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A. I just simply want to save for my future. I use force savings strategies, I live based on whatever money left on my pocket which sometimes not enough to pay the bills and day to day expenses so I live frugal more often than not. This is how I was brought up by my parents.
Unfortunately, as a single mother with two kids, one of whom has a disability,
just surviving was a struggle. Forget about saving anything.
B. I just can't stick to my day to day budget or my daily lifestyle is just freaking expensive. I just can't let go of my morning coffee, I can't let go of my hobbies (like gym membership but you don't go to the gym regularly), I can't cut my cable (cos there's no live sports game in Netflix), I'm addicted to shop at Amazon, subscription here, subscription there, at time I get lazy packing my lunch so I eat outside most days of the week. I turn the heater on when the temp goes below 80.
My husband and I are on a fixed income. We rarely eat out, and I am a nazi about wasting electricity and water. I roll my own cigarettes and my husband dips,
so I suppose these and our pets are the vices we can't let go of. We rent movies from the library (free)
and don't have cable or high speed internet. Our internet costs $10 a month as a hotspot on our phone.
C. Expensive house mortgage (more than 20% of my income). If only my mortgage is lower than 20% of my income, I do not need to live frugal.
We own the house we live in free and clear. My MIL was going to will it to us anyway, so she went ahead and deeded it to us a couple of months ago. Before that, we had moved from Colorado to Kansas because our rent was becoming more than we could afford. It would have been 70% of our income.[/color]
D. Expensive car + low mileage + high maintenance= living frugal. I just can't drive Prius period.
We drive a 21 year old truck.
E. Student loan. Self explanatory. NA
F. I had a big purchases like vacation, buying expensive stuff (other than car and house) and I'm recuperating Nope.
G. Unforeseen issues like accident and my insurance is not enough to cover the damages.
Became disabled after losing my job in 2010. Could not afford insurance or the meds that helped me to function. Husband is also disabled but Social Security says he isn't even though he can't work. I am now on Medicare and he is covered through the VA.
For some folks, being frugal is not a choice, it is a way to survive. It is possible to live a happy and full life without a lot of money. You just have to be creative, careful, sensible and appreciate whatyou do have instead of crying over what you don't.
Let's admit it, there must be reasons why we live frugal. Let's spare our income because we should budget based on our income in the first place.
Who among these people are you?
or which among these items (or it can be a combination) do you think is the culprit why you live frugal?
A. I just simply want to save for my future. I use force savings strategies, I live based on whatever money left on my pocket which sometimes not enough to pay the bills and day to day expenses so I live frugal more often than not. This is how I was brought up by my parents.
B. I just can't stick to my day to day budget or my daily lifestyle is just freaking expensive. I just can't let go of my morning coffee, I can't let go of my hobbies (like gym membership but you don't go to the gym regularly), I can't cut my cable (cos there's no live sports game in Netflix), I'm addicted to shop at Amazon, subscription here, subscription there, at time I get lazy packing my lunch so I eat outside most days of the week. I turn the heater on when the temp goes below 80.
C. Expensive house mortgage (more than 20% of my income). If only my mortgage is lower than 20% of my income, I do not need to live frugal.
D. Expensive car + low mileage + high maintenance= living frugal. I just can't drive Prius period.
E. Student loan. Self explanatory.
F. I had a big purchases like vacation, buying expensive stuff (other than car and house) and I'm recuperating
G. Unforeseen issues like accident and my insurance is not enough to cover the damages.
None of the above.
I don't budget in terms of money, I budget in terms of time.
The gym membership is going to cost this many hours per month
The iPhone is going to cost this many hours per month
I have put in many years of hard work to achieve what I have now but am fully aware that one slip up could knock me right off this ladder rung and right back to where I started.
When you live in financial austerity (frugality), you remove a great stressor in life. Living in debt is incredibly stressful but most people don't even notice it since it's all they've ever known. There's something to be said for choosing to take a couple weeks off work and not even blink an eye at the lost income.
One mantra I live by is "Don't let your things own you.". It's all about working to live, not living to work. Live lower than your means. Enjoy life on your time, not somebody else's.
Woundedspirit and CBeisbol have already nailed it. Hopefully the other pages of this thread were filled with similar advice because they are both spot on.
I guess I am not really fitting into the mold again.
I grew up in a household where both my parents lived through the great depression. My mother still saved and reused baggies by rinsing them out and drying them up until she passed away. DROVE my brother's wife nuts. She could not understand it. My mom had well over a million in her IRA when she passed away at over 80 years old. And nope, she never made million. She was a third grade teacher at a public school.
So part of why I am fragile it that I grew up with many fragile practices. I don't reuse the baggies. BUT I do stock up when food is on sale, and do not buy things that are not on sale if avoidable without a major lifestyle change---yeah, milk and some things are regular exceptions. Meat never is.
BUT by being fragile in some areas it lets me have extra money to live a great life by spending on the things that matter most to me. That was the same in my childhood. WE had a motorhome and boat for weekend fun and vacation. We had a cabin in the mountains. We had a built in pool.
Now, I can spend on great vacations with my kids. We have nearly 4 weeks of cruises planned this year. Two trips to our old home area (CA) to visit friends and family. And 2 weeks to Hawaii. So ten weeks of vacation! YEAH!
I just bought a boat to use at our lakefront retirement home.
But, even with these things, I shop and am fragile, based on what they are. For the cruises the third person was free in the cabin. The boat is 4 years old and in great shape, just not new. Hawaii is using our timeshare, so it costs us the maintenance fee of $800 a year for each week.,,.for a 3 bedroom, living room, kitchen, 2 bathroom unit. And we will cook must meals in while in Hawaii.
So I am fragile so that I can spend the money in the areas that count.
The reason for our frugality was so that we could one day own our own place....which we now do, and have for years.
I could never understand throwing something out that works perfectly well...despite what it looks like.
I could never understand buying new clothes when the old ones are fine...or the second hand stores are over flowing with good quality clothes.
I've driven beaters.... old enough to be fixed (if need be) by us,..I won't drive a computer chipped vehicle...
I turn old towels into wash clothes...we used flannel diapers for all our children.
I see so many young people today who have many beautiful things...new cars, furniture etc...but they also have incredible debt...to me it's just not worth it.
We own everything we have....our frugality helped us to achieve that.
Agreed. But we must remain cognizant of an important psychological impediment... once one attains a certain sum of money, it becomes downright painful to spend from it, even for frugal living-expenses. One comes to prefer having a residual side-job, even if a small one, even if no longer saving money. One's portfolio becomes an aspect of one's person; diminish it by spending, and one's person diminishes.
Yes, good point. Although I think a side job can be a healthy thing.
Mine do not fit in any scenario completely. I simply like seeing my account grow and enjoy money(and what it can provide - security, early retirement, choices) more then stuff. Sleep better at night, peace of mind. We are and have been (thankfully) quite financially secure since marrying at 22. We never had enormous debt and we both naturally lived frugal, wasn't anything we discussed just happened we both were pretty much on the same page. We saved up fast and are debt free including mortgage. We will always live frugal. Now, one big reason we live frugal is to enjoy the things most important like extra time together, able to visit family, vacations/travel, hobbies. I'd rather live frugal in many areas of life to get more out of another.
Fear. I'm frugal because there is no one on earth who would help me financially if I needed help, so I could never allow myself to be in a position to need help.
I get the enjoyment part of frugality, too, because I clip coupons and cherry pick sales and like to get a good steal. I reduce, re-use, recycle, upcycle, compost, grow food (including pricey herbs), pick up pennies - you name it, the whole gamut. The habits of a lifetime, and they have served me pretty well.
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Nope.
