Hello everyone! Today, I want to talk about cheapness. This is unusual because being cheap gives you a huge advantage in achieving financial independence. However, we are all at a different point in our journey. Being cheap helped me a lot when I was younger. However, we are older and richer now. The era of cheapness is long gone. Why are you depriving yourself? You can’t go with it, can you?
This year, we are on track to spend about $65,000. That’s far less than 3% of our total. At this rate, we will have plenty of money left when we leave. Actually, I don’t think this is a big problem. If we have extra money left at the end, we can give it to our son and support charities. But we also want to enjoy spending money while we can.
Delayed gratification
I practiced delayed gratification and preached its virtues for years. If you can invest your income instead of spending it frivolously, you will be more financially secure. After years of practice, delayed gratification has become an ingrained habit. My first instinct is to stop shopping or buy something cheap. This has worked well for me and we have steadily increased our profits over the last 30 years.
Recently, Mrs RB40 complained that we are too cheap and I agree. He’s been cheap since he was young too. It is difficult for him to spend money on himself. (Yes, I know I am very lucky.) But we are much more financially free now. We should spend more money and help the economy. So how can we overcome our cheapness?
Inflation
Fortunately, I found cheapness to be an easy problem to overcome. It only took an election to reach instant gratification. President Trump has promised massive tariffs on imports. Next year, everything will cost 10-25%. If we are slow to buy, we will pay more. Better to buy now because inflation is coming back.
That’s why we got a new laptop, a sound bar, a fancy chef’s knife, a bass ukulele, a hair regrowth kit, exercise dumbbells, elbow pads, rechargeable batteries, multivitamins, gloves, and some nice clay mugs. Spending too much seems too easy. However, I still reach the cheaper end of the price spectrum.
The only top shelf item on this list is a chef’s knife from Acre Forge. We would pay less for the same knife, but we want to support local artisans. This knife cuts like a dream. A huge improvement from the Calphalon chef’s knife we’ve used for the past 25 years. Mrs RB40 loves it. However, I keep Calphalon. It has its uses.
We found this knife at the Holiday Market at NW Marine Art Works. There were lots of interesting arts and crafts for sale. Mrs. RB40 saw a ceramic plate he liked for $90, but the color was slightly off. I promised to make him another next term. I guess I’m not that far yet.
A First World Problem
Anyway, this is a First World problem. It’s easy to increase spending. Now that we are financially free, I don’t mind spending extra money on things we use every day. A good kitchen knife will last a lifetime and we use it many times a day. It has already improved my life by making Mrs. RB40 is happy. Hahaha…
Some of the things I bought were on my list for a long time. There is no point in delaying gratification if the price is going to go up a lot next year. I think a lot of people feel this way. The Best Buy line was nuts.
However, if you are having trouble spending money, just think about the upcoming taxes. Next year, it will cost more. If you want something, get it now.
Do you have a problem that you are too cheap? It’s hard to change your habits.
Please follow and like us:
A minimum wage is the key to early retirement. This year, Joe is investing in real estate with CrowdStreet. They have many projects all over the USA so check them out!
Joe also highly recommends Personal Capital for DIY investors. They have many useful tools to help you achieve financial independence.
Source link
