Great tips. Especially the notion of not worrying about keeping up with the Joneses and instead focusing on enjoying the things in your life that you do have. Something I am always working on.

Another factor that plays into the conventional wisdom of buying the *cheapest* (which need not necessarily be the “worst”) property in the best possible neighborhood, is that one aims to benefit from future appreciation by virtue of being in a “hot” neighborhood – without having paid the full premium, so to speak.

Often these properties are located near the fringes of the hot neighborhoods, and are therefore likely to become the next hot neighborhoods in the short-term future.

In other words, one assumes that neighborhoods do in fact improve and strategizes to buy a properties that’s in the right one. This is one strategy which works, assuming proper due diligence.

It’s like getting in early on a stock before its price takes off.

The problem with keeping up with the Joneses is that everyone has a different version of who the “Joneses” are. While some of us can easily afford a bigger house, new car, new toys etc., we choose not to because we are better informed than the “Joneses” that feel they must have everything better than everyone else because they feel someone is always “watching”. My house is over a century old, has character and is exactly 1200 sq ft. This is just right for me and my daughter, with 3 bedrooms, bsmt 1.5 etc. Now I have friends who are single, no kids, etc. who live in sprawling mansions and complain that everyday something needs to be fixed, (and their houses are only a few years old) they can’t save money because of all the bills, utilities, eating out everyday and also complain they cant save any money for expenses. These friends are making close to a half million a year. They can definitely save money, if they stopped trying to impress people and just get a smaller house, or rent an apartment but they feel they have “earned” the “right” to have the biggest and best of everything. They often ask me for tips or if I can loan a few dollars. The way I see it, if you’re making that much money on a salary and you’re not saving any, then it’s a personal problem. You need to go to school, learn to manage your finances etc. I make it working since I was 12, I started collecting cans at the baseball games, (Yay for Shea Stadium) 🙂 and moved up. I have enough sense to know common sense plays a big role in life and yet many people dont have any. Isnt that a shame?

As a Canadian, I believe that living on minimum wage is possible, yet difficult. You have to eliminate so many things that can make your life easier or more enjoyable in order to make payments towards rent, debt and utilities. You have to be on a tight budget, and work several jobs in order to live off of minimum wage.

@ frugalscholar: I don’t know if it’s because of the lack of social safety net. I live in Belgium, and if I wouldn’t have any social security, I’d try to save as much as possible, to create a safety net of my own.

I have never been one to keep up with the Joneses, whoever they are!

I have lived in a co-op studio apartment for the last 21 years. I paid off the mortgage on it 12 years ago. I have no cell phone and no DVD player (unless you count my PC). My 3-year-old car has no power windows or power locks. If you want to open the window, you turn a handle round and round, just like I have always done since I was a kid. If you want to lock or unlock the door, you push a little knob or button. Is that so tough?

I have no children, never wanted them, either. I am an atheist, I don’t believe in god.

But I retired in 2008 at age 45.

So, no kids, no debts, no god, no cell phone. No commute to work any more, either. 🙂

Life is good, very good!