Friday, April 16, 2010

Frugal Tip

I have a Love/Hate relationship with frugality. Actually, not with frugality. It's when I take it too far and I am cheap.

It is so easy for me to be cheap and stingy and so hard to be wise with my money. For example, when I am frugal I see the whole picture...while saving money is a goal; it's not my ONLY goal. Obviously this is a good thing. When I'm being cheap, I focus only on money without thinking about our health, neighbors, our "stuff" or our environment.
  1. Health - am I buying the cheapest products and not thinking about the long term effects on our health? White flour is cheaper and it's horrible! Iceberg lettuce is cheap! Not nutritious though. More pasta, less meat does not work for those with blood sugar issues.
  2. Neighbors - why am I buying food that has travelled thousands of miles when my neighbors sell the very same thing? Sure, it might be more expensive, but you are affecting that person's livelihood.
  3. Stuff - I'll go to garage sales or see something at a store that is cheap so I'll buy it. I didn't need it, I didn't want it, but it was cheap! I have gotten a lot better about this one. My husband used to cringe when I first discovered garage sales. I would open the trunk of my car that was stuffed full and show him all of my treasures. It was a HUGE trunk - not like the trunk of my VW Bug!
  4. Environment - All of the above affects our environment adversely.
My frugal tip is this: see the whole picture instead of just money. Make investments with your money. Invest your money in your health, your neighbors, your "stuff" and your environment. Make every purchase count!

Check out other frugal tips at Life As Mom.
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5 comments:

  1. You are so right. To me, frugal is when you get the best deal on something. Nothing wrong with that. Cheap is when that deal is somehow hurtful to yourself or others. Your story about the trunkfuls of 'stuff' cracks me up. I'm the same way! But we are nearly of retirement age, and I've been getting rid of things. I have so much already that now I can actually walk out of a garage sale or thrift store with minimal items. (My rule is that I have to bring a big bag of things but I can only pick up one or two items to take back home again.)
    One of my weaknesses is storage containers--pretty boxes, baskets, anything like that sings to me! I have to stop and say: 'don't I already have something like this? Do I have something to put in this anyway?'
    It does take an effort, but when we really think about it, we already have versions of most anything out there we 'want.'

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  2. Great way to put it! Maybe I can drop that hint to my hubby. I'm bad about this, but he is way worse.

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  3. Good point! There has to be a healthy/wise/frugal balance!
    suchakingdom.blogspot.com

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  4. I struggle with the food issue also. Then I realized that if I was frugal in other areas -- making my cleaning products, shopping for clothing at consignment/ thrift/ yard sales,etc.
    That I was free extra $$s in our budget for buying real, healthy, not processed food.

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  5. Frugality is very hard to balance sometimes. My husband has called me out on my outright cheapness a few times. Guess sometimes I just get carried away. :)

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