The great thing about personal finance is that it’s personal. Some people take “personal” to mean that it’s private. I think of the “personal” in personal finance as meaning that it’s about your individual choice. No one can tell you what you should do with your money. The choice is yours! It’s personal.
The way you spend your money is an outward display of your values. You can tell what’s important to a person by the way he or she spends money.
Our priorities might be most obvious in the more discretionary spending categories like entertainment or savings, but really, all of our expenses reflect our priorities.
- Your utility bill might reflect your priority of keeping the house at a comfortable temperature.
- Your car payment reflects your priority of having a reliable, new vehicle.
- Your money saved for a family vacation shows that traveling as a family is important to you.
While we don’t want to embrace a scarcity mentality, for most of us the reality is that we don’t have endless available funds.
That’s normal. That is fine!
It just means we can’t buy everything. We can buy anything, but we can’t buy everything. We have to prioritize.
If you don’t consciously prioritize your spending (with .. ahem.. your budget), then the default is that you will spend your money on whatever comes up first. Does it seem like you somehow never have money for the things that you think are your priorities? If so, it’s probably time to rethink the way you are allocating your money. It’s time to get serious about budgeting
But that’s a conversation for another day. Today I want to share with you 7 normal things that our family doesn’t spend money on.
This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t spend money on these things. If some of these are among your priorities, that’s totally fine! No judgment here. This is just an illustration to show how we intentionally try NOT to spend money on things that come up if they aren’t priorities. There are probably things that I buy that you don’t!
Coffee
Starbucks gets a bad rap in the budgeting space, but I’m not just talking about “fancy” coffee (that’s certainly included though). We don’t drink coffee at all, ever, so we don’t need to budget for it.
Food at Events
Whether it’s a swim meet, football game, theme park, or the county fair, our family doesn’t buy event food. Our kids don’t ask for snacks, treats, or drinks when we go to events because they know that we aren’t buying them. When it’s an event that allows outside food, then we pack our own food to bring in. If food isn’t allowed, we are conscious to eat before we go. If we’re at an amusement park that doesn’t allow outside food to be brought it we will go out to the car where we’ll have lunch and dinner packed in a cooler. We’d rather spend that money on fun activities than overpriced, non-nutritious food. We’ve saved so much money over the years with this “rule” and our kids have learned delayed gratification and money management skills in the process.
Purses
I know some women who have a closet full of purses and others who care a lot about designer labels. For me, that doesn’t matter at all. For years I didn’t carry a purse at all because I brought a diaper bag everywhere I went. At the risk of making some of you cringe, I’ll admit that I usually just buy a purse from the thrift store and use it until it wears out. Seeing the price of designer purses does not make me regret this decision!
Make-up
Besides a little mascara, I don’t wear makeup. While make up is a completely normal expense for most women (and that’s totally fine!), it has never been my thing. I have my mascara on Amazon’s subscribe and save, so it automatically gets purchased and delivered to me every six months.
Alcohol
My husband and I don’t drink when we’re out or when we’re at home. Our decision has nothing to do with money, but when I see how much others spend in this area I can’t help but appreciate that we don’t need a budget category for alcohol.
Mani/Pedi/Massage
I’ve never paid to have my nails done or to get a massage. Having nail polish or anything else on my nails makes them feel like they can’t breathe, so I prefer naked nails. I paint my own toenails in the summer, but it’s nothing fancy. For some, these expenses are priorities, but for me they just aren’t.
Haircuts, colors, etc
It probably doesn’t surprise you that I’m also very low maintenance when it comes to hair. I’ve always kept my natural color. When I was as in college my roommate and I would get our hair cut very inexpensively at the local beauty school, but other than that I’ve had my hair cut by my mom or husband. My husband cuts his own hair (with touchups from me) and our boys’ hair. I usually cut the girls’ hair myself.
You do you!
Some of you nodded along with me through that list. Others are screaming inside about our deprived life. Isn’t it wonderful that personal finance is personal!? We don’t spend money on things that aren’t priorities for us. We would rather spend our money on things that are important.
I want the same for you! Decide what things don’t matter to you (or that matter less than your higher priorities) and limit the money that you spend there. That frees up your money to spend on the things that are most important to you.
Whether your spending priorities are totally the same as or completely different than ours, harnessing the power of priority-based budgeting will get you to a better place financially. So own your spending and the lack of it. You do you!
How about you?
What are some “normal” things that you choose not to spend money on?
More Money-Saving Ideas Below:
My husband and I are both retired and we have a good income from multiple retirement sources. So while we can afford to eat out when we choose to and can purchase new vehicles, we still manage our finances and do not live beyond our means or waste money on frivolous things. The house and our vehicles are paid for, we don’t have any loans. When we were younger and raising children, we would pack the cooler with drinks, lunch and snacks when going on trips and to events rather than purchasing overpriced junk food.
We keep the thermostat low in the winter, but now being we have a wood stove, we are saving even more on our utility bills through our sweat equity in cutting, splitting, stacking plus hauling in the wood.
We have a garden, and this time of year we are harvesting, canning and freeze drying to preserve the fruits and vegetables. I know that the taco sauce, salsa, and tomato sauce we make from the vegetables we get from our garden not only tastes better, but is not loaded with chemicals or pesticides.
We do drink, but we make our own wine and beer, we don’t drink alcohol when we do go out to eat. I don’t wear makeup, just lip gloss and lip balm, and I don’t get my nails done. We cook from single ingredients, not prepared foods and we incorporate the fruits and vegetables fresh from the garden or what we have preserved.
My husband cuts my hair for me and I cut his hair for him. I get compliments on my hair and my husband is quite satisfied with my barbering skills. It. Is so convenient, no need to make an appointment, drive anywhere or spend too much money for results I am unhappy with. He loves my hair long as much as I do, and he will give me French, Dutch, fishtail and variations of them. I get compliments on them and get asked how I do them. I tell people that I have a seat and tell my husband what I would like that day. I enjoy the bonding time and pampering. We do our own yard work, landscaping, snow removal, minor maintenance on our vehicles and we painted the house and the deck ourselves this year.
I never ever buy water and paper towels. I get free water from my tap and towels are used instead and are reusable.
I also pretty much buy grocery staples that help me create different dishes. I colour and cut my own hair and I drink instant coffee.. I’m frugal in what I spend my money on and watch my house bills. Yet I love going out for dinners and feel guilt free spending money I know would cost me a fraction if I cooked it. I also have no debt by having a credit card at only $500 limit – allows me to be able to pay it off at end of month, even if maxed. I save or invest every extra penny I have, as little as that is, I have surprisingly saved a nice amount to make me feel secure for anything unexpected. I thank God.
😐😐 I don’t do drugs, so I don’t spend money on drugs.
we save money by not going to fancy seafood restaurants, because we don’t eat seafood. if we go to a coastal location we just eat something else.
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I don’t wear make up either, but I’m certainly not portraying myself as saving money on it because it’s not money I would have spent anyway. so I’m really not sure what the point of this article was supposed to be. there’s no money saving tips, there’s no flex or success story.
and to the people criticizing their kids, there’s very little money we’re going to save that’s going to make a difference. buying $5 coffee 5 days a week won’t even pay for a basic car’s tank of gas. but it does add a bit of joy to my life while the economy and the country collapses. courtesy of the people criticizing their kids for buying coffee.
also, I save money on coffee because I don’t drink it either. but I didn’t write an article about it.
Whoa
Everyone should budget for a massage. A massage is not a luxury, a massage is a necessity for everyone. Find a local school that has a massage program, and receive a massage at a discounted price. You will understand then.
I don’t spend frivolously so I put the fetch app on my phone and snap receipts from my purchases from what I buy. I have gotten a massage and a night out to Texas Roadhouse and not spent a dime except for their tips. And I also have a credit card that I can get a free hotel room while either traveling or if I need a night away from the everyday hustle and bustle of everyday life just to decompress. It works for me.
Grest way to see where money goes although I have so many payments I can’t budget. We don’t do anything extra so when we get more I deflate will budget.
Massages are not just a luxury, it can benefit to the expense of overall health. Massage has helped with a rib I had out of place for months, not to mention my mental health and fitness recovery. With that being said, I get one maybe once every 3 months bc it’s still hard to spend that much.
I agree with packed meals for events, but I do splurge on a sweet treat for my child that is hard to obtain elsewhere, like the dippin dots. I feel it adds to her experience and I try to prioritize all my spending on experiences!
We don’t but Halloween candy, club store membership, or birthday presents for my kids friends (they either buy it themselves or usually make something). I have paid for a massage once and it was glorious, but I don’t think it will be a regular expense:)
We love our Nespresso machine. We reuse the cups and fill them with free coffee that my daughter brings home from Starbucks.
I totally agree with you, except for the nil alcohol budget, but we are working on our friends not to drink our beer! They are not good listeners, esp after a few!!
We also refused to pay $30+ for a poor pizza/fast food at public venues and always packed our own for visits to the zoo etc. Now our kids are grown, with their own children, and they buy them whatever they want wherever. I think the “value” of money has changed, and I hate feeling cheap!
I SO understand your comment about the value of money changing and feeling cheap! My adult children spend very differently when it comes to dining out. It is hard for me to treat them at a restaurant now, since they seem to not have any concept of frugality in dining out… Add in appetizers, drinks, alcohol, dessert! It gets expensive, but that’s how they do things, even when they’re spending their own money.