I’m not a big fan of the extreme frugality that runs through much of the FIRE movement. The obsession with minimising every outgoing misses the point. Money is a tool, and using it well means spending it well — not just hoarding it.
My approach is different. Think hard about your purchases, especially the big ones, and never buy things you won’t actually use. But when you identify something that genuinely improves your life, don’t cheap out.
Wishful Buying vs. Intentional Buying
The purchases worth avoiding are the ones driven by wishful thinking or emotional impulse rather than honest self-knowledge.
Two common examples. The indoor bike bought in December because you’re convinced January will be different — 99% of those end up gathering dust in a garage. Better to join a gym or start with bodyweight work and jump rope before committing to expensive equipment. Same goes for clothing: a very specific item you’ll wear once or twice is worth renting, not buying.
That kind of spending isn’t frugal — it’s just wasteful in a different direction.
The False Economy Problem
The more damaging mistake is what I call a false economy: choosing the cheaper option in a way that costs you more overall.
A friend was looking for a folding bike and I suggested he buy a Brompton — by far the best folding bike on the market. Brompton holds solid patents on their folding mechanism, which means no competitor can replicate it. His default response: “It’s too expensive, and I don’t know if I’ll use it that much anyway.”
The options looked like this:
- New Brompton: €1,500
- Chinese knock-off: €400
Here’s why the knock-off is the worse financial decision:
- The riding experience is vastly inferior, which reduces enjoyment and makes it more likely he’d give up on the whole idea.
- Resale value on the knock-off is essentially zero — bad quality, no brand recognition, and a rock-bottom new price make it unsellable.
- Maintenance is harder, and finding mechanics who know the bike is difficult.
- The Brompton resale market is extremely liquid. These bikes have barely changed since the 1970s and demand is strong. Buy new at €1,500, take care of it, and you can resell for €1,100 to €1,200 within a year. After four or five years, you’re still looking at €800.
The right move financially is to buy the Brompton, use it, and sell it if it doesn’t stick. You’d lose far less than buying the knock-off and binning it after two years — which is exactly where those bikes end up.
There’s an environmental dimension to this too. The knock-off ends up in a landfill within a few years. The Brompton has a happy owner twenty years later.
Where to Spend Without Hesitation
Once you stop optimising for the lowest price and start optimising for the best outcome, certain categories become obvious priorities.
Health
This is the one area where under-investing has no upside. In Spain, that means private health insurance — not because the public system is terrible, but because months-long waits to see a specialist are unacceptable when your health is involved. Beyond insurance: preventive care, a good GP, nutrition, and whatever it takes to maintain a body you can actually rely on.
The more I read about longevity, the more convinced I am that money spent here compounds better than almost any investment. A health-first mindset isn’t about being precious — it’s about protecting the asset that everything else depends on.
Children’s Education and Schooling
Every euro you put into your children’s education is an investment with returns you can’t fully predict but rarely regret. This means choosing the right school, not just the convenient one — schools that develop independent thinking, resilience, and genuine curiosity rather than drilling for exams.
It also means investing in experiences: language learning, travel, sports, music. The foundation you build before they’re twelve shapes how they think for the rest of their lives. That’s not the place to economise.
Fitness and Recovery
A good gym, a personal trainer, regular massages — these are not luxuries. They’re maintenance costs on the one machine you can’t replace. The downstream savings in healthcare, energy, and cognitive function are real, even if they don’t show up on a spreadsheet.
Quality Tools for Work
If you work at a desk, your setup is a daily tax on your productivity and physical health. A proper standing desk, a quality chair, a laptop that doesn’t slow you down — these pay for themselves quickly. Poor ergonomics isn’t frugal, it’s expensive.
Transportation
For safety, reliability, and daily enjoyment, buying a new or near-new car from a serious manufacturer makes sense. Cheap cars are often expensive cars in disguise — higher maintenance costs, lower safety standards, and a worse experience every single day.
Food
We are what we eat, and the raw materials in most supermarkets have gotten worse, not better. Spending more to buy directly from farmers, at quality markets, or from producers who care about how food is grown is one of the most straightforward quality-of-life upgrades available. The cost difference over a month is usually much smaller than people think.
Housing
Where you live shapes everything — your stress levels, your energy, your family’s wellbeing. Stretching for a better home in a better location is often the highest-return spending decision a family can make.
Teaching Children to Spend Well
Now that I have children, this all feels more urgent. I want them to grow up with an appreciation for quality — for things built well, for services that actually work, for the difference between buying something thoughtfully and buying the cheapest option out of habit.
More than that, I want them to have a growth mindset: one that focuses on investing in yourself and in things that genuinely matter, rather than defaulting to defensive saving. Constant frugality is a negative frame on the world. I want them to be ready to take risks, to invest in themselves, and to understand that the goal is to build a life worth living — not just a savings account.
Products Worth Every Euro
The best argument for intentional spending is the track record. These are products I’ve bought that more than justified the price — not as a random list, but as proof that quality purchases deliver returns that cheap alternatives never could.
- Theragun Elite — I’d been struggling with morning stiffness after training hard. A massage therapist isn’t always available, and a foam roller only goes so far. The Theragun solved both problems in a portable package you can use daily. It became the best investment of that year, which is exactly the outcome you want from a purchase at this price point.
- Herman Miller Aeron — The world’s most famous office chair earns its reputation. Long hours are still long hours, but this makes them better. The mesh keeps you cool in summer, the ergonomics are adjustable to actually fit you, and it’s built to last decades. Buy once, don’t think about it again.
- Brompton Electric — After going back and forth, I bought one and it changed how I move around Barcelona. Where my standard Brompton gave me the city, the electric version opened up the mountains and the surrounding towns. The practical argument for Bromptons is laid out above. The lived experience confirms it.
- Icebreaker merino wool clothing — An active lifestyle needs clothing that keeps up with it. Merino wool is breathable, comfortable, and doesn’t hold odour the way synthetic fabrics do. Switching a significant part of my wardrobe to Icebreaker was a genuine upgrade, not a marginal one.
- AirPods Pro — Used daily, everywhere: working in public, at home, while training. Noise cancellation is genuinely good, the sound quality holds up, and they’re comfortable enough to forget you’re wearing them. High daily use justifies the price many times over.
- Balance Surfer — Originally added to a home gym setup, it found its best use standing on while working at my standing desk. It keeps you moving during the day, works your ankles and balance passively, and turns a sedentary work session into something slightly more physical.
Related
That is so true. One day my team member told me he spent a day searching (and finding) a free tool that he could buy for $9/mo. I told him that we’re here to save money at all costs.
Another example in relation to cars. Young people like luxurious but used cars, but when you look at what quality you can get for the same sum comparing a used luxurious car with a new Toyota Corolla (just as an example), it’s often better to get a new one.