[burn_baby_burn]

Originally Posted by Johnny199r

My strategy is to limit "death by a thousand needles". Many people go out for lunch everyday at work instead of brown bagging it. They get a Tim Horton's coffee everyday. They go to the bar once or twice a week or eat out/order out twice a week etc. Paying for monthly parking at work. They have expensive cable packages. All of those types of costs really add up over time.

I'm a frugalist. My spouse and I each make 100K plus, we have DB pensions, but we sure as hell don't live like it. I'm certainly not counting on any pension to be there. I save with the mindset that it wont be.
We have one paid off vehicle but walk/take transit to work. We rent a condo, but when we buy a house, we both prefer a cheaper townhouse next to an LRT line.(no, you don't need 2000+ sq house, even with kids)

Not commuting with a car everyday, especially 2 cars, goes a long way. If we get married it will be at city hall. We fly on vacations only using airmiles. We like to go tent camping and mountain biking in the mountains. We go to a movie once or twice a year, only on cheap nights. We have netflix instead of cable etc. We love to be active and just ride our bikes around in the nice weather.

I definitely don't see many of my peers showing much restraint when it comes to spending. Everyone is entitled to choose to live how they like, but I prefer peace of mind in the future. Many of my peers have big expensive houses, two cars, go on vacation down south every year etc.

My father was frugal and saved, which meant he didn't get pushed into the poorhouse the 2nd time his cancer came back. He was able to enroll in a clinical trial in the U.S for a drug that extended his life for two years. If he was one of those "I might as well spend it today because I could die tomorrow) my mother would have been ruined and the end of his life would have had no quality.

A big part of the middle class hallowing out is that everyone feels deserving or accustomed to living a 1st class life these days, whether they have the money or not. There has been a dramatic shift in "needs" and "wants" between the last generation and this one. I believe it has shifted much to far too "wants"

I used to work for a guy that lived a lot like this. He was so frugal it was embarrassing. People would always ask me why he was so cheap and what was the point of it. I told them that he lived for it. He wasn't scraping by saving for a glorious retirement. He thrived on spending as little money as possible, it gave him great joy. That is just the way some people are.