Frugality Limits

You’ve got to know your limits. There are plenty of Internet folks out there with helpful frugality advice. 

Some things won’t apply to where you live. One well know prepper has plenty of advice on how to take advantage of store specials. That’s great if you happen to live near any of those stores. My area is considered a food desert. We are lucky to have any grocery options at any price. 

Then you have advice like never buy coffee at a coffee shop. It’s cheaper to make your coffee at home. While that’s true in a strictly dollars and cents way it might not be the best idea for you. Maybe that coffee shop stop is one of the few things bringing you joy. Maybe it’s a social connection you desperately need. When I was in college money was tight, but I always scrapped up the cash for a coffee at the student center. It gave me the chance to connect with people and to gather my strength for the coming day. 

Some advice just does not make sense in the modern world. To do much of anything these days you need at least an Internet connection and a smart phone or computer. One of the things my wife and I did for her parents in rural TX was to deal with cancer doctors and hospitals.  Her parents lacked Internet service so we set up a hotspot to sort things out on-line. Due to covid restrictions even driving to the hospital to sort things out wasn’t an option. 

Without Internet access you can’t easily apply for jobs or services. Not being connected will cost most people more in the long run. 

You can’t decide to go without electricity. The state will take your kids away. 

Repairs and maintenance get short shrift when times are tight. You can usually get away with that for a short while but it will bite you late. All your skipped oil changes don’t make up for the cost of a blown car engine. That leak in the house roof will destroy your home if not fixed. Unfortunately most of us are balancing the most pressing needs month to month. We decide on the oil change rather than paint for the railing. If you are rich you never have to make those decisions. If you are poor and frugal it’s a constant balancing act. 

Frugality is more than dollars. There’s quality of life, mental health, and even spiritual needs. Be careful you don’t cut out “non-essentials” that make life worth living. 

-Sixbears

Chaos and change

It’s been an interesting couple of years. There were a lot of things already in motion, but covid accelerated the heck out of things. 

One of the big changes has been people’s attitude towards work. They say no one wants to work anymore. Okay. So why is that? There are a lot of low paying jobs out there where the employees are treated like crap. Can you really blame people for not wanting to go back to that? If your business model requires starvation wages, maybe you never had a viable business in the first place?

It’s not just low paying jobs either. Someone I know just refused a $55,000/year job. Those are good wages in our low cost rural area. She looked around and decided she doesn’t really need more things. Her part time jewelry business brings in enough money for the basics. 

A lot of people decided to stop aggressively saving for retirement. They see how people lose their life’s savings and get left with nothing often enough. They are treating themselves to a better life right now. If that special daily coffee and avocado toast bring you joy so be it. People are actually spending their time with friends and family instead of working crazy hours. 

By now most of have lost people we know and love. Nothing like untimely deaths to bring home the fragility of life. Our time on this rock in space is not unlimited. Why spend it doing things we hate for people we don’t like? Might as well have some fun and adventure while we can. 

-Sixbears

Do what you love, and you'll do what you love

It's said that if you do what you love, the money will follow.
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Anyone else think that a bunch of BS? Granted, there are some people who get paid doing something they'd do just for the joy of it. Unfortunately most things people love to do does not pay, or at least doesn't pay very well.

I've had some great jobs in my past. (Okay . . . distant past). However, that doesn't mean I loved them above all else. Given a choice between going to work and taking the canoe out on the river, the job would have always come in second. Take away the alarm clock and throw in a fishing pole and it gets even better. As much as I loved to take the canoe out, the money never followed.

Sure, I could have taken my love for canoing and started a guide business where I was paid to take people fishing in a canoe. There are worse jobs. However, I would no longer love it. There's all the stuff that goes with running a business: licenses, forms, insurance, taxes, all that crap. Since the guy paid me money, he probably expects me to show him a good time -like I want to be responsible for someone else's happiness.

In this economy, it's even harder to find something that is both the love of your life and makes a lot of money. Most of us are lucky if our monetary efforts are less than horrible.

However, we can plan our lives in such a way as to spend enough time doing what we love -money be damned. Following one's joy is its own reward. Just don't expect that reward to be in the coin that pays the rent.

-Sixbears