Making the Conscious Choice to Get By With Less

When I was younger, there was always something I wanted to buy. Whether it was a new bike, a polo shirt (the polo brand, of course), or some other gadget, there was always something on the list. Now, I did save my money and pay for these things myself, so I guess my parents did teach me the value of working hard and saving my money to get things I wanted. In my teens, I was really into cycling, so I had to save up my money to buy a new road bike, and then of course, a new mountain bike. But my problem was, even into my late 20’s, was that I would save up to buy things, and would never really save for the future. I was never into really extravagant things. I have never bought a new car, but I would save up my money to put a down payment on the used car that I wanted, and then I would buy it, financing the rest.

Over the last few years, I have changed, and my spending habits have also. You can probably chalk a lot of it up to maturity, although my wife might disagree with that. But it wasn’t until about a year or so ago that I really started to consciously try to adopt frugal habits, or to get by with less when and where I could. It’s not that I don’t spend money, but I really don’t spend much money on things for myself. I try to make things last as long as possible, fix things when I am able to, and do without things if possible. I am perfect? No. But by making the conscious decision to not spend money on things I don’t really need, it has made life much more satisfying and enjoyable. It has also allowed me to make much more progress towards my goals of debt reduction, saving for retirement, and building wealth than I would otherwise be able to do.