Mr. Stingy

That's my new nickname, albeit in Kannada. Not by any unrelated persons, but by my own near and dear ones, so it may be true, hence deserves a blog post.

Coming from a lower middle class family, valuing money, perhaps, came naturally to me. There are many things that money can't buy; perfect, but those things can't be bought anyways with or without money. But for other things money plays a great role. As a famous saying goes- 'Money is not important, but one should make sure he has sufficient before saying this'.

I am a bit unusual to today's times. I am somehow averse to consumerism. My family members think I don't live proportionate of my paycheck and professional designation. I feel the best use of money is Saving. Readers shouldn't feel that I live and force my family live a wretched life. But asking questions like- 'Do we really need it?' before purchasing isn't a bad habit at all. If the answer to that is Yes, then buy, else avoid. Indulge yourself once in awhile 'with' happiness, but never 'for' happiness. For consumerism will never give us that.

We are living in uncertain times, we do not have the luxury that our previous generation had- job safety and constant flow of funds. Are we sure when the next financial crisis is going to hit? Are we sure that we will not be impacted by it? Then what about emergencies- medical and the likes? Well I am not a pessimist and am not painting a grim picture. I am not suggesting that we should live even a minute with this fear. All that I am saying is that let's remember this and spend intelligently and consciously. And replace fear with freedom.

A few of you may argue that I am equating money with security and freedom, no that's not what I am doing. I am fully aware that there's nothing called security in life. But in the kind of world we have created money plays an important role and let's not be blind to it.

Wishing you all a happy saving!!! :)