How to Afford Anything

Here's a useful something I gleaned from Lifehacker. It's an article on "How to Afford Anything" written by Ken Rockwell, a photographer whose site I visited quite a while back when I was surveying the market preparing to buy my first DSLR camera.

The title certainly makes a big promise. Ken makes the distinction between cheap and frugal: cheap is paying the lowest denominator regardless of quality, while frugal is going for quality and making sure you're getting the best deal for that quality. He also reminds readers to take a good hard look at their lives to see what's necessary, and what's really just a luxury, what's a good investment (things that give you pleasure, have intrinsic value and come at a good price) and what's not (cars in general). Also, that many billionaires are extremely frugal, and unashamed to be so. The best way to be rich is not to have many possessions but to actually have lots of money after all.

The man dispenses his wisdom in an honest manner and drops some gems. For instance, if you're young, to go work on a cruise boat because staff supply is low, demand is high and the pay's great (5 figure salaries for crewmen and 6 figures for a captain!) and that Hawaii and the Caribbean are much better when you have money.

True, true.