OkMarsupial t1_j9aku5l wrote on February 20, 2023 at 2:55 PM

Reply to comment by GandalfDaGangsta_007 in LPT: To stop being the “I have $300, so spend $300” person, put a sock on your money so that whenever you try to spend it, all you get is the sock by doyouhavetono

I had a conversation with someone about this a while ago. I said, when I was first starting out in life, I would get paid, take care of my expenses, and then if I made it to the next check with any money left over, I'd mentally lock that money away. It didn't even go in another account, but it just wasn't spending money anymore, because I'd already proven I didn't need it. They said, "oh, when that happened to me, it meant I could spend all of the remaining money on garbage, because I'd already proven I didn't need it." Same exact line of thinking, opposite conclusion and action.

GandalfDaGangsta_007 t1_j9atrmg wrote on February 20, 2023 at 3:58 PM

I make decent money but still spend like I did when I was making 45-50K a year.

I was able to cover my expenses then and still live pretty comfortably. Stuff could be a bit tight, but never to the point where I had concern about not being able to do/buy something I wanted/needed.

To this, I also believe making more money does not mean you should spend more money. I will drive a nice Toyota RAV4 rather than having a BMW SUV.

I will buy a $300,000 house rather than a $700,000 house.

I won’t eat out any more often than I do (which I rarely do anyway).

I will comfortably buy wants and treat myself slightly more often, but otherwise I’m all about saving.

$5 a day is $1,800 a year. Not buying a coffee/snack every day literally allows me to go on a vacation and possibly still not spend as much as buying a $5 drink/snack every day lol.