When discussing money saving with some colleagues recently I was amazed at how little they know or want to know about saving money. By saving money I don’t mean in savings accounts I mean on bills, groceries, purchases etc. They all know how I like to cut back on things and get the best deal that I can on any purchase and yet they seem unwilling to try any of the ideas themselves. I try to explain to them that frugal living is not about being cheap, its about getting the most from your money and using your money for things that make you happy.
Many people consider our dream of moving to Portugal just a dream and that it will be unachievable. I say that you can achieve anything you want to if you put your mind to it. That’s not to say that you don’t need to work hard, it just means that with a little bit of extra planning, a total focus on your goals and the will to suceed you can do anything you want.
Further reading:
Our Five Year Goals
Setting Goals
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice post. I’ve had similar experiences myself. I got so sick of that WTF? look that people gave me when I talked about frugal living that I gave up mentioning it.
If someone asks me about some issue of personal finance or saving money I’m happy to talk about it – but otherwise I rarely talk about it casually.
Yes, you have a dream. A dream is different to a fantasy. When you combine a dream with a plan and action you end up with reality.
A lot what a lot of people think of as “dreams” are actually very achievable as you quite rightly say.
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Thanks Tony for the comments.
Plan and action = reality, I like that
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I am now changing my language a bit. As often I say that I cannot afford spending money on something when I clearly can. I now say that I cannot justify the expense as I want all the money I can to pay off my mortgage. This helps to stop the funny looks! It does amaze me how many people do not see mortgage as a debt and do not care about paying it off. I have calculated that by paying mine off in 5 years I will save about £86500 in interest, I cannot understand why that sort of figure can’t influence others to pay theirs off quickly.
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