Simplify your life

The simplification movement is catching on in North America where more and more people who are tired of living stressed out lives are beginning to realize that the key to not only financial independence but happiness as well is by living simpler and much less complicated lives. Simplification refers to the concept of creating a lifestyle in which you need less money to live on and with less number of possessions. Put simply (no pun intended) it is all about living below your means now in order to have the lifestyle you want in your later years.

There are some who believe that the only way to become wealthy is to have a high income. They forget Parkinson’s second law which states that “Expenses will directly rise in proportion to income”. In other words, no matter how much money we make, we'll find a way to spend it! As a person’s income increases, so does his or her desire to have more things or better quality things. One needs to be careful about not falling into the consumption trap of ever increasing wants and desires.

One of the ways to overcome this consumption trap is to remind yourself that your goal of financial independence is more important to you than displaying high social status and winning the approval of others. One of the most common reasons cited by people for not being wealthy is that they don’t have money to invest. The solution to this problem is very simple. In order to have more money live a frugal life! Some people think that being frugal means being cheap. This is not so. Saving money by being cheap is no fun at all as it may lead you to denying yourself all of the halal things that you find enjoyable. Not only that, being cheap implies being miserly and this is discouraged in Islam as the following hadith indicates:

Abu Said Khudri related that the Prophet said:

  "There are two habits which are never present together in a believer: miserliness and bad
  manners " (Tirmidhi)

So what does being frugal really mean? The dictionary defines frugality as “avoiding unnecessary expenditure either of money or of anything else which is to be used or consumed; avoiding waste”. Avoiding waste is key. In fact, in surah Isra Allah warns us about being wasteful:

  "Give the kinsman his due, and the needy, and the wayfarer, and squander not (your wealth) in
  wantonness. Lo! the squanderers were ever brothers of the devils, and the devil was ever an
  ingrate to his Lord" (Quran 17:26-27).

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