Frugality Fails
Frugality Fails
I did something completely illogical upon realizing that I was financially independent. I doubled down. I conceived of a plan to slow down at work (which I enjoyed) and plotted up a scheme to stay at home, cook, clean, and do all the chores that we had hired out previously (Which I didn’t enjoy). I harassed my wife about getting rid of her car, and started to eye our monthly bills with a hatchet in hand ready for blood. But why? I was already financially independent. I already had enough based on my current spending levels. More than enough. So why was I trying to complicate my life to force even greater savings? I was heading down a path of frugality fails that has become even harder to correct as time goes by.
Why fails?
Frugality is only as good as it allows you to better allocate your resources for greater joy and less suffering. When you jump on the stoic treadmill and it no longer fulfills your needs, you might have just gone too far.
Charge Me Up
I have talked in the past about my one major stealth wealth fail. Well, the Tesla is also a major one of my frugality fails. This time it has to do with charging. I charge my car. Everyday. But I hate to pay the extra on the electrical bill. So I drag myself daily to the dealership charging station and plug-in.
It can take up to an hour or more to fully charge. Meanwhile, I sit in the passenger seat and am confined to doing busy work or writing a blog post. While not completely worthless, I could be doing better things with my time.
But I don’t.
All said, between travel and charging time, this may take up to two hours of my day. Two hours so that I can save a measly $3 dollars at most. That’s barely more than a thousand dollars a year.
Yet I do it. Consistently. Frugality fails to save me money when the cost of time is considered.
Comparison Shopping
We are big time comparison shoppers. We may travel to more than one shop to buy a simple household item. In fact, grocery shopping may fill up a whole Saturday. The cheapest fruit can be found at one store. While the best meat may be at another store all the way across town. And don’t forget Trader Joe’s. No shopping trip is complete without stopping at Trader Joe’s.
The amount of time and gas wasted probably makes this yet another one of our frugality fails. Any benefits of such careful spending is out done by the energy required to achieve these “wins”.
Yet we do it.
Satisfaction
It is no secret that these are frugality fails. That the price of pinching pennies may indeed be costing us dollars. So why do we do it? I think it has to do with satisfaction. There is a certain amount of positive feelings involved each time something is bought for less.
Maybe it is the thrill of the hunt. Maybe it is the habit.
The habit is one honed from saving huge on other purchases we haven’t discussed here. Because there are also the incredible frugality wins. The house hacks, travel hacks, and other efficiencies that we build into our lives that really do move the needle.
Once you turn on the thrifty engine it is often hard to turn it off.
Final Thoughts
Sometimes we take frugality too far. Sometimes our wins turn into frugality fails. I suspect we let habit get the best of us. After years of practicing impactful care in our spending habits, it is possible to occasionally go too far and have the exact opposite effect.
Like so many other aspects in life, we are imperfect.
Not a fatal flaw when taken in context.
It is really funny you mention the Tesla Supercharging.
When I first got it whenever I was within 15 miles or so of the dealership on an errand (the dealership is about 55 miles away) I would often drive there to supercharge knowing full well I had enough to do everything and get back home fine. I soon realized this was a huge waste of my time. Driving the extra distance, the time in the car waiting for it to be charged, etc to save at most $2 in electricity for me became absurd to do so and I broke the habit.
Even now, when there was a local supercharger built (about 10 miles away) I do not visit it. Even if I’m right next door I don’t have any desire to tap into “free electricity” because the cost savings is so little for me.
And if you are driving 10 miles or more (20 miles round-trip) just to supercharge when don’t need it you are probably coming out behind in the long run if you consider wear and tear on the car/tire usage. I forgot what the IRS allows you to deduct as an expense/mile but it was in the range of 40-50 cents off the top of my head. That 20 mile supercharge trip is then worth at least $8, far more than charging at home from empty to full.
Funny we buy such expensive cars and the get caught up on the math over such little sums.
it can be a rabbit hole. First you find yourself saving 10k a year with some change. So you continue. But at some point your picking up pennies off the freeway (not literally) if you go to far. Everything in life is a balanacing act, Frugality included.
True. You have to go too far and then pull yourself back.
You might already have a post on this, but I’ve never been to Trader Joes, what am I missing out on?
Great stuff. You have to check one out!
DocG, The main benefit of money is to make your life easier and de-stress it. Saving money passively is easier. I mainly shop at Costco. It’s simple and easy. The prices are good enough.
Learning how to accept “good enough” is a big part of the process.
My biggest frugality fail has to be our built-in refrigerator. I found it as a floor model when my husband was hand-crafting all of our kitchen cabinets. Normally priced around $7000, it was marked down to $2000 and it would allow the walkway between the counter to not stick out in the way. But fast-forward twenty years and it was beyond repair and we were forced to either buy the same model or rebuild the cabinets. We went ahead and bought the replacement for $8000, the best price we could find anywhere. Ouch! At least all the woodworking panels for the front fit perfectly still.
Ouch is right. That’s one expensive refrigerator. But sometimes it is worth it. right?
Being a fan of the efficient frontier I don’t practice frugality. Frugality is spending half the day buzzing around to save 50 cents. Way too costly exactly because of the time and capital resource investment of wear and tear on the car. If you ignore that you delude yourself. Parsimony OTOH is application of Occam’s Razor to the situation, getting the most for the true least. If you include that Amazon Prime becomes the go to solution. An example, I like Starbucks double shot espresso drinks. It’s a double shot of espresso in a can. I drink 1 can per day and I just finished today’s allotment! I have a big deal espresso maker and grinder etc but in the end making espresso is time consuming, messy, garbage producing, and I have better things to do. The usual store price is about 7 bux for 4 cans or 1.75 a can plus I have to go get them. It goes on sale quite often and gets down to 5 bux for 4, 1.25 per can. Usually it’s on sale at 1 chain of stores like Walgreen’s and is popular and often you would show up to get the sale and it would be sold out, wasted trip. When I was low on stock I would spend half a day driving around getting my pantry stocked at the so called deal price. Stupid. I can get a better deal on Amazon Prime. The price per can is slightly more but it’s delivered with only a small amortization due to membership fee (we get a lot of stuff on prime). The cost per can on Amazon is 1.42 and I can order as much as I want any time I want and it comes from a nearby fulfillment center and is generally delivered the next day. Not having to watch for sales and arriving at a sale that’s sold out is eliminated. All I have to do is stumble out to my front porch in my jammy’s and I got coffee for a month! That’s parsimony!, getting the best bang for the buck. The “lowest price” is not always the best deal. Paying the correct price given all the risk costs involved is the best deal. Efficient Frontier
Very true. The lowest price isn’t always the best deal. Sometimes I have to be reminded of that.
Yes, there is a line when frugality has gone too far. If we see you on a TV show about hoarders, we’ll all know you’ve crossed the line.
My husband likes to turn the lights off if someone steps out of the room, regardless if they are coming back in 5 minutes to the same room, to save on the electric bill. He also price shops for gas our cars. While, It doesn’t make sense to me to drive 10/15 minutes out of the way to save 4- 6 cents a gallon. He seems to be very excited about the 60 – $1.20 savings. Call it habit, obsession or just basic human quirkiness; it doesn’t really matter. If it makes you feel good to drive your car to the charging station at the dealership to save $3. Do it. Trader Joe’s , big fan too. Good prices, some very interesting items. Go Shop. It’s all truly ok.
I totally do the light thing too!
There is no time cost to turning off the light when you leave a room. You are walking by the light switch, you raise your arm, and you flick it off. You save a negligible amount of money and make a negligible positive impact on the environment. But if everyone did this, the impact could be significant. Frankly, I do not care if you save your money or not, but I would like you (and everyone) to help save the planet.
Going to the dealer to charge the electric car for free on a daily basis cannot be rationally justified. Your time is worth $200-300 per hour and you are blowing that to save maybe $5?
Yep. No rational justification. But it feels so good!
Trader Joe’s for the win!
Yep. How could you not shop there?