Ask Lemmy

I do a lot of budgeting, and I use the "pool" method.

A lot of people recommend the 50-30-20 rule: 50% of your money goes to fixed expenses, 30% goes to discretionary spending, and 20% to savings.

I tweaked that a bit and made it 60-20-30, with the 60% being for essentials...things like clothing is included.

That 20% goes towards any guilt-free spending. I've covered everything I need, and this is money I'm allowed to spend on whatever I want...guilt-free.

With that first and last paragraph, in addition to your question, it sounds like you don't have the confidence to decide this purchase on your own.

Whereas spending money on car stuff, emergency funds or your parents must have been generally approved by whoever you fear consequences from. (looks like your father (or parents?) when you were a child)

You can obv. just go ahead and buy that MacBook, as a form of exposure therapy. Buy it, accept the potential fallout from that action and come out the other side with a MacBook.

If even small luxuries, like a small figurine make you anxious, you could search for something small you like and buy that first and 'work your way up'.

Alternatively you need to do the deep soul searching and process all those emotions around spending and saving money. Which future does your fear try to save you from? What happens to you, or your family, when you spend that money? Why do you budget (emotionally)? Why is spending money on family (luxuries?) ok? When is it not? What does a MacBook represent to you?

First, it is better for you that your natural instinct as you've gotten wealthier is to still maintain your cheap habits. It is better for your finances to spend under your means than over them.

But now, you can start looking into more than just cash flow to justify the,cost. Your time has value now, so you should consider the time value when making financial decisions. You should also look at things like total life cycle cost; a MacBook is generally well built and is on the higher end of life.

I would also start to set financial goals. If you have an idea of what you want financially in your life, it can help you decide if you have the money to splurge on some essentials.

If I need it and it's worth the price then I don't worry about spending money on it. Especially when talking about one time or long term purchases such as a laptop (which as an extremely satisfied MacBook user I highly recommend)

Subscribtion services and meals are the ones I take issue with. I dont want to pay high price for something and then have nothing to show for it. I will not pay 5 euros for a cup of coffee no matter what - it's not worth that to me. With items you technically didn't lose any value - you just traded cash for an object.

I'm the same as you. Even if I want something and can afford it, I will hold back longer than necessary. Sometimes I just don't end up buying the thing, and I'm fine.

It's much easier to justify practical purchases, or just save the money. I think this comes from living with financial struggles and wanting to be prepared.

I don't think there's anything wrong with it, and it may be beneficial to be frugal and picky about your spending. Clearly it's working if your budget is planned and in action. Just remember it's ok to treat yourself once in a while and enjoy it.

I'm the same. We're remodeling a house and when i see the price of an item i do hours and hours of research trying to save a few bucks, which delays everything. We began remodeling Jan 6. Could be done by now if i were less wishy washy.

As far as MacBooks go, it’s easy for me. Every Mac I’ve owned has outlasted Windows/Linux PCs to the point of being the more frugal option if the upfront cost is affordable.

That doesn’t take into account whether you need Windows specific software—mostly games and some technical, industry specific software. Sometimes Wine/Crossover or virtualization is an option.

That said, balance your necessities, your emergency fund, your retirement fund. If those are reasonably covered, you’re in the position for a big spend especially on something durable that also makes life easier.

I think the general question you always need to ask when buying something “nonessential” is: will I use this enough to justify the cost?”

Whether that’s a MacBook or a car or a gaming console or even a $0.99 app.

Just be honest with yourself. I once bought a MacBook Pro because I decided I was going to develop iPhone apps. I never learned Objective C. I barely used the laptop at all. It was a waste of money, plus stressing over the guilt of never using it.

Flip side: you only live once. Don’t trap yourself in a mindset that you always need to save every penny and never enjoy yourself with small things.

Everyone exists somewhere in the spectrum between saving and spending. Figure out where you live on that spectrum and make your purchasing decisions accordingly.

MacBooks are easy. Buy it.

Don’t like it? You can easily sell it for 70-80% retail in a year

It’s not a bad problem to have, TBH. The thing that stood out to me is what you consider “not necessary.” Other than this, you seem to have figured out a sensible budget, and you’re prioritizing your future self. I have the same thoughts whenever I make a large purchase, and sometimes they win out. Sometimes they don’t. The thing is do you feel like your frugality is keeping you from something, or negatively impacting your life?

I have a VERY comprehensive budget that I do every year. Things often don't go according to plan but they go better than if I didn't have a plan at all. I'm also pretty frugal so I don't like spending money on non-essentials if I don't have to.

However, the thing that I've learned as I've gotten older is that there is a very close relationship between time and money. Now I have more money than time which has required me to shift my thinking a bit.

For instance, around the house I frequently run into projects that I could do with the tools I already have. But, there's an expensive power tool that will either help me do the job better or reduce the time it takes to do the project. If I think the tool will meet either of those criteria and I will use it more than once, I'll usually buy it.

Time is finite. If I can buy some of it back or maximize the value I'm getting from it, it's worth it to me to spend a little money.

I have a similar childhood history. One thing that works for me is comparing what the daily use cost for the thing is. Like with a laptop, it may cost $2k, and I may use it almost every day for 5 years, which comes out to a little over one dollar a day which is not too expensive. However, something like a pair of binoculars that may cost like $500, but I only use them 4 times a year for 5 years would be $25 per day that I use them even though they cost 1/4 as much as the laptop.

Also with the laptop, if you use it every day, going from a $1k laptop with a daily use cost of $0.50 a day to $1.00 a day is not a major jump in total daily cost, so going for a more expensive laptop that is going to make your daily experience better may be worth it, whereas going for binoculars that cost twice as much would cost $25 more per use, which is a much more significant dollar amount per use.

Another way to assess the laptop price it is to compare everything else that costs you $1 a day. You may even be able to cut out $1 a day from your budget. Like if you live in a cold climate, just don't warm up your car as long every day. Or buy a small size food thing instead of a large. Or skip eating out one day every two weeks.

I'm sure some folks will disagree with this though process, but it has worked for me, and has helped me assess the value of things in my life that I may not give much thought to because they are not glamorous, like a mattress.

How much money is coming in every month (salary + other income)? How much money is going out (bills, food, subscriptions, other recurring expenses)? How much are you putting towards short and long term savings each month?

Once you've set aside those categories, the remainder is what you can spend without worrying about needing to take away from your more essential obligations.

I'm a miser, so I'd think hard about whether I really need a MacBook. If I felt I'd make do with the PCs I had, and wouldn't open the Macbook much then it's not worth, but if it would be my daily driver then it would be. Divide the price by the number of hours you'd use it. And then just spend less discretionally for a couple months until you build up the buffer again.

There is no cure to being stingy :(