When I post how you can invest $500/month for 30 years to become a millionaire, a lot of the response is like “Yeah, but no one can afford $500”. Everyone’s situation is different, but I bet for MOST OF US there are LARGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY being spent on simply clicking a button to make something happen easier instead of looking for a better way.

I love how @mrmoneymustache describes frugality as muscle that must be trained. It’s not easy to be frugal at first. The easy thing is to lie sideways on your couch watching TV while scrolling Amazon on your phone and making Saved By The Bell Bobbleheads appear on your doorstep, like I so often do. Being more purposeful about what you actually need and how you acquire it takes work. But that frugality muscle can be trained and become stronger. And as your frugality muscle becomes stronger, it becomes easier. It also unlocks huge savings which translates to MASSIVE gains once invested over time.

The example in this post is real as of today. You can make two 25 lbs dumbbells arrive on your doorstep within a couple days for 62 bucks. Not a terrible price. Or, you can spend a little more effort finding the same item on OfferUp, coordinate a price (I bet they’d do $25) and pickup, and go grab them. You might even get them sooner. That would save you $37 for just a little more effort.

We all have opportunities like that at least daily regarding housing, transportation, food, entertainment, and more. Add them up and most of us are easily at $500 and beyond. The opportunity to become a millionaire is right there in front of you if you’re willing to train the frugality muscle.

As always, reminding you to build wealth by following the two PFC rules: 1.) Live below your means and 2.) Invest early and often.

-Jeremy