Can you frugal your way to riches? Probably not.

Can you frugal your way to early retirement? Absolutely!

If you spend money on 1 or 2 of these things you’re probably going to be alright. Any more than that… it’s going to be very tough to retire early, let alone on time.

1. Credit card interest

This one shouldn’t come as a shock. I have to bring up avoiding credit card debt whenever I can.

Spending more than you earn and putting it on credit cards you can’t pay off monthly is robbing from Future You.

It’s a handcuff that prevents you from saving, investing, and achieving financial goals.

If you have credit card debt (you’ll know because you’ll be paying interest monthly) prioritize getting out of it with all of your focus and attention as priority #1.

2. Higher education

66% of public college graduates walk away with debt. The average debt at graduation from four-year public and private nonprofit colleges was nearly $30,000 in 2020.

There are many alternatives to college. With skyrocketing tuition, one should consider those alternatives.

You can get a specialty certificate via trade school that is directly applicable to a career.

You can do an apprenticeship. You can do one-off online courses. Take a coding boot camp. Become a Realtor. Or get an entry-level job and work your way up.

Community college is another great option at a tenth of the price.

3. Individual stocks

Sure, by picking individual stocks to invest in you get more control over the makeup of your portfolio.

Sure, there’s a chance you can outwit everyone else and earn more than the market as a whole.

Most people don’t — not even the most experienced of investors.

Choosing individual stocks poses more risk because you’re not diversified. They also require more time, education, and attention. It can be harder to keep your emotions in check. You might let personal bias creep in and lead you astray.

Plus, managing it all can be a huge headache!

I suggest buying index funds, aka a bundle of stocks. I always recommend ones that track the S&P 500 or total stock market but you can also choose different index funds if you enjoy researching and a little choice.

4. Excessive entertainment

Comfort and enjoying yourself in moderation is great. But some people take it too far too often.

These are the people who live for the weekend and go crazy every time it arrives. They typically crave instant gratification and tie happiness with buying things and doing “stuff.”

Shared experiences are significant, but you can build memories and spend quality time with your loved ones locally for cheap or even free.

Think about when you were a kid. I bet most of your best memories were making up games with friends, playing in the park, or going camping (in the backyard).

As we get older, we get inundated with ads, social media, and a feeling to go go go and spend spend spend.

Slow down. Appreciate what you have. Stop doing it for the gram and keep that cash!

5. Timeshares

Timeshares are not an investment or asset. They do not generate income.

The gist, they were insanely nice to me until they were incredibly mean to me.

If you have a timeshare horror experience I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

6. Exercise machines and/or fancy gym memberships

At-home machines are expensive. Plus, they break down, need maintenance, and might require a subscription.

Not to mention, 40% of people report not using them nearly as much as they thought they would. Instead, they gather dust and end up getting sold for 20 cents on the dollar.

Gyms can be useful if you use them often but 67% of memberships go unused. So, set a limit that fits your monthly budget (hint: it’s not $200 at Equinox).

I pay $10 to go to my local Planet Fitness and it’s great. It’s clean, it has tons of machines, lots of TVs, nice people, and it’s a sixth of the price of my last gym.

If nothing else, consider canceling your membership during sunny months when it’s nice out and exercise outside instead.

7. Pools

The average cost to maintain a pool is $80 to $150 monthly or about $960 to $1,800 yearly. That doesn’t sound too bad, but the annual cost to own a pool is $30,000 to $50,000 when you factor in repairs, opening and closing costs, electricity, and water.

On the other hand, hot tubs cost around $20 a month to maintain and you can use them year-round.

So, consider swapping to a tub and dive into savings!

8. Unnecessary items for your baby

I’m not a dad (so maybe this will be me someday), but some parents go waytoo far when it comes to buying things for their babies.

The baby product market is a $1.7 Billion industry in the US. Some babies are truly spoiled. For example:

Designer shoes, designer clothes, designer diapers (I’m guessing that’s a thing), too many toys, baby bathrobes, wipe warmers, netted fruit feeders, squeezable spoons, a peepee teepee.

I don’t know what some of these things are but if you do, stop it! Especially that last one. It sounds gross…

9. Cheap anything

A prime example is furniture.

Sure, you might save money upfront when you buy cheap furniture from Ikea, but you’ll likely have to buy replacements sooner than if you bought quality items instead.

This applies to small purchases as well. I learned my lesson by buying cheap kitchen knives, coffee machines, shoes from Target, anything from H&M, office supplies, candles, kitchen appliances, and even a knockoff watch when I was 12.

Buy it right or buy it twice.

10. Real Christmas trees

I’m going to end by putting on my Grinch hat because this one is personal.

We bought our first house last November so I was extremely excited to buy my first real Christmas tree… finally!

We trekked out into the rain, drove to 3 different lots because they were sold out everywhere, and ended up paying $210 for a 7-foot tree. That included a stand we needed but that’s still insane.

I learned the range is $65 to $175 on average for most people. That’s a few quality gifts you could put under the tree.

Or money you could invest instead!

Not to mention, fake trees don’t have bugs or allergens, there’s no debris falling constantly, your pets won’t drink gross water, and I could go on…

But I’ll probably still buy one again if I’m being honest. You can’t replace the smell…

What do you think?

I know one of these got you mad. There’s at least one thing on my list you fully disagree with. If so, let me have it in the comments! Tell me how great your pool and pelotons and timeshares and lavish vacations are.

OR let me know something I missed!