Comments on: It’s Not What You Earn, It’s What You Spend.

By: Ian

Ian — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:02:54 +0000

While I agree with what you say up to a point I don’t fully. I certainly think the vast majority of people could downsize their lives. Living in a smaller place with fewer things is a good idea. However, there are certain basic costs with living in different places.

If you really don’t care about where you live then you can live on almost nothing. However, I think most people care a great deal about where they live. For example, I live in London (UK) and it is very expensive place to live. After having lived in many other places I would not choose to live anywhere else. I would work a job I disliked (fortunately not the case) because I want to live here.

As you say, we only “… get about 75 years on this floating blue globe” so why waste it living in a place you don’t want to live. Being frugal will only take you so far in major cities.

By: Judy PlayBlue

Judy PlayBlue — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:12:10 +0000

Love the gist of this you will only ever make serious money doing something you love otherwise why bother

By: Hemant Ravi

Hemant Ravi — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:57:50 +0000

That’s true! Last month I transferred a tidy sum through SBI online and the major slice of what i got vanished within just a few days. I must have been a little bit of frugal!

By: Victoria Lindsay@Lendnotborrow

Victoria Lindsay@Lendnotborrow — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 02:13:21 +0000

I really like the point you make about doing whatever it is you love to do. I’ve noticed that people who do what they love (and see it as a career/lifestyle and not a j-o-b)tend to do VERY well financially

By: Usiere

Usiere — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 22:57:06 +0000

Spot on. It takes courage to follow your dreams rather than work for money, trading chunks of your time on this planet doing what you barely tolerate in exchange for money. You may take a huge pay cut at the beginning following your passion, but when you stick with it, soon you will earn beyond your wildest imagination

By: jefferson

jefferson — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:21:27 +0000

great read.. and i know in my heart of heart that you are correct.

i have seen my salary double in the past 10 years, but i find myself having a hard a time as ever spending less than i make. why is it such a struggle for me admit that my spending is a problem? i don’t live a crazy luxurious life..

By: susie

susie — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:48:00 +0000

I couldn’t agree with you more. My husband and I both came to these same conclusions when we were first starting out together, which meant we were very poor at first. But time flies when you’re having fun, and now things feel more secure. And we have now both built businesses doing what we love.

By: Corey @ Passive Income to Retire

Corey @ Passive Income to Retire — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 01:04:16 +0000

This is so true. My brother and sister-in-law make more than my wife and I, but we live well below our means and are doing much better than them financially.

By: Antje Cobbett

Antje Cobbett — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 20:41:51 +0000

And at times, patience is another virtue when it comes to spending or not spending money. I was limping along with a low mobile connection, but couldn’t spend more money to make it faster. So I just carried on and now I have satellite internet thanks to a subsidy of the Spanish government for deprived (me) rural areas! The installation would have cost 600 Euros, I only paid 30 Euros.

We don’t always need to have everything AT ONCE. Patience can often save us money!

By: Bill Swan

Bill Swan — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 19:55:38 +0000

There’s a whole industry geared towards this vary problem. As long as people think there is a quick solution to their problems, the problems will never go away.