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