Poll: Are you Frugal?

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I always been fairly frugal except I had some compulsive spending when I was on a few psych meds. However I con't have much money at all cuz I do spend my money on afew things.

I'm frugal. I came from a poor family, who themselves came from a poor family, and so on. You get the idea.
I'm also nomadic, so everything I own I have to be able to either carry myself, or stick in a car/plane, depending on how I travel. For those reasons everything I have needs to be minimal but highly versatile, too. I have the minimal of what I need, and am adverse to spending money on things that are not utilitarian.
BUT, weirdly, it annoys me when people blow this out of all proportion. I'm by no means a spendthrift, but I'm not going to do nothing, enjoy nothing, go nowhere, or not pay for things that lead to experiences (like travel) just because it might cost money. Some of my family are like this and its crazy - they won't even go out for a cup of coffee in a cafe because "you don't need to spend money on that, it's too expensive."
Yeesh.

I believe in the virtues of saving, which has become deeply unfashionable in recent years as interest rates have been cut to near-zero by Central Banks in an attempt to encourage people to borrow and spend. I've never had a mortgage, an overdraft or been in debt.

I bought my first house for cash in the late 1980s, and bought a flat in London for £35,000 cash in the 1990s (which would now be worth £180,000 - unfortunately I had to sell it for a lot less). Over the last 15 years I have lived on about £600 per month. Like several other posters here, I look out for bargains - in 2008 I bought 300 tins of mackerel (which were on offer at 30 pence each), and still have about fifty left (they're still edible, though I'm a bit sick of them now).

I am utterly hopeless with money - it disappears I don't how, I get very confused buying things and can spend ages going through the various options for what I want to buy - I'm not very good at telling the difference between $20 and $100. I think I'm being frugal but the money just disappears and it doesn't matter how much I earn.

Yes, but the word "frugal" implies a position is social hierarchy. I prefer the word "efficient".


Efficiency is very important to me.
Waste has an often unseen cost in the form of loss of life.

I'm kind of frugal.

If I need to buy something that I intend to keep for a long time then I will spend enough money to get quality.

However, given the chance I would save most of my money. having savings makes me feel secure. It's almost as though I expect that, at any moment, the NTs will discover the alien in their midst and I'll lose my job. Seriously though, I think I'm subconsciously preparing for the worst.

I don't spend much money on things like partners, children, friends, socialising, multiple interests... (who'd have thought?)

My brother tells me that I'll be the richest man in the cemetery.

I am don't spend much money on myself; but every now and then I go on a spending spree, usually for things I can use, so I guess you could call me frugal.

Over the years I've become more frugal, perhaps partly as reaction to youthful excesses. I've developed a knack for getting a good deal on everything; sales people have to bust themselves to get me to part with my money. And if something is faulty, I get a refund every time. But ecological frugality is my main obsession: nothing gets wasted, everything is repaired and recycled, I switch lights off everywhere, monitor my car's fuel economy constantly, have water butts in the garden to conserve water, make a note of how long items have lasted, turn down the heating, never leave electronic equipment on standby, close the curtains at dusk to keep in the heat ... in short, I'm a complete pain.

I've been frugal all my life, though in recent years I've begun to suspect I might be better off letting it go to some extent.

My parents had very little spare money, so neither did I during my formative years. If I wanted something nice, I'd habitually look for the cheapest alternative. They also had a strong contempt for "value-added muck" (commodities with unnecessary bells and whistles as an excuse for a high price) and I grew to feel much the same way. I also took after Dad who was always content with a simple lifestyle and got little pleasure from extravagance of any kind.

So I've always shopped around for the cheapest deals, done without, or found something that doesn't quite do the job and modified it so that it does. With most of my special interests, people have been impressed that I've managed to get the results I've achieved with such down-market equipment.

It's amazing to see how many things people buy that I don't. Commute to work by car? No way. Just live near the workplace and walk or cycle. Restaurants, ready-made cigarettes, public bars, new clothes every few weeks, disposable contact lenses, ritual holidays, celebrity concerts, national lottery, tarting up the house, all completely unnecessary to me. The only reason I bought my own home was that I resented the idea of paying rent for a lifetime and owning nothing at the end of it.

I could hardly believe that "pay-day loan" sharks were thriving, or that overdrafts were popular, because I can't understand why people don't just live within their means in the first place. I used to live on half my salary and save up the rest so I had a good buffer to protect me from the threat of losing the income.

But I came to see that I was taking it too far. Sometimes it's easier to just buy the thing at a ripoff price, if it's a small thing like a can of beans and the store that would save me 10p is a 2-mile walk away through heavy traffic. I guess that's the great thing about being rich - you can take the easy way out and get on with your life instead of committing yourself to hours of tedious, uncomfortable cost-saving ventures.

I am frugal, I'm really reluctant to spend my money on clothes, shoes, bags... (even though I probably need them), things most girls usually spend all their money on. Instead I enjoy eating out in restaurants a lot and I spend tons of money on my interests, such as video games, books, anime...and I have no regrets spending a lot of money on these things but I am very picky about everything else I spend my money on. I don't care if I have to wear the same clothes all the time, or wear old shoes as long as I can buy things in my life that make me happy. xDD

A weird mix of both. I've overspent in the past, but as a child I saved up my pocket money to buy an enormous collection of cuddly toys. I never went crazy with the overspending, though, and I've never had to pay interest on my credit card. I find it peculiar that some people consider credit card debt normal.

I'm very good at finding special offers. I pay as little as possible for clothes, toys and furniture, but focus on getting beautiful and practical things that will last, not the least because of environmental reasons.

The money I save by cooking soup on a pig's knuckle, I spend on quality coffee, organic food and decent wines.

Optimization of experience is one way of looking at it.

I am, but not consciously.

I don't actively go out of my way to save a buck, but i just don't see the draw on spending. I don't understand why i need a pair of levys, for example, when wallmart jeans also fit (then even fit better, often).

Not frugal enough.....nor am I thrifty.

I used to like the Frugal Gourmet.

For years I have been the opposite of frugal, impulsively spending money until I've gone broke. Sometimes when I have extra money that I can spend on whatever I want I have to try not to go bananas. But I've improved somewhat. I now save all my change after shopping and put it in a jar. It's for when I go on a trip with my mother and want extra money for something special, or in case of an emergency. In Canada we have 1 and 2 dollar coins so it adds up faster.

However, I spent over 50$ on items at the craft store yesterday. But the checks have come in and we'll be getting extra money this month because of the GST, so it's all good.