Frugality or Self-Satisfaction?

Give me an example of a happy rich man, and I'll have an example of a liar. Money does not make a person happy. At most, it can make them feel secure. Money is really good at taking a person's mind off what really matters in life, however. You have tons of websites and articles claiming they can help people get rich quick, but most people looking up this information don't need money...they need to learn how to utilize it best...they need to learn how to apologize to mend friendships...how to deal with a hurt loved one. Some people will grow older and realize they missed out on life, when some will die still believing that their money is worth something. Money disintegrates. Memories, love, and friendships all do not. I am the happiest person I know. I feel secure, I have friends who like me enough to call me, a family who loves me, and the most beautiful person in the world who has a matching wedding band on his finger. I love life and all of the experiences and opportunities it presents...hence my username. LOL. I have two careers I love, not two careers that make a lot of money that I can't stand doing. I own properties and I write books...both of those are things I enjoy. Between my husband and I, our income per year is $18,000 before taxes. Shouldn't I be unhappy with life? Why is life so awesome if we are near the poverty level of the U.S.? Because including our mortgage, my husband's student loan payments, bills, groceries, etc., we live on $10,000 a year. Most people can't imagine that. We are a couple who knows that generic brand food is delicious, and that home cooked meals are cheap and also make good memories. We don't believe in credit cards and buying what we can't afford and will regret later. Anything over $20 is something we save for and talk about together. My husband sometimes will walk or bike to work, and whenever I drive, I hypermile to get double the miles per gallon than I should be getting. So yes, we are at the poverty line, and yet we utilize our money to where my husband and I are 27 and 22 and have over $15,000 in retirement accounts from the money we've learned simply not to spend. So yeah, I shop at Goodwill for clothes that still have the tags on them, and yes, I buy store brand pasta sauce. But the money I saved while doing that is building up in a Roth IRA. Am I frugal? Yes. Am I also happy and satisfied? Heck yes! I am frugal, and many people look down on that. But it is this frugality that allows me to have a career that I love and to have thousands in a retirement account when I'm twenty years younger than most people who start shopping around for retirement accounts. Done right, frugality is the smartest and most satisfying thing a person can do. Saving money and loving life don't have to be strangers...they work perfectly well together.

i think it is better to live frugally because you then have a sense of freedom asyou say. i would rather live feeling free then being overwhelmed with so much debt i could hardly breathe.

I think living in frugality is what expected in this economic crisis, however you need not to lower your standard of life. You just need to do everything lesser. When you need to buy clothes every month, now you can buy it every three months. When you need to go to cafes to hang up with friends every two weekends, now you can have it once a month. It still works...

I tried a carefree life giving in to what I wanted anytime and bills started piling up. So, I was forced to be frugal. I hated it, at first, but, now I realize that I could still enjoy many things even if I didn't have to spend as much as I used to. The thing that I learned most is that I should be able to live within my means in order to manage my finances.