Frugal Living Mom

  • Home
  • Learn to Coupon
  • Get Organized
  • Learn to Live Frugally
  • Free Recipes
  • Hacks and Tips
  • About Jen
  • Contact Us

Does Living Frugally Make You Happier? – Part 2

February 19, 2009 by jlpenner 1 Comment

This is the second chapter (part 1 can be viewed here) in our discussion with Danny Kofke, author of How to Survive (and Perhaps Thrive) on a Teacher’s salary. Today’s post focuses on career choices. Not all of us are teachers, but many of us have chosen a profession or made family rearing decisions where fulfillment and satisfaction are higher priorities than earning potential. Can you be happier with less? Danny says

I am very content with my job even though it pays less than a lot of others. Most people go into teaching for the love of helping others and wanting to make the world a better place. The money is not bad, but I think most would agree that teachers do not get paid what they are worth. I do not measure my success in money but rather the contribution I am making to society. I also love my job and look forward to getting up every morning and seeing my students – that to me is priceless!

For them, raising their family was a priority, so they planned ahead for the time that they would be living on only one salary. They discussed this strategy and put it into action early in their marriage:

During the time she worked, we pretty much tried to live off my salary and use hers to pay-off any debt that we had and set up an emergency fund. We never really went out and spent a lot of money because we knew if we wanted her to stay home and me to stay in the classroom, we really had no choice but to be frugal from the start.

This decision is directly related to the happiness that Danny and his family experience. Here is his attitude about it:

I get to go to a job that I love and my wife gets to raise my children – that to me is worth a million dollars. The thing is we can afford what many others have but choose not to buy these items. Maybe one day down the road, I will drive a Lexus and/or have a big boat, but I know that Ava and Ella will be 4 and 1 only once and we will never get this time back. Having Tracy stay home and spending time with them is much more important than trying to have what others do. There are some people that have a lot of items but are up to their eyeballs in debt. I would never want to trade places with them and feel the stress they must be feeling.

I find Danny’s perspective on this encouraging. I know people with mountains of debt. They have a lot of cool stuff, but after the initial high of the purchase is gone, I don’t think they are any happier at all. There is always the next thing to buy.

Next time – Small Expenses add up – How Living Frugally increases happiness!

You can find out more about Danny Kofke and his book at his blog: http://www.dannykofke.blogspot.com/

This Post Contains Affiliate Links - Disclosure Policy

Filed Under: Frugal

Free-Adult-Coloring-Bookoptin


Trackbacks

  1. Does Living Frugally Make You Happier? Part 1 of 4 | Frugal, Freebies and Deals says:
    May 27, 2011 at 7:01 am
    [...] Next time – How your frugal career and family choices increase happiness… [...]
    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

twitterflm pinterestflm facebookflm

Recent Posts On Frugal Living Mom

  • What are the Best Things to Buy in January?
  • Late Again? How to Pay Your Bills on Time, Everytime
  • Living Within a Budget – It’s Not as Hard as You Think
  • Top 10 Habits of Frugal People
  • 3 Easy Ways to Comparison Shop (and Save Money!)

Recent Posts

  • What are the Best Things to Buy in January?
  • Late Again? How to Pay Your Bills on Time, Everytime
  • Living Within a Budget – It’s Not as Hard as You Think
  • Top 10 Habits of Frugal People
  • 3 Easy Ways to Comparison Shop (and Save Money!)
  • What to Do in a Money Emergency
  • 4 Budget Tweaks You Can Make Right Now
  • 3 Easy Tips That Help You Pay Off Your Mortgage Early
  • How to Use Envelope Budgeting to Stay Out of Debt
  • How to Save Big Time Money on Coffee

Archives

Privacy and Disclosure

  • Frugal Living Mom Privacy Policy
  • Frugal Living Mom Disclosure

Advertise with FLM

Contact us for advertising
Copyright 2023, Frugal Living Mom. All Rights Reserved.
Custom design by Pixel Me Designs
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok