The average person has been led to believe a lie. The average person has been taught that wealthy people can be identified by the clothes they wear, the foods they eat, the home they own, and the cars they drive.
They have been taught that the ones with the most expensive wardrobes, homes, and wardrobes are the wealthiest.
To quote Maury Povich, “that is a lie.”
If you see someone driving a fancy car, you can almost guarantee the person owning it is far from wealthy; if they own a nice car and an expensive home, chances are rather high that they have very little wealth, if not a negative net worth.
The wealthy become wealthy by living beneath their means. Many of them come from rather humble beginnings; in order to build their wealth they learned how to stretch their money as far as they could. This allows them to save as much money as they can to invest in things that will make them more money.
Verna Oller is a prime example of this. She used what she had, stretching her money to the extremes in order to invest. Her goal was to leave enough money behind to help out the small town she lived in.
This woman is my hero. She has shown me that anyone can become wealthy, regardless of their financial circumstances.
Including me.
When my office supply order arrived the other day, it came in a box that was stuffed with brown wrapping paper. I wadded it up, marched over to the trash can, and paused.
What would Verna do? I asked myself.
Verna would try to find a use for that paper instead of tossing it in the trash. She was fond of recycling things, of using them up completely before she discarded them. Could I do the same?
It dawned on me that I use a lot of paper around this house. As a writer, I am prolific when it comes to jotting down notes, journaling, and drafting out blog posts on paper. I keep a large supply of paper at all times since I go through so much of it.
I realized that if I cut up that long strip of wrapping paper that I could use it for notes. Grinning, I grabbed my scissors and went to work.
To my delight, that long sheet of paper was perforated at regular intervals; intervals that were identical to the width of a standard 8-1/2″ sheet of printer paper. I separated the pieces at the perforation, made a quick guesstimate, and quickly created a small stack of pages that were approximately the same size as a standard page. The scraps were then chopped up, clamped together into a makeshift notepad.
I now have a small stack of paper that I can use for notes and journal entries. A small stack of paper that cost me nothing but time yet allowed me to use an item that I normally throw away.
Even better, this tiny little stack of paper will take me closer to my cherished goal of financial freedom, since every penny I save is a penny more
Verna Oller would be proud.
What have you repurposed in order to save money? Did you realize that frugality can actually help you build wealth? Please share your stories in the comments
I love it that you did this! I save all the envelopes from junk mail and use them to write notes on. I save packing paper too, and use it to wipe grease out of my frying pans after cooking. Thanks for sharing about Verna Oller, she sounds like a great lady.
Great ideas! I hadn’t considered using the backs of envelopes to write notes on, nor reusing packing paper to wipe out my skillets. Thanks for the tip!
Good for you, and good for the planet! <3
Thanks, Melanie!