Now, think about the past when you were still a student with little to no money. You probably just had one pair of shoes and it was precious to you. When you do get a new pair of shoe after wearing it for many years, it feels great. That was the time you were living in frugality. As a student with limited cash, you try to get the best deals when you dine out. You try to only buy during a discount.
Consumerism vs Frugality
It'll not be easy to explain the difference between consumerism and frugality to someone who has been living a consumerism lifestyle since young. Some how, people who are living in consumerism will find that frugal people are sacrificing too much and not living a good quality of life. They would say "Why save money when I can spend money to buy happiness?" To them, saving money is sacrificing their quality of life. However, today, I found out that living a frugal life may not be a sacrifice. It could in fact lead to a better quality of life. Let me explain using a simple analogy.
People living in consumerism like to buy lots of stuff. They think that since one shirt is good, another one will make it better. They have a wardrobe full of clothes and maybe even more than 2 wardrobes of clothes. They have a shoe cabinet with more than 10 pair of shoes. They may also have many different bags and accessories. But, if you ask them if they do wear all those clothes, those shoes or even carry those bags, very often you'll hear that they had only wore it once or twice or never wore it before. Many of them still only use those few that they like better and dump the rest at one side.
Quality, not Quantity
This is the same with food. Having a plate of spaghetti is good but doesn't mean having another plate will be better. When you're hungry, more food will be good. When food is scarce, more is good. But when you're full and more food comes to your table, you feel disgusted. A scarcity mindset will result in consumerism. Buying more of the same stuffs does not make your life better. In fact, it's the direct opposite. So how do we go searching for a better quality of life? Here's the answer: Quality is the key, not quantity. Let's go back to the example on food. It doesn't make sense to keep buying more quantity of food when you're full. If we don't buy more food, we can focus our energy and resources to buy better quality food.
Now, when we translate this idea to the clothes, the shoes and all those stuff, we should also buy lesser but better quality ones instead of just more quantity of it. So, who buys lesser quantity and better quality stuffs? The answer is the truly frugal people. Frugality is defined as the prudence in avoiding waste. Frugal people do not like to waste resources. This means when they buy something, they make sure they really use it and not dump it at one side when they get home. Maximizing the use of resources is their forte. If they buy food, they make sure they finish and not waste any of it.
Sometimes, a similiar can of drink cost $1 here but $3 elsewhere. Yes, it does happen. For me, if I know I can get a $1 drink somewhere near, I will find it difficult to buy a $3 can of drink. Even though $3 is nothing and I can definitely afford it, but I know this $3 can be used to buy a decent meal instead of just a can of drink. It'll be foolish to pay more for less (sometimes I still do it if there's no choice). I can get better quality out of the $3.
Having a better quality of life for frugal people is easy. Instead of wasting the effort and money to buy more of a similar stuff, the effort is put into finding a better quality of it. In this way, our quality of life increases. We get better for less. We can find better deals but still get the same quality goods. We can get value out of a frugal lifestyle. This is the search for a better quality of life. Rich people are frugal and they lead a better quality of life.
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