For most of my life, I felt like we were swimming against the tide of consumerism. But now, the currents have changed. I have found my tribe. And I think that will make all the difference.
I’ve been spending money, real money, for about 20 years. I found a direct correlation between how much people praise my choices and how detrimental those choices are to my goals and dreams.
Their Up is My Down.
If I spend $150 getting my hair cut, colored, and styled, they love it. They will say it looks amazing. Everyone will compliment me. I should do that more often because, really, I deserve it. My Twitter picture will be flooded with little red hearts.
But I can’t add anything to my kid’s college fund that month. They won’t notice that.
If I buy a new fancy car, they will go wild. All my coworkers will come outside to check it out. Ask 100 questions. A few test drives. Admiration.
But I can’t take a year off work to do these amazing things that I really do value. They won’t notice that.
If I go out to an expensive restaurant and take pictures of the amazing food I ate, they will like it on FB. And talk about it at the office when I bring in the leftovers.
But I might not be able to add any money to our “Next Rental Investment” fund. They won’t notice that.
If I take a luxury vacation, they will be green with envy. My Instagram pictures will show beautiful hotels and hot stone massages. Everyone will ask about it when we get home. They will wish they had our perfect life.
But that year, we won’t be able to save the IRA max. Or maybe anything. They won’t notice that.
If I buy a huge gorgeous home, everyone will love it. They will like every picture I post. They will think I have really made something of myself.
But I will be tied to a paying job for the next 30 years, with little hope of living the life I dream of. They won’t mind that. I’m just being “normal,” right?
Their Up is My Down.
If I cut my hair at home, they might not notice. If I drive an older car, they might tease me a bit about my hooptie. If I cook simple meals at home, there isn’t much to talk about. If our vacations involve a tent, no one will think much of it. If I paid cash for my modest home, they will ask when we are going to move into something bigger.
But in reality, I’m killing it.
I’m saving for my kid’s college, and this tribe thinks that’s awesome. I’m taking a year off work, and this tribe sees that I’m living intentionally- fully. I’m buying investment properties, and this tribe loves passive income. I’m maxing out my IRA, and this tribe sees that I’m setting myself up for success.
You can’t pay too much attention to “them.” The ones who love every choice that keeps you in debt and over-committed in payments.
They can only celebrate choices that steal your freedom.
It’s easy to see consumption. It’s easy to show off money spent. All of our best money choices are hidden. We can be making huge gains behind the scenes, and our friends might never know.
You have a different tribe!
It’s ok if their up is your down. They can celebrate whatever they want. You have a different tribe. And I will celebrate with you. Every choice catapults you closer to your goals. We will celebrate that together. Every choice buys you more freedom instead of less. We will throw confetti into the air together. Find cheaper housing, pay off your mortgage, keep driving that old car, kill your credit card debt for good: And we will rally behind you! Cheering you on. Just so blasting happy for you!
Because we understand what those things really mean and how powerful those choices are. We are living on purpose.
We know what we want, what we value, and will do what it takes to get there even if we can’t share it on Facebook.
More freedom. More choices. More opportunities. More time for things that matter.
Discussion questions:
- Have you ever wanted more celebration for your hidden wins?
- Have you ever wanted to shout at the coworker who took out a 6-year car loan on a $35,000 car, “I actually HAVE $35,000, but you don’t see me wasting it on some stupid car!” Oh, course not. That’s not nice. Maybe I have thought about it in my head.
- How do you like the changes on my homepage? Who else noticed that I miss-spelled financial? Duh! It was a Homer Simpson moment for sure! Big thanks to Harmony for catching that. =) Truth be told, I’m a truly horrendous speller. Spell check often has no idea what I am trying to say.
Nice, Ms M. This is definitely a Rockstar worthy post. It reminds me of a great quote from the economist Henry Hazlitt: “The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy.” So, yes, your co-workers and friends see the great haircut, the new SUV, and the awesome new house and appropriately fawn over your fabulous life. What they fail to see are the extra years of work those spending decisions have saddled your life with. “Their up is [your] down,” as you eloquently put it. But thankfully there’s another tribe out there who are more than willing to gush over your maxed-out Roth and your crappy car. I’m with you, Ms. M. A pox on bubble popularity. Hail the savers! Hail the lovers of passive income! Hail the boring!
Heck yeah. We decided early in our marriage that we would celebrate our big wins. When we paid off all our debt, saved our first 100k, our first 250k, hit half a million. No one else was able to celebrate that with us. But we could celebrate it. It helps make up for the two dozen times people have asked when we are moving into a bigger house. =)
That’s so cool. On one hand you want to shout it from the rooftops, but on the other it’s probably nice to just knowingly glance and smile at each other when the herd is trying to figure you out! : )
It’s awesome to know that we can do all those things, but just choose not to. It was much harder when we were in a huge pile of debt and didn’t even have the option. Having the cash has made a huge difference in our comfort level in frugal living.
Great point Mr. Groovy! I also think that many people fail to see the extra work that their own spending decisions have created, let alone those of others! Love this post!
If you could put this post to music, we’d have a national anthem for the tribe! Great post!
Ty, I will let you get right on that! Thanks. =)
What an uplifting post! This made me smile.
“I found a direct correlation to how much people praise my choices and how detrimental those choices are to my goals and dreams.” This is a really insightful thought. The social signifiers that get attention from others are usually more expensive and less important than the invisible goals. It is far easier to get compliments through spending than saving or smart investing.
I am proud to be a part of this underground, counterculture tribe.
Matt, we are so happy you are part of it too! I’m not really sure if anyone really gets a lot of compliments from saving. The guy who set up my work IRA had to ask what my net worth was. This could have been the ONE time someone congratulated me at work for all our smart choices through the years. But you know what happened instead? He didn’t believe me! First he goes, “Oh, no, I mean with out your primary home.” Ok. So I gave him that number. He still looked at me like, “You don’t need to lie.” I don’t know. Maybe it was the 14 year old Honda I drove to work. Or maybe I just had a bigger net worth than he did. =)
Ugh! Every time I called in to do something with one of my 401(k)s, the rep would ask me how I had managed to save so much for retirement at such a young age when all I had done was max out the 401(k) for several years. I’m really glad he couldn’t see my Roth IRA balance (it is at another institution), my savings accounts, or my condo equity…
It’s great that you get props from the rep. I really think mine thought I was lying. =/ I remember when we had finally saved our first $10,000 and the bank clerk slide the receipt back to me with the amount circled. She was so excited! I was so excited! We had a little celebration right there in the bank line. =)
Oh it felt less like props and more “How is this possible???” It felt like judging/jealousy more than props. You probably did have a bigger net worth than the rep you were talking to! That’s not a bad thing 🙂
Oh no! What the heck? You would think that people who work in the field of encouraging people to invest more money with them, could um… be encouraging. Well, I think it’s awesome you are rocking your net worth. The bigger the better! They should give us tee shirts with our net worth accomplishments like in high school when the weight lifers could bench press 250lbs and they got a tee shirt that said so. I would wear my 550k tee shirt every night for bed!
I had a guy at a used car dealership imply that I had an undesirable side job (he looked me up and down) when I said I was going to pay cash for a used car (only $6k). But to counter that experience the next used car we bought at a dealership their finance guy said he’d never had anyone buy a car outright with cash (yay) and we had to do all the financing paperwork anyway in case our check bounced (even though they called our bank) boo?
Everyone thinks it’s amazing I took a 2 week trip to Europe. But only this tribe really celebrates the important things with me, like the fact I paid 10 pounds/night in England, or spent most of my time wandering around outside or doing free activities.
I confuse a lot of my coworkers. They’re like, we know you get paid well. Why do you still drive your old car? Why do you bring your lunch? And then in the same breath turn around and tell me it’s impossible to max out your 401k, Roth IRA and HSA in the same year. Not impossible- just different priorities.
I love frugal travel! I would rather spend 3x as long traveling and see 2x as much than have a “luxury” trip. I think it’s easy to waste so much money pandering to please others, that folks don’t even take the time to really ask themselves what they want out of life. Congrats on the frugal trip! And totally amazing on the 401k, IRA, HSA! That is a truly awesome feat.
Spell check is one of the best inventions.
Fully agree with everything in this post. I hate when I see my friends (low 20s) post on Facebook that they bought this shiny new car. They get so many comments but all these people fail to realize that they took out a ton of debt on top of their student loans! It drives me crazy! If I could not afford to pay for it in cash then I likely cannot afford to buy it, except for a house maybe.
Your third to last sentence summed up everything perfect. We are living on purpose. When we get to do whatever we want at age 40, or whatever that number may be, everybody will be looking at us with jealousy. Better to grind today and relax tomorrow!
Sometimes I just don’t get it. Why spend $40k to enjoy your 20 minute commute more so you can tolerate a job you hate? I wish it was less taboo to talk about money. I might take people by the shoulders and give them a good shake. Ride your bike to work, invest the money, in 5 or 10 years you can find a job you love (but pays half as much.) It would be one thing if everyone loved their job. But they don’t. And eating out everyday is only holding them hostage there longer.
I love the concept here of hidden wealth in more ways than just money. Nicely done.
If it makes you laugh, a colleague asked me when I would be upgrading my car. Not because it is banged up or old. No, he just bought a Maserati! And to cap it all, a new detached garage on his home was recently built to house the damn thing. I will keep ploughing money into low cost index funds, smile quietly at his excess and think of where I am heading on the road of life without a shiny and incredibly expensive Maserati…
Holy crap. That’s a lot of money for some transportation! On the flip side, I once had a coworker try to convince our boss that I shouldn’t be allowed to park my beater car in front of the business. Because the car was apparently so ugly to her that she thought it reflected poorly on the company. I felt a bit like Quasimodo. But then I remembered she put 0 down on her brand new ride, and was broke at the end of each pay period. Mock me all you want lady!
This is BRILLIANT. And I agree completely. Though sometimes you’ll also find when people say: “Your hair looks so cute, did you get it cut?” And your response is: “Yup. My husband did it.” They gush just as much! 🙂 And this tribe is everything. TOGETHER we’ll do amazing things!
I cut my own hair, but I’m not sure I would trust Mr. Mt. I have seen the things he has done to our poor children’s hair! =)
One of my favorite parts of getting older is accepting who I am, what I want, what I need to get there, and that the only one who validates that is…me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to have the alt-tribe, not just for the encouragement but also for the hints of how to improve what I’d doing to get where I want faster and better. But shrugging off what others value is a heck of a lot easier closing in on 50 than it was at 20 or 30.
I totally agree. I was much more self conscious at 20. I actually think I will start to hit my stride at 40 (at least that is the plan). =) I think having more money has also been a big shift for us. Knowing that we could spend that money, but are just choosing not to helps.
One of the Best posts I’ve read this week.
To answer your three questions:
1. Nope. Stealth Wealth is the best kind there is.
2. I may be somewhat judgmental, but I don’t really care how others squander their money. Live and let live.
3. I didn’t notice the misspelling, but misspelled is a word, no hyphen required. 🙂
Cheers!
-PoF
Crap! Spell check failed me again.
In response to #2 on this list, I think that there are reasons to care:
– Too many people squandering too much money is what leads to financial crises in the first place.
– Whenever people spend money on things, they are essentially casting economic votes thereby inducing more production of said thing (whether good or bad — do we seriously need more Disney princess dolls in our society? Bah, my HAS stock goes up over 7% today and I find reason to complain about why it went up)
– Our tribe (as Ms. Mt put it nicely) has room to grow. The more people we can, little by little, convert to our way of thinking the better off our children and society will be in the future. Eventually, this growing impact could have a snowball like effect similar to that of dividend reinvesting.
GREAT post! Love everything about this and completely relate. I don’t even feel like I belong when I’m out among “normal” people. It’s a complete culture shock to go to the mall (or Costco sometimes !?).
Thankfully, I don’t feel the need for more celebration on my wins – my husband and I celebrate our wins quietly. And I’m infinitely grateful to have him to share those wins with.
We still have a mortgage and recently refinanced the loan. The president of the bank gathered our info for underwriting and he congratulated us on our financial situation. We recently contacted him about potential financing for a rental property. He said no need to fill out paperwork or an application – he would approve us for what we needed without going through the app. process. It was really nice to know someone else thought we were doing well.
Mr. Mt and I love to celebrate those wins together as well. I think it is so important to look back with gratitude on how far we have come. But it’s awesome that someone else who had a peek into your life acknowledged the hard work as well. And yeah on the rental property! I hope you guys find an awesome deal.
LOL – glad to help with the spelling. I was the one who proofread everything for a house full of roommates in college. Although, I’m not nearly as skilled at spotting my own mistakes.
I couldn’t agree more with the message of this post. It actually comes with a sense of satisfaction now, the secret pride of outdoing others in a competition for making sane financial decisions. You get used to things over time. Now, I see them celebrating purchases on Facebook and just think about how enlightened they will be when I can fully disclose everything.
Part of me feels like the haters will always hate. I do wish they would see the light, but they will probably just go on hating about something else. Like if retiring early means taking frugal vacations then they would rather work the job they hate till they die. It has taken me a while to stop trying to impress the broke people in my life. =)
I love everything about this post. I thought I was subscribed to new posts, but I didn’t get an email notification for this. Let’s fix that right now.
1.) Who wouldn’t want to celebrate their big wins? But I feel like if I threw up “I reached X,Y,Z investment goal”, it would just be interpreted as bragging.
2.) Not co-workers, but friends. I’ll never understand the fascination with new vehicles more frequently than, say, 5-10 years…i almost most feel like it’s a game to see how long my current car will last, especially considering I’m pretty hard on it. Whoever invented speed bumps did not do my car any favors.
3.) So Oblivious to the misspelling.
I feel the same way about my old honda civic. It’s almost a competitive sport. Although she is too old to leave town now. =( Ok, so weird thing about the emails. It isn’t an RSS (honestly I just don’t know how to set that up.) But I send out a weekly email with links to what I posted that week (it will happen later today.) I think the only way to get an RSS kind of email from my site is my after you comment, click the “receive new posts by email.” I’m am so not tech savvy, so the learning curve has been interesting for me. =)
I love this! Finding like-minded people who are going through the same journey as you is so important! If you’re surrounded by people who don’t share your values and who won’t support your goals, then your journey will be that much harder. That’s why we love the PF community – everyone is so supportive and encouraging to anyone who wants to improve their finances 🙂
Yes! The community is awesome. Even now it strengths my resolve and encourages me in our journey. I am still more sensitive to criticism than I would like to be, so it’s nice to have other voices speaking true and affirming things into my life.
It’s important to remember how small this community is! Sometimes I feel like I have nothing to say or contribute because it’s all been said and done. But then I realize that the people I surround myself with online aren’t necessarily reflective of the general population or my IRL. Great post!
Thanks Penny. =) Yeah we aren’t the general population, that is for sure. Just by the measure of being able to afford a $400 emergency, most people in the pf world come out ahead. But it seems my every day real life is filled with the middle class trying to prove itself, or the people right at or below the poverty line just struggling to keep their heads above water. The first kind of irritates me when I feel the subtle shaming that happens, and the second breaks my heart. We threw a birthday party this weekend for our boys, and almost everyone who came lives under that poverty line. It was a sharp reminder how different people can live even though our homes are just a few blocks away.
It is nice to have such a special tribe that you can share your hidden successes with, isn’t it!? I haven’t really thought of it this way before, but outwardly everyone sees and compliments folks on how materialistic your life is…not really what is most important in life (at least not for me). Although it is always nice to get compliments on a kicka** house, people have to realize there is a huge sacrifice to doing so! Thanks for the great post and it is great to be part of your tribe!
It’s always fun to have an amazing house, but yeah, at what cost? A nice upgrade could easily cost us another 10 years of work. Is it really worth 500 weeks of work? I better make sure I really love that job first!
Absolutely love this post! The general public judges us based on the stuff we have and the stuff they can see. We are a weird bunch thigh. We judge each other on the things most people can’t see! I’m happy to be part of the tribe.
I love that you are here too! It’s nice to be able to get a look behind the scene and cheer people on for the things they are doing to get them closer to their goals instead of just farther in debt. And it’s a more realistic picture.
Yes! Blogging give us voice and connection to our tribe. It really helped me on my journey to early retirement. I could have done it myself, but it’d probably take a few more years. It’s very helpful to get some feedback from the community.
1. More celebration is great. That’s where blogging is helpful. My readers give me a lot of encouragement when I accomplish my financial goals.
2. Not really. It’s their prerogative and it isn’t going to change their mind. They’ll just think I’m a cheapskate. Which is true… 🙂
It has taken me some time to become more comfortable with our frugal ways. I spent a lot of years hating to look poor. But I actually don’t mind driving our beater car now that we have a half million net worth. It’s a lot more fun to look poor, when you aren’t actually poor. =)
This is a great post – “Have you ever wanted to shout at the coworker who took out a 6 year car loan on a $35,000 car, “
Almost every day I hear something that in my head sounds insane to my Personal Finance Nerd Brain, but I rarely react. I drop hints about what we do with financial windfalls but don’t openly talk about maxing out Roth IRAs. I did tell all my friends to refi their house if they haven’t, for some reason I feel like that is not one of the weird money topics that gets shunned by the everyday crowd.
Hopefully there is one huge celebration when we reach FI
I am terrible a terrible speller – UNITE!
Mr. Mt has been looking at doing a refi on one of our houses and I have been totally lazy about it. Which is rather dumb. I know that taking a few hours might save us almost $40k, so I just need to get my butt in gear! I totally agree that refi talk is acceptable. Everyone seems to love to talk rates. =)
I was actually just thinking about this concept, but in reverse — their down is my up. Someone else (nearby) plants a beautiful garden in their yard and I get to enjoy the sight of it for free. Someone else buys a Tesla and I get to enjoy the sight of it for free on the road. I like free things and particularly enjoy getting to admire beauty when it costs me nothing other than a few moments of my time.
That is so true! We love walking through the downtown neighborhoods and admiring all the lovely homes. I love residential architecture so it is a treat for me. And I love not having to clean or heat those huge homes. =)
I remember when my retirement account passed $1 million. I wanted to brag but that would have been really weird. So, I wrote a note to the author of one of the seminal financial books that set me down the path or saving and living below my means. He wrote back. That was all I needed. 🙂
I want to scream at my co-workers who go to Starbucks three times a day. Instead, I bring in Fair Trade coffee and hot chocolate they can make it in the office. You can lead a coffee drinker to a better way but you can not make them drink. (Some are not signed up for the 401K…I have no extra money they tell me!)
That is awesome! We went out and celebrated at a local resort for the weekend when we hit a half million. It was awesome to be able to reflect about all the good things that have happened and celebrate. I love that you wrote the author. I am a big fan of sending letters. People assume that folks don’t have time to read letter, but often people are just people and they appreciate knowing when their work impacts others. I think it’s awesome you bring in good coffee. Hot coco can turn most bad days around for me! Congrats on the one milly mark!
I love the thought of the pf community as a tribe. I think I read somewhere that you are what your five closest friends are. Sounds like you found some great people in the pf community to surround yourself with and are making TREMENDOUS progress. Also stealth wealth is the best. Especially when you reach retirement and others can’t figure out how when you aren’t driving new cars. Congrats on the awesome post!!!
Thanks! Sometimes I wonder if our wealth is a bit too stealth. =) But it allows us to have friends across various incomes which I like and everyone feels comfortable.
Thank you Ms M for another great article.
Over the past few years while learning more and more about Personal Finance I have lost the desire for nice new “things” like clothes, Phones, Cars, etc. All these things take away from my goals (travel and Financial Independence). Now am much more attracted to finding the best value (used car, using the library, cutting cable & unnecessary expenses, eating in/meal prep, etc). These things help me get closer to my goals.
Also, I recently invested in a National Park pass. I can travel cheaply more now as I am seeking National Parks around the country (using credit card miles to pay for flights). There is nothing like spending a 3 day weekend enjoying nature and not breaking the bank!
I LOVE our national park pass! And I am with you on the lack of a fancy phone. There is a teenage girl I have mentored the last 3 years, and she is merciless about mocking my phone! It is a constant source of entertainment for her. She was over this weekend with a friend of hers, and made sure to point out my lame phone so they could both laugh about it. =) Congrats on lowering your monthly expenses. You should stop by Glacier National Park! It is amazing here. =)
The day I paid off my car was also the day I became totally debt free after years of climbing out of the hole – it was SO anti-climactic! Just year after boring year of trying to watch my expenses, throwing my tax returns at my debt (instead of buying something “fun”), etc. etc. I wanted to do the “debt-free scream” but I also didn’t want to look like a jerk to my friends who are still in debt (many of whom make very different spending choices to keep themselves there). Harrumph. But I’ll gladly celebrate with my weirdo tribe! 🙂
Oh I feel you! But we will celebrate with you. =) I felt that way when our net worth hit 100k. It felt so insane and amazing to me. But had to be just another normal day. Mr. Mt and I did go out and celebrate together. It’s like it’s your 21st birthday, but none of your friends know.
Hey, Ms M! love love love this. I adore the word “tribe” – Jen Hatmaker uses it all the time (I noticed your Shauna quote so I’m going to assume you’re also a JH fan!) – and I think it perfectly sums up the stealth wealth world.
1. Yes, I totally want celebration for the hidden wins. I have one girlfriend who has a similar money mindset, and so we’ve started a monthly Personal Finance Breakfast at my house to share/encourage/learn about all those money things that aren’t obvious to everyone else. It’s so fun!
2. Um, all the time. Yes.
3. I did notice 🙂
Thank you so much for taking the time to write this – it’s so encouraging! I don’t blog but the PF blog world has totally changed the trajectory of my life.
Britt, girl, why in the world didn’t you tell me! I need you to have my back on the spelling errors. =) And I do love Jen Hatmaker. I want to be Jen Hatmaker when I grow up. =) Maybe when I am 40, I will get to be her. I absolutely love the idea of a pf breakfast! That is so awesome. I need more ladies in my life who like to geek out about pf stuff.
Next time, I promise! Real friends tell you when you have something in your teeth or have made a spelling error 🙂
I’m going to the Belong tour this weekend…BOTH Jen and Shauna. I AM SO PUMPED.
That is right! I need help with both. =) And have fun. I know that will be amazing. Soak up some good stuff for me. I just watched an interview with Micheal Hyatt and Shauna and it totally helped me with my writing schedule. She is awesome.
I’m laughing at the fancy restaurant note because… if you eat at an expensive restaurant, the food will be tiny, and there will be no leftovers! Hahaha. One of the best parts of FinCon was not having to preface any of what we’re doing with the usual stuff, and just being able to jump straight into the short hand for everything. It warmed my heart. 🙂 I’m sure you’re finding the same thing with your Skype chats!
That is a very awesome point! Goes to show how often we eat out. =) Unless you count Costco pizza. =) My kids flip out over bringing a Costco pizza home.
Awesome post! And a great reason to blog, because its nice to interact with people who value the same things 🙂
Yes! It can get tiring swimming against the current. But in the pf world, it feels like I jumped streams. It’s all downhill from here. =)
Ms. M, Love it! One of my favorite things about blogging is the “virtual community” that develops. (BTW, I had an awesome phone call with The Groovy’s last night, on their FIRST DAY of retirement! How cool is that?). We’re all like minded folks, all moving toward the same goal. Very few outside our “Tribal Community” get it, but everyone inside gets it 100%. Here, we all see “up” as the same direction, and I love the mutual support!
Oh, I am so excited for The Groovy’s! That is so freaking cool. I hope they make it out to Montana. =) And yours is closing in here soon. Maybe we should make celebration videos. =) Hum… I might do that.
Very nice post. You ARE awesome. For all the smart choices you make and for sharing your journey so that others may admire your efforts and learn from you!
Have you ever wanted more celebration for your hidden wins?
A – Heck yeah. Good thing Mr. Need2Save celebrates with me on all our little wins!
Have you ever wanted to shout at the coworker…?
A – Uh yeah. Almost every day at my job! You should see the amount of money people will borrow from their 401(k) to buy a new truck! Just cuz the new model rocks some cool new gizmo they just have to have and they you know, deserve it.
How are you liking the changes on my homepage..?
A – Didn’t notice the mispelling but I’m terrible at spelling as well! The changes are nice.
Oh no, people are borrowing from their 401k to buy trucks!! I’ll admit that just made me feel a bit ill. I think if I heard a coworker say that all the color would wash out of my face. You know you are a pf nerd when the idea of taking money out of a 401k for a truck makes you need to run to the nearest garbage can. I might need some 7up now. I want to say something about all the other nice things you said, but I’m just too sick right now.
Funny how life works, eh?
Good luck becoming the new “millionaire next door”
Thanks! Slowly but surely. =)
I can’t get enough of this post Ms. Montana! I agree with get rich quickish – it needs to be set to music – ha! What great encouragement for all your readers. So well said, and so deeply and importantly true.
Thanks so much! It’s hard to swim upstream, but it’s nice to know we aren’t alone.
Love it! It reminds me of the old college dare – I dare you to chug that vodka, shotgun that beer, finish the keg, etc. The group loves to see you do it for their entertainment, but they’re not the ones left hugging the toilet at the end of the night.
What’s that Jim Gaffigan joke, “Shots are only there to get to your worst decisions faster.” =)
Hey, I agree with you. I have had people who blow money left and right criticize me for my frugal decisions. I applaud what you are doing. I wish I had more discipline to do what you are doing. I’m proud of you. Keep it up.
There is a phrase I practice. “I’m happy for your happiness.” If they want to waste money, go for it. But on the flip side, if my frugal choices make me happy, just be happy for my happiness. Feel free to steal that. Next time the haters come out in full force, “Maybe you could just be happy for my happiness?” If they don’t care about your happiness, their opinion doesn’t count. =)
I struggle with how to react when a friend or family member buys a new car or other shiny new toy. On one hand, I want to be supportive and happy for them; but on the other I know they’re in debt up to their eyeballs and filed for bankruptcy last year so I don’t want to encourage poor decisions.
What’s the right choice?
I don’t know. In person, I usually admire the ‘thing’ but online I often ignore it. Do you have a better idea?
Oh, that is such a tricky line to walk! I try to be “happy for your happiness”, but you are right, it is SO hard for me when I know that item is just going to make their life harder because they can’t afford it! Sometimes I compliment the old item they had like, “Oh you got rid of clunker car! That’s too bad. I’m going to miss that car. So many fun memories. She had as much personality as she was missing paint. This new ride has some mighty big shoes to fill!”
$150 for cut color and style. My neighbor does that every other month. $1800 a year, that is a lot of money to spend. I have my husband cut my hair and apply the henna to color my gray roots every other month, and don’t think about how much it saves me until I hear others talk about how expensive it is. My best friend spent over $300 last year to get hers cut, and dyed a bluish gray color. They fried her hair and it was breaking off. She received a lot of likes initially on her Facebook post, but she was not so pleased with it a couple months later. So now she is trying to grow it out and my husband have been trimming her hair and doing the henna for her and she will not let anyone else touch it. She commented that she spent over $300 to get her hair ruined, but gets a better result by my husband for free in my dining room. So being frugal doesn’t mean settling for less.
That is really cool that your husband cuts her hair as well now! And I totally agree frugal doesn’t mean settling. I love cutting my own hair. Whenever I do a big change, I still get butterfly’s. Or a simple cut takes me 60 seconds after a shower. There is no way I would want to block out an hour for something I can do in less than a minute at home, even if the salon cut was free.
What kind of henna do you use? I have finally hit that point I need to start dying my gray hairs!
I use the Light Mountain henna. My hair is longer than yours, so mine requires two packages. I bought it online with a coupon for about $5 a box. Hubby mixes the powder with apple cider vinegar, coconut oil, lets it set overnight to deepen the color, then warms it in the microwave a little before applying to my head. He does the roots first as that is where the grays show the most. The henna gives me great coverage and leaves my hair silky soft. It was my color that my best friend liked and wanted to know what I used. I had my husband explain it to her, and that is when she asked for his help. He did try to “show us” how to apply it for each other, but we were persistent that he had to do it. My friend was ecstatic with the results after he trimmed her hair to shape it and applied the henna. She got a lot of compliments and did not disclose her stylist even though she had a number of requests for that information. I told I her I would share my stylist with just her. Didn’t want my house turning into a walk in salon. I did post a picture of the henna and tagged my friend last month. Later that evening a friend of ours saw us out at a restaurant and complimented how good our hair looked. She wanted to know who did it as she saw the henna on my kitchen counter. She saws pics of my husband doing remodel jobs in the house and asked if he did my hair as well, and well I was busted. Well she went over to him and asked when she could get a session with him. I laughed and told him he is getting requests, the ladies like his work. She was hinting she would like to stop by the next time he cuts my hair to see how he does it. Then probably say, “I’m next”. He doesn’t mind doing another haircut, it is just applying the henna takes time that he doesn’t want to commit to. I spend about $60 a year on the henna, so it is very reasonably priced, and it leaves my hair in great condition, not fried like the salon or box color.
Awesome! Thank you SO much. After years of using box dyes, my mom developed an allergy, which I would like to avoid. This sounds like a great solution!
I love this! Just shared it on Twitter and with my 22yr old daughter. Thanks for sharing.
Oh, thank you SO much! 22 is the perfect time to find the right tribe and frame of mind. That is such an exciting age to set your trajectory! Way to be an awesome dad, passing on this kind of stuff!
This is awesome (I wrote a longer comment but I got an invalid security token-sigh)!!!
Oh no! I hate when that happens! I wish I was more tech savvy and knew how to fix that. Sorry. =(
Good one M. Glad to have you part of the ‘right’ tribe!
Finding like minded people is SO important. Having a few folks to celebrate and encourage your wins, instead of tear down all the steps it took to get there. I think it can make all the difference.
I love to celebrate the hidden side of things. We couldn’t take an instagram picture of our first 50k but it sure felt amazing!
That is awesome! And it is great to have a safe space online to share that joy. Because those wins are amazing!
Oh my gosh this!!! My husband and I talk about this a lot. A friend got promoted recently, so now him and his SO are looking for a bigger apartment. We agreed we would rather use a raise from a promotion to pay down mortgages or invest than to get a bigger apartment considering that we already have two bedrooms…
This is why I married someone with similar financial ideas – so we can celebrate the wins together 🙂
Having a partner to celebrate those wins with is AWESOME! We actually go out at big milestones and make a whole thing about it. I love writing notes, so I bring my notebook and we reflect on how far we have come and where we are heading. My pf geek side loves it SO much.
YES to everything here. I basically can’t tell my coworkers anything about my life or finances because they get confused/aggressive about it.
Isn’t it crazy what other people value? Or even crazier that you’re the crazy one if you don’t celebrate blowing through your money?
Our culture seems to celebrate this reckless spending with the “treat’cho self” mentality. What matters to me won’t matter as much to someone else; we all prioritize our spending differently. But I don’t think it’s fair to view more conservative (aka frugal!) financial decisions as detrimental. It’s also not fair to judge people for more spendy behavior–hey, it’s their money, after all.
I think our finances confuse people too! At least we are in it together! =)
I guess I’m just lucky that I never much cared what others thought about the personal choices I make. I’m totally comfortable with my internal values, and I base my decisions on those values, not what others might or might not think. I’ve observed others who conduct what I call surveys of friends and family in the course of making a personal decision. Never understood that. Maybe that’s why my mother referred to me as an “oddball.” 🙂
I think being an “oddball” is the only way to chart your own course! It’s a trait that will help take you exactly where you want to go. =) Even if the crowd is heading in the other direction.
Love this!
Thanks so much!
Wow, this is great! A powerful reminder that what we value and cherish should be far more motivating than what the “normal” have to say about it!
Thanks so much! And you are right, we have to put our values first or we just spend our time and money pandering to others.
Wow, Great post,
It really speaks to how amazing the internet has become for connecting with like minded people. It is refreshing to be able to interact with other individuals who have similar perspectives and are working towards the same goals. It is also amazing to see the amount of support that they off to counter act the consumerism that runs rampant offline.
looking forward to following along.
Zero of my real life friends have any interest in pf. So just being able to chat about it is awesome! Having people running the same path and being able to cheer them on is beyond cool for me.
I get to be comment #101 🙂 What an amazing post! Love it and happy to be part of the tribe. I’ve always felt a little lost with the people I worked with in terms of spending and priorities. Luckily we met some great friends about 10 years ago who value the exact things we do. And yea – #2 – I think that all the time when I see purchases people make…
Whohoo 101! =) I think I felt lost for too many years. Or insecure because I was scared people would just think I was poor. After we hit 100k, it was kind of a light bulb moment of “wait, I’m not crazy, this works!” It’s been a process. =) I am actively encouraging pf bloggers to move to Montana so I have more frugal friends locally. =)
Not thinking we’ll move to Montana – (Brrrr….) but we’ll be out your way next fall as we head to Yellowstone, etc.! 🙂
We vacation in a tent too, and we love it! Great post, I really enjoyed it. Dong the right thing is not always sexy or FB worthy…unless you hang out in the money nerd tribe, haha.
The money nerd tribe has got your back when choices help buy more freedom, even if they seem boring! =) Oatmeal for breakfast? Why yes!
I feel right at home here… and how we’re not making ourselves at home, really, has become the theme of my (main) blog.
Which is funny because so much of it is about problems we don’t even realize we have, issues we tend to overlook – and it’s only since I recently stumbled into this tribe that I noticed I hadn’t ever written about money themes. Definitely problems we don’t realize we have, though, and for exactly the reasons you describe.
Where I have written, though, is where the vacation in your tent (outdoors) may be the greatest little adventure to write about, and the home-cooked meal may be the most share-worthy (if you can make it look Instagram-worthy, at least 😉 ).
Great example of the power of the online world to build community and be helpful, not just be a divisive mess 🙂
I agree the world needs more supportive communities, and less divisive messes! Yeah for simple living that brings us closer to our values and goals.
Amazing post, I’m totally with you. I’ve never found my tribe though.
Well, except for “the internet”, but I’d love to see more “day to day” support in my inner circles.
Thanks! Yeah I think some of our friends have gotten to the “well, that seems to be working for you” point. Others just seem confused. But the online community makes all the difference!
Wow, really awesome post! I never thought of it like that, I love how “their up is your down” really puts things in perspective. You really nailed it!
Thanks!
I’m a few months behind the crowd, but I just found your blog the other day and have been reading all the posts. I love this post! I have been following FI and minimalist blogs for a while now and have been slowly taking in all the wonderful info. In January I did the Uber Frugal Challenge and managed to pay down more debt than usual, so I’m continuing this month and just paid a card off today!! And I’ve been doing the minimalism game since January as well and have moved close to 1000 things out of the house, including as of today almost 5 feet of paper!! (I’ve been decluttering for well over a year and still have stuff to move out) We have a similar family to yours, 6 kiddos, all came to us through fostering and adoption – no bio kids. But we are a few decades older (our first kids moved in just after I turned 40 – they were 4 and 6 and are “adults” now 🙂 ) and late to the world of FI, Minimalism and blogging, but better late than never!
That is awesome! Welcome! Keep up the good work on decluttering. It’s such a process. We did a ton of work this spring, but I still go through once a month and find things that I realized we still haven’t used or haven’t added much value. I think there is a great synergy between minimalism, frugal habits, FI and paying down debt. Life is so much more than spending, acquiring, and taking care of stuff. I’m so excited you are here! It’s great to have another foster/adoption mom. =)
Great post – found it from your link in your finding a mentor blog thanks!
Thanks Abby, it’s one of my favorites. =)
i can see why there were so many views on this post. Great job. very good read.
Thanks! Glad you liked it. =)
Wow. Never thought of it like this. Love it.
It’s kinda like flipping luxury upside down.
Spendy people think the more luxurious, the better.
Thrifty people think more luxurious is a waste. (Sort of, you know what I mean.)
Thanks! Sometimes just a different perspective can give us the encouragement we need to live counter culturally.
I will say that I think buying a new car really doesn’t get noticed that much. Now I drive a 16 year old car, but most days I just ride my bicycle. Sometimes it gets noticed, sort of.
I am in the process of engineering my layoff right now, and getting severance soon to basically leave my job voluntarily. I bet when I do, my neighbors may notice and will be jealous that I am at home, not working, each day. However, will they change their behavior to achieve this? I doubt it. That’s cool. I’ll have the shared pool mostly to myself this summer. What’s not to love about that?
I suppose the new car thing really depends on your circle, and maybe the car they buy. =) Have fun at the pool this summer!
I loved this and am going to share it on my Facebook ‘fan’ page. 🙂
I’ve just discovered you and am a fellow tribes(wo)man. ?
Thanks for sharing! And I’m glad you found your way here. =)
This is exactly why the community on Twitter and the general PF blogosphere is so freaking great.
Jillian I know this is an old post, but I have to relate a funny story, btw I’m 62yo and semi-retired. My husband and I were out with similar aged folks and started talking about retirement would look like. Everyone went around the table, when it came to me I said we would probably want to keep our house that we presently live in (which is paid for, no debt) as well as get another house in another scenic location. My neighbor who knows all the best restaurants and hotels in the state turns to me and laughs out loud and says “gee, what are you going to do rob a bank or what?” My husband and i laugh about it every once in awhile….maybe it’s the old cars in the driveway. Funny, but people think we’re poor…so sometimes they give us stuff. We accept-it makes them feel good….and we believe in providence. Our children have a mindset similar to ours. They don’t have college debt and they’re not constantly knocking on our door for money. Just my two cents. Thank you for all of your wisdom!
“gee, what are you going to do rob a bank or what?” LOL that is so funny! We get that kind of reaction….a lot. =) But I love the bank robber moniker. Maybe that’s what I’ll start saying when people ask how we travel so much. “Oh, my second job is as a bank robber!” =)
I love boasting, not about our embarrassingly large net worth but about the 1999 Dodge Neon that I paid $350 for and then totally rebuilt. Its nicely repainted but its obvious its a dated car but one that runs perfectly. Of course don’t look wealthy. But thats the point you made. The things that people go all giddy about are the very things that are expensive and thus make us UN-wealthy.
I have conquered the need for gaining the praise of others. I tell them things like “I have never sent a car to a mechanic in my entire life” And “We doubled the size of our 700sq ft house with our own bare hands!”.
Its fun to pretend we are poor.. Of course then they ask what we “do”… “Oh we retired 4 years ago and spend most our time planning our yearly 8 week vacation”.. But you look so young, they say…. Now they are getting it..:)
It’s still weird for me when people ask what we “do”. Um…..”whatever seems fun and meaningful?”
1. No celebration needed. Our enjoyment and contentment in life with each win is enough.
2. Yes!! Friends buying houses cars, vacations, furniture etc etc, then complaining how broke they are, how busy they are as a result of their idiotic unnecessary purchases.
3. I think it takes a creative brilliant person to think of more than just one way to spell a word.
I think it takes a creative brilliant person to think of more than just one way to spell a word.
You will be astounded by my creativity and brilliance! =)
I have also stumbled across your blog via.someone on Twitter. Your hard to find. I expected 1 click. Not sure about your website it’s more business orientated ie selling something than a blog, which is what I was expecting or similar to other FI community blogs. I’m new to this.
I’m a recent convert to FI & I’m in my mid 40s. I’m not too fussed about the money however at the same time feel it’s unachievable. I’m more interested at present spending less. I have reduced my credit card spending from 600 to half however that half I could be saving – looking into this
I’m a hoarder so getting rid of stuff/shredding seems like a mammoth task. Doing it slowly as I don’t care what I look like. This is more to do with me not having a flat tummy. Silly isn’t it.
Young people at work in student debt however not paying it off…….I have started conversations that you don’t need to go to University & come away with 50k of debt. Get a job & then do a college course. I feel schools don’t advise studying the different options available. & how can a 16 year old know what their job will be through their life & if it’s the right choice/path. I’m hoping to this gets filtered down through their friends & they make different choices. A co worker did a bio chemistry degree then went to college a did a hr course to go into Human Resources.
I feel people are dictated by personal experiences they have had and they’v fallen into the trap. Another coworker drinks at weekends that’s all we hear. She lives in a houseshare. Maybe I’ll tell her about the FIRE community when I leave. I’m a temporary worker and contract coming to an end mid March 19.
I’m also saving every week. Promised myself I would save 100 per week I’m catching up so saving 200 per week. It will take 10 weeks of double savings to finally catch up.
I’m lucky not been in debt but do spend on credit cards. Aim is to stop doing that
Love your posts
Just found your blog. Good stuff! I have a special place in my “things that bother me list” for the idea of buying a new vehicle that costs up towards one’s annual income. We should create an “Is it worth it?” calculator that shows the true cost of buying things. For example I could spend $35K on a new car or put that in an index fund averaging 6% return. Assuming the car depreciates at 10% per year (I’m probably being generous); In five years I could have $0 dollars and a 5 yr-old car that is worth $20.7K or I could have $46.8K. That’s ~$26K that I’d lose just to drive a nicer car for five yrs! That’s not even including sales tax and more expensive registration/insurance each year.