Frugaling

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Frugality, What Is It Good For?

By Frugaling 15 Comments

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Toronto Harbourfront

When I talk about frugality, I tend to focus on saving money, living simply, and making more. It’s a winning combination. By combining all three components, I knocked out nearly $40,000 of student loans, a car loan, and credit debt.

Unfortunately, I sometimes develop fatigue from concentrating on ways to prevent spending. It’s tiring to always keep watch for wasteful spending, and easier to simply swipe a card.

Thankfully, strong reasons such as reducing climate/carbon impact and disdain for contributing to major banks’ profits keep me motivated. I have a purpose, rationale, and philosophy undergirding everything I do. Without these, I’d fall off the wagon and spend crazily again.

Ironically, part of the reason I live this way is to spend money. I mean it. I save and save and save to spend money. Crazy, right?

The difference, now that I’m without debt, is that when I purchase something, there’s no interest against me. I’m following the age-old wisdom of the financially privileged/savvy to be liberated from banks’ powers to constrict and restrict.

Without loans and carried credit card balances, I’m free. And now, I can spend it the way I’d like. So after all the money gets deposited, invested, saved, what do I actually spend it on? What are all these efforts good for?

Since I’ve embraced frugality, three major spending areas continue to be of importance:

1. Travel

I’m currently in graduate school, which keeps me restrained from many travel opportunities. Frankly, that’s probably a good thing for my budget. But every now and then, I can save and purchase a flight — all interest free.

Most of my money actually gets spent to see family twice a year. Although, this fall break I’ll be going to Colombia!

When I fly, I look for the best deals possible by shopping various sites, check my frequent flyer mileage accounts, and book about 1.5 to 2 months out. I tend to decline most forms of trip and travel insurance, as my credit card provides those benefits for free. When I land in a new destination, I immediately try to find local shops and supermarkets to try and stock up on a few snacks/non-perishable foods. This planning allows me to experience the local cuisine and cultural foods, while managing the budgetary blast.

Travel is exceptionally important to me, but it has a powerful price tag. I don’t offer unsolicited advocacy for travel and don’t recommend that people travel to some faraway place. The fact is that travel remains relatively expensive, and it’s one luxury that I’ve been able to partake in with a positive net worth. It’s okay if you can’t travel today. Save for that opportunity.

2. Charity

Recently, I released my first book, Frugaling: Save more, live well, give generously. The title seemed to summarize everything about this site. The latter aspect – giving – is one of the most significant reasons for my frugality.

Throughout my life I’ve always given money to charity. Regardless of my current debt load, I’ve made efforts to give to others in time and donations. Today, charity holds great importance in my life, as I can give without going into debt. Every dollar to my favorite charities doesn’t represent a dollar to a bank, which will be placed under a horrific interest rate.

I don’t have a set percentage, amount, or expectation for giving each year. Rather, I find causes over the course of the year that mean a great deal and/or donate to what’s consistently moved me. Two organizations that I regularly donate to are Doctors without Borders and the Always Remember Never Surrender Endowment.

3. Professional opportunities

As a graduate student, I get paid a small stipend to work and study. Soon, I’ll be applying for internships (similar to a doctor’s residency) for counseling psychology. That process may cost $2000-3000, but is an essential part of the process to get a Ph.D. Afterwards, I’ll hopefully be hired at a site and begin to have more substantial paychecks.

Having my own savings allows me to pursue various options for employment without going into debt. Additionally, the process of becoming a licensed psychologist, which I desperately want, requires a formal examination. The test costs thousands of dollars – not to mention the study materials. It’s another area I’m saving and planning for.

From travel to charity to academic opportunities, these options became possible after I paid off the debt. Previously, I used loans as a method for travel and adventure and even giving. But I was simply digging into a deep, dark hole of debt. There was little hope or light before. All I can say is that good things come to those who can cut costs and pay off their debt fast.

A lot has changed during my journey to change my debt. What you’ll notice is that I’m not saving for a car, house, or large physical objects. I’m a product of the Great Recession, skeptical of big banks, and not ready to make such financial commitments. As such, I cannot envision taking on a mortgage, car loan, or anything else at this time. For now, I’m free from the trappings of debt and living well.

So what is your frugality good for and where do you ultimately spend money?

Filed Under: Loans, Save Money Tagged With: academics, Charity, college, education, fly, Frugal, frugality, give, Giving, graduate school, money, Save, savings, school, spending, Travel

Buying The Ticket And Taking The Ride

By Frugaling 15 Comments

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Buy the ticket, take the ride

In The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Ben Stiller’s character races across the globe in search for an adventurer, played by Sean Penn. The ensuing travels take Walter on a psychological rush. Suddenly, his life is full of excitement and uncertainty. But before he jumps — takes that chance — Walter is stuck at the office. He’s afraid to leave. His life is a boring repetition of the same cycle of work.

Recently, I’ve noticed a similar dissension within me. While I enjoy my work immensely and have deep passion for helping others, this delayed gratification of graduate school prevents me from engaging in a fundamental, eye-opening experience: international travel.

Seeing another culture has been shown to aid in the development of empathy. Intuitively, that finding makes sense, as we often live blindly to those in difficult life circumstances. Immersive cultural experiences such as travel and reading help people become rounded.

Sign me up for the discomfort of having to negotiate a car rental without speaking the language. I’ll find a way. Sign me up to confront class differences between cultures and peoples. I’ll question my assumptions. Sign me up to try the exotic foods and push my boundaries. I’ll open my stomach and heart.

With these values and ideas in mind, I’ve been fantasizing like Walter Mitty. Days go by in work and writing, but I secretly imagine a getaway — daydreaming my way to Denmark, Egypt, France, Israel, and Russia. Sometimes I picture dropping everything and running; after all, we only have these moments. Each time I dream big, I slowly regain composure and repeat simple mantras: “must save, later will travel” or “must work, employer needs me” or “once I get my PhD, then I’ll travel.”

But moments of lust for flight keep hitting. Nowadays, the fantasy occurs every time I’m in an airport. If the flight is delayed, cancelled, or I’m flying standby, I look at Kayak.com for the cheapest flights to… anywhere. From hundreds to thousands of dollars, I wonder if I could just go — without fear or restriction.

One of my greatest regrets has been my failure to develop fluency in a second language. Travel could’ve aided in language acquisition. As a frugal person, I can’t quite afford it yet. I’m stuck on saving a little egg that can protect me and someday empower me to travel. I find that terribly frustrating.

My guess is many people are like me. We’re busy working away during the week and the money is helping us get by. If you’re more frugal, you can sock away a little more, too. We’re hardly rolling in the dough, though.

If we could cheaply travel, we would. And yes, there are ways to travel more affordably. You can get a credit card with a signup bonus, buy tickets well in advance, look for student/senior discounts when possible, stay at hostels, and travel light. But at the end of the day, travel requires time off work and savings. It necessitates a certain safety net, unless you’re willing to risk homelessness because of the desire to travel. And there are classes and cultures right here at home that cannot and will not travel — ever — despite whatever desire they have internally.

When my head and heart race, I slow down by remembering my consistent goals. I want to be able to provide for others, give healthily to charity, avoid nasty loans, save for retirement, and be prepared for an emergency. Travel will come, and as much as the daily drools of quotidian life will never appeal to me, I do recognize what I’m building here. Frugality is a philosophical aspiration where I realize that life can be grand with less. Eventually, I’ll buy the ticket and take the ride.

Filed Under: Save Money Tagged With: Class, cultural, cultures, empathy, fly, flying, international, ticket, Travel

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