What is your end goal for being frugal

**NikoSan999** · 11-30-2009, 09:06 PM

What is your end goal for being frugal now?

I read a really good one on here a couple nights ago about being frugal now so that they could live on an island later. It really impressed me someone having a goal like this because it was kind of different and made me wonder just what some of the other end results or goals people on here were trying to accomplish by being frugal. I know it's to save money and have financial peace but what else is your "end goal" of frugality?

Is yours not having to rely on Social Security? To retire early? To continue living your same life style in later life? To live on an island or in another country? Or just plain be able to live?

**Aubella** · 11-30-2009, 09:25 PM

I just want to be debt free!

**pollypurebred39** · 11-30-2009, 09:51 PM

We want to be debt free for sure. But what we'd really like is to be able to share our wealth by supporting missions in the USA and overseas, to be able to open our home to those who need the comfort of a family and a meal, to be able to help kids in our community with Winter coats, school supplies, a decent meal, to help purchase back those sold into salvery in other countries, to buy shoes for kids (more countries then you can imagine) so they don't get infections and have to get their feet amputated, to be able to reach deep into our pockets when we see suffering and injustice in this world. To have the ability to buy a relative, friend, neighbor, or stranger even a washer & dryer, pay car repairs or get new tires if their in a tough spot. That's our goal.

**sabrelvssammy** · 11-30-2009, 10:03 PM

Originally Posted by NikoSan999

What is your end goal for being frugal now?

I read a really good one on here a couple nights ago about being frugal now so that they could live on an island later. It really impressed me someone having a goal like this because it was kind of different and made me wonder just what some of the other end results or goals people on here were trying to accomplish by being frugal. I know it's to save money and have financial peace but what else is your "end goal" of frugality?

Is yours not having to rely on Social Security? To retire early? To continue living your same life style in later life? To live on an island or in another country? Or just plain be able to live?

hey...that's me.... i'm the 'island girl'..... and yes...that is my end goal....and i hope to start to achieve it within the next 10 yrs....
the plan being to slowly start more extensive traveling to far away places for longer periods of time...renting an apt in the 'thick of things' with the locals...(i am not talking about the bahamas, or cancun)...we are looking into thailand and other 'exotic' areas....i have also been working on getting involved with a company that has 'house-sitting' opportunities avbl where i am given a place to live in exchange for taking care of someone's castle....(and sometimes their pets too)...there is a need for this all over the world....(and we are not talking about little trailers here...when i say 'castles'...that is what a majority of these people that require these services are living in)...some are VERY impressive.....i can live like a 'queen' for a few months at a time in a foreign county......weehee.....

dh does not want to immediately (if ever) give up a home or place of residence in the states (so he says now...but i think he could be swayed)....anyway...so i'm sure we will downsize the house to possibly a condo or small easy to care for home somewhere where we no longer have to brave the winters....and we can come back to anytime that we desire....and we both have extremely small extended families so this is something that we can very easily achieve...and now adays you can be in another country as quickly as it takes to fly from new york to LA.....so in essence...we will take our 'vacations' in the states.....

so obviously all this takes money....but the reality is one can live cheaper in other countries than one can in the US so this is not a unattainable dream...the financial aspect of it fits quite nicely into a 'retirement portfolio'... the only thing holding one back would be the 'fear factor' of trying something so different than what one is used to....and fortunately for me...i didn't inherit a 'fear gene'....(sometimes not too good....)....but it is what it is....dh has fears...but i just hold on tightly to him and stroke his head and whisper soothing words into his ears....

so that is my plan...be debt free....have the means to live out my dreams...and if for some reason i have to change course and not get to take advantage of these opportunities at least i will be able to live out a decent rest of my life....and as for social security... well i will just say that i am not 'counting' on it as being 'support' as i truly believe the in-solvancy of the system is going to completely rewrite how we will ever see SS come into our lives when we are ready and i don't see it being something that is going to provide much 'support'....you better plan ahead and 'if' you get any...consider it 'icing on the cake'... but that's just my opinion.....

**dcompton** · 11-30-2009, 10:09 PM

I just want to able to retire - eventually. Early is not an option unless health forces the issue. And retiring, I would love to have just enough (keeping my fingers crossed) that I don't have to worry about money every moment.

**Inkstain82** · 11-30-2009, 10:10 PM

Owning a house and being able to support my parents' retirement.

**pollypurebred39** · 11-30-2009, 10:12 PM

sabrelvssammy, that sounds like LOTS of fun!!! And I'm not counting on SS either, I have serious doubts it will even be in practice when we retire.

**Teresa T** · 11-30-2009, 10:26 PM

My goal is to retire at 62. I can't work in nursing until I'm 67. At least I can't imagine it.

That is what I am saving for.

**sabrelvssammy** · 11-30-2009, 10:36 PM

Originally Posted by pollypurebred39

sabrelvssammy, that sounds like LOTS of fun!!! And I'm not counting on SS either, I have serious doubts it will even be in practice when we retire.

i think SS will be around but not in the sense as we have come to know it....there are too many people in the country that will need to rely on it to survive so for it to just no longer 'exist' is not really an option...the gov't will not be able to just drop it from the rolls....but as to how it is re-structured will be anyone's guess....they are already making changes to the current system that will affect those of us when we reach the 'age' to be able to draw....and i expect we will see many more to come.....

my mother lives in a retirement community now that many of the residents their only income is SS and she talks about how much they struggle just to have a decent meal at the end of the day.... it's really quite sad....here we are giving those that won't work a better life than we are offering our own grandparents....this current system of ours is definately broken.....

**hmcart** · 11-30-2009, 10:47 PM

DH and I are both still pretty young..especially considering we have 3 kids and they will all be in college or out of college by the time we are in our mid 40s! We would love to be debt free and possibly retire by the time our kids are having kids!

**piney** · 11-30-2009, 11:37 PM

I just want to be debt free i was never in debt until i got older except for a house payment and it wasn't very much a month and paid it off early,and for years when i first got cc cards i would pay them off each month then after my second divorce and had to retire things went down hill, I also kept oldest greatgrand daughter for 5 years and family members here don't get help like foster parents does but i got her out foster care and kept her as long as i was able.

**KeithBC** · 12-01-2009, 01:07 AM

The idea of being frugal for an end goal suggests that it is a temporary lifestyle that can be discarded at some point.

I am deeply convinced that frugality will be the new "normal". I think that everyone will need to be frugal if civilization is to survive, and that being frugal will help individuals to survive even if civilization doesn't.

So, I guess you could say that my end goal is survival. But I do not foresee ever being able to say, "Whew, I can relax and quit being frugal now." Frugality for me is a permanent lifestyle choice.

Lest you think I am all doom and gloom, I actually do live on an island now, thanks to my past frugality.

**madhen** · 12-01-2009, 01:33 AM

I live on an island, too. It's just a very, very big island.

I don't really have an "end goal" for frugality. I am not as frugal as I want to be right now, although I am MUCH better than I was five years ago. I want to find a middle ground where I am as frugal as I WANT to be without feeling that I am only being frugal because I HAVE to be. I want to be living a quality of life that is comfortable for me. No washing my clothes on a big rock in the stream or churning my own butter (well, maybe THAT), or feeling that I have to sacrifice the things I truly love because they don't meet some hardcore definition of "frugal" or because I don't have the means to purchase them if they are truly important to me.

I can't really put it into words, but I am happier now that I feel more in control of my money. I think I am a little bit of a control freak, anyway, and money was one aspect of my life that I didn't really understand or try to regulate. Now that I have a better grasp of how it all works, and how to save it, I like feeling like I am the one who determines where my money goes, vs. the bank, the credit card companies, the department stores, and everyone else who thinks they can manipulate me into "needing" what they have to sell.

So, I guess my end goal is to keep feeling that way, but more so, and to feel that I have mastered being 100% in control (did I mention I am a control freak?) of how I spend and why I spend, and perhaps more importantly, how and why I DON'T spend!!

**Luv2BeFrugal** · 12-01-2009, 02:52 AM

Goals:

#1 - Debt Free
#2 - Down payment for a house
#3 - Buy house and pay off in less than 10 years (sooner, if possible)
#4 - Enjoy life and save for retirement (we are TOTALLY not counting on social 'security' -- and I use that term loosely)