Being Money Conscious and Happy
I often find that I am spending most weekends at home surfing the internet, going out with my family members, playing on my Wii/Camera or going to Buddhist discussions. I also hardly go out to the city or to other places and in fact, I haven’t been to the city for over a month. I am probably being lazy and money conscious again, avoiding people after a week of hard work and refusing to spend more than I need to. Excluding paying back my debt, paying for car insurance and registrations, I only need to spend $50-$60 a week as I live with my parents and I do not have to pay board (although sometimes I need to contribute to grocery shopping and pay bills).
I don’t call myself stingy - I still donate to charities, give presents and take my parents out for meals. The word stingy has negative connotations - To me, it means the unwillingness to give. So I call myself, spending sensibly and being money conscious and there are very good reasons for it:
1. Climate change and drought is pushing the prices of goods and services up.
2. Inflation
3. The more we buy, the more waste we generate
4. I want to be able to own a property by the time I am 25 and pay off all my mortgage within 10 years of buying a property.
And I still enjoy life.