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Re:Why Don't People Manage Debt Better? by charlesdm on Friday February 19, 2016 @12:25PM (#11134861)
If you want to save money, do it on large purchases. Buying a $30k car? Negotiate aggressively so you can buy it for $23-25k. Anything above a few $100 is worth haggling over.

Do you know how many people pay the listing price of a car, yet cut coupons to save a few euros/dollars? A lot. It's ridiculous.

Some of the joys in life are simple things, such as drinking a $2-3 coffee or having a cocktail in a nice bar, etc.

Re:Why Don't People Manage Debt Better? by Ocerge on Friday February 19, 2016 @01:12PM (#11135265)
Absolutely. I fully recognize my $2.50 americano every morning could be a couple of cups of free office coffee, but I look forward to it every single day. I also drive a 10-year-old but reliable car, so I don't have any huge monthly expenditures outside of rent and my $150 student loan payment. I'll take the $100 or so hit every month in exchange for me starting my mornings on a positive note. It's not going to positively change my life enough to not have that americano every morning.
Re:Why Don't People Manage Debt Better? by kdamken on Friday February 19, 2016 @02:16PM (#11135814)
Playing devils advocate here: you're spending $1200 a year on coffee. With that money you could not only buy a really nice coffee machine and make it yourself every morning, but also have a bunch of money leftover to put towards your loans, invest, put towards a nice vacation, etc.

The idea is that those small daily expenses tend to add up, and there may be a lot more of them than you realized.

Re:Why Don't People Manage Debt Better? by billmalarky on Friday February 19, 2016 @05:19PM (#11137104)
Reminds me of the old joke:

"If you had stopped smoking 10 years ago you could afford to be driving around in a Ferrari right now."

"Do you smoke?"

"No."

"Then where's your Ferrari?"

Point is don't sweat the small things. Sure they add up, but you should dedicate a portion of your cash flow towards investments at the start of the pay cycle, not "what's left at the end." Then the rest can be spent on anything arbitrarily with a clear conscious.

Re:Why Don't People Manage Debt Better? by joverholt on Friday February 19, 2016 @02:56PM (#11136128)
Also, buy a coffee roaster and roast your own beans. There are lots of ways to get started on the cheap (popcorn air roaster), and unroasted coffee is around $5-$6 a pound. It's a very rewarding hobby. http://sweetmarias.com is a great place to get started.