I don’t get people nowadays. All you hear is how everyone is worried about the economy, rising taxes, huge bills to pay, job worries, and assorted financial problems. Yet, when it comes to saving money or being frugal many of these same people have no clue or actually refuse to be proactive in their financial lives. They go paycheck to paycheck and spend frivolously with no regards to putting much if anything away. Hey, I’m no Donald Trump and don’t own much, but over the years I squirreled away enough to hold me and my fiancée over in case of hard times.

I see it all the time here at the company I work for. Many of the new hires just won’t accept that fact that they need to put just a little away each paycheck whether it be in the form of a savings account or a 401K. I have at times argued with these employees to the point of exasperation when trying to council them on money matters. It boggles my mind when these people won’t participate in a 401K plan in which the company will also match a percentage of the funds allocated from each paycheck. It’s free money people!!! What is wrong with you? Even when the market crashed a few years ago and everyone panicked I knew that you go into a 401K for the long haul. It is a gamble and has it’s ups and downs. Sure, I lost a huge chunk like most did and it was nail biting at times, but the market came back and so did my 401K which is doing quite well now.

Many of these folks are younger and maybe a bit inexperienced but the reasons they come up with are unreal. I have heard the argument that they need that extra money to go out on weekends, buy cigarettes, use on a summer beach share, take their girlfriends out for nice dinners – you name it! I just shake my head in amazement. I also made sure to sign up for my gym through our company’s corporate program which saves me around half off the yearly rate. This is another thing that some here won’t do. Why? It beats me? They would rather pay full price on their own I guess.

The other thing that made me laugh recently is when a coworker saw me tear out a coupon from a magazine and gave me flack about it. She said she would never use coupons because it “was embarrassing” to her and felt only “certain types of people” use coupons. Yeah dumbo, the types of people who use coupons are smart and savvy! Again – what is wrong with people like this? It’s almost as if there is a wiring malfunction in the logic part of their brains. I have no shame and am not shy about using coupons and special offers for anything. Yeah, you bet I want to save money and not pay full price whenever I can. Why pay full price when there are so many deals out there? If a store, bar, restaurant, or business of any kind that you frequent offers you a discount you have to be crazy not to take it. These same people will also go shopping for clothes and pay full price because they don’t want to wait for sales. Hello – McFly! McFly! Get with the program! I have signed up for all types of discount sites and downloaded the aps to my phone – Living Social, ScoutMob, Groupon, Google Offers, Blackboard Eats, and others. I have no problem walking into a restaurant and telling the waiter I have an offer. It saves me money, and they want people to use them to check out their food. It’s a win-win. I also make sure to only sign up for credit cards with rewards programs. I have not paid for a night out at the movies in years as I use my points to exchange for packs of tickets. Hey, it’s expensive now for two to see a movie with popcorn and soda!

It’s really not that hard to comprehend. Sure, not all things will have coupons or deals and we are stuck paying full price at times, but taking advantage of offers and just being smart about spending will save you a good amount of cash in the long run. Every little bit helps in this day and age.