So everybody knows what conspicuous consumption is, right? Conspicuous consumption is when you consume for the specific purpose of displaying wealth. Basically, you spend money to impress other people.
We all do this to some extent. I mean, I spent a little money on some decent furniture for my room. I could have left everything in boxes, but then my room wouldn’t be very presentable or comfortable. I wouldn’t be happy in it and I wouldn’t want to show it to anybody else. This is a mild version of the impulse that sociologists began to see in the “new rich” of the late 1800s, when the term “conspicuous consumption” was coined. The industrial revolution bought a lot of people a lot of leisure and a lot of people began using that leisure to buy expensive stuff and show it off as a means of displaying social position.
I posted just a couple days ago about the evils of stuff, and if you’ve been reading this blog with any regularity, then you already know that I believe the impulse to accumulate stuff is what leads people to financial ruin. The urge to display your wealth won’t get you anywhere except the poorhouse! If your money is burning a hole in your pocket, you’re gonna end up with no money and burned pants.
So stuff is naughty and conspicuous consumption is bad - right?
Well, there are shades of gray to everything, and I’d say that spending money to impress others really isn’t always bad. You can let yourself do it if you maintain some restraint. Everybody does, and I’m pretty sure that’s not all bad.
When stuff takes over, that’s bad. Likewise, when the urge for tightwaddery takes over, tightwaddery can distract you from more important goals.
Lemme explain.
The whole point of living frugally is to reach your financial goals and your life goals sooner. As I’ve said several times before, “living the cheap life” has a purpose. Financial freedom will help you do what you were put on earth to do. Theoretically, anyway.
But you know what, I think it’s possible to get too caught up in being a cheapskate. It’s possible to worry too much over conserving every last cent.
I’ve noticed this in myself recently when I’m driving. My roommate and I recently got into this informal competition to see who could conserve the most gas. Now, when I drive my car, I’m always worried about saving every last vapor of gasoline and it’s kind of distracting - distracting from what’s going on on the road and distracting from conversations with friends. Distracting from the important things that make life flavorful.
Distracting.
I think I’m gonna call off this competition pretty soon.
Lemme think of a couple other quick examples of conspicuous tightwaddery… I want to make sure the car salesman realizes that I don’t care about the monthly payment, only about the final price of the car and the interest payment; I want to show my friends that I know how to get the best deals on airfare and hotels. I do, on occasion, have the urge to show off how cheap I am.
I think this is fine when you are genuinely trying to teach someone else a better way of doing something - when that person wants to learn. But sometimes, your tightwaddery is better kept private. Showing off your tightwaddery is generally a waste of time. Who cares if anybody acknowledges you or not? You don’t need outside approval. The whole point of being a cheapskate is reaching your life goals and making the world just a tiny bit more pleasant for everybody.
Hopefully, your tightwaddery is not simply intended to impress others. After all, who cares if there are a few extra pennies left in your estate when you kick the bucket? Even if you fool somebody else into believing it matters, that doesn’t mean it’s true!
Hopefully, you always keep your eyes on the prize: the life goals that financial freedom will help you achieve.
Hopefully, you know that being a cheapskate isn’t just about being a cheapskate. That’s the big secret of living the cheap life! Being a cheapskate is about goals.
And as long as you don’t lose sight of that, you oughta be just fine.
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November 11th, 2008 - 8:05 am
My tightwaddery only interests my other frugal friends. I generally don’t bother to explain myself to most people, beause if they aren’t inhabiting planet cheapskate then they won’t understand anyway.
I wonder if jumping out of the landrover to pickup waste wood from the side of the road counts as conspicuous tightwaddery?
Living a frugal life has helped me acheive my goals,(own home,stay home with my kids)but I really do enjoy my lifestyle and I’ve got no plans to change it.
I’m probably not as frugal as some (as I write this, I’m sitting in my study with 3 other fairly new computers for example) but I’m more frugal than most.
Last week we almost brought a fireside set,but seeing the price we decided to continue using an old paintbrush, a cardboard box and an old pair of kitchen tongs.
November 26th, 2008 - 6:15 pm
I think the most visible aspect of a person is his/her car - or lack thereof. Especially if you have only one car, and it’s old and beat-up, then people think either a. you’re reallllllly poor; or b. reallllllly cheap. I have been driving a 1993 Toyota Tercel for 11 years, and it never breaks down, keeps thieves away, fits into all parking spots, and has a roomy trunk, comfortable seats and sporty driving feel. Why give this up? I like it. I’m almost trying to drive it into the ground, but NO! It won’t quit…at 190,400 miles. My colleaugue in San Francisco, cheaper even than me, had a 1980’s Nissan ZX sports car, looked absolutely horrible, but it WAS stolen right in the side street behind our office! So: if you want to be conspicuously cheap, drive a really old and cheap car. People will certainly notice. Will they applaud? Maybe!
July 17th, 2009 - 4:16 pm
Once upon a time I lived in the semi rural urban growth boundary of Bend Oregon. I had been laid off from a good paying wood products industry job and although had recieved a good severence package and was receiving unemployment and retraining I was picking up aluminum cans from the side of the road on my way to the grocery store on foot. I was dressed comfortably and pulling a red wagon with my two brown bags of cans. As I came into the edge of the mall parking lot from the juniper trees an SUV with a family inside pulled up beside me handed me $5 and sped off before I could say “thanks but I don’t need it.” After I went to the store I gave $5 worth of food to someone holding a WILL WORK FOR FOOD sign and pulled my red wagon of groceries home. Now that I live in a college town and don’t have to walk so far to the store. I buy less each trip and put it my back pack if I am riding my bike or in my reusable bag. In this neighborhood there are a lot more frugal or “green” pedestrians so nobody offers me money. Since moving here we downsized to a smaller home (townhouse) and have a GEO Metro that gets 50 mpg whe we take a long trip. That’s not all we do but those are the most conspicuous.