I originally wanted to do a video on the five things that I do not buy to save money but I found that to be a bit too generic and kind of a topic that can be found in YouTube commonly. So I decided to do a more interesting topic in my opinion that is how you should be living your life with some inputs from this book called "The Art of Frugal Hedonism". Definitely everyone has a different style of living and for me I am trying to adjust and find a lifestyle to match me. So I hope that you guys enjoy this video and subscribe to my channel.
Being conscious of your spending
The original idea was to let you guys know about the five things that I absolutely will not spend my money on. But the main gist I wanted to bring across was that you have to be conscious of what you’re spending on and this is why a lot of people advise that before you buy something you should give yourself some time to think about it. So first conscious spending is the mindful money habit that encourages you to think critically about all your purchase making sure you really need whatever it is you’re thinking of buying.
For examples before getting an Apple Watch maybe you can think about whether Will it improve the quality of life are and what benefits are there to these purchase that you’re making.
Conscious spending and happiness
Mindful spending can bring about happiness to you because you would be able to have more enjoyment from your money and you understand more about your emotions and the need to monitor your budget so when implemented properly and consistently you're able to find out what you really need in your life.
Being in the present and practicing mindfulness
Being in the present is a very important aspect of how we live as it can determine how you feel. Many of us think about the past and the future and this in turn can affect our emotions and well-being. By being able to be in the present and focus on what is really important that we are able to do now and not worry about what is going to happen. Focusing on what is on hand will not give you as much stress as you slowly tick off the tasks that you need to complete currently, it is really easy to start thinking about the future for example, you would think that you have lots of work later on and that your current mood will be affected making you unable to enjoy being in the present.
Consume less = more money to do what you want and option of doing less paid work
By being conscious of your spending, you would be able to differentiate between what you really want/need and in turn be able to have a sum remaining. By being more conscious about your spending, when you slowly go into retirement or the later part of your career, you can have the option of doing less paid work due to a lower spending rate or still chase after your paid work that you really want to do.
"The self-restrained of tempered consumption may seem at odds with current cultural urgings to 'live in the moment' however the dominent modern angle on this philosophy seems to advocate 'live in the moment' rather than the very impulse spending compatible ' living for the moment'.
Beware of Fake Frugal (From The Art of Frugal Hedonism)
If it is cheap to buy but at the expenses of someone/something else, it is fake frugal.
Some examples include clothes made by tired workers who are exploited in far away countries or value pack items like razors or disposables that end up polluting the environment. This will lead you to spending more money in the long term eg buying a cheap piece of furniture and realising that it doesn't serve it's purpose or is easily spoiled. This extends to a wide spectrum like your health where eating cheap and processed food can in the long term damage your body and you will have to spend more on medical fees.
Don't be selfish (From The Art of Frugal Hedonism)
Not over-consuming is being polite to the world as it is a shared effort to manage resources for the people on Earth and definitely the generations to come. In the bigger picture, companies and countries can make effort to reduce carbon emissions to save our already dying planet. On our end, we can be more sustainable and not waste things eg not to over-order when eating out and reducing the disposable we are using. Collectively, if we are able to make small changes to our lifestyle, the world will be a better place. Although the pandemic has reduced flying but more disposables are being used due to increased usage of delivery platforms. This is really something that we can look into to improve on.
Build good habits and cope with obstacles the right way (From The Art of Frugal Hedonism)
Ending it off with something I really like from the book. Habits really shape your lifestyle and just a tweak in it can give you a change.
"We humans are creatures of habit, mental processes burn up a heck lot of energy and evolution has designed us to to favour even flawed automatic behaviours over repeatedly using time and energy to think about what would be good in every situation"
The art of frugal hedonism mentions that your willpower functions like a muscle, the more you use it, the stronger it becomes but using willpower alone might not be enough, instead to notice the urge and then put a different behaviour in response.
For example, you just had a shitty day at work and usually you would have a beer and pizza plus watching the television all evening. To counter this habit, you can use another behaviour like drinking soup while re-reading a book or to go for a walk with headphones on. This would produce a better habit/coping mechanism against a lousy day at work.
Conclusion
With all the above, I hope to slowly integrate them into my lifestyle and live my life consciously. Definitely, change will slowly take place over time as they always say motivation helps with the change but determination/perseverance keeps it going. Are there any changes that you are implementing in your life?
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