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Why be frugal???

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  • Why be frugal???

    Does anybody ever pay attention to the oppurtunity cost of their time rather than cutting an slashing things out of their lifestyle. Im not trying to be holier than thou or anything its just.......I guess I believe that people sell themselves short far too many times.

    If your definition of frugality is "finding ways to save money" then I guess the end goal would be to "save money". There is one other way to save money and that is to make more, while spending the same. Instead of cutting out things, why not add value to yourself, then you actually dont have to cut anything out. Adding value to yourself is easy and FREE best of all.

    Go to the library read a book a week, or month. Books take the most successful peoples lives, ideas, and thoughts and compress them into 1-7 days worth of reading. Imagine if you read 1 book a week on business, goalsetting, real estate investing, making money on ebay, motivation, relationships, the lists gos on and on. Maybe you cant do a book a week but how about a month. Thats 12 a year that would allow you to learn directly from top experts on relationships,business,marketing,real estate investing, motivation. You would have to cut alot of coupons to make up for 1 great idea that added $10,000 a year to your income. Heck a good book on negotiation could save you $1,000's on buying your home, buying a car, or getting a mortgage.

    If you must be frugal at least start with the big stuff, shop car insurances, shop mortgage rates, shop car rates, doing a home improvement buy coupons on E Bay, if you sell a house do it yourself or negotiate a discount commission, if your selling make repairs and spruce up the property. Do the same with cars that you sell.

    Ponder a minute if you will, what if you read a book or took a course, that added $10,000 to your income? Based on a 2000 hour work year, you could be making $5.00/hr sitting on your couch with the heat turned down, cutting coupons and reading books on ways to make more money.

    This is just a hot button for me because I have been there. 6 years ago I was newly married and borrowing money from my mom to pay the bills. At the time I was turning off the heat on my dishwasher, freezing my wife out of the house, and I still wasnt getting ahead.

    Then I started looking inside and realized that while I was focusing on ways to save money, I wasnt focusing on anyways to make it. Instead of thinking of ways to get rich, I was thinking of ways not to go broke.

    Fastforward to today, I own 30+properties, I will have made close to $100,000 in 2007 by the end of January. I live the life of my dreams. I dont say this to impress anybody, but more to impress upon you that if a kid who had to borrow grocerie money can do it than anyone can. I could never have the life I do today through scimping on my lifestyle.

    There is a huge difference between playing to win and playing not to lose. When you are always internally asking the question "how can I save" then you dont have room for asking the important question "how can I make more"

    There are people who love to be frugal, like Michael Jordan liked to play ball. For those people keep doing what your doing, so long as your happy doing it. For the rest of us who would much rather have comfortable heat in the house, or steak instead of rice for dinner, we need to change our thoughts from "how can I save" to "How can I make more? How can I add value to myself?"

    You are worth the effort.

  • #2
    Re: Why be frugal???

    no offense to the OP, but as someone who reads voraciously, i've yet to have an employer say "Wow, you read XYZ? Let me pay you 10k more per year!"

    even if it's not the book itself but the principles from the book, most employers i've had were less impressed that i know the principle if i simply learned it in a book, versus a formal educational setting or on the job experience. not saying it's right or wrong, saying it is what it is.

    there are lots of ways to get ahead in the money world, but they all boil down to a)bring in the same and spend less (classic corporate cost cutting and outsourcing, or being frugal) and B) spend the same and bring in more (classic corporate price hikes, or finding new sources of income).

    neither one will give you the most bang for your buck; the most money will be found doing both: increasing income and reducing expenses AKA raise the price of goods while outsourcing production and laying off all redundant personel.

    again, not saying it's right or wrong, just that it is what it is.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Why be frugal???

      On the other hand if you want to be a corporation who saves where they can, invests in technology (ie learning) and continues to refine marketing (communication skills) you will be in business a long time.

      Eric Medemar

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Why be frugal???

        hahaha - another voracious reader who had the exact same thought tinap!!

        OP your post also brought to mind that story of the guy on the tropical beach being harrangued by the corporate worker on vacation who tried to intice him to the working world so he could retire to the beach. I'm not saying that working harder/smarter/more goal oriented is wrong, but at some points along the path you have to decide what you're having to give up in order to gain a few more dollars.

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        • #5
          Re: Why be frugal???

          Eric, i'm SO SORRY!!!! i accidentally edited your post when i thought i was replying to it, and it was unintentional. my access just changed and apparently i have an edit button where my quote button used to be, and it was my own stupid mistake.

          again, i really am sorry and i don't want you to think i'm trying to silence or alter your opinions.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Why be frugal???

            Originally posted by LuxLiving
            hahaha - another voracious reader who had the exact same thought tinap!!

            OP your post also brought to mind that story of the guy on the tropical beach being harrangued by the corporate worker on vacation who tried to intice him to the working world so he could retire to the beach. I'm not saying that working harder/smarter/more goal oriented is wrong, but at some points along the path you have to decide what you're having to give up in order to gain a few more dollars.
            That is exactly my thought on being frugal, If you are happy being frugal then by all means wear two sweaters and turn down your heat and never go out to dinner.

            but

            If your spending your life worried about ways to cut things out of your life that you might otherwise enjoy, then perhaps you should find ways to add value to yourself.

            Its interesting to me that anyone could argue with adding value to yourself. Learning about new ways to make money, or to have a better relationship, or ways to develope a passion that you might not have been able to through lifestyle scimping, doesnt seem wrong to me at all.

            Thats why is said if you like being frugal like jordan like b-ball then stay with it.

            I can clearly remember going through life thinking of little things to cut out that would save money, but make my life a little less enjoyable. The candybar I might have wanted, turning the heater on in the dishwasher, gettng a pop with dinner rather than going for lemon water everytime, buying my wife that pair of jeans that she wanted.

            I am not talking to people who like being frugal more than they like exploring other ways to make money. I am talking to the person that perhaps would like a nicer car, maybe a few more clothes, to go out to dinner once a week with a spouse, or to have there heat at a normal level.

            You can have happiness with or without being frugal, with or without money. Happiness is not something that can be had through material things. Happiness can only be had when you give yourself permission to be happy. So if you give yourself permission to be happy evertime your frugal then by all means stay frugal.

            What is a bit harder to have when your frugal is pleasure, the taste of a godiva chocolate, a one hour message, a weeks vacation that you have always wanted to hawaii. Pleasure comes from the little and big things that you do for yourself just because.

            If cutting things out of your life, is more enjoyable than adding things to your life then by all means keep snipping.

            Im not saying your wrong but at somepoint you have to decide whether following your true passion in life, and making money with it is more important than sitting in cold a cold house eating pancakes. Just kidding, maybe not!


            Eric Medemar

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Why be frugal???

              I see both sides and try to live with one foot in both worlds. We're "frugal" for things I that can save us money and don't add value to our life (ie. neither one of us is big into cars, so we share a reliable Suzuki-- gets you from A--> B, but isn't a car to impress people), but spend money on things we enjoy (ie. traveling). Being frugal has also allowed us to make lifestyle choices, like quitting our decent paying FT jobs in our mid-late 20's to simultaneously pursue full-time graduate school.

              Some frugal tips might work for some people, but aren't worth the time to me (ie: cooking dried beans, no thanks, I'll buy canned beans). Other things might not be worth my time from a purely financial perspective, but I derive pleasure or some other benefit from (ie baking my own bread). I think if you spend time on the boards you'll find most people to be pretty even-keeled.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Why be frugal???

                Originally posted by threebeansalad
                I see both sides and try to live with one foot in both worlds. We're "frugal" for things I that can save us money and don't add value to our life (ie. neither one of us is big into cars, so we share a reliable Suzuki-- gets you from A--> B, but isn't a car to impress people), but spend money on things we enjoy (ie. traveling). Being frugal has also allowed us to make lifestyle choices, like quitting our decent paying FT jobs in our mid-late 20's to simultaneously pursue full-time graduate school.

                Some frugal tips might work for some people, but aren't worth the time to me (ie: cooking dried beans, no thanks, I'll buy canned beans). Other things might not be worth my time from a purely financial perspective, but I derive pleasure or some other benefit from (ie baking my own bread). I think if you spend time on the boards you'll find most people to be pretty even-keeled.

                I like that way of thinking, your doing exactly what it is you want to do. That is my definition of retirement, doing what I want when I want. I retired at 23 in that case, as you did in your 20's

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Why be frugal???

                  I'm with threebeansalad.

                  I can't remember all the little frugal things I did to spend two weeks in Vail/Beaver Creek in 2005, but I did enjoy the trip. Or the week we spent in Mississippi in '06. Did we eat out every meal? No. Did we eat out? Yes. 9 or ten times. Did we have wine w/meals? Yes, some. Did we suffer as we sat in the hot tub? Nope. Did I bemoan that the girl was out of my favorite coconut oil when she gave me my massage? Not too much.

                  I get to do the travel that I do on very little income because we sacrifice some small comforts. I only have on two pair of socks today and it's icy outside. Yeah, I could turn the heat up a notch, but I won't. Sorry, no sweater on here.

                  I'm planning on taking Hubster somewhere fantastic for our 25th anniversary if I can. I make my plays on small economies at times and others are on a bigger scale.

                  Just because I want a candy bar doesn't mean I need one right now and I'm not into always indulging my smaller wants, but that's because I do have some larger ones and choose a little more carefully in order to actually achieve them. For us, me staying home to educate the last two was most important at the time. I'm about ready to pop back off to the working world and no, I haven't been totally mindlessly idle in the intervening years.

                  You'll find most here are not rinsing out their baggies or separating their two-ply, but are about finding small ways to spend smarter in order to be debt free and invest in wise ways that will make the very most of the dollars they do come across.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Why be frugal???

                    I agree sometimes the only way to make a situation work is to make the pie bigger, there is another side to frugality.

                    For some people, frugality is also about environmental consciousness and a desire for simple living.

                    I'm not looking to be rich in the sense of yachts, private jets, etc. I'm looking to be financially secure. I don't want to be constantly consumed with the idea of "making it" or on some kind of treadmill constantly chasing my next "money making opportunity".

                    While I'm glad your success makes you happy, that mindset and life is not attractive to me at all.

                    BTW, I hope I'm wrong, but did anyone else's spam flag go up when reading parts of this?

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Why be frugal???

                      I like that way of thinking, your doing exactly what it is you want to do. That is my definition of retirement, doing what I want when I want. I retired at 23 in that case, as you did in your 20's
                      Well, I'd hardly say the decision to go back to school is retirement. I took a hiatus from FT employment, but I will definitely be assuming a FT career once I have my PhD. The decision to return to school is more like an investment that will (hopefully) bring me increased monetary compensation and job satisfaction after I graduate.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Why be frugal???

                        Years ago we were frugal because we had to be to make ends meet. Things have gotten better. Now we are frugal so we can save up to do other things. I save a few cents here and there on groceries so I can then buy better meat or groceries. I save money and put it in a Christmas Club so we can buy a few nice things instead of a bunch of junky things. I think our priorities have changed and we appreciate what we have.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Why be frugal???

                          Different things make different people happy. I think you will find here that most people are striving to do both of the things you mentioned.

                          It seems to me from your posts that what brings you happiness is having all the money you want to buy those things. The jeans, the dinner out, the bigger, better whatever. There is nothing wrong with that whatsoever. You did what you needed to go earn the $$ needed to do those things.

                          Now here's the kicker...not everyone is able, motivated, wants to or is willing to do that. It's a hard concept to grasp sometimes, but not everyone is like you. Some people love their jobs, but know they will never bring home that six figure wage. They are willing to continue doing what they love and live on less. Others, no matter how hard they try (wether by formal education or self-education), will not get the opportunities or brakes that you did. Maybe you created them for your-self, way to go, but that does not mean it will happen for someone else.

                          Should you encourage others to try, by all means do so. Just keep in mind that to tell people that the efforts they are taking, and by participating and learning here they ARE making an effort, they are basically 'barking up the wrong tree' is a narrow minded view.

                          You are pointing out another option, but I don't think anyone here has overlooked it. I just think that they are also trying this route to work from both ends.

                          I constanly read and I read many of the books you mentioned. None of them has earned me more money directly. However they have helped me do better in my life and my relationships, both in business and personal life. I second that constant learning is a great thing.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Why be frugal???

                            Hmm add value to me...I am a mother, no one will pay me to be a better mother, though it is a goal of mine.

                            No amount of reading, classes, fancy degrees or any of that will turn my meager salary (umm zero) any larger....on the other hand by wearing a sweater in winter (hello, why would I pass up the oportunity for wearing the pretty sweater!) will help make sure I can travel a bit. Cooking from scratch fills two needs, healthier in general, and cheaper, so I can cook totally from scratch most nights, and afford to eat out a few others. Any frugal practice I hae, I find simple, and no hardship, I am rich enough not to take up any that are hard to me .

                            I often think how frugality managed to get a bad name..partly due to some oddballs (who hasn't heard of the woman spending hours collecting tons of junk, and refusing to toss an old shirt no matter how many holes it had?), but also partly due to some simple misconceptions. Just because you pass up a treat doesn't mean you are suffering, and in many ways it is good for you health wise. Priorities, even if I had the cash to waste, I would still make many of the choices I do now.

                            Every one has to look at the choices they make, I have a food bill of 500 a month, could I go lower with better frugality? sure, but I don't want to, it is a price I am comfortable with. Frugality doesn't mean deprivation (come on do you really think people in third world contries get candybars every month much less every year? you are spoiled, and so am I admit it, enjoy it, and accept when it isn't practical) Now back when I had a CC bill I did go lower, quite a bit lower, and now, I don't have to, so I don't. Oh I could join the ranks of wealth builders and reduce the food so I could invest...but well to me, having the food I want is worth it.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Why be frugal???

                              Well, when it comes down to it, the quintessential concept is simply to "Earn more, spend less".

                              Some may argue, right or wrong, about why spending less is more important than earning more. In that sense, it's no different to argue, right or wrong, why earning more is more important than spending less.

                              But the truth to the matter is, to argue one is better than the other is like arguing why the right leg is better than the left, or vice versa. The truth is, they're both equally crucial... if you want to walk right that is.

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