The other day I read an article about Josh Radnor, the actor who played Ted Mosby on the television series “How I Met Your Mother.” Now 43, he talked about staying in his $750-a-month sublet for the first two years of the show, even though it was a megahit.
“You don’t know, as an actor, how sustainable things are going to be, how long things are going to last,” he told CNBC.
Finally he bought a house – the last person in the cast to do so – and by the end of the series he’d made the Forbes list of the highest-paid television actors, earning $10 million (salary plus syndication bucks).
Normally I don’t write about celebs, but I want to highlight something Radnor said in the article:
“It’s not that I’m frugal. I don’t mind spending money if I believe in the thing. (But) there’s not a lot of stuff I look at in the world and say ‘Oh, man, I gotta have that’.”
As long as we’re doing TV today, I’m going to paraphrase Eleanor Shellstrop* from “The Good Place”: Josh Radnor…Ya frugal!
Spending money on things you “believe in,” i.e., things you’ve decided are worth it and saying “no thanks” to the rest of it is frugal. So is not rushing into a big purchase if you aren’t clear where the money will come from, no matter what those around you are doing.
Why do so many people defend their choices along the lines of, “Hey, it’s not like I’m frugal or anything”? As though it were a bad thing to be?
Josh Radnor: Be an example
That was a rhetorical question. I know very well why some people think “frugal” is a filthy state of being. They think it’s synonymous with “that cheapskate tightwad Scrooge whom no one likes” or with “a life that contains no fun at all.” As I note in my second book:
Some people think of frugality/intentional living as a punishment. They’re mistaken. Frugality is a power move. It’s unlikely that the economy in your region will do a 180 overnight, or that a shuttered factory will reopen, or that some anonymous benefactor will pay off your medical debt. Such things are beyond your capacity.
But you do have the power to choose how you’ll live on such resources as are available (while always looking to improve your life). The trick is to care about what you spend vs. spending without a care.
…I would never tell you to stop dreaming. But I suggest you determine which dreams are yours and which are someone else’s. (Hint: The people who set trends are usually the same ones who package and sell them.)
Will your life still be worth living if you don’t get everything on your bucket list? Absolutely. You can find tremendous satisfaction in the things you do attain, especially when you learn to appreciate the beauty of the everyday. Do this joyfully, rather than thinking of it as settling for less.
I have everything I need and some of what I want, which I consider a blessed place to be. Apparently Radnor does, too.
He did things the smart way. For example, he waited to buy a home until he saw how the series shook down. Kudos for that. One of the actors interviewed in a documentary called “That Guy Who Was In That Thing” bought stuff he couldn’t afford based on a success that turned out not to last. (Hint: It didn’t end well.)
Radnor balks at paying $10 for a single copy of the magazine to which he already subscribes (but which he forgot to bring to the airport). Yet he’s the happy owner of some very nice guitars and likes to spend money on travel and experiences vs. Stuff that doesn’t add value to his life.
The actor looks at what’s available out there and often decides, “Nope, not for me.” He buys what matters to him and just as important, he doesn’t break the bank on it.
So Josh Radnor, bless your heart, you are frugal. And you have a chance to make a difference here.
Mentor other actors, young or old. Show them how not to spend more than they earn. Remind them that acting is a notoriously feast-or-famine profession. And teach by example: Show them that while it’s great to have the things you like, it’s even better if you pay cash.
Invite them to join the ranks of folks who are frugal, not miserly. We have much to teach them.
Readers: Ever have people question your frugal ways? What do you tell them?
Related reading:
*Here’s a clip of Eleanor (Kristen Bell) delivering her signature line.
Zoey Deschanel does her own accounting and pays cash for things or pays off charges at the end of the month. She trusts no one to tell her what she is worth and how much she has.
When I was in college, a younger student and I became good friends because we were English majors and went from out BA to working on MA. I used a lined spiral notebook and only wrote on one side of the page. I also went to the copiers and took paper from the recycling bin that only had the clean white pages, no print. She asked why–to write papers on them.
One day, she asked me why I would get paper from the recycling bin to save using paper yet I would only write on one side of the spiral notebook pages. The answer–ink shows up on the other side of the spiral notebook page making it hard to see clearly.
By writing on one side, it was easier for me to read. I was older, tireder, and drove lots. Yet, I did not want to write papers on lined paper because I wanted lots of space. This was years ago before I wrote papers on the computer. So, I spent what I had to on getting good notes. But, for something I was going to eventually toss, it did not matter if the paper came from the recycling bin. I sat at my kitchen table and wrote the papers since I did not even own a computer and was painfully slow at typing.
It made lots of sense to her, and she started writing on one side of her spiral notebook pages, too.
I have not been asleep for over 36 hours, so hope this is coherent.
I love this! It warms my heart to hear famous, high-earning people choosing to be responsible with their money. As long as you live beneath your means, you can do pretty well.
I think we need more Donna commentary on pop culture! My two cents, anyway 🙂 I find celebrity commentary on spending really interesting — though rarely relatable. A YA author I admire has an FAQ section of her website with tips for writers. Tip #1: Learn to live frugally and avoid debt as best you can.
I like that tip. I like it a lot.
I am loud and proud about being frugal. Damn right I don’t throw my preciouses away on things I won’t or don’t value! The number of times I’ve amused fellow shoppers while I explain IN PUBLIC to my small child that we don’t pay X for Y because X is way too expensive and we can get it for less or we can buy in season or insert a half dozen other alternatives even if we want it right this second: Many.
I don’t want zir to feel a speck of shame about prioritizing how we spend our money because someday ze will, I hope, be making money of zir own.
You are an amazing parent. Hope those others moms and dads are taking notes.
I very often told my children in public why we were not going to buy something. Often, the answer was, “We cannot afford that.” However, they had heard the long version–the cheap toy in that cereal will bread, so no, I cannot afford to pay that much for a piece of junk.” Or, whatever the issue was. It appears they are frugal, too.
My first college degree is in theater, in my 20’s I worked days and did plays at night. 80 percent of working actors make 8000 a year, if you do make it and get a tv show or steady gig, it is vitally important to embrace frugality. My actor friends have had long periods of unemployment and live poor. I admire Josh very much.
This was a breath of fresh air from someone that could have anything. He measures happiness and spending money not by material things but by what he believes in.
Yep. That’s why I hope that some others in that industry take notice. Today is not forever, and the hit show you’re in now could be canceled next year — at which point it could be a long time before you get another paying gig.
More to the point, there’s nothing wrong with declining to buy into (as it were) a consumeristic culture. Wouldn’t it be swell if more celebrities came out as saying, “Yeah, I’m driving a 2015 Subaru Forester that I bought used, with cash” or “Still living with my longtime roommate because I didn’t see any reason to move”? Or maybe seeing them go on record as saying, “Fellow artists, don’t spend more than you earn”?
Hey, a girl can dream.