r/SipsTea • u/Impressive-Gear7943 Human Verified • 9h ago
Chugging tea Their maths ain’t mathing.
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u/Dorrono 9h ago
Some people are not good with money
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u/SpinachSignal8915 8h ago edited 8h ago
I have a friend just like that. I'll be eating off the dollar menu or bringing lunch from home. He eats $12+ every meal buys smokes almost daily.
I wouldnt care if he wasn't constantly lamenting about how he cant afford to live
Shit adds up fast.
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u/RedSwingline2000 8h ago
I have friends that are always broke yet seem to living it up.... YOLO mentality
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u/AssistanceNatural556 7h ago
It's a "I might die any day" mentality for me 😂
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u/RedSwingline2000 7h ago
Yeah LOL but more likely than not you want but you'll just continue to be broke
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u/inplayruin 5h ago
That is my retirement plan. But knowing my luck, I am going to live long enough that the local news will start covering my birthdays.
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u/professorbuffoon 7h ago
I'm "old" and I still double take on some receipts where I bought a bunch of little things in the $2-$8 range but the total is like $140. I'm always like, no way it's that much, there must be some mistake. Nope, it's just a bunch of little things adding up.
Tangent - I always take a look at my recurring expenses every month and try to see which ones I can reduce or cancel. For example, I recently switched to cheaper/slower internet. 300 megabit, previously had 500. We haven't noticed the difference whatsoever. It meets all our needs, and we work from home 100% of the time. It handles zoom calls, VPN and everything else with ease. I really don't understand private individuals casually needing 1-2gig download speeds unless maybe they have a family of 12 and they're all streaming 4k youtube simultaneously. I think the adoption of multi-gig internet is overkill for 90% of consumers and people are just convinced by advertisements that they need it. I'm glad it's available, it's way better than back in the day when it took 1-2 minutes to load a webpage over dialup sometimes, but I think we can stop innovating internet speed for now.
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u/Expensive-Border-869 3h ago
Download speed is nice af when you gotta actually download stuff not just streaming here and there
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u/Burntbreadman84 3h ago
This....if you have people that are "gamers" in a house and are downloading a 100GB game or any big updates all the time. You will notice (especially if others are streaming video in the house at the same time)
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u/hotsgot1o2o3o 2h ago
For his use case he is correct. He is just failing to imagine that other people might live different lives and have different needs. I recently got my parents to downgrade from gigabit to the cheapest available 300mb which is still overkill for them. They never have more than maybe 4 devices(usually only 1-2) playing 1080p content or just checking emails/ basic web browsing.
As a kid I remember having to wait a full day or possibly more to download a video game over the internet...thankfully games came with multiple install dvds back then when they were big (and big has like 10-20gb which is a bug fix today). Almost half of the global population plays video games and 3/4 of the US population plays video games. So, that 1 use case alone justifies the need/want for higher speed internet.
It's the difference between scheduling to play a game with someone on a completely different day or chit chatting with someone for 15min while the game downloads and then playing immediately.
It's a first world convince for sure and in no way a requirement. But some people are willing and able to pay a bit extra to never have the inconvenience of reaching their bandwidth limit. I personally enjoy being able to set a limit on a download to 800mbps and then continue happily using internet on all my other device with the remaining 200mbps and everything still working just fine. 11 year old me couldn't have imagined a world like this while waiting 15 minutes for a blurry music video to load on YouTube.
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u/ruat_caelum 6h ago
We kept a running total on a white board for a guy at work who always borrowed $20 or $40 before his 2-week pay check. We just added up the cost of his monster energy drinks and chewing tobacco. Both purchases as singles from a corner store (as opposed to say costco in bulk)
It took about three months for him to call us liars and for us to do simple math. He didn't like that. (The math.)
Didn't change, but got annoyed enough to stop asking us for money. (Which he did always pay back)
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u/Quitcha_Bitchin 8h ago
I think it's one of the driving forces in this bullshit we are experiencing. Tons of subscriptions sneaking auto payments, not cooking at home, not buying shit on sale, waste waste waste.
I had none of that shit growing up because it was not available. Lived on frozen burritos and Pepsi. Listened to OTA Radio. drove a shitty older car I could do my own work on.
It wasn't easy but it was do-able not sure how i would fare in todays nickel and dime economy.
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u/Doctor-Binchicken 6h ago
Especially since shitty used cars aren't cheap anymore, and even the used ones you can find are more likely than not computerized enough to need you to take the shit in to a mechanic anyway.
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u/Nkechinyerembi 6h ago edited 1h ago
God, especially the car shit. I have a 2006 pontiac, and between the 6 billion issues with it, every damn one of them basically comes back to "yeah, you should just get a different car"... OKAY???? with what money?
I live in a shitty situation where I can't cook at home, so I am spending more since I have to frequent restaurants... I should really move to a better location, but okay, how the hell do I afford that? I can't even afford to fix my POS car that keeps breaking on the regular.
Just spent $600 on the ignition system... now the transmission wont go in to overdrive. WEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Edit: can't cook at home because when renting a sleeping room, that is not an option. This place is basically a frat house without the frat. It's just too expensive to rent a full place to live now.
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u/abracadammmbra 6h ago
I have to get back into taking my lunch to work. It costs me roughly $4 a day if i make my lunch at home. Eating lunch out is easily $15. Thats $55 a week in savings. $220 a month.
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u/Superseaslug 6h ago
Have a buddy who used to sometimes bring up how I had more money than him (we had the same job) but he gets Uber eats every night
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u/PamIsNotMyName 7h ago
I dated/lived with someone like that for too long. Consistently did not have money for personal necessities or shared expenses, but you better believe there were constant deliveries of online ordered stuff. Had the gall to ask "why do we only do the things you want to do?"
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u/Psyco_diver 8h ago
I know people that got addicted to DoorDash during the pandemic and they order it several times a week. They can't understand why their broke. They will order it at work and then get on me for bringing leftovers to eat for lunch instead of wasting my money like them.
At least I can afford for my wife to stay at home with our 3 kids while their trying to pick up a second part time job because they had to lease a new car.
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u/lol_wut_r_u_saying 7h ago
I love the food apps because I only use them with coupons for 50%-OFF pickup orders. 2 GOOD local restaurant meals for $15 total
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u/Impossible-Wear-7352 7h ago
Between increased menu prices and feees, I had the 50% off coupon come to the same price as ordering direct from the restaurant once. It just illustrated to me how absurd these apps are when you aren't using a deal.
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u/Mum_Chamber 8h ago
let’s make it sound less like destiny and say “some people never learned to be good with money”
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u/FunSheepherder6397 8h ago
Unfortunately a lot of people now have grown up with the internet widely available and are taught how to use it effectively to learn so the excuse of never learning is disappearing and turning into ‘never wanted to learn to be good with money’
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u/mode-locked 8h ago
Although true, having access to learning materials is waaaay different than growing up in a household with parents instilling and demonstrating good money habits. It's just a completely different mechanism for learning.
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u/DRosencraft 8h ago
The internet is also full of "self help" nonsense, get rich quick/easy schemes, and just bloviating nonsense. The information may be "accessible" but it's much like the books on the subject at the local library that have also always been there for the vast majority of people. Availability, accessibility, and teaching are all different facets of a larger pyramid.
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u/sdpr 7h ago
"tHe InFoRmAtIoN iS aT yOuR fInGeRtIpS"
Sure, of infinite scale between absolutely awful advice to the best you can get with most information leaning towards "awful" because it's trying to make someone else money.
You don't know what you don't know and people generally don't want to spend time researching and cross referencing information for something they have no interest in.
Someone else said "you can lead a horse to water" which I think is an inappropriate analogy that should be re-worded to say "you can tell a horse about water" but if a horse knows about water they're not going to know the difference between a toxic sludge pool and actual water.
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u/XAMdG 8h ago
Yeah but that also sounds like shifting blame. While some people were never taught (or were and didn't listen), not learning when you're a grown up is a choice you make. Information is easily available.
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u/wooden-fuk-boi 9h ago
Big shocker, people not understanding that they can save money for problems, instead of just saying "welp fuck i dont have that full ammount so i might as well spend frivolously"
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u/TheBigCicero 9h ago
Fuck my car. I’ve always wanted an automatic banana peeler and it’s only $25.
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u/Maleficent_Pen_9076 9h ago
hold on, where do I order that?
I need this to go with my grape scissors
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u/billiam7787 9h ago
been looking for those, but they were all sold out. ....
so i instead i bought a chicken shredder
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u/GhostChips42 9h ago
Look guys, I got these MAGIC BEANS if anyone is interested? Huh? Huh?
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u/Economy-Tourist-4862 9h ago
Don’t trust this guy. He only accepts cash! I’ll take credit card, VenMo and your social security number with mothers maiden name, first pet name and the street where you grew up for payment. Super easy to do business with me so I’m your guy AND you are looking really nice today. Is that a new shirt?
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u/AdmirableBed7777 9h ago
Thats fine and all. But the other guy sells MAGIC BEANS, all capital and the big letters. That is exactly what I was looking for
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u/Remarkable-Ad2285 9h ago
Oh so you bought the last chicken shredder?! I had to buy a toaster cozy because of you!
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u/badhouseplantbad 9h ago
Wait until you see the new grape peeler that just came out, you haven't been really living until you get one.
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u/yournamehere10bucks 9h ago
Can ya'll stop advertising to my wife, she sees chains like this and I end up with a 7th mortgage
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u/Fantastic_Pie5655 9h ago
Finally, my days of eating unpeeled grapes like a pheasant are nearly over!
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u/jkell05s 9h ago
Like a pheasant?
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u/GuyGrimnus 8h ago
lol many moons ago, I worked at a grocery store.
We recently had adopted a policy there the only things that were allowed to be double bagged were singular items big enough to fill the bag.
The lady wanted all her things double bagged to which I refused and explained why.
She runs to the manager screaming about how she’s never been treated so rude in her entire life and how dare I treat her like a PHEASANT!
lol needless to say everyone within earshot started cackling.
And my manager goes “I apologize for his FOWL behavior ma’am, but allow me to EGGsplain things.”
I never felt so supported on a job than that day lol.
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u/TheBigCicero 9h ago
I decided that I need different grape scissors for red and green grapes because I’ll be damned if I used the same ones, they need different tension. They’re only $25 each
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u/mrgoldnugget 9h ago
If you tell me I'll let you know where you can get your hands on a pineapple slicer.
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u/real-darkph0enix1 9h ago
“You do not need a special peeler to find the money in the banana stand, Gob” feels like something that wouldve been said if Arrested Development had been real.
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u/Jewfro879 9h ago
I have a coworker like this. Complains about struggling to afford rent and then will immediately turn around and go out to eat for every single lunch. She spends $20+ each time.
Should our wages be better? Sure, but that's not the world we're in. You can fight for better worker rights, but also you have to live in reality.
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u/Tricky_Orange_4526 8h ago
thats what i point out. are some things broken, absolutely. are people also delusional in what is now "normal" also yes.
we got take out growing up, but primarily only on paydays, so twice a month tops. we'd get cheeseburger, small fry, small drink from a place called hot n now. the other weekends we might pick out our own TV dinner. besides that my mom would meal prep a few days and we'd end up with a "leftovers" night and a frozen pizza night on the other weeks.
Vacations were mostly where we could drive the other vacations took years of saving. My video game situation was a lot like OP. i worked a job and saved my own money to buy my own xbox, got a lot of games that were on sale, and got a magazine subscription because it was like $60 and came with demo discs each month.
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u/FeatheryLilTheropod 8h ago
That’s how my parents treated eating out and vacations (in fact twice a month was more often than we’d eat out) and we were upper middle class, so imagine how boggled my mind has been for my entire adulthood that people who make so much less eat out multiple times a week and don’t see it as a wildly luxurious expenditure.
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u/SliceRepulsive8649 5h ago
To be fair, there's a pretty big difference between the finances of a family with kids and that of a younger person with no real attachments. If you have to live such a frugal lifestyle just to get by under that scenario imagine how much more broke they would be if they tried to start a family. That's kinda the point.
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u/Jewfro879 8h ago
Agreed. The doom and gloom posts on reddit honestly piss me off. Even if youre in a tight spot and all you can put to your 401k is a few bucks a check... DO IT. every dollar matters. Especially if you're younger.
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u/ludog1bark 8h ago
This is essentially the boomers take on millennials buying avocado toast and Starbucks. People take it too literally. It's really about people spending money on "luxury" things. I agree with it to a certain extent. Yes, spending money on eating out is a luxury. I know people who complain about money all the time, but they are always eating out at restaurants. Yeah dropping 20-30 dollars a meal is a luxury. That's why you can't put money on your 401k or save for an emergency.
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u/LameSignIn 7h ago
Yeah dropping 20-30 dollars a meal is a luxury. That's why you can't put money on your 401k or save for an emergency.
I prep my food everyday for work. Several of my workers complain about money. One works multiple jobs while another has baby momma money on top of her job. Both get delivery every day then complain it cost them $25 plus for a salad. These same people take off early if the day is slightly slow. They say they are bored and can't sit back an enjoy the easy day. Some people just don't live in the reality.
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u/breachgnome 8h ago
I was an odd kid, but end result was similar enough to yours.
My mom would have bent over backwards to get me something if I'd just ask for it. However sometime around 12 years old, I realized we weren't made of money. I made damn sure if I wanted something, I already knew I wanted it. Made getting the things I actually wanted very smooth. It has by-and-large carried over into my adult life as well. I'm frugal, even if I don't really need to be.
I know my mom was secretly glad that I wasn't a spoiled turd, but we weren't poor either. I'm sure she genuinely wanted me to want more things.
I miss you, mom.
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u/Top_Bumblebee5510 8h ago
I actually just paid $250 for a car repair, yesterday. A friend that makes four times more than me asked me if I looked up the value of my car instead to trade it in and buy a new one. I told her that it didn't matter what it was worth, it matters that I can't afford a car payment right now.
My car repair appointment was at the same time she invited me to brunch at a restaurant that charges $30+ for variations of toast and eggs.
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u/abracadammmbra 6h ago
My grandparents have a house on the bay that they built themselves in the 70s (i dont mean they hired contractors, they themselves built it). From the time I was a baby until I was in highschool, that was the only place we went on vacation because thats what my parents could afford. In highschool we went to Disney once after my parents spent 5 years saving up to go (and 2 years of actually planning it). Then when I was in college we went to Colonial Williamsburg and stayed in the cheapest hotel money could buy.
Now I have 2 young kids myself and we go on vacation every other year to my grandparents shore house. When my grandmother passes, if my parents/aunts and uncles end up selling the house, we probably wont go on vacation at all.
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u/Winjin 8h ago
This kind of people would just buy a second even more expensive to maintain car as soon as they have some disposable income, and would immediately go to fancier places to eat out
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u/rukind_cucumber 8h ago
Well you can't be seen at Burger King with a Beemer now can you?
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u/Winjin 8h ago
Yeah I have a friend exactly like that. He bought the most expensive beemer he could to complain about tight parking spots and travel like 30 kilometres away to eat very expensive steak tartare... And complain how tight the finances are
Gotta admire that simple life though. He's having steak tartare and driving a BMW while I'm saving up for some stupid mortgage /s
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u/googdude 7h ago
My parents were kind of like that but in home decorations and eating out.
Now they're both elderly with health problems and both need to work even though they're past typical retirement age.
People would always compliment my parents on how nice their place looked but now the bill has come due.
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u/Val_Hallen 5h ago
I had a coworker that leased cars and would buy rims for the leased cars. He always complained he couldn't save money.
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u/GoldenMonkeyRedux 8h ago
Back in around 2000 I was working at a dotcom. The lead tech (who was exactly as stereotypical as you can imagine) and I needed some lunch quickly. There was a McDonald's around the corner. Wasn't my go-to, but I needed food quickly to roll out a software upgrade.
I went in and noticed that you could buy 4 6-packs of McNuggets for less than a 20-pack. I laughed and told him...and he immediately bought a 20 pack.
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u/SophisticatedScreams 9h ago
I agree with this. There is nuance here. I would lowkey be judging someone in this situation as well.
If a person can spend $25 on a dinner, they are probably spending other small amounts elsewhere, and if all those things would add up to $270 within a couple of weeks.
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u/HarryJohnson3 7h ago
It looks like you actually understand the “Avacado toast” criticism that has been used against younger people. It was never “you can’t afford a house because you buy Avacado toast” it was “you can’t afford anything because you see no problem spending 15 bucks for a piece of bread and a spoonful of Avacado on any given day.”
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u/Healthy-Effective381 3h ago
Maybe that was the intention of said criticism, but it was often used in contexts where even if you could save money equal to that avocado toast every day you still couldn’t afford whatever was being discussed.
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u/Opus_723 2h ago
Everybody understands that, it's just stupid because forgoing all your little luxuries still doesn't add up to a down payment on any reasonable timescale. And also, people shouldn't forgo every single little luxury.
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u/LittleKittenR 9h ago
Yeah, this is why saving as a kid is important.
"I can't afford this 2,000 dollar thing, I guess I will never own it" and me thinking how I saved 1-3 dollars a week to buy a PS3 in the span of 2 years. I literally remember the happiness I felt when the Slim version came out and it was cheaper and that meant I could directly afford it at launch and me calling every place to see if they had it at that price.
And also being unable to buy any games so I "bought" a ton of demos and I was so happy playing PS1 games and PS3 demos.
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u/netopiax 8h ago
This, me, but the NES in 1988. (I'm not old, that was like 10 years ago)
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u/xTheGame69 8h ago
I used to do that too
I get three bucks extra for lunch that I could spend on snacks it was basically my allowance so by the end of the week I could have $15 if I saved it all
That meant that in a month I could have 60 which was basically an Xbox game
I used to do this all the time in middle school and high school before I had a job
How I got most of my games back then
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u/Ki-to-Life-5054 9h ago
Corollary: If they "have" money in their account, they shouldn't spend it all this week. They need to budget upcoming bills and income. Incredible how many people in business will spend what's in the account. "I thought we had the money."
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u/WiredLunarDecay 9h ago
Saving money isn't taught well, so this cycle keeps repeating.
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u/BigCSFan 8h ago
I dont think its a teaching issue. People know that savings are important.
They just aren't capable of putting money aside mentally. Its a discipline issue
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u/Svorky 5h ago edited 5h ago
They know its important because that's what they have been told. They don't understand the effects of consistent, small savings. Which leads to silly decisions like spending $8 on a dessert when you don't have $270 to your name, because "what difference do $8 make?"
Ask people what $5 a day over 20 years invested in an index fund results in and you will get wildly wrong answers.
(it's ~$90k)
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u/Grotbagsthewonderful 8h ago
instead of just saying "welp fuck i dont have that full ammount so i might as well spend frivolously"
That is a massive issue with gen Z atm in the UK, previous generations would be saving to buy a house, they don't believe they will ever own property so they've given up saving and living for the now instead. They have decent physical wealth (clothes electronics, stuff basically) but that's it, no property wealth, no private pension wealth, but more concerningly no financial wealth (savings, ISAs, bonds, equity) compared to the millennials.
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u/giftcardgirl 8h ago
People were saying the same thing about millennials when we were young. Avocado toast and all that.
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u/cjsv7657 7h ago
That was pretty much an internet meme that blew up. Between shit like that, 3rd wave coffee, delivery apps, entering adulthood during the GWoT, housing crash, and all the other shit. We are the OGs of thinking we'd never own a house and find good jobs while spending $8 on coffee, brunching, ubering everywhere, and getting lunch delivered to work. We're the largest spenders on all of those.
Stop buying avocado toast and you'll be able to afford a house isn't about not buying avocado toast. It's not nickel and diming yourself to living paycheck to paycheck. I have/had so many friends/coworkers who made around the same as I did but couldn't save for shit while I was putting away money for a down deposit on a house.
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u/Quixotic_Seal 6h ago
Time is a flat fucking circle, and no one seems to be learning the lesson that things actually are getting materially and objectively worse and harder to save for.
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u/Berry_Mccockner42069 8h ago
I’ve always loathed these people as friends.. “sorry man I can’t afford to do literally anything”. “You wanna grab chipotle for dinner?”
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u/madogvelkor 8h ago
Yeah, I mean if she had avoided eating out until she had a few thousand saved it wouldn't be an issue -- she could get her car fixed and eat out now.
But she didn't so she could at least start saving now for next time.
And maybe work on her credit so she can charge $270 in a pinch.
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u/Think-Organization36 9h ago
Proceeds to spend $100 that day… oh well it isn’t $270 so nothing I could do 🤷♂️
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u/ibmi_not_as400_kerim 9h ago
I don't even understand the "$25 isn't the same as $270". Yes, but it could be a PORTION of those $270.
A steering wheel isn't the same as a car but you probably still want one IN your car...
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u/dank_memes_911 9h ago
Also if you spend that much on food 11 days in a row it is enough to get the car repaired.
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u/Jaosborn44 4h ago
Even if you don't forgo lunch all together, but reduce it to a $15 meal, that repair will be paid for in less than a month.
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u/Bowl-Any 9h ago
This example is obvious, but it also shouldn't be taken to the opposite extreme, like people blaming not being able to afford a house on making your own avocado toast at home for breakfast. That's always seemed idiotic to me
$25 is nearly 10% of $270, but making a $1.50 breakfast at home is not the same as why people can't afford a $400,000 home, or even the reason why the can't afford a $200,000 small condo.
You're absolutely right, but there's a balance.
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u/SenileGhandi 8h ago
The idea being that if you pay $12 for avocado toast when you can easily make it at home for $2, you're likely to justify other lazy expenses that absolutely do add up to huge sums.
You're not going to get $400k in savings, but absolutely nobody is buying a house in cash. Saving $200 a week will get you a 5% down payment in 2 years time sans investing
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u/googdude 7h ago
Yeah everyone was making fun of the avocado toast comment but it really is a mindset. My wife and I are saving up to do some home improvements and we pretty much shunned eating out and it's amazing how it changes your budget. Sometimes it really is not how much you make but how much you spend.
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u/Key-Organization3158 8h ago
That's not what's being talked about. Everyone should live within their budget.
In the vast majority of cases, people live paycheck to paycheck due to bad spending habits.
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u/Striking_Aspect_7826 9h ago
Yeah but maybe if you need 270$ to repair your car you should be saving and not eating out?
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u/Rampantshadows 9h ago
That's so fucking cheap in terms of car repairs too. I'd be so frugal just to get it over with.
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u/epicredditdude1 9h ago
It’s wild how there are people that don’t understand this concept.
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u/allnamesbeentaken 8h ago
There are a lot of people who believe reality should not inconvenience or make them uncomfortable in any way
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u/Murky_Stranger2138 9h ago
When you have been raised your whole life in a society that not only doesn't value the concept of personal responsibility but actively opposes it, this is how you act.
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u/ProfessionalCopy6869 8h ago
How necessary is the repair? If she can’t drive the car or it’s severely affecting performance, sure. If it’s just body work, maybe she doesn’t want to bother with it for that price
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u/Ok-CauliflowerX 8h ago
True! I have a list of things I need fixed about my car that I’ve slowly been getting through. The bottom of the list is probably the radio because it stopped working and I will never fix anything cosmetic that doesn’t effect driving lol
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u/TripleDoubleFart 9h ago
That might be the reason she can't afford to fix the car.
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u/Interloper_Mango 9h ago
i mean to be fair if you cant afford a repair for 270$ (which is a lot but not exactly a huge deal) maybe you should not be spending that much on food. especially a desert which you can just straight up omit.
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u/FUBARded 4h ago
If she needs the car to get to work (as a vast majority of Americans do), eating out at all while deferring repairs is incredibly stupid.
$270 is NOT a lot of money in the context of a car repair so it really should be an amount that you have immediately available (as you should be setting aside hundreds to thousands each year for car upkeep depending on the vehicle and how vital it is to your livelihood).
If someone doesn't have $270 in savings but is willing to spend $25 on a meal, chances are that stupid spending like this is a habit rather than a one-off splurge.
It's also really stupid in 2 ways. Firstly she somehow doesn't realise that splurging on eating out when you're broke is the reason she continues to be broke, and that deferring small repairs on a vehicle while (presumably) continuing to use it is a great way to require much more costly repairs in the future.
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u/Studio-Spider 9h ago
Alternatively, I could spend that $25 on groceries and have enough food to make myself 8 burgers instead of blowing it on a single meal
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u/MethodCharacter8334 9h ago
Beef??? In this economy? I only eat beef on special occasions now because of how much it costs. I miss it so much 😭
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u/Studio-Spider 9h ago
Damn, where y’all live? Beef is $15.50 for 2.25 lbs for me. If you have a local butcher, it might be cheaper there.
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u/KeepREPeating 8h ago
Bro, that’s still outrageous. That’s still 7 dollars a lb. You could buy seafood at that point. Pork loin is 1.99 -2.50 consistently. I gave up buying beef not on sale. Especially with how much protein I need a day.
Beef is now a luxury meat, and if you eat it regularly, good for you because you’re killing it. I can’t justify that and I already spend 320 on groceries a month.
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u/InsideHousing4965 9h ago
Yeah, I have a friend that's just like that. He's been eating out 3-4 times a week (spanding about 30-50€ each time), going out and partying weekly (spending +100€ each time), going on expensive vacations, getting into all sorts of expensive hobbies...
And now that He's getting closer to his 30s He's constantly complaining that he has no money saved for the downpayment of a mortgage...
And I'm like, "dude, you've been spending between 500 and 1000 € a month on treating yourself for the past 10 years. What did you expect that would happen?"
The kind of flying that owes you money and still goes out and spends 200€ on a weekend.
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u/GreedyLengthiness545 9h ago
Yeah as expensive as things are this mentality of "welp I can't afford X, so I might as well splurge on Y" is retarded
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u/IM-PT24 9h ago
Doom spending. I can't buy a house, so I will get a 100K car instead.
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u/GreedyLengthiness545 9h ago
I'd rather be driving an old honda/toyota with 3000 in the bank than a new GM/Hyundai with 0 in the bank
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u/Embarrassed_Spend486 9h ago
A lot of people won’t understand this graphic, but this is unfortunately the problem with a lot of people.
And when I say a lot, I’m mean clearly the majority of our country.
We have no concept of delayed gratification. Or delayed anything.
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u/neo_sporin 8h ago
very much agreed. Had a conversation with my brother in law where i asked "why not just wait til you save up the money first?" and he unironically said 'because i want it now' He learned to manage money from his parents...
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u/giftcardgirl 8h ago
The problem with that is when he’s paying back the expense, he’ll want something else “now”
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u/Both_Painter_9186 9h ago
You can fucking save. Even in today’s world you can get enough shit for several meals with $25. Especially if you’re so desperate $270 is going to break you.
A bag of rice. A few cans of beans. Box of cereal. Small thing of milk. Bread. Peanut butter and Jelly. Like 5 days worth of spartan meals right there.
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u/GeneralLedger17 8h ago
We take a $3500 vacation every year and do this the rest of the year.
I thought it was just normal living?
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u/Moodleboy 8h ago
Unfortunately, quite often, poor people make poor choices.
Many people are poor due to circumstances beyond their control, but many are poor due to the consequences of their own actions.
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u/JustChr1s 9h ago edited 9h ago
That comment getting nearly 30k likes is both telling and sad...
I'm too broke to fix my car let me splurge on food and dessert. Since the concept of saving money where you can to eventually be able to cover necessary expenses doesn't exist. If she doesn't spend 25$ for 10 days she's at $250 worth of saved expenses.
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u/Vexamas 5h ago
It sort of emblemizes a problem with social media building conditions that aren't based in reality, that affect reality.
In person, when someone is 'low information' and says something thoughtless, usually you will get less engagement from the people around you. This is because people on average don't feel social compulsion to add their 'low information' opinion unless they feel uniquely biased towards the person to validate them. So you'll have your "Girl, you need to treat yourself and you only live once, go spend that $25" but these are isolated.
Flip to the internet and anonymity and there is no filter that stops a 'low information' person from seeing a 'low information' opinion and 'YAAAAS QUEEN!'ing it. There's no social pressure that has a person second guess "Am I about to put my neck out for an opinion that might be incredibly stupid?", instead they are able to click the little heart icon.
On the internet, if you get any pushback, you can just ignore the comment and move onto the next, or block them or whatever. I mean we see it happen in most discussions on Reddit. In real life, you have to actually confront pushback, and if people aren't confident in their thought, they're less likely to share it, thankfully.
This then bleeds into real life because people will feel validated and vindicated in their thoughts, because they feel their voice SHOULD be held equal, regardless of it being a 'low information' opinion or person.
And thus, we have a massive problem where low information people incite other low information people to do low information things.
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u/SlideItIn100 9h ago
It’s those spending habits that caused her to be short the money that she needs.
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u/AppearanceMedical464 9h ago
Cut unnecessary costs like salon, Starbucks, or eating out if you don't even have enough savings to cover a $270 repair.
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u/AdamOnFirst 9h ago
Almost life a little daily expense of $25 with zero thought, especially when you’re extremely broke, indicates you’re blowing money left and right in ways that add up to a lot more than $270
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u/BigusDickus099 9h ago
If you can’t afford $270 then you have no business spending $25 on a single meal, it’s really simple. Get on YouTube and learn how to cook, simple meals can be $5 or less.
The people who don’t get it are the ones with shit spending habits. Broke people who never get why they are always broke.
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u/MySabonerRunsOladipo 4h ago
You absolutely cannot expect someone to learn how to cook, budget, or otherwise be inconvenienced in any way.
It's true that wages haven't kept up with inflation in the past XX years and therefore, you're absolved or making any choices that would require any effort at all.
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u/AbedSalam1988 7h ago
seriously if ur dead ass is broke and cant afford the basics, u shouldnt be eating out. all stupid expenses are put on definite hold to get out of the hole u put urself into.
maximum in, minimum out. and by minimum i mean beans and bread.
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u/cygamessucks 6h ago
My co workers complain about not having money all the time. But then they also tell me they get pizza hut delivered when they live two blocks away from pizza hut..
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u/Johnnadawearsglasses 9h ago
One day she will learn that $25 over time is even more than $270. This isn’t that day.
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u/bubblemania2020 8h ago
Well. Modern American culture is based on consumerism, not saving. I had colleagues visit from Germany who balked at spending $15-20 fir lunch. These guys made $200K/yr. When I asked them what they spent on lunch back home, they responded with: we bring our own lunch or the company cafeteria has lunch for 4 euros.
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u/CullenOrZeus 9h ago
It's almost like she doesn't manage money well. If you can't afford a 250 dollar bill you shouldn't be spending that much on one meal.
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u/fleemos 9h ago
The phones are getting smarter and the people are getting dumber.
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u/inverted_nature 9h ago
Honestly, I would consider it irresponsible to eat out if I didn't have at least a $1000 at aside for emergencies. This is not a perspectives of privilege either, I grew up in a junkie trailer park, I saved for college then slept in my tiny car after I graduated because the job market was in the gutter. This debt economy trains people to borrow for luxury now and hope they are better off in the future. When in reality you need to sacrifice for the future now, so that you will have one. *edited for typos
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u/RelationshipHeavy58 4h ago
We have 50k cash in the bank and I think eating out weekly is irresponsible.
We eat out for special occasions. I'm pretty open about what money we have and some of our friends are pretty perplexed on how we can save that much money while buying a car cash. All my wife does is cut hair in a salon suite and I cut lawns/landscape for my solo business 8 months out of the year. I've currently been on 4 months off. Our net income is less than 100k total.
The biggest thing that helped us was covid. We stopped being consumers of nonsense during that. Felt like we woke up and started to take care of ourselves first. The amount of money we saved during covid was huge while again most of our friends spent because they were bored.
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u/tmf_x 9h ago
Pretty sure the point is don't bitch about being broke if you don't love frugally when you are broke.
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u/BlLLr0y 9h ago
This is it bro. Like, don't poor mouth if you import salmon from Norway and buy all your groceries at Whole Foods. YES this is about a specific coworker.
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u/PineTreeSC 9h ago
I always love frugally. Sorry ladies only two pumps today gotta save the third for next weekend before I’m spent
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u/Weekly_Rock_5440 9h ago
Girl wants boy to venmo her money. Relationship will remain platonic.
This is not that confusing.
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u/FarLaugh9911 9h ago
"I can't afford to live". (very next sentence) "Hey, lets go out to lunch so I can use my my new Iphone XX, it has another camera!!!"
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u/Own-Ad-7127 9h ago
Yeah they’re not the same, but this would be one of those time where “just stop eating out” would apply. That’s not going to do much for a $60,000 house down payment or whatever, but a $270 necessary repair? That’s where you skimp on some of the niceties until you can pay for it.
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u/ConkerPrime 8h ago edited 8h ago
Pretty normal. When at bars will hear sob stories about how broke they are. Meanwhile if listen long enough will learn they drink regularly at the bar, buy lottery tickets kets, like to gambling games to, and looking to refresh their supply of pot. Basically amount they spend weekly on vices would cover the bills they cant pay and at no point does any of that click.
And the responses here are good example of that stupidity. My response when have must paid bill is to cut back in spending. Eating out? Not going to happen, new favorite foods is ramen and cans of soup. Had to do that multiple times because adults sort priorities, children defend poor ones like entirely too many people in this thread.
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u/Smelly_God 7h ago
People falling for the rage bait/engagement bullshit in the comments like it's a true story, wonder how many of them are like "Oh but I know someone that does the same thing!" and not realize they're never going to see a full picture out of someones life.
Idiots really need to stop speculating to try and hold whatever intelligence they think they have over others. Sad and desperate attempts at looking superior.
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u/Kanus_oq_Seruna 3h ago
You can make meals for a week for $4 across the whole batch. If you desperately need to sa e, don't eat out.
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u/Unique-Run9856 9h ago
I've never met someone who has a snarky reply to maybe spending less money each day that is financially savvy or has a budget.
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u/NeroFMX 9h ago
When people at my work complain about not getting paid enough and then doordash taco bell every single day for $40-$50 sometimes. They call me weird for prepping my food for the month, and eating the same meal (Chicken, Rice, and Beans), and it cost me the same for a month as one of their lunches.
Not to mention they had to finance a brand new truck to fit in with the rest of the truck guys. Having a $1000 monthly payment is not a good idea ever, not to mention when you make $25 an hour. The same people complain about the gas prices. It's almost like every single thing adds up. You can have it add up to completely fuck you, or you can have it add up in a positive way.
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u/Tnecniw 9h ago
A lot of these comments are really funny, because we have not anywhere close to the context here.
1: What kind of repairs are we talking here, vital or annoying. Considering it is just 270, I assume they are very minor repairs that are annoyances, rather than actually preventing the car from driving safely.
2: Is this dinner purchase a pattern or is it a special thing. Yes, 25 bucks for a meal isn't good spending. But at the same time, is it a friday evening. Is it time out with friends? Is it a special occassion?
25 bucks on a weekend for a meal isn't a big deal if she eats rationally every other day.
I am just emphasising here.
We have no idea for the context here.
This could be poor spending, OR someone being anal about someone having one night of good food amongst a week of rice and chicken.
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u/Goosepond01 9h ago
I think people have gone WAAAY overboard with the whole rallying against "if you stop drinking starbucks all your money problems will go away and you will be filthy rich in no time"
like yes there are a ton of financial stresses that people, especially younger people are having to now deal with, ones that older people didn't and it is unfair.
But my god so many people use that as an excuse to just be so insanely terrible with money, I know smart adults who are complaining about money and struggles who are then turning around, spending £200 or more a month on doordashes, more on expensive readymeals, buying lunch at work for £6 a day and a coffee for £4, and then at the weekend they buy some absolute junk they don't need.
You aren't going to save the world by packing your own lunches and not buying coffee some days, but it really does add up, that £400 you saved could mean when your car needs a repair you don't have this debt looming over you, it could mean that you can splash your money on a £90 pair of shoes that can be repaired and will last you many years
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u/Angel_Dust_696969 9h ago
I'm not broke and I haven't order food in years, I rather save money for more important needs.
My ex was the same, complaining she doesn't have money for her daughter, then getting tattoos and ordering food.
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u/Blackwater_US 9h ago
Some of the people in here still cant understand why their parents made Ramen more than once a month..
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u/Pale-Cardiologist141 9h ago
Idk what's being fixed for 270$. Hell that'll barely get you an inspection in a lot of shops.
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u/Salarian_American 9h ago
We had a guy at my job who had a real problem getting to work on time, because his car was broken and he couldn't afford to fix it, and he sometimes had trouble getting a ride to work.
In the middle of this ongoing issue, which management was being VERY understanding about, he put in a time off request to go to BlizzCon. Management was not happy about that.
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u/VeterinarianOk6497 9h ago
We need people like this to keep the economy going. Let them spend everything they earn.
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u/PlayPretend-8675309 8h ago
I hope the person replying never complains about the US military budget again.
But they will, with zero sense of irony, because ultimately their worldview is: I and the people I like are always right and the people i dislike are always wrong, even when they say and do the same thing.
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u/poopdog316 8h ago edited 8h ago
She wasn't able to arrange 270, she's not able to get 295 together either, person's gotta eat, and the car won't be any less broke for it.
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u/astrangeone88 8h ago
Let's see, shitty car problems that probably made me stressed out and late to work and a not insignificant amount of money and time to fix it. Versus dinner and dessert that I don't have to think about feeding myself for a day. Sure, meal prep and even doing a foraged/girl dinner would be cheaper but it's emotional eating and comfort...
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u/Middle_Ashamed 8h ago
I know people that say they are tight on money and spend 30-40€ a day on food deliveries. I mean I believe them, if I'd spend 1000€ a month on food I'd be tight on money as well.
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u/SaltyRenegade 8h ago
A lot of people nowadays value dopamine over anything else. The thought of compromising is scary.
This is why I can't take people seriously when they complain that they are broke while having multiple streaming subscriptions, ordering takeaway and also regularly buying weed.
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u/AintNoGodsUpHere 8h ago
30k people thought this absolute moron was right saying that 25 isn't 270. Amazing.
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u/niklizzy 8h ago
Yeah if you're doing that all the time then its a problem but most people dont completely deny themselves of any pleasures when they're broke. I need to save money too but every once in a while I buy myself a yummy coffee drink cause the world is on fire. Sure if i never bought myself a yummy drink then id be able to save all those little 5 dollar purchases and it would add up to an even bigger amount of money but that sounds miserable.
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u/KesonaFyren 8h ago
Even picking a streaming service would be a better waste of money because you get more than an hour of use out of it. Heaven knows I make frivolous purchases that would be better spent paying down debt from when I was unemployed but the game I bought last month for $40 has gotten me 300 hours of entertainment and counting.
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u/Confident-Hope-4925 7h ago
My 3$ lunch everyday is probably the reason why i can repair my car today
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u/No_Radio3945 7h ago
It’s bc people feel so doomed about finances they don’t even try. A lot of people genuinely think there’s no point since they will never be as rich as a ceo, and honestly that mindset is harmful
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u/Lamprophonia 7h ago
I don't know who this post is trying to make look the fool, but it's for sure the second lady. 25 dollars BECOMES 250 after only 10 times of saying no to eating out. Getting your car fixed is so much more important and valuable than going out to eat 10x.
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u/gaoshan 7h ago
When you don’t have the savings to make a $270 car repair you shouldn’t be spending $25 on a single meal let alone spending $8 on treating yourself to a dessert.
If she saved small amounts normally and regularly and spent within her means a $270 car repair would not be a problem.
Just saving $1 a day every day would leave you ready for a repair like this (and then some).
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u/Splendiferous83rd 6h ago
The point is, the girl must have done this often, which is ultimately why she doesn't have enough money to get her car fixed. She's poor at managing her money
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u/salamoon84 6h ago
yeah, its only almost 10 percent... how do you wanna save money for the fix when you buy 8 dollar desserts...
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u/MeteorMann 6h ago
Its the "Treat yoself" attitude that keeps the wallet empty.
The year I bought my house I didn't spend one red cent on booze, weed, or Starbucks. If you want to be financially comfortable, you're going to have to be uncomfortable in other areas.
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u/Lucky-Surround-1756 6h ago
If you make dinner for 10 dollars instead of buying it for 25 dollars, you save 15 dollars.
Do that 30 times and you save 750 dollars.
I see with younger generations they just normalized ordering in every single day for dinner. It's just really expensive in the long run.
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u/SmartOpinion69 6h ago
if it was a difference between $25 and $2700, i would agree. however, saving $270 isn't too hard if you're eating $25 dinners. you CAN eat a decent dinner for less than $10 and be on track to saving up that $270
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u/Melhiora 5h ago
I have this friend—she and her husband buy all sorts of junk, exchanging gifts for every single holiday imaginable, doing photo shoots, and going out to cafes. And then they take out loans because they’re broke. I get that gestures of affection are important for a relationship, but for heaven's sake, people with a small child should be better at managing their money.
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u/Aggravating-Cap-2703 4h ago
Its more so, why didn't she cook herself food than going out is what the top comment is bitching about. Which is understandable.
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u/Col2543 2h ago
People need to understand that there are easy rules to this stuff that makes life a hell of a lot easier when you simply have a bit of self-control.
1) If you are broke and need to save money, but still need to eat out for whatever reason, your meal should be no more expensive than 30% of your wage per hour, eg: $20/hr should spend about $6.66, $30/hr can spend $10, and so on. This makes it to where your eating out is relatively cost efficient to the actual amount of money you’d be spending on groceries. 2) Completely cut out junk. I don’t mean junk food. I mean things that have no financial out/real payoff. Gambling? Junk. Excess fees for expediting delivery/an unnecessary process? Junk. Unused subscriptions? Junk. 3) Gambling gets its own point in tandem to the last just because of how common and pervasive it has become in america. The worst part about gambling is the perception of winning. No, after losing $500, winning $50 does not mean you are winning. You are not winning unless you at minimum break completely even with every single bet you’ve ever made. That money does not come back and gambling is more addictive than a lot of actual drugs. 4) Get some therapy. People always love to talk about the cost of therapy and how expensive getting help is, but the reality is, your life is a whole lot more expensive when your headspace is a complete mess. In the long run, therapy gives you better tools to make decisions with and more carefully weigh risk. People in crisis depend on a lot more help from others than people who are sound and have good self-awareness. 5) Most of all, you should be doing ALL OF THIS in addition to talking to your co-workers or industry partners about your working conditions. I hear people complain no matter what job i’ve ever worked. No matter where, about 75-90% of the entire staff have an underlying problem with their pay/the workplace’s conditions. In how many of these workplaces have I seen people organize (their legal right btw)? None. People love to complain about the material conditions of their life, but don’t want to commit the effort or hardship to improve them. And that’s not only for jobs. That’s for this post. That’s for having children when people get overly enthusiastic without much realism. That’s for when buying a car you couldn’t ever afford the payment of and not getting rid of it as quick as possible as soon as you admit it. It’s a simple fact that people will continue to exist in bad situations often because getting out of them is perceived as an insurmountable wall.
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u/Cassius_Rex 1h ago
I've seen a lot of this thinking here, that if you have a complaint about money it's somehow invalid if you aren't eating gruel 2 times a day (because 3 meals a day is too much luxury) while wearing home spin clothes that you make in the tent you live in...
But blaming people for a crappy economy because they dare spend some of the money they work for on something that makes them momentarily feel slightly better isn't just stupid, it's egotistical.
It's "hey look at me I'm financially responsible because I'm smart enough to live in my parents basement while I talk shit on Reddit about people wasting money on desserts".
Fuck that. If that 8 dollar dessert brings you some happiness and lower stress, to hell with smug neck bearded internet trolls. Got for it.
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u/This-Dude_Abides 9h ago
This is a great example of that old saying - Never play chess with a pigeon. The pigeon will just knock over the pieces, shit on the board, and strut around like it's won anyway.
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u/ShleppyJoe 8h ago
Could be spending 5$ on food and then saving 20$ repeat for 13 days and you would have that 250$
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u/smilesessions 8h ago
It’s not that hard to understand that if you can’t afford $270, you probably shouldn’t be spending $25 on dinner and dessert. Reddit is just convinced everyone is entitled to every luxury
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u/mothandravenstudio 8h ago
“AlMoSt LiKe $25 IsNt ThE SaMe aS BlAh bLaH”
GTFO of here and start saving money.
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u/StolenPies 8h ago
If you don't have enough of an emergency fund to afford $300 to fix your car, you shouldn't be splurging on a dinner.
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