Why I Quit Being So Frugal

This channel used to be all about frugality, and when I first started it four years ago, I was extremely frugal. I mean, my rent was $600 a month. I questioned every purchase I made, and I saved 60% of my income. However, nowadays, I am nowhere near as frugal as I used to be, and my lifestyle looks very different. I live in an expensive city, I treat myself to small things frequently, and I'm always spending money on new experiences. And if you've been watching this channel for at least a year, you probably noticed that I don't even talk about frugality anymore. I have shifted from frugality and personal finance content to analyzing the systems we all live inside. And in this video, my final video of the year, I want to talk about why I quit being so frugal and why I don't talk about frugality anymore. I want this video to be my end of the year reflection of why I started, how I changed, and where I'm headed. But make no mistake, this is not a story about regret, but it's a story about empowerment. And so let me start it off by talking about the first time my beliefs were challenged. Chapter one, the first time I wasn't frugal. Since I was a kid, I have always been interested in money and saving. And whenever I got my first jobs and started to make my own money, I had a pretty extreme relationship with money. I would work hard for nine months and save as much as I could and travel the world for three months, which allowed me to travel to over 35 countries in five years. And although I don't regret that time in my life, I will admit it was extreme. It was all or nothing. Intense saving followed by intense spending. But in 2018, I decided to do an experiment on myself. When I joined the Peace Corps in Ecuador and was making $580 a month, I made the conscious decision to stop saving entirely and start living paycheck to paycheck. And the reason I decided to do that was simple. Saving money at that income was pointless. I mean, if I saved 15%, which would be hard, I would only have about $2,000 after two years, which doesn't go far in America. It wasn't worth the effort. And so for two years, I dropped my aggressive saving habits and just started to spend every dollar that I made. And even though this wasn't a lot of money, although it went much further in Ecuador, one thing I noticed was how spending money on these small things drastically improved my day-to-day life. Like getting a cup of coffee with friends, eating a menu of the day out for lunch, and taking the occasional trip I discovered that these small things that seemed very insignificant improved my day-to-day life more than I thought. They made me feel more present and more connected to those around me. And that lesson really stuck with me. But once I came back to America, money quit being about presence and started to be about security. Chapter two, how frugality changed my life. About five years ago, after I finished my time in Ecuador, I was starting over my life here in this country and came back to about $2,000 I had saved beforehand in one of the worst job markets ever, unknowing of what to do with my life. There was a lot of uncertainty at that time, but one thing that made that uncertainty easier was money. You see, whenever you finish your service with the Peace Corps, they give you something called a readjustment allowance of about $10,000 to readjust back to American life. And because the pandemic was happening and I had just returned from the Peace Corps, one, I was unable to spend the money, and two, I didn't have any bills as I was living with my parents. And so what I did was just save all that money and my bank account went from $2,000 to $12,000 overnight. And I'll never forget the feeling of crossing over that five-digit milestone for the first time. It was the first time in my life where I didn't feel desperate and I had the options to not just take the first thing that came my way. And I never wanted that feeling to ever go away. And so when I got my first adult job, I decided that I wanted to spend my time and energy to build my nest egg and have more security in my life. So once I started to get paid, I was extremely frugal and saved as much as I possibly could. My first salary was $48,000 and I saved about 30% of it. Then I started making $72,000 and saved 60% of it. And by being extremely frugal and saving as much as I could, I went from about $2,000 in 2020 to about $80,000 two and a half years later. Frugality was changing my life and giving me security and options. I never had to go back to Panera Bread ever again. But as I started to see my net worth rise beyond numbers that I ever thought I could achieve, I started to notice something. Chapter three, when money quit changing my life. As I said, the richest that I've ever felt was when I crossed over $10,000. But beyond that, although it's been more money, it hasn't really made me feel any richer. In fact, long before $80,000, I had this big revelation that money was no longer changing my life. Saving my first $10,000 felt empowering as I was no longer desperate. And having a bit more amplified that. But at $50,000, money started to seem abstract. At $50,000, money was now just these numbers that moved on a screen that in no way impacted my day-to-day life. They weren't really solving any of my problems. And at that mark, I learned a very important lesson that many savers learn far too late in life. Money can give you basic security, stability, and options, but it can't give you fulfillment, contentment, and direction. These things you have to figure out on your own. And at that point, I really started to analyze my own life and where I was headed. Chapter four, when frugality started making my life worse. As I reached $50,000, I realized that I had fallen back into my old habits of this all or nothing mentality. But this time, there was no clear end goal. I wasn't saving aggressively to travel the world or change my life in a meaningful way, but I was just saving to increase my net worth. That moment was kind of like a crossover point where frugality went from making my life better to making it worse. And the reason it was making my life worse wasn't because saving was bad, but it was because I was viewing money as this scarce thing, even though it clearly wasn't, and that impacted my day-to-day experience. I overthought small decisions. I hesitated on convenience, and I felt guilt spending money on things that didn't threaten my security. At that point, when I had more money than I had ever had, I thought back to my time in Ecuador, and I realized something very ironic. Despite having and making more money, my quality of life was lower because I was missing out on these small things that were the things that enriched my day-to-day experience. I was living my life like once I reached the next milestone, I'll have finally made it. But as I was going through my journey, the milestones just kept moving further and further, and I realized the more money you have, the less you feel you have. And at that moment, I realized that I needed to drastically change my relationship with money, or I would end up living this life of regret. Chapter five, from extreme to intention. Over the past two years, I have been focusing on living more intentionally, where I have a balance between living in the present and preparing for the future, instead of living in one extreme or the other. And that balance didn't come from saving less or spending more, but it came from just being a lot more deliberate with how I used my money. I didn't abandon frugality, but I kept some of my old habits that were important, and adopted new habits to enrich my day-to-day life. And as far as the habits I kept, there were three main ones. The first habit was keeping my big expenses low. The bulk of most people's budget goes to only three places, housing, transportation, and food. These big expenses shape your financial life far more than any small expense ever can. And so I've been focused on keeping these three expenses under control, and then I can enjoy the little things more on a day-to-day basis. Two, being intentional with every decision. For me, being intentional doesn't mean obsessing over every purchase I make and always making perfect decisions, but it means taking a pause long enough to think if these decisions support the life that I want to live and are the best use of my money. An intentional decision might be to say yes to a trip I really want, or say no to a big purchase that is wasteful. Intentionality isn't about spending less, but it's being more deliberate with the choices that you make. And the third habit I've kept is living a simple life. For me, simplicity isn't about deprivation or going without things for the sake of it, but it's avoiding the unnecessary complexities in life, like having complex schedules, complex commitments, and a complex lifestyle. Oftentimes, we make life a lot more complicated than it needs to be, which ends up making life worse, not better. The next thing I want to talk about is the three habits that I've adopted to live with more balance. One, using money to take thoughtful risks. In my opinion, money should empower you to live the life you want, not hold you back from the fear of losing it. And so now, with the money I've built, I have been using it to enrich my life and take more calculated risks, like quitting my job to become a full-time YouTuber, moving across the country because I wanted to, and creating more big memories I'll actually remember later in life. My life has been so much richer by taking these risks, and believe it or not, it has actually made me in a better financial situation. Two, enjoying the day-to-day things more. As I said earlier, when I lived in Ecuador, I realized how the small things that seem very insignificant are the things that often make day-to-day life richer. And so nowadays, I try to treat myself more in the day-to-day, and not overthink these small purchases. Whether that's working at a coffee shop over an $8 cup of coffee, getting a meal out when I do not want to cook, and saying yes to experiences I want. These things don't really impact my finances at all, but they completely change how my days feel. And the third habit is not using money as my measuring stick. At the start of 2025, one of my big goals was to make six figures. Not because I needed to make that money, but because I thought that making it would bring fulfillment into my life. And as we end 2025, I'll tell you that I did not make six figures this year. I made about $75,000. But despite that, this year has been so fulfilling. I didn't have to turn down one single experience. I got to live in an exciting location, and spend my time doing work I truly enjoy. And I'm still better off financially than I was last year. This year taught me that money isn't what makes life fulfilling, but it's what you choose to do with the money that matters. And those are the habits that I have adopted this past year. And so I want to finish this video off by zooming out and taking a look at the big picture. Chapter six, why I quit talking about frugality. So I want to finish this video off, my last video of 2025, by talking about this channel, and where I've been taking it, and the direction I want to take it in 2026. In case you don't know, YouTube is my full-time job. It's my business. It's my primary source of income. And so I have to be very intentional about what I choose to talk about in order to pay my bills. And about five months ago, I made the very intentional decision to stop making videos about frugality and personal finance, and start making videos about bigger macro financial topics. And to be completely honest with you, the reason I decided to make this switch was because after four years of talking about frugality, personal finance, and minimalism, I found myself repeating the same topics over and over. And I was running out of new topics to think about. I only have so many tips to share. And when it comes to these topics, there is only so much that you can say on them. But at the same time, the data was telling me that you all were tired of these videos. As for the first half of the year, my channel was stagnating and declining. And so around August, I decided that I needed to take some risks. And I experimented with a new format of these macro research-driven video essays. And they really seem to be resonating with you all. As eight out of ten of my highest viewed videos of the year were under this format. But beyond the numbers, this change has really reignited my passion for creating videos. They might take about four times longer to make, but I generally enjoy making them and learn a lot in the process. And as we enter 2026, this is the direction I want to keep taking the channel. This channel is no longer about cutting expenses, but it's about understanding the systems that we all live in. Thank you so much for watching. I hope you enjoyed this video. I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year. And if you want to watch another very interesting video, the first video that took off my channel, why I'm extremely frugal, that I still stand by, give this video a watch next. With that, muchas gracias, que tenga un buen dia, nos vemos chico.