Abundance

“Simple living is not a virtue; it is a preference”.

- Leonard Cohen

In this economic downturn, many sites that advocate simple living and frugality have become increasingly popular. As for myself, simple living is a preference rather than a virtue, to quote Leonard Cohen. I had done a fair share of shopping with friends in the past as leisure outings. But it gave me more headaches than pleasure.

Even though impulse shopping is a very rare occurrence in my day to day living, it happens to me when I am on holidays. Every year we spend 2 to 6 weeks on the same tropical island in Southeast Asia. Whenever I am on the beach under the tropical sun, I have this urge to take a break and go shopping in the mall next to the beach. I do not understand the change in me except by saying that the sun has cooked my brain. I was in denial when this was first pointed out to me. Look at deals I get. Now at least I am aware, which is the first step towards cure. The next step is to set a budget and keep it. I am now at this stage. After that, I will take a look at the inventory and see whether I have been wearing them. The final step would be to plan what I need to buy and stick to my plan.


Simple living is not a virtue, but I do believe that impulse shopping is a vice and is not the opposite of simple living. The opposite of simple living is lavish living. I personally know people who are like that. They still shop according to their plan except that their needs are greater than folks who prefer simple living. I have a brother, who constantly upgrades all electronics in his household and buys brand name clothing. Since his need is greater, he uses this as a motivation to earn more money, therefore, he is never under water.

The point I am trying to make is that frugality is not a solution to all the financial woes. Living within your means is. It is not a matter of how much money you make, as long as you have money left over in the end of year, year after year, you have abundance.

Picture explanation: a Chinese abundance charm that literally says “surplus year after year”.



c-cassia