@Outliers
But I come from humble beginnings so learnt to live way below means. So have had a strong saving habit since I entered workforce - trait taking on from one parent who was exceptionally tight, and another who was a tad frivolous.
I'm very similar, but both parents were, let's say, tight, but mostly due to having low wage jobs. We always had a battered old car that would be forever breaking down, etc. So there was an under-current of cost cutting right from my first memories, but we always had what we wanted - it was just the frivolous non essentials that we never had. They were careful with spending so ensured no waste etc.
Funnily, whilst I embraced that trait when I started earning money, my brother went the other way and spent way more than he earned by running up overdrafts, maxing out credit and store cards, etc., and was forever buying expensive gimmicks. If he got a new store card that had a credit limit of £100, he'd just go back and spend it, even if he didn't need the stuff he bought. The interest was eye watering on his pile of monthly statements, and he's been like that throughout his adult life. Even now, he's just retired, and has already spent his tax free lump sum on what I consider to be stupid things. He's still massively in debt and heaven knows how he'll keep paying off the minimum balances on all his store and credit cards now he's only got a pension coming in. He has no savings at all. He inherited a fair chunk when our mother died and his wife inherited when her father died, but all the money's gone and there's nothing to show for it.
I went the other way. Never been in overdraft, never failed to pay the monthly credit/stores card balance in full, so literally, in 40 years I've never paid any late payment fees or interest (other than interest on the mortgage). I started saving right from my first wage, even though it was only a small amount due to a very low starting wage. We never "waste" any money - every purchase is thought through and we never have buyer's remorse because we spend so long researching and thinking about things before buying anything. Luckily, OH is on the same page and has been ever since we met - so we work well together. He had savings when we met at 22, just as I did, even though he was also on low wages. We've had a good time, and certainly havn't lived an austere life, we've enjoyed all kinds of sports, (some expensive), lots of foreign holidays (Canada, Egypt, Kenya etc so not cheap Med sun holidays), some new cars (bought outright), etc., but for all those, we've researched pricing and got deals, offers, etc., to keep the costs down. Same with food and utilities, we're well on top of contract periods, discounts/offers, etc. It just becomes a way of life not to waste money when you can have the same but cheaper! Just because we now have healthy savings doesn't mean I don't rotate supermarkets to buy stuff when each has the offers, it doesn't mean I keep my eyes open to compare petrol prices and go to the fuel station with the cheapest when I'm passing.
Thankfully our son has taken our way of living on board. He's in his first year of proper work after graduating and even on a fairly low graduates wage, he's managing to save a little despite ruinously high rent, utilities, transport costs, etc. He's just bought a new Playstation after, literally, dithering about for months as to whether he needed one, whether an Xbox would be better, pricing up all the subscriptions and games he'd have to buy and comparing each platform etc, comparing all the retailers/suppliers to get the best deal (including add ons etc). That's my boy! No buyer's remorse there - he's delighted with the decision he's made and getting a lot of value for money out of it. One of his considerations was actually how easy it would be to return if he didn't like it! Well done boy! Chip off the old block!