frugal2free

Spending a few hours with a newfound friend taught me quite a few lessons about frugality. Perhaps a hotel or an Airbnb is not always in order, but rather maybe you could camp in the back of a covered truck. Or perhaps keeping a vehicle for several years and then buying one at an auction could save you tens of thousands of dollars.

Looking at someone's budget recently I realized that the budget was focused on decreasing expenses instead of eliminating expenses and converting expenses into assets. How could your house become an asset? Your vehicle? In today's episode I share a few ideas on taking some of your highest cost liabilities and converting them to assets.

Who controls your spending? The limbic, lizard brain or your non-emotional self? How often do you pause before moving forward? And are you comfortable backing away from poor financial deals?

We often hear about the dramatic and the extreme,the quantum leaps in real estate investing. We're inundated with 1-800 numbers about getting rich in real estate. So it was with great delight that I talked to an ordinary person who taught me how he is about ready to take purchase of his third home. Him and his wife bought one home, and very pedestrian like began to pay it down before using some equity to buy another home. And now they're about ready to buy their third home. The homes are collectively worth over $1,000,000 and yet my friend is the sole income owner in his family and just recently became a citizen. What is your family doing daily to achieve your financial goals?

There's a fun TV show that my family absolutely loves. It's called Hunted. The show is about a group a former experts who search for about 10 teams of two people hiding in three southeastern states. The teams stand to earn over $200,000 if they avoid being caught for 30 days. As I watched the show I realized that the best teams have a couple things in common: they play great offense and defense and they openly confront each other and challenge each other not only to find a good solution but the best solution. Interestingly some teams use technology while other teams eschewed technology, but they often sought discussion to make ideas even better and to eliminate poor ideas.

In financial circles it's cool to talk about how much money you can save by DIY. But there's also a cost to DIY. Sometimes DIY means you're saving money but blowing time. If you hired your next project out so you can spend more time with your family would that be the frugal and right thing to do? Always question how much your time with your family is worth. Your most valuable asset is your family. And being frugal is commendable, well being cheap is silly.

If you study any books in the financial section of a bookstore you'll see a common theme. One financial guru will tell you to get deeply into debt so that you can have more money. Another financial guru will tell you that his advice that he's been giving for 20 years applies to each and every person irrespective of their current or future financial situation. He will tell you that his advice is the only advice that works. And yet another financial advisor will tell you there's only three needful steps to be financially free. Each financial guru seems to be selling a product that they feel is made for everyone. It's not true! There are many principles and ideas that can benefit your family. It's up to you to discover them from multiple sources and not put your trust in one financial guru.

One of my sisters reminded me of what it means to be frugal when you're shopping for fashion. Are you such good friends with a thrift store that you call Salvation Army Sally's? And have you heard about the woman who taught Ryan Davis how to be 80% more frugal by questioning, thinking researching and doing?

Best effective and lasting finincial advice I've ever received? It comes from sages. Be modest in expenditures.

Discipline yourself to avoid debt. Establish reserves.

Responsibility to manage finances shared between husband and wife with attitude of trust and openness.

Save for unexpected & expected.

Set financial goals.

Be honest. Make sacrafices.

Pay off debt as quickly as possible.

This man is not only frugal he's a spartan! He was able to relocate jobs so that he could drop his commute time and buy an electric motorcycle so that his total cost for transportation was only $23 a year for 4,000 miles traveled. Where should you apply Spartan principles in your life? A Spartan is one who is time frugal and money frugal. Modern day Spartans cut back on unneeded expenses so that they can enjoy more time with family, building relationships and enjoying experiences.