Is frugal the new normal?

lessonlearned

I'm really liking this thread too......

All the talk of cars is making me chuckle. I am an unashamed petrol head. I love cars.......

Ive had minis, a couple of Lexus (Lexii ??) a gorgeous Citroen which I loved but had to change for a WAV (wheelchair accessible vehicle) for my husband when he became a wheelchair user, and joy of joys an Alpha Romeo, which my husband wrote off...:rotfl:

My current set of wheels is a very prosaic Corsa because I currently live in a city and have to park on the street. I am now 64 and it is part of my master plan to treat myself to a sporty sassy convertible before I am too old and decrepit to drive it......;)

As for helping our children......well I don't think you are stupid Maria. And I bet your children do fully appreciate all you do for them.

Ive helped my sons too and they are not spoilt pampered brats, they are very grateful for the help I have been able to give them.

I think we can be both thrifty and generous....if not with money then with our time and support.

I love helping my family and giving them little presents. It gives me pleasure to see their face light up when I bring them a little something when they are least expecting it. I sing them a quick chorus of the "very merry unbirthday song" and they start to grin because they know there is a little gift coming.

I recently bought my eldest son and his girlfriend a pasta maker which I picked up when it was on offer. Their whoops of delight said it all.

When my mum was alive I took her flowers whenever I visited, even though there were times when I couldn't really afford much. £1 for a bunch of daffodils brought her so much pleasure. She would pretend to scold me for my extravagance but I could see she was touched by the gesture.

Now that I'm a bit better off (not rich by any means) I still live modestly and consider myself to be thrifty. Like most of us on here, I practise thrift in some areas so I can splurge on treats, sometimes I even treat myself:D

moments_of_sanity

Be careful what you wish for.....I said to my DH a few years ago that now the girls were older and I didn't need to ferry them around as much and as DH has a 4x4 that i could use if needed that I would love a 2 seater convertible.............he bought me a Smart car! :rotfl:

I have come to love her though, she costs me £30 a year in road tax, my insurance is very cheap and it costs me £30 a month in fuel.

We live a frugal lifestyle and don't waste money, are mindful with purchases etc but we get people who comment on how we can afford to run 2 cars and my DH's motorbike (DH is the only one earning, on under £20k a year and supports 4 people on that) but it's because we live so carefully that we can afford them. DH's car is 3 years old, my car is 11 years old and DH motorbike is 20years old, all were bought with cash and these we consider our 'luxury' items.

One of the people who judged us the most was a neighbour who had a horse, a Range Rover (because everyone at the yard had one and she didn't want to be seen as poor, she openly admitted this), went to Florida every year (with DH and 2 teenagers) and had various other foreign holidays each year to de stress. We woke up one morning to find them loading their possessions into a removal lorry as the house was being repossessed. I am in no way judging their lifestyle choices at all but I do feel sad for them, they lost everything because they wanted to 'keep up appearances'.

GreyQueen

moments_of_sanity wrote: »

Be careful what you wish for.....I said to my DH a few years ago that now the girls were older and I didn't need to ferry them around as much and as DH has a 4x4 that i could use if needed that I would love a 2 seater convertible.............he bought me a Smart car! :rotfl:.

You know there is/ was a Smart sports car, don't you? A few years ago, it seemed that every other forty-something female friend of mine was buying one of these as a self-depreciating midlife crisis car and thoroughly enjoying themselves zooming around in them.

:eek: I've had some interesting rides as a passenger in these sports cars, including one very memorable white-knucke trip..............! :eek:

Full diclosure; haven't got a car any more, I'd like to pretend it's due to saintly green virtuousness, but I wouldn't lie to you - can't afford one. But I do ponce around town on a rather upmarket pushbike (Pashley - cast-off from Mum). Honestly, I've bought cars for less than one of these cost new.............:rotfl:

[Deleted User]

I am coming out of the closet too :rotfl:

I have a top of the range yeti and why not, either I enjoy it now or the children buy cars from their inheritance. We used to have a morris minor that cost £100 and I sold two years later for £100. A small fiat that almost had to be pushed up hills. I have had a new land rover that I absolutely loved, pulled a horse trailer with it and they were some of the best years ever, going here there and everywhere as a family on brilliant days out. We had an octavia twice, absolutely brilliant reliable work horses. We chose the yeti together

None of it would have been possible without being thrifty and frugal for most of the past. I am blossoming now, enjoying the fruits of the past years, while I still can. It was so very worth it, being thrifty and frugal, it made for real family togetherness as well as eventually securing a comfortable old age

fuddle

I am so pleased to see people who are frugal reinforce that we're not a breed of posters who look down upon those who don't appear to be as 'tight' as us.

Caterina

The more I read this thread, the more I notice a trend: we all like certain things in our life to be of very high quality, some of them rather expensive, and we all work at getting them by prioritising our expenditure, making savings in other areas and being careful not to enter big debts at the same time.

Those of us who have been in debt before, especially, or in very reduced circumstances, know by experience how to manage resources very efficiently and spend where spend is needed, buying objects or experiences that we really value.

I totally agree that thrifty and frugal is not the same as tight or mean, I enjoy giving gifts and entertaining friends at dinner, or have the odd afternoon tea at mine, I absolutely love treating my family and have helped my children when they have needed it. Thanks goodness I am in the position of helping them because of, not in spite of, being frugal!

In two days DH and I will go on our silver wedding honeymoon, a night in Paris, on the anniversary itself, how romantic? No, actually it is not due to romance, we have one night in Paris because his employment allows us discounted Eurostar tickets and the only ticket we could get when we booked was the late afternoon one. So it was cheaper to get that and a decent little hotel for the night than buy a full price Eurostar ticket for both of us.

I had attempted to book a really posh restaurant for our anniversary dinner, wrote to them asking about vegetarian options for their (very expensive) evening menu, but after receiving one of those "we got your email and will reply in due course" message I never heard from them anymore. So DH and I decided they can take a running jump and we will go to a lovely little restaurant in the Marais, which I know, run by a young man who has a real passion about good local food. I know he will treat us well because I have been there before and he made me a very good vegetarian dish. And he has speciality cheeses to die for. And it will cost us a fraction of the price of the posh snooty one that did not answer!

We will go on to Barcelona but will stay in a bungalow in a campsite on the Costa Brava, which will give us a 30% discount because it is September and we are booking a fortnight.

While my mum was here visiting we agreed that I would pay all her expenses and then she would give me Euros in exchange, which she did, as well as a generous birthday gift (thank you mum!) so our exchange of currency is sorted.

Now, we still could probably afford a silver wedding honeymoon lasting a fortnight without going to these lengths to save money. Except that the difference will be that instead of struggling to pay our credit card bill at the end of our late summer holiday, like we used to do in past years, and arriving to Christmas skint and ready to start the credit card dance all over again, we will come back virtually debt free because we have saved, maximised resources and planned. I feel that this is very much part of being frugal.


i know that some other people would be horrified of spending their silver wedding in a campsite bungalow, but would prefer, say, a cruise, or a staycation and a big family party. Horses for courses really, it does not make them any more, or less, frugal, just with different tastes and priorities, and that's great, because wouldn't the world be a boring place if we all liked the same thing?

Have a good day.

moneyistooshorttomention

lessonlearned wrote: »

I have booked a 33 day cruise around the Caribbean for November, sailing from the UK so no flights.

I make no apologies, it's my first holiday in 10 years, having spent 9 years looking after my sick husband and then both his and my mothers death during the last year.

I feel that ive earned this one.......;)

It's my first holiday on my own - ever - and I'm a bit nervous of striking out on my own so a cruise ticks all the boxes in terms of safety, and companionship etc.

Maybe one day I will pluck up courage to strike out on my own and travel Independently. There is so much of the world I still want to see.

Ive been on several cruises in the past and enjoyed them all. They are no longer the preserve of the idle rich who "dress for dinner" every night. To me they are a comfortable and safe way to see a bit of the world.

.

:T So you booked a holiday for yourself then LL:T.....have a good one:beer:

lessonlearned

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

:T So you booked a holiday for yourself then LL:T.....have a good one:beer:

Thanks Money. I'll do my best......

I'm a bit nervous at striking out on my own but I think it will do me good. I'm getting quite excited.

[Deleted User]

LL I am sure you will have a fantastic time and soon meet lots of new friends on you coming adventure.

I am pretty frugal and try to make every penny I spend have the best value.What I save on my day to day budget gets used for our family holidays once a year My youngest DD isn't very flush with cash having a large family so I pay for the house we rent and she does the food.If things get a bit short then we both pitch in and share everything.

The DGS have a great holiday as do the grown-ups.Now and again I will treat myself,but not often as I am content with what I already have and envy no one

I did splash out on a all-singing-dancing MacAirbook lap-top this year, but mainly because my creaking old desk-top one is just about on its last legs and has given me pretty good service over the years.
The rest of the time I am fairly frugal and never mind about watching the pennies The only real luxury I have indoors is my ground coffee as I do like a decent one.

But apart from that, what the label is on a tin of beans I don't care about, its the beans I eat not the tin or label. I am quite good at streeetching food with lentils,oats grated carrots etc and make virtually everything I eat from scratch I dislike processed food and like to know what I am eating

I am not in the least snobby about food, its a means of keeping your inner engine going and I am just as happy to eat a big bowl of HM soup as eat a fancy meal . I like to see whats on offer in the shops and then think 'crikey I could make that for half the price' I treat my food spending as a business, and therefore wouldn't dream of binning or wasting any assets of my 'food company'.

There are those who are happy to spend shed loads of cash on things they want ,good luck to them, but I am just cut from a different cloth I think.

Growing up with rationing and the post-war austerity of the 1950s (nowhere near what the austerity is of today's life btw) you do appreciate the value of a shilling I think (5p for those not as old as I :):))

Probably why my two daughters nickname for me is Frau Frugal :):) they know how I can turn a few ingredients into something reasonably edible without spending bundles :):)

So its different strokes for different folks. Good job we're not all the same,otherwise the big supermarkets would take a hiding. Although it seems a lot of them are at the moment, as people are voting with their feet and the contents of their purses

JackieO xxx

ivyleaf

I do enjoy your posts JackieO!

Caterina Thinking back i seem to remember we spent our silver Wedding in a mobile home on a French campsite and very nice it was too! A meet-up would be lovely

lessonlearned I'm so glad you've booked this holiday, I bet it'll be brilliant :T