dasexyfroto

would you say that living within your means is more of a conservative thing? do you find that more liberal families are more open in "helping" out other family members than more conservative ones? for example, paying for meals when going out to eat, bigger presents at holidays and birthdays and such, etc. etc. etc.

BigToe

You are describing generosity. Living within your means is not a conservative or liberal issue and you cannot afford to be generous if you do not have the funds to pay for your generosity. Being generous with discretionary spending usually has more to do with personality than politics.

nice777guy

Well said - totally agree.

SimplyAmorous

When it comes to politics, I generally tell people I am LIBERAL on FREE speech & expression and CONSERVATIVE on spending. I see far too much waste in what the Governement does with our money.

Me & my husband have a large family, he is the only bread winner, his job is considered blue collar- we are not Rich by the standards of "RICH" , infact low income for our family size of 8, but we do amazingly well. We own our house, 2 good working but older cars, land, and are debt free since our early 40's. We know many families with less kids, better jobs, even both parents working -making thousands more than us & have credit card debt, cars not paid for, Home loans, even older than us --all because of how they choose to spend their money. The immediate gratification factor trips them up.

Many of those parents likely DO buy their kids bigger presents at christmas time, think nothing of what it will cost to give them the BEST of everything whereas I count the cost , use coupons, only buy on sale & get excited about "a deal" and saving $$$.

I used to work for a Financial Planner in my early 20's, he would get mad at me cause when I got a compliment, I would let the person know how cheap I got my clothes. He told me to just let them THINK I paid full price. And I thought about that, but the thing was, I am proud to be Frugal, it is a part of who I am.

When I am feeling generous, I can be -cause I have the funds to do whatever I want and whatever I need or my kids need.

Saving for a rainy day -having those funds, this is essential to a peaceful life, no matter your income, it can be done. We saved when my husband had a job earning less than half of what he makes now (terribly sucky job for 18 long years), and we still managed to put down half of the cost of the 1st house we bought back then, it was a handy man special, but we sold it 2 yrs later after much hard work & made a big profit.

Being a conservative spender is wise - for the Governement and for the Family. But I will say I am VERY thankful for those who aren't - so I can go out and buy their beautiuful hardly worn clothes at Consignment shops for my family & their traded in vehicles for 1/3 or less of the original cost -with many years of driving life left in them.

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Runs like Dog

I'm a frugal bastard. I have to be. No one else is doing the heavy lifting. Having said that, charity or tzadakah is a commandment, an obligation, not a choice. You help because that's what moral civilized people do.

that_girl

We live within our means. We stretch every penny and have a good, well-rounded budget.

We help those who cannot make it on their own.

We do NOT help people who play with their money then ask us for money to pay their bills. No way.

Parrothead

What I find is that "liberals" are better at spending other people's money than they are at spending their own and calling it "generosity".

CLucas976

I've seen and received generosity from both liberals and conservatives. I think that has little to do with it.

I help out anyone I can almost to a fault, so long as I can do it. Not to the point of being a doormat for everyone, but I really do feel that sometimes it's worth the extra hassle to lend a hand in someone elses life if they need it. No one needs that trapped alone helpless feeling.

I also refuse to impulse buy..I will seriously see something I want like a little kid in a candy store, and mentally schedule out my paychecks, my bills, my bank account, and then the time when it'd be most appropriate financially for me to spend $40 on myself

I think its more nurture than conservative/liberal as far as spending goes anyways. I grew up not having all the fancy things, not having everything when I wanted it, and having to understand budgeting. where as I have friends who grew up well off and their weekly income is 3x what mine is and at least double what it was between me and hubs, and yet they can't seem to even keep their power on.

Runs like Dog

Or as we used to say, charity is rich people telling the middle class to give to the poor.....

Fact is I don't consider myself very conservative. Just ethical. And I'm not sure what 'in your means' is. Isn't that what people are SUPPOSED TO DO? I've never taken a second mortgage or home line of credit to fuel a lifestyle. We've not taken a vacation in 12 years, our cars are 8 years old and in 2 years I will have put 3 children through college and grad school, cost free to them and with no loans and no debt to anyone, them or me.

Because that's what you're supposed to do for your kids.

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Parrothead

From time to time people will talk about Congress "spending money like drunken sailors".

Well, I WAS a drunken sailor and when I ran out of money, I stopped spending.

sprinter

I think generally, while conservatives are about living within your means statistics show that they tend to be more charitable. Republicans make more charitable donations than do Democrats as a political demographic. But as has been noted, this is about generosity. And further about sympathy. I think left-leaning people tend to look for large solutions and thus see the government as a means to charity. After all, it has the largest pool of money. I also think those who live in congested cities tend to seek government solutions. They are in close quarters with people everyday and have a huge dependence on local government. I think the idea of "they should do something about this" is more pervasive in cities and thus an idea that "they" are the government. In rural areas if there's something that needs to be done it's usually done by someone or a family.

HappyAtLast

These days, we're all having a hard time making ends meet, regardless of your political preference.