Saving tips from a man who quit his job at 35

Steve Adcock is a computer programmer who, at age 35, managed to quit his eight-hour job to start living traveling with his wife.

Until then, Adcock was telling in his blog how was his evolution until the longed for financial freedomAnd in his path there was always a component of living as frugal a life as possible for a time to get enough savings.

On one occasion, he shared what were the 4 habits that allowed him to save hard in those first years. They were as follows:

1. Know and measure what each euro is spent on

“I have not met many frugal people who do not have an accurate understanding of not only how much they spend, but also where their money is going,” writes Adcock. Nor does this process need to take hours and hours of work – once the initial expense tracking system is in place, maintaining it should be as easy as entering the numbers,

The idea is to know where the money is being spent each month. Take a look at your bank and credit card statements and try to sort those expenses, line by line.

2. Get used to stepping out of the economic comfort zone

“Spending is an addiction,” he says, and our minds continue to plant the seeds of comfort in our decision-making process when it comes to the idea of ​​”spending for happiness.”

Stepping out of your comfort zone can mean many things, like thinking about each purchase and examining whether it’s really necessary or going with the flow.

Adcock recommends focusing on your own financial goals, even if it means Say “no” to expensive dinners, sporting events, or vacations.

3. Spend on experiences rather than things

Adcock says that the things we buy tend to lose value over time, both in their resale value and in the personal value we place on them. The experiences, on the other hand, tend to stay in our mind.

He says he would rather take an inexpensive vacation to a place he loves than get wrapped up gifts that end up filling the bottom of his closet.

4. Understand the meaning of “enough”

Human beings need essential items like food, shelter, and yes, a reasonable collection of personal items that we can consider our own. “But there is a point, often elusive, where accumulating more things no longer contributes to our state of happiness,” says the programmer.

Your secret it is in discovering that point and resisting the temptation to cross it.

For understand what “enough” means to us, it is necessary to do a self-reflection and an honest and non-judgmental account of the true happiness that our things bring us. For example, are most of your things used for the first two weeks after purchase and then stay in your closet for months or years? He recommends.