How Frugal People Refuse to Be Average with Money

when it comes to money being average isn't necessarily a good thing if you don't know us I'm Larry and I'm hope and we're from under the median where every week we bring you videos on practical frugality so before we delve into exactly how to not be average let's talk about average what is average in the United States of America the average person in the United States of America makes a salary of eighty five thousand dollars and after taxes and their expenses they save four percent of their income how about how much time does the average American spend scheduling their finances this is fascinating yeah would you believe it's only 4.5 hours a year now let's break that down a little bit for you that would be about 20 minutes a month or about six minutes a week one more statistic before we move on average means that three-quarters of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck and if something unexpected happened and they lost their main source of income they would not have enough money to pay for even one month of expenses if you're listening to these statistics and thinking I'm average there is absolutely no judgment coming from us because we have been there two months after we got married we were flat broke we were living paycheck to paycheck we were consistently spending more than we were making and we were in debt so believe me we have been where you're at but I think the most important thing is we learned and adopted a set of skills which has allowed us to climb out of that hole you'll be able to glean some practical examples from what we're talking about that you'll be able to incorporate into your lifestyle and into your budget every single month but before we do that we have a thank you to give out mint mobile is our partner for this video and mint certainly has been responsible for us spending far less than average when it comes to our cell phone bills but for a long time guys we were average 45 dollars a month is what we paid just for my cell phone bill we switched to Mint mobile 15 a month is what we pay for our current Mobile plan now the nice thing about men is it really doesn't matter what mobile plan that you pick you're always going to get get unlimited talk and text you're going to get the nation's largest 5G Network and you're also going to get some Mobile Hotspot data switching to met super easy even for a non-techy person like me took me 15 minutes and I did get to keep my old number and transport that over to my Mobile account I used an esim card so did Larry our boys when they switched to Mint they ordered a free physical SIM card from mint and we've managed everything in one centralized hub using mint's Modern Family and it is a really great deal but if you're looking for like a super great deal we actually have one for you from now through the 14th of July you can use that QR code that is right between us and you can get an extra special deal for mint right now we've partnered with them and this is a special deal for our Channel which means that you'll be able to get the unlimited plan which is normally thirty dollars a month for just 15 a month right now now if you want to know all the details on that you can either once again there's the QR code right between us or you can go to that link which is mintmobile.com forward slash under the median there'll be an actual link all the way at the top of the description of this video where you'll be able to click right on that link if you want you'll go to it it'll give you all the details remember it is for a limited time only and this special deal will end on the 14th of July so go take a look so let's get to it all right how do frugal people avoid being average with the way that they handle their money one of the things that we do is that we recognize patterns of behavior that got us into this pattern of overspending in the first place now part of the way that we did that as we tracked our expenses for 30 to 60 days when we first got started and that immediately allowed us to be able to look at those expenses and say whoa were we actually spending that much going out to eat because part of what happens in the human brain is if you're not writing down or tracking those expenses somehow they just sort of you just slide that plastic and you're done and you move on to whatever the next thing is on your to-do list but if you actually look at it physically it sort of embeds itself in your brain and you recognize oh wait a minute I just spent that amount of money so really having a way to first of all track your expenses and then do something to recognize those patterns now one of the things that we've always taught on this channel is that there are four steps literally guys four steps to setting up a basic budget that's actually workable it takes 30 minutes or less we use those same four steps even after 34 years of budgeting experience we use the same exact four steps every single month when we set up our budget now if you want to know more about those four steps we did an in-depth uh review of those four steps and kind of walked you through the process we did that in a video we'll make sure that video is linked up above and in the description of this video so one of the things that I remember doing at that time we were just not tracking things we were go out to the restaurants and eat we would do things spend extra money and I would often wonder well do we have enough money to meet our basic expenses because we weren't tracking it we had no way of knowing so you always had this undercurrent of wow are we going to make it yeah and one of the things about tracking those expenses is to make sure you'll hear this term a gajillion times on this channel because it is so incredibly important I say it all the time like almost in every video and that is that you need to make sure that your list of things that you're spending money on is prioritized and that means the most important things are always at the top of the list for us that meant we were no longer going to a restaurant and thinking gosh I hope we got enough for that rent payment when it comes around at the end of the month we knew we had enough for the rent payment because that was at the top of the list and then restaurant eating was way down at the bottom of the list because it was a non-essential all the essential items that we needed to like to keep functioning uh to keep a roof overhead to keep food in our stomach and I don't mean food from a restaurant food from the grocery store that we made at home and and to keep transportation to get from point A to point B back and forth to work those are the things guys that you need to prioritize set money aside every every month for those expenses first then you'll be able to immediately see whether you've got money even available in the budget to go to that restaurant or not and even before you look at money that's going to be going to things like the restaurant do you have an emergency fund put in place are you saving money so there's quite a bit we have to put ahead of those fun things that we like to spend money on one of the things that you absolutely need to do is put limits on everything that you are spending we had a limit on that restaurant budget we knew most the time we were going out to Hardee's McDonald's because that's how much money was left over but that was okay that was you know back then that was 10 bucks we could go out and get a couple of burgers and even get french fries and drinks to go with it and but but knowing that that was our top limit people are really afraid I think to limit their spending especially when it comes to those extras and you have to know ahead of time before you walk in the door of that restaurant or do anything what you're top limit limits are in like groceries that's another example like that's something that would suddenly be in your essential needs knowing how much you have available to spend on groceries rather than just walking in the grocery store and spending whatever you need to limiting that and knowing exactly what you're going to buy you know having a list on hand when you walk in following that list buying lost leader items which is those items that are on sale primarily sale items markdowns walk back out again and you are consistently going to save money another thing that frugal people do is we don't buy into it I mean that literally we don't we don't buy into fads you know just for the fun of it hoping I looked up some fads for 2021 online there was a long list of them but we picked out just three so the first one on the list was making or purchasing chocolate bombs is that hot chocolate bombs that's what it is you kind of tell me in the comment section if you've ever had a hot chocolate bomb I have I have they are wonderful I must not have shared with you so sorry um they are so much fun so basically it's like a caramel Center and there's a shell of chocolate around the outside you put it in your hot cocoa it melts and all that ooey gooey goodness comes out into your cocoa oh that sounds good they are really fun but they're kind of expensive to buy so this is where we put our plug in for frugal people figure out how to do things themselves uh rather than buying something that is pre-made so make taking the hot cocoa bombs is actually pretty easy and pretty inexpensive and they make really really great gifts another thing on The Fad for 2021 was canned wine and I looked at I looked at home pickles and wine it just it doesn't sound like those two things just don't go together they just they just don't here's the third fad that definitely doesn't go together workations it's work vacation now I get that sometimes you know you're going to a conference or something and it is kind of a workation but we kind of really like to have that boundary there of when we're on vacation we are on vacation and when we're working we're working so I don't know they just seem to us it was like two words these definitely don't go together I like to see those two things as separate items working is separate from vacations but if you have to work and you can do it in a vacation setting then more power to you I think that's wonderful that's true no problem with that working from an Airbnb where there's like a hot tub nearby that seems just so much better than working from home or the beach or the top of a mountain or who knows all right so here's some other things that frugal people do that allow us to really save more than the average person one of those is that okay and this is hard and I'm going to admit that it's hard before I say it so just getting that out there not allowing peer pressure to influence us it's you know it's funny because when we think of peer pressure we immediately think of like teenage kids we're like oh that kid's in the peer pressure here's a problem with like dissing your kids for you know caving to peer pressure we do it all the time as adults we would go to our friends houses because we had a group of friends we've had long-term friends for the whole 35 years of our marriage and they all leveled up to their next house before we did way before oh yeah so we would go to their newer larger house and we'd come home and go stupid house tiny house I hate this house and you we were perfectly fine with their house before we went and compared it to someone else's so that peer pressure is real oh yeah but I think counteracting that peer pressure here's the deal guys here's that that tip that to that major tip that shift that will allow you to save more than average even though peer pressure exists we're not going to wish it away it's still going to exist and that is making sure that you have a written list of goals yeah so important you don't want to have those societal expectations you don't want to be diving into those to the point where you're keeping up at night trying to figure out how you're going to pay for all those things it's better to try to find that you know that area of of that sweet spot where you're comfortable and how you're living what you're spending what you're doing with your money people think goal setting is for major goals and to a certain extent it is but so listen up guys Larry and I have quarterly goals we have monthly goals and yes we have weekly goals we start out money Monday money money money Monday with what we call our big three we always have a list of three goals what are we really actively looking at and working on this week when it comes to our finances there are many goals they're not big goals they're little teeny tiny goals that we can meet within that week but seriously I I wish I could tell you that goals had nothing to do with the ability to save more than average but I would not be telling the truth goals are huge huge huge huge when it comes to having that ability to save more than the average person yeah you know if you don't have something to shoot for you're never going to hit the mark because you don't know what you're shooting for so that's what a goal does a goal focuses you on what exactly you're going to do with your money how you're going to meet the goal what's the plan to get there it's it's very good and and it also how helps take that anxiety out of feeling like you have to keep up with other people that are around you because all of a sudden it doesn't matter as much if you know I got a plan I'm working the plan I'm good to go thank you very much to me it's kind of like having a puzzle and you got a lot of pieces that go into the puzzle let's say the puzzle represents your entire budget your your finances so if you know exactly where the pieces are going and where they fit it it just takes all that guesswork and like hope said all the anxiety out of it you sleep at night you have peace of mind you know what you have set in place at least for right now is working for you here's the other thing so when he said at least for right now that reminded me of another thing that we do that really does allow us to save more money and that is flex ability yes sometimes life happens and what you thought you were going along on a goal and something else happens and it comes to the Forefront and all of a sudden that's begging to be taken care of more quickly than the goal that is you know that was behind it and you have to figure out how to be okay with changing a goal or moving a goal or moving other things to the Forefront moving things around budgets don't stay the same especially in this day and age it's like it has to be fluid right now so there are two things that we really like as far as 2023 and we're going to do a video on like um just like especially like how to save on groceries the top things that are working right now to save on groceries in 2023 which is another example of things that are definitely very fluid right now but I think every area of our budgets are fluid right now two things that we really talk about is keeping your finger on the pulse of where things are going and also being willing to to save money in one area so you can put money toward another area I think that's really important oh and I would add a third one I would add leaving margin because it is never wise especially in this day and age you shouldn't be living all out spending every single penny that you make on just surviving because that is unsustainable long term you've got to either cut expenses or bring more money in you have to you know I think of of our budget when you're talking about it being fluid it's like driving well what happens when you're going down a hill you left you let off on the accelerator otherwise your car is going to run away with itself you may even have to break a little bit when you're going up a hill you apply more accelerator more gas in order to get it up there it's like that with our finances sometimes you hit points in life where you have to apply a little more money at an issue that's presenting itself and then you get to the top of that maybe you can Coast for a little while and those are times where we can really save so it isn't just a matter it isn't linear it doesn't go from point A to point B in a in a nice straight line of increase it and that's why it does take a lot of work and that is why you have to spend a little bit more than 4.5 hours a year to talk about and plan your finances but I love that analogy so that would be like this is our challenge to you would be to look at diff all the areas of your budget and determine do I need to give it a little more gas or is this an area that I'm coasting I can just let off on the accelerator a little bit so I think that analogy is super helpful in even giving a word picture to all the numbers on that spreadsheet don't do life or frugality alone it's really good to have people that are like-minded that are on the same page that are going basically the same direction that you are that you can talk with you can bounce ideas off of you can share what's kind of going on they can maybe help you do some planning or if nothing else just help give you some support it always helps to have a little bit of support here yeah and you can get that physically in the real world with having friends that are Frugal there are also online groups that center around frugality there are even YouTube channels that I'll talk about frugality every single week so this is our time to say if you're not subscribed to under the median make sure you subscribed and you hit the Bell notification button also do one more thing for us if you're finding this video helpful would you please hit that thumbs up that like button because that does help us with the YouTube algorithm you know when it comes to I think not doing life alone having frugal people I think there are two really important things one is you want somebody that when you hit a major win you can call them or you can talk to them and say you're not going to believe what we just did and they're gonna get it yeah and they're going to support you in that you know little wins big wins they're gonna totally get it and I think that is important especially like for your mindset and I think it's also important to have that because when you get stuck you can also talk to those same people and say I've tried this this and this you got any more ideas and that group of people are gonna say well yeah have you tried this and this and this and this and they're going to know know lots of ideas one of the things we always talk about on this channel is the fact that we don't know everything seriously don't know everything and we love like The Frugal Community that's been created here that people are willing to help other people and give that Sage advice it says no don't give up try this instead and keep moving forward so we so appreciate that when we read through the comments hope and I are inspired and motivated to continue to do what we're doing so you guys help us and it is a it's a mutual thing where we kind of build on our strengths and with those strengths we can continue doing The Frugal thing here's something else that you may not have thought of so bear with me here I'll explain what I mean frugal people do not always follow the path of least resistance so let me give you an example let's just say your washing machine breaks I keep giving this example because our washing machine really did break recently it broke it was done it was dead yeah um even even saying prayers over it like nothing was going to bring it back to life it was done and um and so the path of least resistance when something like that happens is to immediately just go out and you'd replace it but I know what's going to replace it that's the path of least resistance we're talking about but frugal people will uh call a friend that knows how to repair um washers and dryers which Larry's best friend just happens to have made a career of doing that so that's been super helpful for us and we called it dead so right it was not helpful uh but yeah so we start there with can it be repaired can I repair it myself do I need to actually pay someone else to repair it we're huge with DIY frugal people are can I do it myself is always the first question and I want you to determine that that you can't you know do it yourself or you're are not going to be able to repair it then the next course of action is to purchase one and even in the purchasing process we have this hierarchy that we seem to immediately know how to follow that goes from lowest to highest price so we're going to start off with you know if it's something simple can we borrow it if we don't need to use it all the time with a washing machine it's not possible to borrow someone's washing machine we're going to maybe look on Marketplace and see if we can score one that's in really good shape that's a year or two old and and buy it for a bargain price if we do buy new we're going to say can we buy it at a warehouse can we buy Scratch and Dent model can we buy it on sale can we apply a coupon can we get a cash discount there's all of those layers of savings that we will go through before we finally say yep I'm going to throw down my hard-earned coin and I'm going to buy it but just thinking outside the box that goes beyond it's broke let's replace it if something breaks you can repurpose it you can use it for something different so there's lots of ways to save money on things that you have and make it go farther than you think it might go I found a pair of Stonehedge 3 Altec speakers thrown out to the curb now these are very expensive speakers I brought a home tried them out they worked I didn't really like the sound of them so I called a stereo shop that deals with used items and they were willing to trade another set of JBL speakers at a really good Denon receiver straight up no money exchange for those speakers so I made that change later on I did another deal where I sold some things that I had and I bought some better speakers but the idea is I just bounced one thing off of another and was able to get some nice stereo equipment with very little to no cash input working on it we've done a lot of what we call trading up frugal people never accept the status quo even when it comes to themselves we are constantly challenging ourselves to do better we never I I can't think of a time when we've looked at our finances and said well we're just doing everything we can we're doing the best we can because we always feel like there's some room for improvement and we're willing to acknowledge that about ourselves but not only that we're willing to figure out where that Improvement is and constantly go forward and move forward toward doing better so we don't accept the status quo we do a lot of research a lot of reading we bounce ideas off of other people we we bring in ideas uh that we learn from others maybe listen to some other YouTube videos or podcasts but there's always that wonderful exciting learning experience to stretch you to continue to improve and go beyond where you're at right now but when we do purchase things we're also aware of something called R O I return on investment so if we're going to spend fifty dollars on something that's going to save us a certain amount of money because we're using that item we're going to take the time to do the math and figure out how many months is it going to take before I've actually saved the equivalent of what I just paid out for this item so we're always looking at that thinking if the ROI is six years or seven years we're like maybe not but if the ROI is six months we're more than willing because every month that we use that item after six months that's money back in our pocket yeah one example I can think of right off hand is when we moved from incandescent light bulbs you know the ones that use the tungsten filament to the fluorescent light bulbs a little cure curly q ones so we basically went from using 60 watts to 13 Watts but it gives out the same amount of light you're saving a lot of money and energy on that that light bulb and of course now we have LED bulbs that even use less energy so if you figure how long that bulb is going to last over time then it's worth going out and buying a set of those for your house and that's the kind of thinking that you have to have when you're purchasing things for that Roi investment in short one of the things we're trying to say is that we practice conscious spending and I love that term because it allows us to look at any expenditure we're about to make and say wait a minute let me think about this just for a minute is this something I need or is it something that I want is it something that fits in with my budget do I have money set aside for it how is this purchase going to affect some of my goals down the line and we're very cognizant of going through those four quick questions while we're standing somewhere looking at at an item trying to decide do I want to buy this or do I not want to buy that and I love the conscious spending can be um sort of applied to any different area of your budget I applied it to to the camera that we use in all of these videos we saved a lot of money by buying an older model but brand new camera one of the things that I think we do do I know I keep saying one of the things but another thing that frugal people do that I think is really important this is something that I think is critical to saving more money than the average person and that is that we are very aware that small amounts of money saved over long periods of time do add up to large amounts of money trust us when we tell you that this works because remember 35 years ago two months after we were married we were flat broke and living paycheck to paycheck and once we got the handle on small amounts of money don't discount the fact that you're only saving a dollar a month because a dollar a month is twelve dollars a year if you have 10 things that you're doing that on that's 120 a year so you start it is like a Snowball Effect once you begin to take into account those small amounts of money so don't ignore them yeah I was actually going to say that once you apply the principle of saving a little bit to every item in your budget every item that you're going to throw money at then it really does begin to add up and pretty soon you're banking some money you never thought you could do in a society that encourages excessive spending frugal people take a little different approach to it and if you apply the principles that we've been talking about in this video you'll find yourself on the path of Financial Freedom that you've never experienced before perhaps you're thinking oh man I wish I had more examples maybe of the sort of things you're talking about these habits these things I can do if you're looking for like The Frugal Easy Button we did a video where we shared a whole lot of easy Frugal habits that you can incorporate into your lifestyle monthly and they will save you significant amounts of money now if you've not watched that video it's right over there take a look and we think you'll find it helpful

Channel: Under the Median

Views: 36,111

Keywords: Easy Habits for Saving Money, Frugal Living, frugal lifestyle, smart spending, frugal living tips, money management, financial wisdom, frugal hacks, save money, frugal mindset, frugal choices, practical frugality, frugal inspiration, smart budgeting, daily frugal habits, frugality, frugal living, frugal tips, frugality tips to save money, Under the Median, Larry and Hope, how frugal people save money, average savings in america, frugal living tips with a big impact

Id: pWhbIyGdQZs

Length: 27min 35sec (1655 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 07 2023