So I was in an elevator with an association of mine. Me: “Hey, we are wearing the same looking sneakers . My associate: “But mine is a Nike”. I was shocked since I never thought that the conversation would get notated as a name brand was the focal point here. “I paid $0 for mine”, I said. “How much did yours cost you?” Well the conversation ended even before it started, since I didn’t care much for comparing prices and whose shoes were better brand. I don’t remember the brand of shoes I was wearing, but it was a brand that was not recognized.
I paid for those shoes of course. But, it was not from my own pockets. I earned those nice looking-no name branded shoes as my payment for doing a few tasks online. I’m not against the Nike brand, I actually held shares in their company…I am never the person to go out the way to get name branded items, which in some instance, can cost you more that you can even afford to acquire them.
Being frugal is not about penny pinching. It’s about spending only when it’s necessary and only spending on what is essential. It is not spending above my needs, it’s keeping my spending within it.
Here is what frugality does. It frees me up to put my extra savings to use. I don’t save money, so I turned those savings into investments..https://ap24hours.online/2021/06/25/cheap-financial-officercfo/
Not everyone is into name brand items. Since the pandemic, lots of people were invading the discount stores. We called them here, “the dollar stores”, don’t know why, since nothing there really cost one dollar. Budgeting was on a lot of people’s minds, especially those who had a big family to feed. Then the government gave out stimulus checks for people to go out and spend, spend, spend, like it’s really free money. The smart ones put some of that money away or still stick to a budget, others still spend like there is no need for tomorrow. I believe most are broke now and still looking for more “free money”.
Giving out stimulus money maybe good for the retailers and taxes for the government, but maybe bad for the consumer who are heavily dependent on the stimulus checks. Unfortunately, not working hard for your money is just as hard keeping that money. May I remind you, lottery winners ended up broke in the end… especially the ones who never had a concrete plan set in their minds….that percent is sky high. I believe being frugal in this sense is that you respect money as it is, and that it’s never falling off of trees….https://ap24hours.online/2021/03/16/when-common-cents-make-dollars/
Warren Buffet lives in a modest home. Drives a modest car and is super rich. I respect that. Not that I intend to follow his ways entirely. I truly though follow his thinking as being a value investor. I’m never into cars or big houses anyway, unless I’m going into the business of renting. To date, I still take the train and in rare occurrences, I take the bus. I live in a big city with limited parking space. The money I save in car insurance and paying for parking tickets and fines, I put that money away in an investment of my choice.
Cable and home internet services are for entertainment which I believe will come at a price. The fees may get a bit lower each time but nothing beats not having them altogether. My phone can stream contents from online video services which runs me cheaper in the end.
This is a common trend. As soon as we get a raise, a bonus or tax returns, the majority will get something bigger which may cost more or start spending on other things unnecessarily. As in getting the stimulus checks, we more we get, is the more we spend. Sometimes I believe one would fare better with the little money or resources that they have. Getting more money can lead to more problems if you don’t practice frugality at all times. Just like an employee to ask for more money for doing more work, and vice versa. You become a slave to money. As an employee, I refuse to ask for more money for doing the extras. I’m no slave to money… https://ap24hours.online/2021/06/18/beggars-not-choosers/
Another mistake we make is getting things now we can barely afford than waiting for later when we can. The results, paying for things forever and sometimes losing love ones over them in the end. We make mistakes. We can learn from them. The results. Never to do them over again and again.
Growing up, I was never into fancy things. I remember going to stores outside my district to get clothing that looked nice but was not expensive. I didn’t want to dress the same as my neighbors. Some may wonder that I paid a lot for these nice looking clothing since they never see them in stores in the neighborhood. Today is the same. I wanted to stand out but by not being too fashionable noticable. Again, food, clothing and shelter should be the focal points in our lives. Paying too much without the proper means to pay for them is one thing. Spending too much on non-essential things is another.
We all deserve nice things. It’s the fruit of our labor. Whether it’s the fancy cars and big houses, we deserve them all. Struggling to pay them back is another thing. I will remain frugal to this day. I fancy the smaller things in life…thus far…The bigger things will come in time.
Thanks for reading.
To your success
~AP Whitely
AP24hours.online 