Gradual Frugality: a guest post on Consumerism Commentary

Another of my guest posts has just come out on Consumerism Commentary, a great personal finance blog. In it, I write about how to gradually reduce your expenses over time, so that it doesn’t seem too drastic … and how to have fun in the process:

Gradual Frugality

I hope you enjoy it! It seems like all my guest posts are coming out at the same time (see yesterday’s below) … in fact, the one on Lifehack.org about Firefox OS has really taken off on Digg, with more than 1,400 votes as of this writing!

Posted on 3 April 2007 in Finance & Family, Links |
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Comments (15)

Paul Says:

April 3rd, 2007, 20:52 pm

Interesting article.

My wife and I cut back on cable and are amazed at the money we’re saving AND all the time that we now have available to us.

Scott Young Says:

April 3rd, 2007, 22:36 pm

Zenhabits has really been rising quite steadily over here, Leo. I’m guessing you won’t be having to cut money soon but wondering what to do with all of it soon.

Benjamin Franklin once said that, “There are two ways to wealth. Increasing your means or decreasing your wants. The best strategy is to do both at the same time.” With all the get-rich quick stuff it’s nice to see some info on the latter of the two.

zenhabits Says:

April 3rd, 2007, 23:11 pm

Thanks, Scott, for the encouragement. Your site is also great, IMO, and I know you’ve been getting some of the recognition you deserve too.

As for your comment about the get-rich-quick stuff, you’re right on the mark — people who want to get rich quick are looking for shortcuts, like the people who want to lose weight fast. It’s the long-term adoption of lifestyle and habit changes that will stick with us over the long run, not the shortcuts.

Thanks again for the insightful comment, Scott! - leo

Flexo Says:

April 4th, 2007, 2:27 am

Leo,

Thanks for submitting such a great article to Consumerism Commentary. If you need anything, let me know.

Trina Says:

April 4th, 2007, 2:34 am

Leo, I admire the equanimity with which you deal with the more critical comments in your blog posts here and in other websites, especially the ones that begin with “You (or what you’re saying) is bogus/nonsense/idiotic” but whose arguments do not even prosper beyond the setting up of solid premises. You said in a previous post that you are not Buddhist despite the name of your blog, but I think you have a good understanding of upeksa.

Trina Says:

April 4th, 2007, 2:36 am

In the previous comment, I meant to write “You (or what you’re saying) ARE…” Just trying to keep the Grammar Police at bay!

Leo Says:

April 4th, 2007, 2:57 am

@Flexo - thanks for the opportunity. For everyone else, I subscribe to Flexo’s Consumerism Commentary and think he does a great job with personal finance issues.

@Trina: You’ve brought up a great point … if you noticed some of the comments under my guest post at Consumerism Commentary, and especially the Lifehack.org Firefox OS post, there are some extremely negative things said about me and my articles (including but not limited to: I hope you never reproduce; The author is a moron; This guy is an idiot). However, in response, I have several choices:

1) I can respond with similar negativity, and thereby increase the animosity between myself and the commenter, and the general community. This has the unfortunate side effects of making me feel really angry and negative, and making me look bad in front of everyone else. People tend to judge negative people in a bad light.

2) I can ignore the comments, which is a valid option but allows them to go unanswered, which isn’t always the best choice if others don’t know that the comments are in error.

3) I can answer the comments but remain positive. This is the choice I try to take in all cases. If a commenter thinks I’m a moron, well, I probably won’t be able to change his mind. But if he makes an erroneous point, I should clarify it, while thanking him for the opportunity to clarify my article. The benefits of this include: a) you clarify an erroneous comment; b) you look like a positive person to the community; c) you don’t get sucked into negative feelings; and d) sometimes you can actually win people over by remaining positive in your interactions with them. This has happened to me several times, and I’ve even developed good relationships with people this way.

As a side note, I couldn’t resist sending a personal note to the commenter who hopes that I cannot reproduce — I informed him that, in actuality, I can no longer reproduce because of an operation. I just wanted to make him happy, and thanked him for his contribution.

This philosophy of remaining positive, even under attack, applies to all parts of life, not just in responding to comments. I’ve used it in my everyday dealings with people. It takes two to argue, and even if the person refuses to rise to your level, that’s his problem, not yours.

Maybe I should write a post about this? Or maybe I just have. :)

Thanks, Trina. - leo