Where are you? Who are you?
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.)
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