Do people think you are poor by your frugal ways??

[tripods68]

well said

I forgot to mention. We bought that car outright CASH

[Broken Arrow]

Tripod, just curious, but where do you work that lets you do that?

...and can you put in a good word for me?

[tripods68]

Tripod, just curious, but where do you work that lets you do that?

...and can you put in a good word for me?

That's living Kalifornia style

[herm4]

And what does 'carp diem" mean in your signature? Just curious.
Never mind...I googled it. Sieze the day to you too!

[krystal007]

I would be the first to admit that I'm pretty money savvy. I have a few handful of tips and tricks that I utilize and keep myself in check. But I also don't have to do this. I have enough money in the bank that I could forego all the haggling, discounting, and dealfinding ways and live pretty comfortably. Why do I do this? I found myself not as well off about a year ago. I was very irresponsible with my money and wasted it, not having anything to show for it.

Luckily I'm a different consumer now. Do my friends think I'm poor? They probably do because I say things like, "Oh I wish I could buy that?" Or "I'll just get something off the kids menu..."

Its better for me to be perceived as poor and have my hands wrapped around my finances, rather than live rich and be in debt over my head.

[rob62521]

Most folks view us as having an income, but not being comfortable. We buy things, but don't go out to impress. My boss, who makes more money than I do, is always on me to spend money because she spends like crazy. She's retiring next year and I think she's going to be in financial hot water because she has bought a house she won't be able to afford on a pension that is 70% of what she made. She has a few investments, but nothing major and probably owes far more than she has invested. She makes fun of me for looking for deals and putting off buying things because she knows what my salary is. However, I finally pointed out that we remodeled our house over the past 5 years and we paid cash for each project and our house is paid for. We have two vehicles and one is paid for and the other we have a small loan on to keep up our fico scores. We use two credit cards and pay them off. We aren't rich by any means, but we are doing well and feel very blessed.

[rob62521]

good for you , and i am sorry about your boss , because I think that she will in hotter water , than what you think ===== from you said

I think you are exactly right.

[wincrasher]

Well if she gets a pension that is equal to 70% of her salary, then she may be in good shape. Lots of people would be delighted to get a pension that generous. Most are less than half of what they were making at work.

[QueenOphelia]

I had someone ask me if we were poor because of our frugal ways.. Actually it was a group of us. One made $30,000 a year and is in debt about $60,000. the other makes about $90,000 a year and is also in debt. We make more than both of them together and our debt is our mortgages (3 mortagages on 3 out of 6 properties, and 2 are about paid for), 1 truck that will be paid for in Sept, my car (1 year left) and 1 remaining tractor payment. We live on about $65,000. The rest DH is putting into his retirement account. They thought we were crazy. I think THEY are crazy for not saving.

Did they literally ask you if you were poor? That is incredibly rude.

I hope you politely (or maybe not so politely!) embarassed them for not having anything saved for retirement.

[michaelq]

it's funny, in this day and age and the bad economy, it seems like frugality is "in"

[ScrimpAndSave]

In my field of education, everyone knows what everyone makes...it is total public knowledge. So when they see the way that I spend - they assume I am smart and am saving a lot. I have had a few teachers make this comment more than once.

[rob62521]

Well if she gets a pension that is equal to 70% of her salary, then she may be in good shape. Lots of people would be delighted to get a pension that generous. Most are less than half of what they were making at work.

That would be true, except she lives beyond her means now so cutting it to 70% is really going to hurt.

[AlligatorBaby]

My in-laws think we are poor because we are so frugal. It is actually really frustrating because they are always so judgemental towards us. Well we have no debt and they are in debt up to their eyeballs so they have no right lecturing us about money!

[illinigamer]

Amazingly enough, one of my fiance's friends once asked me "How can you afford a vacation like that?" She could not resolve our everyday lifestyle with the fact that we would take a week long vacation in the Carribbean. This struck me as completely backwards. I thought, wouldn't people who rarely go out to dinner or buy expensive things be MORE likely to have money left over to go on a vacation?

Friends like her tend to think that we do not have a lot of money and are surprised if they do find out how much we have/earn. I typically will not discuss finances with people like that. The friends I will discuss finances openly with are ones with a similar mindset as myself, who are really only concerned with bettering their own financial health, not comparing themselves to others.

[am_vanquish]

Amazingly enough, one of my fiance's friends once asked me "How can you afford a vacation like that?" She could not resolve our everyday lifestyle with the fact that we would take a week long vacation in the Carribbean. This struck me as completely backwards. I thought, wouldn't people who rarely go out to dinner or buy expensive things be MORE likely to have money left over to go on a vacation?

Friends like her tend to think that we do not have a lot of money and are surprised if they do find out how much we have/earn. I typically will not discuss finances with people like that. The friends I will discuss finances openly with are ones with a similar mindset as myself, who are really only concerned with bettering their own financial health, not comparing themselves to others.

This happened to us when we planned our honeymoon. We were very proud of how much we were able to put aside & we planned a very nice vacation. Needless to say, we were proud of paying for EVERYTHING ourselves. A lot of friends & family assumed that my in-laws were paying for it. I probably came off a bit over-bearing in correcting people who made that assumption. For those who did know we were paying for it, they had the same problem as illinigamer, they couldn't reconcile it with our lifestyle.