On Frugality

I’m the proud son of a miser, and my father certainly taught me a lot with his extreme frugality. He was, and still is, the type that saves, saves, SAVES; and so am I. For example, I am 40 years old, and I still haven’t spent more than $2000 to purchase an automobile for myself. Right now I drive a 2000 Ford Focus that I bought for only $1500…so what if it has a dent in it from its previous owner…it was a bargain!

Another example is the home I own free and clear of a mortgage…while I inherited 20% of it, I still made it my priority to pay for it and owe nothing to nobody for it as quickly as possible, and I got that done in only about 6 years. Now I rent out that property to a single tenant, I collect her rent for a profit, and I pay no mortgage nor have any liens on that property…FRUGALITY.

Another example is the home I live in with my wife and son…we didn’t take the 30 year mortgage, we took the 20 year mortgage, SAVING THOUSANDS in interest from the start. Our down payment was above 20%, so we saved a few thousand in Property Mortgage Insurance which we consequently never had to pay for. My high credit score was 807, and we shopped around and got a 5.125% interest rate on our mortgage, again, SAVING THOUSANDS. Moreover, I’ve paid an extra few thousand dollars in extra principal these past two years, and will ultimately reduce the term of the mortgage to 15 years or less when it is all said and done…FRUGALITY.

I can indeed share many more fine examples of my own personal frugality, but let me get to WHY THIS MATTERS: Have you noticed that government spending has skyrocketed everywhere around us? Have you noticed that political campaigns spend gross amounts of money to get people elected? Do you see the connection? It’s a problem that is bankrupting people who can’t afford to keep paying higher and higher taxes.

The obvious solution is to keep spending down (as I have always done in my own personal money management) and to reduce debt (as I have always done in my own money management).

In the final analysis, I am positive that I will be the most frugal person on County Council should I get elected to serve, with the only exception of having a genuine belief that employee pay is an issue that one should never be a miser about, as I believe that Northampton County’s pay should be close to, if not at the top, of comparable pay ranges, to reward and retain the best of our county workers.

You see with frugality, we are able to pay for what really matters, as we cut out what we shouldn't pay for. And you can take that to the bank!