Why bother to save money?
Being frugal can be fun; I believe that. Natch -- I live and breathe frugality! But I know that being frugal can be a bother; for proof: ask my husband. Heck, back in the day when I shopped at the mall, I would have told you that yard sales were too much bother for me. Times haven't changed, but I have. So if shopping is fun, it's worth it to ask, why bother to count those pennies?
Some of us have no choice. Or maybe we have a bit of choice, but low income or high debt means that frugality is our most powerful tool for making ends meet. One of my favorite bloggers who sings this particular song is the courageous Poor to Rich; I get a big shot in the arm from her bubbly, can-do cheerfulness, and I get a decent dose of humility because of her candid honesty in describing what it's like to live the life of the working poor.
But let's look at people like me. People who -- to be honest -- make a bunch of money and who bother to be frugal not so we can pay the utility bill, but instead for our own funky reasons. What reasons might those be? Even more importantly (to me), what reasons should those be?
Potential answer #1 (contributed by my husband as I read him this post): To get more stuff? This, I reject. We have too much stuff already.
Potential answer #2: To keep one parent at home? Me & my guy, we're working toward this (see P.A.#3 below). I've got a lot of respect for this answer, even though it doesn't really apply to my situation. It was Amy Dacyzyn of the Tightwad Gazette, after all, who got me started on the road to being a disciple of the famous Frugal Zealot, and staying at home with her kids was the pad that launched her own frugal adventures.
Potential answer #3: To retire early? Or, put another way, to achieve financial independence from your job? I got hooked on this idea (even though I love my job) through the excellent book Your Money or Your Life, and (even though I love my job -- did I say that already?), we've made this a goal for first my husband, and eventually a decade down the line, me. And recently, I've become the latest woot-woot fan of the high-energy, macho-frugality blog, Mr. Money Mustache, who describes his frugalist technique for retiring at age 37. Did I say woot-woot? Yes, I did! I'll say it again -- woot!
But as I pored over all his old posts, agonizing at his retired-ness while I (a decade older) still toil away at the salt mines for my salary, feeling inadequacy and envy mount up with every post I devoured, I came upon a post that popped the bubble. In this post, he described his yearly expenditures ($30,482). And of that, a mere $374 (or 1.2%) went to charitable donations.
Oh.
Now, I'm not trying to knock down another person. Mister Money Mustache is not me, and I'm not ready to second-guess why he spent/donated/saved the way he did. Indeed, in the next year his expenditures went down (to $28,453) while his donations rose (to $1,886, or 6.6%), and I'm in admiration of the jump, if not of the totals. But seeing those numbers reminded me that for *me* at least, the goal of the frugal life is not primarily any of the reasons listed above. My reaction explains a big part of why my husband and I aren't both stay-at-home parents, living on our savings. It's because I keep giving money away.
So here's yet another reason to be frugal -- maybe not your own personal reason, but a reason to consider.
Potential answer #4. To share the wealth with people who don't have the same access to resources that I have. To be a conduit of the "good stuff". To relieve a bit of other people's hurt, by giving up our own stuff till it hurts. To let poverty and hunger bother us, bother us to the point that we're willing to bother about spending less on ourselves and more on others.
It's just a different kind of woot.
Being frugal can be fun; I believe that. Natch -- I live and breathe frugality! But I know that being frugal can be a bother; for proof: ask my husband. Heck, back in the day when I shopped at the mall, I would have told you that yard sales were too much bother for me. Times haven't changed, but I have. So if shopping is fun, it's worth it to ask, why bother to count those pennies?
Some of us have no choice. Or maybe we have a bit of choice, but low income or high debt means that frugality is our most powerful tool for making ends meet. One of my favorite bloggers who sings this particular song is the courageous Poor to Rich; I get a big shot in the arm from her bubbly, can-do cheerfulness, and I get a decent dose of humility because of her candid honesty in describing what it's like to live the life of the working poor.
But let's look at people like me. People who -- to be honest -- make a bunch of money and who bother to be frugal not so we can pay the utility bill, but instead for our own funky reasons. What reasons might those be? Even more importantly (to me), what reasons should those be?
Potential answer #1 (contributed by my husband as I read him this post): To get more stuff? This, I reject. We have too much stuff already.
Potential answer #2: To keep one parent at home? Me & my guy, we're working toward this (see P.A.#3 below). I've got a lot of respect for this answer, even though it doesn't really apply to my situation. It was Amy Dacyzyn of the Tightwad Gazette, after all, who got me started on the road to being a disciple of the famous Frugal Zealot, and staying at home with her kids was the pad that launched her own frugal adventures.
Potential answer #3: To retire early? Or, put another way, to achieve financial independence from your job? I got hooked on this idea (even though I love my job) through the excellent book Your Money or Your Life, and (even though I love my job -- did I say that already?), we've made this a goal for first my husband, and eventually a decade down the line, me. And recently, I've become the latest woot-woot fan of the high-energy, macho-frugality blog, Mr. Money Mustache, who describes his frugalist technique for retiring at age 37. Did I say woot-woot? Yes, I did! I'll say it again -- woot!
But as I pored over all his old posts, agonizing at his retired-ness while I (a decade older) still toil away at the salt mines for my salary, feeling inadequacy and envy mount up with every post I devoured, I came upon a post that popped the bubble. In this post, he described his yearly expenditures ($30,482). And of that, a mere $374 (or 1.2%) went to charitable donations.
Oh.
Now, I'm not trying to knock down another person. Mister Money Mustache is not me, and I'm not ready to second-guess why he spent/donated/saved the way he did. Indeed, in the next year his expenditures went down (to $28,453) while his donations rose (to $1,886, or 6.6%), and I'm in admiration of the jump, if not of the totals. But seeing those numbers reminded me that for *me* at least, the goal of the frugal life is not primarily any of the reasons listed above. My reaction explains a big part of why my husband and I aren't both stay-at-home parents, living on our savings. It's because I keep giving money away.
So here's yet another reason to be frugal -- maybe not your own personal reason, but a reason to consider.
Potential answer #4. To share the wealth with people who don't have the same access to resources that I have. To be a conduit of the "good stuff". To relieve a bit of other people's hurt, by giving up our own stuff till it hurts. To let poverty and hunger bother us, bother us to the point that we're willing to bother about spending less on ourselves and more on others.
It's just a different kind of woot.
wow, what an amazing post. I too find frugality fun, and my primary motivation is to live lightly on the earth.
ReplyDeleteBut, recently we have taken a hard look at our charitable contributions & are doing more to align our money with our values. Thanks for the inspiration & the reminder.
And how could I have forgotten to include "to live lightly on the earth"? A noble goal -- thanks for the reminder.
DeleteAs for doing more to align money and values, I'm constantly surprised (as I look backward at my life), at how that gets easier with practice. You'd think that's an either/or, on/off thing. But it's not. I can see how far I still have to go to live the life of integrity I'd like to live. -MM
I too got a early morning kick out of this post. Thank you! Why do we do the things we do? And whats the motivation?
ReplyDeleteThe pat on the back -- that's a reward in and of itself. Thanks for this particular pat! --MM
DeleteThanks for the link to MMM! :)
ReplyDeleteNote that the charitable donations you see on our expenses do not include the ones that were donated through our company (we have an LLC). The majority of our charitable givings were through our company. That's why that number is so small on the personal expenses list. For example, I donate 20% of my real estate commissions to charity and we plan to donate a huge portion of blog profits to charitable organizations as well.
We also donate a lot of our time to charity, which you don't see as an expense item. I often prefer to get involved directly.
Anyway, I just wanted to clarify. Cool blog you have here!
And this is one of MANY reasons why I should never point my finger and say "they're selfish, but I'm a saint." Turns out, neither one is true. I continue to be in awe of you and your family; you've just deepened and strengthened that awe and admiration. (And thanks for visiting our neck of the blog-o-woods!) -MM
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