Frugaling

Save more, live well, give generously

  • Home
  • Start Here
  • Popular
    • Archives
  • Recommended
  • Contact
  • Save Money
    • Lifestyle Downgrade
    • Save Money with Mindfulness
    • Save at Starbucks
    • Psychological Trick To Reduce Your Online Shopping
    • Best Freebies
  • Minimalism
    • 8 TED Talks To Become A Minimalist
    • We Rent This Life
    • Everything Must Go
    • Lifestyle Downgrade
    • The Purchase Paradox: Wanting, Until You Own It
    • Nothing In My Pockets
  • Social Justice
    • Destroy The 40-Hour Workweek
    • Too Poor To Protest: Income Inequality
    • The New Rich: How $250k A Year Became Middle Class
    • Hunter Gatherers vs. 21st Century Desk-sitters
  • Make Money
    • Make $10k in 10 Months
    • Monetize Your Blog
    • Side Hustle for Serious Cash
  • Loans
    • 5 Rules To Follow Before Accepting Student Loans
    • Would You Marry Me?
    • Should I Have a Credit Card If I’m In Debt?
    • $50k in Scholarships in 70 Minutes

What’s $100 Worth In Your State?

By Frugaling 14 Comments

Share This:

The Tax Foundation just released new research that shows how much $100 is worth in each state. When accounting for living expenses, purchasing power, and taxes, the organization found that your money’s value varies greatly from state to state. In fact, if you have that money in Mississippi, it’s equal to about $115.74, when compared to the national average. Or, if you live in D.C., that only equals $84.60!

The Tax Foundation Price Parity Map
Source: The Tax Foundation

How does your state compare?

Filed Under: Save Money Tagged With: Economy, money, research, spending, Study, tax, taxes, The Tax Foundation, Worth

This Statistic On Greed Will Shock You: Have Less? You’ll Give More.

By Frugaling 8 Comments

Share This:

Paul Piff is enemy number one for those who hoard their money. He’s a researcher at the prestigious University of California, Berkeley. What he’s found is that social class predicts “unethical behavior,” and he can show you over a game of Monopoly.

Piff hypothesized that Monopoly could be a powerful proxy for real life — modelling wealth generation and headstarts. Essentially, some people are born into wealthy families, while others aren’t. In a lab setting, Piff gave one participant more money to start, with some wealth generation benefits. The other participant was forced to play with one die — mimicking the many constraints and disabilities that a person may suffer through life.

Despite these artificial constraints, wealthier participants tended to hoard their money and would often refuse to share in their winnings. They tended to enjoy and laugh at others’ troubles. Being poor was seen as a bummer that the wealthier individual needn’t change.

This all centers on a fundamental question about generosity. When you have more, you actually tend to give less as a percentage of your income. That can be shocking to find out, when people see tremendous dollar amounts being given from select individuals.

Nothing captures this phenomenon better than the preceding video. In it, Sam Pepper — a YouTube personality — attempts to get a piece of pizza from paying customers. After being told “no” multiple times, he decides to ask a homeless person. Despite having very little, that individual willingly obliges.

We need to fundamentally change our understanding of what it means to be generous and wealthy. Too frequently, we aim for wealth generation without thinking about the responsibility we simultaneously have to give back. People universally deserve equal opportunity for a better life if we are all considered equal as humans.

Making money cannot be the end goal, but what should be? What’s driving you to succeed? What motivates you?

Filed Under: Social Justice Tagged With: Charity, Giving, money, monopoly, occupy, research, rich, Wealth, Youtube

This Psychological Trick Will Reduce Your Online Shopping

By Frugaling 12 Comments

Share This:

Cash Register Picture Online Shopping

The rise of online shopping

Amazon.com went live in 1995. The site quickly became the largest online retailer in the world. Bookstores have been decimated by shopping online and ebooks. The war has largely been fought, and the brick and mortar stores are disappearing. Aside from making it difficult to find a book at your local retailer, shopping online can be a tremendous convenience.

The gateway to online shopping starts with your 16-digit credit card (debit, gift card, etc.). After every order, you’ll be required to enter your shipping and billing addresses, contact information, and your payment method. Credit cards are wonderful tools for these online shops, and they’re safer due to complete fraud protection.

There’s just one problem: convenience can wreak havoc on a healthy budget.

Credit card numbers are easy to memorize

They do it. This is aided by websites that save your billing information for later purchases. For instance, Amazon.com — by default — tries to save your credit card details. Then, when you go shopping again, you’ll just be able to select the card. In seconds, you can have your new products. It’s so easy on Amazon.com that they even have a one-click buy button.

You do it. I’ve been shopping online for years, and noticed only quite recently that I memorized a couple of my 16-digit credit card numbers. How? Excessive purchases over the years, but also a training process. Unless you’ve lost your card, had it stolen, and/or suspect fraud, your number generally doesn’t change. If you’ve had a credit card for years, you have more exposure to the same digits. Memorization is made easy and purposeful.

Delay the purchase, reduce the urge

Research shows (and trust me, Amazon is listening to it) that aiding consumers in making impulse buys equals more money. If I can reduce the time and effort to make you spend, you’ll come back and spend more over time and in single sittings. Pretty awesome if you’re a Fortune 500 company with a near-$400 stock price! If you’re an average Joe or frugal Jane, this can mean trouble. Here’s a two-step solution to this problem:

“Lose” your credit card. The first step is to call the credit card company and tell them you can’t find your credit card — you’re worried you lost it. Once you do this, they will issue you a credit card with new numbers. This will restart the number learning process and delay new purchases online, as you’ll be able to think more critically. After all, critical thinking takes time — you owe it to yourself. Note: you won’t be able to use the card anymore — you’ll need a backup card for a week.

Delete your details. If you’re an Amazon.com shopper, delete your billing details off the website. You’ll have to add them again at a future purchase, but having the inconvenience may actually mean less money spent. Give yourself time to think, “Do I really need this?”

Memorizing a credit card number — as the retailer or consumer — is trouble for a delicate budget. This simple psychological trick of slowing your purchase down can significantly reduce your spending and keep you on track for a frugal future.

Filed Under: Save Money Tagged With: Amazon, Budget, Consumerism, Credit Card, Memorization, money, Numbers, Online Shopping, Psychology, Purchases, research

8 Proven Purchases For Happiness

By Frugaling 8 Comments

Share This:

The Wolf Of Wall Street Movie Film

Happiness = Money, right?

Research suggests that happiness and money are poorly correlated. In other words, money doesn’t tend to make people happy. Pretty crazy, right? Everything about our society seems to be predicated around the synergy of these two variables. But most of the time, happiness is correlated to other behaviors (i.e., closeness to friends, enjoyment at work, and balance in life).

In this consumer-driven society, encouraged to buy from our very own presidents and leadership, we are primed and ready to spend and spend – well beyond our budgetary restrictions. Our world tends to eschew philosophical questions about why you need to have something, in favor of taking advantage of the present moment to spend.

Happiness is often a marketing tool, used to increase sales. For instance, a commercial may feature scantily-clad women partying with beers in hand. It doesn’t take a scientist to decipher the claim: drink more beer, get more women – prettier ones, too! But lasting happiness isn’t at the end of a bottle.

You’re Doing It Wrong

Wolf Of Wall Street Leonardo DiCaprioIn Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfort wreaks havoc on financial markets, his family, and to anyone else in his way. He has a ruthless charm, narcissism, and greed. He spends and drives recklessly. Jordan is the living embodiment of a metastasized compulsion to capitalism.

What our antagonist fails to understand is that happiness, purpose, and meaning are not contained within another $100 bill (or, however many millions he makes). Who can blame him, though? When a society values money like we do, and encourages spending without regard for the future, he’s actually playing by our rules.

Moreover, he’s not alone. Many struggle to understand and say “no” to a society that propagates this need to spend and make more money. But what if money did actually make you happy? What if there was a way to make these two things more correlated?

An Action-Plan For Money And Happiness

Newer research suggests that money can make you happy, but up until now we’ve been spending it wrong. All the beer, fast cars, and yachts can’t make us happy. Instead, happiness comes from some specific action-oriented spending.

  1. Take the trip, ditch the tchotchkes
    When it comes to happiness, buying material goods rarely suffices. Whatever positive emotions are initially experienced tend to fade rapidly over time. In fact, 57% of people reported greater happiness from experiential purchases versus 34% for those purchasing material goods.
  2. Give a little, give a lot – just give
    Researchers found that personal spending – buying for yourself – did not relate to long-term happiness. On the other hand, those who spent money on others acknowledged greater happiness. When you think about all of your expenses for a month, it might help to think about how much of that is going to help others.
  3. The tiny purchases are more important
    Unlike Jordan Belfort and his bags of cash, you’ll likely be restricted by current bank account balances. When you purchase expensive, rare items, there’s a finality and adjustment that occurs – a new norm develops. If you buy smaller, more frequent items, you actually can take advantage of novelty and variability – both key health indicators.
  4. Avoid extended warranties and overpriced insurance
    Turns out that there’s quite a lot of psychological evidence to suggest that buying extended warranties may be an unnecessary “emotional protection.” Essentially, because we do not want to lose/damage our new purchase, these warranties pull out an emotional response regarding loss. Most of the time, buying or reacting to this makes you spend more than you have to and occludes happiness.
  5. Delay gratification, consumption
    Researchers suggest that “anticipation” is a key ingredient to a healthy, happy purchase. By waiting to purchase and letting that eagerness build, we may actually enjoy it more when we finally have it. Likewise, by delaying purchases, consumers may spend less – or not at all.
  6. Clear pros and cons
    Looking to buy that dream home someday? Where do you envision it? Maybe you want to buy a dream lakehouse? Researchers found that many people tend to downplay the negatives of an imagined purchase. What about the tax implications, a plumbing issue while you’re away, and/or an exceptionally mosquito-filled summer? Imagined happiness is often easier than the reality of an impending purchase. By trying to realistically imagine your purchase, while creating an objective, logical pro and con list, you may be able to avoid this pitfall.
  7. Don’t dare compare
    We’re notoriously awful comparison shoppers/buyers; at least, when we account for happiness. Dunn, Gilbert, and Wilson (2011) found that Harvard University students living in their residential system tended to downplay social ties and try to pick physical features of a building first.

    …when these students later settled into their houses as sophomores and juniors, their happiness was predicted by the quality of social features but not by the quality of physical features in the houses.

    The point is that even though the social features matter far more, before we choose something, we don’t always process and think about our own social needs. Interpersonal connections with others are necessary for most everyone, and they tend to bring greater happiness.

  8. Think of others’ enjoyment, too
    Online review sites and movie rankings bring swaths of people to rate their own experience with a product or experience. By utilizing these websites, you can measure your own enjoyment and future experience to theirs. If lots of people experienced happiness, odds are you will, too!

This action plan for making happiness from money is based off the research by Dunn, Gilbert, & Wilson (2011). They found that people were spending their money inappropriately, thinking they’d be happy, when there were better ways.

How do you spend your money? What do you do to find long-term happiness?

Filed Under: Make Money Tagged With: Budget, cash, Consumer, Happiness, Life, Make Money, money, research, science, spending, wolf of wall street

  • 1
  • 2
  • Next Page »

Follow

  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

Subscribe

Best Of

  • 8 TED Talks That Will Inspire You To Become A Minimalist
    8 TED Talks That Will Inspire You To Become A Minimalist
  • 5 Tricks To Save Money At Starbucks (Updated)
    5 Tricks To Save Money At Starbucks (Updated)
  • My Low-Income Lifestyle
    My Low-Income Lifestyle
  • What Are The Best Sites For Freebies?
    What Are The Best Sites For Freebies?
  • Destroy The 40-Hour Workweek
    Destroy The 40-Hour Workweek
  • The New Rich: How $250k A Year Became Middle Class
    The New Rich: How $250k A Year Became Middle Class

Recent Posts

  • Infamous con artists Ponzi schemes
  • How are PPI Claims Affecting the Banks?
  • How to get rid of student loans earlier
  • What To Consider When Choosing A Broker?
  • Factors contributing to UK manufacturing output at its highest for 10 years

Search

Archives

  • April 2018 (4)
  • March 2018 (6)
  • February 2018 (4)
  • January 2018 (1)
  • December 2017 (10)
  • November 2017 (3)
  • July 2017 (2)
  • June 2017 (5)
  • May 2017 (2)
  • April 2017 (8)
  • March 2017 (4)
  • February 2017 (3)
  • January 2017 (2)
  • December 2016 (2)
  • November 2016 (4)
  • October 2016 (2)
  • September 2016 (1)
  • August 2016 (4)
  • July 2016 (1)
  • June 2016 (3)
  • May 2016 (3)
  • April 2016 (4)
  • March 2016 (5)
  • February 2016 (2)
  • January 2016 (2)
  • December 2015 (3)
  • November 2015 (5)
  • October 2015 (5)
  • September 2015 (4)
  • August 2015 (6)
  • July 2015 (8)
  • June 2015 (6)
  • May 2015 (14)
  • April 2015 (14)
  • March 2015 (13)
  • February 2015 (12)
  • January 2015 (15)
  • December 2014 (10)
  • November 2014 (5)
  • October 2014 (6)
  • September 2014 (7)
  • August 2014 (12)
  • July 2014 (11)
  • June 2014 (12)
  • May 2014 (16)
  • April 2014 (13)
  • March 2014 (13)
  • February 2014 (9)
  • January 2014 (20)
  • December 2013 (9)
  • November 2013 (18)
  • October 2013 (15)
  • September 2013 (11)
  • August 2013 (11)
  • July 2013 (27)
  • June 2013 (18)
  • May 2013 (16)

Best Of

  • 8 TED Talks That Will Inspire You To Become A Minimalist
  • 5 Tricks To Save Money At Starbucks (Updated)
  • My Low-Income Lifestyle

Recent Posts

  • Infamous con artists Ponzi schemes
  • How are PPI Claims Affecting the Banks?
  • How to get rid of student loans earlier

Follow

  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

Copyright © 2018 Frugaling.org · Privacy Policy