So cheap that I convinced a lot of my friends to sponsor my new home; this way I wouldn’t have to pay for any of the furniture. Sounds like I'd want to be his

So cheap that I convinced a lot of my friends to sponsor my new home; this way I wouldn’t have to pay for any of the furniture. Sounds like I'd want to be his friend. I live pretty cheap, but I'm not afraid to buy my friend a beer or a burrito. Social capitol is not about money, but about having friends to help you out with things. And it seems that in business, being frugal at the beginning is important to keep your expenses in check, but eventually you have to spend money to make money. My Dad lives pretty frugally, but he spends like $5K every year on a great trip somewhere (Turkey, Nepal, Africa, Europe, etc.) He could just save all that money up, but then he wouldn't have been all those great places. He could also do all the trip planning himself and probably save a couple grand, but doing it through a company makes the trip much smoother, and in the end, better. I think a better mantra is to be as cheap as you need to be on the basics (ie don't waste money unnecessarily), but spend real money on things you really care about. If you love biking, save up for a great bike that you really want.