Penny pinching

[Carl]

I've read an article about that Tokyo Style book.I remember that they have a hierarchy for what they regard as more prestigious:

1. books collection

2. records collection

3. clothes collection

Damn, according to that im doing pretty good.

As far as where the money comes in from? A decent paying internship this summer, washing dishes at a vegan restuarant all through out high school, staff position at the college newspaper, and grandparents that are paying college tuition. I am in complete agreement with those who have touted the virtues of thrift store shopping (and eBay, GOD MOTHER FUCKING BLESS YOU EBAY!). It really isnt all that hard to find either A) expensive deisgner clothes for cheap (eBay or outlet shopping); cheap,vintage clothes that fit better then anything else (thrift store shopping); C) or just saving your money up for that one nice purcahse (my PBJ xx-005's).

Im sure money from parents doesnt hurt but if one is just logical about shopping then it really shouldnt be a problem.

[denimdestroyedmylife]

knowing what's right is one thing. doing what is right is another matter.

my impulses are at odds with my brain.

[holly go lightly]

** I don't have an automobile. that saves a lot of money...

** i work full time but i don't earn a lot. most of my money goes to travelling, and that's something I will never regret.It's foolish to wait until you are in your sixties to travel... the time to go is when you are young, fit, and open-minded.

** i buy expensive clothes, but only 2 or 3 pairs of nice jeans (under 100 EUR but over 50 EUR). buying fewer nice things is better than buying too many shitty things. and then for the really crappy trendy stuff, i stick to h&m, the throwaway stuff that gets ruined after 5 washes. that stuff costs only 3 EUR anyway.

** cheap apartment, used furniture

i don't skimp on books, records, or nightlife.

[PunctualAlex]

I have everything I want and need to any practical extent. Would I love a Porsche? Yea, but I've done enough living to know it won't make my life any happier. We own some vacation property and we take some long family vacations. We fly when it would be cheaper to drive because we can.

We'll be retired when I hit 50. I know, you never know when you're going to die so you might as well live for now instead of retirement, but I already do that. I'm a stay at home dad which is a job I truly love, nothing else I'd rather do in the world. My wife is happy and smiling when she goes to work every day as well, she loves her job in the same way I love mine. We could buy more stuff but we've got no holes to fill.

I really annoy people when I talk about this by the way.

And I don't own any anime, I never understood it, why look at cartoon boobies when real boobies are out there? Weird.

That's awesome. I'm not saying you should be more materialistic... it's partly a reaction to my own parents, who have denied themselves material treasure almost to the point of ascetism along some of the same lines. As for myself, I mostly agree with you but I have unfortunately expensive tastes. Every time I feel content something else I need pops up like an espresso machine, or a new bong, or something like that.

[Sid_vicious]

I've been spending way over budget. Sad to say i've been spending almost every penny i spend. food, booze, clothes, entertainment and all. Always wanted to break the habit of getting labels stuff, but as soon as i see "that new gucci belt", i just got to get it. The things you guys said really made me reflect. Hopefully i can get rid of this addiction. Time to save some money!

[denimdestroyedmylife]

troll?

Well I don't really know her, I only know her name

But she crawls under your skin, you're never quite the same, and now I know

She's got something you just can't trust

It's something mysterious

And now it seems I'm falling, falling for her.

[baskew]

I tend to wear alot of the stuff I design, because well, its free. :/

Other then that, I've really slowed down my sneaker habits, and I try to be conservative as possible when buying things like denim and tees. ( I don't need a pair of $400 jeans every month.)

[keri]

damn ddml, do you gotta type in white?

[herpsky]

Hell, he cooks for the other 2 housemates as well.

Saves me alot of hassle really.

do you live in the US?

[denimdestroyedmylife]

scroll along.

http://k43.pbase.com/u18/tremont/upload/43127082.rcbdance0834.jpg

i'm this close to writing a manifesto.

::holding fingers sort of close-ish::

[cheapmuthafukr]

scroll along.

http://k43.pbase.com/u18/tremont/upload/43127082.rcbdance0834.jpg

i'm this close to writing a manifesto.

::holding fingers sort of close-ish::

if you need advice, hit me up... i have a couple manifestos in me but they are so unorginized they will never see the light of day.

[familyman]

I love manifestos, they're one of my favorite things about forums. It's entertaining when somebody gets worked up and just spews out all their thoughts on a 3 page rant. Much better than 3 sentance replies.

[wooster]

i hate thrift. it's a disease. live within your means, fine, but live beneath your means? what is the point of that? with so much sadness in this world, why throw the benevolence of the universe back in its face? celebrate it, don't feel guilty about it.

even if its a bit of an addictive behavior, clothing is probably about as mild an addiction as you could hope for. and really, it's self-correcting. so you build up some debt. so you come to the realization that the pleasure from having 90 pairs of japanese denim or whatever is no longer worth the cost. that is self-knowledge, and better than denying yourself something you think you want, and never knowing how much pleasure it might have given you.

familyman, if your wife's annual salary is 2x the value of your house, then unless you guys are living in nairobi, your wife is making a truckload of money. buy the porsche. buy a nice pair boots. living on a $100 a month allowance just sounds sad. trust the future (just a little bit) to take care of itself.

[Servo2000]

I think another important thing to do is, and this sounds silly, write down exactly what you want to get. Even better, do what I do and make lists of clothes required for an outfit / outfits. This way, you avoid buying too many articles of clothing / impulse buys that you won't use.

The other thing that's good to remember is spend more money where it counts. In my opinion, spending a lot on a wallet that will last you a few decades is more important than the t-shirt-flavor-of-the-month.

Good link: http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/

[keri]

servo, I have my ultimate list of items I wish to procure. I will have things in the meantime, but these are basic classics I think I need, Things like a natural leather Trenchcoat, A handmade pair of boots, a jacket cut for my body, and then get them in diff colors (need a tailor for that one, clothes aren't cut to show off my tiny waist and i wanna), same thing with pants, good fitting wool trousers, I have yet to find them, but when I do, going to the tailor and getting more made in other colors, a luxury, cashmere sweatpants (just have to), I just got my cashmere cardigan, whoopie!

[darkanimal]

Instead of a list, I lay out all my shirts on top of my bed first and decide if I really need this other thing I saw. Is it really that different from my collection or just more of the same? Then sometimes I end up realizing I need to sell instead of buy.

[Chicken]

where does my beer money fit into all this?

[Cue]

lay all yours beers on the bed and then decide you need another

[dismalfuture]

pay yourself first. have money automatically taken from your paycheck and into some kind of investment fund. you won't miss it.

Wisest words spoken thus far. Those who don't do this yet, wise up!!

[JesseJB]

Heres a fun idea:

When at the bar, order drinks that dont have to be cold. You will sip them rather than gulp them down before they warm up. That way, you'll spend less. Plus drinking a scotch neat looks...well...neat.

[dismalfuture]

^good idea, I will probably work on this in the winter when it becomes hard-liquor drinking season again for me.

Right now, with 90 deg./75% humidity days killing me, I want nothing more than a cold one. If I drank scotch, I'd probably leave every bar scarlet-faced and burning up.

I kind of understated my drinking habits before, I tend to drink a lot. Usually 3 or 4 nights a week of hard drinking nowadays, which is a slowdown from my college days of everyday hard drinking. Djrajio said that it costs about $100 for a night on the town in Tokyo, for me, it's about the same being that I want to get into the good clubs and not drink piss water, so I end up spending quite a bit just on spirits. Knowing that I should probably stop or at least slow down on this but never letting it happen has led me to have several checking accounts, because I'm not great with self-discipline.

I have accounts for my food budget, one for my going out/drinking money, then a misc. account for fun, aside from my primary checking account. The rest of my paycheck goes into savings and some other stuff. It's usually the drinking money that gets depleted first, but I try not to dip into any other money. I'm getting better at that as time goes along.

[darkanimal]

No need for that. It's all about sneaking in the flask.

[dismalfuture]

^ haha, my dad tries to go to the local school sporting events back in hometown America, so me and my kid sister put our minds together one Christmas and got him a nice engraved flask for those kinds of occasions.

I guess big penny pinching really isn't in my blood though, my family was never the type to hold back from having a little fun if it meant spending some money, and my grandmother has the retail disease so I spent my childhood pretty well-dressed and learnt that life comes and goes and that money even faster, but to enjoy time well-spent. Money was important to be aware of but not to be idolized, and so I follow, perhaps a bit of an exaggeration of what my parents taught me, but nothing they can't look at and blame me for too much.

[Jake Unkutt]

just a quick note, im not on a good wage in Tokyo (Nova - 250,000 yen) but i find the cost of living cheaper than in the UK (Brighton/London)

the only thing that is steep is fruit/veg and club entrance,,apart from that its cool!

[evisu 2000]

whisky should be neat regardless of anything.

[Chicken]

actually, if you want to taste a really good whiskey, it's good to mix the whiskey half-way down with really good (mineral) water at room temperature. believe it or not, this will also broaden the aroma of the whiskey, too.

when taken neat, whiskey is too harsh for human taste bud to really taste it. when the temperature is cold (like with ice), you also won't be able to experience the full taste.

[watchman]

i live with my parents since i'm in high schoo, so no bills, but they don't give me spending money at all. Luckily, i have a job at a clothing place, which kind of covers both bases sometimes, and i used to work in a restaurant, so i am used to working and spending.

[douchebag jones]

allocate your funds correctly

[cheapmuthafukr]

bump for global economic meltdown

[the_state]

i bum cigarettes off friends, switched the fridge stock from sierra nevada becks and obscure belgian brews to bud and miller high life, and have my girl wash our clothes at her folks place. i also eat eggs for dinner about once every 7-10 days.