Conquering Consumption

This post is Frugal PhD’s first-ever guest post, brought to us by fellow blogger and conquerer of consumption—Mystery Money Man. Here, the Mystery Money Man outlines three valuable lessons he has learned about money—to avoid lifestyle inflation, choose like-minded friends, and just say “no”. By sharing some of the financial wisdom he has accumulated, Mystery Money Man equips younger readers with the knowledge they need to avoid pitfalls and to stay strong on the path to financial success.

Recently, I’ve given a lot of thought to the concept of hindsight. Hindsight is something we all possess, but it’s one of those things where the older we get, the more we have. Think of it like a savings account that accumulates over time. I’m not sure if it’s interest bearing, but I know mine’s got an impressive balance!

You see, I recently turned 40…er, make that 41. I’ve never been one to give much thought to getting older, but since I hit the big FOUR-OH, I seem to be slightly less accepting of the fact. I do realize that it’s all relative, that to my parent’s I’m still their kid, and to my sixteen year old son, well…I’m slightly older :). Regardless, my age has become a source of increasing, wary reflection.

Now, where were we? Let’s look at a definition for hindsight:

“The ability to understand, after something has happened, what should have been done or what caused an event.”

I love this definition, of hindsight because it frames it as an ability. It’s a kind of wisdom that only comes from life experience.

With that in mind, allow me to share 3 money-related lessons that I’ve learned over the years. This is the stuff I would share with my younger self, if given the opportunity…

In this post, I play with the idea that high consumers are like zombies, and explain why you should escape the insanity and take on the role of the purposeful hero.

People who let debt accumulate without thought are like zombies.

George Romero made the connection between mindless consumerism and undead hoards in Dawn of the Dead, where zombies swarm the mall with no real purpose other than to consume. The video game Dead Rising went there too, where players fight off the dead in a mall in the town of Willamette, Colorado. Let’s explore zombies as consumers a bit further…

Zombies stumble through their (after)lives without direction and without purpose.

Zombies exist as one of the massive throngs of beings just like them, unable to think critically—or to think at all—about their surroundings or their existence.

Without questioning it, zombies consume anything and everything within their grasp.

Wandering aimlessly and consuming mindlessly are pretty much all zombies do.

When zombies are in the presence of a threat or danger, they are unable to recognize it as such, and walk right toward it. They unknowingly stumble into traps laid for them and are easily captured.

People who fall prey to the temptations of a high consumption, high debt lifestyle often end up a lot like the zombies in our scenario.