You might be a natural at making frugal choices when it comes to spending or perhaps you are slowly easing your way into the frugal lifestyle. Either way, know that your efforts result in additional benefits that go beyond the immediate impact of cash savings. You might not notice these nonmonetary rewards at first. That’s because in the beginning stages of adopting a frugal perspective, you’re usually focused on reaping…
In response to my recent post about splitting expenses with friends, one commenter wrote that there is a fine line between cheap and frugal. I happen to agree. For example, when dining in a group, I recommend that each individual calculate tax and tip based on what they ordered, but I would never dream of leaving less than a 18 percent tip on my tab, unless service was abysmal. I…
I don’t try to hide the fact that we used to be pretty sucky with our finances. Although we never let things get too out of hand, I finally accept the fact that we used to waste most of our income. We bought stuff. We went on trips. If we didn’t have the cash, we would finance anything that we desired. Even furniture. And vacuums. I swear. We also lived without any sort…
Recession-battered Canadians are growing more conservative with their money and turning away from high risk investments to the safety of savings accounts — a trend that banks are cashing in on, industry insiders say. Canadians this year have opened about 20 per cent more chequing and savings accounts than last — a giant leap from the average three to five per cent annual increase, said financial services consultant David McVay….
We all know that “money can’t buy happiness.” However, a certain amount of money is needed for the building blocks of happiness — or at least security. It’s quite difficult to be happy when you don’t have access to the basic necessities of life. And this is where money and happiness come together a little bit. Even if you are a gardening master, you still need money to purchase food…
Quite a few people have been expressing their admiration for my frugality to me, so I thought it was time to rein in the enthusiasm and talk a bit about the downsides of frugal living. 1. The most obvious downside, and what I don’t actually consider a downside, is frugality makes you question your buying decisions. We live in a society that wants to sell us stuff all the time,…