18 February 2008 One Comment Print This Post  Email This Post

There’s two ways to build wealth. You need to either make more money, or save more of it. However, most people seem to focus only on making more money, even falling for crazy get rich quick schemes and even those internet money making programs I talked about. There’s no guarantee you will make more money, but if you reduce costs, its guaranteed money in the bank. For businesses, the easiest way to generate more profit is to cut costs, and that is usually what they do once stuff hits the fan. But why wait until then? Like a business, we need to find ways to reduce expenses in our daily lives. This way, you can build wealth while pursuing ways to make more money, like starting an internet business. So because we’re not ultra rich like Justin Timberlake, we need to bring frugal back.

The Problem with Frugality

There are many blogs and columns that promote frugality, and that’s great. However I noticed that the message doesn’t get through to some readers. At times, writers even get flamed for even bringing up the idea. The problem these days is that frugality is associated with being cheap. In this day and age, we can’t accept anything less than broadband internet. A five dollar cup of coffee with a fancy name on it is considered normal. Frugality has become an old school practice. It’s something our parents and grandparents did because they had to. Because of changing times, increased expectations, and media dominated cultures, we have been pre-programmed to accept nothing but the best, even if it means paying more. Because we are a socially driven species, we want to fit in. Therefore, it’s hard to be frugal if everyone around you are wearing the latest fashions and talking about the hottest new electronic or diamond rings. The bottom line is that many think it’s not exactly cool to be frugal.

Make It Cool

A lot of times we buy things because it makes us happy (temporarily), more confident and lets be honest, to impress other people. I’ve done that many times. We need to apply those same things with being frugal. If you’re a frugal person, embrace the fact that you’re frugal. Be open about it among the people you interact with. Don’t try to impress someone by talking about the latest fashions, but rather impress people by talking about how much money you saved by shopping around and how you can now invest that money. Talk about frugality with confidence. Make it cool. Make it sexy to be frugal. OK, maybe that’s going a bit too far but you get the point. Proudly practice frugality, while maintaining a balanced life and be open with your accomplishments.

My dad recently bought a sweater for $1 at a local discount store. Yes, a freaking dollar and its not a bad sweater too. He proudly shows just about every guest that visits my parent’s house. He goes on and on about it and I think that’s great. Now I understand why he would explain to me the importance of turning off the lights when you leave a room even though I was just a kid. I also know why he kept telling me stories of how all he used to eat each meal was half a boiled egg with some rice when he was a kid. I’ve become relatively frugal, while maintaining a well balanced life because of those lessons. One of my best friends and I always talk about saving money and frugality. I see him every now and then and we always come up with new ways to save so we can invest more. Now, we proudly talk about frugal practices among our other friends as well. My girlfriend and I are also frugal and proudly use coupons all the time. It has become acceptable to be frugal in our circle. In other words, we made it cool to be frugal. Now it’s your turn to help bring frugal back. Maybe we can get Justin to sponsor this campaign.

Thumbnail image by Gliko