Revisiting the Frugal Life

While I believe my wife and I have frugalness in our DNA, I think we’ve lost a little zest for this important financial truth. If you’ve read my blogs or book, “Millionaire on a Worker’s Budget”, you know my thesis that the average American Joe or Jane can’t build wealth without espousing a frugal life. It worked for us as it’s worked for millions of others who were able to achieve financial freedom by living frugally in the present to invest in a better tomorrow.

But somewhere along the way frugality’s importance lessened for our family. Make no mistake, it’s still there, but just not as prevalent. A bit ironic given these strange economic times we are in; frugality is probably more important a financial truth than ever to build and maintain wealth. What was the root cause for two die hard frugal adults to let one of their core financial truths slip?

Perhaps we are victims of success.  We’ve been blessed with good employment, successful investments and thankfully good health. We still got a few years remaining until financial freedom, which we define as early retirement with steady income to live the lifestyle we choose without worry, but we are firmly on glide slope. That being said, the other day, I got a reminder of just how far gone we are from our former frugal self. Before I share, a quick primer on frugality as it relates to services.

America is a service-based economy and nowhere can the frugal person excel more, than by paying close attention to services. Many of the daily aspects of our life where a material solution was present in the past such as a computer hard drive or TV antenna, have been replaced by a service provider. There are not enough skilled workers in the service industry. Additionally, the demand for a particular service often exceeds the supply which can drive up the price. The frugal person must understand these facts about services in the U.S.A and consider carefully.  

At the top level, considering services is still a basic need vs. wants assessment.  Let’s take a look at a few simple examples. I am a chronic channel flipper and took note that the few times over the years when we sprung for the deluxe cable package, I ended up flipping channels more than enjoying the shows. What a waste of resources! We cut the cable some time ago saving at least $50 per month. Using a digital antenna and lower cost streaming services with our internet service we have all the entertainment we need.

What’s the difference between free music streaming and paid? Commercials. Develop the patience to listen to 60 seconds of commercials before the music starts and save the $5-10 per month! Cloud storage or data backup may be one of life’s needs in today’s digital world but how much storage do we really require? Perhaps deleting some of those accidental pics of our feet would free up enough space for the free 15GB storage that comes with Google rather than the pricey paid service!

Not only is picking the right service important in the frugal life, but also constantly reevaluating to ensure the service still meets a basic need.

Which brings me back to current events. My wife was lamenting about our streaming service so for the first time, in a very long time, I made an assessment of our subscription. Low and behold I realized a few years ago I was duped into subscribing to some extra packages we really didn’t need. I dropped the packages and instantly saved $10 a month or $120 a year. 10 years ago, that would have never happened! I would have realized my error and saved hundreds of dollars in the process!

A stark reminder, I’m getting rusty at frugalness. Another reminder comes in the form of our kid’s monthly cell phone bills.  While I’m still rocking my $250 phone that does everything it needs to do, we recently upgraded our sons to top of the line machines to a combined tune of $80 per month. We rationalized this extravagance by saying our new 16-year-old driver and our 19-year-old college freshman needed the most dependable phones possible…just in case. Well, I’m pretty sure with a little better research we could have found dependable phones and saved saving at least $30 to $40 per month!

I think it’s time for our house to get back to basics. As penance, I’m capturing my thoughts on frugal living in a new book. Not sure if it will get released this year…or ever, but the constant reflection on frugal living will hopefully help get me back on track before I start making really dumb mistakes! We are too close to achieving financial freedom to give up on the important financial truth that got us here.

Interested in rental property investing? Look for “Collect Rent, Don’t Pay It: A Beginner’s Guide to Rental Property Investing” on Amazon to learn how our family turned rental property investing into a successful side hustle!

Looking for a good how-to on wealth building? Check out my book, Millionaire on a Worker’s Budget: Five Financial Truth’s to Build Wealth on sale now at Amazon!

The commentary provided in this blog is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a source of financial or investing advice.

Use the links in the about section below to follow on social media or subscribe for emails to receive updates on the latest weekly blog at www.normspivey.com!