Is gold and silver just for he rich? Tricks to save money

Hey Steemies!

At my regular job,I get to meet various personalities with different views on money and finances. Since I work short term contracts at various plants, I get to work with new people every few months, that means we have to get to know new partners as often, frankly spending 70-80 hours per week together for 4 weeks + ... it doesn't take that long! just like any stacker, I like to promote the importance of hard assets like gold and silver and how it protects against long term dollar devaluation so that my brothers and sisters don't get caught with their pants down when they finally realize the state of the economy and all that they have worked hard for and saved is worth next to nothing a few decades later.

Shot 1/25 sec. f/7.1 40mm, ISO 800

The most common thing I hear is "precious metals are only for the rich" or "I can't afford that, I have too many bills" and the famous "I don't make enough money to be able to save" and "there is nothing we can do to change things". I call bull s**t ... really. I used to be one of those myself, like the rest, I'm not rich either, yet I can do it. In this age of instant gratification, we spent way too much on convenience and you have to realize that every time you buy something, you don't buy it with money, you buy it with a piece of your time that you will never get back and exchange it for stuff you might not really need and continue to fuel the very capitalist beast you complain about and that is making our lives miserable by slowly robbing us of our time.

This is just my opinion, not financial advice, the worst thing people are doing wrong? Too much credit. Credit cards, high interest loans, mortgage they can't really afford and this was fueled by cheap credit and the need to keep up with the image of success and a lifestyle that is unsustainable. Many of my brothers and sisters( not real siblings, other members of my brotherhood) didn't believe it when I said the economy will be in trouble soon, maybe you should put money away instead of getting fancy toys on credit, times were good, actually they were great...lots of work, pay was good and extra cash to go waste on excessive partying then oil prices fell apart and our dollar lost almost 30% of it's value in the matter of weeks and many of us lost our jobs by the masses the rest got major wage and benefit decreases , just like that, as fast as you can snap your fingers. For the last 2 years, I have to see these same people have to get their new fancy things repossessed and lost their homes because they had no job to pay for all the credit they took on, many took their own lives over it. They would have been ok if they bought gold and silver instead of borrowing to buy a new car or max out their credit cards. These are the same people that laughed at me because I use public transit and share a vehicle with @silvergingerman that is older but paid for or don't own a cell phone or that I am wasting my money buying shiny pet rocks yet neither one of us has lost or had to cash in our pirate hoard during this downturn. Funny how that works eh! Gold is the money of kings, silver is the money of merchants and credit is the money of SLAVES...remember this.

Shot 1/60 sec. f/4 40mm, ISO 450

The second thing I find un-necessary spending? The lifestyle of convenience and constantly eating out or pre-packaged meals, individually wrapped portions or snacks, your stop at your favorite coffee shop every morning. In general, many overpay for their foods at the supermarket and don't look around for better prices like at farmers market or local produce stores. LOCALLY GROWN FOOD IS CHEAPER AND PRODUCES LESS GARBAGE. Making your own meals from scratch may take a bit longer but it costs so much less. Buying bulk and sorting the portions yourself in reusable containers, cutting up your own fruits and vegetables instead of buying pre-cut, making your own spice mix instead of buying meal kits. It's real easy just takes a bit of extra effort. I am baffled when I hear folks tell me they can't do that because they work too much and don't have time. I can only say the real reason is laziness, people work more hours so they can afford to pay double what they should on food, all that double triple wrapped processed food who pays for that? YOU the consumer and most of it is filled with nasty chemicals...What?!? how does that even make sense? It's corporate robbery of your time and your health. Just not stopping for coffee, we'll say 5$/day for 7 days and 4 weeks = 140$ per month and it can buy you a 5 troy oz bar of silver every month or for a year = $ 1 820$ that easily buys 1 troy oz of gold per year in Canadian funds...just for ditching the coffee shop and making your own. Still think gold is only for the rich?

Shot 1/30 sec. f/7.1 40mm, ISO 800

This third waste of money, I will get hated on for it....Yes your smart phone, absolute waste unless you actually need it for work. I had one and I ditched it once I did a bit of math. 1.5 billion smart phones are bought each year, at $800 per = $1.2 trillion per year wasted just on the object alone worldwide by regular people. Wow you think these are all in the hands of the rich? Considering the average phone/data plan cost around $100 per month here in Canada, we'll say one new phone every 2 years = $ 3 200 every 2 years or $1 600/year. Over ten years , this works out to a whopping $ 16 000 , what could you do with 16 thousand dollars??? would it be life changing? Now are you really unable to save money, pay down debt or buy precious metal to protect your wealth or are you in denial about your expenses? These fine examples are just a few out of a hat full of excessive spending.

Shot 1/30 sec. f/4 40mm, ISO 1400

Now if you didn't hate me enough for telling to trash your smartphone, I'm going to make sure with this next waste of money. BARS, ALCOHOL and FINE DINNING and other social outings like going to the theater. Yep I went there ... haha. I used to go to bars ans spend $100 to $200 for 1 outing with friends per weekend, that's $400 to $800 per month or $4 800- $9 600 per year wasted on entertainment. I' not suggesting you become Mother Theresa and stop having fun, having a get-together at home with a group of friends over a potluck dinner and case of beer or a bottle of wine even some cocktails is so much cheaper and probably more fun (at least in my experience)

There you have it, most people I know that tell me they can't save money because they don't make enough do and have all of those things and borrowing on credit and pay interest to maintain the charade. With these 4 wasteful ways these people tell me i'm wasting my money on precious metals when their wealth is just vaporized into capitalism while my metals are still very much cash-able for more than what I paid for it. If anything, wasting my $$ on barbarous relic pet rocks has changed my spending habits because everything I buy is measured in gold or silver because each useless spending take away from my stacking goals and my future.

To recap, cutting out coffee shops, smartphone and expensive social outings, that is a saving of over $13 000 or 7 troy oz of gold or over 500 troy oz of silver per year for an average income Canadian... now that's a good yearly haul right there or paying down a lot of personal debt for yourself. Saving is possible just need to evaluate your finances and go on a cash diet, you know like the Scotia bank commercial...you are richer than you think. I hope this made you think a little.

All images taken with Nikon D7000 and Nikkor 40mm micro lens

Cheers! xox