Frugal living is to live within your means. You should not buy something that you cannot afford. Even if you have the cash to buy a new fancy car, it doesn’t mean that you can afford it. Yes, you can pay for it, but can you really afford it, or do you need to skip three months on your mortgage payment to be able to purchase the car? Thinking ahead is a basic skill if you want to save big for you and your family. Buy the things that you need and do not spend a single cent on things that you want to have just to impress people that you don’t even know. Who cares if you are driving a fancy car? Envious glares and praises don’t convert to cash.

Shopping is not intrinsically evil. But if done without too much thought, it can literally wash out all your savings in a snap. Both women and men are guilty of compulsive shopping and spending money on unnecessary things. If you are to shop for pleasure, do so with cash, not with credit cards. When shopping ask yourself “do I need this?” and “can I afford this?” Try as you can- not to spend on signature clothing and branded items. With enough effort, you can surely find an item that is inexpensive that are made with high taste and quality.

It’s hard to believe but it’s true that the price of the car of each country is totally different. Let’s compare between the cars in Sweden and Thailand, I can see the big different of the price even it’s the same brand of the car. For BMW, in Sweden they sell it about $3,500 but in Thailand you can’t even get the cheap Japanese car with the price. BMW in Thailand costs the customers at least $16,000, more that price is only for second-hand BMW car.

So if we see the economy of these two countries, we will see that Sweden is a lot better. But why the price of the car in Sweden is a lot cheaper than in Thailand. Also the average income of Thais is about $500 a month, so I have no idea how could Thais afford to buy a car with that price.

It’s not only BMW, but also other car brands have the high sale records in Thailand as well. I still have no idea how Thais could be able to buy a car comparing with their average income, the only reason I can guess is that many rich people buy many cars or all Thai people have debt on cars. Maybe you can tell me.