I am not poor, I am not rich. I would say I am better off than most of the local friends that I have. I could probably afford a car if i needed one, which I don't. I am financially secure, let's just say that. I played my cards correctly in a financial sense in my 20's and 30's and for the most part my 40's as well.
I can afford a lot of things that I do not buy and sometimes people ask me why I am like that. My friends know that I am reasonably well off and some of the things that I do might seem silly to them but all I can really say is that in my family, the apple didn't fall very far from the tree and the miserly ways of my parents - who did so out of necessity - extended to me as an adult.
Here are some thing that I do with my money that I think a lot of people don't do and that just might be part of the reason why I am in fact, financially secure, and a lot of them are not.
We'll start right here. If that looks gross to you, well, don't come over to my house - which is unlikely anyway because I almost never invite anyone over and I actually get uncomfortable when someone is here.
I save all the slivers of soap that I accumulate from taking a shower. Some people throw these away because soap is cheap right? Well I see it as wasteful to throw it away. Plus it is soap. Soap as Chandler said in the TV show "Friends" is "self cleaning." While the pile probably gets crazy high after a while I find it silly that anyone would buy other pieces of soap to wash their hands when these are basically provided all the time.
Next up we have bulk purchasing. It is very possible to buy 36 tubes of toothpaste all at one time. you end up getting a 30% discount when you do this. Is a tube of toothpaste expensive? Of course not! But it is one of those things that you are definitely going to use all of and it never expires - despite what it says on the box - so I don't understand why other people don't do this. It's a waste of money.
Let's stick with the bathroom for now
This is upside down. whatever, I'm not going to take the picture again. I always buy my toothbrushes in packs of 3 or if there is a greater quantity I will buy that.
This is another one of those things that eventually you are going to use all of and again, buy purchasing 3 at a time, you save 30% or more. There isn't any good reason to not do this.
Other things I buy in bulk are dog food, dog treats, water, laundry detergent and this isotonic drink I really like that if you buy it one bottle at a time it costs 14k but if you buy a case it they are 6k per bottle. This is an over 50% savings on something that am absolutely certain i will drink all of. ... why not?
The above is a picture of people in Milwaukee lining up early in the morning to be the first people to own the new Iphone. These things are really expensive and a year from now nobody is going to feel so great about their new Iphone as they line up yet again to pay huge money for another one. This is a level of what I consider idiocy that defies all logic.
I have a $400 Xiaoami phone. It does more than all I need it to. It takes decent pictures. It is several years out of brand new. I will keep it until it dies. I know a few people with super brand new phones and all of these people have less financial security than I do. Is this a coincidence? I don't think so.
I know that the above image is kind of taking things a bit far but I personally spend very little money on anything that I wear. I don't do labels and am not impressed by them. Actually, when I see someone that is wearing a t-shirt that likely cost $100 because of the label that is on it, I immediately think they are an idiot.
Look at Mark Zuckerberd and Steve Jobs. These guys basically had on exactly the same thing ever time you saw them even though they could afford to not just buy a Supreme shirt, they could buy the entire company if they wanted to. Recently with all the tariff stuff going on that in no way affects me or anyone I know, it was exposed that these designer handbags that some women seem to find very important are actually available to purchase for 1/30th of 1/50th of what they cost in a store. It just doesn't have the label on it.
I find this sort of stuff idiocy at the highest level. I CAN afford Supreme shirts and a big part of the reason why that is the case is specifically because I DO NOT purchase them.
The only clothes that I really spend "top dollar" on is athletic equipment such as trainers, shorts, and good quality socks. I am not overly attached to any particular brand either, I just do my research and find out what material I need them to be made out of and make my purchases accordingly. There is a company that exists in Thailand and Vietnam (as well as other places I'm sure) called Decathlon that has high quality athletic clothes and shoes that are made of EXACTLY the same sort of materials that Nike, Adidas, Reebok, and New Balance make their stuff out of, but it is 1/3 the price. I shop there. My clothes don't have the rapper appeal but if that is something that you think I care about, you would be extremely wrong.
Again, I can afford the latest Nike shoes, but part of the reason why that is the case is because I don't, and never did.
There are probably a lot of other things I could list but this is already dangerously long to the point that I don't think many people are going to read all of it.
I am not trying to brag here but here is the truth: I am not particularly smart and I certainly don't have insider information as far as wealth-generation is concerned. I do know that in our consumerist society that people have been programmed to spend more money than they should. The secret to my financial freedom is quite simply, not spending money where it isn't necessary. That's not so difficult is it?