Wednesday, April 12, 2023

The only way to survive 2023

Daisy Luther at The Organic Prepper had an interesting post on New Year's Eve: "The only way to survive 2023."

While the article was generous in explaining her recommended technique, she was able to sum it up in one word: Frugality.

Frugality, though it 's gotten a bad rap, is actually a deeply enthralling subject (at least, I think so). I decided to dig a little deeper into the mentality of frugal people and came across an article from a few years ago entitled "5 Reasons the Frugal Fare Well in a Recession."

Here are the things the author lists:

1. The Frugal Know the Importance of Consciously Consuming Media

What they mean is, frugal people don't succumb to peer pressure. They don't try to keep up with the Joneses, or with fashion trends, or buying the latest consumer electronics, or anything else advertisers do to lure us into parting with cash.

2. The Frugal Know the Importance of Counting Nickels and Dimes

What's the old line? Watch the pennies, and the dollars will take of themselves. (Butchered grammar, but you get the idea.) Basically, examine every expenditure, with two goals: One, is it really necessary? And two, is there a cheaper alternative?

3. The Frugal Know the Importance of Calculating the Long-term Cost of Purchases 

Essentially, examine every purchase to see if it meets one's long-term goal. If you're saving for a rural homestead, for example, it's not cost effective to eat restaurant meals, because eating out doesn't advance the goal.

4. The Frugal Know the Importance of Pursuing Goals

Having a goal to start with – whether it's getting out of debt, buying that rural homestead, or anything else worth pursuing – defines why you're being thrifty. It's not just thrift for thrift's sake – it's thrift to achieve a goal. In short, eyes on the prize.

5. The Frugal Know the Importance of Continuing to Create Wealth

This advice included not putting all your financial eggs in one basket, developing several income streams, and other ways to safeguard your money.

I found this advice refreshingly honest.

The benefits of adopting frugality before an economic downturn is you're already paddling a light canoe. When things get tough, you already know what it takes to tighten your belt to withstand the buffeting winds.

I have a feeling Daisy Luther is correct. Frugality may be the key to surviving not just 2023, but beyond.

10 comments:

  1. are you aware of the blog called Frugalwoods?

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    1. I touched on them briefly in an older post:

      http://www.rural-revolution.com/2018/03/is-thriftiness-only-for-rich.html

      - Patrice

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  2. I'd suggest a 6th reason. The frugal know that some times money has to be spent in order to save money in the long run. Buying a freestanding freezer or canning supplies comes to mind. Both allow me to take advantage of good sales and preserve what I've purchased. SJ now in California

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  3. Too many equate "frugal" with "cheap," when there's a WORLD of difference between the two. CHEAP is not wearing work gloves because the old ones wore out and you don't want to buy a new pair, even though your hands are paying the price. FRUGAL is knowing you can take pieces of leather from the old work gloves and some Shoe Goo to patch the holes in the next pair of work gloves to get more mileage out of them!

    "Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without."

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  4. Perfect! We are great at the, “ is it a want, or a need”. It is surprising how many times… it’s a want! Great post!

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  5. In reading these articles, I notice a common denominator, which is basically (over-simplified, I suspect) that the alarms and cautions are related to embracing the current economic system, which relies on dept and the hope of wealth accumulation through investments. The ideas that debt can make us affluent, or that everyone has to be a millionaire before they can retire is a new one, within my lifetime at least. Growing up, it was explained to me that one strives toward their highest earnings in one's younger years: to buy a home, raise a family, and secure tangible assets. Once the children are on their own and the house is paid for, there isn't need for so much, and a smaller retirement income will suffice to be happy and comfortable. Now, this is foreign thinking.

    My husband and I have never had the income to get caught up in the economic investment lifestyle. So honestly, people getting panicky over the state of the economy is something that makes no sense. Instead, we have "invested" in the land, tools, equipment, and skills to live a simpler lifestyle and become more self-reliant. Of course, I don't like higher retail prices and disappearing products. But because of our lifestyle, we can pretty much say "oh well" and shrug it off.

    The biggest challenge, is that learning how to be frugal also requires learning how to be content. And that it isn't a stopgap measure, it's a lifestyle. Unfortunately, contentment pretty is pretty foreign to human nature, which I suspect contributes greatly to people getting stressed out.

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  6. I would love to see this posted and read in every middle school and high school. Get them thinking while young. Let them see how they are being manipulated at a young age to become a consumer.

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  7. This is a wonderful distilling of frugality - something that in some form or fashion everyone will have to get used to in the New Economy. I would only to the list that frugality is realizing there is no "retirement" (as Leigh said above), but rather only a change in what we do.

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  8. No Patrice bitch only you and your relious Cult are the parasite a drain a virus to our society what the goal of bitch like you and conservative propaganda Cult is to force there views on others most normal Americans understand women's right to het body is her alone just like marrying who two consenting adults is no onds business

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