Living below your means doesn’t mean sacrificing quality of life; instead, it’s about mastering financial discipline, fostering smart habits, and embracing mindful consumption.
Whether you’re adopting such behaviors at any age, you’re learning how to secure your financial future, cultivating peace of mind and enjoying your own life in your own terms.
Embarking this fiscally responsible journey sets you on a path for robust health and freedom !
1. Grocery Store Apps
In today’s shift towards digital life, many grocery stores have given customer options to save money in order to entice them into shopping into their store.
This is a very positive thing for the consumer because now it’s A LOT easier to shop around for deals, special promotions, exclusive digital coupons, and personalized offers.
When you sign up using your email, you are able to receive promotions in order to see what the flyer deals are and compare then to another grocery store company.
By comparing prices effortlessly and shopping strategically, digital platforms promote mindful consumption habits that prevent unnecessary spending.
Sometime there’s some hidden perks for using grocery store apps. For example, I just went to the grocery store and their have a prize spin the wheel promotion and I was able to win a pack of 6 drinks for FREE. I believe there is a promotion like this EVERY SUMMER !
2. DIY Routines
Living below your means doesn’t have to be complicated. By adopting simple, do-it-yourself routines, you can enjoy substantial savings without feeling deprived.
By sacrificing convenience, you are able to save a substantial amount of money over the long term.
For example, by doing a car wash at home or going to a self serve car wash for $3.00 for 3 minutes of water wash, you able to save 3 times more than going to an automatic car wash that costs over $10.00.
Understanding how to keep your assets that you have to keep its longevity, is also a great way to mentally appreciate what you have and what you care about.
Instead of thinking owning assets for looks or a flex to others, start redefining the values of your assets as an investment in yourself over the long term.
3. Monthly Budgeting
A concrete step toward disciplined financial management involves rigorous monthly budgeting.
To truly live comfortably below your means, start by clearly defining your income sources and recurring expenses.
With budgeting also comes with setting realistic goals like having an emergency fund. Keep things simple and work towards your defined goals and milestones.
In terms budgeting for transportation, it really does seem people are struggling to make car payments or at least the very high car payments at high interest rate environment. My advice would be to buy a second hand, low mileage, with 1 owner, and reliable car at the dealership if you really do need to drive if you are paying more than 20% of your take home pay.
Understanding the asset that you have and redefine what that asset means to you especially one that is a depreciating asset. Try to understand positive and negative equity on an asset and what you are sacrificing your future self for the present day worth of it.
Now that I am debt free, I am now focusing on saving up and investing for into a vacation.
For every milestone defined by years, I like to keep to remind myself with the hard work to make money to afford such a goal.
I mentally keep telling myself to think it is as a reward for all the hard work that I put into my self-sacrifices into making such money.
4. Buying Bulk
When items consume regularly goes on sale, consider buying bulk quantities to save money over the long term.
Especially for non-perishable items for example like Cereals with a long expiry date, it is worth buying multiple units as it reduce the cost meaningfully.
It might save you more shopping trips which in turns save time and money in using more gas.
You can even earn more points so you can save more on your next grocery store trip.
Sometimes, I do feel like every season has their own special sale like during the summer you will see A LOT of sales on burger or picnic items
When its closer to special holidays occassion like Father’s Day, you will typically see items more on sale items like on steak cuts of meat.
5. Developing The Habits and Mindset
Education serves as the foundation for effective financial management to appreciate what you have and live below your means to achieve financial sustainability.
Investing in business/finance books offers powerful insights, strategies, and mindsets needed to handle your resources efficiently.
Books constantly serves as a reminder that away you are investing yourself !
You don’t necessarily need a degree in economics or business to get started in investing but its actually more important to develop CONSISTENT HABITS in savings and investing that WINS over the LONG TERM !
By educating yourself, you build both competence and confidence in financial matters from budgeting and saving to intelligent investing.
As someone who didn’t like reading when growing up, I was able to pick up a few books for pleasure such as “The Intelligent Investor”, “Think and Grow Rich”, and “Psychology of Money”.
Eventually I would like to have a collection of books that give me confidence I am investing into myself instead of comparing myself to others online to where I should be in life.
6. Automating Savings and Investing
Many financial apps and mainstream banks already have the ability for any personal to automatically save with every paycheck into a chequing account or a high yield savings account.
Although I like to control where my money goes in terms of allocation in investing, I also like the idea of “set-it-and-forget it” strategy.
This a very common strategy when you have a employer sponsored retirement investing account.
Many financial companies already have a system where you can automatically buy stocks or ETF’s using a pre-authorized consent to buy the same investing product at regularly intervals. This is called the “dollar cost averaging” strategy.
When you have an emergency fund ready to go, you should be already thinking about living below your means and using your left over money to invest it.
In the current economic environment, I really believe this is WAKE-UP call to all the people to invest for the future as INFLATION WILL be EATING AWAY from your savings if you don’t already.
7. Simplicity is Prosperity
To truly live below your means, shifting your consumption philosophy to buying what you need to survive adds significant value to your broader financial strategy.
Prioritize necessary expenses, such as adequate shelter, food, transportation, and essential utilities, before spending on secondary items.
For example, most of money goes into the necessary categories but however something I do feel like on a yearly and seasonal basis I do feel the need to spend on secondary items to switch things up.
For example, for the summer season I like to eat burgers at home with more condiments like tomatoes, onions, and additional sauces since the weather is typically great outside.
And during the indoor months, I spent on the typical low cost items like frozen noodles, veggies and rice since they are typically warmer to eat during cooler or colder months.
Through thoughtful consumption habits centered around survival essentials first, your financial health strengthens immensely and consistently.
8. Delayed Gratification
The principle of delayed gratification proves fundamental for those wishing to manage and grow their financial resources responsibly instead of having that instant gratification.
I got my car in my late 20’s while most people do so in their late 10’s or early 20’s. I have no shame of doing so in the past because I was not comparing myself to others that did have them.
During that time I was taking the bus and it more convenient to go to work.
But now that interest rates are higher, I believe I “lucked” out on financing a car with a larger down payment but also calculated risk cause its a reliable and low mileage car with positive equity.
I believe now I can drive the same car at least for the next 10 years without having to sacrifice my future worth by investing the money I would not have with a monthly car payment on depreciating asset.
In terms of delayed gratification, I like to define my goals into smaller milestone.
For example in year 1 of living in the place, I only needed a bed and not a bed frame. Then in year 2 of living in the place, I wanted a dining table separate from my workspace. Then repeat.
I take stride and the appreciation of little milestones of spending that I do appreciate more of then buying all at once. Then you really start to think what you need and don’t need.
9. Treating Consumerism Like A Treat
Looking at people online, I realize people are NOT treating consumerism like a treat. People would rather have their impulses drive their current desires with money they have or don’t have for instant gratification and I don’t believe its a good thing for their future self.
Going to McDonald’s every week is not a necessity although I understand it’s easy to get sucked into going to places like that because of the apps and points you get from going there but the opportunity cost is nowhere near close what it used to be going out to eat instead of eating a home.
My friends always tell me “treat myself” and sometimes I find it funny because I get so used to doing the daily habits of going to work and getting office coffee instead of going to a Starbucks or Tim Horton’s.
Not to say I’m perfect but what I do is only go to these places once every season like getting a Starbucks treat cause I do get cash back points on my credit card that I can convert to get FREE drinks so I can satisfy those desires if I choose to do so.
If you can use a credit card RESPONSIBLY, I think it can be to your advantage to treating yourself once in awhile.
10. Wealth Without The Fluff
When your income increases, resist inflating your expenses immediately to match increased earnings to avoid lifestyle inflation.
Instead of upgrading your lifestyle in the present day, choose modest improvements like contributing to your savings or investments when your income increases.
It’s not about what people see about that matters, it’s about what you see about yourself in terms of your own lifestyle and finances.
No one can publicly see your savings and investments.
At the end of the day, other people don’t care what you do or don’t have but only your future self is begging to know better and be better for yourself so you can live a comfortable lifestyle in your own terms.
Conclusion
Ultimately, financial independence and freedom derive from sustained financial discipline. The journey toward living below your means involves intention, patience, knowledge, and consistency.
Implementing even just a few discussed principles can dramatically shift your financial trajectory positively.
Embrace the challenge enthusiastically and consistently practice fiscal discipline.
Your commitment toward mindful consumption transforms profoundly, eventually becoming intrinsic in everyday life.
Enjoy each step of your disciplined financial journey and honor the freedom it provides!