My Frugal Life: Watch Your Pennies and the Dollars Will Follow

I have been frugal all my life. When I was young, it was called "living country". You saved everything and found another use for it. To this day, I don't know if we would have been considered working poor or not. I never had want for anything; I don't remember any kids at school looking at me any differently.

I believe in the saying, "watch your pennies and the dollars will follow." As well as bigger ways, I would also place the sliver of soap in a folded washcloth and use until it disappeared. I'd put a little water in each empty jar and use for soup, wipe off the icing on tin foil and reuse, rinse out baggies, use leftover hot coffee for ice coffee, etc.

We never looked poor. I would follow the latest trend and figure how I could use material from thrift shops to make something new, put new buttons on a shirt, wool coat turned inside out for the fresh looking material, "slip" cover an old coat, etc. As a result, I was able to send my children and myself off each day never being embarrassed how we looked.

When the expensive brand name school sneaker trend started, I was able to buy them for my children as long as they were willing to get most of their school clothes from the thrift store and redesign what they had. All of them can and did sew for themselves.

As the sole support of them, I was still able to buy a house, send them to college, and travel overseas. I got a government job just so I would have a pension and paid half down on a house with my son so I have no housing expenses except for 1/3 utilities. I always took good care of my cars and would have them for years. Most times, I considered my frugal ways as a satisfying challenge, more than a chore. My children are wise with their money also (not counting when they first started work). But they soon learned it paid to be frugal in small ways to save for bigger things.

By Dee Bee from Naples, FL

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