Is frugal the new normal?

datlex

Having read through some of these posts, I thought I would look up the dictionary definition of frugal. According to Google it has two definitions:
1)Economical in use or expenditure, prudently saving or sparing; not wasteful
2)entailing little expense, requiring few resources, meagre, scanty.

I thought the whole aim of the entire site was to encourage the first. This is about sensible use of money. To me being frugal is not about buying cheap, it is about buying wisely so for example we may choose the cheapest of one thing but a more expensive of another due to durability. The second definition is about surviving when things are against you. Both have a role to play in money saving. Of course we need to remember that we do not want to be the richest people in the cemetery. Money saving to me is all about balance not exceeding income and building a future.

LaineyT

I try to purchase one or two decent pieces each summer and winter, shoes and boots are one thing would not scrimp on as your feet have to carry you around all day. Find good leather ones to be hardest wearing, mine are several years old but caring for them mean that you get real value for money. Likewise decent waterproof, warm winter coat but otherwise am a real home-bird so have no need for masses of "going out" clobber:cool:
As well as my two antique saucepans also have the set that was part of my DOH dowry, luckily for me he is also wise with his cash and had been purchased after researching where he would get best value. Our home is comfortable, by no means extravagant, but everyone that visits remark on how cosy and warm, that will do me.
It's only when you step off of the keeping up with latest gadget/designer clothes/big house treadmill that you realise how superficial it all is, not for me.

Sugababe37

7 years ago, due to personal circumstances, I handed my notice at work.
I had 3 children and my husband had left me...boy, I didn't expect things to be so hard!
The job centre treated me like I was illiterate and stupid,never mind the fact that i had worked full time for 8 years. I felt degraded.
Walking round the supermarket with 6 pounds to feed my family for 3 days still gives me nightmares.
The forums on here gave me so much imformation, I regularly was up late reading on any tips to reduce my income.
I swore then that I would never be in a position like that again.
I was only out of work for 6 months and am now in a different part time job and my partner is the same so still a small income but I do everything differently now..meal plan, shop in all different shops so get better value, lowest gas and electric and internet tariff, no new clothes, buy bargains all year round for Christmas (have most of the Christmas in) run a very cheap car..cheapest car insurance, no take aways etc.
I don't see it as a chore, I enjoy it and get a buzz getting something for a bargain, I even have a very small savings account.
I am frugal and proud :-)

[Deleted User]

Somebody has started a new frugal thread so I'm pushing this back to the top!

Islandmaid

My new 'frugal extravagance' is a veg box, delivered on a Friday and I base my weeks meals around its contents, they let us know what will be in it on the Monday - subject to change.

This weeks box contained -

• Squash - Risotto and lamb Tagine
• Leeks - creamed leek side dish, in risotto and mushroom soup
• Pakchoi - stirfried with chicken thighs in HM Hoisin sauce
• Romanesco Cauliflower - Alien cauli cheese and added to Tagine
• Lettuce - sarnies
• Organic Isle of Wight Tomatoes - sarnies and Tagine
• Heritage potatoes – Harlequin (these are a cross between Pink Fir Apple and Charlotte) - sauted for Sat dinner and addition to lamb 'tagine' with tomatoes and some of the squash

The veg is amazing quality and I love the 'ready, steady, cook' element to it and as a bonus we,re eating a lot more varied veg - I did buy mushrooms, bell pepper and onions on top of this - so about £2.40 extra.

It's minimising the amount of meat we,re eating, so shopping is cheaper - unusual weeks grocery shopping £17 in total inc veg box

Lynplatinum

Evening all

GQ - i love that phrase 'mindful spending'

Sugababe37 - I too have memories (when I was newly divorced) of standing on a cold windy corner, having just picked the kids up from school, having 25p left in my purse until benefits the next day. Did I buy a single pint of milk or did I buy a single loo roll from the cheapie shop??? Until folks have been in that or a similar position they dont understand poor people in this country :mad:. We are though, the lucky ones - if we manage well, having had sufficient education to manage then we wont actually go hungry - whereas in some countries folks starve.

Today I popped into Mori!sons and got a large wholemeal loaf for 49p and 3 very large red peppers for 69p - going a hunting round Mr Ms was far more thrilling than going into a posh supermarket and buying exactly what I fancied!! I could do that at one time and I remember being bored!! Whereas now I get a small victory from the simple things!!
I also enjoy activities that cost nothing. For example walking - and taking a picnic. For just under a £1 per week being a member of the National Trust and being able to access fabulous places for nowt! Swapping books with my sons and friends to expand my reading (we all tend to buy them from second hand shops or car boots!). What else do you folks do that are frugal activities????? Maybe your suggestions could expand my hobbies! :A

[Deleted User]

Sugababe37 wrote: »

I enjoy it and get a buzz

That exactly sums up how I felt all the many years when I had to be frugal. Such a wonderful sense of achievement and now I am elderly, I retain that sense of achievement from my past and it is so uplifting, still.

Everything in my home has been earned the hard way, no silver spoons in my life. A different way of life for me now but only because I built that solid foundation envelope by envelope, me myself and it was so very worth it. That feeling, of it all being worthwhile, will stay with me for the rest of my days

Make no mistake, I had the low points, when I only had pence to feed the family but it doesn`t half make you inventive. I was looking at a cd of 400 family photos that my husband put together, unknown to me, I found it last night. Photo after photo, from just before we got married in 1970 and up to 2006. So many pictures of all of us wearing the many many things I had made. It made me proud and a bit tearful but this frugality made happy, lasting, memories. It wasn`t easy come easy go, it was ingrained. The jumble sales, the home made presents, the home grown vegetables. The sit on tortoise walker that my husband made for the children, the dozens of soft toys, because they were made, they are not forgotten, like some bit of plastic

Caterina

I recognise that buzz, too, when you think there's hardly anything in the cupboard, then you go hunting for the elusive YS, come back home and serve a banquet of fantastic bargains!

It's a lifestyle, really, even now that we can afford the posh stuff (within reason), it gives me such a thrill to make my own fishcakes with tinned tuna, allotment potato and garden herbs, and when I cost the meals they come to pennies per head.

Or the fab bargain clothes in charity shops? DH has a gorgeous Harris tweed Crombie overcoat that we found for £15, apart from a missing button it was practically new. I got a very similar button, stitched it on and he loves it. We looked it up online and they cost several hundred £££ new!

I could and would not change my ways even if I inherited a fortune (but would buy myself a little house at the seaside instead).

[Deleted User]

Well said CATTIE I wouldn't change how we live either even if we had a change in circumstances that gave us more slack in the system, I LIKE life how it is now and I enjoy making nice things and a nice home with pretty things in it from the means we have NOW! I would probably pick up a beach hut somewhere and probably relocate slightly closer to the girls but changing lifestyle would mean changing who we are and all that we hold dear. I think if you have ALWAYS had to live frugally as we have then you come to enjoy the methods and skills and feeling of utter satisfaction you get from making not a lot go a very long way. Let the rich have their bling and their big houses and cars, we're just fine as we are!!!

ivyleaf

kittie wrote: »

That exactly sums up how I felt all the many years when I had to be frugal. Such a wonderful sense of achievement and now I am elderly, I retain that sense of achievement from my past and it is so uplifting, still.

Everything in my home has been earned the hard way, no silver spoons in my life. A different way of life for me now but only because I built that solid foundation envelope by envelope, me myself and it was so very worth it. That feeling, of it all being worthwhile, will stay with me for the rest of my days

Make no mistake, I had the low points, when I only had pence to feed the family but it doesn`t half make you inventive. I was looking at a cd of 400 family photos that my husband put together, unknown to me, I found it last night. Photo after photo, from just before we got married in 1970 and up to 2006. So many pictures of all of us wearing the many many things I had made. It made me proud and a bit tearful but this frugality made happy, lasting, memories. It wasn`t easy come easy go, it was ingrained. The jumble sales, the home made presents, the home grown vegetables. The sit on tortoise walker that my husband made for the children, the dozens of soft toys, because they were made, they are not forgotten, like some bit of plastic

kittie What a lovely thing to find

Caterina Welcome back! I hope you had a good holiday