I’ve learned to buy the things I want, by saving and waiting, instead of buying cheaper substitutes. Then I know exactly where my money goes, and I get exactly what I wanted. Plus, I spend less in the long run!

This post really captures that spirit, even though you phrased it a bit differently. So thanks! I totally agree with all of this!

Steve

Unfortunately if you wish to ‘get rich slowly, faster than the speed of light or whatever your means’, you need to be mindful and pay attention to your spending at any level. Frugality does play into that on a daily basis.

We have traveled to Europe several times, and enjoyed cruises to Alaska an the Greek Islands. Or friends stay home shacked to the expenses of their large homes and their children, some are trying to recover from the expenses of divorce.

We have never worried about money and seldom think very much about it. We just avoid consumerism and make a game out of economizing. After a while it becomes second nature. Just like going to gym every day or flossing your teeth.

Create the reality you want while allowing others to create the reality they want. Once you truly understand and apply this simple statement will your life be what you choose. Allow others to pursue their path – whatever that may be.

Pursue your dreams and create what makes you happy !! The purpose is to realize you always have the ability to create your life.

Say it again. I create my own reality. Have fun.

We scrimp and save mostly for flexibility or to have choices. At some point, maybe I won’t want to work every day, or won’t be able to. Maybe I’ll have a terrific idea and want to go into business.

We also realize the once food, shelter and clothing is taken care of, everything else is basically entertainment. Like Tyler said, will we look back and 5 years and even remember buying that stuff?

Example: we just had our second child last week and now I’m really wishing I would have saved more in my early 20s so I could take a few months or a year off to spend with my kids. We are in good shape financially, but taking that long off without pay would hurt us, so I am back to work this week.

I save money as I can, then something unexpected comes up (car repairs, unemployment) and I have to spend nearly all that I’ve saved. So I have a good habit in that it’s easy for me to save, but in the end I’m only treading water, just having enough money to cover the next disaster. I feel like my emergency fund is a castle on the sand with the tide rolling in, and who can stop the tides?

I appreciate the reminder that I should spend money on what is important to me. I need to give more thought to finding something important to do with my life. It would be lovely to have big, bold dreams — a house, foreign travel, etc. But those things have never felt like they were achievable for me, and I could never bring myself to dream.

At the end of the day, nobody can judge how another person spends their money, you just have to remember that:

a) Saving money can only help you in wealth building in the future. Money begets more money. When Buffett hit his first million he could’ve bought a mansion and a bunch of cars. But he didn’t and look what he did later…
b) Alot of the stuff you want will be completely useless to you after you purchase it and provide you with less enjoyment than the life energy you spent to purchase it.

Personally, I have my own budgeting system where I rigidly define how much money I can spend for enjoyment and how much is for saving. Therefore, I naturally become thrifty because I want to maximise my enjoyment with what I allowed myself. I am also knowing that I am consistently saving the designated amount with every paycheck.

another vote here for more articles on sustainable living!!

Y’all can all butt out, thank you very much. You’ve got zero cause to finger-wag at people who have different priorities. Yes, my husband and I live in a 2600 sq. ft. house. We have our reasons, and they’re no one elses business. We pay our bills, take steps we can to reduce our impact on the environment and

The most important financial reward my husband and I enjoy is the ability to live off of one income. I work for the time being (we save everything I make), but I have the freedom to work fewer hours if I should ever wish to do so and I will definitely be staying home full time once we have children.

To us, this is much more important than eating out, designer clothes, and hot cars. We have nothing against these things inherently, they are just not priorities for us. Our “reward” for being frugal is having career flexibility.

If a person is really worried about his or her carbon footprint (or, I guess, other peoples’ footprints) there are a lot of areas to work on besides just the house. There are a lot of different carbon footprint and environmental impact calculators online to help.

http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/ is one of them, but there are others.

And we love our vermipost bin.

I love your blog, and am an avid reader. So glad I found you last year!

Just to play devil’s advocate here:), do you use every single device, piece of clothing, eat every morsel of unused food, water and ounce of living space in your life?

Why aren’t you recycling and filtering your waste water immediately for the next meal or wash?

Is every single square foot in your house/apartment occupied by necessities? If it isn’t maybe you house should be a little bigger than a closet?

Do you wear every piece of clothing that you have every week? Actually, maybe that’s too much and you should donate every stitch until you have 1 suit, 2 jeans, and a couple pair of shirts and underwear.

Why do you have kids? There’s an overpopulation boom on the planet.

Sorry, enough of the extremes.

I agree that 5 rooms might be pushing on the excessive side of things when it comes to space but to attack a person as a self-esteem issue? Come on.

Maybe this person is a much higher donator of funds than all of us here put together to a local church or needy organization?

Maybe he’s not planning on having any children and in the end will be way, WAY, ahead in the non-consuming dept. once the person is gone and in so doing help save the planet from overpopulation.

“There is no reason to justify gross over-consumption.”

..as there is no reason to justify a person’s worth in your eyes based off of a blog comment. Unless of course you’re omniscient and have a huge book where you can see their good marks are outweighed by the bad marks in that person’s life.

“Having the money is not a reason to over-consume.”

One person’s perceived over-consumption is another person’s normalcy unless of course you want everyone to be an hermit and live in a cave, but then as the human race goes, we’ll be complaining that the other person has more rocks than others and is ruining the planet.

I suppose my wording was a little off. To give an example of what I meant think of it this way.

In regards to having lunch at work, a frugal person might give herself $5 to spend and will stick to her budget. She gives herself that amount of money so that she will not go over that. She sticks to her budget so that she may achieve her goals in the future.

A cheap person on the other hand won’t have a particular plan of action. They might avoid go into a certain grocery store or purchase the cheapest item solely to not spend more money. They don’t have a reason to not spend money, they just don’t want to spend.

This goes for all levels of income, no matter what you allow yourself for food, clothes, entertainment, etc. it is important that you stick to your budget and allow a little room for savings. A frugal person knows where and why he or she is spending money.

A frugal person gives a value and weighs the cost and benefit for every item before purchasing.

And despite some of the comments seen as hurtful, I think most people who comment here are mindful of their own priorities, and are moving towards more and more of a non-financially-wasteful life. And more power to ‘em (and us all).

If you want something in stark contrast, check out the program “How’d You Get So Rich?” which is available online at TVland.com. Makes me feel positively Gandhi-ish.

“After all, what is the purpose of life if you are not willing to buy the things that you really want?”

That is SO messed up. I am speechless. I am without speech.

I’ve recently (finally!) gotten out of debt and am finding my legs in terms of what’s next. I’ve always maintained a pretty good work/life balance, but I’m still learning to assess smart purchases (my stand mixer – used regularly), less-useful ones (food processor – used only a couple of times so far, but will probably earn its keep), and flat-out chances of a lifetime (these last are travel related!). I suppose that’s a lifelong learning process!

I don’t think I’ll ever have quite as much financial wiggle room as many of the commenters seem to, but that’s the life of a single-income city dweller.

I accepted long ago I’ll never be able to do/see/experience/have it all, but I intend to have an interesting time of it, no matter how long or short my life is.

After following this blog for about a year and working on my finances, I see that TIME is the most important thing for me. Previously, I had been working 3 jobs and was never at home with my husband. For a variety reasons, I had to choose and par down to one job. Lucky for me my current job allows me to have quality time with my family and also meet my financial commitments. I still have a ways to go for savings/budgeting but am learning as I go.

Had I not been forced to choose, I would still be overworked and unhappy. This year has been eye opening and I see that should I be presented with growth opportunities, I will first consider how this will affect my quality of life…

I may not have all the things I want right now but it’s just not that important any more.