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You can have lots of fun living frugal. Living frugal doesn't mean not having fun. Having fun is really cheap and free if you set your mind. Walking, hiking,

You can have lots of fun living frugal. Living frugal doesn't mean not having fun. Having fun is really cheap and free if you set your mind. Walking, hiking, bicycle ride, board & card games. Hanging out with friends at home and watching Netflix. Cooking at home and drinking at home. These are fun and cheap, the fun in it depends more so on the crowd. Going out to party can also be fun but this becomes the difference in spending $20 at home vs $200 in one night. Frugal is buying an old reliable honda/toyota for $3,000 vs picking up a $40,000 entry level benz. So what if you die before you make it? So what? We are all going to die.

graedus 8y ago
> Going out to party can also be fun but this becomes the difference in spending $20 at home vs $200 in one night. Agreed, but try not to be the person who refuses to ever go out because you're too focused on being frugal. A few times here and there won't really hurt you in the long run (and having fun with friends is important and worth the money), but making it a habit every night will. Just avoid the latter. > Frugal is buying an old reliable honda/toyota for $3,000 vs picking up a $40,000 entry level benz. Definitely agree. Americans in particular tend to buy way more car than they need, and the difference in price is on an order of magnitude that really does matter in the long run for many of us (i.e. if you invest that marginal $20k, $50k, or $100k and wait 10-30 years instead of buying a quickly depreciating fancy car).
- 0xfeba 8y ago
  > Americans in particular tend to buy way more car than they need, and the difference in price is on an order of magnitude that really does matter in the long run for many of us Not only that, they trade it in (sometimes with negative equity) every ~5 years. I buy old, used Lexus'. Pretty much all modern features, quiet, and a fraction of the new price. Change the oil, and the timing belt if applicable, it will last forever. But people treat cars so much like appliances these days.
  - dyim 8y ago
    How old, and how roughly how much do you spend? Thinking of replacing my '04 Civic sometime in the next 1-15 years :- )
  - muzz 8y ago
    5 years is when maintenance and repairs start happening more regularly. Because these are labor intensive, if one lives in an area where labor is expensive, or if the opportunity cost of one's own labor/time is expensive, does this still make sense? Also, there are some really modern features like rear-view cameras, sonar, etc., which are pretty cheap in newer cars but almost impossible to find in older ones
    - 0xfeba 8y ago
      5 years? Not really. Pretty much any Japanese car made in the last 20 years, and domestic in the last 8 should last 10 years; 100/150k before anything major is needed. But, to run the numbers, get a the total cost of ownership (car payment, interest, and non-warranty or whatever maintenance) for a new/virtually new car, divide it over a span of the expected months of ownership (say, 60, 120, 180 months). Do the same for a $5,000-$10,000 quality used car that you can pay with cash. The hard part is estimating repair and maintenance costs, especially for non-car-persons. But I believe that car reliability is so good for recent cars that it's wasteful to purchase new. eg: $20,000 new car 36 month loan @ 2% = $28,072.59 Estimated average maintenance/year: $500 TCO 60/120/180: $30.5k/$33k/$35.5 $7,000 used car Estimated maintenance/year: $1,000 TCO 60/120/180: $12k/$17k/$22k Now an older car will generally cost more over time, eventually, than a new one. But every 10 years or so it's much cheaper to purchase a used one. And if your stereo is replaceable you can get a rear-view camera hooked up if you desire. They also have wonky standalone ones.
      - muzz 8y ago
        If it were true that nothing major was needed until 100k or 150k then car warranties would be of that length. There are reasons why cars depreciate, amongst which are the fact that they need more money put into them over time.
Oishikatta 8y ago
You're much more likely to die by buying an old car. You can't just take all advice at face value. https://www.wired.com/2017/02/watch-terrifyingly-bad-car-safety-just-20-years-ago/ https://www.wired.com/2017/02/watch-terrifyingly-bad-car-saf...

graedus 8y ago

> Going out to party can also be fun but this becomes the difference in spending $20 at home vs $200 in one night. Agreed, but try not to be the person who refuses to ever go out because you're too focused on being frugal. A few times here and there won't really hurt you in the long run (and having fun with friends is important and worth the money), but making it a habit every night will. Just avoid the latter. > Frugal is buying an old reliable honda/toyota for $3,000 vs picking up a $40,000 entry level benz. Definitely agree. Americans in particular tend to buy way more car than they need, and the difference in price is on an order of magnitude that really does matter in the long run for many of us (i.e. if you invest that marginal $20k, $50k, or $100k and wait 10-30 years instead of buying a quickly depreciating fancy car).

0xfeba 8y ago
> Americans in particular tend to buy way more car than they need, and the difference in price is on an order of magnitude that really does matter in the long run for many of us Not only that, they trade it in (sometimes with negative equity) every ~5 years. I buy old, used Lexus'. Pretty much all modern features, quiet, and a fraction of the new price. Change the oil, and the timing belt if applicable, it will last forever. But people treat cars so much like appliances these days.
- dyim 8y ago
  How old, and how roughly how much do you spend? Thinking of replacing my '04 Civic sometime in the next 1-15 years :- )
- muzz 8y ago
  5 years is when maintenance and repairs start happening more regularly. Because these are labor intensive, if one lives in an area where labor is expensive, or if the opportunity cost of one's own labor/time is expensive, does this still make sense? Also, there are some really modern features like rear-view cameras, sonar, etc., which are pretty cheap in newer cars but almost impossible to find in older ones
  - 0xfeba 8y ago
    5 years? Not really. Pretty much any Japanese car made in the last 20 years, and domestic in the last 8 should last 10 years; 100/150k before anything major is needed. But, to run the numbers, get a the total cost of ownership (car payment, interest, and non-warranty or whatever maintenance) for a new/virtually new car, divide it over a span of the expected months of ownership (say, 60, 120, 180 months). Do the same for a $5,000-$10,000 quality used car that you can pay with cash. The hard part is estimating repair and maintenance costs, especially for non-car-persons. But I believe that car reliability is so good for recent cars that it's wasteful to purchase new. eg: $20,000 new car 36 month loan @ 2% = $28,072.59 Estimated average maintenance/year: $500 TCO 60/120/180: $30.5k/$33k/$35.5 $7,000 used car Estimated maintenance/year: $1,000 TCO 60/120/180: $12k/$17k/$22k Now an older car will generally cost more over time, eventually, than a new one. But every 10 years or so it's much cheaper to purchase a used one. And if your stereo is replaceable you can get a rear-view camera hooked up if you desire. They also have wonky standalone ones.
    - muzz 8y ago
      If it were true that nothing major was needed until 100k or 150k then car warranties would be of that length. There are reasons why cars depreciate, amongst which are the fact that they need more money put into them over time.

Oishikatta 8y ago

You're much more likely to die by buying an old car. You can't just take all advice at face value. https://www.wired.com/2017/02/watch-terrifyingly-bad-car-safety-just-20-years-ago/ https://www.wired.com/2017/02/watch-terrifyingly-bad-car-saf...