Current Events > The r/frugal sub is a dive into the reason people live paycheck to paycheck

(+) Yeah! (+)

From top posts of all time:

"did you know paying $5 for coffee every day is over $1500 a year??"

"Til you can make your OWN burritos and not buy them from chipotle!"

"Psa: not buying something is cheaper than buying it at a discount"

"Walking or taking the bus will save you thousands of dollars vs buying a car"

Smh

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it kinda blows my mind how terrible some people are with money.

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I know it's still a bit sad that I still live with my parents despite being 32 and having a job, but I'm also saving a ton of money while also allowing me to splurge more than I probably should.

Though I did have plans to finally move out this year, until COVID happened.

Colorahdo posted...

"Walking or taking the bus will save you thousands of dollars vs buying a car"

This also depends on how good your city's public trasportation is, and how far out your job, grocery stores, and other necessary locales are. Some cities have awful, unreliable public transportation.

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Solar_Crimson posted...

I know it's still a bit sad that I still live with my parents despite being 32 and having a job, but I'm also saving a ton of money while also allowing me to splurge more than I probably should.

Though I did have plans to finally move out this year, until COVID happened.

This also depends on how good your city's public trasportation is, and how far out your job, grocery stores, and other necessary locales are. Some cities have awful, unreliable public transportation.

Well don't you want to move out?

I would happily live with roommates instead of my parents personally

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the things you posted are not why people live paycheck to paycheck though

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Taking public transportation with lowlifes suck >_>

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it is a toxic sub lol

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averagejoel posted...

the things you posted are not why people live paycheck to paycheck though

Issue in the labour market are real, but people have this knee jerk reaction to the idea your money ciuld go further, letting you build savings, with some smarter money management even at low wages.

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Happily with roommates? Wait until you get a psycho roommate or one who claims to always be broke.

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ExtremeLuchador posted...

Happily with roommates? Wait until you get a psycho roommate or one who claims to always be broke.

Yeah, I personally would rather not have a roommate, because you don't know what kind you will get.

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ExtremeLuchador posted...

Happily with roommates? Wait until you get a psycho roommate or one who claims to always be broke.

I decided to room with my friends from HS that I hadn't seen since college ended. Dear lord, home town complacency coupled with rampant alcohol.

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lightwarrior78 posted...

Issue in the labour market are real, but people have this knee jerk reaction to the idea your money ciuld go further, letting you build savings, with some smarter money management even at low wages.

that's because it's an individual-level solution to a systemic-level problem; i.e. it doesn't actually solve any problems. also it's condescending as fuck

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averagejoel posted...

i.e. it doesn't actually solve any problems.

This is factually incorrect.

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Solar_Crimson posted...

ExtremeLuchador posted...

Happily with roommates? Wait until you get a psycho roommate or one who claims to always be broke.

Yeah, I personally would rather not have a roommate, because you don't know what kind you will get.

What? You're not assigned a random person. You literally choose your roommate.
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Most people are terrible with money. It's not entirely their fault, no one probably ever taught them. Their parents are probably terrible with money too and the education systems failed them by not teaching them one of the most important life skills a person can have.

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Colorahdo posted...

"Psa: not buying something is cheaper than buying it at a discount"

I wish people knew this. So many conversations with people getting junk they don't need at a sale.

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Drpooplol posted...

This is factually incorrect.

not if you understand the problem for what it actually is.

poverty is a problem that, fundamentally, cannot be solved by money management

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averagejoel posted...

not if you understand the problem for what it actually is.

poverty is a problem that, fundamentally, cannot be solved by money management

why are you limiting yourself to poverty

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im truly surprised at how many people order food regulary and even daily.

me and my fiancee go out to eat like once every 2 weeks. other than that we cook at home.

but ill see my coworkers bring in purchased food everyday and im like how the hell do you afford that without losing out in other parts of their budget? just a waste of money.

like yeah coffee. i drink two cups of coffee a day in the morning. i buy that shit from my grocery store and brew it myself. 10 bucks of whole beans lasts me like 2 weeks. thats 75 cents a day, or what, 37 cents a cup? meanwhile go to starbucks and pay 4-5 dollars for a cup. jesus christ.

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Mezcla posted...

im truly surprised at how many people order food regulary and even daily.

me and my fiancee go out to eat like once every 2 weeks. other than that we cook at home.

but ill see my coworkers bring in purchased food everyday and im like how the hell do you afford that without losing out in other parts of their budget? just a waste of money.

like yeah coffee. i drink two cups of coffee a day in the morning. i buy that shit from my grocery store and brew it myself. 10 bucks of whole beans lasts me like 2 weeks. thats 75 cents a day, or what, 37 cents a cup? meanwhile go to starbucks and pay 4-5 dollars for a cup. jesus christ.

I love starbucks and even going twice a week is like 12 bucks lol.


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harley2280 posted...

What? You're not assigned a random person. You literally choose your roommate.

You don't know how good of a roommate that person is until you let them be one. Their behavior as a roommate may be entirely different from how they have acted around you.
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Drpooplol posted...

why are you limiting yourself to poverty

well first of all, I'm not in poverty.

but people who are in poverty are not in poverty because they're bad with money.

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BakonBitz posted...

You don't know how good of a roommate that person is until you let them be one. Their behavior as a roommate may be entirely different from how they have acted around you.

this, ive seen friendships break over rooming together

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Mezcla posted...

im truly surprised at how many people order food regulary and even daily.

me and my fiancee go out to eat like once every 2 weeks. other than that we cook at home.

but ill see my coworkers bring in purchased food everyday and im like how the hell do you afford that without losing out in other parts of their budget? just a waste of money.

like yeah coffee. i drink two cups of coffee a day in the morning. i buy that shit from my grocery store and brew it myself. 10 bucks of whole beans lasts me like 2 weeks. thats 75 cents a day, or what, 37 cents a cup? meanwhile go to starbucks and pay 4-5 dollars for a cup. jesus christ.

Time can be a huge factor with food. If I don't meal prep over the weekend, I'm stuck eating out the entire work week. Others might have similar time constraints.
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averagejoel posted...

well first of all, I'm not in poverty.

but people who are in poverty are not in poverty because they're bad with money.

no, why are you limiting the problem to poverty

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Drpooplol posted...

no, why are you limiting the problem to poverty

because it's the reason why people live paycheck to paycheck

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If you take a look at my sig, you'll see life that's worse than the frugal life.

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averagejoel posted...

because it's the reason why people live paycheck to paycheck

it's not the only reason

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As someone who has worked a lot of part time jobs, I'm convinced they do because they're not very bright about money. I can't tell you how many times I've seen the loop of "man, I can barely pay my bills, this job needs to give me more hours" followed by endless pleading to go home early and declining all extra shifts offered.

I had one coworker that told me money is for spending and I said, well yeah but put a little away in savings, too, and he looked at me like I had uttered the musings of Satan. And this dude, like clockwork, continually ends up in situations where he wonders where he'll find the money to pay for sudden emergencies.

Mezcla posted...

im truly surprised at how many people order food regulary and even daily.

me and my fiancee go out to eat like once every 2 weeks. other than that we cook at home.

but ill see my coworkers bring in purchased food everyday and im like how the hell do you afford that without losing out in other parts of their budget? just a waste of money.

like yeah coffee. i drink two cups of coffee a day in the morning. i buy that shit from my grocery store and brew it myself. 10 bucks of whole beans lasts me like 2 weeks. thats 75 cents a day, or what, 37 cents a cup? meanwhile go to starbucks and pay 4-5 dollars for a cup. jesus christ.

The temptation hits me because I hate cooking. I've gotten better about it over the years, but there's nothing about the cooking process I enjoy at all. I enjoy cleaning my toilet/ bathroom more than cooking a meal.

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Drpooplol posted...

it's not the only reason

it's the main one. and for the purposes of accurately describing their circumstances, it's much more useful than any individual-level problems.

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Theres many things people can do to save money. My car payments were $350 or so a month, finished paying off the loan so I pocket that now. My old insurance was $300 a month, switched to a cheaper provider and reduced it to $150.

Sadly due to my job I have to eat out every day. So that's $40 or so total down the drain usually. But at the very least my main card gives me 3x back in restaurant purchases.

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I went from living paycheck to paycheck to having a growing savings balance this May after realizing **** could happen lol. You would be surprised how much money you saved if you just stopped and thought about your spending habits. Do I still go to starbucks? Yes, do I go every day ritually...Do I really need to drop 25 bucks on this overrated meal? Nah, mcdonalds is like a dollar. No. Plus, you just sleep better at night knowing that if you do have an emergency, there's money there to remedy it.

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JBaLLEN66 posted...

I went from living paycheck to paycheck to having a growing savings balance this May after realizing **** could happen lol. You would be surprised how much money you saved if you just stopped and thought about your spending habits. Do I still go to starbucks? Yes, do I go every day ritually...Do I really need to drop 25 bucks on this overrated meal? Nah, mcdonalds is like a dollar. No. Plus, you just sleep better at night knowing that if you do have an emergency, there's money there to remedy it.

congratulations for being able to have savings and also being able to miss the point entirely

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mcpwnia posted...

congratulations for being able to have savings and also being able to miss the point entirely

what's the point, I'm not reading all of that

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averagejoel posted...

that's because it's an individual-level solution to a systemic-level problem; i.e. it doesn't actually solve any problems. also it's condescending as fuck

Why can't I grow wealth? I only spend a lot friviously, often just for convience or unnecessarily high quality.

No, it is not ideal, especially for an economy rooted in consumerism, but few have exhausted reasonable options and hurt credibility if they refuse to take any lessons passed down from hard times. It only hurts those that have cut to the bone and are still having trouble as they get lumped into the "I won't give up my smokes and latte" bunch.

If you'll excuse me I'm off to buy food for the week based on what's on sale and will cost far less than takeout per meal.

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Cutting out luxuries and scrimping can only take you so far and some people can only go so far with it. I was able to turn my life around with frugality but I know lots of other people who can't tighten their belts any more than they already have. The money simply isn't there despite one or more jobs.

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Mezcla posted...

me and my fiancee go out to eat like once every 2 weeks. other than that we cook at home.

I maybe have something out once a month. I will happily make all my food at home.

Mezcla posted...

like yeah coffee. i drink two cups of coffee a day in the morning. i buy that shit from my grocery store and brew it myself. 10 bucks of whole beans lasts me like 2 weeks. thats 75 cents a day, or what, 37 cents a cup? meanwhile go to starbucks and pay 4-5 dollars for a cup. jesus christ.

I don't even do this. I buy the pre-ground coffee in the large tins for under $7. Those usually last me 2 months.

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There are certainly cases of people who do everything they can but still fail to save, but Id say they are the minority from the sample size of dumb people Ive seen. Its not like cutting out excesses will suddenly make a person middle class, but if your baseline is a $0 or negative bank account then you have to do something to at least fix that.

What about a sub on the opposite side of spectrum with r/preppers?

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Most of the time the primary cause of living paycheck to paycheck is not having enough money, tbh.

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there's this blogger named Mr money mustache. his blog is about extreme saving to create wealth. the thing is, he was also a programmer who made a lot of money years ago and also has other practical skills that most people don't, for example house repairs. so his readership includes a lot of people who are stupid with money, but also a lot of poor people who refuse to spend on even the most basic necessities. it's bizarre and sort of toxic.

sometimes extreme frugality is necessary but if you're living your life squeezing pennies you're doing it wrong. track your spending and have a budget for things you think is worth it and you're good. that way if there's something you like or need that's a luxury, you can have it and enjoy it.

that said many people refuse to be honest with themselves about how stupid they are with their spending and what they can to to save. and they should be mocked

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lightwarrior78 posted...

Why can't I grow wealth? I only spend a lot friviously, often just for convience or unnecessarily high quality.

the statement is only relevant to the preceding question if the person asking it is already making a relatively large amount of money. most people are not making a relatively large amount of money, so cutting corners in their spending will not make a significant difference in their financial situation.

some things that would make a significant difference to people in precarious financial situations include: increased minimum wage; healthcare, housing, and food paid for entirely via taxes.

do you see the difference here?

sure, every once in a while someone might be able to alleviate their financial strain by not spending $3 a day on a cup of coffee, but the fact is that that will not happen for the vast majority of people

and as for this:

No, it is not ideal, especially for an economy rooted in consumerism, but few have exhausted reasonable options and hurt credibility if they refuse to take any lessons passed down from hard times. It only hurts those that have cut to the bone and are still having trouble as they get lumped into the "I won't give up my smokes and latte" bunch.

If you'll excuse me I'm off to buy food for the week based on what's on sale and will cost far less than takeout per meal.

what the fuck are you even talking about

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Solar_Crimson posted...

I know it's still a bit sad that I still live with my parents despite being 32 and having a job

That's not sad.

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smh

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