Saturday, August 11, 2012
How to Become a Disciplined Saver and Still Live the High Life
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How to Become a Disciplined Saver and Still Live the High Life
When you’re managing your financial life, you’re really balancing two problems: how to enjoy your life in the present, and how to save up for the future. You may think these two goals are mutually opposed, since in order to enjoy life now, you necessarily have to spend money you then can’t save for the future. In order to plan for the future, you must forego pleasures in the present. While generally speaking this is true, there may be ways that you can save money in the present without sacrificing life’s fun activities. It may just be a question of rethinking what it means to live the high life.
Think about how you define value for a moment. Is value the price tag on an item you buy, or is it the amount of joy it brings into your life? In our consumer culture, we are trained to think that what we should value is necessarily what costs more money—not necessarily what makes us happiest. Do you spend a lot of money buying expensive designer clothing or handbags that are no higher in quality than products that cost less? Do you spend a lot of money on a new car when an older used car might provide you with the same level of technology and sophistication?
In order to live the high life and still save money, the first thing you need to do is train yourself to think differently about value. You need to recognize that companies want your money—they don’t necessarily want you to be happy or successful or wealthy. But if you want to be happy, successful, and wealthy, then you need to figure out what you really want and need in life.
Let’s take the example of a vehicle. Lots of people think they need to have a new car—because new cars are the best, right? Wrong; most brand new cars actually come with a number of quirks that need to be worked out.
A used car that is several years old may actually offer you a better driving experience and require less work—and cost you a lot less. Are you sacrificing anything in your lifestyle by giving up the new car and paying much lower installments on the car that is several years old? In real terms, no—the only sacrifice is that you can no longer tell people you have a brand new car.
Another example is designer clothing. While most designer clothing really is high in quality, you may be able to purchase the same level of quality in brands that are less famous. You also may find designer clothing at a significant discount if you simply buy it used online or in a thrift store. A lot of people give up their perfectly good clothing every year simply to have the newest thing. That means you can wear that perfectly good clothing at a fraction of the price—even top designer brands you love. Also consider that you may pay less for a custom-made, hand-tailored item by a boutique designer than you would for a mass-produced designer item. Thus you can actually save money on a superior product.
Entertainment provides us with another great example. Do you buy new videos and video games? Why not simply buy used instead? If you don’t mind a few dents in a package or scratches on a disc, you can pay a fraction of the price for your multimedia and enjoy the same quality—products that run without a problem that you can enjoy just as much.
These are just a few examples of how you can save money for the future without sacrificing your existing lifestyle—and you may even be able to make improvements to it. Hopefully from these examples you can start to see how it works and come up with more ways you can save money. Value doesn’t necessarily take the form of currency in our modern economy. Figure out what makes you happy and what you enjoy, and then look for deals on those things. You don’t always need the newest product to be happy—what you need is the best product, and the best value.
This guest post was written by John Szabo, a part time blogger, on behalf of Poundaccess. Poundaccess are a UK based company offering quick short term loans.
When you’re managing your financial life, you’re really balancing two problems: how to enjoy your life in the present, and how to save up for the future. You may think these two goals are mutually opposed, since in order to enjoy life now, you necessarily have to spend money you then can’t save for the future. In order to plan for the future, you must forego pleasures in the present. While generally speaking this is true, there may be ways that you can save money in the present without sacrificing life’s fun activities. It may just be a question of rethinking what it means to live the high life.
Think about how you define value for a moment. Is value the price tag on an item you buy, or is it the amount of joy it brings into your life? In our consumer culture, we are trained to think that what we should value is necessarily what costs more money—not necessarily what makes us happiest. Do you spend a lot of money buying expensive designer clothing or handbags that are no higher in quality than products that cost less? Do you spend a lot of money on a new car when an older used car might provide you with the same level of technology and sophistication?
In order to live the high life and still save money, the first thing you need to do is train yourself to think differently about value. You need to recognize that companies want your money—they don’t necessarily want you to be happy or successful or wealthy. But if you want to be happy, successful, and wealthy, then you need to figure out what you really want and need in life.
Let’s take the example of a vehicle. Lots of people think they need to have a new car—because new cars are the best, right? Wrong; most brand new cars actually come with a number of quirks that need to be worked out.
A used car that is several years old may actually offer you a better driving experience and require less work—and cost you a lot less. Are you sacrificing anything in your lifestyle by giving up the new car and paying much lower installments on the car that is several years old? In real terms, no—the only sacrifice is that you can no longer tell people you have a brand new car.
Another example is designer clothing. While most designer clothing really is high in quality, you may be able to purchase the same level of quality in brands that are less famous. You also may find designer clothing at a significant discount if you simply buy it used online or in a thrift store. A lot of people give up their perfectly good clothing every year simply to have the newest thing. That means you can wear that perfectly good clothing at a fraction of the price—even top designer brands you love. Also consider that you may pay less for a custom-made, hand-tailored item by a boutique designer than you would for a mass-produced designer item. Thus you can actually save money on a superior product.
Entertainment provides us with another great example. Do you buy new videos and video games? Why not simply buy used instead? If you don’t mind a few dents in a package or scratches on a disc, you can pay a fraction of the price for your multimedia and enjoy the same quality—products that run without a problem that you can enjoy just as much.
These are just a few examples of how you can save money for the future without sacrificing your existing lifestyle—and you may even be able to make improvements to it. Hopefully from these examples you can start to see how it works and come up with more ways you can save money. Value doesn’t necessarily take the form of currency in our modern economy. Figure out what makes you happy and what you enjoy, and then look for deals on those things. You don’t always need the newest product to be happy—what you need is the best product, and the best value.
This guest post was written by John Szabo, a part time blogger, on behalf of Poundaccess. Poundaccess are a UK based company offering quick short term loans.
This post was written by: Franklin Manuel
Franklin Manuel is a professional blogger, web designer and front end web developer. Follow him on Twitter
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