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# Frugal Living

*Saturday, May 27<sup>th</sup>, 2023, at 5:37 PM Canberra, Australia Time*

## <a name="contents">Contents</a>

- [Author](#author)
- [Edit History](#edit-history)
- [Introduction](#introduction)

## <a name="author">Author</a> 

*Author: The Honorable Dr.<sup>[9](notes.html#9)</sup> Mattanaw, Christopher Matthew Cavanaugh, Retired*

Interdisciplinarian with Immeasurable Intelligence. Lifetime Member of the High Intelligence Community.<sup>[6](notes.html#6)</sup>

- Masters Business & Economics, [Harvard University](christopher-matthew-cavanaugh-mattanaw-harvard-id-card.jpg) (In Progress)
- Attorney, Pro Se, Litigation, Trial, Depositions, Contracts (E.g. State of Alaska v. Pugh, et. al.)<sup>[4](notes.html#4)</sup>
- B.S. Psychology, University of Maryland, 4.0, Summa Cum Laude<sup>[1](notes.html#1)</sup>
- B.S. Computer & Information Science, University of Maryland, 3.91, Magna Cum Laude<sup>[2](notes.html#2)</sup>
- B.A. Philosophy, University of Maryland.<sup>[3](notes.html#3)</sup>
- G.E.D., State of Maryland, Montgomery County, 1999.

Former Chief Architect, Adobe Systems

Current President/Advisor, Social Architects and Economists International.

Contact:

- [cmcavanaugh@g.harvard.edu](mailto:cmcavanaugh@g.harvard.edu)
- [christopher.matthew.cavanaugh@member.mensa.org](mailto:christopher.matthew.cavanaugh@member.mensa.org)
- [mattanaw@mattanaw.org](mailto:mattanaw@mattanaw.org)

Resumé

- [Professional Resumé](resume.pdf)

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## <a name="edit-history">Edit History</a>

- *Saturday, May 27<sup>th</sup>, 2023, at 5:37 PM Canberra, Australia Time*

## <a name="introduction">Introduction</a>

The topic of Frugal Living relates to the topic of personal moral behavior in relation to excellences of interacting with the market, and for personal planning. I have been interested in frugal living since youth, but became much more interested again, after having a period of overspending, with the result of accumulating some credit debt in my early twenties. As part of my plan to ensure I would no longer experience such debt, I created a personal log in which I tracked my expenditures, that I called my [Personal Form](mattanaws-personal-form.html). This personal form includes various [Life Categories](life-categories.html) relating to tracking and managing one's own behavior, and the specific category which relates to frugal living is "Livelihood". As part of this personal diary of frugal living, I tracked my expenditures, collected receipts (which were stapled to the form), and monitored spending for several years. The result was a very good control of budget and expenditure culminating later in a significant savings, which allowed eventually for early retirement. These efforts began in the early/mid 2000s and resulted in retirement approximately 15 years later. It is possible for readers to achieve similar results with simple discipline and planning similar to what I've done.

Currently my interest is on living on basics that are maximally minimal but have the greatest influence on either 1) improving well-being, or 2) satisfying needs which relate to ongoing expenditures. The objective is not only to live frugally but to do so in a way that relates to personal improvement. For example, any minimized spending on food, if done well, is better if it also satisfies other goals related to health and nutrition. Recommendations on this page, which is a series, will include example steps that can be taken to greatly decrease spending on various life categories while improving chances that one is well cared for, but in simpler ways. The author has found that oftentimes, living more frugally creates a simplicity that is advantageous apart from saving money. Sometimes the market produces solutions that we purchase, in the form of products, that really are not solutions to real problems we have, but are ways to extract income from people who have funds and are capturable as part of a consumer market. In other words, businesses try to find ways to extract income in various ways by offering products, solutions and services, which are not really needed, if the consumers are attentive to how they can satisfy their needs more self-sufficiently.
