Are you Stingy or Savvy?

Something to think about, Wealth chefs.

Are You Stingy or Savvy?

Wow the word STINGY sure brings up a list of emotive words!

Unless you’re a total masochist I don’t think any of us relish the thought of any of those babies being strapped to our back, so how do we get the most out of our money without feeling mean, miserly or niggardly?

I’m not a cheapskate, but I sure do enjoy getting value for my money. I believe there is a huge difference between giving your money great leadership and being penurious (yep, I like that one) and a difference that had a huge part in my own financial freedom success.

I had to look up “Niggardly” (to be a niggard) and apparently, it’s related to the Old Norse verb nigla = “to fuss about small matters”.

So perhaps I am actually a niggard. You see, I am often asked why I bother with the small things – a few pounds, dollars or rands here and there. Firstly, living a small mean life isn’t abundant and isn’t a wealthy life. So, it’s not about being penny pinching.  But I do bother to record and acknowledge small amounts because of the combined principles of awareness and compounding.

Awareness is about control and choice. It’s about acknowledging I am responsible for every outcome in my life, and I have a choice to do whatever I want with my money. Knowing that some choices will create my freedom feast, and some will destroy it. Either way it’s my choice.

Compounding is about acknowledging that every cent is a seed, every pence is a golden egg and has value. If I choose, I can let it hatch grow into a big feast.

So yes, I do bother with small amounts. I am also sometimes asked why I don’t stay in the most expensive hotels when I travel and so forth. Again, it’s about a balance of choice, value and abundance. I love nice things, but I don’t need them in my life to feel wealthy.

Feeling wealthy comes from inside of me, it comes from knowing that I value the money in my life. I feel wealthy knowing I now live life on my terms, I get to do the work I love in a way that fills me. I am immensely grateful for all I have in my life and so I look after it and grow it. But mostly, I manage my money because I have a huge Why. My life’s vision is huge, the legacy I want to leave, the people I want to help and the difference I want to make in this world needs me to be great with managing money, and so I am.

Your vision needs you to great with managing money too, and so you will be.

My wealth feast has been created by small amounts of money, consistently added to my wealth pots, nurtured and allowed to expand over time, transforming into an abundant feast which now feeds me with abundance each and every day.

So here are some suggestions of things you can do to join me in the world of the Niggards and squeeze more juice out of your money.

• Bank fee’s – change to a low-cost bank account.

• Interest payments – destroy your debt.

• Insurances – Shop around and get new quotes every year and make sure you’ve only got the insurances you need. Wealth Recipe #4 Protection Pate in The Wealth Chef book is all about this.

• Magazines – get annual subscriptions for the magazines you really read and get value from and never buy them from the corner shop again. Subscriptions will save you up to 70% of the cover costs. Better yet, agree with your family to give magazine subscriptions to each other as gifts.

• Culinary comfort – Stop buying prepackaged, readymade and take-away meals. Not only are they full of preservatives and other bad things, this convenience costs you over 120% more than the base ingredients. When you cook, double the quantity & freeze the extra amount, ensuring you already have your own pre-prepared meals available for when you don’t have time or don’t feel like cooking.

• Gym memberships – if you use it fantastic – in reality fewer than 87% of people regularly use their gym. Cancel the membership and rather go exercise in your local park.

• Other memberships, subscription programmes – look through your direct debits and question whether you use them all.

Other squeezing tips include:

• Buy a filter for your tap water instead of drinking bottled water

• Challenge the Grande double shot skinny no foam latte culture. How much are you spending on concepts that barely existed 15 years ago? Do you really need that cappuccino every day?

• Take your own lunch to work

• Make your hair coloring last two weeks longer than you normally would. Instead of getting it done 8 times a year, have it done 5 times. Wow, you’ve just found your Expand Your Dough Recipe contributions!

• Know the different times when your landline and mobile phone rates are cheaper and use internet based call services like skype and Whatsapp.

• Turn off appliances and use low energy bulbs to reduce your electricity bill

• Install solar heating in your house

• Maintain and service your car regularly

• Turn down the temperature on your water geyser

• Go to movies on discount days

• Get books from your library

• Start a book club

• Eat fruit and vegetables that are in season

• Make your own cleaning products that are cheaper and better for you and the environment. – I’m going to send you a great list of these.

• Go to restaurants that let you bring your own wine

• Do your monthly grocery shopping online with prepared lists

• Plan your weekly meals

• Buy generic products

• Ride to work. Buy a low cost scooter or better yet a bicycle to get to work

• Set your pool filter to run during off peak electricity times

• Base your weeks menu on sales items

• Buy your household items on sale and from bulk wholesalers

• Buy other peoples doodads from the classified, bid or buy, junk mail etc

• Use the internet to know your prices and values before you buy

• Get at least three quotes for all services, insurances, and major purchases

• Never buy a new car. It loses up to 20% of its value as soon as you drive it off the show room floor.

• Check out charity shops, second hand merchants and garage sales

• Consider giving up some of your vices. Smoking, alcohol, gambling, sweets and chocolate

• Christmas, Eid, Diwali are not emergencies. Spend half as much as usual on these holidays. Talk openly with your family and friends and share with them your vision for financial freedom.

• Use you ATM card a planned number of times in the month to withdraw the cash you need

• Once a month have a no money Sunday. This is a fun day where each person must come up with an idea of having a fab day without spending anything. Make and fly a kite, have a picnic, watch airplanes, walk in a forest.

Make your own list of cost saving ideas. Get the whole family involved. There are also a number of great websites that deal in expense reduction. Surf the net and get inspired. Once you start you will be amazed at how much extra money you can find without reducing your standard of living.

Hit reply to this mail and share with us what your best “Squeezing The Juice” idea is, and let's celebrate our money savvy decisions. 

Big Love, 

Ann