Being a frugaler means making some sacrifices. We sacrifice in order to save a few bucks. Sometimes, it becomes a bit of an addiction. We get a small high off of the act of saving. While you can certainly have worse addictions, even an addiction to saving can be a bad thing at times.
Taking Frugal to Extremes.
Before you get any funny ideas, I really should let you off the hook. This post isn’t really about flossing with chest hair. (It’s a catchy title though, isn’t it?) I don’t actually know of anyone ever having flossed with chest hair, nor would I suggest it. But, it serves as a good example of a way that people could take saving to an extreme. There’s a growing movement to do things in a sustainable manner, and using things that are renewable (like chest hair) is a big part of that. But, there are extremes. For instance, I’ve read about people who use a special kind of stick that is very fibrous, and they chew on it instead of brushing or flossing. Some things, I’d just rather pay for. Being frugal is good. Being so frugal that you chew on sticks? I’m not going to judge, but it seems a bit too extreme for me.
Finding a Happy Frugal Medium.
There is seldom a cure to any addiction. Overcoming one usually entails years of counseling, and hard work on the part of the addicted. Part of the treatment is usually to completely forgo whatever it is that you’re addicted to. If you’re an alcoholic, drinking any alcohol at all is forbidden. But, I can’t, and won’t, condone abstaining from frugality. Overcoming an addiction to being frugal is just a matter of finding a happy medium where you can still save money, while still living in a way that doesn’t have to include extreme cutbacks.
The Cure to Extreme Frugality.
Without thinking about it too hard, come up with something that you spend money on that you can’t do without. Again, I’m not going to judge. For some, it will be their car. For others, it will be their morning coffee. Now, come up with something that you currently spend money on that you can do without. For some reason, for most people, it’s harder to come up with something we can do without than it is something we can’t do without. Why is that? The answer is that it’s psychological. As frugal people, we’ve thought long and hard on ways to save money and to pay off our debt. In our minds, we’ve analyzed everything that we spend money on. We then justified everything that we spend. In some of those cases, we’ve created justification for ourselves so that we don’t have to get rid of something that we would rather not. So, it’s harder to find something that we know we can do without because, in our minds, we’ve created a justification that makes it something we need. The cure to finding a happy medium and avoiding the extreme frugal addiction is to take a close look at the things we’ve justified and find those things that we’ve created justifications for that really aren’t all that justified. In short, stop lying to yourself. Once you do, you’ll have found several things that you can cut back on, or remove entirely, that will save you money without going to extremes.
It’s just as hard to overcome the addiction of lying to yourself as any other addiction. There should (and maybe is) be a 12-step program for it. Until then, try and be truly honest wit yourself. Understand that you’ll probably slip up once or twice. That’s forgivable. Just recognize that you’ve slipped, and get back on track.
photo credit: Just Add Light
I started this blog to share what I know and what I was learning about personal finance. Along the way I’ve met and found many blogging friends. Please feel free to connect with me on the Beating Broke accounts: Twitter and Facebook.
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