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At Milesopedia, we focus on accumulating points from credit cards and rewards programs. The goal: to enable travel that would otherwise be unaffordable.
You know, business class on a long-haul flight that costs close to $5,000—it would be unthinkable to pay cash. Or treating loved ones: three plane tickets to the Magdalen Islands makes everyone happy, and the expense remains minimal. Many of our readers are hybrid profiles, both minimalist and smart consumers.
We’ll warn you upfront: online, there’s no consensus on how the different spending-related concepts are used. However, here’s what we’ve learned after several years of observing these strategies.
Some people practice the same hobby as ours, but their objective differs: they target cash back on everyday expenses incurred with their credit cards. You should see their Excel spreadsheets detailing the optimization of every gain.
Within this group, some stand out by claiming that if their expenses become less than what they earn, they can use the difference to pay off debt, save, or invest. Not a bad idea. They even aim to retire at forty. Well, let’s say fifty for others. This phenomenon has a name: frugality.
The frugal person aims for the lowest possible expenses, as they primarily desire financial independence. To learn more, consult our guide on personal finance management in Canada.
Dans cette même ligne de pensée, plusieurs jeunes aspirent à devenir, ou sont déjà, des nomades numériques. Ils travaillent depuis leur ordinateur dans un coin du monde qui leur plaît et vivent avec un petit budget : peu de gains, peu de dépenses. La devise : travailler moins et vivre mieux, quitte à gagner moins. En outre, plusieurs adoptent le mouvement FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early), qui gagne du terrain au Canada depuis quelques années.
They are the expert at optimizing their spending, across all categories. They only use credit cards and know which ones to pull out in the right places.
They bring their balances to zero each month and never miss a promotion to multiply the airline or hotel points they accumulate. They use coupons and gift cards on which they’ve racked up several points.
Among them, you’ll find specialists in “2 for 1” deals, Groupon vouchers, and, for those with a car, filling up on gas on Tuesdays. Once again, the objective remains the same: to turn every expense into a source of gains.
This profile particularly suits young adults. We invite you to consult our personal finance tips for students to adopt the right habits from the start.
We also encounter other profiles of economical people who don’t aspire to stop working in their forties or to relocate under palm trees. They have families with children who attend daycare or school, and they appreciate their place in the sun in the job market, often part-time.
They align with the minimalist movement, in solidarity with the RRR movement: recycle, reuse, reduce.
They may show up at the end of the day at public markets to take advantage of falling prices, shop at second-hand stores, and also buy toys for the children there. As long as there are no missing pieces in the puzzle, why not?
However, minimalists above all know the value of things. They own little, but they aim for quality and durability. Minimizing expenses, controlling the budget, and avoiding overconsumption: that’s their mantra.
One might wonder at what point the boundaries of frugality, minimalism, and smart consumption are crossed in favor of stinginess.
For example, would you be put off if invited to a restaurant and saw your partner pull out a “two for one” coupon, thus reducing the expense by half? Honestly, yes—if they invited you, you barely know each other, and they didn’t mention it beforehand. However, not at all if both are in on it.
The big difference between the cheapskate and the others is that the cheapskate disregards the connection with others, because their other is money.
When hosting, where the smart consumer is pleased to use a coupon or a cash back credit card that reduced the cost of a good bottle of wine, the frugal person and the minimalist are happy to have brought their drink from a local vineyard in a recycled bottle.
The cheapskate, on the other hand, brings nothing to the party, or skips it altogether to avoid having to spend.
To whom, in your opinion, do these behaviors belong?
With the rising cost of living observed in recent years in Canada, these spending profiles are no longer just philosophical choices. Indeed, they’re becoming concrete strategies to preserve purchasing power. According to Statistics Canada, cumulative inflation since 2020 has profoundly changed household consumption habits.
Moreover, the rise of digital tools (budgeting apps, comparison sites, optimized credit cards) now makes it easier to adopt these approaches. To learn more, consult our complete guide to personal finance in Canada.
In conclusion, aside from the unenviable situation of the miser, most of us likely have a profile that borrows from each category.
Indeed, you don’t need to be a minimalist to borrow a book from the library. However, let’s remember that there’s room to reflect on how we handle our expenses in order to access what we want to do with our lives.
To go further and find the card that best matches your spending profile, consult our selection of the best credit cards in Canada.
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