Antimustachian behavior that makes your day

[blackomen]

Every time I go to work, I see a bunch of colleagues carrying an expensive coffee cup, their "morning latte" with them. That thing costs them $3.5 plus taxes.
That's close to a thousand dollars a year. It puts a huge smile on my face every time I see someone with a Starbucks coffee in their hand, thinking "ha, I just saved myself $1000 by looking at you". No empathy for them. at. all. (am I a bad person?)

What non-mustachian behavior from your peers puts a smile on your face?

When I was in college, the homeless man outside of the starbucks near where I live would go in and buy coffee almost everyday.  I knew this because he seemed to buy coffee at about the same time every single day as me.  And I guess I'd be equally as guilty too since I had a daily starbucks habit back then.

[MgoSam]

What good does it do to laugh at other people and their "weakness"? Is this supposed to make you feel better about yourself? Maybe people who buy lattes do so because they like it and find it worth the 1k/year expense, or maybe they are just mindless? Who are we to judge? Who cares?

What part of "The Antimustachian Wall of Shame and Comedy" do you not understand?  "Sometimes the world just needs to be mocked."  Lord knows the rest of the world mocks frugal people all the time.

Also, buying lattes is a ridiculous thing considering the cost difference when you make it yourself.  Humanity invented these things called thermos's, coffee machines, and instant coffee that produce coffee at literally 1/100th of the price of a Starbucks coffee.

This blog is not for the mindless consumer automatons - it's for the people out there that are capable of rational thought but are constantly facing peer pressure to do things that are complete wastes of money.  This forum is meant to provide counter-examples so that they can understand what not to do.

Also, I don't personally care if someone spends $1,000 a year on lattes, the reason the topic keeps getting brought up is that it appears that many of the people that do have a latte habit are the same ones that say they have no money to save/invest, or are living paycheck to paycheck. My company had a receptionist that complained about her salary and not being able to make ends meet, but always grabbed for lunch. To my knowledge in the past 5 years the only lunches she had that were bag lunches were ones that another coworker brought in for her as a favor. I bring this up not to denigrate her, but instead to mention why such things belong in the section of the thread. And yes, me and a few other people had tried encouraging her to either cook, or bring in something microwavable or even just bring bread and meat and vegetables and stuff to keep in the fridge.

You ask who cares, we do. I am someone that plans on hitting FIRE by the age of 35 and have a ton of friends that think of me as being crazy because they spend a lot of money. Threads like this one help remind me why they may be that way and so I have better context. At the same time, it can honestly help me stay on track as there are times when I want to splurge. If this thread isn't for you there is no shame in that. I don't see this as schadenfreude but if you think this is and think that it might be damaging for you, then I do encourage you to spend time on other threads and ignore this one.

[StockBeard]

Ha, it was not my intent to start such a discussion on "is it ok to mock other people's bad habits", but I'll bite.

As MgoSam and Moustaches have stated, the goal is not to make myself feel better, but to confirm to myself why this whole frugality thing works: I'm not FIREd yet, so doubt comes regularly to my mind: "does this whole thing even work?". The "colleagues bringing a latte everyday" helps confirm it on a daily basis, it's a way for me to keep focused on my goals. Noticing all the "bad" habits from other people, and reminding myself "*this* is one of the reasons it's going to work for me, let's keep going".

I'm not mocking people or laughing at them, but I take some satisfaction and pride in resisting my own urges for instant gratification. Looking at other people whom I work with daily helps me building a checklist of things not to do: Expensive clothes? Check. Daily $5 latte? Check. A different pair of shoes every single day of the week? Check. A new phone every 6 months? check. Car commute everyday to compensate for a bad apartment decision? check. And so on and so forth. It helps me reflect on my own choices once in a while too.

Whenever I can, I discuss my frugality with colleagues, but most of the time I find closed doors. The most open colleague I got answered to me "yeah, it probably works, but I would have to give up things I'm not willing to give up in order to make this work". so, I'm not a complete douchebag about this, but I'd rather laugh about people's habits (including mine) than cry about it :)

[zoltani]

[Kris]

Pretty soon the only kinds of posts more frequent than people being smug, will be other people smugly pointing out how smug they are being.

[Wings5]

If people can't see how a $600/month car loan is hurting them, do we really think a 5 centavo pricetag on bags is going to make them blink?

[inSecurity]

I enjoy this section because it helps to poke fun at past-me and to ensure I don't relapse.  I'm sure most of us here weren't always as good about avoiding waste as we are now.

I've also seen it mentioned that it helps to put our own little splurges, I believe someone mentioned a bag of apples, in perspective.  For myself, I know it bothers me when I have anything go bad.  This is to the point that my wife has to throw things away when they get to be more mold than food, I'd still pick it off and eat the rest if it was just up to me.

[LiveLean]

   One thing I used to wonder about when I was a working stiff was the number of co workers who had swimming pools.  I live in an apartment so we have an outdoor pool in summer but I have no idea how much that costs. Growing up, I only knew only one kid whose family had a pool so I think of them as being for rich people only (Dad never learned to swim, Mom loved it so she was in YWCA to use their pool).

There is nothing more overrated that having your own swimming pool. I'm embarrassed to say I have pools in both primary residence and beach rental property. I didn't build either of them and the beach rental commands waaay more in summer rent because it has a pool (even though it's a block from the ocean and backs up to a fresh-water canal, which people also could swim in.) But after we sell primary residence by late 2016 we will never have a pool at "home" other than the community pool our future condo rental will provide.

[Megma]

If people can't see how a $600/month car loan is hurting them, do we really think a 5 centavo pricetag on bags is going to make them blink?

I was living in dc when they passed the 5 cent bag tax there and six months later plastic trash in the local rivers had declined something like 80%, which I was impressed by. Not sure how's it's going now. It also made grocery stores much more flexible about using my bags which was nice, bc brining your own became more of the norm.

[FIRE me]

What non-mustachian behavior from your peers puts a smile on your face?

Making decent money working 60 hour weeks, then losing their whole paycheck at the nearest casino. Then doing it again in an attempt to “win it back”.

[PMG]

[/quote]
Sounds like a strong incentive to bring your own, amirite? I'm forever forgetting to bring my reusable bags, so I get plastic and I recycle them religiously. If I got charged for each one, I'd stop forgetting with a quickness.
 
[/quote]

Off original topic, on the sub topic:

I broke the plastic bag habit when I bought a pretty reusable grocery bag at the beach. It has an ocean scene on it ans always reminded me of that vacation and I was somehow more motivated to remember to use it...

[kyanamerinas]

Sounds like a strong incentive to bring your own, amirite? I'm forever forgetting to bring my reusable bags, so I get plastic and I recycle them religiously. If I got charged for each one, I'd stop forgetting with a quickness.
 
[/quote]

Off original topic, on the sub topic:

I broke the plastic bag habit when I bought a pretty reusable grocery bag at the beach. It has an ocean scene on it ans always reminded me of that vacation and I was somehow more motivated to remember to use it...
[/quote]

I use a big canvas bag as my standard handbag, don't keep much in it (keys, purse, phone) but means I rarely have to take a bag when shopping. We walk to the shop for our weekly shop which makes remembering reusable bags easier as it's obvious we need something to get it home in, to us at least (those thin plastic bags are horrible for walking any distance).

[MgoSam]

If people can't see how a $600/month car loan is hurting them, do we really think a 5 centavo pricetag on bags is going to make them blink?

I was living in dc when they passed the 5 cent bag tax there and six months later plastic trash in the local rivers had declined something like 80%, which I was impressed by. Not sure how's it's going now. It also made grocery stores much more flexible about using my bags which was nice, bc brining your own became more of the norm.

Aldi's charges for using a plastic or paper bag, and I love their prices so I'll usually keep a tote bag in my car. Worst case if I forget I'll just grab an empty cartoon from a shelf and use that to carry my things to the car. I really don't know how much they charge for bags, cause I have never actively considered paying for it.

[Sibley]

If people can't see how a $600/month car loan is hurting them, do we really think a 5 centavo pricetag on bags is going to make them blink?

I was living in dc when they passed the 5 cent bag tax there and six months later plastic trash in the local rivers had declined something like 80%, which I was impressed by. Not sure how's it's going now. It also made grocery stores much more flexible about using my bags which was nice, bc brining your own became more of the norm.

Aldi's charges for using a plastic or paper bag, and I love their prices so I'll usually keep a tote bag in my car. Worst case if I forget I'll just grab an empty cartoon from a shelf and use that to carry my things to the car. I really don't know how much they charge for bags, cause I have never actively considered paying for it.

Yeah, but I use those plastic bags for trash bags and to clean the litterboxes. I do not throw them out!

[gimp]

When I first moved to the bay area, I was pissed I couldn't get a plastic bag and had to pay for paper ones.

Then I realized that I never - ever - saw plastic bag litter all over the bloody streets, tucked into crannies of buildings, in rivers, in the ocean.

Just for that, I'm more than happy with the restriction on plastic bags. My life hasn't turned worse because of it, but it's nice not to have them everywhere.

[thurston howell iv]

I don't really revel in other peoples bad choices. Kind of makes me sad to see all the lost potential and the wasted lives.

However, there is an individual at my work that is the bane of the office's existence. A royal PITA!  One day this individual announces that the old jalopy they are driving is falling apart and therefore "needs" a new car. They proceed to ask me advice. I recommend a reasonable used car for under $3k. They 1) scoff at the idea of a $3k car 2) don't have $3k for a car 3) proceed to bring a new-to-them used car to the office to show off. ($12k). They ask for my opinion. I tell them it's a mistake. They buy the car. A year later, mired in the debt of the car payment, they decide that they need the newest, latest, greatest cel phone. I suggest a cheaper alternative. They buy the new phone anyway (it's a necessity- you know, I need to be able to text and check my email on my cel)...

Fast forward and they now bad-mouth the car saying it's a piece of junk and that the dealer should just take it back (and that they need something better), also complaining that they spent $600 on a high end phone (actually, it was a $100 wal mart promo deal) and that it's junk and the service is junk and everyone is out to get them.

This is also an individual that regularly has less than $20 in the bank, waits with bated breath for the next paycheck only to blow through it, and is constantly on about how they were out to dinner every night last week and went shopping here and there... All the while spending inordinate amount of time on the phone yelling at the bank for the late fees and overdraft fees because of the NSF condition of the accounts.

Pure waste.

[Helvegen]

Every time I go to work, I see a bunch of colleagues carrying an expensive coffee cup, their "morning latte" with them. That thing costs them $3.5 plus taxes.
That's close to a thousand dollars a year. It puts a huge smile on my face every time I see someone with a Starbucks coffee in their hand, thinking "ha, I just saved myself $1000 by looking at you". No empathy for them. at. all. (am I a bad person?)

This puzzles me too. We have several K-Cup machines here with a decent selection of cups, creamers, and sweeteners for free. But many of my co-workers make it a point not to go to Starbeetus just once a day, but sometimes twice. They come in with it in the morning, and then at lunch or on break, will run out to get more. People will often regularly pay 2 to 5 times for items from the vending area than they could have paid just buying it from the grocery store. Soda is a big one I see. I pay .21 cents a can for my diet soda and keep the case at my desk. From the machine, it costs .99.

I regularly have co-workers come to me and complain about this and that bill or how they are so broke (I think they assume I HAVE to be in their boat because I am one of the lower paid employees here), in the next breath talking about the house they want to upgrade to and how they just spread a vacation over three now maxed cards because they deserved a break.