6 ms·

If you want to save money, do it on large purchases. Buying a $30k car? Negotiate aggressively so you can buy it for $23-25k. Anything above a few $100 is worth

If you want to save money, do it on large purchases. Buying a $30k car? Negotiate aggressively so you can buy it for $23-25k. Anything above a few $100 is worth haggling over. Do you know how many people pay the listing price of a car, yet cut coupons to save a few euros/dollars? A lot. It's ridiculous. Some of the joys in life are simple things, such as drinking a $2-3 coffee or having a cocktail in a nice bar, etc.

Ocerge 11y ago
Absolutely. I fully recognize my $2.50 americano every morning could be a couple of cups of free office coffee, but I look forward to it every single day. I also drive a 10-year-old but reliable car, so I don't have any huge monthly expenditures outside of rent and my $150 student loan payment. I'll take the $100 or so hit every month in exchange for me starting my mornings on a positive note. It's not going to positively change my life enough to not have that americano every morning.
- kdamken 11y ago
  Playing devils advocate here: you're spending $1200 a year on coffee. With that money you could not only buy a really nice coffee machine and make it yourself every morning, but also have a bunch of money leftover to put towards your loans, invest, put towards a nice vacation, etc. The idea is that those small daily expenses tend to add up, and there may be a lot more of them than you realized.
  - joverholt 11y ago
    Also, buy a coffee roaster and roast your own beans. There are lots of ways to get started on the cheap (popcorn air roaster), and unroasted coffee is around $5-$6 a pound. It's a very rewarding hobby. http://sweetmarias.com http://sweetmarias.com is a great place to get started.
  - billmalarky 11y ago
    Reminds me of the old joke: "If you had stopped smoking 10 years ago you could afford to be driving around in a Ferrari right now." "Do you smoke?" "No." "Then where's your Ferrari?" Point is don't sweat the small things. Sure they add up, but you should dedicate a portion of your cash flow towards investments at the start of the pay cycle, not "what's left at the end." Then the rest can be spent on anything arbitrarily with a clear conscious.

Ocerge 11y ago

Absolutely. I fully recognize my $2.50 americano every morning could be a couple of cups of free office coffee, but I look forward to it every single day. I also drive a 10-year-old but reliable car, so I don't have any huge monthly expenditures outside of rent and my $150 student loan payment. I'll take the $100 or so hit every month in exchange for me starting my mornings on a positive note. It's not going to positively change my life enough to not have that americano every morning.

kdamken 11y ago
Playing devils advocate here: you're spending $1200 a year on coffee. With that money you could not only buy a really nice coffee machine and make it yourself every morning, but also have a bunch of money leftover to put towards your loans, invest, put towards a nice vacation, etc. The idea is that those small daily expenses tend to add up, and there may be a lot more of them than you realized.
- joverholt 11y ago
  Also, buy a coffee roaster and roast your own beans. There are lots of ways to get started on the cheap (popcorn air roaster), and unroasted coffee is around $5-$6 a pound. It's a very rewarding hobby. http://sweetmarias.com http://sweetmarias.com is a great place to get started.
- billmalarky 11y ago
  Reminds me of the old joke: "If you had stopped smoking 10 years ago you could afford to be driving around in a Ferrari right now." "Do you smoke?" "No." "Then where's your Ferrari?" Point is don't sweat the small things. Sure they add up, but you should dedicate a portion of your cash flow towards investments at the start of the pay cycle, not "what's left at the end." Then the rest can be spent on anything arbitrarily with a clear conscious.