Is frugal the new normal?

[Deleted User]

Surely that's part of the point of being frugal and making choices to allow you to actually have the slack in the system when you DO find a good quality 'thing' at a sensible price. It's so lovely to be able to have something you really like at a price that isn't going to make you feel guilty, whatever the 'thing' may be?

lessonlearned

Absolutely.

Enjoy your cheese.:D

elona

I agree with lessonlearned about treats especially TK maximus.

I have just decided to stop looking at already cheap places sales clothes and instead look at places like D****H**s, H of F etc.
Have just taken advantage of the sales and ordered five tops to try that should have been £45 or £35 each for about half price.

I am still schlumping around in casual pull on trousers but want to get a smart pair of black trousers that fit me now rather than wait till I lose weight. Might try some places in york while I go to see dd this afternoon. Still want a bargain but good quality and cut as well.

Must learn not to buy choc in multipacks as I just eat them so want to look up better quality choc in small portion instead.

ivyleaf

elona H of F sales are brilliant for towels and bedding, they can be up to 70% off :j

missyrichards

How to Find Luxury in a Financially Responsible Life - The Simple Dollar

Mr_Singleton

missyrichards wrote: »

How to Find Luxury in a Financially Responsible Life - The Simple Dollar

Bizarre, truly bizarre.

pm2326

elona wrote: »

I agree with lessonlearned about treats especially TK maximus.

I have just decided to stop looking at already cheap places sales clothes and instead look at places like D****H**s, H of F etc.
Have just taken advantage of the sales and ordered five tops to try that should have been £45 or £35 each for about half price.

I am still schlumping around in casual pull on trousers but want to get a smart pair of black trousers that fit me now rather than wait till I lose weight. Might try some places in york while I go to see dd this afternoon. Still want a bargain but good quality and cut as well.

Must learn not to buy choc in multipacks as I just eat them so want to look up better quality choc in small portion instead.

I made the same decision about clothes earlier in the year and bought a very good winter coat, it was expensive but will last me many years. But once you add up the cost of buying a cheaper coat that needs replacing every couple of years it works out cheaper in the long run.

I'm also moving away from cheap 'supermarket' clothes and shoes, however, I buy the good stuff from a cs or eBay so I still spend the same amount of money but it's on clothes that will last.

I think being frugal is about knowing how to save money on everyday items but knowing when to spend on quality that will last you a long time.

GreyQueen

missyrichards wrote: »

How to Find Luxury in a Financially Responsible Life - The Simple Dollar

I like that article a lot.

It makes perfect sense to me and echoes what I do in my own life. I love good quality items, especially when I can buy them used for pennies on the pound at the charity shop or bootsale.

My everyday cookware is good quality stainless steel; stacking pan (a gift in the 1980s), huge steel pot (£1 bootsale bargain) two good quality new stainless steel saucepans (£15 each on sale about 10 years ago) and a nice omelette pan which someone left behind in a pile of discards after they'd packed up their bootsale stall..........:rotfl:

I've had those pans anything from 10-30 years, all are in perfect nick and I can't see any good reason for them not to last another 10-30 years. And most of them are used daily.

I did once sell at a bootfair, for a friend, a bright yellow Le Cr..... casserole dish. The purchaser was delighted, as was the seller who could no longer lift it in her old age, something to remember before you stock up on the larger items of this particular manufacturer.

LaineyT

This is very much my attitude to life, quality over quantity whenever possible, of course that means waiting for things until you can afford but hey, makes you appreciate them all the more and if you can find them in CS all the better!
I have two saucepans left from the expensive set that my DP brought for me as a wedding present 28 years ago, they survived, the marriage not so lucky :rotfl: they are of the copper bottomed variety, hardly a blemish on them.
Have acquaintances who spend £100 odd in cheap shops, get a heap of clothes none of which are still around 6 months later, just can't get my head round wasting money that way? Still some people would say the amount I spend on mine animals every month is silly, horses for course I guess, pardon the pun.

GreyQueen

For me, it's about mindful spending, and thinking about what I really need and use, as opposed to what some other household might find appropriate. I settled on my present configuration of type, number and size of pans several years ago, and donated what wasn't being used so someone else could get the benefit. All of them are used, many of them used daily.

Expenditures are very personal. I like to have a few good quality long-lasting things, rather than churn through lots poor quality short-lived things. It feels better to me; I don't particularly like shopping and also don't like the wastefulness (both financial and ecological) of short-lived items.

I only have one pair of shoes, for example, but they are H0tter. They're for office and smarter occasions (my life isn't a smart one, overall), and my one pair of trainers suffice elsewhere, with flip-flops and hiking boots filling the gaps. I could afford more shoes but experience has told me I tend not to wear them, they clutter up the place and risk dying in storage. I'll wear these ones up and then replace them.