Being Frugal Makes You A Loser

The first blog comment somehow underlines the truth in this post:

> You’re such a dick, Scott.

I don't think that being frugal has ever been about going cheap.

Frugality is not about consuming but investing in your life: that often contradicts with cheap.

Frugality is about not buying things you don't need but buying things you can't live without. A frugal person will typically invest in quality because he knows he'll be using the item for years and doesn't want to replace it every few.

I wouldn't consider myself extremely frugal but my favorite shoes I'm wearing today I bought in the year 2000. They feel great, they have never had to been repaired, they resist water enough, the leather is in good condition and actually they didn't cost much (guesstimate in today's currency: 100-150€). But I have this mindset that I don't need new shoes just for the sake of new shoes. That's frugality. I will wear mine for another ten years if only they'll hold together and still look tidy enough to walk into the public. (They look used of course, but still tidy.) If they don't, I'll have to buy a replacement pair.

Frugality is also sometimes buying the cheapest thing. Buying a cheap electric drill is frugal if you only drill a few times a year, which makes the drill last for decades. Buying the best that money can buy would be frugal if you're a carpenter or do renovations every week and need a professional grade durability; however, if you're not doing that you're not frugal but rather just going on the hifi tangent and in reality you want to buy the expensive model because of your ego only.

Frugality also brings focus to—I was going to say consumption but I'll say personal investment instead. It makes sense to buy quality items for what you love: if you love riding a bike then investing in a quality bike is frugal because it saves you and the environment from unneeded consumption and hair-pulling. But you can't love everything either. You can't have the top of the line computer, screen, home theater, coffee grinder, washing machine, mattress, toilet seat, motorcycle, car, bike, camera, video camera, clothes, shoes, accessories and consider yourself frugal. You can have one or two because you simply can't be spending all of your time only grinding coffee, coding, washing laundry, riding a motorbike, and shooting photos.

And yes, being frugal inevitably does make me look like a loser in the eyes of some people. But then what?

Other people's opinions about me are none of my business anyway.

> "I don't see the correlation between expensive footwear and comfort."

They often are more comfortable, it all depends on what you're doing. You wouldn't go on a long walk in those flip-flops, but if you did, you'd hope you'd have better shoes than $15 runners (seriously, huge difference).

But it's not just about comfort - it's about perception: how others perceive you, and how you perceive yourself. It's about hacking how others see you, and more importantly knowing yourself well enough to hack around your own behavior with your environment and possessions.

For example: cute girl over there, you want to go talk to her. What do you think will give you more confidence, you in a ratty but comfy t-shirt and shorts, or you dressed to the nines and knowing you look good enough to eat?

Another example: that work laptop you use every single day. They both compile code just as well as one another, but one is plasticky and flimsy, and the keyboard creaks annoyingly when you press a key a little too hard. The other is rock solid and feels like Zeus himself cast it out of Mt. Olympus. Which increases your productivity and general satisfaction while working?

> "Beds. Yes, you spend 1/3 your life in bed. And you spend it unconscious. You spend about 0.03% of your conscious life in bed while falling asleep (30 mins a day)."

Yes, but how rested you feel when you regain consciousness is very much related to the quality of your mattress. If we take your logic to its natural conclusion, we'd all just sleep on cardboard.

I live with a belief that I cannot bring my money with me when I die.

The privilege of spending extra on "nice things" is almost purely in the realm of the well-to-do. This is the rationale Rich White People™ use when buying L.L. Bean backpacks (LIFETIME WARRANTY GUYS) that end up piled in attics and covered in dust from neglect. Also, a downside of 'nice stuff' is you have to lug it everywhere. If you lead even a moderately itinerant lifestyle, this totally blows. Don't listen to some guy on the internet telling you your stuff sucks, just buy what you damn well please and what you think will do the job. Your tools don't make you great, your skills do.