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Living a frugal life isn’t bad, but overdoing it can certainly have its repercussions. Being strategic and planning all your expenses without reflecting on your actions can defeat the whole purpose of living economically.
Focusing on just the numbers can take the fun out of your life. What’s more, putting too many restrictions on yourself and going overboard with budgeting can prove to be disastrous. Here are just a few disadvantages of being too frugal that you need to be wary of.
You Might Become a Cheapskate
In your efforts to save as much money as possible for more meaningful things, you might start becoming a cheapskate, and this is certainly not desirable. For example, availing freebies of skin and hair products you like is acceptable, but buying items that aren’t right for your skin and hair just because they’re cheaper is not!
You Could End up with Things You Don’t Need
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Because you’re so obsessed with deals and discounts, you might end up purchasing a lot of things you don’t have need for and never will use in the future. So if you bought a hundred toothbrushes because the cost came down to a penny each, it’s time for a reality check!
In addition to this, people who have taken living frugally too seriously tend to hang on to stuff in the hopes that they’ll need it in the future. If your home is full of clutter that you don’t need right now, do away with whatever you can.
And Choose to Live without Things You Really Need
You might start giving up on things you need just to save some cash. If you’re living a difficult and uncomfortable life, you’ve already stretched it too far.
You Might Give up Frugal Living Altogether
Just like a diet that is too strict, a budget that doesn’t allow you to indulge in your favorite things can become suffocating. This can cause you to give up thinking about your expenses altogether and can be more destructive.
Apart from having the basic necessities, give yourself a break and buy that dress you’ve been eyeing for weeks or treat yourself to a dinner at an upscale restaurant once in a while!
It Can Be Lonely
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If you have found friends that share your love for frugal living, good for you! But if none of your friends live the way you do, you’re bound to be lonely at times. After all, no one wants a friend who worries about money all the time to tag along to a weekend party.
Of course some of your friends might understand, but only if you live frugally within the limits. And at no point of time should you get into competition mode and try outdoing your frugal friends!
Your Safety Is Compromised
Living frugally can cause you to turn a blind eye to your health and safety. Perhaps you don’t have a life insurance policy or you don’t bat an eyelid when consuming cans of expired food from your pantry.
Either way, you could end up spending a lot more money should things go wrong, so think twice before you act! Make sure you go for regular health and dental checkups, and get your life, home, and car insured as soon as you can.
Note that food that is cheap might be low on nutrition and if you eat too much of the unhealthy stuff, you aren’t doing the right thing. Eat healthy foods- they aren’t always expensive!
Also take care of your belongings- remember that a stitch in time saves nine. Delay getting something fixed and you might have to spend a greater amount of money later on.
So Are Your Ethics
Submitting multiple rebates by changing a few characters of your name and address for items that clearly state ‘1 per household’ is wrong. It is also wrong to expect more from people than you give them in return.
If you no longer care about your values and have started compromising on your ethics just to save a few bucks, you’re definitely on the wrong track.
Conclusion
Living frugally isn’t bad, but you don’t want to forget the ‘living’ part when you’re focusing primarily on saving money. Frugal living is all about making wise financial decisions and not making life uncomfortable for yourself and your loved ones. Also, you can’t have your lifestyle decisions turn you into a laughing stock.
As such, drawing the line between what is and what isn’t acceptable is important. Whether you’ve just started taking your expenses into account or you’ve been living frugally for quite some time, the information provided here will help you examine your way of life and identify the mistakes you’re making by being too frugal.
Just relax and live life to the fullest- it’s possible to do so on a budget!
