January 05, 2006

Economize:

“Synonyms: be economical, be frugal, be prudent, be sparing, conserve, cut back, cut corners, cut down, husband, manage, pinch pennies, retrench, save, scrimp, shepherd, skimp, stint”
Look how many of these synonyms for economize could be considered in a negative connotation. How odd that somehow the frugal individual is frowned upon for their budgetary sense. Perhaps it is a symptom of the throw away society that encourages waste.

In fact, so much waste is accumulated each day that storage facilities are a booming business, necessary to house all of the stuff that Americans can no longer find room for in their homes. So now many of these average citizens scramble to find a storage facility to store all of this unwanted stuff. Therefore they not only have wasted the money on things they don’t use but to add insult to injury, they now have to pay rent to store all of it and it may stay in storage for years.

Television shows on HGTV and The Learning Channel such as “Clean House” and “Mission Organization” highlight the amount of clutter that people generate every week. These shows and others show the must have syndrome that prompts all of the impulse buys for things that have no practical use. Instead the individuals purchasing these things are often deep in debt hoping to purchase more items. Economize and all of its synonyms are not a part of these folks vocabulary.

But changes can be made with just a few adjustments in lifestyle. Before purchasing that knickknack that may seem too cute to resist, stop and think. First, does it go with anything already in the house? If so, does that mean this would be essentially a duplicate of the same thing? If your house were cluttered, this item would be just another piece that needs dusting on a frequent basis. Once you bring these thoughts to the foreground of your consciousness, it may be that looking at the cute knickknack, admiring it and putting it down for someone else to purchase is the way to go. Think of all the money that could be going into a savings account instead.

Economizing doesn’t mean giving up things you need. It means being smarter about what you currently have and using those things before automatically purchasing new things. Do you have things that were purchased and used once before becoming dust collectors? If so, maybe it is time to clean up and get rid of the additional drains. A yard sale is one way to even recoup some of your costs back. If that is too much of an effort, consider giving your unwanted stuff to the local charity. Either way, it is better to get rid of the extra clutter than to rent storage space for it. Then, just think before you buy and you will be on your way to becoming a frugal person.

"It is great wealth to a soul to live frugally with a contented mind."
Lucretius (99BC - 5BC) Roman poet, philosopher.

No comments: