Just read ridiculous article on saving money on Yahoo.

[tlbwriter]

I don't think the family is ridiculous, but the article is. Deciding not to make a big unnecessary purchase isn't really "saving money" in my eyes. So listing "not remodeling the deck" just seemed silly. If the deck needed repairs and they did them themselves instead of hiring a contractor, that would be saving money.

 

[beansmom]

OP, I agree with you. Even their "savings" sounds ridiculous to me.

We all wear brand name clothes and I don't think we've spent $1400 a year(not just the summer LOL) for clothes ~ ever.

Sounds like they're cutting back on their lavish, spoiled, possibly-out-of-their-means lifestyle and expect a pat on the back.

everything is relative. WE don't mow our own lawn, we pay condo fees to have it done. WE spend more than $1400 a year on clothing...my DH is a physician and adheres to the philosophy (of an OLDER doctor we met) 'if you can't act like a professional, you can at least look like one. (It's a joke but makes the point.) A typical suit costs anywhere from $300-500. I try to find them on clearance at Kohl's but can't always. I work with him and MY wardrobe has to be a bit more professional than jeans and t-shirts as well.

We do vacation quite a bit --our 'cheap' vacations are about $3k with gas, free lodging, admission tickets for the week and groceries for a week. That's in Chautauqua, NY...dh's family has summered there for several generations and it's a must for us. We take a few trips to disney each year (2-3) and this year will be no exception--even staying at a value and sharing all meals, we spend another $3-4k each trip. Air from Mass is $500-700 for us to start with. We went to Italy this year...some would call that a luxury (and it was, I grant you) but we flew for free...got all but 4 nites hotel for free...and at that, food and souvenirs ran us about $3k. (The Euro eats up the American Dollar!) I'm planning Hawaii for next year..flying on FF miles again. But food and lodging will have to be bought.

So...for us to 'save' money, we'd have to stop traveling as well. Buy fewer clothes which is possible but i am not (unlike his former wife) letting my husband go around threadbare. We've already given up subscriptions to one opera company..we're keeping the other. These are extravagances to a lot of people but for us, it's what we work to be able to afford.

Again...everything is relative and we all have different priorities..and *I* would LOVE to remodel our deck but that will have to wait til next spring.

 

[disykat]

. So is your savings "lesser" than hers because her resources at that time were less than yours and her savings had to be more extreme.

Of course it is!

 

[crisi]

Of course it is!

OK, in that case, every time anyone comes on this board and tells how much they saved by cutting cable or choosing a new cell phone plan, I'll point out that as long as they are heating their home in the winter, or own a car instead of biking 15 miles to work like my coworker in China, they aren't saving anything at all and it doesn't count.

Maybe even I'll mock them for their luxurious lifestyle and point out that "who even HAS cable to cut! No one in Cameroon does!"

 

[Planogirl]

These could save people with more lavish lifestyles some money. It's all relative.

As for cutting your own grass, I'd say that easily 3/4 of our neighbors use lawn services. We don't but there are times when I wish we did!

 

[herdtoDisney]

I just thought the article was like, Duh...I had clicked on it hoping for some brilliant insight but it was more like, well yeah if you don't replace the deck you're not spending the money
I currently have my home cleaned bi-weekly. This is a splurge I can enjoy at this time. If I needed to cut, I'd cut it-but I hardly think it would be worth a Yahoo article I also drive old rustbuckets, cut my own hair and do my own nails but again, it's not worth writing an article about, lol.

 

[SaraJayne]

everything is relative. WE don't mow our own lawn, we pay condo fees to have it done. WE spend more than $1400 a year on clothing...my DH is a physician and adheres to the philosophy (of an OLDER doctor we met) 'if you can't act like a professional, you can at least look like one. (It's a joke but makes the point.) A typical suit costs anywhere from $300-500. I try to find them on clearance at Kohl's but can't always. I work with him and MY wardrobe has to be a bit more professional than jeans and t-shirts as well.

We do vacation quite a bit --our 'cheap' vacations are about $3k with gas, free lodging, admission tickets for the week and groceries for a week. That's in Chautauqua, NY...dh's family has summered there for several generations and it's a must for us. We take a few trips to disney each year (2-3) and this year will be no exception--even staying at a value and sharing all meals, we spend another $3-4k each trip. Air from Mass is $500-700 for us to start with. We went to Italy this year...some would call that a luxury (and it was, I grant you) but we flew for free...got all but 4 nites hotel for free...and at that, food and souvenirs ran us about $3k. (The Euro eats up the American Dollar!) I'm planning Hawaii for next year..flying on FF miles again. But food and lodging will have to be bought.

So...for us to 'save' money, we'd have to stop traveling as well. Buy fewer clothes which is possible but i am not (unlike his former wife) letting my husband go around threadbare. We've already given up subscriptions to one opera company..we're keeping the other. These are extravagances to a lot of people but for us, it's what we work to be able to afford.

Again...everything is relative and we all have different priorities..and *I* would LOVE to remodel our deck but that will have to wait til next spring.

Not quite sure what the point of your post was, other than to brag.

My DH isn't a doctor but still manages to look professional in his khakis every day.

ETA: No one said you have to completely stop traveling to save money. You can travel plenty and not spend tens of thousands of dollars. There is a happy medium that many people achieve (including us).

 

[deedeetoo]

Articles on Yahoo are generally very poor. I don't even click on them anymore. I think they have writers on staff who don't have any in depth knowledge about anything but have to come up with these human interest type articles with catchy titles every day. They probably get paid by how many people open their stories. The articles are generally junk so its not surprising that this one contains no useful information.

 

[Arielle22]

Here in Coastal MA, many homes are painted yearly. Winters are harsh and by springtime you can walk around and see the paint peeling.

I have siding and vinyl clad windows so we don't have to but before we replaced the windows, DH would paint the trim every year. Our stairs are repainted every year.

My family of 4 does spend more than $1,400 on clothes each year. Like a previous poster, I grew up wearing hand me downs and I like having new clothes for DH and my daughters.

SaraJayne, while I am sure your husband looks professional in his khakis, many companies don't allow them and suits are required. So it seems you are bragging that your DH doesn't need suits while beansmom's DH does.

 

[SaraJayne]

Here in Coastal MA, many homes are painted yearly. Winters are harsh and by springtime you can walk around and see the paint peeling.

I have siding and vinyl clad windows so we don't have to but before we replaced the windows, DH would paint the trim every year. Our stairs are repainted every year.

My family of 4 does spend more than $1,400 on clothes each year. Like a previous poster, I grew up wearing hand me downs and I like having new clothes for DH and my daughters.

SaraJayne, while I am sure your husband looks professional in his khakis, many companies don't allow them and suits are required. So it seems you are bragging that your DH doesn't need suits while beansmom's DH does.

I'm bragging my husband doesn't have to wear suits to work? Um, yeah.

If I was "bragging", I'd talk about how much money we spend traveling and on other miscellaneous things.

DH works with customers, as well as in a lab. Fifty dollar pants are much "easier" to throw away than suits that cost hundreds of dollars. He wears a lab coat over his clothes to protect them, just like doctors do.

Suits are not required in DH's company, which isn't anything to brag about.

 

[Arielle22]

I'm bragging my husband doesn't have to wear suits to work? Um, yeah.

If I was "bragging", I'd talk about how much money we spend traveling and on other miscellaneous things.

DH works with customers, as well as in a lab. Fifty dollar pants are much "easier" to throw away than suits that cost hundreds of dollars. He wears a lab coat over his clothes to protect them, just like doctors do.

Suits are not required in DH's company, which isn't anything to brag about.

You think beansmom was bragging about how much money she has but I think you are bragging about how much better you are because you don't spend that much money.

 

[SaraJayne]

You think beansmom was bragging about how much money she has but I think you are bragging about how much better you are because you don't spend that much money.

You can "think" all you'd like, doesn't mean you're correct.

 

[NotUrsula]

What this always reminds me of are the articles in Money that address the topic of "what can this family do to make sure they have enough to survive on in retirement?" -- and then you find out that they make $500K/year and have a net worth of $6M.

They don't know from survival, and the articles strike someone like me as ridiculous, because I'm managing OK even though I'll barely make that much money in a decade. It's all a matter of perspective, and these magazines and websites have a target demographic that they write for -- Yahoo apparently imagines that theirs is underemployed former hedge fund managers.

 

[CowboyCO]

We don't. I used to but my allergies got so bad that it was to the point where mowing the grass left me nearly incapacitated for hours or days afterwards - non-stop sneezing, watering eyes, runny nose, headache, etc. Our lawn guy charges us $45 per month for weekly mowing, edging, and trimming. Can't beat it. Best $45 we spend every month!





There is truth in that statement. We aren't wealthy, but I'm not going to begrudge someone more successful of how they spend their money. It's easy to be on a high horse and say how we'd be different if we had a lot of money but how often do you see those same formerly low or middle class people come into money and start blowing it on the very things they always complained about?

I'm not begrudging the success. My point was that there is a difference between "saving" and "not spending".

We cut from 250 channels down to 100, saving $420 a year. That is a savings.

We ditched the land landline and went to cell phone only. That is a $360/year savings.

We made a comcsious effort to turn off lights and unplug leaching electronic devices and have saved an average of $25/month, or $300/year.

I felt the article was written from a "tin ear" perspective in relation to the economy.

 

[lizabu]

haha...I guess it didn't occur to me to pay someone to cut the grass when I can just get one of the kids to do it for free

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

The author does not know her audience very well ... I think that's the big problem. John Q. Public doesn't have gardeners, arborists, and painters to fire for the summer to trim the fat.

 

[lizabu]

The author does not know her audience very well ... I think that's the big problem. John Q. Public doesn't have gardeners, arborists, and painters to fire for the summer to trim the fat.

They forgot to fire their housekeeper and private chef.......cutting back baby

 

[ceecee]

IThe $14 a week we spend to get our lawn mowed is worth having it done in the middle of the day when no one's there and all the cut grass has settled by the time we get home.

$14???? I would consider that price, when we went on vacation, we got several quotes and the cheapest was $90!

 

[minniebeth]

$14???? I would consider that price, when we went on vacation, we got several quotes and the cheapest was $90!

Obviously a landscape company will cost more, but there are so many teenage boys in our neighborhood that undercut each other, you can get your lawn cut for as little as $10. (yes, the entire lawn and they do a good job too~)
The jobs that used to be teenager's are now taken by college kids as well. It's hard to find a part-time job as a young teen, so lawn-mowing is quite competitive.

 

[Anne34]

I agree -- around here you don't find much under $30/week. I do it or my son does it if he's around. (But we have a riding mower -- not much work)!