This article is not to deter you from continuing to have a frugal mindset – it’s more a light take on the bad that comes along with the good.
1. Embarrassed by old stuff
You’re sitting on an Ikea couch purchased almost two years ago. There are stains that won’t wash away. The sides of the couch bear scratch marks artistically executed by the cats – they’re particularly proud of the bits of threads dangling out.
Your coffee mug cost RM2 and was bought from a thrift shop. There’s a couple of chips around the edges and the coffee stains don’t quite wash away, no matter how hard you scrub.
The drying rack in front of you is loaded with yesterday’s laundry. That nightdress you bought is five years old now and has seen better days.
Sometimes, particularly after a manic bout of mindless Instagram or Pinterest surfing, a part of you cries out for an overhaul. Clothes overhaul. Home decor overhaul. Kitchenware overhaul. While you’re at it, accessories and bedding too.
To be honest, you like the idea of being surrounded by new, beautiful things. You want to have a somewhat glamorous life.
Then the internal dialogue kicks in, and you start to reason with yourself on why complete overhauls will NOT make you happy, there MUST be an underlying reason for this restlessness. Are you simply feeling bored? Then you forget all about it until the next time you open Instagram and Pinterest again.
2. Unable to share much on Instagram
You’re active on Facebook and Twitter. But not as much on Instagram. A lot of friends are there, and you’d love to reach them, but most of the time you simply don’t know what pictures to snap and share.
You can’t do #OOTDs – your style is really nothing to shout about. Plus, see Point #1
Showing off new stuff you bought is a “no” in most cases, too, unless it’s an absurdly good deal or there’s a story behind it. Also, you don’t want to advocate for consumerism too much, you know?
Sometimes you do share what you cook. Not often, though. Your meals don’t vary much nowadays (in food-as-fuel mode). You rarely eat out so #foodpics are out of the question too.
You’d love to be more active on Instagram. Maybe you’ll start to post more grocery hauls? Any other ideas?
3. Procrastinate on things you’re too stingy to delegate
Oh man, what a big one.
DIY culture goes hand in hand with the frugal mindset. If something breaks, you fix it yourself. Clean your house yourself. Prep your food yourself. Paying premium for conveniences should only be done sparingly, as a treat.
But it’s not like you enjoy endless motivation to do everything, you know? Especially cleaning – what a never-ending chore.
Broken things in your house take forever to repair and you find yourself waiting until you can’t ignore the mess any longer. Like when you waited forever to get someone to fix the ceiling leak, until it turned mouldy.
And these are services you CAN delegate. For things that you can’t delegate, you procrastinate.
How you wish someone could just drop in and help declutter your house, and help donate/sell the stuff you no longer need. #randombusinessidea
4. Not being an early adopter of technology
You subscribe to this frugal advice: never get the latest gadgets.
You used to be oh, so snobby about this and pooh-poohed those who regularly updated their gadgets to the latest versions.
You felt more superior than them. After all, it takes financial commitment to be an early adopter of technology. You used to think they had low or no self-control.
How judgemental, right?
Now, you have a different take – you value the contributions of early adopters. They are the ones brave enough to test new technologies and vote for a gadget’s future with their own money.
Without early adopters’ initial demands, the gadgets you use and love now would never have got into higher production, thus reducing the cost of ownership for you.
They’re also among the first to support smaller startups and businesses that work with new technologies i.e. drones, VR, 3D printing, etc. If it weren’t for them, those industries wouldn’t have grown. They would have just died off, taking the technological advancements with them.
An early adopter wrote an opinion piece a while back about how they were very much aware of the financial damage they did to themselves. They were also online-shamed a lot. But they did it anyway because they were passionate about technology and enjoyed testing out new features never tried before.
So yeah, thank you early adopters. As long as you don’t get into unnecessary debt or anything, go for it.
5. Loneliness
Relationships are important. Rationally, you know you shouldn’t be stingy when you want to develop new friendships and maintain old ones – but it still can be hard to justify the expenses.
Right now, you’re trying to hit the sweet spot between these two options:
• Option A: Don’t go out too often. If you stay in you would save on transportation, food and other going-out costs. Plus, reduce impulse spending and peer pressure-related spending. That’s good for your wallet.
• Option B: Feel bouts of loneliness when you decide to stay at home.
Those of you who have a good social life AND reasonable social-related expenses, how do you do it?
This article first appeared in ringgitohringgit.com
Suraya is a corporate writer-for-hire and the blogger behind personal finance website Ringgit Oh Ringgit. She is more of a minimalist, less of a consumerist, a konon DIY enthusiast, a let’s-support-small-businesses-over-big-corporations kinda girl. Prior to her current role, she worked in various capacities within the non-profit industry.