Disclaimer: This is a reflection of my own personal experience and should not be taken as financial advice. Every person’s needs will vary depending on their own financial situation.

At various times in my life, I’ve fought to just get by. I have fresh memories of hoarding free food from college events when I ran out of meal points, not ordering certain menu items because of the price, and walking into a drug store, not knowing if I could afford a bottle of mascara.

When you have to sit with an accumulating credit card bill and you’re running out of savings, it’s hard not to feel a sense of helplessness. In my second year of college, I was working three jobs (one unpaid because it was a predatory startup), and barely scraping by.

Not having enough feels like there’s a mixture of shame, anxiety, and dread all in one that sits at the bottom of your lungs.

However, it also makes you realize how much you actually need. When survival is the main priority, you don’t take the small things for granted. And you don’t care much for things like new clothing or vacations. There are fewer things to complain about when you’re left with so little. Instead, you’re forced to focus on something that will bring you out of the hole of financial despair.

Now, this is not to say, that it is still really difficult sometimes. I have a huge amount of respect for people who do it all on their own. And sometimes, they work because they literally have to in order to put food on the table. Although I don’t have a lot these days, I’m fortunate to be able to grab a coffee out, go out for happy hour, and most importantly, I have the level of support I need in order for me to go out and build something new and unconventional. I know most people can’t say they can do the same, and I don’t take this lightly.

I can say, that from the various moments of my life where I’ve felt stretched for money, I’ve also picked up a few lessons. Here they are.

Isolation can become a strength

Being in a financially tough spot can become extremely isolating. You have to say no to certain social events if it requires you to spend more than your budget allows. On the other hand, you’re constantly working or finding solutions to make more money, sometimes if it means working two jobs, day and night. That leaves little room to see people.

If you’re focused on paying off a loan, for example, you actually develop a sturdy sense of discipline, solely off your need to survive. Maybe you’re studying to become a lawyer and paying off student debt. These are years of discipline that accumulate, which can greatly benefit you in the long run.

Also, having an excuse to not go out can force you to become extremely productive on your own. You can really go down the rabbit hole by learning new skills and concepts, which don’t require you to spend a lot of money. Certainly, your focus is much higher than people that have the option to go out and get plastered every weekend.

Isolation is lonely but with an ample amount of time alone, it also gives you space to think, reflect and make strategic plans about the future. People who are constantly in the social buzz, lack room for this level of deep introspection. They glide through life to ‘go with the flow’, not knowing what they truly want to do or achieve with their lives.

For example, why do you think famous tech entrepreneurs or coders are notorious for never leaving their rooms or basements?

Frugality Begets Saving Habits

When you have to watch every dollar you spend, you become so cautious about money that you tend to spend less regardless of whether you’re under your budget. 

You’ll likely end up saving a lot more than you anticipate and this habit tends to follow you even when you have more in the bank. During the pandemic, for example, I didn’t touch a dime of the salary I was getting from work whilst getting checks from the government.

According to statistics, most people are expected to watch their savings more than pre-pandemic levels due to the widespread fear of scarcity and mayhem (running out of toilet paper, supply chain issues, layoffs) that the pandemic caused.

You might not know exactly what you’re saving towards, but trust me, one day you’re going to wish you had more saved up than you did. New opportunities will come up that you might want to take a leap at and invest in, but if you don’t have any savings this becomes impossible to achieve. Although I used to be a huge proponent of ‘investing’ all your money or making it ‘work for you’, I now think that having a rainy day bank savings account is equally as important.

You Look at the World Differently

As I mentioned before, the isolation factor makes you feel different than everyone else in the room. You become more conscious, perceptive, and empathetic towards those that share similar situations, or have less than you. That means you’re a little nicer to the guy who cleans the lobbies. You make sure you tip at restaurants because you know how much the servers depend on that to make ends meet.

Surprisingly, you also don’t get overly excited over fancy or elaborate meals on the occasions you do get to splurge. This is because you know that you’ve somehow made life work and even found moments of happiness without the luxury.

In March 2020 when everything locked down— I had a record month of my lowest spending. I remember it was around $500 that month. And guess what? I was completely content with my life. I spent time in nature every day and still had the ability to see my friends and develop my intellect from my room.

In contrast, I’ve sat in higher-end restaurants that served $20 drinks and felt empty. We all need a certain degree of freedom and stability in order to be at peace. However, you also have to find out what it is that truly brings you a jolt of excitement, and a smile on your face, while not relying on the construed images from social media that tell us what we need to be happy.

To me, learning and growing were what gave me that jolt. That’s why I really started to love school when I could study what I was interested in. When I felt overwhelmingly depressed, my remedy was to go to the library and get lost in a book. When I wrote and discovered something new about myself, that brought me a sense of joy.

Final Words

If you can learn to love life with very little, then you are in fact equipped with a great superpower. One day, when you have more than you need, you’ll find opportunities to still be excited over the small things, like if the barista smiled at you in the morning.

I’ve both lived with very little and what felt like what was more than I needed. I learned that it’s important not to take anything for granted and don’t become overconfident when you do have more. At the end of the day, how much money you think you need is an illusion. If you’re truly dedicated to the thing or subject that drives you, which makes you feel happy and fulfilled in the process, money is a mere distraction.