#4 Be Frugal

Frugality. An arrangement of letters that makes the advertising industry recoil in distaste. It conflicts with our shop-til-we-drop, bigger is better, keep up appearances, latest gadgets, dining out, entertain-me Western mentality. But I think that under the label clothing, our hearts still harbour an inkling that there must be more to life than large mortgages, fast cars, credit card debt and over-eating. Challenges like ‘Live Below the Line’, and the World Vision 40 hour Famine serve to remind us that not so far away from our lives of plenty, there are 1.4 billion people going without. If we could learn how to put instant gratification on hold, and set the money aside instead, I wonder what we could accomplish? It’s amazing how even the little things add up. Two coffees a week = $468 a year. A monthly trip to the cinema = $228 a year. You do the math. If we want to change the world, achieve goals, leave a legacy … maybe we’ll need to recognise that sometimes doing without means we end up able to do more. Be frugal. FollowShare...