Skip to main content

The Frugal Mindset

I've been putting off needed purchases for days, even weeks, since I retired. In some ways, that might be a good thing - many purchases are unnecessary, and delaying a purchase might result in deciding not to buy.

But, that's not what's happening here - these are purchases I've already thought about, decided were worth the cost, and had put on an order.

Only to hang there, in that online cart, for weeks. I'm finding infinite reasons to NOT make a decision to buy.

This type of behavior is new to me, since I've been retired. When I could count on an income twice a month coming from work, I didn't do this. I didn't hesitate to make immediate purchases. There was always a surplus in the account, and I felt free to dip into it.

What are other seniors doing? Put your best tips for managing money in the comments.

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

One Reason to Write

This post sparked mine today. I've been writing (slowly, one anecdote at a time) my memories of my youth, and the stories that I remember being passed down from parents, grandparents, and other long-lived people. I was fortunate - in my mother's family, old age was the default - my grandparents were born in the 19th century, and passed on stories of their youth. My father's family was equally long-lived, but not as talkative (WV vs. Irish-descent). Still, I have an aunt by marriage whose passion is genealogy, and who had compiled a bookshelf of clippings, copies of newspaper stories, and charts of the family, back to pre-Colonial times. If you aren't on Ancestry.com (and, I don't blame you - the price has risen shockingly!), you might want to use a word processing program or app - Google Docs is easy to use, and can be shared with others easily - to write down your memories - personal, or what has been told to you. If you'd rather, set up a videocam, and...
2 comments
Read more

Managing the Paper Onslaught

Almost every day, I find 3-8 solicitations in the mail, that are tied to my age/approaching retirement.  Every one of them is designed to separate me from my money. Medicare ads Hearing aid offers Insurance ads Financial planning ads Mortgage refi offers Retirement property/retirement community flyers I generally junk most.  A few I put into a folder, to be looked at when the need arises.  I wonder what percentage of the senior population acts on these offers. I've divided my mail into groups: Current bills - they go into the slotted dividers, to be acted on/paid when due Information - two types Tax info - in the box to be taken to the accountant after the first of the year Long-term information - put into folders, and file away until needed Junk - toss/shred and toss Personal - my choice By far the biggest group is junk.  I resist the temptation to load up on debt by immediately tearing the credit offers into pieces. The same with re...
Post a Comment
Read more

All That We "Knew" About Aging and Health May be WRONG

Coffee - Bad? Apparently, NOT. This process has been going on for many years: Some medical study is made about health. Popularizers exaggerate the effects shown in the study, and inflate the core results into a program to improve/extend healthy lives. Eventually, the government gets on board, and mandates changes to diet, exercise, medication regimens, or medical procedures. After years of pushing the system on the general public, an honest re-evaluation of the effects is made, and - guess what? The advice is found to be completely wrong. Repeat Repeat Repeat Diet advice has gone from: Calorie reduction Exercise Low-fat High-carb Low-carb At the present, the low-carb forces appear to be on top. Never fear, they'll find out eventually that positive effects have been exaggerated, and the negatives minimized. Same with exercise. I'm not against regular movement and activity. What I'm against is mandating the same thing for everyone. The down side...
Post a Comment
Read more