TN IRL: I spend my money on this and “waste” my money on that

Somewhere between middle school and five seconds after graduating from college, I figured out that lots of people spend their money very differently than I choose to. The longer I live, the more I:

1. Wish more stuff was free.
2. Am fascinated by what cheap  frugal people do open their purse strings for.
3. Wonder if some of my friends/neighbors are pulling off insider trading to finance all their purchases or are just in debilitating credit card debt. (I realize it’s not polite to ask about either one, but I do wonder.)

I fall toward the cheap frugal side of the saver-to-spender continuum. So if you’re like me and wonder how/why people spend their money certain ways, here’s a peek into how I spend mine, with a few stories thrown in.

5 Things I Never Spend My Money On

Wrinkle Cream/Face Wash

I’m 33. I’m not going to look 21 forever, and I’ve made my peace with that. I doubt the claims of pretty much anything besides Botox, and think most of those beauty products are full of carcinogenic chemicals, anyway. (Yes, I’m one of THOSE people.) I’m happy to wash my face with honey, coconut oil, oatmeal, or whatever else I have around the house. And you know what? I still get carded occasionally when I order a drink at a restaurant.

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Designer Clothes

When I’m in NYC, I feel like I need a serious makeover. Then I go home, remember I have a 5-year-old, look at the people in my grocery store who are wearing mom jeans two sizes too big for them, and think my clothes are fine.
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Whatever People Are Selling for Their Pyramid Scheme Multi-Level Marketing Company

ALL my mom acquaintances seem to have endless parties selling ____ (whatever it is they all must own this month) from about eleventy-billion different companies. Several of them are becoming “consultants.” And I’m seriously considering researching if you can turn off private messages on Facebook, because not only do people who live near me want me to spend money on all this crap these products, I’m getting messages from people who live half-way across the country (that I haven’t talked to in five years) asking me to buy it.The thing is? Other than being a SAHM, I’m not their target demographic. I don’t like to shop. I don’t need to be a special snowflake with one-of-a-kind everything, but I don’t like to have the same bag as everyone else I know, just with a different color scheme. Truly, I hope that the women I know who are trying to make some money while working from home are successful at it. But please take a hint that I ignore party invitations/PM trying to sell me something and leave me alone.

Apple Products/Any other cell phone that costs over $300.

I get that for some people, having the newest iPhone/iWatch (that’s not what they’re calling it, is it?)/etc, is a big freaking deal. I don’t judge you (unless you act offended that I. Don’t. Care. and am not impressed that you bought it the day it came out). But until last year, I didn’t even have a Smartphone, so yeah, I’m happy with my Nexus 5 and wouldn’t care if I had to downgrade to whatever the base model is.
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Coffee

Why are people so pretentious about coffee? I mean, sure, you’re welcome to like one brand over another. I have strong brand preferences when it comes to chocolate. But I don’t get spending a 100+% mark-up to have someone else make your coffee for you. And, seriously, if you’re the type of person who is going to tell me that I can’t talk to you because you haven’t had your coffee yet? I’m going to judge you for not dealing with your addiction.

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So now that there’s likely one reason you think I’m ridiculously cheap, judgmental, etc., I probably also spend money in ways you never would.

5 Ways I Waste Money And Don’t Care

Buying Books

I make excellent use of my local library, but if I think I will read a book more than once, I purchase a copy. Sometimes in multiple formats. Which leads me to this story: Shawn (my husband) and I went to the Teen Book Festival in Rochester, NY in May. I gloried in geeking out as we went to panels, and brought copies of books to be signed by Sarah Dessen, Ally Condie, and Gayle Forman. But the author I was most excited to meet that day was Katie McGarry, whose books I love–and who is also really accessible on Twitter, so I’ve gotten to interact with her a bit. But I only owned my favorite of her books (Crash Into You) in ebook and audiobook form, not a physical copy. So, of course, I bought one. Cue my frugal husband saying “So you just spent $10 for a signature?” My response? “No, I spent $10 so I could meet her.” Now, despite the fact that I’ve tweeted with Katie, I wasn’t going to mention it. I may be an unapologetic fangirl, but I try to act like an adult and have normal, adult conversations when I meet authors. Not shriek like a teenager or assume they remember every person they stumble across on social media. So I was floored (and thrilled!) when Katie took one look at me and said “I know you! We talk on Twitter. Let me give you a hug!” We hugged, took a picture, she signed my new 3rd copy of her book, and was really encouraging when I told her I have an agent and am trying to get published, too. (This was hands down the best meeting-an-author experience I’ve had.)

As we walked away, Shawn said, “Buying that book was totally worth it.”

Traveling to Meet Authors

We (my saint of a husband and I) drove 5 hours, paid for an overnight at a hotel, and stood in line in the Philadelphia winter for hours to meet Stephenie Meyer. We did 7 hours of driving in a day to meet Shannon Hale. The Teen Book Festival was a much more reasonable drive as we live in Upstate NY. I’m currently scouring tour schedules of Kiera Cass, Jodi Meadows, and Shannon Messenger, because I fully intend to force Shawn into more road trips.

Traveling in General

I’ve been to Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, France, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Italy, Holland, Greece, Turkey, India, Mexico, Puerto Rico, St. Martin, St. Thomas, Toronto, and tons of places around the U.S. And we’re headed back to Ireland (where we met on a study abroad trip in college) for our 10th (!) anniversary this summer. We probably could have furnished our house a few times over (most of our furniture are hand-me downs) or bought a few cars with all of our travel money, but I don’t regret a cent.(I’d put in a pretty travel picture, but I’m guessing you already hate me for this list.)

Organic, Non-GMO Food

I told you, I’m one of THOSE people. I actually drive out to a farm 40 minutes away from my house to get raw milk and meat from grass-fed, never injected with un-necessary anything cattle/pigs. I might be insane, but I really like getting food from a place that encourages the patron to visit the animals when they come to get their CSA share. I mean, what animal lover doesn’t want to be licked by a 3-day-old baby cow? Or see a huge litter of piglets when reading Charlotte’s Web to her 5yo? Or get to pet the horse on its way out to plow the field? (Yes, the farmers plow the field with horses. And no, they’re not Amish.)

Our Dogs

It was apparently possible, not so many years ago, to own pets without spending tens of thousands of dollars on them. I haven’t been interested in figuring out that skill (as I drive retriever #2  to Cornell for dental surgery, consider if there is such a thing as an indestructible toy that retriever #3 couldn’t demolish, and seriously consider getting a Cuddle Clone made of retriever #1 who died of kidney issues last year).

So that’s how I spend/don’t waste my own money. How about you?