My Frugal Life: Best Life Lesson
Like every teen, I wanted the latest clothing trends plus all the other things teens think they can't live without. At 16, my parents put me on a monthly "clothing allowance", which was seemingly quite generous until I learned what all I had to pay for out of this.
My Frugal Life: The Coffee Test
I have found it helpful, thriftily-speaking, to take a look at all the necessary things in my life and make a list of those that I just can't scrimp on.
My Frugal Life: Do What You Can
I have been frugal all my life. Thrift shop, giveaways, and garage sales have been as much a part of my life as breathing. In my early years it was out of necessity.
Va, at 87 years old, wanted to visit Copan. She'd been there before in 1941, when her husband had helped to unearth and restore a Mayan maize god. At the time, she and her two babies had travelled by horseback from Guatemala to "Las Ruinas" to see Leonard and his discovery.
My Frugal Life: Learning to be Frugal
I had always been someone who spent too much on things we just didn't need. I would buy on impulse, and shopped until I dropped. About 6 months ago, I saw a video on YouTube about couponing in Canada, and decided to try it out.
My Frugal Life: Following My Father
My author father liked to use examples from third-world countries to teach personal money management. He pointed out that the savings could grow enough to buy a boat for fishing and traveling, or become an investment in a local business.
My Frugal Life: Planning Ahead
I used to be proud of being spontaneous, of living (and buying) on a whim. Now that I can no longer afford to have anything I want at the moment that I want it, I have come to savor the far deeper pleasure of expectation, of waiting for something and looking forward to it.
My Frugal Life: Saving Money When Shopping
I recently heard a report about money and finance. Lay away isn't a good idea. The fact is you save money, by not paying the fees, and risking losing the items you have paid on by being late.
My Frugal Life: From Spendthrift to Saver
The most important economic development in my family was when my husband (after 34 years of marriage) converted from being a spendthrift to a saver.
My Frugal Life: Stretching Your Retirement Dollars
Even if you have spent years living a frugal lifestyle in order to save for your retirement years, a change in income might make it necessary for you to pinch pennies a little tighter than you anticipated following retirement.
I learned that the Goodwill is changing their marketing strategies due to the availability of new goods coming off shelves of failing/going out-of-business/bankrupt stores. I have found a plethora of NEW in-the-box with-the-manual items at tremendously low prices.
My Frugal Life: Of Misers and Motherhood
My father shared the title of his self published book "The Miser's Muniment." In the mid eighties, with freewheeling credit within the reach of practically everyone, hardly anyone was interested in reading about misers.
My Frugal Life: Good to the Last Drop
Remember the satisfaction you felt at being able to extract that last bit of toothpaste or shampoo or cold cream? Remember how long it took? Each day you thought there couldn't possibly be anything left in that tube, bottle, or jar, but there always was.
My Frugal Life: Grocery Shopping
I make it a habit of being open to food-shopping deals whenever I go anywhere. Today I stopped in at an independent dollar store, where I found a quart of lemon juice at 2/$1.00. That'll last a good long time.
My Frugal Life: Living on Love and a Little More
We are frugal not because it is stylish or in style. My husband and I are frugal because he works on a cotton farm and makes very little money, and I am on disability, a fixed income.
My Frugal Life: Financial Dieting
I have found that frugal living requires many of the same tactics and disciplines as dieting to lose weight or dieting to improve your health. I found it very helpful to pull ideas from standard dieting plans to assist me with my financial diet.
My Frugal Life: GiGi's Labor of Love
"Hey, Lady! What are you looking for?" asked the driver. "A penny," said I from the pavement next to him. "It's sort of a game I'm playing, and I need to find the penny myself. You know (I lied), for luck."
My Frugal Life: Mystery Shopping
There are many different mystery shop companies online and the benefits are numerous. Although you certainly won't get rich doing shops, it is a great way to save money.
My Frugal Life: The Danger of Preparing a Budget
As odd as it may seem, just the act of writing down a budget can have an adverse or possibly even reverse affect on your attempt to save money. Have you ever decided to go on a diet and immediately began craving something sweet?
My Frugal Life: Food Enough for Visitors
In my small community there are many traditions including having enough food for people that visited around a meal time. It was important to feed them, so this was done by taking out a few more things than was needed for our family.
My Frugal Life: Thrifty Grandmas Stay With You Forever
Grandma was born in 1895 and raised 6 children on her own after her no-good husband ran off. This was long before the days of Social Security. She had lived through some really hard times, and she taught me so much, it still makes me smile.
My Frugal Life: Composting Indoors
With all new ideas, I make a point to weigh the amount my time that they will cost against the benefits. Here is just one thing that I have been trying around my house this year: I started an indoor composting worm bin, which I keep in our basement.
My Frugal Life: Of Chickens, Dogs, and Fences
The rooster terrorizes the entire family, save myself and my husband. Yesterday, I had to drive home to let Mom and my daughter in the house because Phoenix had jumped down and refused to let them in the house.
My Frugal Life: Going Home Again
"Wake up and smell the roses, you really can't go home again". That's what I thought anyway. But with childhood memories dancing in my head and trepidation in my heart, I gave it a try.
