Money, Frugality and Happiness


A couple of my friends at work who earn (obviously) today’s salary will at the same time expect prices to be at the same levels as our parents’ time. And so they will feel pretty much any non-essential spending is extravagant. It would be OK if they restricted their thoughts to their own lifestyles but no, they will also remark on others going to a multiplex instead of a theater, criticize the purchase of a high end car…you get the idea.

Me, I don’t belong to that school of thought. So I could so relate to Sumana Mukherjee’s comment in an article about frugal living taken too far:
“…it is important to recognize that there is of course a thin line between thrift and deprivation, prudence and cheapness, and being economical and being miserly”.

The other extreme is spending like there is no tomorrow. I am not advocating that either.

And then there are those philosophical souls who keep telling you that money can’t buy you happiness. Sure, that’s true, but as I read in some book review:
“There is a limit beyond which material goods don’t make us happier. We believe that. We also believe we are under that limit”.

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