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I’d like to talk about being frugal and what that means to us, or at least to me. Let’s get into why I decided to buckle down and inspect my personal finances. Though I’ve always known budgeting is helpful, like most people I never really thought to pay it much mind. As long as I had a paycheck coming up, I aways felt fine about spending what I had in my bank account. Last year, I was put into a bind financially when my dog began having severe medical issues. After a week in the emergency vet and testing like an MRI and spinal tap, I was left with bills totaling around 11 thousand dollars. Top that off with a handful of different medications he has to take multiple times a day, plus additional testing over time. The cost was growing. I was scared. I’m the kind of person who would do anything for my dog, so I knew I had to do something, if we were going to make it financially speaking. I refuse to be put into another position where I feel scared about money. I was afraid I wouldn’t enough to support my dog’s health, let alone my own expenses. I know many people are in that position every day, and I know it’s not easy.
The act of budgeting is taking a microscope to your finances and really analyzing your spending habits. What are the unnecessary things? Maybe that cup of Dunkin or Starbucks every weekday morning. Maybe we need to curb that Amazon shopping habit. Maybe there are other ways we’re able to cut back. What are the necessary things? I’m sure most of us have rent, utilities and groceries to budget. Maybe we have medical expenses or debt to pay off. Minimizing unneeded spending is crucial to reaching any financial goals. I’d like to think we’re all here because we have money goals, or at least the desire to get a hold of our finances.
Being frugal, in my opinion, implies that you are intentional with your money and possibly even have a plan to save that money for a future purpose. Being frugal doesn’t necessarily mean living a miserly lifestyle and being cheap with your money. You also don’t have to be a minimalist to the point where you’re sewing the holes in old clothing instead of just buying something new. You can still be frugal and have nice things. Frugality, like many things in life, is about balance. We try to save as much as we can, while still living comfortably.
Let’s keep in mind that we have financial goals to reach. My long term goal is to eventually be financially independent and hopefully retire early. It’s a long stretch, but I’ve spent too much time on YouTube and I’ve drunk the financial independence Kool-Aid and I want that life for myself. It’s going to be difficult, but I know that’s the direction I’m headed. My short term goals are ever-changing, but currently it’s to backfill my emergency savings that I talked about in the last episode.
Budgeting, though a huge part of what this podcast is focused on, is only one piece of the overall personal finance pie. We won’t talk about all the pieces today, but a few things to keep in mind as you begin to figure things out is your emergency savings, monthly bills and retirement. You may not think you have the ability to worry about retirement or plan have investments, but we are all capable of more than we realize.
For some of you, maybe your reason for budgeting and being frugal is just so you can make the bills every month. Maybe some of you want to save for a car repair. Maybe you have medical expenses like medication and appointments to budget. Maybe you have debt to pay off. Whatever your reason, always keep your goals in mind when you need to make any sort of financial decisions.
The journey of frugality can mean different things to us, even though we’re all doing about the same thing, which is saving money.
Question of the episode:
What are your reasons for budgeting or being frugal? Do you have any specific short or long term goals? I’d love to hear from you, so please leave a comment below.