Frugaling

Save more, live well, give generously

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4 Lessons From 3 Years Of Frugaling

By Frugaling 12 Comments

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Photo: Dustin Lee/Unsplash

Three years ago I sat at my then-girlfriend’s kitchen counter, which looked out at the Pacific Ocean. The panoramic window looked on beautiful condos and homes nestled along the California coast. The weather was perfect, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

Amidst this perfection, my heart sank with the weight of tens of thousands of dollars in debt. It was something that could stand in the way of relationships, compromise my job prospects, credit scores, savings, investments, retirements, and giving to others. I wanted to excise the morass of debt, but didn’t know how.

I started writing Frugaling as an aspirant — a mere amateur in the financial planning world. What could I know about saving money, making money, and changing my prospects? While I didn’t have all the answers, I had hope.

I could never have predicted what happened next.

By cataloguing my story, sharing my triumphs and travails, and being open the entire way, I benefited financially and emotionally. The former included about $40,000 in revenue. Something that would allow me to pay off almost all my debt. The latter permitted me to regain my breath — to relax once more. I was able to let go of most financial uncertainty stress.

Three years of Frugaling flew by faster than I could have ever expected. It’s hard to fathom where I was then and now. Much has changed. Here’s what I’ve learned:

The rules don’t apply evenly across populations

We don’t all start from $0, the same educational prospects, families, or social networks. We aren’t all born the same race. We aren’t each afforded a $1 million loan from our fathers.

Finance, while personal, goes beyond “personal finance.” After writing for years, it’s clear both in comments, criticisms, and critical thinking that society has great power in affording people the opportunity to succeed.

Whenever we talk about financial management, we need to consider multiple stories — not just our own.

People care deeply about food concerns

Some of the most popular articles have been about food. And I don’t think it’s an accident. When people look at their budgets, one of the highest lines is for food.

Food is often an area where people look to cut back on. Maybe you eat out too much. Maybe you eat too much. Maybe you spend too much on coffees.

More importantly, any little change in your food spending instantly affects your total spend for a month. Reduce the regular visit to your favorite restaurant, make a meal at home, and you can immediately see the benefit to your wallet.

Simple living, minimalism, and frugality are deeply intertwined

If we imagined a venn diagram, these three concepts would greatly overlap.

Those who enjoy canning, meal planning, and living simply are usually following the frugal life, too. Minimalism directly affects budgets, too. Reducing the urge to fill closets, cabinets, and stuff the remaining areas can help you save money every month.

I’m inspired from each of these concepts. I read — mostly checking out books at the library. I cook (or attempt to) at home. And I constantly look for ways to reduce extra stuff and refuse impulse buys.

Debt can suffocate its victims

Swimming in debt made me struggle for air, space, and time. How long would I have to live this way? How long would I be able to negotiate this rat race? I felt choked by the burden.

Many live like this — even middle-income earners. One way or another they find themselves in great debt and/or living paycheck to paycheck — always on the precipice of a missed house payment, medical bill, or job loss. Every day is a struggle.

Debt has a sneaky way of controlling lives and forcing people to work more, save less, and reduce time spent with loved ones. Debt can impact marriages, relationships, and family members. And oftentimes, it’s inescapable until the final dollar is paid off.

These lessons have taken years to understand and conceptualize — to convey them today. I’m honored and humbled you’ve taken the time to follow along, read, subscribe, tweet, and share.

Cheers to another three years!

Your frugal friend,

Sam

Filed Under: Save Money Tagged With: anniversary, debt, frugaling, frugality, Minimalism, planning, saving money, Simple Living

Special: Spring Break Sale On My Book!

By Frugaling 5 Comments

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Frugaling Book Cover

Finally, after another long winter, the sun’s out and weather is getting warmer. For many students, this week or the next represent a wonderful respite from the rest of the semester. Or, in other terms, it’s Spring Break! From beaches to family visits, the fun begins soon! Meanwhile, I’ll be having a “staycation” and working throughout the week. Isn’t it fun getting older?

Regardless, I wanted to celebrate in my own special way. Over the entire week of Spring Break — March 13th through the 20th — I’ve created a sale for my book, Frugaling: Save more, live well, give generously! Regularly priced at $2.99, the book will be available for $0.99, and if you’re an Amazon Prime or Kindle Unlimited subscriber, it’s free.

The book took years to make, as it was a compilation of all my essays and stories. Additionally, I added special notes and updated articles to reflect new ideas and changes. I poured my heart into making it a special, light, fun read — perfect for a little time away from textbooks.

I hope it’ll inspire you to become more frugal and live intentionally. If you enjoy the book, please share it with others and give a review on Amazon. I’d love your feedback!

Thanks for being a faithful reader.

Stay frugal,

Sam

Filed Under: Save Money Tagged With: book, frugaling, give generously, live well, sale, Save more

I Deleted All The Ads. Now I Regret It.

By Frugaling 41 Comments

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The last two months have been tough. While crafting my dissertation proposal and beginning to finish my Ph.D., I’ve tried to maintain Frugaling and prepare for career plans. Balancing everything has been difficult; thankfully, writing on this site has been a wonderful respite from my normal obligations.

Frugaling has always been for fun. See, I established this site as a creative outlet, break from academic writing, and source of additional revenue. It was never a charitable writing endeavor; albeit, I wanted it to be for good. In the process of writing about my journey to zero debt, I did pretty well for myself. I hustled and was rewarded for it. I paid off five figures of debt in no time.

Eventually, as the site aged and my debt waned, I started to question my values and decision to advertise. With the release of my new book in August, I thought it might be an opportunity to censor the ads. I took a gamble and deleted them.

In the place of ad revenue, I decided to rely on donations and book sales. It never made up for lost ad revenue, but it made a difference. Without those pesky intrusions, I felt free to talk without shame, fear, or question. Heck, I even wrote some scathing critiques of advertising since then!

Cleaning up my site from advertising made me feel good. I felt like I was honoring a value to reduce the urge for consumption. Unfortunately, revenue soon petered out. Despite growing traffic to the site, the revenue continued to plummet. What used to be a stable side hustle, which helped me save and earn despite a tiny graduate student income, was now non-existent.

Over October and November, I paid careful attention to the earnings, and now felt pigeonholed. I had railed against ads, and yet the business might be unstable and unsustainable without some extra revenue from visitors. Perhaps I had gone from one extreme to the other too rapidly?

This week, I reached out to other bloggers and friends to talk about this revenue problem. Most all of them recognized the need and importance to earn something for all the writing and extra work. Simultaneously, they seem to empathize with the wonderful ideal of going ad free. I admire people like Joshua Becker, who go without ads and potential revenue. But I entered an unstable level of revenue for Frugaling. Deleting these felt freeing and exhilarating in a new way, but the revenue loss didn’t allow me to save and earn.

Recently, I talked with a blogging friend of mine about this conundrum. I finally expressed the crux of the matter: I have two values, which are precariously unbalanced right now. One states that I should go ad free and resist anything that potentially encourages consumption. The other focuses on the very real need to earn some revenue from what I do here. Despite trying, donation buttons and book sales haven’t filled the gap.

One value is fulfilled while the other wanes. What’s the solution for this imbalance? This puzzle has led to a surprising number of doubts, questions, and nerves. I’ve felt guilty thinking about backtracking and placing the ads back on the site. I’ve felt nasty about engaging in affiliate marketing. And I don’t have time to create a class, campaign, or course that could potentially bring in additional revenue. School must take priority, but Frugaling shall be an integral, secondary part of my life.

For now, I’ve decided to bring back the ads. They’ll be basic Google ads, which won’t distort my voice or manipulate what I decide to promote. These ads aren’t my favorite, but in an effort to strike a balance between making money and reducing consumption, I’m taking the middle path.

Because of this backtrack, I’ve refunded and repaid everyone’s donations, too. Although their support was deeply appreciated over the last two months, I would feel slimy keeping them. As readers of Frugaling, I’d love to know what you think about this decision. Your support and readership is what keeps my site going. Thanks for listening.

Your friend,
Sam

Filed Under: Make Money Tagged With: ads, Advertise, advertising, frugaling, Google, Marketing, money, revenue, Writing

What I Learn Outside The Classroom

By Frugaling 10 Comments

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“It occurred to me that there were two sets of virtues, the résumé virtues and the eulogy virtues. The résumé virtues are the skills you bring to the marketplace. The eulogy virtues are the ones that are talked about at your funeral — whether you were kind, brave, honest or faithful.”
—David Brooks

Earlier this week I chatted with an old friend about my dissertation. I mentioned that I’m having trouble isolating variables, staying interested, and writing the countless pages required of me. But her advice and guidance helped keep me on track, motivated, and psyched.

At some point during the conversation she asked me about my plan. More specifically, what was my plan with Frugaling. I pondered that question and frankly didn’t understand what she meant at first. “My plan?” I inquired. She responded, “Yeah, your plan. You’ve been working on Frugaling for a long time now. Do you ever think it’ll influence or turn into a career?”

I couldn’t help but laugh aloud. Frugaling has never felt like a primary goal or endpoint. Rather, working on this site has been a break from the normal routine — an opportunity to write freely and talk about personal finance in a forum that didn’t exist for me.

Interestingly, I’ve always lived this way: pursuing one avenue while holding countless activities in the background. In high school, I gambled and watched the stock market in every off block or break. I played at lunch with friends and raced home to sign online for hours of entertainment. Poker and stocks superseded high school. As a consequence, my grades suffered and relationships were strained. Nobody liked the person I had become, including me. The lessons of high school paled in comparison to the power of isolation, overwhelming greed, and selfishness. I learned early on that I never wanted to go back to that place.

Despite the lessons, it was the start of a long pattern of side work/play. In college, I was a resident assistant, op-ed columnist for the school newspaper, research assistant, instructor, and served on various committees for suicide prevention and community service. By the end of my tenure I raised over $30,000 for suicide prevention. Here, I learned the importance of selflessness, friendship, and love. None of which were learned in the classroom.

I’ve been in graduate school for… Well, I’m working on my fifth year now because I spent a year at my alma mater in another Ph.D. program. Then, I transferred to my current one for counseling psychology. But in my one year, I became more immersed in the world of suicide prevention via board memberships and invited talks.

My passion for mental health and community engagement grew, but it stood in conflict with academic demands. When I left the program and moved to another, the professors called me it out and basically said, “You’re a great person to have in the classroom, but you’re distracted and your grades have suffered. There are times in life where you must cut back on certain activities to excel in others.”

That was the first time in my life where I wholeheartedly disagreed with feedback about how I conducted myself. My “distractions” were epic side projects, which got me through graduate school, gave me diverse experiences, and exposed me to entire world of learning that occurs out there — in the world.

See, I can’t help but think that these mentalities are something of an “old guard.” In generations of yore, people would become educated, train for a particular career, and then work until they either dropped dead or retired. They did that one thing — over and over again. If all went well, you retired with a hefty pension and retirement package. You could drift off into blissful security, knowing you’d worked hard and earned the riches to live comfortably.

This mentality of education, training, and career has shifted though. People change jobs more than ever — laterally, vertically, and entirely. Now, a job is a temporary weigh station versus a home away from home. Employers tend to treat employees as expendable moneymakers — easily replaced with another head. And the incentives for staying with one company have largely evaporated. Even when pensions are offered, they’re sometimes cut or stopped altogether.

Frankly, I have an utter insecurity for pigeonholing myself to one esoteric career path and never looking back, sideways, or ahead. It’s utterly frightening to imagine doing one thing for the rest of my life, and I’m not sure that any one employer will empower me to do so.

I’ve been in school for about 21 years. The majority has been spent “distracted” and preoccupied with other loves, passions, and motivations. And I can’t help but think about Neil deGrasse Tyson’s belief that discoveries don’t occur in classrooms — they happen in minds, labs, and connections outside. Heck, Einstein didn’t have his eureka moments in a classroom. But largely, most seem caught up in the rat race of education and prestige.

As I reflect on the future of Frugaling, it’s easy to see how it fits into my life. It will likely never be my number one “career,” but there’ll always be a place for this wonderful distraction in my life. These adventures in time and effort have never failed me. In breaking away from the shackles of needing A’s in all my courses or feeling guilty for not working harder, I’m comforted by the fact that work comes in many forms.

Today we live in a world of great change and diversity, to assume or predict what’s necessary for tomorrow would be foolish. Instead, I embrace the unknown by mixing up my life and embracing my wacky, weird, and awesome interests.

How do you approach your career in the 21st century?
What careers are you training for?
Do you ever work outside work or “distract” yourself? How so or why not?

Filed Under: Make Money Tagged With: balance, college, education, frugaling, Life, Personal Finance, school, vocation, Work

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