People who know me sometimes wonder why I’m so frugal. They question why I don’t seem to eat out. They can’t understand why I rather watch a movie at home than go to the movie theaters and they certainly don’t feel that I’m actually enjoying life. They, like most people, are simply failing to look at my life from my point of view.
Frugal Living Isn’t Just About Cutting Down
Many people may feel that being frugal is about having and doing less but it’s really about doing more with what you already have. It may seem weird to some that not getting something is actually good but there’s true happiness when you don’t feel the need to buy.
My parents used to tell me that they made up all these wonderful paper based games because they didn’t have the money to buy anything else. Nowadays, we not only need video consoles, we won’t be satisfied until they have an Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and a Nintendo DS. You would think that having one console would make us happier than not having any, but we actually feel worst. You may have four machines plugged into your TV, but you can only play one game at a time (I’ve seen some amazing stuff with kids playing video games, but I have yet to see them play more than one game concurrently). It’s not what we have. It’s how we feel about what we have that matters.
True frugal living to me is:
- Enjoying what you have instead of what you can’t get
- Detaching Yourself from Lure of Consumerism
- Learning that Happiness Comes from Within
I’m not totally immune to consumerism. I go out to dinner, buy new gadgets and go on vacations as well. It’s just that I don’t see the need to do it as often as everyone else. I rarely feel unhappy about not buying, because I already buy a huge majority of what I want. I’m detaching myself from needing “things” to make me happy. For all those who care, this is good for me, not bad.
I’m not frugal because there’s a need. Rather, there’s no need for me to spend. How about you? Why are you frugal?
Promote or Save This Article
If you like this article, please consider bookmarking or helping us promote it!
Print Post | Email Post | Del.icio.us | Stumble it! | Reddit |
Related Posts
- Best of Personal Finance Blog by MoneyNing – April 2009
- Motivation Monday – Create a Need and You Will Find a Way
- Influence Others to Save Is An Effective Frugal Tip
- How to Reassure Yourself that Frugal Living Make Sense
- Frugal Living is Great Edition
Subscribe! (and Get a Mini-Course with Free Registration)
Follow me on twitter! In addition, subscribe to grab free amazing content or take advantage of the newsletter to have content delivered to you. For starters, a 7-part mini course to help you spend less and be happy will be delivered to you when you subscribe!(Don't worry about spam, because we hate it as much as you do!)
Twitter
Facebook
Subscribe
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Part of the reason I’m frugal is because I’m tired of just collecting “stuff.”
I always wanted things — I have more than 200 DVDs right now, and plenty of videogames, too — but now that I have a family, the more I want to spend time with them and save to give them the things they want. I don’t have time for accumulating stuff, so that money goes toward them.
Great post! Frugal living is truly about not being wasteful and not so much about the need to save every last cent.
I am frugal because I just don’t see the need to be otherwise. For years, my friends laughed at me while they were buying new mercedes SUVs but these days, they are all begging for my help in helping them fix their finances. What goes around comes around I guess.
Utterly fantastic post! As I strive to be more frugal, it helps with articles like this. While there still is a consumerism drive in me, it has been tempered with the ability to look at things in the long term. I enjoy sitting at home watching an occassional pay-per-view feature and spending $4.99 as opposed to $8.50 a person. My parents tried to instill these values on me as a child, but it took some hard times for me to realize that they were right.
Make do with what you have before you get more.
Agreed, I also, don’t need all this “stuff”. It is nice to have it but there is a time and place for it.
Also, if you want to get somewhere, let’s start with the basic needs for survival and go from there.
If I spend money, it is not just my money I am spending, but my time.
The time it took to earn that money, and the interest that money could earn over time.
Therefore, I need to know that what I am spending on is worth the time it took out of my life for me to earn the money for it. Somethings are just not worth the trade off in my life blood. I just have NO desire for them to start with, and see no need and no want for them. I live fairly simply, because that’s what makes me comfortable and content and even happy.
I do not have time to fully use all the things I have now and all the books I have not read and all the projects I have not started let alone finished and not enough time for all my grandkids nor for all I want to do…. so why would I want to waste any of my time on useless trivial pursuits that would take my time away plus the time already spent to earn the money?
However, there are things I do not hesitate one moment to buy – such as a vacation to FL to visit my Mom and siblings. Well worth the money and the time it took to earn it. Precious memories. New waders for clam digging when the old ones wear out. (unless I can find them at a garage sale) New line for my fishing pole. Etc. What I am buying HAS to be worth my life blood or I will NOT spend the money on it. That’s the way I figure it
I got tired of buying stuff because of clutter and as I get older, less and less of the merchandise out there interests me anyway. Now, I’m slowly using up or giving away what I have collected.
I am frugal in spurts, and here and there like the commentor above, there are some things that are worth splurging on. But it is certainly “fun” to be frugal most of the time. I play a game in my mind how frugal can I be. Thanks for the great post.
I guess I started out being frugal because it was a necessity – we were poor when I was growing up. Now, I would feel silly not being frugal. I would hate to use more than I need, buy new when I could buy used, pay more for something than I had to, or not make something last as long as possible by fixing it rather than getting a new one. I hate waste. I also hate clutter, and don’t see the need to own a lot of things like books or movies, that I could just as easily borrow.
That’s kinda funny because I wrote about this same thing on Monday. I’m frugal because I want to get the most value out of every dollar that leaves my wallet. That means I don’t necessarily buy the cheapest things if the cost of repeated replacement would be more than a better quality item and I make do with what I have as long as I can.
I could do a lot better at being frugal. I don’t like having lots of “things” either. It’s easier to think and work when you have lots of space to do it in. Plus, you have to take care of all these things you buy, too. My main weakness here is books.
We are frugal and my wife is frugal because we have goals that we want to reach. Living frugally is our insurance that we can meet and surpass the goals that we have put forth. If living on less leads us to buy less “stuff” then so be it.
Jerry
I started being frugal about a year ago. I realized that all the stuff we were filling our house up with was just causing me more work to keep it clean and put away when not in use.
I was also bored, if I’m being totally honest. Trying to be frugal was like a game at first. Now that I’ve become jobless (not to worry hubby is still employed and doing well), I find that being frugal gives me something to do while I’m home and I find myself returning to a life I remember growing up. I am a lot more relaxed now and my husband commented that he’s noticed that we have been getting along a lot better now too.
Maybe being frugal and a SAHM really is good and not as scarey as I once thought.
The reason I’m frugal is because I reaaaally hate having a job. Having to wake up at 6am 5 days a week and spend 8hrs doing something I don’t want to do is not how I want to spend my life any longer than I absolutely have to. The more money I save the less I have to work and the quicker I can retire.