30 Satirical Pics That Laugh At Overly Frugal People, As Shared In This Online Group

Nordman told Bored Panda the biggest mistake he sees people make in their early steps toward financial independence is trying too hard.

"Frugality is challenging and fulfilling, and it's sustainable," he said. "Deprivation has its uses (paying off credit-card debt) but it can lead to burnout. Strive for work/life balance, lead a quality of life that makes you enjoy the journey, and put your investing in autopilot."

It's easy to form bad financial habits. For example, a 2021 study found that panic buying transformed into impulsive buying.

The survey of 2,000 online shoppers, commissioned by Slickdeals and conducted by OnePoll discovered that Americans impulsively spend an average of $276 every month. (That adds up to an extra $3,312 spent every year and about $198,720 in a lifetime.)

The most common spontaneous emotional purchases were food and groceries (48%), household items (42%), clothing (40%), and coffee (33%).

To get rid of these pesky (and often expensive) habits, we need to be mindful about our budgets.

"Start by understanding your spending," Nordman suggests. "If it's valuable to you then you're willing to work for the extra years of life energy to pay for it."

"If it's wasted spending then cut it ruthlessly and invest it in your retirement accounts. Here's the important part: automate your investing so that it's a habit you won't have to decide with every paycheck," Nordman added.

"You used to be a person who lived only for today. Now you’re the person who’s stacking new habits for a better life."

It looks like people have been increasingly interested in saving (or earning) an extra dollar. At least on the internet.

For example, membership on the subreddit r/FinancialPlanning grew 87% between June 2020 and 2021 to more than 241,000.

And in the past year, it nearly doubled, reaching 423,000.