| From a personal development point of view | | | | have a rare fault in the print. It is simply |
| frugality as a lifestyle is flawed. It is not | | | | a psychological principle that people want |
| flawed in the sense that it does not work, | | | | more what is rare and do not care much for |
| but it is flawed because it makes you aim | | | | what is ubiquitous. |
| your focus at the wrong things. | | | | |
| | | | Another principle your brain works by, is |
| Human beings are all full of desires that | | | | that you can not decide to not think about a |
| makes us want this and that; due to this fact | | | | specific thing, let me show you : do not |
| being frugal is actually pretty hard for most | | | | think about a pink elephant! Do not think |
| people. The desires are the remnants of | | | | about a pink elephant! See? You had to think |
| strategies that have worked very well for | | | | about a pink elephant in order for your brain |
| human beings in the past, so evolutionally | | | | to know what it was you were not supposed to |
| speaking the desires have been immensely | | | | think about. As long as you consciously triy |
| important but at the same time they have also | | | | not to think of a pink elephant the thoughts |
| played out their role. You can see the | | | | of pink elephants will haunt you |
| results of this in most developed countries, | | | | |
| even though there is no shortage of food | | | | Applying the two principles above to the |
| people are still eating like a famine is just | | | | concept of frugality, it is easy to conclude |
| around the corner - and scientist have | | | | that in order to live a frugal live you have |
| actually discovered that if you start to eat | | | | to focus on living frugally (to battle your |
| less the body responds instinctively by | | | | natural desires) and when you focus on living |
| lowering your metabolism and increasing the | | | | a frugal life you must feel like there is a |
| desire for food through chemical changes in | | | | shortage in the world of all the things you |
| the hypothalamus, effectively making it very | | | | would like to spend your money on (because |
| difficult to loose weight. And this is not | | | | you are artificially creating this shortage). |
| only a principle you see regarding food, but | | | | When there is a shortage the natural way to |
| also a general psychological principle. | | | | cope is to focus on getting the basics |
| | | | working, and if the shortage never ends you |
| I am reminded of an episode of The Simpsons | | | | will spend your life worrying about the small |
| where Homer watches one of the home | | | | and unimportant stuff like how to decrease |
| shopping-channels on TV, one of the products | | | | your electricity-bill. |
| gets him really excited (I do not remember | | | | |
| what it was though) and when the speaker | | | | Let me get one thing straight though, I am |
| mentions that the stock of the product is | | | | not advocating that abstinence from sloth is |
| limited Homer gasps "Limited!!?" and | | | | flawed - decreasing your electricity bill is |
| immediately gets on the phone to order. Homer | | | | a good thing both financially and |
| then asks the salesclerk whether they have | | | | environmentally - what I am specifically |
| any left, to which he responds "yeah, we've | | | | saying is flawed is the lifestyle of never |
| got a few" and the view changes so you can | | | | spending money on anything you do not need |
| see that they have a whole storage facility | | | | to. You should not throw away your money, but |
| full of them. | | | | at the same time you should not make money |
| | | | and abstinence from the pleasures they can |
| In the episode of The Simpsons it was clear | | | | give you a holy mantra. |
| that the "limited" supply was simply a | | | | |
| marketing-trick and in fact it is one of the | | | | Personal development is all about your |
| most common tricks in the trade. How often | | | | development, and even though it will be |
| have you seen the phrase "WHILE SUPPLIES LAST | | | | different for all people, it is safe to say |
| "? While it also has a practical meaning, I | | | | that harmony and balance should be a guiding |
| suspect it is also used so often because it | | | | principle. Typically there are two ways of |
| makes the product seem more rare, and rare | | | | increasing your wealth, by decreasing your |
| things automatically rises in (perceived) | | | | expenses (being frugal) and increasing your |
| value. A good example that rare things | | | | income - you should find a balance between |
| automatically increases in value can be seen | | | | them but in my opinion it should be biased |
| in the coin and stamp collecting communities | | | | towards increasing your income as that is |
| - in those communities the assumed value is a | | | | where the really big improvements come from, |
| direct function of how rare the stamp or the | | | | regarding both your finances and your |
| coin is and a normally uninteresting stamp | | | | personal development. |
| can suddenly be worth a lot if it happens to | | | | |