<\/p>\n
Sometimes, frugal living is tough, and one of the hardest things about frugal living is watching others spending big.<\/span> After all, if people stopped taking out credit and buying things they can\u2019t afford the economy would grind to a halt.<\/span><\/p>\n Cars on finance<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Probably <\/span>the worst investment is buying a new car on finance<\/b> (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.<\/span><\/p>\n Personally, I\u2019d 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.<\/span> Designer clothes<\/strong><\/span> But in considering the ‘value’ of an item most consider their social standing and what others will think of them.<\/span><\/p>\n 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?<\/p>\n It would seem, that the only ‘added’ value of a Ralph Lauren product is that everyone thinks you can afford it.<\/p>\n Let’s face it – you probably can’t!<\/span><\/p>\n Regardless, I’d rather have people think I’m poor but be wealthy than vice versa!<\/p>\n High dining OR, is frugal living the real way to ‘live the dream’<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So, let\u2019s take pleasure!<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Every time we see extravagant spending we should thank the individuals involved and take pleasure in this spending.<\/span> Sometimes, frugal living is tough, and one of the hardest things about frugal living is watching others spending big. It\u2019s sometimes hard to watch as your friends go on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/frugalstudent.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/frugalstudent.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/frugalstudent.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frugalstudent.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frugalstudent.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/frugalstudent.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/frugalstudent.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frugalstudent.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frugalstudent.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>It\u2019s sometimes hard to watch as your friends go on expensive holidays, buy expensive cars (mostly on finance) and enjoy the finer things in life.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>BUT, we should take pleasure when others spend big!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>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. <\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Surely, the goal of anyone is to reduce monthly expenditure and to reduce financial pressures as opposed to increasing them?<\/p>\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>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\u2019t a constant drain on finances.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong><\/span>
\n<\/span>Another thing I take\u00a0pleasure in seeing others spend money on are ‘experiences’ such as expensive dining or unnecessarily expensive holidays.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Now, I don\u2019t 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\u2019s a limit and some questions to be asked;<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Is purchasing expensive wine really worth it?<\/span>
\n<\/span>Is flying \u2018first class\u2019 just because it\u2019s your X year anniversary really worth it?<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>I find that people really do love showboating. Upgrading flight tickets and uploading photos of expensive wine claiming to be \u2018living the dream\u2019 but, in reality we all know they\u2019ll be back to work in a few weeks and will struggle their way through the next few months just to recoup lost money.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Is the financial strain experienced after such extravagance really worth it.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Every time I see an expensive car purchased I just think of how much of burden the repayments are.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>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.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Ok, so maybe I\u2019ve got it wrong. Maybe I\u2019m just grumpy! But I\u2019d rather be financially sound and grumpy through frugal living than taking on debt so my Facebook friends think I\u2019m \u2018Living the dream\u2019.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>I value time above all else, and when I\u2019m retired by 50 having built a steady stream of dividend income through frugal living, I\u2019ll be living my dream!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"