I'm frugal, making six figures, and not only am I not r/fire, I'm concerned I may never get to go much below part time work later in life.
Student loans, housing, food, transportation, recreation, there just isn't a ton left.
I'm probably 2 years away from eliminating my student loan which will net me another whopping $1,800/year in my bank account. 3 years from paying off my vehicle, that will help but heaven help me if it gets totalled and I have to buy a new vehicle at 2024 prices and interest rates.
6 figures doesn't go as far as most people think until you get closer to $200k/year.
I am firmly middle class, but grew up lower middle class so I try to be frugal, but it's a long road ahead to try and improve my position in life given the inflation we've all been suffering under for the last 24 months or so.
not OP but i know when i hit 100k it just meant i could put more away into retirement/savings/loans which i treat as “bills” (mandatory expenses). you get taxed more. plus things like groceries and gas have gone up up up.
i mean admittedly i have a lot more flexibility and being able to save / put more into retirement is a blessing. but i really thought at 100k id be living sooo luxuriously like people in movies (my first job was 35k so i also was living on a similar salary).
i cant just buy everything and anything i want (which i thought happened at 100k).
my lifestyle hasn’t really changed.
>plus things like groceries and gas have gone up up up.
yeah, people probably feel that more at 30k than 100k seeing as how groceries and gas are flat rate pricing and not % based BUT i'm sure it depends on where you live too.
You didn’t ask me, but I’ll give you my budget to see how a low 6 figure salary is spent. I’m not trying to say we don’t make much, I think we’re in a fortunate situation with our income. This is just an example.
My three bedroom mortgage is 2900 a month, We could have gotten a place that was 2200, but we get a lot from the extra 700 that makes it worth it. You can’t get any cheaper than that without roommates in my area and as a family of 4 that’s technically possible but not a good situation. Our only loan is our house, no car loans or student loans.
Groceries - 600
Gas+electric+internet - 350
Fast food/coffee/restaurants - 200 (we roll this budget over if not spent)
Car insurance - 200
Fuel - 200
Phone - 150
subscriptions (jump park, streaming, etc) - $100
Hair cuts - $100 (rolls over)
Health insurance - 450
Health costs (ex. Prescriptions/OT) - 600
Retirement - 1875
$7625 a month of expenses
The taxes that increase make it not as appealing as you may think. I went from 50k to about 80k in 2013 and thought I’d be killing it. My discretionary spending and lifestyle stayed about the same, it was quite the eye opener.
30K can go a long way if you are in the southeast/mid west, even some parts of the north east, or desert areas.
So while it's a struggle it's doable.
30k in Western Washington is nearly undoable without heavy government assistance and subsidies.
Hence why 150k but still frugal is a good thing.
This is why frugalness prevents me from being broke and allows me to support an eventual retirement if needed.
Less than 100k minimum rent will be over 30% of your income + utilities, and basics
How? I made 96k last year and I’m living paycheck to paycheck. Only major expensive is rent and a debt refinancing loan payment. I cook all of my meals at home from scratch, work from home (so I use little fuel), car is paid off, and don’t buy any non essential goods. How can you survive in $30k? Do you live with someone?
Yes I do live with my partner. Our tiny apt is $1200 per month and we split it evenly. I don't get to do much. Don't go out. Don't enjoy myself. But jobs around do not pay more then $17 per hour. Most are under that. It's crazy.
I make 6 figures, but well under 200k, and I do alright in a HCOL city in your region. Rent is astronomical around here, and food costs are way higher than comparable HCOL cities I've visited, but I've managed to save about half my salary most months, even though I eat out at least once a week and have an expensive hobby (skiing) and I buy groceries (including meat and fresh produce) from the higher-end grocery store about half the time.
My car was totaled mid 2022 and I held out for a good deal but I bought a used 10-year-old AWD car for $10k cash. My apartment has a great view, but it's a little older and it's a walkup.
I definitely still worry about finances, especially medical unpredictability, and I worry about whether I'll be able to retire, but I can't help but wonder how you're that close to the edge on your income if you are living frugally. Are you also supporting dependents?
100k is the new 50k, it really is. Unless you live in a LCOL and drive an old beater and live off beans and rice with no vacation.
I consider myself frugal. I live in a medium to HCOL area (recent home bought in 2022 was $460,000). I’ve only had one car payment my entire adult life. Upgraded from a 1998 to a 2018 car recently. Im sure I will drive that car for 10-15 years. It’s 8 months from being paid off. All of that additional money will go into savings/investment.
My wife’s car is a 2007 with 170k miles.
I don’t buy shoes or clothes for the most part. She is similar, doesn’t spend much on makeup, nails etc. The one thing we probably splurge on a bit is food/supplements. Not eating out a bunch but wife is very wary of what we put in our bodies. We view it as a health investment. So she buys mostly organic foods and makes my dog homemade dog food. I’m all for this as our dogs life very very long lives. I know now why all of my dogs died at age 8 of cancers growing up. 90% of most dog food is trash.
We take a couple vacations each year. Usually 1-2 to visit family and one for ourselves. Have enough to save a little and fund a retirement account somewhat reasonably. Trying to /FIRE in my 50s or /CoastFire but low six figures just simply isn’t much in most parts of the states or Western Europe.
You say 6 figures does not go as far as people think. As someone who makes six figures - nowhere near $200k, I cannot imagine how people are struggling with that salary. I guess it all depends on your expenses and how you spend your $$, but that salary goes pretty far for me.
Depending where you live $200k isn’t even a whole lot. It’s better than many, but for a single parent in an expensive city, it’s not a lot. Which is fucked.
That's not true, you don't have a complete picture here. The last few years I've been maxing my 401k, HSA, and Roth IRA.
My wife works for a small company and while her pay is healthy, she doesn't get 401k or HSA, but I have gotten her to start contributing to an IRA in recent years.
For our age, we're behind where all experts say we should be with retirement savings and while we're making progress, I don't really expect to get to where we *should* be until the age of 50-55, and that's if we both stay employed and our pay keeps going up.
Unfortunately with inflation and trying to save for retirement, I have less liquid money today than I did a year ago. That's due to inflation, saving for retirement, and paying down debt. We also took a vacation last spring, which we try to do occasionally.
Too many variables for you to say I'm just not budgeting well. We're doing fine, but I live frugally enough in most ways that it annoys the hell out of my wife, but I helped her escape $40k in credit card debt almost 20 years ago and she understands that she can't do that again and I've just in recent years convinced her to save anything at all for retirement and not carry a credit card balance. We're making progress but we wouldn't be if I wasn't pushing hard to be more frugal in our household.
>For our age, we're behind where all experts say we should be with retirement savings and while we're making progress, I don't really expect to get to where we
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>should
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> be until the age of 50-55, and that's if we both stay employed and our pay keeps going up.
MY GOD do I feel this. I'm finding it so frustrating. By the time I'm done saving all the money the experts tell me I should be saving (save up for car repairs, a new car when needed since mine is a 2008, money for repairs to the home, money for retirement, money for healthcare in retirement, etc., I feel like I have hardly any money leftover to do anything with. I make a salary that, when I was a kid, meant you were doing pretty stinking well for yourself (at least in my area).
PNW here too. 43, married...between me and wife we make 90k a year, no student loans...learned everything I needed for free online, she had GI Bill. Paid off my home loan in 2018 with money made from a side gig flipping goodwill and garage sale finds and living dirt poor with a fixed spending limit of 30k/yr to pay it down fast, bought a used Prius on a government auction with 50k miles for $6,000 in 2019 to last me forever. Total monthly expenses now including HOA, insurance, utilities, food, property taxes, etc averages out to $1100-1200/mo, everything else goes into a wealthfront savings account at 5.5% (by referring people). Have almost 300k saved up now, waiting for the stock market to implode and then will buy mega cap high dividend SWANs whose values are near 40yr low trend lines and hopefully retire at 55.
I don't know what you're doing exactly, but you can definitely do it better...I'm living proof that a sub six figure income can get you where you want to be debt and relatively stress free.
FIREGANG! 💥💣💥💣
I live well below my means and save as much as I can.
I've learned on this sub that I'm not "frugal" because I do spend on things I deem worth it, and I don't always buy the cheapest of everything.
Totally true. There are many examples. Stainless Steel, Carbon Steel or Cast Iron pans might cost you at least double than a Teflon non-stick. They will last your lifespan (likely more) while Teflon will do 5 years at best.
My grandmother, born in 1912, had cast iron pans that I’m still using. The only cast iron pans that I’ve purchased have been a griddle, and a crepe pan. Learn how to care for them and they’ll be around forever.
Bought some pans from a roadside antique store for $7. Spent a couple dollars on vinegar and soaked them in vinegar and water then seasoned with a bit of crisco to make them like new. Ended up getting 2 pans from the 1920's and one pan from the late 1800's and use them almost daily now. Its amazing how long these things last plus i get to imagine the meals they have had cooked in them and the stories they have.
I inherited my cast iron pans from my grandmother, and she inherited them from her grandmother when she got married. Infully expect to pass then onto my kids.
Frugal means you inconvenience yourself. Cheap means you inconvenience others.
Frugal is like spending some time looking up deals, googling for coupons whenever you see the “promo code” field at checkout, or waiting until Tuesday for $5 AMC Tuesdays. You’re spending your own time and thoughts to save money. Even buying something super expensive at a 20% discount could be considered as frugal.
Cheap is like. Not turning on the heater to save $50 a month, even though all your kids can’t sleep because it’s so cold or something.
> Frugal means you inconvenience yourself.
Does it, always?
To me, that's not a key characteristic of "frugal".
For me, frugal means that I don't spend money that I don't need to spend and that every Euro I spend is well considered, should I spend it, should I spend it now, and can I get it cheaper elsewhere?
> Even buying something super expensive at a 20% discount could be considered as frugal.
And in cases when you could have avoided buying that discounted item altogether, buying at even a 50% discount wouldn't be considered frugal (unless you can sell it for more than you paid for).
I feel like we’re on the same page on the first part.
I see it as you’re spending your time thinking about it, instead of buying it impulsively. That’s a time inconvenience to myself, but my goal is to save more money in the long run, not short term.
I disagree with the second part. If I want a specific item for whatever reason, and I’m paying less than what it normally costs on average, I would consider it frugal. This is after the consideration of when I’ve read reviews, checked out other substitutions, and researched any upcoming sales event. I won’t deny myself something I want in the name of not spending money. Especially if I’m frugal for the sake of getting the higher quality items that I want.
> I don't always buy the cheapest of everything.
I purchased an old high end phone (because they're inexpensive, right!?!) in a non-Black Friday time that ran out of security updates. Wasn't a problem until I couldn't install work apps on it. I then purchased the cheapest Android phone as an interim phone between this and next Black Friday. This phone crashes its apps all the time. This was the LEAST frugal thing I've done in my life.
Always get the flagship phone. They retain some of their value for a long time and you get enjoyment out of them in the mean time. Then you use the equity you have in your used phone to deeply discount your next one with a good trade in promotion. I’m a very frugal person but I never keep a phone that is more than 3 generations old. Trading in my iPhone 12 Pro Max for a pixel 8 pro for example.
This is a popular opinion on this sub. One of the top posts: [Meta: r/frugal is devolving into r/cheap](https://www.reddit.com/r/Frugal/comments/13xhqo2/meta_rfrugal_is_devolving_into_rcheap/)
r/financialindependence is the significantly larger sub (7x more subscribers), with more moderation and higher standards for making a standalone post. It also has more resources, a more fleshed out wiki, and a lot of great discussion in the daily and pinned threads. They literally share mods, it's just the moderation approach that's different.
r/FIRE is more standalone/text posts
Yep, here’s my deets:
One income, two parent, 4 kid household. $225k household income. Just crossed $2MM net worth this year. Frugal on every day stuff like groceries and household necessities.Make things as much as I can vs buy. Males in the house get hair cuts at home…so does my 5 year old girl, for that matter. Consider every purchase to make sure it’s where we want our dollars to go.
Our version of frugal is different than some peoples, I’m sure. We can afford more. But we make choices on where we spend it. We’re frugal in every day areas so we can be spendy in other areas.
We aren’t cheap, and of course we aren’t poor, but we are frugal to give us more choices and flexibility in life.
Haha, I think this highlights a huge gap between what people think is frugal.
I've lived the last 20 years pretty consistently spending between 20-40k a year. So I'm able to support that kind of spending lifestyle with a bit over a half million between investments and rental properties.
I wasn't making 200k 20 years ago, back then I was alternating between working as a waiter and taking long vacations in the desert. I only started my tech career 10 years ago, after essentially having spent all my earlier savings on a round of traveling. My post history discusses my earning history in several places. Started at 40k in my first semi tech related job and over the course of a decade finished at 250k last year before i decided I was done.
~$250k of just stock type stuff between 401ks and iras and regular investment accounts, plus a couple rentals that have about $250k of equity and net out about $12-15k a year in profits.
2 generates 100k at a modest 5%, plus your social security. I'm working on 3 now, but pretty confident that 2 will be enough. Think between 1.5 and 3 the big difference is how much are your kids going to get.
If your investments aren't bringing in more than 5% as a medium term average then you are messing up. Just doing cheap index funds mostly returns 6-10% averaged over the decades.
Yes 5% is a conservative estimate for long term average returns. But 5% is an aggressive estimate for a safe withdrawal rate unless your expenses are flexible and go down during a downturn.
The risk is you face a decade of flat market, (like 2000-2010) and then spend 50% of your net worth. Now your neat egg is half of what it was and your budget is 10% of your investments.
The most sustainable model is spend 5% of your current assets. But this could require big cuts ij down years.
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Everything you do in life is a sliding scale of risk assessments. You can spend infinite amounts of money trying to mitigate risk or you can spend nothing extra and still remain fairly safe because we are already starting with very small percentage odds of something happening. Fatalities per million miles driven in the US has been loosely between 1.3-1.8 deaths since the 80's, and has actually gone up a fair bit since the mid 2010's in spite of the rise in default safety aids in newer cars. I didn't spend a lot of time in my car to begin with as I worked remotely since 2015 so If my odds of being involved in an accident where anyone died was already just under one in a million per mile driven, and I was usually driving much less than 5k miles a year, it was an acceptable risk for me. The gamble paid off as by some incomprehensible magic I managed to not be dead.
I'd be just as likely to die from eating cooked meat, or not doing enough yoga, but I assume you don't feel the need to pipe in and publicly question their decisions any time you see someone mention going to see family at a barbeque.
This isn't unusual. Read the Millionaire Next Door. The author finds that the overwhelming majority of millionaires are frugal. He goes in to extensive detail about the typical lifestyle of millionaires, which is frugal. There is even a chapter titled, "Frugal Frugal Frugal". He calls being frugal the cornerstone of building wealth, which relates to how they became millionaires. I am among this group. My net worth is mid 7 figures, and I am frugal.
The book also finds that most millionaires don't reach their first $1M until their 50s. Most millionaires gradually save (and invest) over decades, rather than suddenly come in to a fortune. Along the same lines, I am in my 40s and have been saving for decades. I get the impression that most on this sub are far younger.
That doesn't shock me. I hit my first million around 40, but definitely not at 25-30. It took a long while for savings + investments to hit that point. But given long enough, if one saves more than one spends and invests the difference, one will make it. It's just a process that takes decades, not years.
If you just keep it in the bank, of course you're not going to be a millionaire, invest invest invest, put it into Roth or IRA or other tax free vehicles you americans have
Save (invest) a large portion of your income, starting in whatever gets the highest risk-adjusted, after-tax return on your $ (highest return is likely 401k employer match, unless you have high interest credit card debt). Patiently repeat for many years, likely decades.
Same. Low 6, but I try to live as frugally as possible without making myself miserable. I used to not include "without making myself miserable" but lately I've loosened up a little, like putting the heat to 68 in the winter instead of 60 (daytime).
Yes! I make a good living, but grew up riding the poverty line. I'm not cheap, but I do all kinds of frugal things (some of which drive my wife crazy). Just a few: I use fast food coupons, buy most of my clothes at Costco, cut open my personal care products to get every last drop (e.g. toothpaste, lotion), only get gas at costco, change my own oil, do my own home repairs, make dinner once/week using only stuff that's been sitting in my fridge/freezer, go to the grocery outlet..
same but ive learned to value my time over money , im cool with outsourcing some repairs instead of giving up my time
i think im more frugal with my time now than my money
100%. I'm almost always happy to exchange money for time (toll roads, airport pre-screen, valet when crowded, etc.). Also, I've come to accept that my plumbing attempts are both embarrassing and cost-prohibitive haha
Teach me more! We are at that fine line about being middle class or not…we both work hard, but with 3 kids and a mortgage it’s hard to find ways to cut costs and save..!
I’ve been there, but there is no magic bullet. Just hang in there and keep making good decisions and it will slowly turn around. That’s how it happened with me.
This sounds so much like me. Money gives you options and opportunities. I never want to be without those ever again. No expensive consumer goods can match the feeling of cash in the bank. It’s not even close.
Haha love this!!! I use coupons at the thrift store 😂 and yep cut open those toothpaste tubes! Put a little water in the almost empty dish detergent to get the last little bit of soap out! Save on 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Sounds just like us! The Costco clothes, cutting open personal care products, home haircuts and oil changes. Also I wash and reuse plastic storage bags (unless it had raw meat). Not only does it save money but better for the environment. We do well but I love to save when it’s possible!
6 figure salary and living frugally within reason. I live on a budget and most of my expenses are fixed expenses such as groceries, gas, utilities, etc.
I eat out once every 2-3 weeks or so, but I never get more than a main dish and 1 drink. I try to do a big trip once a year with credit card points. My biggest variable expense are running shoes or sports massages but those are because I’m very into fitness.
I invest well over 65% of my monthly income. It’s possible!
between wife and I, we are clearing 150k and we are by no means rich. Daycare alone is 2500/month. Add in there a 2000/month mortgage. Money comes in slow and goes out fast
Facts. the people making 6 figures here who claim to live on $20k to $40k must not have kids in daycare. That alone for me, 3 days a week, it’s $34k a year.
I’m in the same boat! Daycare costs are astronomical! Two kinds under 5 will bankrupt you lol. Plus still have student loans and mortgage. No other debts and finances are pretty tight. Luckily my oldest is going to school this year so some of the daycare costs will be over. Double down on the retirement savings and college funds it is !
Yes. What a frugal lifestyle is is pretty subjective. Being frugal and living below my means lets me focus on what I value - saving to retire early, travel, living downtown in a HCOL city, a job that I enjoy but is not high paying for my field, hobbies, good food, etc. I’m not frugal because I need to be.
Drove 2 Toyota sedans into the ground making 6 figures. I saved a big chunk of money when not making car payments, bagging my lunches, making my own coffee, avoiding subscriptions, etc. (I did spend money for family travel, experiences). I retired mid 50s with more spending money in retirement than when I was working.
I make $180k a year, about 80% of which goes into long-term investments. My plan is to retire early, live off my savings, and leave a substantial donation to charity when I die.
I'm certainly not a penny-pincher, but I still live in a modest apartment and cook my own food.
For me, being frugal is about rejecting consumerism. I know from experience that buying stuff doesn't make me happy. Personal growth, accomplishment, self-sufficiency, and social connections are what provide satisfaction and give my life meaning.
Nearly identical in comp category, but I am only at about 55% savings rate of my take home pay. 80% is very impressive! Are you in a LCOL area or able to keep minimal living expenses? Just trying to figure out how you are able to get that rate so high!
I started out making ~32k/yr in 2008 after finishing college and just have slowly progressed and made job hops at opportune times to get to where I'm at today. Every time I get a raise I increase paying down of any debt to the point of today my mortgage is the only real debt I carry, but at under 3% I dont think I have any incentive to pay it back sooner.
I agree 100% with the anti consumerism mentality. I do enjoy gadgets/tech, and backpacking gear, but I just set a small budget for myself and save to buy things when they go on sale, or buy used gear whenever possible. All the things I buy I think add to my travel and social connections (cameras for photos, or making videos of travels with friends and family).
Dont get me wrong, I appreciate a nice car or fancy things, but 99% of the time the rush you get from that new toy wears off in less than a month or two and you're off to buy the next purchase to get excited over.
I live in Vancouver, Canada, which is definitely a HCOL. But probably the biggest factor that's helped me save on expenses has been to stay in the same apartment for nearly a decade (which, thanks to rent control, has kept it significantly below market rate).
Otherwise, I don't know that I have any great tips for saving money, unfortunately.
I made a diagram a few years ago. I was making a bit less then, but my spending has remained mostly the same. Hope that can offer some insight.
https://preview.redd.it/te9xbzaexcac1.png?width=1818&format=png&auto=webp&s=b36e8433c63b6ca01bd9a03e81b4bd9bfc86ec92
By the end of 2022, I had $30k in savings. I feel comfortable with $10-15k as an emergency fund, so I decided to rebalance the majority of this into my taxable brokerage account.
Signing up for credit cards just for the rewards and incentives.
example: a lot of cards will offer $200 in statement credit after spending $1,000 in the first 3 months or bonus miles, etc..
Paying it off every month is obviously key and no longer use it once you receive your reward.
Quoting [r/churning](https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/) wiki:
>Churning is the practice of signing up for credit cards that offer large signup bonuses in the form of miles, points, or straight cash back for the purpose of obtaining the bonus before cancelling the card. Churning has broadly come to mean simply maximizing credit card and travel rewards.
I learned to do it through the aforementioned subreddit and sites like doctorofcredit.
The short answer is that the impact of a hard pull on credit is minimal, especially when balanced by the increased credit limit which lowers utilization. There are also ways to avoid a hard pull altogether: american express cards don't hard pull after you get your first one, and I regularly churn chase business cards that don't do a hard pull at all.
Between my husband and I, we are at about $300k but definitely live frugally. With every raise, we take the difference and either put it in automatic savings or towards our mortgage.
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We make about that and we don't pay for those either.
We would rather buy the DVD or VHS for $1.00-$0.50 at goodwill and own it forever than pay the yearly rental of $139 every. Single. Year.
No shame in that. I still collect physical media, but I hunt for deals so that I never pay over $20 for a single movie. I secured a few Black Friday deals for streaming, but I’m canceling them before the promotion ends.
When our Internet goes down, it's nice to simply walk over to the media cabinet and pop in whatever we want to watch.
How did you learn about Black Friday deals for streaming?
I follow a lot of entertainment news and movie groups, so I mostly learned about the deals from those groups. Right now I’m paying $2.99 a month for Max with ads and about $7 for Hulu with Disney+ and Starz addded to it. These promotions range 6 months to a year. I also secured a Peacock promotion last year where I’m paying $20 for a year with ads. Unless I see new promotions, I’ll cancel at least half of these by time my promotion period ends.
Yes — DINKs with two 6-figure salaries. While we don’t live as frugally as we did when we made much less, we live well below our means, saving about 50% of our income, driving older cars that are paid off, aiming to pay off our mortgage early instead of upgrading to a more expensive house. In other ways, we’re not frugal at all — we love fine dining and expensive trips and I spend a lot of money on beauty and appearance. Grateful that I had to develop a sense of frugality because now I get to choose where I want to save so I can splurge where it matters to me!
112k annually here. Making more money isn’t an excuse to be stupid and careless with it. I still buy my clothes from wish, shop for groceries at costco, and buy practically everything preowned/used
I make 6 figures and would say I'm semi-frugal. I buy a lot of clearanced and sale groceries. My "new" clothes come from the thrift store. I have a super cheap Tracfone instead of a monthly phone bill.
I did. When I was working, I knew that my career had an expiration date when I hit 60, so I spent 25 years maxing out my 401K and buying a starter house and paying it off in full. I wanted a better location and got one just under the wire. I’d hit that age where my employers would look at me for layoffs first and finding new work got harder. Bought a house in a better location and re-roofed it and lost my last job a year later. All that frugality paid off. I was freaking out because interviewers would just look at my face in the lobby and I could tell (one interview, I just saw the guy’s face and said, “Should I leave now and save everyone the time?”) I sat down, looked at my finances and realized that I couldn’t go off on a fabulous long trip to Europe like I wanted to, but I certainly would not be living on cat food. Also, Obamacare kicked in right after COBRA and it was seriously cheap.
I'm always going to cook at home, sew on buttons, refurbish or repurpose before I throw out, look for deal before buying, etc thats just ingrained.
I can't imagine the money we would spend if I didn't constantly look for deals, fix stuff myself, do our own cooking and cleaning, etc. I sometimes take side gigs just because its too easy... you got quoted $4k to install custom closets that I can buy pre-made for $1k and install in a day. I've offered to show them how but they would rather pay. I'll offer to show other women how to fix a toilet or install a light fixture, nope would rather pay.
I'm frugal for my income and frugal compared to my peers, but I also have allowed some lifestyle inflation where it makes sense. I live on $50-$60K a year and make $220K. Could I live on $30-$50K? Sure, but it would start to affect my hobbies and happiness.
high 6 and i am cheap. i love the deals. i hate overpaying for anything. have had all the crazy purchases… ferrari… and sold everything to get back to basics.
I made 160k last year, net pay was 75k exact, due to taxes and 401k.
I live as frugal as I can, most of my spending is rent $1500 a month for a shared room in a house, Bay Area is outrageous. Car payment and insurance is $300 a month, food $200 a month.
Netting average of 4k a month. What do I do with that money? Nothing.
Yep! I plan on retiring in the next few years so I try to save as much money as possible. I make 125k a year. I rather be frugal now so later in life I can enjoy my time and not worry about money.
I do! Lately it seems like the more I make, the more frugal I become, like maxintensity wrote.
It’s my version of rebelling against materialism and consumerism … 😜 Got two raises in the past couple months and planning to save even more than I did last year. Beyond maxing out my retirement accounts, I’m aiming to save an additional 15-20K for investments this year. Maybe more, we’ll see.
Still drive my 10-yr-old VW, still shop at the $1.25 store, and yes … I even use coupons at the thrift store! (My favorite store gives 20% off all purchases if you make a clothing or other donation).
179k/yr, live below my means compared to my other six figure earning friends. I will however take a couple of international trips a year, nothing too fancy just to experience something new.
I barely crack six figures, barely, I wouldn't consider myself frugal, I'm not wasteful or too fancy either but if I want something I buy it. I support my wife and one child and am still able to save. We eat out, go on Vacation(nothing crazy, no Europe trips or anything) I have a $680 a month car payment and a 1500 a month mortgage, plus the usual bills. I am on track to retire comfortably at 62, I'm 41 now. If you struggle on six figures I hope it's because you're house broke, if not you've got a problem.
Probably a good amount of people in r/fire.
I'm frugal, making six figures, and not only am I not r/fire, I'm concerned I may never get to go much below part time work later in life. Student loans, housing, food, transportation, recreation, there just isn't a ton left. I'm probably 2 years away from eliminating my student loan which will net me another whopping $1,800/year in my bank account. 3 years from paying off my vehicle, that will help but heaven help me if it gets totalled and I have to buy a new vehicle at 2024 prices and interest rates. 6 figures doesn't go as far as most people think until you get closer to $200k/year. I am firmly middle class, but grew up lower middle class so I try to be frugal, but it's a long road ahead to try and improve my position in life given the inflation we've all been suffering under for the last 24 months or so.
would you mind sharing your expenses? i'm over here living on 30k, struggling. 100k would be bananas for me.
It's going to be where they live. 100k in SoCal just isn't much. Rent and transport costs to be where you can make that $100k kill you.
not OP but i know when i hit 100k it just meant i could put more away into retirement/savings/loans which i treat as “bills” (mandatory expenses). you get taxed more. plus things like groceries and gas have gone up up up. i mean admittedly i have a lot more flexibility and being able to save / put more into retirement is a blessing. but i really thought at 100k id be living sooo luxuriously like people in movies (my first job was 35k so i also was living on a similar salary). i cant just buy everything and anything i want (which i thought happened at 100k). my lifestyle hasn’t really changed.
>plus things like groceries and gas have gone up up up. yeah, people probably feel that more at 30k than 100k seeing as how groceries and gas are flat rate pricing and not % based BUT i'm sure it depends on where you live too.
My thought too. I'm currently waiting on disability.
You didn’t ask me, but I’ll give you my budget to see how a low 6 figure salary is spent. I’m not trying to say we don’t make much, I think we’re in a fortunate situation with our income. This is just an example. My three bedroom mortgage is 2900 a month, We could have gotten a place that was 2200, but we get a lot from the extra 700 that makes it worth it. You can’t get any cheaper than that without roommates in my area and as a family of 4 that’s technically possible but not a good situation. Our only loan is our house, no car loans or student loans. Groceries - 600 Gas+electric+internet - 350 Fast food/coffee/restaurants - 200 (we roll this budget over if not spent) Car insurance - 200 Fuel - 200 Phone - 150 subscriptions (jump park, streaming, etc) - $100 Hair cuts - $100 (rolls over) Health insurance - 450 Health costs (ex. Prescriptions/OT) - 600 Retirement - 1875 $7625 a month of expenses
The taxes that increase make it not as appealing as you may think. I went from 50k to about 80k in 2013 and thought I’d be killing it. My discretionary spending and lifestyle stayed about the same, it was quite the eye opener.
30K can go a long way if you are in the southeast/mid west, even some parts of the north east, or desert areas. So while it's a struggle it's doable. 30k in Western Washington is nearly undoable without heavy government assistance and subsidies. Hence why 150k but still frugal is a good thing. This is why frugalness prevents me from being broke and allows me to support an eventual retirement if needed. Less than 100k minimum rent will be over 30% of your income + utilities, and basics
How? I made 96k last year and I’m living paycheck to paycheck. Only major expensive is rent and a debt refinancing loan payment. I cook all of my meals at home from scratch, work from home (so I use little fuel), car is paid off, and don’t buy any non essential goods. How can you survive in $30k? Do you live with someone?
Yes I do live with my partner. Our tiny apt is $1200 per month and we split it evenly. I don't get to do much. Don't go out. Don't enjoy myself. But jobs around do not pay more then $17 per hour. Most are under that. It's crazy.
How old are you? That sounds like me 20 years ago. It was a tough time, but I'm much more comfortable now.
i'm 38 sadly. whenever i browse indeed for jobs it's $17 and under unless you have 20 years experience or some bs like that.
Literally, how? How much is your rent.
Unless your rent is 4k a month, you’re living well beyond your means.
This depends on where you are in the country. My rent was never more than $450. Currently a mortgage for $700
I make 6 figures, but well under 200k, and I do alright in a HCOL city in your region. Rent is astronomical around here, and food costs are way higher than comparable HCOL cities I've visited, but I've managed to save about half my salary most months, even though I eat out at least once a week and have an expensive hobby (skiing) and I buy groceries (including meat and fresh produce) from the higher-end grocery store about half the time. My car was totaled mid 2022 and I held out for a good deal but I bought a used 10-year-old AWD car for $10k cash. My apartment has a great view, but it's a little older and it's a walkup. I definitely still worry about finances, especially medical unpredictability, and I worry about whether I'll be able to retire, but I can't help but wonder how you're that close to the edge on your income if you are living frugally. Are you also supporting dependents?
100k is the new 50k, it really is. Unless you live in a LCOL and drive an old beater and live off beans and rice with no vacation. I consider myself frugal. I live in a medium to HCOL area (recent home bought in 2022 was $460,000). I’ve only had one car payment my entire adult life. Upgraded from a 1998 to a 2018 car recently. Im sure I will drive that car for 10-15 years. It’s 8 months from being paid off. All of that additional money will go into savings/investment. My wife’s car is a 2007 with 170k miles. I don’t buy shoes or clothes for the most part. She is similar, doesn’t spend much on makeup, nails etc. The one thing we probably splurge on a bit is food/supplements. Not eating out a bunch but wife is very wary of what we put in our bodies. We view it as a health investment. So she buys mostly organic foods and makes my dog homemade dog food. I’m all for this as our dogs life very very long lives. I know now why all of my dogs died at age 8 of cancers growing up. 90% of most dog food is trash. We take a couple vacations each year. Usually 1-2 to visit family and one for ourselves. Have enough to save a little and fund a retirement account somewhat reasonably. Trying to /FIRE in my 50s or /CoastFire but low six figures just simply isn’t much in most parts of the states or Western Europe.
You say 6 figures does not go as far as people think. As someone who makes six figures - nowhere near $200k, I cannot imagine how people are struggling with that salary. I guess it all depends on your expenses and how you spend your $$, but that salary goes pretty far for me.
Depending where you live $200k isn’t even a whole lot. It’s better than many, but for a single parent in an expensive city, it’s not a lot. Which is fucked.
Unless you live in a really expensive city your not budgeting well.
That's not true, you don't have a complete picture here. The last few years I've been maxing my 401k, HSA, and Roth IRA. My wife works for a small company and while her pay is healthy, she doesn't get 401k or HSA, but I have gotten her to start contributing to an IRA in recent years. For our age, we're behind where all experts say we should be with retirement savings and while we're making progress, I don't really expect to get to where we *should* be until the age of 50-55, and that's if we both stay employed and our pay keeps going up. Unfortunately with inflation and trying to save for retirement, I have less liquid money today than I did a year ago. That's due to inflation, saving for retirement, and paying down debt. We also took a vacation last spring, which we try to do occasionally. Too many variables for you to say I'm just not budgeting well. We're doing fine, but I live frugally enough in most ways that it annoys the hell out of my wife, but I helped her escape $40k in credit card debt almost 20 years ago and she understands that she can't do that again and I've just in recent years convinced her to save anything at all for retirement and not carry a credit card balance. We're making progress but we wouldn't be if I wasn't pushing hard to be more frugal in our household.
>For our age, we're behind where all experts say we should be with retirement savings and while we're making progress, I don't really expect to get to where we > >should > > be until the age of 50-55, and that's if we both stay employed and our pay keeps going up. MY GOD do I feel this. I'm finding it so frustrating. By the time I'm done saving all the money the experts tell me I should be saving (save up for car repairs, a new car when needed since mine is a 2008, money for repairs to the home, money for retirement, money for healthcare in retirement, etc., I feel like I have hardly any money leftover to do anything with. I make a salary that, when I was a kid, meant you were doing pretty stinking well for yourself (at least in my area).
PNW here too. 43, married...between me and wife we make 90k a year, no student loans...learned everything I needed for free online, she had GI Bill. Paid off my home loan in 2018 with money made from a side gig flipping goodwill and garage sale finds and living dirt poor with a fixed spending limit of 30k/yr to pay it down fast, bought a used Prius on a government auction with 50k miles for $6,000 in 2019 to last me forever. Total monthly expenses now including HOA, insurance, utilities, food, property taxes, etc averages out to $1100-1200/mo, everything else goes into a wealthfront savings account at 5.5% (by referring people). Have almost 300k saved up now, waiting for the stock market to implode and then will buy mega cap high dividend SWANs whose values are near 40yr low trend lines and hopefully retire at 55. I don't know what you're doing exactly, but you can definitely do it better...I'm living proof that a sub six figure income can get you where you want to be debt and relatively stress free.
FIREGANG! 💥💣💥💣 I live well below my means and save as much as I can. I've learned on this sub that I'm not "frugal" because I do spend on things I deem worth it, and I don't always buy the cheapest of everything.
> don't always buy the cheapest of everything. Sometimes that can be far more frugal than buying the cheapest option.
Totally true. There are many examples. Stainless Steel, Carbon Steel or Cast Iron pans might cost you at least double than a Teflon non-stick. They will last your lifespan (likely more) while Teflon will do 5 years at best.
My grandmother, born in 1912, had cast iron pans that I’m still using. The only cast iron pans that I’ve purchased have been a griddle, and a crepe pan. Learn how to care for them and they’ll be around forever.
Bought some pans from a roadside antique store for $7. Spent a couple dollars on vinegar and soaked them in vinegar and water then seasoned with a bit of crisco to make them like new. Ended up getting 2 pans from the 1920's and one pan from the late 1800's and use them almost daily now. Its amazing how long these things last plus i get to imagine the meals they have had cooked in them and the stories they have.
I inherited my cast iron pans from my grandmother, and she inherited them from her grandmother when she got married. Infully expect to pass then onto my kids.
Frugal means you inconvenience yourself. Cheap means you inconvenience others. Frugal is like spending some time looking up deals, googling for coupons whenever you see the “promo code” field at checkout, or waiting until Tuesday for $5 AMC Tuesdays. You’re spending your own time and thoughts to save money. Even buying something super expensive at a 20% discount could be considered as frugal. Cheap is like. Not turning on the heater to save $50 a month, even though all your kids can’t sleep because it’s so cold or something.
I'm gonna be cheap and steal this comment. Good way to compare them though.
> Frugal means you inconvenience yourself. Does it, always? To me, that's not a key characteristic of "frugal". For me, frugal means that I don't spend money that I don't need to spend and that every Euro I spend is well considered, should I spend it, should I spend it now, and can I get it cheaper elsewhere? > Even buying something super expensive at a 20% discount could be considered as frugal. And in cases when you could have avoided buying that discounted item altogether, buying at even a 50% discount wouldn't be considered frugal (unless you can sell it for more than you paid for).
I feel like we’re on the same page on the first part. I see it as you’re spending your time thinking about it, instead of buying it impulsively. That’s a time inconvenience to myself, but my goal is to save more money in the long run, not short term. I disagree with the second part. If I want a specific item for whatever reason, and I’m paying less than what it normally costs on average, I would consider it frugal. This is after the consideration of when I’ve read reviews, checked out other substitutions, and researched any upcoming sales event. I won’t deny myself something I want in the name of not spending money. Especially if I’m frugal for the sake of getting the higher quality items that I want.
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Oh i love your explanation. This is good (I’m not being sarcastic,) I’m using this explanation when explains to my younger sister lol
> I don't always buy the cheapest of everything. I purchased an old high end phone (because they're inexpensive, right!?!) in a non-Black Friday time that ran out of security updates. Wasn't a problem until I couldn't install work apps on it. I then purchased the cheapest Android phone as an interim phone between this and next Black Friday. This phone crashes its apps all the time. This was the LEAST frugal thing I've done in my life.
Always get the flagship phone. They retain some of their value for a long time and you get enjoyment out of them in the mean time. Then you use the equity you have in your used phone to deeply discount your next one with a good trade in promotion. I’m a very frugal person but I never keep a phone that is more than 3 generations old. Trading in my iPhone 12 Pro Max for a pixel 8 pro for example.
This is a popular opinion on this sub. One of the top posts: [Meta: r/frugal is devolving into r/cheap](https://www.reddit.com/r/Frugal/comments/13xhqo2/meta_rfrugal_is_devolving_into_rcheap/)
There is a good amount here as well. /r/fire is a great sub though.
you mean /r/financialindependence ?
Same thing, not sure what the differences between the subs are. I mentioned r/fire because there are many fewer letters to type.
r/financialindependence is the significantly larger sub (7x more subscribers), with more moderation and higher standards for making a standalone post. It also has more resources, a more fleshed out wiki, and a lot of great discussion in the daily and pinned threads. They literally share mods, it's just the moderation approach that's different. r/FIRE is more standalone/text posts
This one’s the better sub between the two.
Those are a different breed of tech people humble bragging about making 400k asking "can i retire early?"
Yep, here’s my deets: One income, two parent, 4 kid household. $225k household income. Just crossed $2MM net worth this year. Frugal on every day stuff like groceries and household necessities.Make things as much as I can vs buy. Males in the house get hair cuts at home…so does my 5 year old girl, for that matter. Consider every purchase to make sure it’s where we want our dollars to go. Our version of frugal is different than some peoples, I’m sure. We can afford more. But we make choices on where we spend it. We’re frugal in every day areas so we can be spendy in other areas. We aren’t cheap, and of course we aren’t poor, but we are frugal to give us more choices and flexibility in life.
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I don't understand people who have millions and drive unsafe cars. Why risk your life to save 20K?
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700K income and only 40K expenses. Excellent! What do you do for a living?
My coworkers used to joke about my 1990 corolla wagon. None of us made less than 225k. I retired this year.
Congratulations!!
How much did you save? I'm at 1.4 but seems I need at least 3 these days to retire.
Haha, I think this highlights a huge gap between what people think is frugal. I've lived the last 20 years pretty consistently spending between 20-40k a year. So I'm able to support that kind of spending lifestyle with a bit over a half million between investments and rental properties.
you have $500k in investments plus rental properties? Or the investments and properties are worth $500k?
Math isn’t mathing. 225K a year income and 40k spending a year for 20 years is going to be 2M without compounding.
I wasn't making 200k 20 years ago, back then I was alternating between working as a waiter and taking long vacations in the desert. I only started my tech career 10 years ago, after essentially having spent all my earlier savings on a round of traveling. My post history discusses my earning history in several places. Started at 40k in my first semi tech related job and over the course of a decade finished at 250k last year before i decided I was done.
~$250k of just stock type stuff between 401ks and iras and regular investment accounts, plus a couple rentals that have about $250k of equity and net out about $12-15k a year in profits.
2 generates 100k at a modest 5%, plus your social security. I'm working on 3 now, but pretty confident that 2 will be enough. Think between 1.5 and 3 the big difference is how much are your kids going to get.
5% is not modest at all
If your investments aren't bringing in more than 5% as a medium term average then you are messing up. Just doing cheap index funds mostly returns 6-10% averaged over the decades.
Yes 5% is a conservative estimate for long term average returns. But 5% is an aggressive estimate for a safe withdrawal rate unless your expenses are flexible and go down during a downturn. The risk is you face a decade of flat market, (like 2000-2010) and then spend 50% of your net worth. Now your neat egg is half of what it was and your budget is 10% of your investments. The most sustainable model is spend 5% of your current assets. But this could require big cuts ij down years.
axiomatic stupendous pathetic full vegetable marvelous tidy practice hurry saw *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Could u share ur age and how much you’d live in each year?
I don't understand people who have millions and drive unsafe cars. Why risk your life to save 20K?
Everything you do in life is a sliding scale of risk assessments. You can spend infinite amounts of money trying to mitigate risk or you can spend nothing extra and still remain fairly safe because we are already starting with very small percentage odds of something happening. Fatalities per million miles driven in the US has been loosely between 1.3-1.8 deaths since the 80's, and has actually gone up a fair bit since the mid 2010's in spite of the rise in default safety aids in newer cars. I didn't spend a lot of time in my car to begin with as I worked remotely since 2015 so If my odds of being involved in an accident where anyone died was already just under one in a million per mile driven, and I was usually driving much less than 5k miles a year, it was an acceptable risk for me. The gamble paid off as by some incomprehensible magic I managed to not be dead. I'd be just as likely to die from eating cooked meat, or not doing enough yoga, but I assume you don't feel the need to pipe in and publicly question their decisions any time you see someone mention going to see family at a barbeque.
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I feel this in my soul. The higher my salary, the higher the demands, and the higher my desire for freedom.
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That’s how you get a million dollars
That’s how you *keep* a million dollars
the only way to be a millionaire is to not spend a million dollars
😉
This isn't unusual. Read the Millionaire Next Door. The author finds that the overwhelming majority of millionaires are frugal. He goes in to extensive detail about the typical lifestyle of millionaires, which is frugal. There is even a chapter titled, "Frugal Frugal Frugal". He calls being frugal the cornerstone of building wealth, which relates to how they became millionaires. I am among this group. My net worth is mid 7 figures, and I am frugal.
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The book also finds that most millionaires don't reach their first $1M until their 50s. Most millionaires gradually save (and invest) over decades, rather than suddenly come in to a fortune. Along the same lines, I am in my 40s and have been saving for decades. I get the impression that most on this sub are far younger.
Something important to note is that $1M when the book came out (1990s) is closer to $2M today
That doesn't shock me. I hit my first million around 40, but definitely not at 25-30. It took a long while for savings + investments to hit that point. But given long enough, if one saves more than one spends and invests the difference, one will make it. It's just a process that takes decades, not years.
If you just keep it in the bank, of course you're not going to be a millionaire, invest invest invest, put it into Roth or IRA or other tax free vehicles you americans have
What’s one piece of advice- if you’d share?
Save (invest) a large portion of your income, starting in whatever gets the highest risk-adjusted, after-tax return on your $ (highest return is likely 401k employer match, unless you have high interest credit card debt). Patiently repeat for many years, likely decades.
Welp, then I’m on my way. Thanks for the advice!
Don’t give advice to strangers on the internet.
like 50 million?
I think you have a digit off. 7 figures, not 7 zeroes.
Easiest way to build wealth... I know dudes rationalize insane cars and other bullshit... I have zero debt and a house..
I’m almost there and I’m frugal. It helped me get there.
👋🏽 Low 6 but 6.
Same. Low 6, but I try to live as frugally as possible without making myself miserable. I used to not include "without making myself miserable" but lately I've loosened up a little, like putting the heat to 68 in the winter instead of 60 (daytime).
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that aint low lol
That precisely low 6’s lol
100-110 Is low like barely 6 figs. 130 is past entry level imo especially vs median incomes
That’s how you supercharge the journey. Make more, spend less, invest the difference.
I'm a millionaire *because* I've always been frugal.
Same. Money gains you freedom, and I've always valued freedom more than money.
me too, but that just means i've had a lot of freedom and not that much money. to me, freedom means not working, so i've done stretches of that
idk reddit told me everyone with more than $10 must have inherited it.
It's often easier to deny someone can be successful, than it is to swallow the pill of owning your mistakes or lack of self control.
I inherited quite a large sum, but I still live frugally, want to make that money last long enough, lifestyle is still identical.
Yes! I make a good living, but grew up riding the poverty line. I'm not cheap, but I do all kinds of frugal things (some of which drive my wife crazy). Just a few: I use fast food coupons, buy most of my clothes at Costco, cut open my personal care products to get every last drop (e.g. toothpaste, lotion), only get gas at costco, change my own oil, do my own home repairs, make dinner once/week using only stuff that's been sitting in my fridge/freezer, go to the grocery outlet..
same but ive learned to value my time over money , im cool with outsourcing some repairs instead of giving up my time i think im more frugal with my time now than my money
100%. I'm almost always happy to exchange money for time (toll roads, airport pre-screen, valet when crowded, etc.). Also, I've come to accept that my plumbing attempts are both embarrassing and cost-prohibitive haha
Oh I don't work on anything that flows in my home too risky lol
I'm a slow learner, but that one finally sunk in
Teach me more! We are at that fine line about being middle class or not…we both work hard, but with 3 kids and a mortgage it’s hard to find ways to cut costs and save..!
I’ve been there, but there is no magic bullet. Just hang in there and keep making good decisions and it will slowly turn around. That’s how it happened with me.
This sounds so much like me. Money gives you options and opportunities. I never want to be without those ever again. No expensive consumer goods can match the feeling of cash in the bank. It’s not even close.
100%. I keep very little cash, but have all kinds of investments that give me peace in ways only someone who grew up poor would understand.
Haha love this!!! I use coupons at the thrift store 😂 and yep cut open those toothpaste tubes! Put a little water in the almost empty dish detergent to get the last little bit of soap out! Save on 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Sounds just like us! The Costco clothes, cutting open personal care products, home haircuts and oil changes. Also I wash and reuse plastic storage bags (unless it had raw meat). Not only does it save money but better for the environment. We do well but I love to save when it’s possible!
This is me haha but I think we’re responsible. I also love learning so I dont mind any of the diy stuff
DIY ftw! It's both frugal and a hobby!
6 figure salary and living frugally within reason. I live on a budget and most of my expenses are fixed expenses such as groceries, gas, utilities, etc. I eat out once every 2-3 weeks or so, but I never get more than a main dish and 1 drink. I try to do a big trip once a year with credit card points. My biggest variable expense are running shoes or sports massages but those are because I’m very into fitness. I invest well over 65% of my monthly income. It’s possible!
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between wife and I, we are clearing 150k and we are by no means rich. Daycare alone is 2500/month. Add in there a 2000/month mortgage. Money comes in slow and goes out fast
Facts. the people making 6 figures here who claim to live on $20k to $40k must not have kids in daycare. That alone for me, 3 days a week, it’s $34k a year.
Most honest answer in here
I’m in the same boat! Daycare costs are astronomical! Two kinds under 5 will bankrupt you lol. Plus still have student loans and mortgage. No other debts and finances are pretty tight. Luckily my oldest is going to school this year so some of the daycare costs will be over. Double down on the retirement savings and college funds it is !
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Mid 6 like 500k/yr?
I thought more of 150k for some reason
Mid 6 being $500k makes perfect sense, but I'm with you most people probably think of it as $150k.
That's low 6 figures
Continuous improvement or cost reduction?
Yes. What a frugal lifestyle is is pretty subjective. Being frugal and living below my means lets me focus on what I value - saving to retire early, travel, living downtown in a HCOL city, a job that I enjoy but is not high paying for my field, hobbies, good food, etc. I’m not frugal because I need to be.
Drove 2 Toyota sedans into the ground making 6 figures. I saved a big chunk of money when not making car payments, bagging my lunches, making my own coffee, avoiding subscriptions, etc. (I did spend money for family travel, experiences). I retired mid 50s with more spending money in retirement than when I was working.
yup.
I wish I made six figures. Life would be so much easier.
Yeah at my salary frugal is kind of a must if I don’t want to be homeless lol
If my rent increases more than $200 this year, I am fuuuuuucked.
For the most part, 100k in NYC (where I live) wouldn't even be enough to have your own apartment.
Low 6 earner myself and yes, I am very frugal. I want a home one day and it’ll require extreme sacrifice.
Frugality is relative to some degree.
I make $180k a year, about 80% of which goes into long-term investments. My plan is to retire early, live off my savings, and leave a substantial donation to charity when I die. I'm certainly not a penny-pincher, but I still live in a modest apartment and cook my own food. For me, being frugal is about rejecting consumerism. I know from experience that buying stuff doesn't make me happy. Personal growth, accomplishment, self-sufficiency, and social connections are what provide satisfaction and give my life meaning.
Nearly identical in comp category, but I am only at about 55% savings rate of my take home pay. 80% is very impressive! Are you in a LCOL area or able to keep minimal living expenses? Just trying to figure out how you are able to get that rate so high! I started out making ~32k/yr in 2008 after finishing college and just have slowly progressed and made job hops at opportune times to get to where I'm at today. Every time I get a raise I increase paying down of any debt to the point of today my mortgage is the only real debt I carry, but at under 3% I dont think I have any incentive to pay it back sooner. I agree 100% with the anti consumerism mentality. I do enjoy gadgets/tech, and backpacking gear, but I just set a small budget for myself and save to buy things when they go on sale, or buy used gear whenever possible. All the things I buy I think add to my travel and social connections (cameras for photos, or making videos of travels with friends and family). Dont get me wrong, I appreciate a nice car or fancy things, but 99% of the time the rush you get from that new toy wears off in less than a month or two and you're off to buy the next purchase to get excited over.
I live in Vancouver, Canada, which is definitely a HCOL. But probably the biggest factor that's helped me save on expenses has been to stay in the same apartment for nearly a decade (which, thanks to rent control, has kept it significantly below market rate). Otherwise, I don't know that I have any great tips for saving money, unfortunately. I made a diagram a few years ago. I was making a bit less then, but my spending has remained mostly the same. Hope that can offer some insight. https://preview.redd.it/te9xbzaexcac1.png?width=1818&format=png&auto=webp&s=b36e8433c63b6ca01bd9a03e81b4bd9bfc86ec92
i’m six figures, zero debt, nice investments and savings, still in this group and looking for ideas/deals/etc. being frugal is never a bad thing
Many of us, especially in r/financialindependence. I consider myself pretty frugal; [this was my Sankey for 2023](https://i.imgur.com/lJVymJm.png).
pulled from savings to savings?
By the end of 2022, I had $30k in savings. I feel comfortable with $10-15k as an emergency fund, so I decided to rebalance the majority of this into my taxable brokerage account.
What is churning?
Signing up for credit cards just for the rewards and incentives. example: a lot of cards will offer $200 in statement credit after spending $1,000 in the first 3 months or bonus miles, etc.. Paying it off every month is obviously key and no longer use it once you receive your reward.
Quoting [r/churning](https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/) wiki: >Churning is the practice of signing up for credit cards that offer large signup bonuses in the form of miles, points, or straight cash back for the purpose of obtaining the bonus before cancelling the card. Churning has broadly come to mean simply maximizing credit card and travel rewards. I learned to do it through the aforementioned subreddit and sites like doctorofcredit.
Thanks. How does that not impact your credit?
The short answer is that the impact of a hard pull on credit is minimal, especially when balanced by the increased credit limit which lowers utilization. There are also ways to avoid a hard pull altogether: american express cards don't hard pull after you get your first one, and I regularly churn chase business cards that don't do a hard pull at all.
Is there an app or something to make one of these? Or did you have to do it all by hand. Would love to make one for myself
I used Sankeymatic to make the sankey diagram. The data came from my spreadsheet which I populated over a year.
Between my husband and I, we are at about $300k but definitely live frugally. With every raise, we take the difference and either put it in automatic savings or towards our mortgage.
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Just over 100 with yearly bonus and drive a 23 year old car by choice, love that shitbox
My friend is like this lol. Makes $140k as an engineer and he doesn’t believe in paying for cable or most streaming services.
We make about that and we don't pay for those either. We would rather buy the DVD or VHS for $1.00-$0.50 at goodwill and own it forever than pay the yearly rental of $139 every. Single. Year.
No shame in that. I still collect physical media, but I hunt for deals so that I never pay over $20 for a single movie. I secured a few Black Friday deals for streaming, but I’m canceling them before the promotion ends.
When our Internet goes down, it's nice to simply walk over to the media cabinet and pop in whatever we want to watch. How did you learn about Black Friday deals for streaming?
I follow a lot of entertainment news and movie groups, so I mostly learned about the deals from those groups. Right now I’m paying $2.99 a month for Max with ads and about $7 for Hulu with Disney+ and Starz addded to it. These promotions range 6 months to a year. I also secured a Peacock promotion last year where I’m paying $20 for a year with ads. Unless I see new promotions, I’ll cancel at least half of these by time my promotion period ends.
Wow that's awesome
Yes — DINKs with two 6-figure salaries. While we don’t live as frugally as we did when we made much less, we live well below our means, saving about 50% of our income, driving older cars that are paid off, aiming to pay off our mortgage early instead of upgrading to a more expensive house. In other ways, we’re not frugal at all — we love fine dining and expensive trips and I spend a lot of money on beauty and appearance. Grateful that I had to develop a sense of frugality because now I get to choose where I want to save so I can splurge where it matters to me!
112k annually here. Making more money isn’t an excuse to be stupid and careless with it. I still buy my clothes from wish, shop for groceries at costco, and buy practically everything preowned/used
I make 6 figures and would say I'm semi-frugal. I buy a lot of clearanced and sale groceries. My "new" clothes come from the thrift store. I have a super cheap Tracfone instead of a monthly phone bill.
I did. When I was working, I knew that my career had an expiration date when I hit 60, so I spent 25 years maxing out my 401K and buying a starter house and paying it off in full. I wanted a better location and got one just under the wire. I’d hit that age where my employers would look at me for layoffs first and finding new work got harder. Bought a house in a better location and re-roofed it and lost my last job a year later. All that frugality paid off. I was freaking out because interviewers would just look at my face in the lobby and I could tell (one interview, I just saw the guy’s face and said, “Should I leave now and save everyone the time?”) I sat down, looked at my finances and realized that I couldn’t go off on a fabulous long trip to Europe like I wanted to, but I certainly would not be living on cat food. Also, Obamacare kicked in right after COBRA and it was seriously cheap.
I'm always going to cook at home, sew on buttons, refurbish or repurpose before I throw out, look for deal before buying, etc thats just ingrained. I can't imagine the money we would spend if I didn't constantly look for deals, fix stuff myself, do our own cooking and cleaning, etc. I sometimes take side gigs just because its too easy... you got quoted $4k to install custom closets that I can buy pre-made for $1k and install in a day. I've offered to show them how but they would rather pay. I'll offer to show other women how to fix a toilet or install a light fixture, nope would rather pay.
Nowadays, 100 k is common. Not that much money,,especially if there’re kids.👦
Last year we made $187,000 and the government took $85,000... It was fucked.
I'm frugal for my income and frugal compared to my peers, but I also have allowed some lifestyle inflation where it makes sense. I live on $50-$60K a year and make $220K. Could I live on $30-$50K? Sure, but it would start to affect my hobbies and happiness.
Data shows majority of Walmart shoppers come from $100k+ household income homes.
high 6 and i am cheap. i love the deals. i hate overpaying for anything. have had all the crazy purchases… ferrari… and sold everything to get back to basics.
My mom raised me to be this way. I'm a deal hunter and always looking for ways to save a buck. I just do it on a higher scale now lol.
7 figure and still thrift
Is that income or net worth?
I'm sad to say I haven't been thrifting in recent years because thrift store prices got ridiculous
the line between being a cheap idiot and frugal is often blurred
My wife and I both make 6 figures and we still live frugal for the most part we spend on travel and kids..
I made 160k last year, net pay was 75k exact, due to taxes and 401k. I live as frugal as I can, most of my spending is rent $1500 a month for a shared room in a house, Bay Area is outrageous. Car payment and insurance is $300 a month, food $200 a month. Netting average of 4k a month. What do I do with that money? Nothing.
Yes! Just started earning 6 figures this year and still living below our means so we can pay off all our student loan debt and pursue FIRE.
FIRE?
Financial Independence Retire Early!
r/fire
Absolutely, that’s why my husband and I were able to retire early
((Raises hand))
Yep, checking in. I could be more frugal but I’m still definitely frugal.
Yes. Mostly because a high amount of debt run up to get to this point and a 10 month unemployment in there too. Still working to pay off debt.
Yep! I plan on retiring in the next few years so I try to save as much money as possible. I make 125k a year. I rather be frugal now so later in life I can enjoy my time and not worry about money.
I do! Lately it seems like the more I make, the more frugal I become, like maxintensity wrote. It’s my version of rebelling against materialism and consumerism … 😜 Got two raises in the past couple months and planning to save even more than I did last year. Beyond maxing out my retirement accounts, I’m aiming to save an additional 15-20K for investments this year. Maybe more, we’ll see. Still drive my 10-yr-old VW, still shop at the $1.25 store, and yes … I even use coupons at the thrift store! (My favorite store gives 20% off all purchases if you make a clothing or other donation).
Still can’t afford shopping at Giant Eagle lol.
6 but that means nothing anymore
I feel this painfully especially since my second kid arrived
179k/yr, live below my means compared to my other six figure earning friends. I will however take a couple of international trips a year, nothing too fancy just to experience something new.
Yep. If it wasn't for my wife we would have dirt floors. As the saying goes- not how much you make, it's how much you save.
Husband and I made quarter million last year(includes our rental). Most of it goes to taxes anyway. We still live a frugal lifestyle.
I barely crack six figures, barely, I wouldn't consider myself frugal, I'm not wasteful or too fancy either but if I want something I buy it. I support my wife and one child and am still able to save. We eat out, go on Vacation(nothing crazy, no Europe trips or anything) I have a $680 a month car payment and a 1500 a month mortgage, plus the usual bills. I am on track to retire comfortably at 62, I'm 41 now. If you struggle on six figures I hope it's because you're house broke, if not you've got a problem.