Obsessed or frugal?
bossyvossy
7 years ago
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boops2012
7 years agostacey_mb
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Are you too Frugal ?
Comments (54)Hey Breezyb, Please don't take offense at me, I was trying to be funny (note :-) smiley face, people don't seem to use those so much anymore, so maybe you didn't get it) by saying you wanted us to waste our money on satellite TV. Notice I said in the following two sentences that I enjoy foreign travel (30 countries so far) and had (until recently) a sailboat in the Caribbean (37 ft. catamaran.) Definitely not what some would call frugal, but hey, we loved it. I was trying to show how different people are frugal (and not frugal) in completely different ways. I also want to express amazement about this thing you said **over the years I've just known so many people who were "frugal" for all the wrong reasons, & would like to see others not make the same mistake.** Wow! I have only known my mother to be excessively cheap in a painful sort of way. But I have many friends and relatives who were careless and wasteful and got into big trouble, huge credit card debts, bankruptcies, etc. by not being frugal at all. I would think that is a much bigger and more common problem. So many people wouldn't recognize frugal if it bit them on the butt! I wish I had more frugal friends, lots of people think my hubby and I are exceptionally strange in our monetary habits. Also, the former teacher in me wants to speak out. It is harder for most people to read all capital letters than normal mixed case. It's because the letters are all the same height in Caps, with no higher or lower bits, compare say PADDLE and paddle. You have to look at each letter harder in all caps to figure out what it is, so it can make it annoying to read. Of course people who can't see small things can sometimes read Caps more easily because they are bigger. But in general, mixed case is easier/faster to read because the letters are more clearly differentiated. Marcia (trying to be a nice balance of frugal and fun)...See Moredoes anyone say you are obsessed with your home?
Comments (51)I am obsessed a/b decorating. Not so much a/b my house. I spend more time reading, thinking, sketching than actually doing any decorating or remodeling on my house. When I do other people's house, I can get things done so quickly. But when it comes to my house, everything moves at snail pace! I don't have the self-imposed pressure of having to have things done so I just let things slide. I bought this sofa with the intention of reupholstering it and now, 2 years later, it's still sitting in the living room in it's original musty moldy fabric LOL :-D I agree the roughest part of being a SAHM is when the kids are young. When they are a bit older & in school, you have the morning away from the kids but once school's out, it's crazy with their 1001 activities. Most SAHM moms I know with older children volunteer at school in the morning, or work in the morning until kids are out. Some went back to school so they can work once kids are in college, some open their own business. The hardest part is to find a job that allowed you to get out early at 230 pm to pick up the kids. Dh want to be a house husband once my youngest in public school. He has it all planned out: drop kids off at school, go to the golf course play 1 round, pick them up at 3pm. Goes home fix them (and himself) a snack then take a nap. LOL :-D My sisters are working moms and I think they have it tough. After working all day, they still have to deal with homework, chores, cooking, etc. They have pressure on their jobs too whereas I am pretty much my own boss. Their kids can't do any extracurricular activities like piano lessons or dance or sports because nobody has time to shuffle them around. Another friend of mine has a full-time live in nanny who drives the kids to school & all activities. Someday she said she doesn't even get to see them awake. I think once my DS2 is in public school, I'm going back to work the morning shift 6am-2pm. That way I won't miss out any of their moments. However, that means I won't have the morning to dream, sketch, and basically obsess a/b decorating. :-(...See MoreI Just Won My Reduce My Water Bill Challenge
Comments (22)It's up to each person to find their level of "frugal" due to their circumstances. It's not a one-size-fits-all situation. The old "walk a mile in my shoes" kind of thing..... Read Brandy's story at theprudenthomemaker.com and you might change your words of condemnation to being thankful you've never had to live on so little, and be amazed at her resourcefulness. Since this is a Money Saving Tips board, and saving water is just one aspect of where we can save, here are more "A penny saved......" ideas. -Eat less-expensive food, or eat smaller portions of it. -Use disposable items less frequently, or not at all. -If you can't afford to pay cash for something, it really doesn't matter "how good of a deal" it is, especially if you purchase it with a credit card and end up paying interest on it. -Eat soup once a day as a main course. Eat vegetarian meals a few times a week. -Learn how to glean free-for-the-picking food, and how to garden (even a small container garden can yield a lot of food). -Don't ever run to the store for one item. Learn how to adapt with a substitute. -Will half as much do? Use less than you think you need, or can you get more than one use out of something (two to three cups of tea from one tea bag). -Look for less-expensive options. Frugality is a vehicle for ingenuity and creativity. -Embrace a DIY lifestyle. -Find new uses for old items. -Use passive cooking methods (solar, thermal cooker and other thermal cooking methods like a homemade Wonder Oven or Haybox) and save on utilities. -If you don't particularly care for an inexpensive food, like oatmeal as a cooked cereal, find ways to fix it that you do like - make oatmeal into granola, bars, cookies, scones, pancakes..... As someone once said, "Frugal activity should ideally be: EFFECTIVE, EFFICIENT, and ENJOYABLE."...See MoreWhat would be frugal, what would be cheap?
Comments (37)If you don't boss your money ... there's a strong possibility that it'll boss you. For a number of years of my life, I lived in a student dorm, or shared and/or employer-provided housing ... but I knew that on the day that I became fired ... or retired ... I'd be required to provide my own, so needed to make preparations beforehand, and, becoming employed at age 24, the earlier that I started the better. So I made and implemented some plans ... and now, being frugal, am able to live comfortably and in a way that pleases me within my pension income, so the investments are pretty well "play money" ... until they're needed to finance my end-of-life needs ... whatever they may turn out to be. Seventeen years or so into retirement ... how many years do I have ahead, in which I must finance my life? Even with much of my healthcare needs covered - at a pretty well unavoidable cost to me on my income tax bill of about $600.00/year ... and graduated to income : under about 20k taxable income it's nil. Recent anti-testosterone shot, 4 required per year, cost $1,250.00, under $100. out of my pocket. As I don't like hitch-hiking 10 - 16 miles through the snow for groceries and other needs in February, so figure that I can continue in my comfortable farm home at 1/2 - 2/3 cost of an apartment in the city as long as I can continue to merit a licence to drive ... how long may that continue? Ah, but ... they have these self-driving cars available now ... but can you visualize independent ole joyful sitting in the back seat, watching robotized driving of the car ... without chewing his fingernails down to blood-letting? And my tall landlord bent down to look me straight in the eye, and asked whether I had any idea of the astronomical costs that would be involved ... and I told him that I'd have to manage to continue driving while staying here for at least several more years, as I'd have to wait for them to be available used, as I haven't bought a new car in forty years. To me, a farm-raised kid that began that work at age 10 when the hired men went to war, a car is transportation, not a status symbol. Farm-raised kids learn early not to spend all the income as you go: bad years come when there ain't none - but the costs go on. Plus ... how long will I be able to continue in an apartment in the city, before requiring to live in a residential home ... or, much more expensively, in a partial-care ... or, heaven forbid, a *nursing* home? And, I hope, to provide some for my kids (no grands) when I don't need it any more and some charities. And if I choose to be generous to myself or others, it's my asset, I can use it as I please. My servant, if you will. Partial proviso: on loan from God (whom son figures to be a figment of man's imagination). ole joyfuelled...See Morecaseynfld
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