Where are you? Who are you?

[Savaquid]

These may seem like odd questions to be asking in a forum

such as this, but they go to the heart of how frugal you can

be. After all, being frugal is easy - spend less - and there

is enough practical information on how to do that, on the

web, to fill an encyclopaedia.


But, in any given environment, there is a limit to just how

frugal you can be before ill defined boundaries are met. The

billionaire with frugal inclinations who settles for a

Cessna and a couple of Porches instead of a Learjet and half

a dozen Ferraris would quickly become the subject of

speculation in the financial press. 'Is he, or his business,

in trouble?'


At a more modest level, you may consider that going to

coffee with your workmates, riding the bus to work or going

bowling every week are a waste of much needed cash but, to

avoid risking social isolation, you need to come up with

acceptable reasons for non conformity. 'Not being able to

afford it' is usually only OK if they are in the same boat.


A personal illustration may make the case more clearly.

25 years ago my wife and I enjoyed above middle income,

secure jobs, pension rights, two cars and a nice middle

class home in an English market town. Our 'needs' were well

catered for, but our 'wants' were not. We visualised a life

of near'self sufficiency', producing our own food and

working for others only when necessary.


Had we attempted that, in that locality, we would have been

ostracised, so we moved to an area of Britain where such

behaviour is considered unexceptional. Boots and baggy

trousers are de riguer, 30 year old cars not unusual, and

keeping a few animals for meat, milk and eggs, and doing

all your own maintenance and repairs are what most folks do

here anyway. My penchant for travel on foot or cycle is, at

worst, eccentricity, sometimes even the subject of admiring

comment. The price we pay is a degree of frugality that many

would find unacceptable, but we think it well worth it.


Who you are, in terms of your personality, is just as

crucial. Science may say that we are, individually, all

different but, in psychological terms, there are

depressingly few variations. Knowing which 'box' you fit

into can be helpful in determining career paths - or telling

you whether you've been on the right or wrong one so far. If

you are a loner who is genuinely indifferent to the views of

others and can shrug off social pressures you can, if you

wish, go much further along a divergent path, be it

frugality or anything else. But a social animal needs people

and must, to a large extent, go along with their customs and

quirks.


Try 'Googling' "psychological tests". Even the trial

versions, offered to tempt you into buying into the extended

tests, can, if you take several and get consistent results,

give useful pointers. (I wish they had been available 55

years ago, when I started work.)