[ismarc]

I live, by most comparisons to people within the same bracket, very cheaply. The thing is, I'm not watching every penny, I'm not buying the cheapest thing there is. I just refuse to pay more than what I value something at (and dollars, not intrinsic value of the time). There's some things that are significantly under what I would value them at dollar wise and have no trouble paying for, but there's a large number of things that are priced over what I would value them at and just don't buy them. Additionally, the immediate price isn't the only thing to consider in the cost, there's the lifetime value of the item as well. So, I would disagree that the sole response is being cheap, I'm completely confident the same things are capable of being accomplished by having an understanding of the total cost and total value of things you're spending money on and being smart about purchases and use of money rather than buying expensive things because they're "nice".