New way of thinking about money: "Frugality is stupid"

[sweetana3]

Wants, desires, even needs can be so different for each "individual". A latte obsession may be balanced by extreme frugality in clothing or car or electronics. I think it is more important to learn to make deliberate decisions and to take responsibility for them.

Very good quality clothing can be a good investment with low $$ per use.

I think it is important to try and live a balanced life with work balanced with time for fun, personal improvement, and family. The most influential people in my life knew when to expend their work energy and, if unbalanced, had a clear reason to do it and a time planned to return to balance. Personally, we gave up about 3 years of our lives so my husband could finish is college degree while working full time. We even gave up tv, took the bus, did not socialize much, etc. Everything was focused on the result. Finished the degree and got the corporate job. We knew someone who gave up a year or two of unbalanced work life to earn enough to start a business they developed. They worked the Alaskan Pipeline when it was built, worked 12+ hour days in a camp, and saved everything.

Iris Lilies, the gal who worked the pipeline wanted to work with hybrid trollius of all things. She built her greenhouses with some of the savings.

[happystuff]

What I see most is that the younger generation is actually doing/getting what they want... they are experiencing, they are exploring themselves in their appearance and style. I never did any of this because I was always "afraid" that the money to do that would be "needed" somewhere else. I still carry some of that thinking with me into retirement, but I'm also trying to step outside of all that and actual try/do some things that I *want* to do/try.

Don't know if I explained all that well or not. And, of course, there is more to it than that. I really think the what/hows/whys behind an individual's relationship to money does go pretty deep, in most cases.

[HappyHiker]

I enjoy being frugal. It's not deprivation. When I really, really want or need something I will buy it (usually)...

For instance, the other day, when the second shelf in our 14 year old frig broke (with one being held together with a C clamp) and the two veggies drawers developed even more cracks after DH had repaired them some years ago...figured it was time to get a new one. Ran into a great sale and the new frig is much nicer than the old one--and very, very quiet.

The old one sounded like a gerbil running on a wheel--quite odd.

I'm enjoying the heck out of the new one.

[pinkytoe]

Becasue I am obsessively frugal, I worry about DD and how she and her husband spend money. I once questioned her expensive meals out and she said that non-pressured time with friends or family and good food was a worthwhile expense. Hard to argue with that.

[rosarugosa]

I really like what Sweetana said: " I think it is more important to learn to make deliberate decisions and to take responsibility for them." I am not hardcore frugal, but I definitely consider priorities and tradeoffs in making decisions that involve money. DH and I are frugal in some areas, which permits us to be more extravagant or generous in others.

I also know quite a few people that have a sort of monetary oblivion. It's like money is something that happens to or around them, like the weather, to which they have no actual control. Some of these people are pretty affluent, but most, unsurprisingly, are not.