Having made some stupid decisions a couple of years ago, I'm a LOT more financially aware these days. I tend to be like the other posters...I'll buy the store brand version of things like washing up liquid or cleaning products 'cause, as far as I can tell, bleach is bleach no matter what the label has on it. Though I agree with the toilet paper thing. The only stuff I don't buy generic/cheap versions of is anything that's going near my skin, since I inherited the hideously sensitive skin of my mother...so everything I use in the shower HAS to be the hypo-allergenic variety, for example, and sleeping in/wearing polycotton just gives me a rash, so pure cotton is a must. Other than that, I try to save as much as possible to get out of debt. Alt Focus: One saving tip I can reccomend is only really for people in the UK, far as I know: Lloyds TSB do a really awesome thing called 'save the change' where they round up any debit transaction you make to the nearest £1 or 50p, and the extra charge is dumped into a savings account linked with your current account. You can save a surprising amount from that, and, at least for me, knowing it was all whole numbers made working out how much I was spending easier.
My mother´s family is very Dutch, and as such I have inherited their cheapness. But at the same time my parents were conservative with money, something that I regretted in my youth but was ultimately a good thing - they have enough pennies lying around to have paid for 2 years of my university (which was 18K in tuition alone), as well as my sister, and I am entirely capable of living simply, not buying much stuff, going without fancy clothes, etc. But, I did say I resented it, and Im young and make more than enough cash for a university student. So... -I buy only good liquor and beer. Sleeman, Johnnie Walker, Glenfiddich, so forth. -I actually own a 300 dollar bag. Now, it´s very high quality Italian full grain leather and made in Canada, and it is my main bag for daily use and it does not even have a brand name logo on the outside, but still. -Im on a nice trip to Europe right now. Yaaaaaay. Biggest display of cheapness? My grandmother used to inspect potato peels as they were being thrown into the garbage and peel off the extra bits of potato left on the peels if they were not peeled efficiently enough. A very, very Dutch woman.
I don't sweat money too much. I make just enough to live comfortably for a 25 year old. I don't take ridiculous measures to find the best deal possible, and I don't purposely pay more money for a name brand item. I rarely wear dress clothes, so when I do I like to wear nice shit. So, I splurge on nicer clothes, but I don't need a lot of them, so it works out. I eat healthy, which tends to be more expensive. And I won't buy low quality liquor. I prefer nice beer, but I drink too much of it to buy Sam Adams and Magic Hat all the time, so I can drink cheap beer no problem. I don't give a shit what your frugal habits are, until they affect me. I have a friend who would always disapear when it was his turn to buy a round, never drive anywhere presumably to save on gas expenses, bring 7 beers over in a plastic bag and leave with whatever he didn't drink, never brings anything to a cookout but eats more than anyone else, etc. Last week there was a large group of us eating and drinking at a restaurant that doesn't split checks, and my girlfriends roomate volunteered to put it all on her card and take cash from us. Apparently she didn't get enough cash from everyone, including some of my guy friends. She got all pissy but didn't ask for more money, just threw a passive agressive temper tantrum. I threw her an extra $40, because I didn't give a shit and would rather spend the money than listen to someone bitch about it. Well that wasn't enough, and 2 weeks later she's still making comments to my GF about how she was still short like $10 or something. That is ridiculous to me. Why volunteer to pay with your card, if you know you're going to be so fucking tight assed about it. On the other hand I have a friend who will randomly pick up the entire check on a group dinner, and consistently buy rounds for the entire bar. He had a $800 bar tab on Friday night - and that's with him forgetting to pick up the check on $100 worth of appetizers and drinks he ordered earlier in the night. My other buddy paid for that, figuring friend #1 had easily spent over $100 on him just in the past week. Of course, this is more than him just being a nice guy, his family is fucking loaded. He took 8 of us to his posh country club a couple weeks ago after our lacrosse practice to eat and get fucked up. Then the mayor walked in, walked straight over to our table, glad handed our buddy, shot the shit for a minute, and then accepted a bottle of wine my friend sent over to him.
I am a 19 year old junior college student who hasn't had a job over the past two years and just started his first one (research fuck yeah) this summer about a week ago. My family is the epitome of middle class and I had never had an allowance growing up because my mom would always want me to just ask her if I wanted anything (She has major control issues, but that is a whole other can of fucking worms.). When I came to college I lived with my buddy from back home, whose combined parental income was barely over 20k a year. Initially I thought it was ridiculous the way he attempted to save money. He would duct tape his cleats together to the point where the cleats were nearly just duct tape. I remember him finding a pair of socks someone left in the dryer right before him and seeing his face thinking it was Christmas or something. The way I feel I will live if I ever get out of college and into a decent job is quite meager. I haven't bought anything besides food/beer with my own money for the last 6-7 months. (Besides paying for the various organizations I joined when I came to college). I want a nice mattress, a medium sized tv with a decent sound system...and a living room and bedroom in my place with a extremely nice kitchen (like the above poster who described his kitchen...nearly to the T). Maybe drive a 5 year old Mazda or something one day...who knows.
I've never bought a TV. The last three TV's I've had, I've poached off of roommates or a friend who was going to throw the tv away because a connection was loose, or some other bullshit reason. I got an old Pentium II laptop off a guy for two boxes of Bojangles chicken. I put Puppy Linux on it. I'm still trying to figure this out. I drive a '94 Toyota Camry with a mismatched hood. I was in an accident in Aug '08 and we simply grabbed a hood off of a junked Camry, took off the damaged hood, and then bolted the hood to the chassis and to the actuators that lift the hood. We replaced my sunroof in a similar fashion, only it came from a Camry that has a tan interior, versus a gray interior like mine. Going along with the Camry, we've reworked or replaced the Engine, Transmission, Fuel Pump, EGR Valve in a similar fashion. Hell, before we replaced the EGR Valve, it was doctored with silicon and duct tape. The EGR valve still screws up, so I carry a paper clip and a readout of all the engine diagnostic codes in my glove compartment so I can check to see if it's the same thing or something to really worry about. When I'm really broke, I eat rice. Rice and whatever. Rice and Nacho Cheese Doritos crunched up and sprinkled on, with a dab of soy sauce. Rice and tuna. Rice and egg. Rice and vegetables. Rice and fried spam. If I'm tired of rice, I'll buy a bag of all purpose baking potatoes to switch up a bit, and eat baked potatoes, skin and all. If I'm lucky to have captured some woman's attention, I'll get her to feed me. Women from the islands can cook their asses off. It takes two cycles in the dryer to dry my clothes completely. They get one cycle and then I let them air dry. I don't buy soda. If I buy drinks from the store, it's either alcoholic or Cran-Apple. I installed a brita filter on my kitchen faucet and I usually drink between a gallon or two of water a day. If I'm hungry before I go to sleep, I drink a lot of water, and just go to sleep. My clothes are pretty basic. I rarely buy new clothes. My sneakers always cost less then fifty dollars. I take the metro everywhere in DC. When I have to travel outside of DC is the only time I drive. What do I splurge on? Ocean Spray Cran-Apple Beer. Boots. I wear my boots that I was issued from my time at the police department. They offer great ankle support, but it's about time to get a new pair. I also have a comfortable pair of Rockport dress boots. My gun, an HK 45 that I bought at a gun show for $800. My personal defense ammo of choice are Federal Hydra-Shoks, 165 grain. Bedding. I have a down comforter and 8 pillows on my bed. I have high thread count sheets, too. Shaving products. I have a Merkur safety razor, a badger hair brush, and shaving soap. I use Nivea aftershave balm. Hair cuts. Cologne. I have two fragrances, Dolce and Gabbana is my nighttime scent. Dolce and Gabbana The One pour homme is my daytime scent. The bottles last me months. Sometimes as long as a year.