Good advice...

SHE had so much. A two-bedroom apartment. Two cars. Enough wedding china to serve two dozen people. Yet Tammy Strobel wasn’t happy. Working as a project manager with an investment management firm in Davis, Calif., and making about $40,000 a year, she was, as she put it, caught in the “work-spend treadmill.” So one day she stepped off. But Will It Make You Happy?

Saving money is like CYA'ing for the future..

So finally (having had it with trying to explain nicely) I told her that the main point of all of this is so that we don’t end up in the position in which she found herself at my house. (I phrased it a bit nicer than this, but not much because she clearly doesn’t get it.) If our AC went out two things would happen to me that did not happen to my friend. First, I would go to a hotel for a few days until repairs could be made. We can afford it. It would just be like a little mini-vacation. I wouldn’t have to beg to stay at a friend’s house because I’m too broke to go to a hotel. Second, the repair or replacement of the AC would be paid for in cash and that would be the end of the problem. We’d forget it and move on. My friend had to put a brand new $4,500 air conditioner and installation on her credit card. Her interest rate is probably north of 20%. She will be paying for this problem for a long, long time. That, right there, is the whole point of my frugal lifestyle. What is the Point of Any of This?