When Wants?

Being frugal requires developing almost a reflexive ability to distinguish between needs and wants. Beyond distinguishing needs and wants, the frugal person must also possess the self-control to ignore the later. Can a frugal person ever give into a want? Of course they can! In my upcoming book, “Being Frugal, A Truth to Build Wealth” I explore not only techniques for living frugally, but also when it’s ok to give into the occasional want.

Giving into wants really comes down to timing and by timing, I mean where do you stand in the big picture with regards to personal finances. Bottom line, if one is approaching long term financial goals, the frequency at which they can give into wants is greater than if the road to financial freedom still stretches long into the future.

If the job is going well, you are maxing out those investments, and the needs are covered, one may find themself with so called disposable income. Disposable income is obviously a very subjective benchmark not to be taken lightly! Perhaps some frugal living advocates would even argue disposable income does not exist. However, life is not a dressed rehearsal, there are going to be a few times when we need to address a want in order to maintain our happiness, marriage, whatever! If all needs are covered and there is some left over after saving aggressively, then it’s probably ok to address the want.

At the end of the day, the frugal person should use the same deliberate process used when securing a need as they would when indulging in a want. Ideally, a want should still cover a basic need, but perhaps with a little extra; think leather seats on that new car. So, when is it ok for the frugal person to give in to a want? I’ll share a want that played out in my life recently and no it isn’t the car in today’s featured pic; that’s just a cool pic I found in the public domain!

The house we lived in just last year was nicer than any home I’ve ever stayed in; by frugal calculus we didn’t need a new one. My wife and I purchased the home as a prospective rental property as we anticipated departing this area just a couple of years after we arrived. Low and behold, we lived in the home eight years! The home met our needs and served us well to raise our teenage sons. It was in a great location, plenty big enough and while not the prettiest, it was as good as any other home on our block. But we wanted more.

Important to point out the timing in our life; my wife and I are both in our 50s and we’ve lived frugally pretty much every day of our 22-year marriage. We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel which for the frugal person is financial freedom.

The bottom line is we gave into a want and purchased a “dream” home. It will undoubtedly have some features we don’t need, or it maybe even be too big for us in a few years when the kids fly from the nest, but we did it anyway! Like we’ve done for the past 22 years, the purchase of a new home was very deliberate. How deliberate? We shopped for four years!

This may be an extreme example, but you get the point. It is all about timing. We are at the place in our lives where we were able to consider the want. 15 years ago, the thought of buying more house than we need wouldn’t have even crossed our minds. That is the frugal mind at work! If after living frugally and confident you are on track towards the ultimate goal of financial freedom, it may be time to start indulging in the occasional want large or small.  Life is not a dressed rehearsal!

Look for, Being Frugal, a Truth to Build Wealth, coming to Amazon in early 2025!

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!

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!

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