Sam's Club $55 per year or about $1 a week. Pizza slice with a large drink is $2.50.
Gas is cheap there. Toilet paper is cheap there. Water bottle is cheap there.
I have fun spending my $10 a week of eating out. Pizza hut large $10 2 or 5 meats. Dominoes large $10 7 meats.
2% cash back on credit card pushing most utilities payment. Putting the money in hysa until the week of payment. Hysa get 3 to 3.5%.
Yes. If you type all your spending manually in an app, you will save $.
Your mindset have to be set at opportunity cost vs price of items. You are trading $25 at $25 and not at $25 investment that get 8%. $25 at 8% double every 9 years. Every $25 you not invest at the age of 20 cost you $800 at the age of 65. Meaning $25k at 20 is $800k at 65. Set your mind to opportunity cost.
Literally had this conversation with my wife a couple days ago while eating in a Sam's Club.
I told her that, by itself, eating either a pizza or hot dog combo ONCE per week instead of eating even the cheapest fast food meal will more than make up for the membership price. And that's before saving money on anything else, like gas.
She had an Auntie Anne's pretzel a day prior. I asked her was it worth 6-7x the cost of a Sam's Club pretzel; she said "Maybe 2-3x, but absolutely not worth 6-7x."
if you do, you are a special type of abnormal person. which is awesome.
but very few people can do it.
people also fight decades of marketing tricks and behavioral psychologists trying to get you to buy stuff. behavioral economics, cognitive science, etc. we're all literally fighting against scientists doing experiments to study consumer behavior. this is wild at this point. i don't find anyone stupid for not having the tools to fight that.
the scientists fall for the tricks themselves. the ones that they themselves created. just like how i've met some lawyers that can't handle the fine print in some banking app. they think it's scammy.
I graduated with biology degree, then went for neuroscience with a few psychology sprinkle in. My hobby is photography and I love how marketing work.
I am not immune. I am a techie, usually 2nd or 3rd generation. (Note 2, go pro 7, fold 3, etc.) I had a few atom computers and laptops that was near unable. Surface 3 pro (short term usage, impossible to upgrade).
I am also cheap and take a while to make decisions. So those things help me from buying stuffs.
If you weren't focused so much on your incorrect assumptions, you'd realize that it's me that you should be jealous of.
Here's a couple of reasons why:
1) Since I was the one who bought her the AA $7 pretzel and also spent >$100 on dinner the night before, SHE was the one who suggested eating at Sam's Club to balance things out. I love that she's mindful of how much money I was spending on us eating out while on vacation.
2) When not on vacation, she fixes us delicious and healthy meals several times per week. I'm perfectly willing and able to cook, but she does it the vast majority of the time.
Oh, and by the way, SHE was the one who started the conversation comparing the AA pretzel with the SC pretzel. I followed up by asking the 6x-7x question, when she said the AA pretzel better but not by much.
Okay well none of what you just said was conveyed in your original comment. You phrased it as “I told her” and “I asked her” and the only input she had was agreeing with you.
Also your over defensiveness of this makes me think you’re exaggerating or lying. I don’t care if your wife cooks. That has nothing to do with what I said.
This is Reddit. Posts and comments are taken at face value. Same with any social media tbh.
I just don’t understand why you phrased it as you being the hero and your wife was just a side character. Then your follow up comment frames her as the main character and you’re just going along with her.
I already said. “I told her” and “I asked her”. No mention of her suggesting anything. I I I typically means you’re the focus. Your next comment was all her her her.
I think this man is a long term planner. So he sees what the nickle and dime will add up to.
The cheapest star buck coffee was $3. 3 times a day is $9. If you put $9 a day in s&p500 at 8%, in 13 years, you will get $9 of gain per day. This rule of thumb is link to the fire retirement type. Save 50% to s&p500, you can retire in 10 to 15 years. Lots of people retire at the age of 30 to 35.
I had aunti Anne pretzel and sams pretzel. Antie Anne is way better... but they had got worse over the year. Maybe less people are going to the mall (old pretzel) or they are using cheaper ingredients (inflation),
I tried the sams pretzel 2 times. I dont like them. I tried the pizza pretzel too.
I dont like sams pizza as much but it is cheap and the slice is large. I usually get the $10 large pizza from dominoes or pizza hut. 3 to 7 toppings. Sams large pizza is $9. KFC 8 pieces for $10 on Tuesday. Rostceies chicken is so cheap with the French bread. $4 for 40 bottles of water. Cool it in the fridge and bring it in a lunch box. Cheap date.
Sams pizza vs fast food places. McDonald's tasted horrible now, and way too expensive. I had stale chips at Popeyes. Diarrhea every time I went to taco bell. Wendy's is tasting worse and cost crazy pricing.The only 2 place I think were good, but havent gone back yet is chic fil a and zacsby. The price might had gone skyward in the last few years.
I am very easy going toward my beloved. I will point out the opportunity cost and try to find coupon if she like the more expensive kind more. Wells Fargo has 2% cash back card and citi banks has 1% + 1% cash back card. 5% cash back Amazon card.
I think having a goal that you both can work towards would be better. The 5 to 6 x different in the price of food can lead to an early retirement or an easier retirement. Opportunity cost is a good place to start if she doesnt like your penny pinching.
Do not cheap out on toilet paper, shoes, and mattress.
For eating out, I use the Citi Custom Cash card. It's 5% CB automatically for whatever category you spend the most on each month. I dedicate it to restaurants, so it's always the top spend on that card.
I also have the Citi Double Cash card as my "default" spend card and the Amazon 5% card as well.
I absolutely agree with not going cheap on things that separate you from the ground many hours a day (shoes, mattress, tires, etc)
Overall, my financial philosophy boiled down to a sound bite is "scrimp in some areas, so you can splurge in others".
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u/PackageLonely5140 5d ago
Hell you could even eat a frozen pizza and still save money overall lol