What’s Your Proudest Money Saving Moment?
by Katy on August 21, 2025 · 48 comments
Today’s blog post is a bit different than normal, as I want you, the reader to provide the content! You already know how I stretch my dollars, but now it’s your turn:
What’s your proudest money saving moment?
Here, I’ll start — my entire house and garden are my proudest money saving moment. From everything I curb picked or thrifted, to our DIY upgrades and maintenance, to our completely functional yet outdated kitchen. We’ve never borrowed against the equity to keep up with the Joneses and get compliments whenever anyone stops by.
Now your turn!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
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{ 48 comments… read them below or add one }
I raised two kids, now young adults, on mostly second-hand items and paid off our house mortgage at the same time. Debt-free now for 10 years, and it feels good! I still live frugally.
I’ve been consigning and shopping second hand for almost 40 years. “Everything old is new again”
If I had to pick one moment, I would have to say the first time I bought a car with cash. I had never before even seen that as a possibility. It was a used Honda Civic, in great condition and about four years old. It felt so good to turn down the loan spiel and write a check.
I paid cash for a 1997 Ford Taurus station wagon and kept it until 2019 when I finally had to donate it to my PBS station. I loved that car so much. I eventually found a terrific 2008 … Ford Taurus station wagon! and bought it for $8,400 cash. My sister calls it my “back to the future” car. I love it. And I love NO CAR PAYMENTS for 28 years.
Married in 1982, we bought our house (fixer-upper) in 1990 for $57,000 when we both had jobs. After 10 years of infertility doctors, surgeries, etc., I got pregnant in 1992. When I was 5 months pregnant, the company I worked for closed our office. Not planned, but we scraped by & counted pennies so I could stay home with that baby & the one that came three and a half years later. I read the Tightwad Gazette books & newsletters religiously! I’m so proud that we made it through the hard times so I could stay with my girls. Now that my husband is retired, we’ve started working on long-awaited house plans doing most of the work ourselves, of course. I don’t think I could be a spendthrift now if I tried!
I feel you on the infertility thing! For me, a lot of money was flying out the door during that phase, but I don’t regret it.
Li, you’re right… so much money, but I don’t regret it, either! I love them so much! I’m so happy to hear it worked out for you, as well!
You should have ended your story “…and we lived happily ever after.” So nice to hear such a positive story, complete with princesses in it!
Fru-gal Lisa, I LOVE the additions you made to the story! I’ll have to remember that if or when I share that story again!
1. Having my 3 semesters of my MA and my PhD entirely paid for by working for the university from which I earned my degree.
2. Bought my condo/house as a single female and paid it off in 15 years.
I received (earned?) enough scholarships to pay for my entire 4 year undergraduate and 3 year professional degrees, including a year abroad. Would have cost $583,100 in today’s tuition, room and board charges at my alma maters. I honestly don’t know how people handle that sort of expense these days.
I am an intuitive FIRE person, meaning that I had the same goals before it had a name. I’m debt free and I retired early.
I’ll say that, not only did I have to fight the “keeping-up-with-the-joneses” mindset, but also, I’ve had to endure hurtful comments from people who are aggressively critical of my frugal habits. I have a sister-in-law who is a textbook keeping-up-with-the-joneser, and she has been extremely critical of our home, cars, Christmas gifts, clothing, etc. It’s been hard to deal with, but I’ve learned to frame it as, “this unhappy and bitter person thinks it’ll make her feel better if she is cruel to us.”
I’ll add that it’s important to not deprive oneself. We still have fun. We go out to eat on occasion, go on vacations and stay in the clean hotels, go to shows, go to sporting events, visit museums, support local small businesses, donate to charity, and buy some new things, etc. The goal isn’t to win the cheapness game. The goal is to feel financially secure, know my limits, contribute to society, and never pay interest.
Li, I had a SIL who was like that too (DH’s only sister, the Crown Princess of their family and a separated-at-birth twin of Martha Stewart). But I always stood my ground. And, thank goodness, I’ve managed to outlive her. God forgive me, I sometimes get out one of the two sets of towels she threw onto one of the trailer loads she made DH run to the dump while she was cleaning out my MIL’s house (that was the only role she’d let either of us take in that), and I think to myself, “Sorry, SIL, but the towels have now outlived you by 7 years.”
I’m happy you stood your ground. It isn’t always easy, and it was a “big moment” for me when I realized it wasn’t about my cheapness, but rather her unhappiness.
Families! Ugh!
I’m on the same path as Li. I am so grateful that my dad made saving money fun. I started receiving a regular paycheck when I turned 14. He taught me to save 75%. Drive a sensible car, get good grades, pay for college. Be independent. I went one step further than my parents and built up a good passive money stream. I am almost retired from nursing.
I am so grateful to my younger self in doing the side hustles, investing well and living way below my means. Knock on wood, building generational wealth for my heirs.
My 2 older brothers did exactly the opposite. The oldest sold his business and retired early. The second oldest spent all his money, spent others money and died early. But he was the life of the party.
I haven’t bought anything new with exception to computers and my appliances when they break since 1999.
I raised 2 kids and fostered 19 more until my husband died 4 yrs ago.
Blue Gate Farmgirl, I am in awe of your fostering 19 kids. Kudos to you and your husband for doing that!
19! That’s impressive, and such a great way to give back. Good for you!
We built a new house 35 years ago and gradually finished off some of the rooms as we could afford to. My husband is handy and did some of the work. We paid the mortgage off in 13.5 years by increasing our payments each time we refinanced and eventually switching to making a payment every two weeks instead of monthly.
Many of the nicer things we have came from thrift shops. That said, I probably have wasted money by acquiring too much because it was a good deal. Now my hobby is shedding items that are no longer useful or needed in this chapter of life.
One thing I wished I had started sooner was making Roth IRA contributions for my children once they had W-2 income.
The moment I accepted the job offer at the organization where I worked my entire career. I was only 20 years old and did not yet appreciate the benefits that would save or make me money over the years, like educational assistance, promotion opportunities, matching investment contributions, and finally, the monthly pension.
Yes!!! Similar here – shortly before my 19th birthday I took a job as a 911 operator because I needed health insurance and they had tuition reimbursement, I figured I’d work nights for a few years while going to college during the day, and then get a “real” job.
Finished college and never left, ended up staying 20 years until I took early retirement to stay home with my kids. (2 parents doing shiftwork with last minute overtime was a scheduling nightmare for childcare).
Mortgage edition:
This is the third house I’ve owned.(I own it, not the mortgage co.) Three out of the four were paid for free and clear and the fourth one (the first one I ever bought) was almost completely paid for.
House #1 — First Time Homebuyers Program. Didn’t know any better so I took out a 30 yr fixed rate mortgage (18% back then), and did not refinance. However, I always, always, always paid ahead on its principle. For instance if I got some freelance writing money or won a competition, that cash went toward the mortgage. Also, I budgeted my electric bill for the highest months of the year –July, August, and September — and if I wasn’t charged the full $280 I budgeted, any leftover cash went toward the mortgage. By the time I went to sell this starter house, a dozen or so years later, I got oodles money back. — much more than I expected. They told me I’d almost paid off the whole thing!
Also, I had that house from the early 1980s until 1997. IIRC, the mortgage aws about 300 or 400 dollars and change; I know for a fact it was UNDER $500. Turns out I was paying less for a 3 BR 1 BA starter house than my friends at work were renting for. Plus, my dad built me a large backyard deck to cover the little concrete steps at the back door. I got the oak floors refinished and Berber carpet in the front room and a used dryer and brand new washing machine (someone won and didn’t want, so he sold it to me).
Hos#2. Paid for free and clear due to inheriting it from my parents. Way out in the country: their dream, my nightmare. Don’t like living by myself so far from police protection and dislike having acreage to mow. Not recommended! But the bottom line is, I’d much rather have my family than a big house.
Frugal fail: when I moved out of state, I tried renting it out using what was represented to me as a very fine local property management company. No it wasn’t. The first tenants just wanted a place to live until their dream house was built, so they rented my place. No problems with them. However, (didn’t find this out until much later:) the second tenant was making crack cocaine on my mother’s kitchen stove. And the jerk running the property management place did not evict them that December when they failed to pay rent the 2nd month in a row because he “didn’t want to ruin their Christmas”. Meanwhile, the crackhead was ruining my house! (What about MY Christmas, you creep!?!)
3. Sold #2 and bought a house in Florida, where I was working. Very nice little house. Wish I could have moved it with me. It held up through 3 hurricanes in 2004, and was just enough space for my single BFF to rent a room from me, she was a lovely roommate and it all worked out great.
4. This house. It was in a nice neighborhood, the swankiest in town back when it was built (1960s). It’s in a bad school district so it was hard to sell this large of a house; unlike me, most empty nesters want to downsize. I don’t downsize, so I snapped it up right when the property taxes came due. The owner had inherited this house and had no plans to move from California. Since they weren’t living here, they could not get homestead exemption on the property taxes. They had lowered the price twice, rather significantly, and I bid something like 40 % lower than that. It was a case of “never mind the cheese, let me outta this trap” for the heir, and I got a nice house for well under $200,000. I’ve refied twice, and got the required payment really low….but I kept paying the higher payment + any unexpected cash I got (see #1). When I quit full time teaching, I took my teacher retirement money and some cash from a 401K and paid this sucker off! (I refuse to take out any loan that has a prepayment penalty; I am impatient and like to pay off debts ASAP.) Alas, while it is bigger than #3 and could easily handle a roommate, I got a very bad one and had to evict her. Talk about a nightmare! From now on, it’s just me and then dog.
Bonus: House #4 is very well built since the “Greatest Generation” guys were in their prime and still building nice houses. No shortcuts for them! No PVC pipes or particle board anywhere!
Election year bonus: my back fence, a wooden privacy fence, backs up to a busy street. Last year, it sported a great big HARRIS sign. And other big signs for “blue” progressive politicians. This year, we have a Democrat running for state legislator and another one for the U.S. Senate. Maybe other Democrats, too, but I haven’t heard yet. I once again have volunteered my fence for the cause. The campaign signs go up Labor Day. (And I’m four houses down from an intersection with a red light camera….let’s see the guy try to tear down my campaign signs in back!) (No, we still haven’t found out who.)
I think a lot of homes in Texas are in a bad school district. I live in Fort Worth and the ISD schools here are poorly rated. The ISD is losing money due to declining enrollments.
It’s that way in a lot of districts, Texas Silver. I substitute teach in a suburban district that is rated #1 in this region. Its students are well-disciplined and the administrators stand their ground against misbehavior. People flock to that area, and the houses, however modest, cost a LOT more there. Meanwhile, there is no way I’d work in the school district in which I live; I understand they had 3 big fights on the first day of school alone.
I knew my parents could not pay for college — so I worked various jobs before highschool, and four years of part-time at a hardware store during high school. I picked up any jobs I possibly could during college, and paid for room and board at grad school by taking care of a family and living in their attic. (My parents, bless them, filled in the cracks and covered tuition during one year of grad school.)
I never thought NOT to work…it was what our family did. Husband and I taught our girls the same thing (which they did), and urged them to save. (Which they didn’t much, sadly.) But we lived frugally during both the good times and the bad…that was called “being a Hollander,” after my Dutch farmer Dad.
The upshot: we were able to pay for this current home, #3, in cash. (We did hold back $20,000, which we borrowed from our kids, and paid them higher than normal interest. That loan was paid off a year ago.) We don’t have fancy upgrades or new furniture — but we own this place lock, stock and barrel!
Paying my student loans off early, paying for travel and working with my fiance to get him out of debt and buy our first house at 25/27. That house absolutely saved us when I was disabled after the birth of our child. The interest rate was 11% but we were able to refinance when rates fell.
Bought an older home further out of town than we preferred for less than we were approved, got a very good deal (for Australia – our housing is way overpriced). Each year we fixed something up and always paid cash or did it ourselves if possible. People always comment on how beautiful our home is. We have no consumer debt. Have always paid cash for our cars, even the last one, which was new. Will be on track to pay the house off 15 years early. It is now worth more than double what we paid for it in ten years. That is partly the property market but also what we have done to it. When we first saw it I didn’t want to buy it because it was so ugly, but my husband convinced me that we could make something of it – he saw the potential and he was right. Once it’s paid off, I’ll be on track to retire early.
The other frugal thing I did was to invest hard in my retirement savings. I started my career late as my kids have disabilities and needed me to care for them at home. Once I hit the workforce I invested every extra dollar I could in my retirement fund. I could do it because I didn’t spend money on other stuff. All my work clothes were secondhand etc I’m now well ahead of most people in my age group and am on track to retire comfortably. It’s never too late to save for retirement.
Finally – we gave up drinking alcohol almost long time ago. Alcohol is expensive and it wastes more time than you think.
I’m with you on the no-booze wagon, Mando1. It’s such NOT a part of my life that I forget to mention it as part of my frugal toolbox.
I grew up in a “dry” town — that doesn’t refer to weather, but to the fact that alcoholic beverages were not sold here. It was not expected that you’d drink alcohol when you went out to eat, visited people, conducted business, had parties or receptions, etc., as most places just served coffee, tea and/or soda pop.
I’m glad I don’t drink because they’re now saying it could be a contributing factor to breast cancer and Alzheimer’s, not to mention all the excess calories for those of us watching our weight.
But the worst effects, besides alcoholism itself, are bad behavior (fights and violence), drunken driving and the resulting injuries and fatalities. IMO it is a pity that Prohibition didn’t work.
All of the cooking over so many years. Packing lunches. Taking drinks with me. Freezing leftovers. Not wasting food. Shopping multiple stores to get good prices. It all adds up.
Both of the my parents are the children of coal miners, so frugality comes easy for me. It’s just natural.
My husband is also able to fix nearly everything and I have learned to thrift over the years and I just don’t want a lot of things and haven’t for a long time.
This is a great prompt, Katy! It really made me think.
I think my proudest moment was 21 years ago when I took a huge leap of faith and moved alone to from Houston to San Francisco. The financial services company I worked for at the time was opening an SF office, and I lobbied HARD to get a promotion and help establish the new location. I was elated to be chosen, especially as I was a junior staff member in comparison to my co-applicants. The company paid all of my moving expenses with the caveat that I stay in the position for at least a year. I truly hated the job and worked 80+ hours a week at it for nearly a year when I closed a client project and received a just under six figure bonus. I wanted to quit so badly as a 25-year-old with almost $100K burning a hole in my pocket, but I stuck it out until the year was over. As a young person working in finance, I originally thought I’d use a hefty portion of that bonus to upgrade my car (a 2003 Honda Civic) as that’s what the higher up’s at the company always did, but the Mercedes I had my eye on was more than the bonus after taxes (!!!), so I paid off my Civic, maxed out my 401k for that year, and quit the job. I realized in the 3.5 years that I worked there that the folks I looked up to in the company were at the office more than I was. They even brought their kids in on the weekends! Moving across the country opened my eyes and set me on a new path. I would use my lunch breaks to walk along the Embarcadero and marvel at my view of the Bay and Golden Gate bridges. I’d made friends who did more than just work and talk about how much money they made.
From a young age, I was highly motivated to make money (fueled by my parents declaring bankruptcy upon the eve of their divorce when I was just coming of age to work), and still am, but not just for the sake of appearing “rich”. I learned that life is more than work and “keeping up” and now am proud to lead a frugally-rich life.
My father died when I was 7. I was the oldest of 4. We grew up modestly. My mother had an education, so we had a home that was not a rental, food, and the basics. She made our clothes. I went to college (as did all my siblings) using my SS benefits from my father & working at a Dairy Queen. Bought a house at 24, saved money since I had a roommate. Paid cash for cars. Just bought a downsizing house & paid cash. Like most of you, I avoid debt and pay off bills ASAP. My college teaching job has a retirement plan. I put in extra money each month. My retirement plan will yield a good amount of income when I tap into it. (My husband did not plan for retirement. He just sold his big paid for house. That will be his retirement.) I am a saver like most of you on this blog.
Today is our 32nd anniversary. I was 20 when we got married. Our gifts to each other today represent 32 years of normalizing frugality. My husband bought me a bar of artisan soap that I love but wouldn’t buy normally, and I got him some English chocolate (we’re English living in the US). Total spent under $10. I’ve made roast chicken in the solar oven, potato salad with homegrown potatoes, and coleslaw. Plus free blackberries.
Today I’ve listed an item on ebay, walked with a friend, used the solar oven, paid cash for a haircut, repaired a basket and put grapes out to dry in our heat wave. A happily frugal life. The little moments all add up.
Happy anniversary to you and your DH, Kara!!!!
Oh this is so easy for me! I had to take earlier than I wanted retirement due to some pesky heart issues. With rents being as they are, I knew I would be spending all of my pension on just rent – not happy to say the least.
A dear friend lives in a mobile home – and while I never thought it was for me, I decided to explore more.
Found one I loved, nice park, great monthly rates – okay, I’m in. However the seller was a scammer, tried to sell the home to 12 different people at the same time. Called the park owners, and updated them – I would not be moving in. Lucky (and smart) I had not given him much money.
Anyway, the park owner asked how I felt about living in Amish land – way out in the country. They had a lovely home, just needed minor work – and a few thousand below my budget !!
Of course I looked at it, fell in love, and wrote the check. My total monthly bills – including all utilities, lot rent, insurance and taxes are under $400.00 monthly !! Plus I live in the quietest place ever. I am indeed quite proud of myself for making my retirement work for me.
Susan, that is a very positive story which proves that sometimes you just need a bit of luck!
My proudest moment was learning about snowballing credit cards and gradually getting rid of all our debt. Unlike so many here, I have not been frugal all my life. Quite the opposite. My 20s and 30s saw me run up so many credit cards to their limit that I had to take out loans to pay the monthly minimums. We remortgaged our house, which would have been paid off by now if we hadn’t done that. We were paying for groceries with credit cards, had no savings, and still “treated ourselves” to expensive holidays on credit. I know, makes me cringe now. Then I got reading a UK finance blogging guy called Martin Lewis and started concentrating everything on paying off just one card, then another, then another. We no longer have any debt and have savings now, and I actually enjoy being frugal.
Hooray for you, Valerie! Lots to be proud of.
Sad to say the smartest thing I ever did financially was a complete accident. During the building of the trans Alaska pipeline, the pay was so extraordinary (as in for some manual labor type positions, $35 plus if it was a 7 days a week contract you were paid time and a half for the extra 4 hours and double time on Sunday) that every day that the hiring halls had calls for employees, businesses and agencies would have entire shifts of people walk off the job mid day to go home and pack to be sent off to work camps in the north). The state could not compete for wages but the unions negotiated a health insurance plan beyond the wildest dreams of anyone. I could not leave town so I went to work for the state and as a result the day I turned 50 I retired with a platinum plan that covers not only me but my husband until he dies, even if I die first. The program ended long ago but those of us still alive who were vested are still covered. It has seen us through two catastrophic illnesses and their lingering effects, and was the only reason we were not bankrupted by our respective illnesses. Everything else we have done frugally pales by comparison. Perhaps it would be different if we had not both lost the genetic lottery, and ended up so ill we were referred for hospice care, so would not have needed the coverage but as it is I count it as the miracle financial item in my life. All I did was never removed the money invested in my retirement fund, which I guess qualifies me to be proud of this frugal accomplishment. Many, many of the workers were young and did remove their retirement investments and live with that regret now. I get only a few hundred dollars in retirement a month but the health insurance is worth everything to me.
As a non-American it is scary and sobering to read how being ill here can lead to bankruptcy. I can’t imagine how it must feel to always have that hanging over you if you don’t have good health insurance. God bless the NHS!
Putting myself through college. I graduated with honors and $6.68 left in the bank but had no debt and a new career to start two days later.
Later it would be our no silly spending year — it actually lasted about 20 months –during which we spent nothing on anything optional and paid our house off 5.5 years early.
My proudest money saving moment is knowing that every time I chose used/swapped over new, homemade/homegrown/foraged over shopbought I am helping the environment.
In 2018, I purchased a 1979 double wide manufactured home on its own land (no rent) for $59,900. The house was still set in 1979, so my daughter, who shared a home with me because she liked living with me and we were BFFs (she worked remotely), got busy. We stripped the kitchen back to the walls, she picked the color scheme, we bought unfinished cabinets, IKEA countertops, and LVT flooring. We did all the labor ourselves, except for the plumbing, because water can ruin everything. I hired a friend who gave us a huge discount to put in the sink and dishwasher. After my daughter passed in 2020, I finished renovation on both bathrooms and the master bedroom, and in 2024 I sold the house for full cash price of $125 K. Then I purchased my final home, a sturdy condo in a 55+ community for cash (105K). I banked the difference and now have a good nest egg and I am living safe, secure, and comfortable.
I moved from a state I’d lived in for (too) many years to a much cheaper state, two years or so ago. My rent is less than half of what I paid before. Plus, I’m happier.
We knew a family who would take their family “Christmas portraits” at Ikea. They would find the living room set up they liked and get someone to take a photo of them on it for their Christmas cards.
Okay, that is hilarious!
Learning to cook would be my number one. And learning how to rework leftovers into new meals without feeling like we’re eating the same thing over and over. Last night’s leftover steak and caramelized onions was a very tasty taco lunch today!
I think I’m proudest of the money in my savings account. It represents a lot of scrimping. All the pandemic checks and work bonuses that went right in there as if they never existed, plus just the small amounts steadily socked away. It gives me a lot of comfort to look at that balance.
Probably proudest that all three of my kids graduated from University/college debt free, which was thanks to my parents instilling in me the need to save for their futures, and for my parent’s generous donations to the kids’ education funds (also reasonable tuitions, that helped).
We saved enough that my DD was able to use some of her left over school money as part of the down payment on her condo, and my #2 son is still sitting on the remainder of his (while he works on his masters/likely PHD and gets paid a stipend, but does live for low rent in the loft on my property).
When I got my first job after University (paid for by my dad, so I, too was debt free), my wonderful mom sat me down and helped me to see the need to save for summer (I was a 10 month contract teacher) and to save for retirement.
My ‘wake home’ pay shrunk considerably, however I had summer money each year that I taught, and my retirement savings were a minimum 10% and usually much more, for every year I worked until I retired.
That slow and steady saving habit, along with some dumb luck with a company I owned getting bought out, and house prices increasing at a time when I owned two, so selling one meant I could pay off the mortgage on the second (and get my solar panels and heat pump) all have meant I am retired and living carefully and comfortably.
My proudest moment is when my 26-yr old son stated he “rarely eats out because it is so expensive and I can make just as good food at home and save the money”.
YES!!! (fist pump)