Here are nine reasons to start living a Frugal Beagle lifestyle today:

1. Increased Cost of Living

Things are getting more expensive, and our income is not increasing at the same rate.

Take a look at a few examples of how the cost of living is increasing in Malaysia:

• Petrol used to cost RM1.62 per litre. It costs RM1.92 now, and rumours are going around saying that there will be an increase of 70 sen to 1 ringgit after the 2008 General Elections.
• The price of enriched wheat flour has increased due to a global shortage of supply. As a result, most food stall operators have increased prices by up to 30 sen.
• TNB has submitted a proposal to increase electricity tariffs.
• Toll prices have increased, and is due to increase again has increased in 2008.
• Inflation of the Malaysian Ringgit is getting worse. An obvious indicator is how the sen coin is going to be phased out of production starting from April 2008.

2. Saving Money is Easier Than Making Extra Money

Many people (including myself) are looking for ways to earn extra income. The main objective for making extra money because our income is not sufficient to sustain our lifestyle.

If we think about it, it is actually easier not to spend money than to earn money. Businesses are always thinking of cutting down on costs because they know that it is easier to profit a dollar by saving costs, than to make two dollars in revenue for one dollar profit.

3. Live a Simple Lifestyle

I don’t know if you notice, but our lives get more complicated when we buy more things.

• There’s more to maintain because each gadget or appliance comes with its own requirements for cleaning, recharging or parts that need to be replaced or refilled.
• There’s more to keep track of because there’s one more warranty or service schedule to remember.
• There’s more things that need to be repaired
• There’s more bills to pay for items that need subscription to services.

4. Avoid Craving for More

It costs a lot to have the latest and the coolest. If we are not careful, we find that we fall into the trap of always wanting something new. There’s always something we want… something we’ve got to have now.

Have we ever found ourselves unsatisfied after purchasing something we want? Sometimes there’s only a temporary satisfaction before we have our eyes on the next latest thing.

5. Staying Out of Debt

Living a frugal lifestyle means we are careful how we spend our money. It means that we think twice before taking any credit from a bank. We avoid living beyond our means.

The end result is we end up being debt-free.

6. Freedom and Peace of Mind

If we recap the previous five points, we find that they lead to us having a sense of freedom. What I mean by freedom is:

• Freedom from debt, because we won’t overspend our money.
• Freedom from clutter because we won’t have too many things to take care of.

With freedom, comes peace of mind. Imagine living a life where we do not have to stress about how we are going to repay our credit card debt. Imagine a life where we live focusing on the things that really matter.

7. Eliminating Waste

Have you taken a look at the things you’re throwing away recently? I have noticed that I have thrown a lot of stuff away because:

• I bought more food than I could eat, and it has gone bad
• I bought something that I didn’t need
• I bought something newer

Living the Frugal Beagle lifestyle means that we don’t generate as much waste, and that’s good for the environment and our wallets.

8. Building Wealth

Living frugally means that we are building our wealth, because we control our expenses. We try to maximize the use of the resources we already have.

• Spending less money than we earn, equals
• A positive cash flow, equals,
• Us becoming wealthy, equals
• Increasing our bank accounts, equals
• Being rich!

If you don’t believe that being frugal can lead to wealth, go to your favourite search engine and look up frugal billionaires.

9. Satisfaction

There is this strange feeling of satisfaction after doing something for yourself. For example, the food that you cooked yourself always tastes wonderful, and the bookshelf you built yourself always looks better than anything you can find in a store.

I can still remember how wonderful my first home baked loaf of bread tasted, even if it turned out a little salty according to Mrs Beagle.

Conclusion

I hope that the nine reasons I mentioned have helped to convince you to live a frugal lifestyle.

Do you have any suggestions to add? Leave a comment to let me know what you think.

Photo: Paige Foster

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