Lifestyles of the Rich and Frugal — The Baglady’s Coworkers

Today at lunch my coworkers and I discussed the frugal and interesting people at my company and came to the conclusion that I am definitely not the most thrifty person here. This is an article featuring some of my rich and frugal coworkers without giving names. These people profiled here are all brilliant and I think of some of them as rolemodels. If you’re my coworker and you recognize yourself below please don’t be offended! I respect all of you very much!

• This coworker is an extremely intelligent Harvard grad who has been with the company for more than seven years. He is getting paid more than six figures and has racked up a stock compensation package worth at least few hundred thousand dollars in the past few years. He doesn’t own a car because he rollerblades to work, and he rents a very reasonably priced apartment near downtown San Mateo. One funny frugal story about him is that he went to McDonalds downstairs and bought a hamburger, and then added cheese that he brought with him to make it a cheeseburger! Despite his frugality, he really seems like a truly nice and generous man.
• I work with this particular coworker a lot and he’s usually very reserved and quiet. He carpools with two other people to work because in his words, “everytime I hear the FastTrak beep my heart sinks a little”. For those who don’t know, FastTrak is the electronic toll collecting system in California and every beep is four dollars now. His own car is a Toyota from the early ’80s and his carpool buddy helps him shop for cheap things when he needs them. He’s also very into saving money and like me, he is a housing bubble fence sitter. This person also makes more than six figures but lives on a lot less. The funniest story I remember about him was when he looked very depressed and our supervisor asked him what’s up. He then revealed that his new wife is demanding diamonds. Then our supervisor pointed him to some sales, and he pretty much gagged at the prices and frowned. I don’t think the wife got the diamonds.
• We’re not too sure about the motivations of this particular coworker. We theorized that he is always at the office to save energy at his own abode. He is always there and one of our other coworkers actually found a picture of this guy on Google’s streetview near our office. Once I left my keys at the office and went back to retrieve it at 2 am, and this guy was still there. We know he’s not working all the time, so he is probably trying to save on internet and energy costs. He also buys groceries and brings them to the office to consume. This guy is in the same league as the first guy in terms of wealth, but he lives like a true office bum.

I don’t think I am ready to go to the extremes of living at the office or packing my own cheese, but my coworkers are truly inspirational. I am nowhere near them in income yet, but I will try my best to continue to be frugal when my income does rise.

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