Make it last
When I was a kid, the family down the street had 3 kids, and those kids used to just destroy their toys. By March they would not have any of their Christmas presents left. You’d go to their house and they’d have the toys they just got for their birthday but literally nothing else. I remember saying to my mom, I have toys that I got so long ago I can’t remember when it was, how come Steve’s toys always break so fast? “Because he doesn’t take care of his things, honey”, she replied.
I have always been able to make my stuff last well beyond what most people can. I try very hard to be careful with my stuff, and make it last. I think this trait is one that you have to have if you’re going to save your way to wealth. You have to make every penny count and one of the best ways to do that is to make every item that comes into your house serve as long as you possibly can.
The battery on my electric razor appears to be going, I’ve had it for 11 years. My car is just comming into the middle of it’s life, it’s almost 10 years old. We just bought a new barbeque grill today, the old one lasted 8 years. I’ve been in the same house now for 9 years, and my stereo speakers are 18 years old.
Replacing these things are expenses that we never had to pay. Each dollar saved in this manner is another dollar that is in our portfolio compounding and growing our assets. So my advice to you all is take care of you stuff, make it last, and your dollars can be off earning more dollars instead of buying more stuff.