Take pleasure when others spend big – Debunking their spending

Sometimes, frugal living is tough, and one of the hardest things about frugal living is watching others spending big.

It’s sometimes hard to watch as your friends go on expensive holidays, buy expensive cars (mostly on finance) and enjoy the finer things in life.

BUT, we should take pleasure when others spend big!

The fact is, spending money on such extravagances is a very bad investment decisions and as frugal livers we should take delight in such poor decisions by others.

After all, if people stopped taking out credit and buying things they can’t afford the economy would grind to a halt.

Cars on finance

Probably the worst investment is buying a new car on finance (my personal favourite to take pleasure in). People pay top price for a brand new shiny car, drive it off the forecourt only to see it half in value. Better again, they spend the next five years or so paying full price for the car now worth much less than they bought it for.

Personally, I’d much prefer investing that money into high quality dividend growth stocks that will put money into my bank account every year instead of being a constant monthly drain.

Surely, the goal of anyone is to reduce monthly expenditure and to reduce financial pressures as opposed to increasing them?

Designer clothes

It is for this reason that I do take a little less pleasure in others spending money on designer clothes as, at least, these aren’t a constant drain on finances.

But in considering the ‘value’ of an item most consider their social standing and what others will think of them.

After all, is there a big enough gap in the ‘quality’ of a Ralph Lauren product as opposed to something that could be purchased from River Island or Debenhams to justify the increased price?

It would seem, that the only ‘added’ value of a Ralph Lauren product is that everyone thinks you can afford it.

Let’s face it – you probably can’t!

Regardless, I’d rather have people think I’m poor but be wealthy than vice versa!

High dining

Another thing I take pleasure in seeing others spend money on are ‘experiences’ such as expensive dining or unnecessarily expensive holidays.

Now, I don’t want to sound like scrooge! Everybody deserves a treat sometime. Everybody deserves a night of wining and dining or an all-exclusive holiday but surely there’s a limit and some questions to be asked;

Is purchasing expensive wine really worth it?
Is flying ‘first class’ just because it’s your X year anniversary really worth it?

I find that people really do love showboating. Upgrading flight tickets and uploading photos of expensive wine claiming to be ‘living the dream’ but, in reality we all know they’ll be back to work in a few weeks and will struggle their way through the next few months just to recoup lost money.

Is the financial strain experienced after such extravagance really worth it.

OR, is frugal living the real way to ‘live the dream’

So, let’s take pleasure!

Every time we see extravagant spending we should thank the individuals involved and take pleasure in this spending.

Every time I see an expensive car purchased I just think of how much of burden the repayments are.

Every time I see someone buy an expensive bottle of wine I just think of how many bottles of Toro Loco I could have bought at Aldi for 10% of the price.

Ok, so maybe I’ve got it wrong. Maybe I’m just grumpy! But I’d rather be financially sound and grumpy through frugal living than taking on debt so my Facebook friends think I’m ‘Living the dream’.

I value time above all else, and when I’m retired by 50 having built a steady stream of dividend income through frugal living, I’ll be living my dream!