Be frugal and join the union!

Living in Sweden and working in Sweden you should join the union…no wait you are an idiot if you don´t. I know that a lot of Americans are reading this and shaking their head, but hear me out. The claim has nothing to do with politics it has to do with money and free security. I am a union member and I pay about 20$/month for that. 

But that gives me the following:

• -        30% on my home insurance

• -        0,1% of my mortgage

• -        10% of my salary during six months of my paternity leave. 3000$ extra in six months.

There are tons of perks that I haven’t used yet just go on the web page and check your union. It is amazing how much money you can save. So be frugal and join the union.

Are you a member of the union?

Straight razor shaving, for the frugal shaver?

A few years ago I saw a movie where a man shaved with a knife. It looked very cool, so i figured I would try it. However by trying (and later also googling) I learned that you can´t shave with a normal knife, its to thick. You need a shaving knife, a straight razor. From day one i was hooked. 

Straight razor shaving is a great thing, but can it also be for the frugal man?  

The other day I was in a supermarket and saw the price of shaving equipment, a razor and twelve blades was 599 kr (70 dollars). So I went and checked how much you can get away with if you use a straight razor. In this case Ebay is your friend, because i good straight razor can be used forever. Down below you can see the prices. 

Straight razzor   - 100 kr
Griding of knife - 200 kr 
Strop                  - 150 kr  
Shaving soap      - 30 kr 
Brush                  - 50 kr

Total          530 kr (60 dollars)


So the things you need is cheaper and will last longer, however it will take more time to shave, at least in the beginning but the shave will be way better. The most frugal thing is to get a beard and just trim it with a machine or even better i sissor.  
    

Beginning the journey

Two years ago I was in the US visiting a friend for two weeks. My friend has a similar job that I have and about the same salary, but he is significantly older. I lived with him in his house by a small lake during my stay. We were also out by his cabin on an island in Canada. In addition, I had free access to one of his two snowmobiles throughout the stay. To me it was amazing that he had all this. He must be up over his head in debt, I thought.

I am curious so I asked. He then explained that when marrying his wife, they decided to live on one salary and to invest the other. To make a long story short, this meant that they had the money when an island was for sale; they could buy the house at the lake when the market crashed.

This was the big wake up call for me. I grew up in a home where I learned the value of money and working hard. No one learned about investments. To me the stock market was a way to lose your money. At the age of 31, I did not know what the yield was nor an index fund. Nobody had thought me how economics worked. During the following days I asked 1000 questions and my friend patiently told me how they had done.

When I returned to Sweden, I went straight to Amazon to buy 4 books on investment
(now, I had not started using the library yet). This was in February 2017. Today, the portfolio is worth about 90000 sek, but then you should know that I have since had a child and bought a home so I am quite satisfied with it.

How did you begin?

What if money was no object

What do you think?