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IMO, frugality is underrated as a means to achieving wealth. For those of us who are NOT born into a rich family & gifted with a massive trust fund, cultivating a frugal lifestyle is essential. (Even those rich kids could make their trust funds stretch a lot farther with a bit of frugality. )
Unfortunately, frugality has a bad reputation. It has become synonymous with "doing without" or "deprivation," when it is really about conscious spending. If you target your spending on the items which matter most, and pinch pennies on what matters least, you will get the most "bang" for your buck. If you consistently utilize frugality in order to live beneath your means, and save/invest the difference, you will be ahead of the game.
As a single mother of two, with ambitious goals and few financial resources, I've made frugality a priority in my life. While it did feel like deprivation at first, over time the rewards have changed my feelings about it. Now it has begun to feel like a game...how far can I cut my basic expenses? How much can I save on my mortgage by adding another principal payment each month? What am I paying for out of habit & how soon can I stop?
Any fellow Tightwads out there? What are some of your tips for eliminating/cutting costs in order to facilitate meaningful spending and/or saving?
Ima dumpster diver. you wouldn't believe the amount of viable resources I get from that.
here let me expand:
The walgreens down the street, they throw away about 2 big bags full of product each week. I live near by, so when I am say, coming home and know I will be showering when i get home anyway, I drop by the bin, hop in and sort through the bags. sometimes there isnt anything, but about 1/4 of the trips turn out with me coming out with what I call the booty bag.. basically the bag they throw their writeoffs into.
Its usually WAY cleaner than you would expect, and the goods they throw away are usually in stunninly good shape and are perfectly useable. Examples? Lets say the lable comes off a bottle of ammonia, they throw it away. Lets say a can of something gets lightly dented.. They throw it away. Lets say easter just ended.. You just found 80 lbs of wrapped/ water tight sealed chocolates. Lets say its the end of the growing season, they throw away all their seeds.. even though they last for years.
I know.. It sounds nasty at first.. but grow some balls and you can get literally hundreds of dollars of products worth a month. I have a supply of dish soap that will last me the year. I don't buy bathrooms supplys anymore because I have more than I can possibly use.
Just use common sense and take good care and you'll find this one thing cutting down on costs if you take the time to hunt down some good spots.
-------------------- I have 29 Strains as of current.. I LOVE TO TRADE. See my bio for the strains I currently have.
I seek: Strains I don't have, exotic species, Edibles, Vacutainers, A accurate scale, chicken manure, worm castings, worms for making my own worm castings, plastic lids for mason jars, light malt extract, Kelp Meal, A Ph Tester, A microscope.
Are you talking about buying generic stuff at the grocery store like piggly wiggly brand mac n cheese instead of kraft? Because I hate doing that I don't care what I can save. Buying generic tools for working sucks too(im a mechanic). I actually find it better to buy in bulk for grocerys if im looking to save. I can't say I know much at all about being frugal really since over the last several years Ive managed to rack up about 25K in Credit Card debt but I guess Im about to learn fast if I stand any chance of paying it off. Im only 23 mind you and live at home rent free so that should say alot.
-------------------- -QuantumMeltdown
Total abstinence is so excellent a thing that it cannot be carried to too great an extent. In my passion for it I even carry it so far as to totally abstain from total abstinence itself.
-Mark Twain
"The time has come the walrus said, little oysters hide their heads, my Twain of thought is loosely bound I guess its time to Mark this down, Be good and you will be lonesome
Be lonesome and you will be free
Live a lie and you will live to regret it
That's what livin' is to me
That's what livin' is to me"
Jimmy Buffett
Nah, I don't buy generic stuff. Most of my food is organic, so there are no generic equivalents available. Food is one area where I will not skimp on quality. Since my body uses what I eat to re-make itself, I'd rather not be built from shoddy materials.
Credit card debt is nasty...I'd recommend talking to Consumer Credit Counseling if you want to get out of debt.
What I'm really getting at is the idea of reserving your money for what actually matters to you. If great tools matter to you, then it is worthwhile to spend the money on them. For me, cheap but sturdy tools are just fine, since I only use them for home maintenance.
I'm frugal - but am also a college student, with some expenses paid by parents - so my acts of frugality are probably not the same as yours.
However, once I get into the real world - I plan to be EXTREMEL frugal. I have a plan set out for my life, and I plan to execute it properly.
It involves being very frugal at a young age - investing/saving a very large portion of income, staying family-free while I develop a large investment base, retiring from my professional career relatively early and becoming a college professor.
Excellent! I recommend reading "Your Money or Your Life," if you have not already. It's an incredible handbook for becoming financially independent through conscious spending and saving.
I've been living the frugal life this past year. I'll be going back to school for my master's next fall, so this year was spent saving. I'll make about 40k this year before taxes, I paid off about a 6k debt I owed to my parents, spent a few thousand dollars visiting schools, I will still have managed to save about $12k-15k by this August.
Edit: Not only that, but my frugality paid off big time. I saved like I was going to have to pay for school, but received a full scholarship and monthly stipend, so everything I've saved will be spending money for my two years in school. Pleasant surprise!
Quote: QuantumMeltdown said: Are you talking about buying generic stuff at the grocery store like piggly wiggly brand mac n cheese instead of kraft? Because I hate doing that I don't care what I can save. Buying generic tools for working sucks too(im a mechanic).
buying generic generally isnt really frugal.. because higher quality products generally work out better. Yes.. You can buy cheap ass white bread and make pb&j all week to save some money.. live off of ramen.. but what will happen is this will make you crave, and you end up blowing your money on your cravings. Its better to buy a reasonably priced high quality product in these regards. Cheap tools break.. nicer tools last. But being frugal is about getting good VALUE for your money.
I used to eat typical american diet.. but these days im a picky organic eater. I go to farmers markets.. and I am really particular about what I eat. Am I spending a shit load more now? Not really! Its funny but.. When I look back on it, I used to eat alot more back then because I was eating alot of empty calories.. I would eat 5 sandwiches of basic carbs with lots of fats.. but now I make a big pot of soup every week, and I cook healthy meals.. and when i eat, I don't get hungry right away becaue the food is better quality.
I advise this.. The more it is processed.. probably the better idea you don't get it. It'll cost more and give you less.
-------------------- I have 29 Strains as of current.. I LOVE TO TRADE. See my bio for the strains I currently have.
I seek: Strains I don't have, exotic species, Edibles, Vacutainers, A accurate scale, chicken manure, worm castings, worms for making my own worm castings, plastic lids for mason jars, light malt extract, Kelp Meal, A Ph Tester, A microscope.
Quote: Redstorm said: I will still have managed to save about $12k-15k by this August.
If i were you, I would put that money in gold. Gold will more than likely jump to 1500 in the next year. I got it when it was half what it is now, and given the state of things... nowhere but up.
-------------------- I have 29 Strains as of current.. I LOVE TO TRADE. See my bio for the strains I currently have.
I seek: Strains I don't have, exotic species, Edibles, Vacutainers, A accurate scale, chicken manure, worm castings, worms for making my own worm castings, plastic lids for mason jars, light malt extract, Kelp Meal, A Ph Tester, A microscope.
oh.. btw.. Here is a good basic trick, amoung hundreds of things you can do. Alot of people consume vast amounts of soda. I know personally i used to drink at least 6 cans of coke a day, easy. I've never been fat.. but I drank that shit like nothing.
I switched to green tea. Green fucking tea is the shit. I change my sweeteners up, try to stick with things that arn't crazy processed. Honey, mayple syrup, brown sugar, unrefined cane suger... basically avoiding corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, toxic shit.
Anyhow, I can make about 5 gallons of green tea for about the cost of a single two liter.. Asian markets are good sources of green tea.. And green tea is WAY better for you than soda, as it is alkaline.. and soda is so acidic it takes 30 glasses of water to balence your body out from a single glass of soda.
-------------------- I have 29 Strains as of current.. I LOVE TO TRADE. See my bio for the strains I currently have.
I seek: Strains I don't have, exotic species, Edibles, Vacutainers, A accurate scale, chicken manure, worm castings, worms for making my own worm castings, plastic lids for mason jars, light malt extract, Kelp Meal, A Ph Tester, A microscope.
Quote: Veritas said: IMO, frugality is underrated as a means to achieving wealth. For those of us who are NOT born into a rich family & gifted with a massive trust fund, cultivating a frugal lifestyle is essential. (Even those rich kids could make their trust funds stretch a lot farther with a bit of frugality. )
Unfortunately, frugality has a bad reputation. It has become synonymous with "doing without" or "deprivation," when it is really about conscious spending. If you target your spending on the items which matter most, and pinch pennies on what matters least, you will get the most "bang" for your buck. If you consistently utilize frugality in order to live beneath your means, and save/invest the difference, you will be ahead of the game.
As a single mother of two, with ambitious goals and few financial resources, I've made frugality a priority in my life. While it did feel like deprivation at first, over time the rewards have changed my feelings about it. Now it has begun to feel like a game...how far can I cut my basic expenses? How much can I save on my mortgage by adding another principal payment each month? What am I paying for out of habit & how soon can I stop?
Any fellow Tightwads out there? What are some of your tips for eliminating/cutting costs in order to facilitate meaningful spending and/or saving?
You know I'm a tightwad girlfriend. You experienced it. I'm fifty five, mostly retired, own my home outright, almost never have worked full time, and mostly all from being frugal.
-------------------- What the thinker thinks, the prover proves. R.A.W.
I don't believe anything, but I have many suspicions. R.A.W.
Interesting you should frame your response in such a manner, Icelander. I find a similar motivation for my own frugality, namely that I do not wish to work too hard (definitely not full time), thereby preserving a greater portion of my time for matters of personal intrigue, study, and artful expression. I have never placed myself in debt, and as a younger child without more than a $5/week allowance for taking out the trash and washing dishes after dinner, I simply did not spend money that I did not have. My parents entrusting me with a credit card at age 16 while simultaneously explaining the risks and benefits of such financial tools, fostered in me a frugal way of living; not unwilling to spend money on things much longed for, but also not eager to spend my money on disposable items of little lasting value.
I will admit, there was a period of time during the early years in my adolescent development where I did engage in stealing, by way of credit fraud and shoplifting. Ultimately, a local friend who broke into a neighbor's house with me, confessed our crimes and we worked off our debt to the family from whom we stole by way of manual labor in their garden. This family's kindness, understanding, and generosity (they would constantly offer us food either from their own kitchen or to actually drive and pick some up for us!), was a powerful wake-up call. I have never stolen since, and will never forget the awesome impact simple acts of kindness can have upon others. I was thirteen at the time, and am now aged a quarter-century.
-------------------- --------------------
┼ ··∙ long live the shroomery ∙·· ┼
...╬π╥ ╥π╬...
I think one way to be frugal is to buy or inherit used cars. The longer you can hold off making major expenditures, the longer your money can be working for you.
The best part about inheriting used cars, even if you end up not driving it but are now responsible for getting rid of it, is you can strip whatever parts like tires, the battery, and radiator, and use those parts on other cars.
Maybe I'm lucky where I live bcs the county does do not charge to dispose of a car. Might have to wait up to a month for them to take it away, though also why some people are also willing to give you their old car for free!
But, todays computerized vehicles are a little harder to deal with, even real mechanics who have no training don't want to deal with them. So this could have just been a money saving technique from days gone by. However, every driver should at least know how to perform an oil change and maybe even changing the brake pads.
Using public tansit is even better. The price of gas has nearly doubled and the bus fare is still the same. Parking rates are also on the rise. The statistics are that the U.S. makes up 5% of the worlds population but consumes 25% of the worlds oil. World wide oil production is estimated to be on the decline. Price per a barrel of oil is going up, over $120 a barrel today. The price will continue to head higher until price starts to kill demand.
Walking is even MORE frugal. I gave up my car two years ago, and I estimate that this has saved me $4000 on gas, insurance, registration, maintenance & repairs.
Walking is also great exercise, so you can skip that gym membership that you never utilized, anyway. I never have to look for parking, never get ticketed, and no one tailgates me on the sidewalk.
Quote: Veritas said: Walking is even MORE frugal. I gave up my car two years ago, and I estimate that this has saved me $4000 on gas, insurance, registration, maintenance & repairs.
Walking is also great exercise, so you can skip that gym membership that you never utilized, anyway. I never have to look for parking, never get ticketed, and no one tailgates me on the sidewalk.
You're right about walking. Kills three birds with one stone. Gets you from point A to B, saves you money, and you get your exercise too.
while not real scientific i've heard stories of cigarette smokers living to be late 80's or early 90's. Maybe attributed to walking every where they needed to go.
Also my hats off to all you bicycle riders out there. I myself don't feel like braving it with the cars. I admit to getting irritated at times encountering you guys while driving and while walking. But its only because you are not being accommodated on the road ways and the reality is you need to be.
Quote: Redstorm said: I will still have managed to save about $12k-15k by this August.
If i were you, I would put that money in gold. Gold will more than likely jump to 1500 in the next year. I got it when it was half what it is now, and given the state of things... nowhere but up.
hrm... "nowhere but up" - where have I heard that phrasing used before?....
ahhh yes! now i remember!
It was the thinking of the borrowers in the early 2000s in regards to the housing market! All those less-than-optimal borrowers grabbing adjustable-rate mortgages, planning to just refinance them later.
I'm not hating on you for suggesting gold as an investment medium - shit - i'm sure Wiccan will come in here and make me look stupid (he often does, due to my ignorance on the matters). Just be sure not to think of anything as going 'nowhere but up'.
Additionally: hell yeah to bicycling. If Norfolk wasn't full of such shitty drivers I'd use this as my primary mode of transportation. Hopefully when I move away from here and get a job It's in a location that supports my favorite form of exercise
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I gave up my car two years ago, and I estimate that this has saved me $4000 on gas, insurance, registration, maintenance & repairs. 
