I've began to look at money differently..

[Joe McCarthy]

Since I've started down the path to financial freedom, I have began to look at money differently .

I've become more aware of the flow of money, and how it can be used as a tool to achieve my ultimate goal - and also the goal of many here - financial freedom.

I have learned that when I buy a $5 sandwich, I haven't just exchanged $5 for a sandwich. I have , in fact, just sacrificed $25-50 worth of property.  How so ? Simple. 1 word. Leverage .

That $5 that I spent on a sandwich could have been put to use as part of a down payment  on an investment property. That $5 sandwich would just set me back $25-50 worth of real estate. Now, $5 doesn's seem like a lot of money.. but what if we run it over the course of 1 typical week. 

Here is how my typical week would have looked before I gained this awareness.. Every day mon - fri i would spend $2 on coffee , $5 on lunch and $7 on dinner every day. Over the course of mon-fri this adds up to $70 . (2x5 + 5x5 + 7x5) .  At the weekends I spend about $10 on groceries for food. Total $80

This means I am losing out on $400-800 worth of real estate each week if it was considered leveraged money. This is just the weekdays, not including the weekends.  Over the course of 1 year. that $70 a week on food and coffee at work adds up to $3640 per year... or, in leveraged terms , 20,800 - $41,600 worth of real estate (if using 80-90% leverage)

Of course, one has to eat. As of writing, I am spending about $40 a week on shopping , (about $30 worth of shopping used mon-fri) and  that coffee I used to buy at work I now bring from home.. Probably costs me about $0.10 a coffee. And the food I prepare the night before is now my lunch and dinner for the next day.

One might argue ''Well you are spending TIME to cook the food, so you are trading you time for money''

This is true, I am , currently , trading my time for money. But I am not yet at the stage where I have achieved financial freedom, and so I am happy and willing to put the work in now so I can achieve financial freedom in the long run.

That $80 a week I have reduced to $40 a week. Which, over the course of a year , saves $2080 . And if that $2080 is being used as down payments and leveraged to buy real estate, that means I have just gained an extra 10,400 - 20800 worth of real estate ..

I see this as a simple example of an actionable step to help people towards financial freedom.

I am currently applying this in my own path to financial freedom.

Would love to hear other peoples perspective and opinions on this

What are your thoughts and methods to achieve financial freedom?