheap to buy an iPhone 4 ($150 CAD) to replace my not so well working iPhone 3G but I bought a $450 pair of shoes for my wedding. My regular dress shoes are $60. :D
 
heehee said:
It is excessive, but I love it. The $450 ones are tuxedo shoes, there is a difference.
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You know, you can rent those. In fact, they usually come with the tux rental. Unless you bought the tux too, in which case I can't even start to wrap my head around your logic.
 
frugal, yes, spending less... not exactly.

I just bought a house and have been spending all my spare cash on fixing up the new place. By doing the work myself i have saved a lot of money. I have also been reading up on how to do repairs myself, so i can save more money. I have also started searching craigslist for good deals on materials i need for the house. I have picked up new interior doors, a sliding glass door, deck stain, and a few other things i have needed for a lot less then it would have cost me to buy from a store.

Oh yeah, I am also using my broken blackberry pearl with a bluetooth headset because the ear piece does not work anymore. I can use the phone on speaker phone to talk to people but that is not exactly convenient.
 
I spend cautiously and selectively. Having said so, I just sprung for a new 15MBP. It arrived today so I need to get my stuff transferred from my old MBP to my new one. Fun.
 
I'm usually pretty frugal as it is. Basically I try to save as much as I can in some things so I car afford other things I really want (like traveling).
 
I see no point in being frugal. Saving up to have a nice headstone? No thanks. Being generous with money means you don't have that frugality-minded consciousness that will make sure you stay poor. Spend like hell and don't look back.
 
Watch movies and TV shows? Get Netflix. Play console games? Get GameFly.

Should save you hundreds of dollars per year and allow you to watch/play more than you would have. Use the money to go out to eat a few times a week ;).
 
I don't spend much on day-to-day things but if I want something, I get it. It is amazing how much money you can waste on little things every day--so cutting out that kind of spending can help get the things you really want.

I don't spend any cash--maybe $20 a month if I'm lucky. Buy using debit and credit cards, I can keep track of where everything goes.
 
i just sold my car...

$8500 in my pocket and I save about $100/month on insurance. Saving plenty more on maintenance costs, inspections, emissions, and annual county taxes too (Stupid North Virginia)
 
DylanLikesPorn said:
I see no point in being frugal. Saving up to have a nice headstone? No thanks. Being generous with money means you don't have that frugality-minded consciousness that will make sure you stay poor. Spend like hell and don't look back.
Click to expand...


Please educate yourself.
 
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