I’ve been a CPA since 1986. I’m still amazed by how little the savings level and speed of bill payment appear to correlate to earnings. By far, my “millionaires” are those who lived beneath their means, whatever that was. It is fascinating to observe people’s behavior with money.
We are savers, sometimes too much. At this age, I want to splurge on some things. Unfortunately, H and I never agree on which things 
Far better to be a bit too frugal than too much of a spendthrift as the latter tends to end much more badly for the individual afflicted and his/her family.
After seeing spendthrifts among a few older relatives and some colleagues in previous jobs, don’t envy their lifestyles and dismal reputations from overspending* and then trying to hit everyone up for a “loan”…even folks earning less than their six figured salaries like yours truly back then. I’m still a bit surprised at how sore they were when I turned them down for obvious reasons. What did they expect?
Whether $5 is “too cheap” for grandkids depends on the age of the grandkid concerned, family situation, and personal factors.
It wouldn’t be a consideration in most families I knew of in my old neighborhood and especially my own immediate family as even expressing such an idea publicly is often perceived to reflect extremely badly on the one expressing it either as an ingrate if it’s the grandchild or overly entitled if it’s the parents of said grandchild.
That and such behavior would be considered sufficient justification to cease further gifts until the grandchild/parents realize the then prevailing social norms of my old neighborhood/family is that one should be grateful for any gift received as they’re freely given, not entitlements to be complained about.
Some couples pre-allocate portions of their income to each spouse so that each spouse can have some spending that s/he does not have to ask permission from the other for, while sending most income into a joint pool for shared household expenses and shared spending items.
Frugality or waste? We spent the entire weekend dong yardwork and melting in the heat. I grilled, and we ate at home. Today, we decided to go out for dinner to a lovely local cafe which has 1/2 price bottles of wine on Mondays. Used the $50 giftcard which we bought for $40 at Costco to pay our bill of $55 (a split entree, a small ice cream, and a 1/2 priced bottle of nice wine plus 9.5% tax). We left a very generous tip. It was still 85 degrees at 7 pm, which does not happen often in our neck of the woods, and the patio table was just perfect!
Who would give a little kid a check?
Just give them a $5 if you’re gonna give them $5.
Folks gotta eat.
Damn, the neighbors house sold in four days for $200,000 over asking price.
So for $1 million.
I think this bubble is overdue to pop.
@Vladenschlutte grandparents sometimes have to mail that birthday money. Most would not mail cash.
^Mailing a $5 bill isn’t a huge risk. 
emeraldK - if I were you I might consider selling the house and moving to a lowercost of living place! Sounds like you could end up with enough cash to buy a nice house in a smaller town and still be able to bank about 500K. That would buy a whole lot of retirement fun!!!
Oh we are. Although I will be very sad to leave my yard, I have put so much time and energy into it, and I wouldn’t be able to replicate it someplace else. Too expensive and too much work. ( plus it would take years for some things to mature)
@anxiousmom, I don’t live too far from emerald, and I can tell you—this would be a hard place to move away from. If you moved nearby, you’d still have to spend so much money to stay in the area, it wouldn’t be worth it. It is also tough to move from the place where you have raised your kids, and lived for a long time. I think it’s easier to do if you aren’t happy where you are, or if there’s some sort of problem, or you know you can’t function in your house. We could sell our house, move to a low cost of living area, and retire right now (at age 52), and I don’t think we could do it. There are eagles flying overhead, the water is sparkling blue, my husband has put so much work into the yard, the mountains are calling. Then again, when it starts raining in the winter, maybe it goes back into consideration!
I know what EK and busdriver are talking about! We are toying with the idea of buying a condo in HI to be able to get away from the gray and ick of December… The rest of the year… our neck of the woods is awesome.
Plus, I just stained the porch! We aint moving now. 
Maybe rent a place if it’s just for a month or so every year. There are nice places that are furnished–some even provide meals included in a reasonable fee in HI instead of buying. The monthly maintenance fees are high and then you have to decide whether you want to rent it out the rest of the year or how it will be maintained, etc.