Certainly the ‘repetitive’ items I’d have to pay for, like cable, get extra thinking time and in fact, it’s harder for me to justify those decisions since I know it’s something extra every single month I actually want it.

“It’s a gut feeling and as long as the decision is not made on emotion, it is usually a good decision.”

Gut decisions are nothing but emotion. Typically, the logical thing to do is directly counter to the gut, emotional, desire. Many times your gut may be technically wrong, but it lets you sleep at night (e.g. I have a friend who will never invest in stocks or bonds because he was burned twenty years ago). Sometimes you have to fight your gut and go forward with something based on careful thought and logic, or you’ll never learn or grow and you just stay in your small comfort zone forever.

I think, as already mentioned, that expense, and hence frugality, can be realitive to each person and their circumstances. I think the questions presented in the article are good to ask yourself regardless of your circumstances, because we often only relate “expensive” to things that cost us what we personally consider a large amount of money. I think many people forget the side of “is this going to be useful, enjoyable, etc.”. I’ve seen people buy things they don’t need just because it was a “deal” or “they could always use another one and this is cheap”. Buying something you really don’t need just to toss it in a drawer or in a toolbox is expensive as well IMHO.