4 ms·

I've seen a lot of people who are penny-wise pound-foolish, and I think that's actually a lot more damaging then not being frugal overall. Wasting $8/mo on Net

I've seen a lot of people who are penny-wise pound-foolish, and I think that's actually a lot more damaging then not being frugal overall. Wasting $8/mo on Netflix doesn't matter that much, but having a habit of saying "screw it" and dropping $500 on a night out for no reason can be a much more damaging habit and much more cost-effective to stop. Also it's hard to write an article about smart money and not point out that some people simply do not know when to negotiate. You could spend all year depriving yourself of coffee or decent food to save $10,000, or you could spend 5 minutes remembering to make a counter offer on your salary or your next car purchase.

deleted 15y ago
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LiveTheDream 15y ago
There was a deleted reply that said: > On the other hand, a daily habit of frugality makes it easier to not splurge. My response: that might not be true based on the recent information about decision fatigue[1]. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/magazine/do-you-suffer-from-decision-fatigue.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/magazine/do-you-suffer-fro...
- michaeldhopkins 15y ago
  You're right but take it further. Willpower is a muscle. It gets fatigued on any particular day, but as it is exercised over time it becomes stronger. A daily practitioner of frugality is able to choose the right thing nearly effortlessly compared to someone just beginning to try to save money.
- philwelch 15y ago
  From experience, that doesn't seem to be the case. If you worry about spending money at a certain level, you've defined the battle lines, and splurging desperately on the other side is utterly unthinkable. If $10 for a day's worth of food seems lavish to you, something like even setting foot in a decent restaurant becomes unthinkable. You start to lose the ability to even imagine splurging, because to you spending $15-20 on pizza is splurging. You understand from an intellectual perspective that you can easily spend over $100 at a good restaurant ordering dinner for two, but you don't consider it as a possibility for your own life.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

LiveTheDream 15y ago

There was a deleted reply that said: > On the other hand, a daily habit of frugality makes it easier to not splurge. My response: that might not be true based on the recent information about decision fatigue[1]. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/magazine/do-you-suffer-from-decision-fatigue.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/magazine/do-you-suffer-fro...

michaeldhopkins 15y ago
You're right but take it further. Willpower is a muscle. It gets fatigued on any particular day, but as it is exercised over time it becomes stronger. A daily practitioner of frugality is able to choose the right thing nearly effortlessly compared to someone just beginning to try to save money.
philwelch 15y ago
From experience, that doesn't seem to be the case. If you worry about spending money at a certain level, you've defined the battle lines, and splurging desperately on the other side is utterly unthinkable. If $10 for a day's worth of food seems lavish to you, something like even setting foot in a decent restaurant becomes unthinkable. You start to lose the ability to even imagine splurging, because to you spending $15-20 on pizza is splurging. You understand from an intellectual perspective that you can easily spend over $100 at a good restaurant ordering dinner for two, but you don't consider it as a possibility for your own life.