Maladaptive frugality, at Hacker News

Maladaptive frugality hit the front page of Hacker News. The ensuing discussion resonated with me a lot, and these two comments were the most relatable: Amarant wrote, “Whenever I have something a little extra in my fridge, most often Italian prosciutto, I refrain from eating it, instead saving it for a “special occasion” even though it is, like, my favourite thing in the whole world. Eventually I have to throw the mouldy prosciutto away because I was too frugal to eat it.” That has happened to me as well, and I have also needed to learn to “eat the prosciutto.” Learning to defer gratification has made delaying it too rewarding, so I have had to hasten it. And, similarly, when I played Pokemon, I also was too stingy to use the items I found (and I never spent any in-game currency). The money meant nothing; it was fictional game currency! I was a child! It’s curious to consider this psychology at work. There was a very interesting thread about debt being part of American culture. It…