Is frugal the new normal?

Lynplatinum

Evening All

Um as some of you already know I'm a self confessed nerd. SO Ive been off and looked up meanings:

Miser = 'One who lives very meagerly in order to hoard money. 2. A greedy or avaricious person. [From Latin, wretched.]'

Frugal = 'economical in use or expenditure; prudently saving or sparing; not wasteful: What your office needs is a frugal manager who can save you money without resorting to painful cutbacks.'

Um how folks interpret that is really interesting tho!! Mostly on the OS boards (the only ones with which I am familiar so I wont comment on other boards) I would say that folk are frugal and on the whole happy as they are economical rather than miserly = greedy/avaricious/only wanting to hoard money/miserable! :rotfl:

Very interesting to see what folk consider is worth spending out on. We all have our little extravagances - it seems to me - and what is right for one is not always right for another!

With all these folk who constantly rush from busy job to glam holiday for which they MUST buy latest clothes and then move house/constantly decorate - I do wonder what they are running away from????? Personally I would rather 'stare as long as sheep or cows' and 'see where squirrels hide their nuts in grass'. (yep go on - join my teacher who called me 'a lazy dreamer who would never achieve anything' - I point you to 2 degrees; a teaching qualification - two very successful children - my own home - 2 businesses - surviving despite a very cruel financial event not entirely of my own making befalling me!)

Is the politician's (apologies for swearing! measure of a country that is doing well i.e.by money necessarily the correct one I wonder? Are folk with less (but at a level where they are able to feed and clothe selves) actually happier? What do folk think? :A
Thinking on!

lessonlearned

Great thread.... And lots of ideas and food for thought.

Well I guess I was a pioneer because I bought my first outfit from a chazzer shop when I was 14 - 50 years ago. :rotfl:

I was given a second hand sewing machine for my 13th birthday and very quickly taught myself to sew all the latest fashions......fancied myself as another Mary Quant.

Began renovating furniture when I was 20.

I don't know whether I'm frugal or thrifty - not sure of the difference - but im definitely no miser. I enjoy the odd meal out and I will buy nice things "just because" but I don't think I waste money. I cut back in some areas so I can have a little splurge on other things. Now that I'm retired I aim to travel more and take up some new hobbies, definitely dancing.

My approach is "living simply but well" - a comfortable warm home, good food on the table, and I'm vain enough to like nice clothes, and I definitely agree with wearing comfortable shoes, even if I have to pay more for them. But I shop with care and try to be a thoughtful consumer. I certainly don't Overshop and I'm not wasteful.

One thing i don't think anyone has mentioned is the crass commercialism which surrounds us, the exploitation of workers, the waste of precious resources, the pollution and destruction of our environment, the cruelty to livestock.

Cheap goods and cheap food have unseen costs. We need to take into account their true cost, low wages, bonded labour, unsafe working conditions leading to industrial accidents and disease.

So .........those cheap goods In the £ shops are not cheap at all when you take into account how and where they were made. Fast fashion and those designer labels......not such a bargain when you look at the conditions where they were produced, the low wages the workers get etc

I was never so sickened and appalled as when I saw the news footage of Black Friday last year. I thought it shameful. The way people were behaving you would have thought that they were starving and they were fighting over food.

They were like rabid dogs.

GreyQueen

lessonlearned wrote: »

Cheap goods and cheap food have unseen costs. We need to take into account their true cost, low wages, bonded labour, unsafe working conditions leading to industrial accidents and disease.

So .........those cheap goods In the £ shops are not cheap at all when you take into account how and where they were made. Fast fashion and those designer labels......not such a bargain when you look at the conditions where they were produced, the low wages the workers get etc

I was never so sickened and appalled as when I saw the news footage of Black Friday last year. I thought it shameful. The way people were behaving you would have thought that they were starving and they were fighting over food.

They were like rabid dogs.

:T I couldn't agree more. You would have thought those people were starving, and brawling to get the last loaf of bread in town. I'd long been disgusted with the Black Friday scenes from the US (as are a fair few Americans, who avoid the shops like the plague) but never thought to see such obscenity here.

I was speechless one time when some twenty-somethings were cooing over Primarche bargain clothes and one remarked to the other how it was great that they were so cheap because you can wear them once then throw them away.

Well, I say I was speechless, what I really meant is that I was shocked to the core and couldn't trust myself to say something neutral or even civil, so was literally biting my tongue. Particularly because the rest of the conversation made it clear that 'thrown away' was literally into the dustbin, not a charity shop donation or swopsies with a friend.

thriftwizard

"Frugal" comes from the same root-word as "fruitful" and "thrifty" from the same word as "thrive" so it's kind of odd that they've acquired so many negative connotations!

GreyQueen

thriftwizard wrote: »

"Frugal" comes from the same root-word as "fruitful" and "thrifty" from the same word as "thrive" so it's kind of odd that they've acquired so many negative connotations!

I suspect that it's part of consumerist propaganda to mock their enemies; the sensible, thrifty types. After all, since the dawn of time cultures across the globe have mocked the wasteful and profligate and praised the frugal, modest and thrifty. You have to do a lot of propagandisation to turn that supertanker around.:D

fuddle

thriftwizard wrote: »

"Frugal" comes from the same root-word as "fruitful" and "thrifty" from the same word as "thrive" so it's kind of odd that they've acquired so many negative connotations!

I think society dictates that we are seen to thrive if we spend and acquire. Bizarre that fruitful kind of means, in my mind, that you get, gain or are given too.

Influence is such a dangerous thing! It can turn a whole mindset round. I was watching Jamie's Sugar Rush yesterday and could not believe little villages in Mexico had taken to coke as not only a lifestyle choice but as a ritual, offering to give thanks for it. The marketing there is horrendous. Coke has only been around since early 1900. So drastic and so far from the norm, from health, from reasonable thinking.

VJsmum

Interesting discussion.

I am someone who probably doesn't "have" to be frugal - but i can't help it

I grew up in a household of very little income and, as one of 6, it was even more keenly felt. For a long time, i didn't know that we were poor as everyone was the same round our way. My auntie was well off, but she ran a pub and had no children so i accepted that it was probably the children that made you poor (ain't that the truth ). As we got into the late 70's early 80's - which were my teenage years - I realised that we were worse off than most. Friends parents started getting cars or people went abroad on holidays but i didn't really worry about it. When maggie started de regulating banks and credit became more common, my mother (an extremely wise woman) said "but it all has to be paid back eventually - where is all this money suddenly coming from?" And she was right - albeit, it took a while. But those values and words stayed with me and i have always feared debt - as she did.

For me, money is about security not status. I couldn't give a flying fig what people think of me - or certainly not in terms of status or income. I have a friend who is very influenced by such things (says things like "oh he lives in an x thousand pound house", or "he drives a so and so"). THere is nothing wrong with wanting nice things, of course - be it a Radley bag (they are soo nice, but i can't seem to bring myself to buy one. mainly cos i'd have to treat it with kid gloves and i am not cut out for that) or a pandora bracelet or whatever. I just don't seem to want those things.

We do like our holidays and experiences though - and will spend money on those. We have had several "holidays of a lifetime" and I don't resent or regret a single penny. But i have bought plenty of things I resent spending money on.

Some of it is also to do with not being wasteful / being environmentally minded. I am currently painting up furniture in our house - but not cos it's trendy (i didn't really realise it was, I thought most people would prefer to have new), but because it is very sturdily built but the finish has seen better days. neither us or the children would appreciate not being able to "live" for fear of wrecking new furniture so the old stuff will do - with a bit of refresh.

Someone said to us the other day "i don't mind bringing my dog into your house, but don't want to take it to x's as everything is so pristine there". I think there's a compliment in there somewhere :rotfl:

missyrichards

lessonlearned wrote: »

I was never so sickened and appalled as when I saw the news footage of Black Friday last year. I thought it shameful. The way people were behaving you would have thought that they were starving and they were fighting over food.

They were like rabid dogs.

I too thought those scenes were disgraceful.

[Deleted User]

I think that thrifty has a different connotation than frugal. Being thrifty sounds like being careful but not miserly, making sure that the money obtains best value. Frugal means that circumstances are covered but that life is like a tight elastic band. Thrifty means to me that unnecessary things are bought but at a good price. Frugal means that everything is a necessity

That means that I am no longer frugal but will always be thrifty. An awakening moment for me if I am honest

Thistle-down

We've been living carefully for so long, now it just comes naturally. Until a couple of months ago, we lived in a run-down 1 bed flat. (4 people, 1 dog) We have just moved into the smallest, cheapest rented terraced house we could find and it feels like luxury. (It has a shower and central heating!!! :j ) Our car is from the early 90s, and nearly everything we acquire is second hand or free.

I do have two very nice guitars - a Gibson that I bought back when I was 16, working for over a year after school and weekends to save up for it, and an amazing custom Martin that I got for my 50th bday. Both are truly "dream" guitars.

A fellow guitarist was complimenting my Martin and complaining that he couldn't afford something similar. I mentioned our lifestyle and priorities. He must have felt I was criticising his choices because he got a bit irate and told me I should sell my guitars and buy a cheap Yamaha, that it was ridiculous that someone in my position should have not one but two such guitars. Earlier he had told me about their third holiday this year and how they really "need" to upgrade the car...

I'm not trying to out-frugal anyone here. I am exceedingly grateful for what I have. I don't care about new clothes or cars. I am a musician so do care about having dependable, quality equipment. If I don't have enough gigs during the month to pay the rent, I go out and busk to make sure we can make ends meet.

I do get a bit annoyed when people (such as the other guitarist) imply that we should living in a hovel and be glad of it, like we are somehow lesser beings because we do not actively participate in the constantly upgrading, buy-more-throw-away society. But then I remember that I live in a lovely cozy little house, am raising socially conscious kids, and am being paid for doing something I love rather than working in a soul destroying 9-5 world...;)