Friday, September 25, 2009

Some Shakespeare and Fitting Frugality into a Rewarding Life

In my opinion, all good blogs contain great literature, especially Shakespeare.  Thus, my blog as well starts with a quote:

"Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more."  -- Macbeth

For me, the application of this is very clear when talking about frugality.  Nobody wants to "fret" their way through life.  The reason for this worrying is often about the pursuit of money.  While some would argue that frugality and being conscious of spending habits helps you.  This, as almost anything, can be taken to far in which the time spent thinking about and worrying about how you will save money is worth more than the actual savings.  No one wants to run into this situation, but I have seen it sneak up upon a number of people.

Therefore, before I begin actually posting frugal ideas, I will explain some cases where I believe frugality is often taken too far.  First and foremost is when safety is concerned.  Obviously you and everyone's around you well being should be taken care of before you start pinching pennies.  This includes making allowances for people who may not be as budget conscious as you are.  There will be ample opportunity to save that does not involve cutting back on essentials.

The second major thing to avoid is burn-out.  If you suddenly become asphyxiated with saving, you will likely save a lot of money in the beginning, but then you will be frustrated with the amount of time that is needed and quit altogether. This path of actions will lead to less savings and more trouble.  Just like dieting, easy does it.  Slowly weaning yourself off of two coffees a day is the best way to go.

With the two dangers above in the back of my mind, I will proceed to write about ways for you to cut back on spending.  Most of them will be fairly large methods because I believe that that is the only type of saving that is worthwhile.  In this way, I adopt one of Ramit's (from http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/) ideals about going for the big gains rather than the small ones.

My posting schedule may be slightly erratic as I get started, but I have plans to even it out as I grow.  Good luck with all of your frugal endeavors.

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