Why Frugality?

OK, so the question of why frugality could easily turn into a very long winded and potentially quite boring essay, which I will try my best not to do!

To keep it relatively short, I see three major reasons for embracing frugality, where each of these are clearly intertwined. The first is financial independence. At a time when many people are worried about how they will get by in retirement, a very sad state of affairs, would you instead like to still be working, but knowing that you are already financially free? How great would it be that you could leave that very day if you wanted or needed to? Even if you completely love your job, and you couldn’t imagine leaving it so soon,  how would it feel that you didn’t need this job? I’m sure your focus would change, perhaps to doing something really amazing!

The second is the hedonic treadmill/hedonic adaptation, which basically states that as you earn more money, your initial happiness (or I could say ‘high’) will wear off, as you adapt your wants and desires to this higher level of income. You basically end up emotionally where you started!

The third is the environment, as a trained scientist I am very concerned by all the data that I see showing the rapid degradation of our environment. What sort of place are we going to leave to our children and grandchildren? I guess the question I am really asking is, do we really need to destroy our beautiful planet just to consume so much stuff? At the individual level, I guess we can ask ourselves, is the garage so full of things that I need to pay for storage? How many of the things that I own do I really need and use?

OK, so what do these all add up too? I would suggest they can be a path to increased happiness. When you are financially free, understand that the initial high from increased consumerism is rapidly countered by hedonic adaptation, and you are doing your bit to conserve the environment, then perhaps you can really focus on what makes you happy….. (although there is no reason why you shouldn’t start that today!)