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post #1 of 26
Thread Starter 
Say you've paid off your debt and own your house. Do you think you would change your frugal lifestyle? Would you buy pricier food? Drink finer wine? Stop shopping at Thrift stores and yard sales? etc....
post #2 of 26
I honestly have to say there would definetly be a period where I spent some loot- :LOL I feel like I have been poor for so long that I could really really use some nice household items-(pots n pans for one!) I have no endtables n such, I could use a new winter coat etc etc so I would get what I wanted and needed right away but after that i am sure I would continue to be frugal because I would definetly tithe at church,give to charity,sponsor a child in Africa and such.....I would want to give give give if I actually had something to give. I couldnt imagine not shopping off the sale racks or at thrift stores,ebay etc.....its just not me.
post #3 of 26
funny this should come up. we are planning to pay off our home loan in 7 years or less (we settle this friday - yay!). we are a one income family of 3. dh earns good money and we thought we'd make the most of his income and use our money very frugally for now (with the exception of organic food). that means spending money of $100 per month for the 3 of us - including clothes.
we made a pact that once our loan was paid off, dh can either leave his work and pursue something else he is interested in, or he can continue working (he only expects to move up from here on) and we will have something like $7000 a month to play with. i think after having $33 a month to spend for 7 years i'm entitiled to let loose a little, and i'll most likely go back to spending after the debt is paid. i do love discounts, but i also feel really bad about buying $2 "made in china" clothes for us (after dh's business trip to china and what he saw, i really am ashamed to buy made in china goods). i also love organically produced goods (clothes etc) and i'd like to be able to buy a punnet of organic blueberries and strawberries in the summer and not worry that i've spent $6 for 100g and that i'd have to reduce how much lunch costs to cook tomorrow. i wouldn't spend on bling bling stuff, mostly ethically made goods and support the charities/organisations/farmers i believe in. i'd get a new oven that doesn't stink, take my daughter to europe and around australia, travel to see my sister and her family and take my parents with me, get solar hot water installed etc. that's how i would spend. hell, we don't even have a tv, vcr or stereo right now and i don't think i would even want one when the debt is paid off.
post #4 of 26
i think i would continue to be frugal so i wouldnt loose all my money. maybe shop at outlets more than consignment but i dont think i could go and spend $$$ all day long...sometimes i wish i could but in reality i know i wouldnt. doesnt that make sense, lol???
post #5 of 26
I would definitely drink finer wine :LOL And while we shop resale there is rarely anything there. I would still shop the nicer consignments and clearance sales and never ever buy anything full price. But my family would have nicer clothes. i would aim more for organic and natrual fibers etc . . . As far as food goes we eat mostly organic so it hard to get frugal wiht that. I wouldn't start going crazy with convience fod and expensive treasts for all the same reasons we don't waste money on that stuff now. organic crap is still crap. it is just crap that is slightly less bad for you and had a nicer impact on the environment. i would also splurge more on earth friendly stuff like converting to recycled paper products and buy lots of things from natrual home magazines like composting gadgets, water filtes, and all tht fun stuff.

we would still try to be car free, and not be wasteful of resources etc. . .

I feel as a monther of girls who have a high likelyhood of becomiong future mothers I have an abligation to prepare for them for life and that includes teaching them how to be frugal and to make that soemthing they are comfortable and skilled at. regardless of how much money thier husbands make a frugal wife is a gift.
post #6 of 26
My answer: Heck no!

We have our "what we would do if we won the lottery" plan, which includes getting a farm or house with more land for vegetable gardening. I'd love to be able to hire someone to help clean the house. And if we stayed in our current house that bathroom would get renovated. We'd also go out to ethnic eateries more often.

But I think we'd keep the same cars (just pay off DH's), and I'd still probably shop the thrift stores and garage sales.

We were relatively frugal (compared to the world at large) before we became parents. Now, on one income, it's a necessity.
post #7 of 26
I agree with what was said above. I would get the things we need first.

After that I would definitely still be frugal. It's a part of who I am. I was raised poor and not wasting is pretty much ingrained into me.

If we even had a little more right now I would definitely use the money to help others.
post #8 of 26
The only things that would change for me would be

1. more money to our church
2. buy 100% organic all the time
post #9 of 26
Originally Posted by HydeParkB
My answer: Heck no!

Actually, we're not even frugal now, and we don't have any money!

I always joke that we shouldn't even play the lottery (we never do) because we'd totally be the cliche people who spend all the money in a few years AND end up a few extra million in debt. : At least it would be fun while it lasted!

ETA: I do TRY to be frugal, which is why I'm always looking in this section. I'm just kind of a frugality failure.
post #10 of 26
I would spend some money on my house--new kitchen, new flooring, etc. But I would save at least half of it, and I wouldn't really change our lifestyle other than that.
post #11 of 26
No, not as frugal as we are now...I guess it depends on what we are talking about re: "coming into money." If our current income doubled, I think we would live the same way we do now, but be putting money into savings/retirement, instead of being paycheck to paycheck. But if we're talking about winning the lottery...I think we would travel a lot, and not terribly frugally either.

On the other hand when it comes to consumer goods, I think I would want to limit what came into our house, and model a certain level of consumption for DS. I don't think it's healthy to grow up with the idea that you can buy every single thing that you see.

I have been out to eat with wealthy friends & their kids, and watched them order everything on the menu the kids ask for...appetizers, entrees, sides, drinks, desserts...enough food to feed 4 families and 80% of it doesn't get eaten. I find it really disturbing. I have boxed up what they didn't finish and taken it home, since they were going to let it be thrown away. I'm not really from the "clean your plate" school but I do believe in taking a moderate amount of food, finishing it, and then asking for more if you're still hungry. I wouldn't want my son to learn to be so cavalier about waste, no matter what our family's financial situation might be like.
post #12 of 26
I would definately stay frugal. Regardless of having money or not I think buying just because we have the money is wastefull.

Of course I would pay off everything. Give more to our parents to repay all that went into raising us. Eat 100% organic. Buy the supplements we all need on a regular basis instead of semi-reg like now. Fix the house we have. And have a beer vat installed under the house for dh to have a constant flow..... HAHAHAHAHA even if I have extra money now I can't help but shop the clearance racks - at consignment, resale and goodwill stores. I have these standards for clothes prices and doubt I will ever change. Even goodwill's prices seem high to me sometimes! lol
post #13 of 26
It would be nice to live more comfortably and not worry about paying the bills on time or juggling one payment to make another and it would be nice to occasionally splurge on something extra but overall my whole attitude would not change. I prefer to live simply and not wastefully but a few "treats" here and there would be nice.
post #14 of 26
goodwill is expensive!! I can do beter shopping clearance racks at nice stores. no way I am spending $5 on a dress from teh 80's with stains on it when I can get one for 43 at Old Navy, Gap or Daytons.
post #15 of 26
I don't think you have a choice once you've really started to 'think frugal'... once you've decided that X amount of money is what a certian thing should cost, it's kind of hard to convince yourself that you should spend a whole lot more than that just because you've got it. So yeah, we'd still buy clothes at the thrift store (but then, part of the reason why we do that is moral anyway...), buy used, recycle, keep our cars, etc.

But there's definately some things we'd do/buy 'just cause'. I know we'd travel more. We'd do things that we put off, like repairs to the car, and cleaning the carpets, and fixing the computer right away instead of saving up for them. We'd replace all our teflon pans and 40 year old towels in one fell swoop rather than peicemeal as we have money. We'd fix DH's teeth rather than hoping that someone's next job has a dental plan.

But day to day, the reason we don't have a lot of junk isn't cause we can't afford it, it's because we don't want a lot of junk. And I can't see that changing even if we did have a billion dollars.
post #16 of 26
I have a "real" answer for you: yes...for awhile until it catches up with you. We won a decent amount on a lotto scratch-off about a year ago. We paid off all our debt (except our house) and traded in a bad vehicle for a really nice SUV (paid cash). Started retirement funds and ate out at least 2-3 times a week. We felt "justified" in spending money on "this that and the other thing" becuase we "went without" for so long. It wasn't too-too crazy...like taking vacations or buying big screen tvs or antyhing...but definately more then we were spending before. This spending frenzy lasted about 4-5 months.

Fast Forward: I am now DESPERATE for saving money again. When I say desperate...I mean DESPERATE. I should have saved that money to apply towards the fact that I am out $40k a year for being a SAHM. Instead I ate out.

I always said if I ever came into money that I wouldn't do what every other "idiot" does and blow it all...and truly I didn't "blow it all" because I paid off debt and started retirement funds...but I wasn't still frugal either and THAT money I sure wish I had now.
post #17 of 26

We did the opposite, but twice.

Had money. Lost it (first dotcom crash)

Had money again. Lost it (second dotcom crash) - the day before we closed on the house we were buying.

We didnt live very differently when we had money from how we live without. We rarely ate out, and I very rarely bought anything for myself. The only thing I spent money on was books for the kids and for me, and I have to say that I still spend a fair amount on books - just can't break that habit.

My only regret is that we didnt cash in some of our fortune one day sooner so we didnt lose the house.......

Honestly, though, the only time I am sad that we don't have our $$s any more is during crises like Katrina. We still give what we can - but boy, I'd have loved to have had the money to do something really significant to help.
post #18 of 26
I am not the most frugal person as it is but I can't stand to buy anything that sin't on sale. I love a bargain. If we won the powerball- I would have a nice house, new cars, and nice stuff but I'd make sure I was getting the best bargain I could find. I's quit my job, return to college to work on a masters or phd OR I would quit my job and foster/adopt a whole houseful of kiddos. DH on the otherhand would spend money like a lunatic- buying every gadget he could find and he's not a frugal shopper like me, so he'd be paying full price.

We would have to really work at not spending it all in a manner of years. I'd find someone to help us manage our millions.

I love dreaming about winning the jackpot (the most I've ever won is 80 bucks )
post #19 of 26
Can you say have passport will travel :LOL

We'd fix up the house with high end stuff, yeah I know but I'm still living with college partical board. Nice floors, steam shower...... Yeah I'd buy healthier more exotic food, but I don't see us really changing our daily lifestyle that much.
post #20 of 26
Originally Posted by MerelyGod



:LOL You gave me a good laugh, cuz you and I are twins separated at birth! I'd spend the money and do all the things I've always dreamed of doing if I had the money!
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