Want to Be Wealthy? Tightwad Living is the Answer

Want to Be Wealthy? Tightwad Living is the Answer
By Tim Parker

The rich say it. The government says it, and financial experts across the world say it. There is only one way to get rich and that’s tightwad living.

Maybe you are ok living the live you have. Money has never driven you and having the newest luxury car is about as much of a priority to you as traveling the world on your private jet. I bet that you do have financial goals. You want to pay off your debt, provide your family with a comfortable life, and have money to, at the very least, help your son or daughter with college. Although you may have no dreams of being rich and live a lavish life, rich to you could mean getting the bills paid.

If your financial goals aren’t being realized, there can only be three explanations: Either you’re not making enough, your spending too much, or a combination of both. While we all think we’re underpaid, that is often not something that is quickly fixed so let’s look at the most common reason.

Let’s be honest. Nearly all of us spend too much money and a lot of that money is on “stuff.” Stuff that we want more than we need. Stuff that was marketed well and we decided that we had to have it. Stuff that we put on our credit cards and are now paying for each month.

The first rule of being rich (whatever your definition being) is tightwad living. Tightwad living means using coupons to buy your needs, rarely buying your wants, and never buying anything that you can’t afford to pay for in cash. Tightwad living means never living in debt. If the average person has more than $10,000 in credit card debt, that means that many people are paying more than $100 per month in interest alone. What would you do with an extra $1,200 per year?

Here are a few ideas to get you started with tightwad living:

Use coupons
Don’t eat out
Buy generics
Freeze your credit cards…literally.
Don’t buy new cars
Don’t buy luxury cars
Buy a home that fits in to your income
Brew your own coffee
Only pay for basic cable
Sign up for the minimum cell phone plan
Run outside and lift sandbags instead of a gym membership
Make extra money doing something that you enjoy
Have a relative or friend babysit your kids
Barter- in exchange for babysitting your children, do something for the babysitter

Make your own list and add up the potential savings. Put that towards your debts and before you know it, you will be debt free.

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