Becoming rich is the dream of most people in this world. While money isn't everything, buying everything costs money. Apart from working hard with diligence, and discipline, and opening a business, you can become rich by changing your life habits, one of which is Frugal Living.
Talking about saving money, you need to know a lifestyle called Frugal Living. Frugal Living is a lifestyle that is widely used by rich people in various countries. Frugal Living is called the next level of frugal living. Let's see how to get started.
Definition of Frugal Living
Frugal living is a lifestyle concept that emphasizes minimalism. A frugal person (a person who runs the concept of frugal living) will be more considerate of the benefits of goods or services obtained for the costs that have been incurred. Not infrequently a frugal person is often seen as stingy. In fact, the concept of frugal living is more than just that connotation.
Difference between Frugal Living and a Minimalist Lifestyle
Even though it sounds the same, it turns out that the concept of frugal living is different from a minimalist lifestyle. Frugal living is a concept that prioritizes efficiency in the use of costs. A frugal will be full of consideration in deciding the benefits to be obtained at each cost incurred. It could be, they will prefer the goods with the cheapest prices but provide the greatest benefits.
In contrast to a frugal, a person who has the principle of minimalism is not concerned with the price of an item. They prioritize quality over the price they have on an item. Someone with a minimalist principle is more concerned with the quality of goods at a slightly more expensive price because they think the goods are more durable and have a longer service life.
Frugal Living Benefits
Of course, there are many benefits if you run this frugal living concept, including:
1. Accelerate Someone in Achieving Financial Freedom
A frugal living lifestyle will accelerate a person in achieving the concept of financial freedom. Financial freedom is a condition in which a person does not have to depend on people and does not need to "work hard" in fulfilling his life needs, including financial needs. This means that someone who has achieved financial freedom can be said to already have more than enough assets.
Frugal living teaches a person to be able to carefully consider financial decisions. So, a frugal will set aside more money to save or invest. Therefore, the concept of financial freedom will be more easily achieved.
2. Have More Opportunities to Save
As mentioned above, a frugal will have more money that can be used to save or even invest. With more savings, life will be calmer and increase the possibility of getting the desired asset faster.
3. Reduces Stress and Financial Pressure
Compared to living to fulfill prestige, it is better to choose a simple life by applying the concept of frugal living. You don't need to buy expensive clothes if at the end of the month you are confused about paying for a credit card. If you continue to force a lifestyle beyond your means, then in the future it will only result in stress and financial pressure.
A frugal will set aside more money to save and invest. Free from consumer debt, so it is faster to get the desired asset. For this reason, a frugal does not feel excessive worry about unpredictable conditions. Because generally they already have an emergency fund.
It may feel heavy at first, but if you have done it for a long time, you will definitely get used to it.
4. Good for the Environment
Living a frugal living lifestyle will allow you to own less stuff. By restraining negative impulsiveness, a frugal will consider several times buying things that are not really needed.
With the few items he has, it will minimize the possibility of these items ending up in landfills. A simple example is if you don't buy snacks or food made of cans or plastic too often, then you will significantly contribute to reducing plastic waste.
How to Live a Frugal Living Lifestyle
Once you know what frugal living is, you may be interested in applying it in everyday life. Here are some examples of frugal living activities that you can do.
1. Manage Expenses
In order to avoid being "starved of eyes" for a moment or buying something that is not needed, you should do budgeting or budgeting for your plans and financial flows. Budgeting can be done by recording expenses and income or through a recording application to make it easier.
2. Paying Debt
Debt is not something wrong or to be avoided. Even though you are in debt, your finances can still be said to be stable and safe as long as it doesn't exceed 30% of the income earned. For those of you who have debts, make sure to pay them on time. This aims to avoid fines and your bad credit record.
3. Limit Occupancy
The next way is to limit the occupancy. The wider the house and the more items you have, of course, the more needs that must be met for maintenance and maintenance costs. So, you should limit the occupancy and furniture to save costs.
4. Invest
One of the ways billionaires have a lot of money is because some of them invest to earn more money in the future.
5. Focus on Future Finance
The principle of the Frugal Living lifestyle is Value for Money, where you have to live a life with minimal living costs. Some people who live this lifestyle will think more about future finances such as insurance and deposits than living hedon.
6. Meal Preparation
Buying food out sometimes costs more when compared to preparing your own food from home. Assume we spend IDR 50,000 for two meals out. Whereas a budget of IDR 50,000 can be used as a budget to prepare food for yourself for 2 days. Besides being able to save costs, preparing your own food from home can be more hygienic.
Meal preparation is not only bringing lunch from home when going out. Meal preparation can also be done by eating before shopping or meeting with relatives outside the house to be more efficient.
7. Take Advantage of Promotions
A frugal will take advantage of promos when shopping monthly, buying food outside if he doesn't have time to cook, or buying other needed items. Usually, merchants will provide promos on certain days such as paydays, holidays, and others.
8. Compare Prices
The last way to run the concept of frugal living is to compare prices. By choosing the cheapest price, you are already living a Value for Money lifestyle. But make sure that the goods at low prices are discounted goods or goods of good quality so that they last longer.
Well, that's an understanding of what frugal living is and some ways you can get used to being frugal. With frugality, it is not only guaranteed wealth that you get. You are also trained to live a more disciplined and simple life. Good luck, BFI friends!