I'm a millionaire next door. Disdain if you must. I could care less.
I have one neighbor who has figured it out and said something one day as we were trading garden fare. My response? "ha, I know you are too". We both smiled and that was the end of that topic. I was amused.
Ditto on what Gardnr said. Our house, car, clothes, etc. are all on the much lower end than any of our neighbors. They probably consider us the poor relations. Our doctor and dentist always apologize for any cost and immediately start talking about affordability. I could not care any less.
I figure our immediate neighbors have a big clue since we bought the Xray machine for the spay neuter clinic where she is a board member. She knows very well not to pester us for more money.
I am about 15% of the way into the book. Wow! Interesting stuff about people who live what I call rather dull, normative lives.
I don't consider their lives dull because they are so frugal (or, as the book says: "Frugal, frugal, frugal"). I actually think being frugal is a form of radicalism that I can get behind! I consider their lives boring because raising a family and working 50+ hours a week just seems like a drag to me. And Club Sandwiches are really bland.
But I think it is cool how they buck the trend of conspicuous consumerism and they don't care to impress anyone with fancy watches or luxury cars.
I think a friend of mine that I grew up with fits the MND bill.
Let me describe him:
After high school he immediately went to work in a factory. He took a class at a time at the local community college and learned the tool and die trade. In his 20s he bought a house outside our hometown. He married a Japanese woman who was an engineer at the same company he works for. They deliberately only had one kid.
He eats damn near all his meals at home, cooked by his wife. He wears no fancy clothes. He drives a Toyota truck when he drives. He otherwise bicycles to work.
His main hobbies are bicycling and running.
He did splurge and buy a motorcycle and a couple other "man toys."
But his life is otherwise unassuming. He and his wife make good money but they don't seem to be doing much of anything with it. So they are probably investing in it.
He is 41. His wife is 43. I cannot see either of them ever entertaining divorce.
Disdain me all you like for my boring, dull, normative life. I have a good deal of financial security (barring any catastrophic societal event, and in that case we're all screwed anyways). I will be retiring early. I don't worry about layoffs because I'll be fine- house and cars paid off, good chunk in the bank.
I happen to enjoy my frugal hobbies. I happen to like having one of the smaller homes in the neighborhood- when vandals/burglars come by- they are more likely to skip my house because it doesn't look like I have anything worthwhile to steal. I like my small inexpensive car- its reliable and gets me where I want to go and costs a minimum to operate. I like visiting new places and not spending a fortune. I like not fussing over my expensive anything and worrying about its destruction or loss. There is nothing I feel I'm missing out on. Anything I truly want to do is possible.
And I agree club sandwiches are boring.
Based on my net worth and crappy car, I would class myself as MND-compliant. Although I would say a million bucks doesn’t represent quite the same achievement it did when the book first came out.
Looking back over the years, it’s probably safe to say that I chose a dull and boring life over the excitement and romance of high debt, unstable relationships and underemployment. I wasn’t in it for the big bucks; I just like things as drama-free as possible. The money just seemed to gradually accumulate while I was attending to the quotidian duties of building a career and raising a family. Call it an alternative lifestyle. I found it a little surprising that someone would find that kind of life interesting enough to write a book about.
Now I have a nice little portfolio of assets and relationships that will see me through what I hope will be an unremarkably happy retirement. If that’s “normative”, then you can call me Norm.
We do, from time to time on this forum, have people mentioning family members that find their frugal lifestyles odd. Whether it amounts to full blown "flack", who knows. I suspect that as often as not, it's more often the other way around. Cases like catherine's recent thread where she was concerned whether guests would be happy in her charming but small, un-air conditioned house.
Not all minimalists are frugal. Some buy very little, but buy high quality items, either because they like the particular item, or because the higher quality item will last longer or offer more features or whatever. For example, they own one watch, but it's a Rolex. They have one car, but it's a Volvo and they bought it new to get exactly what they wanted. They may not buy lots of things, but spend lots of money on travel, or eating out.
Some minimalists are minimalists because that allows them to sink their money into what really matters to them, not because they want to save money.
Some minimalists are frugal. I'm sure there's significant overlap between the two groups--and that includes spending money with intention. But I would not define all minimalists as frugal.
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