How I Keep Friendships While Being Frugal

My wife and I retired a couple of years ago and started a blog about finances for busy people. We got there with some saving and normal investments and we keep it up because we still have some amazing goals (that’s important for this process).

…Back to our time-eating, money-spending friends

Going out for dinner and drinks is both fun and a normal thing to do (unlike epic levels of saving). Even if you try your darndest to keep the bill small, you still somehow spend fifty bucks at the end of the night.

So what do we do? Well, it seems like we have two options:

Option A – I deserve to go out. Hey, I get it. You work hard, and you deserve to blow off some steam at the pub or take your in-laws out for dinner, right? Option B – I can’t afford that. So the other option is to start dodging these outings altogether. I’d rather stay in, guys.

Bring your friends into your goals

“I can’t” isn’t part of our vocabulary.  We bring our friends in on our plans and get them to be our cheerleaders.

Our power phrase to stay frugal

1 – Say no. After you say no, don’t waiver.  2 – Remind your friends of your super goal (remind…not surprise) 3 – Offer up something that works for everyone:

The response will be awesome!

One of the reasons we like this phrase is that it’s pretty badass but not threatening. Like we are mafiosos of saving.

Have you ever seen the John Cusack film, “High Fidelity“? No? That’s OK, you don’t really have to see the movie to understand and appreciate the concept of a Top 5 list. Cusack’s character, Rob, is a big fan of them; so am I. David Letterman had his Top 10 lists, but half the list was nonsense and the lame answers distracted you from laughing at the 4 or 5 funny ones. So I’m taking Rob’s approach.

Swipe up to learn more