Posted by Do you have these following thoughts –
“Can I do without the guac at Chipotle (or Guzman y gomez in Australia)?”
“I better start bringing my own coffee. I have to start saving money and do without my morning latte from the cafe?”
“This spice is $4 here, but about $0.50 back home. It might be worth getting this shipped from there.”
I was totally this person. I thought that saving $2 at Chipotle is going to help me build my wealth. Although I understand the idea of extreme frugal living for when there is a goal to reach, its not sustainable in the long term. It makes you feel deprived of all the good things in your life. I soon realized I would save $5 by not having my Boba tea that morning but end up spending $1000s of dollars on furniture. Somehow, saving a little money here justified spending $100s on apple care, because you are totally going to ‘need’ it.
I like the balance that the Ramit Sethi talks about in his book – “I will Teach you to be Rich”. Here are a few things that resonated with me the most and my thoughts on them-
- Think about the big picture – Think about getting a better job or negotiating your salary on the current one and increasing your salary (that’s $1000s of dollars question). Think about reducing our subscriptions to keep only the ones you use (thats a $100s of dollars question). Is saving $2 on guac going to make a difference in the long term? It is going to make you feel deprived. Maybe a better mindset would be to reduce eating outside for a healthy lifestyle, but when you do go out, enjoy yourself a good meal that makes you happy.
- Spend on the things that you love to do or use all the time. Be super frugal on things that dont matter much to you. For example, I love knitting and it bring me happiness. I might spend about $200-$300 on really nice yarn. On the other hand, I couldnt be bothered that my couch is not handcrafted leather. It serves a purpose of sitting and if you have dogs or kids, they are going to mess that up within seconds. I dont mind spending $150 on a marathon, but I couldnt be bothered buying designer clothes. The $10 T-shirts work just fine for me.
- Know your finances – Some of my family and friends legitimately fight over spending $50 at Home depot/Bunnings. And these guys for a fact earn >$200,000 a year. Is overspending really the problem? If you know and plan your finances well the once in a while expenses should be well accounted for. What really matters is how much you are investing and how much is available to you when you retire.
Stop asking the $2 questions. Think about the bigger picture. Spend on the things you love. Live a simple fulfilling lifeCreate a sustainable money mindset and lifestyle to build your wealth. What is your money plan?
PS – In Jan 2022, We started investing in Spaceship. It is a small $100 monthly investment plan. Baby steps. Use my referral code – S8E95QN5JT if you plan to open and invest using a spaceship account. and we both get $10 each. 🙂
Planning Over Coffee 