According to a reflection shared on LessWrong, a Google engineer shares an unexpected financial lesson: extreme frugality can backfire. Years ago, scrimping on furnishings nearly prevented him from saving enough for a mortgage—a decision that would have locked him out of homeownership as prices climbed 70 percent. Now earning substantial stock compensation, he's deliberately retrained himself to spend on things that matter: quality cookware, convenient services, occasional luxuries. The key isn't abandoning thrift entirely, but being generous with small, high-impact purchases while maintaining discipline on big ones. His biggest warning: scope insensitivity—the tendency to rationalize ever-larger expenses once you've decided to loosen the purse strings.

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