Most frugal things I ever did ... and my extravagances

[Noedig]

Here are some of mine. What about yours?

Most frugal things:
-Glueing kids shoes together with Woolworths sole kits (this, when earning more than I have ever done more or since)
-Fixing my own bicycle, since I was a kid [also commuting by bike, all my working life]
-Camping holidays, in awful weather. Some oddly good memories there from the kids.
-Doing all home repairs and decorating [tasks can dwell on the To Do list for years, natch]
-Making my own bread - for about 15 years now. Not actually sure this counts as frugal but I'll put on the list anyway.
-Owning a Lada [built like tank!]. Then owning a Renault from new until it died 14 years later.

Extravagances:
-Paying for kids education.
-My honeymoon 17 years back
-Big family holidays every other year, long haul, to somewhere new each time.
-A trip with friends to Copenhagen to the best restaurant in the world.
-Eating too much (technically, an Indulgence rather than an extravagance)

[Beaudacious]

I'll just stick with this year...

Frugal:
Split the costs of a self-defense video course (36 hours) and now practice with 8 people.

Extravagance:
Flying my wife out to Japan to see me and traveling to hang out with snow monkeys ($2.5k).

[jennypenny]

-A trip with friends to Copenhagen to the best restaurant in the world.

What restaurant? (I'll be in Copenhagen in June)


Frugal:
--I want to say owning our cars for 15-20 years (and only buying 1 new), but most of you don't have cars, so I guess that doesn't count.
--Most of our kids' activities have been frugal, and I'm really good about buying stuff that will last through 3 kids.
--Owning a small wardrobe and wearing the same clothes all of the time.
--Rearranging furniture and curtains to make things seem new. We even switch rooms sometimes. Our dining room is currently the office.
--Buying in bulk and asking for discounts.
--I recycle everything.


Extravagances:
--Private school for kids
--Vacations and outings with extended family occasionally (don't regret it)
--Paying for bigger seats on airplanes (we're all tall)
--Indulging in a nice Malbec once a month (I buy them by the case for a discount, but still @$20)

[stand@desk]

Frugal:
--Finding a bunch of thrown out fast food coupons by the apartment mailboxes and in each one was for a free coffee. 8 instant free cups of coffee.
--Receive the latest national news magazine from my neighbor after he is finished reading it.
--Been re-suing a green glass perrier bottle as a water bottle for several years.
--My pajama pants, long underwear, most socks and underwear, Tilley hat, travel bag, knapsack, wallet, coaster, tax return software, dinnerware items, winter boots, slippers, silver clipboard, large notepad I use everyday, scrabble game, lettuce spinner, kitchen table, computer table, winter hat, electric piano, large mirror, roadside safety kit, chin-up bar, workout dvd, breadmaker, foodprocessor, pasta maker, track pants and running shirt, sewing machine, wall artwork and ornaments, two plants, blankets, radio, coffee maker & coffee, 1/2 marathon & 10k entry fees, LED kitchen light, calendar, scarf, winter gloves has all been gifted to my wife and I or found and used. Other items we have purchased when we have received gift cards.
--Purchased my suit for 70% off, My winter jacket for 50% off, walking shoes 25% off, running shoes BOGO
--Free cardboard boxes I use to prop up my monitors for optimal height at my standing desk, and I use other cardboard boxes for storage of underwear, socks, toiletrees & other miscellaneous items.
--Bought my bike off a work colleague for $22 (been using for 4 years)
--For music I listen to internet radio dmpulse (indie rock, no commercials)

Extravagances:
--Apartment sized freezer for the storage closet
--Monthly internet
--Stock commissions
--Desktop Computer
--Smartphone
--Car (but bought used)
--Went to the movies with the wife
--Toaster
--Mouthwash
--Dark Chocolate

Things of value I've given away:
-2 tvs
-Queen sized bed
-Sofa & Chair
-kitchen chairs
-3 quality side tables
-Golf clubs
-Countless books
-hardwood coffee table

[wizards]

-A trip with friends to Copenhagen to the best restaurant in the world.

What restaurant? (I'll be in Copenhagen in June)

That would be Noma:

Please notice you have to book on the day they are opening reservations or you will not get a table (or you have need really good connections)

http://noma.dk/reservations/

I haven't visit myself, but it should be an experience, but keep in mind it's pricy - food $250 - food+vine $400 each!!

Hope you will enjoy Denmark/Copenhagen - feel free to ask any questions

[jacob]

That's really tough to answer. I don't really think in terms of frugal/not-frugal anymore, so this is more a list of what I'd imagine the outside perspective on me/my behavior would be (I'll probably not do a very good job at this because it's hard for me to empathize with a normal consumer). It's a somewhat on the level of "No, we don't wash and reuse ziplock bags, but that's because we bought three boxes of them for $3 from someone who moved cross country and if that hadn't happened, we'd probably be using mason jars which we bought in bulk at a yard sale."---That kind of frugality. Not the silly uninformed "sacrifice"-kind of frugality but the "staying on top of it and keeping your eyes open"-kind.

Frugal:
* Almost everything I get is bought used, given to me, given away, or sold used. (Exceptions are obvious ones where things wear out through use (not buying used up) or simply exceed my skeeziness tolerance... socks, underwear, shoes, water bottles, ...).
* Taking a damn good time waiting for opportunity to present itself instead of just paying to get it done right now. (E.g. at our old place I spent 1+ years building the furniture on evenings and weekends so we could have custom fits instead of just going to Ikea and blowing $2000 on a "matched set" or craigslisting an "unmatched" set for $200. It turned out really well in my opinion. Then we moved ... once again our home looks like something you'd see in the home design magazine as a bad example. This will be fixed in about 2 years though. I'll get around to it.).
* Using cardboard furniture (cabinets, not tables and chairs ) because it's dead-easy to set up and throw away. I'm lazy. DW does not appreciate this to the same degree I do. Again, I'll get around to it, but the easy of cardboard puts this further down the list than "normal" people would prefer.
* Spending many hours learning how to do things I could pay some expert $300 to do for me every single time I need it done, e.g. taxes, electric, gas, water, investing, ... this often, but not always, happens even if the problem only needs to be solved once. E.g. we chose to spend $2800 on a new roof(*) even though I probably could have figured that out and would probably need to do it at least 1-2 times more in my life time. Maybe this should be filed under extravagances.
* In most cases, I'd rather go 18 hours w/o food than eat out... but this is as much because intermittent fasting is good for me.
* I'd rather walk 3M than spend 25c on a bus fare... but this is as much because walking is good for me.---A lot of supposedly frugal measures have very positive side-effects.

(*) Even then I never avoid spending any time at all. Googling and picking up the phone was a $4500 quote. We asked around and got references instead.

Extravagance:
* We always pay cash whether it's a double cheeseburger, a car or a house ... even it might not make sense from a financial perspective. We like it for the emotional "comfort" of not being "pwned". Our debt/asset rate is 0%.
* Little Cesars. And Natty Ice. I enjoy the simple things (like alcohol and grease). Also the industrial waste meat products known as hotdogs. I like those.
* Our 96% efficiency two-stage furnace. Sorry, but I hate forced air heating. A two-stage furnace makes it barely noticeable. Yeah, we paid $2k extra for that.
* When something falls under tools or books, I very often buy the most expensive/best tool even if I could have used consumer grade throwaway version. Fortunately, I can mostly sell these again making the cost akin to buying the crap version in the first place. However, I decided very early on (after ~1 year) not to let any saving of money prevent me from using the best equipment to learn or build (self-improve). Overall, I tend to pay premium dollars for the highest functionality possible even if I don't strictly need it. I stop short of paying for silver-inlay or diamonds though.
* Most importantly, the luxury of quitting jobs or moving across country or countries simply because something looks more interesting w/o considering income, etc. DW and I can never made a lot of money (until now, that all my streams of income add up to that of a software engineer ;-P ... except for the last 3 years, it's been << below US average) and except for a brief period of about 1 years, we've never had more than 1 year of full time DINK salaries... and yet, we have a lot of assets and have always made choices according to what we found interesting since the balance sheet is long and early taken care of.

[Chad]

A lot of my mine are really half frugal and half extravagant. My vehicle is a prime example.

Frugal:
- I don't have any living room furniture. I use an air mattress I stand up against the wall when not in use. I do have an office chair for the computer, but future extravagance might be a desk that can go from normal to stand-up.
- I don't have a bed either. I do have a mattress, but I only use the stand alone steel frame that came with it. Why would I even want a bed? I'm not sure I would even buy one if I were worth $50 million.
- My vehicles have historically been used and rebuilt from salvage titles.
- I only buy top of the line equipment, when I do buy. Others, such as Jacob, put this in the "Extravagance" category, but I think it can be argued that it should be in the "Frugal" category. Sure, if I'm buying 5 pairs of Oakley sunglasses it's extravagant, but buying a high end expensive tool you actually use/need is frugal in my mind.
- I like video games, but never buy them at full price. In 4-6 months you can get them for half, if not better.
- I'm semi-frugal with clothes. I don't buy my clothes at a thrift store, but I only buy them with significant discounts and I wear them until they wear through. I don't have an issue with the dryer ruining my clothes. My elbows or ass wears my clothes out before the fuzz pulled from my clothes every week.
- I live in low end housing, but in nice areas. I used to live in the basement of a townhouse. Now I live in a building built in the 40's or 50's that is maybe a decade away from being knocked down or having serious money spent on remodeling all the apartments.

Extravagant:
- Beer! No Natty Ice for me. I do love the micro-brews. Allagash Black, Allagash White, North Coast Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout (soooo good), etc.
- Jeep Wrangler. I bought it barely used, but they are still not cheap. It's a want, but the top down lifts my mood immediately. One semi-frugal item is they lose their value very very slowly.
- I fly first class most of the time. I fly a couple times a year and I can usually credit card arbitrage/air miles the cost of a first class ticket down to a couple hundred. Yes, I could get economy for nothing doing the same thing, but my damn shoulders are in the other seats. Even if I weighted 150lbs my shoulders would still be in the seats beside me, it's not a weight thing. Of course, I would be dead too...no way I could weight 150lbs.
- I buy organic vegetables/fruit for the dirty dozen. Not too costly if you shop around.
- Cable..., but I will be getting rid of it this year! As soon as Sling comes out, it will take care of the one thing that has been preventing me from ditching cable...live sports (Specifically, football. So, only need it in the fall.). http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015 ... /22173543/ I can't wait.

[lilacorchid]

My list is probably pretty run of the mill.

Frugal:

-Walked my kid to daycare rain or shine since he started at 17 months. We caved a took a few taxis last year when it was -30 and he refused to wear a toque.
-Wear the same basic clothes/shoes to work and for everyday
-Live in the same house I bought when I was single, and we now use every room without letting it overflow

Extravagant:

-Smart phone! More knowledge than I could ever read in a lifetime in my pocket. And cat pictures!
-Older version of this for us: http://www.totousa.com/washlet%C2%AE-s3 ... ted-ewater, self-cleaning cat little box for kitty
-Fancy kibbles for kitty, off season fruits and veg for us, only convenience foods at grocery store are off limits
-I don't care how much something costs if I can buy it once, get a lot of use out of it and never replace it. (Example: cookware falls into this category)
-Took an extra five months off unpaid to spend more time with my toddler when he was little.
-Our TV. We don't have cable, but we have a massive TV with the best picture money can buy right now.

[llorona]

Frugal:
-Buy large industrial rolls of toilet paper. (We break out the nice stuff when guests come over.)
-Limit entertainment budget to Netflix, the occasional computer game, and free activities.
-Mend all my clothing by hand, including underwear.
-Take cans/bottles to the recycling center.
-Learned how to cook Thai, Chinese, Indian, and Ethiopian food at home.
-Rarely buy clothing and shoes, but choose good quality, new items (usually on sale from Zappos or Macy's) when necessary.

Extravagant:
-Own a house in the Bay Area.
-Purchased my car new (and will drive it until the wheels fall off).
-I hate flying and rarely travel by air. But if we have to fly, we're traveling business or first class.
-Love my iPad (refurbished)!

[GandK]

Frugal:

-Other than socks and underwear, and G's suits, we buy all clothing and accessories used now.
-We also buy pretty much everything else used, to include appliances, furniture, games, books, electronics, kitchenware, etc.
-We went down to one car. This occasionally causes juggling in our big blended family, but we're sticking to our guns.
-We cut cable some time ago, and now use Netflix, Chromecast and the (used) XBox instead. We occasionally snag a free Redbox movie as well.
-We have occasionally used our phone's data as our home internet connection. We did this for a year at one point.
-We frequently barter our services for others' services. I exchange child care and with other mothers when possible, and I exchange computer work and G exchanges free legal counsel for other services we need. In the past this has included home repairs, HVAC work, gardening, woodworking lessons, vehicle repairs, and even the weeklong use of a fully furnished vacation condo.

Extravagant:
-We're "on vacation" about 20% of the year.
-We have high-end phones and phone plans.
-Our wants are few, but on the rare occasion that we find ourselves wanting to own a new item, we just go get it.