"You spend too little on yourself/Save too much" Dilemma

[Deleted]

Have a really insightful discussion going on my other thread,

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...-happy-)/page5

following a similar theme in this one. Yea pretty much going through a phase in life where these questions keep popping up (the time between landing a job and settling down permanently)

So what do people consider as too little spending on yourself ? Or too much saving ?

I personally am quite happy with how much I spend/save presently, but I can spend quite a bit more and have more fun, which are the basis of complains from some friends and family members who ofc don't see the whole picture cuz I don't live lavishly or anywhere close to what I can afford. Though I am saving for a mortgage and stuff, so I find the reactions a bit ill informed, but are they correct in telling me that I should spend more, if so what would be a good balance as far as spending / saving is concerned (Save 30%, Spend 70%)?? Think this mainly depends on circumstances, so people will respond differently but am still interested in how people feel about this.

[Dakia]

Personally, we go for a half/half spend/save. I know that many can't do that, but living in a small down does help with the lower costs.

One general rule of thumb that I live by: Always pay yourself first

[Deleted]

I don't spend much money on myself, just basic maintenance for hair cuts, clothes and products etc. I usually spend my money on others, especially my friends daughter, I miss being a kid so enjoy giving her everything I would of wanted at that age.

As for saving, I just can't do it, I get to a certain amount and think "OK time to hit the shops".

[Paq]

I spend next to nothing on myself. I spend a lot on my"household" which directly effects me, but as for personal effects that I want rather then need, next to zero. I could, but I would rather save given the current economy, plus I am saving up for a STi CS400 something I reeeeeaaally want :P

[Sevarin]

is there even such a thing as spending too little on yourself? i avoid spending money whenever possible, i rarely even go out to dinner since half the time i can make more, better quality food, for half the price. about the only time i spend money is when i absolutely need something, or maybe buy a game every 6+ months

[Arkenaw]

There is absolutely no such thing as too much saving.

[Kerath]

I don't really spend a huge amount on myself. My first time living away from home I was constantly skint, so that taught me to be very careful with money. I earn a lot more now than I did then, but I find myself constantly surprised by my bank balance. I still have this little feeling of guilt if I do splurge and treat myself, like I shouldn't be spending so much even though I have plenty to cover bills and some put aside for those emergency costs that crop up from time to time (as well as regular savings). Vast majority of my outgoings are for household bills/necessities.

[Thetruth1400]

There is absolutely no such thing as too much saving.

This is honestly the best advice you're going to get. There's no reason to spend money just to say you spent it. Sure, you COULD spend every dime you get on fancy food, booze, games, luxuries, etc. but what would you really be getting from it? Say you're making $1,000 a month and are happy spending $500 on necessities, $200 on luxuries, and $300 into savings, there's no reason to not accept that as your own personal spending habit.

I guess the best thing I can say is, spend what you want to keep yourself happy.

[Pitkanen]

Will spending more really bring you more fun? The key is to recognize marginal gains as marginal, especially when the price for those gains in large. While overall you need to be responsible and fulfill key needs, you can usually substitute big fun costs with close medium/low costs that will bring you nearly as much enjoyment.

I think the biggest issue people really have is understanding what is a need or not. Cable TV is not a need. Very High Speed internet, not work related, is not a need. Smartphones with 30-40$ data packages are not a need. These are things you already spend on yourself for your own convenience / enjoyment... and when you budget you should categorize them accordingly.

[Deleted]

There is absolutely no such thing as too much saving.

Agreed, but I'd save in gold rather than currency given the times we live in.

[Deleted]

At the moment, being an almost graduating student I'm always skinned without buying a lot of things for myself. So i guess i will have to see once i get a job, hopefully soon

[Bolson13]

There is no golden % so to say but you could set a target for yourself if that helps. Say you want to buy the house in 2 years and you want to have saved about 20.000, then try to set away 1000 dollars each month. I understand you will have saved 24.000 by the end but that way you wont have to worry about expensive months (holidays, months you buy a lot of clothes or an actual vacation).

Anyways, point being that you should have a rough budget for your income/expenses in your head and keep long term wishes/rough patches in mind. Also, once you have the house, try to save roughly 3 to 6 month salaries as a back up and anything after that you should try to make work for you.

Anybody saying you should spend more, i dont know how frugal you are but it is probably the least "bad" habit there is. Unless of course you dont eat properly so you can save a few bucks.

[valax]

In this time the more you can save for the future the better !

[Lodreh]

A couple of thoughts come to mind... your family and friends know you better than we do. It could be they want you to enjoy yourself before settling down because they can't spend like that anymore. Or it could be they know you will not be able to save as much in the future and want you to see what it's like if you don't have enough saved in case of an emergency. Either case they know you better so take their advice over ours.

[Deleted]

Will spending more really bring you more fun? The key is to recognize marginal gains as marginal, especially when the price for those gains in large. While overall you need to be responsible and fulfill key needs, you can usually substitute big fun costs with close medium/low costs that will bring you nearly as much enjoyment.

I like this, Netflix over cinema, etc.

I spend a fair bit on travel - I could cut back but I already spend enough time in my room... I do play WoW after all

[Within]

Given my current jobsituation and expenses I get away with about 10-15% of my salary after food and bills are payed so I can rarely save anything.

I don't wanna cut down on food expenses because I value a filled fridge/freezer.
The car I don't want to sell because of several reasons. One being that I'm currently the only one who live close enough to my other familymembers, that actually own a car.

But it's true that a new job with higher paygrade is needed to support my current lifestyle smoothly (although I do get by). Sadly, current jobmarket isn't all that good in Sweden, so next year I'll just head into an IT-technician education.

[lordmatthias]

It really depends on what you want to do. Right out of school I was completely broke (after I moved into my apartment), but I had a decent job. My wife and I decided that we really wanted to take advantage of the current situation of the housing market and buy a house, of course stuff came up that we decided to buy, but in general we were able to bank a lot of money buy keeping our expenses low. We were able to buy our brand new house 1.5 years after that original point, and it was because we were able to live frugally and save. Now that we have the house there are still things we want to do (finish the basement, landscaping etc...) so we still buget to save a fair amount of cash, but now we do spend more money on stuff. Mostly stuff that we both use, but occasionally stuff that are just for me or her. I would say at this point we probably spend/save 40/60 after bills , but some months are more and some months are less depending on the goals we are shooting for.

The short of it is, don't let other people dictate how you should spend your money (who cares if you live frugally if you are ok living that way), and if you have a goal you are shooting for get to it the way you think is best.

[Deleted]

Solid advice right there guys, thanks, keep it coming

Kalium, you made a really good point there and I feel that might be the case as well but still no harm in trying to find all angles of an argument ^^

[Pony Soldier]

I hate it when people criticize me by saying stuff like "you're hoarding your money in your bank." Oh so I guess I should take out all the money and just start spending it on things I don't need like maybe I should just go out and buy like 50 pairs of shoes and like 3 closets worth of clothing that I don't need because you know I really need that much clothing and that many shoes to get by in life. Then you might have people that want you to donate money. I'm sorry but unless I see my money in person directly going towards whatever I'm donating to, I never donate money to ANYTHING. In this day age I don't trust giving my money to anybody but my friends and family. You just don't know what's really being done with your money. Only things that I spend my money on are video games and things that actually are important like groceries and bills. I don't need to be buying loads of clothing everyday just so I look fabulous out on the streets. Hell I still have shoes I still wear that I've worn back when I was a freshman in high school. That's almost 6 years ago and I've never bought a new pair since. The newest pair of shoes I have are ones I got for Christmas and that was about 3-4 years ago already.

I find "saving too much" works out better than complaining that you don't have any money.

[chrisberb]

What it really comes down to is, IF you make enough money to actually have money you can save, then save it/some.