My homeowner insurance provider had the gall the tell me my premium will go up by 120% next year. I’m assuming it’s due to my addition of rooftop solar. Hooray for FL punishing green energy from every possible angle.
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Unfortunately I think this is pretty standard? Definitely increases the fire risk 
when you look across all installs.
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I don’t know if I should even be in this thread because I’m so not money saving right now! I was actually thinking about how I wouldn’t consider myself frugal anymore, though I did at one time, and I was wondering how people here feel? I know we’ve talked a lot in the FIRE world about content creators like MMM or the frugal woods and how over time they often obfuscate how much they are spending or downplay income, etc. I have to guess that comes partly from the discomfort associated with an identity shift, and if your whole brand is about frugality it’s maybe pretty central to your concept of yourself? What do you all think? Are you frugal now? Did you used to be? Has shifting from spendy to frugal, or vice versa, been challenging for you in terms of identity or so smooth you didn’t really notice?
- I’m not frugal, never was.
- I’m not frugal now, but used to be.
- I’m becoming more frugal.
- I’m frugal.
- I don’t think in these terms.
0 voters
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It might not be the solar, they might’ve just needed an excuse. I called my insurance provider when we were looking at getting solar and it wasn’t going to cause a noticeable increase (I wanna say it was like twenty or thirty bucks over the whole year?) but we haven’t actually gotten the solar yet so we haven’t seen the change officially.
Looking at the state as a whole, though, homeowners insurance in Florida is a complete shit show right now, a ton of companies are trying to shrink their foot print or get out of the state entirely. It’s becoming common for insurers to claim a roof is too old if it’s only ten years old, as one tactic they’re using to drop customers. Seventeen companies just got their ratings downgraded recently.
From NPR’s On Point which did an episode on the Florida market overall recently:
The Florida property insurance market is in trouble.
“For the last two years, the private companies operating in Florida have had a combined negative net income of $1 billion. So, the market is fundamentally shutting down.”
It’s bad for homeowners too.
“Consumers are on life support right now. They are … paying more money for less coverage.”
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Poll response
I think frugality can be heavily relative. I am both less frugal now than I used to be, but also widening the frugality gap between us and our peers in similar life stage. So I’m both more and less frugal than before, depending on how you view it I think.
I don’t really thinks it’s a clear cut binary. I suppose if I had to choose I would put “I’m not frugal now but I used to be”, but it lacks so much nuance and reference point that it doesn’t feel right to me.
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Poll response, spoilering cause you just put the poll up a whole seven minutes ago
I don’t really think in these terms because most of my savings is automated. For day to day decisions I try to focus on quality of life, but I don’t think of it as frugality.
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Poll response
I answered “don’t think in these terms” because frugality is hard to quantify. The frugalwoods have super low expenses mostly because they have a lot of wealth, is that truly “frugal”? My savings rate is high in relation to my peers, but also I’m unsatisfied with my own hedonistic trends as my income has grown. I look at it more that way.
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More poll responses
Guess it depends how you’re defining frugal…I can say I generally don’t buy a lot of ‘things’ and prefer to repair/rebuild rather than replace which I think fits the definition of frugality, but it’s definitely personal preference rather than a forced state relative to income.
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Summary
I used to be! And I’ll still wait for an appliance to die before I replace and upgrade. I’ll wait months for a sale on something I want and don’t buy anything unplanned. But I can hardly call myself frugal when I buy Le Creuset dutch ovens, vitamix blenders, and kitchenaid mixers.
Or the part where I make beef wellington more than once a year. I’m gon be fancy dammit!
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Insurance Complaining
Thanks for sharing the podcast.
I knew the market was bad/getting worse but going from 2k->4.4k/year super surprised me. Even my hurricane premium doubled and I’m at very little risk geographically speaking.
I plan on spending a good chunk of Friday shopping around.
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Not that anyone here is likely trying to purchase corporate cyber security insurance, but it aint happening. Prices are up 400% to get less than 50% previous coverage
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I decided to go with “I’m frugal” because even though I spend much more than I used to, I still consider most purchases pretty carefully and consider cheaper alternatives (e.g. sticking with what we have, getting it used, borrowing/trading, etc.)
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Poll
I think I am normal person in my demographic frugal, internet spendy.
For example, my wife drives a paid off car that other people have called a beater (it’s really not that bad!) but we spend tons of money on things not everyone cares about. I don’t try to manage household or grocery bills unless they get wildly expensive, RIP my instacart membership. I normally have 3ish pairs of pants that I wear but we have a massage chair. Idk!! We are just weirdos.
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It’s fun reading these responses! I don’t think of myself as frugal at all anymore, and I was thinking of what my definition of frugal is since that was brought up, which is a good point. I think for me frugality is marked by: the careful attention to each dollar and every purchase AND the willingness to put off comfort or convenience or luxury in favor of saving money whenever reasonable/possible. I definitely no longer watch every dollar and every purchase and I frequently spend money on luxuries.
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I think I’m still frugal but my household isn’t
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I wish there were a choice for “I don’t know” or “it depends”! 
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Can’t edit a poll after the first five minutes it’s been posted, sorry!
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Ha, no worries! It just varies so widely for me depending on what spending category I am thinking about!
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In the spirit of fun discussion, I’d love to know if you think this is frugal, normal, or spendy:
Scenario: we need to start packing a daily lunch for toddler to take to school starting in August
Current options: glass Tupperware (no-go per preschool rules) or a mish mash of plastic takeout containers (ok, but not great for toddler to eat out of at school)
Considered options: went to two thrift stores, read a bunch of articles comparing and contrasting toddler lunch box options at various price points
Outcome: ordered two super fancy stainless steel bento box style lunch boxes that were listed at $25 each but on sale for $19 each 
Summary
Honestly I still kind of think this is being frugal? It’s different from being cheap but considering the use (daily) importance (toddler using on her own) and preference (we try to avoid plastic) I think buying the high quality ones after seriously considering alternatives is still frugal. Willing to admit I’m wrong though if everyone disagrees!
ETA: I was planning to just get one and use it daily but I don’t order from Amazon and I needed a higher order total to get free shipping…so maybe that part wasn’t frugal.
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I feel like it’s tricky- it reminds me of defining minimalism. Minimalism can mean the aesthetic, which is a pretty clear visual image (esp scandanivian minimal design, pretty iconic). But minimalism can also be looking at what serves you and how much you need/want/get use from. That’ll be a very different scale for different people, and often won’t look at all like a “minimalist aesthetic” in most functional homes.
So, I feel like are we talking frugality in terms of absolutes? Can someone else look at an object (ie, the classic “I bought a vitamix” post on MMM) and dictate for others if they’re frugal?
It gets very philosophical 
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