Mogul In Training

I've been out for a bit, having surgery....that's a post that is coming sooner rather than later. Anywho, I'm back to the blog, now. The extreme HIGH cost of getting sick in the US of A made me really appreciate my frugal ways; notice, I said frugal and not cheap. Which brings me to another issue...the naysayers.

There are always those who will criticise us, PFers. We have all heard the taunts, "Oh, live a little", "You can't take it with you", "You only live once", "You could die tomorrow", and on and on.... Like I stated earlier, I never talk about money. I simply set my entertainment and miscellaneous spending plans, buy from Ebay, buy on sale, etc and continue to live my life, thinking no one is the wiser. However, even without me saying a word about my spending habits or being "preachy" to others about their lack of financial planning/priorities, there are always the comments. Case in point, I had family in town visiting. I have a TV that is on it's last leg, and at the time, I was thinking of replacing it. I have since nixed that idea because now I watch most of my TV on the internet. Anyhow, during the visit, I had to hear constant comments about how they know, for sure, that I can afford a new TV and how they couldn't understand why I just don't buy a new one.

At the time, my plan was to save a reasonable sum, watch the sales and discounts, then purchase a TV when the price was right. Upon telling this to my family, they, of course, thought that I was absolutely crazy. According to their reasoning, if I have enough money remaining once my bills are paid, why not go out and by the latest and greatest TV; forget the fact that I don't really watch TV anymore. Everyone has a TV in their home and flatscreens are the only way to go! I basically told them I would purchase a TV when I had saved the money and had to kindly ask them to not bring it up again.

I can never comprehend how people DON'T "get it". If every financially responsible person ran out and made every purchase on a whimp they would be neither financially responsible or have an emergency fund. My method for dealing with the naysayers is to keep my personal business personal, while I allow them to live how they choose and request,kindly, that they allow me to live as I choose. Luckily, I don't have to deal with such inquisitions from friends.