It is thought that in North America, about 75% of people are basically extroverted, and the rest are basically introverted. And it’s the extroverts which some if not many people believe are “better” than introverted individuals; they are often perceived to be more successful in life, and introverts are often accused of being anti-social. Nancee and I happen to both be basically introverted. (but in certain aspects appear more extroverted) While neither introversion or extroversion in extremes is good, introverts have several advantages over extroverts.

While introverts tend to have fewer friends, they are usually much closer to them than extroverts. Not only that, having fewer close friends means you don’t have to get as many gifts throughout the year, especially if you have a limited income!

Introverts typically think before they act, which prevents them from making many errors and blunders extroverts make.

Introverts are more likely to persist with a long-term project than extroverts.

Introverts don’t need as high an income to survive comfortably compared to extroverts. (this does not mean they should be paid less, however)

Many of the great accomplishments in human history were made by introverts.

Introverts often have significantly less bad debt than extroverts.

Introverts are somewhat to much more likely to earn scholarships for studies beyond high school. (because introverts usually have better study habits)

Introverts do far less risky or dangerous behaviour that could get them seriously hurt or killed (such as drunk driving)

Introverts are usually much more able to resist peer pressure.

Introverts seem to rarely become teen parents. (because they are rarely engaging in teen sex)

Most of the world’s problems in the last 50 to 100 years were cause by extreme extroverts. (And introverts know how to prevent or solve them, but the extroverts rarely listen!)

Children who are introverts are usually much easier to babysit than those who are extroverted. (in high school and university, I’ve babysat both types)

1. Borrow movies from the library instead of viewing movies on Netflix, buying them, or renting from a video store.
2. Don’t sign up for a gym membership that they deduct automatically from your bank account or credit card, because many will continue to charge those accounts long after you’ve given them notice, even notice in the proper form as in the contract.
3. If you do go to a gym, consider one in a community center or a university campus, which the fees are often much lower if there are any fees at all, and they rarely have an automatic deduction.
4. Many less expensive items can be bought much more cheaply at dollar and discount stores than in grocery and department stores, the exceptions being some types of food items, some types of medical and health items, and often electrical items; however, in many cases the department and grocery stores have the same brands, but have a much lower cost because the dollar/discount stores often purchase in much larger quantities. Certain types of musical instruments too, especially recorders, should NOT be purchased at dollar and discount stores, as they often have tone quality and note range problems, though percussion instruments are sometimes okay.
5. If you know that a particular restaurant tends to serve large portions that are really enough for two people and that you can eat only about half yourself, and the other person’s a light eater too, split one large portion instead of ordering two.
6. Load up on smaller sized burgers, tacos, and burritos at fast food restaurants instead of ordering larger ones, especially if they are under $1.50 per portion; you will often get more food for less money and have enough food for two or three meals! (Taco Bell is a great place to do this, which has hard and soft tacos for less than a buck each before tax)
7. Know when your favourite products are priced somewhat to well below regular price, especially on milk, meat, and cheese, which are normally quite expensive, which I get extra quantities when they are 40-60% off the regular price.
8. Take advantage of wide-ranging loyalty programs, such as Air Miles that you will get rewarded at least a few times a year. (almost every month with Air Miles I get enough Air Miles for $20-$30 worth of groceries, which helps when cash is limited)
9. Take advantage of bonus points/miles offers on products you’d buy anyway in multiples you can use in a reasonable amount of time.
10. Use coupons to save even more when products you have coupons for and use anyway are already on sale.
11. Cut the cable/satellite TV. Do you really need the same shows on multiple channels, when many shows are available online, even from other countries that you wouldn’t get on the cable or satellite TV? (the UK’s BBC shows are available almost anywhere if not everywhere in the world online, which you CAN’T get on satellite or cable plans in most places! Many of their shows are of much higher quality than those in North America.
12. Cut the Internet access at home, especially if you don’t have kids, or kids that are too young to use it, and use the internet or WIFI in cafes and public libraries. Seriously, I and my husband find that we waste hours online when now we are often practicing, composing, or arranging music. And your computers will be far less vulnerable to spyware and viruses.
13. Don’t buy the latest technology when it first comes out; wait a few months to a few years when all or almost all the bugs in the new technology have been fixed. (I don’t even have a flatscreen TV or a Blu-ray player for example, though a new TV will be a necessity pretty soon, as the one my husband and I have which he’s had for 25 years, has been dying the last few months.)
14. Shop at thrift stores. Especially for clothes, I’ve often found expensive name brands on clothes with the tags still on for a small fraction of the price I would have paid had I bought then in the original retailer that sells it. Some of the expensive name brands I’ve found in thrift stores include Reitman’s, Tangard (a VERY expensive Sears brand), Tabi, Talbots, The Gap, Levis, and others. CDs and movies can be often bought for a very low price; I’ve found many of my favourite movies that I can’t get enough of for $1-$2 each, even recent movies. Furniture is often a good deal, I got a $1200 Lazy E Boy couch for ONLY $90 INCLUDING delivery last year! Electronics and appliances are somewhat riskier, but many places have checked that they work, or will let you test them before you buy. Books are often at incredible prices, especially children’s books.
15. Buy expensive items used—in most cases. Especially on some types of furniture and most types of musical instruments, particularly if purchasing mid-range or professional level equipment. Often a used model of a higher grade is the same or less than a new model of a lower grade of equipment. One exception to buying used is computers, NEVER buy them used as you often inherit the bugs and computer viruses of the previous user, not to mention that a used computer may be very slow at doing what you want, or not be able to do them at all.
16. DON’T donate to big charities that are famous; often very little of what you donate actually goes to the people who are supposed to benefit from them, because they spend money paying their bureaucratic structure, their door-to-door and phone solicitors, advertising and mailing lists. Instead, donate to individuals in need (especially friends or family on low incomes) or small organizations that you deeply care about, or that you use the services so much that you would be happy to give some money to continue their expansion. For example, I use the public library a great deal in several ways, as well as the services of a couple of music sites, and am planning to help out a couple of youth ensembles that I’ve had students perform as members to help pay membership fees for students who would not otherwise be able to afford them. If you have a skill and the other party is interested, donate some instruction time and materials if you can afford them, perhaps in exchange for having them clean your home or expand your paid client base.
17. Try before you buy—by borrowing them. Books and movies can often be borrowed from a public library or a friend. That way, you know if you like it or not, and far more times than not you will be glad you didn’t spend the money! Much software often has a limited time period which you can use it without paying for it, ranging from an hour or two to 30 days.
18. Go online for free resources. There’s TONS of free worksheets for academic subjects online, lots of colouring pages, and lots of sheet music, especially Christmas sheet music. Plus Youtube often has great videos, especially music videos made by professional musicians, plus the Naxos music library is free through many universities and some public library systems. (otherwise it’s $25/year) There’s quite a few freeware games and software, one that I like that replaces almost all of the MS Office apps is OpenOffice, it has all the MS Office software I use except Publisher which I don’t mind paying for separately as I use it almost every day. There’s even at least a couple of free music notation programs online!
19. If you go out to eat at a place that has a choice between buffet and a la carte, choose the latter if you are a light or moderate eater over the buffet. Many places are offering the buffet prices at up to 2 1/2 times more than the price of an a la carte meal!
20. If you buy a dessert when eating at a full-service restaurant (which is usually very pricey compared to buying it yourself in a grocery store or bakery), split one dessert over ordering two, as many restaurants serve very large portions on dessert, which is often enough for two and occasionally three people.
21. When going out to eat or going to the movies, find out when the prices are lower; here it’s usually Monday or Tuesday nights, sometimes Wednesdays, as many places charge more for premium times late in the week or on weekends. This also applies to attending musical theatre.
22. When going to musical theatre productions, especially professional ones, skip the opening and closing night shows, as they are usually the most expensive and are in huge demand.
23. When signing up for music lessons, take a non-prime-time slot if possible, particularly if you are an adult student who can come during the day. Some teachers charge more for times that are in significant demand, and/or discount lessons at hard-to-fill times. Not only that, if a student takes a non-prime-time slot, the student usually gets a better lesson or the teacher is happy to give additional instruction time at no additional cost!
24. Don’t sign up for home delivery of most magazines, especially major ones; read them at the library and/or borrow them from there. The exception is magazines related to your trade or occupation, which may be difficult or impossible to find available, though university/college libraries may have them. You’ll not only save money, but greatly reduce potential clutter.
25. Consider signing up for survey sites that reward you with points that you can redeem for rewards such as gift cards/gift certificates to places you would go to anyway.
26. Save your rewards points until close to the end of the year, and use your rewards from loyalty programs to purchase gifts at Christmas.
27. If you have a skill that the gift recipient could use and wants it (eg: cleaning services, music lessons), offer them a gift of service as a gift for their birthday or Christmas.
28. Make friends in other places, and stay with them when you travel instead of booking commercial travel accomodations, especially if you’re travelling alone. Not only will you save lots of money, but you will often see places known by locals, but not frequented by tourists.
29.  

 Over the past 50 to 100 years, many jobs that humans once did have been taken over by machines, or taken over by hiring much cheaper labour in foreign countries, especially in the poorest parts of Asia, particularly China and India. First, it was manufacturing jobs, and most recently it’s been IT and customer service jobs for many banks which have been moved to countries with low labour costs. And it’s only in the name of ever increasing profit, without regard for the life of their local employees and families.

However, artists of all types, painters, musicians, actors, and others, are most likely going to be immune to automation and cheap labour.

What are the reasons for this? There are at least 3 of them.

First, the arts are organic, made by living creatures, and a few non-human animals have been known to create art, especially gorillas, chimps, birds, and even cats.

Second, even when there is technology involved in the creation of art, they still require human input over and over again, in several different forms.

Third, many of the countries with cheap labour costs limit or discourage creativity, and have little to no development of art, drama, and music of the Westernized world within the culture of those countries with low labour costs.

So perhaps of encouraging students towards careers in computers, finance, and science, people should try to encourage them towards arts careers if they have the interest and talent for it!