What it's worth being frugal about?

scon1234

Like others have said, home cooking all meals has helped me so much both financially and with respect to my personal health. I try to pack meals out with as much veg as possible. Low calorie, low cost! My cooking has improved so much that takeaways and ready meals just aren't that appealing. With the money we save my fiance and I get to treat ourselves to good meals out every few weeks/months which for me personally is much nicer than a greasy chippy tea every week. Plus since we only treat ourselves to meals out occasionally we still have money to save, and we really appreciate the meal out more due to it being infrequent. Bit of a take your coat off or you won't feel the benefit kind of view point I know haha.

I also switched to online food shopping. I don't get tempted by offers, I don't get stressed out by busy shoppers, and I save in petrol because all my deliveries are free

So for me being frugal is worth it in some aspects, but it's all a matter of personal opinion and circumstance.

VJsmum

What I am frugal about is home cooked food as opposed to ready made, I also take my own lunches and make my own coffee rather than buy.

We keep driving to a minimum, preferring to walk - which saves money on the gym also.

We aren't led by designer brands or new this that or the other - even though we could probably afford it. We don't pay for things like Sky.

But it is different for everyone...

FrugalWorker

A lot of the reasons I'm frugal are about not wanting to waste resources, not just mine. I know that just about everything is finite, we have re-newable resources - but we need to mind them.

I also like to look at my own personal resources the same way - money and time. But neither one nor the other is more important. Like others, I aim to choose how I spend both and not spend them mindlessly.

chanie

I don't always have the time to be frugal as I work full time and have two young children. Sometimes I become fixated with buying a product for a particular price that I forget about the:
Effort: getting the children in the car and out and about.
Time: we live in London so even a few miles in the car can take an hour.
Savings: petrol and parking costs can wipe out savings.

I try and be efficient with my frugal activities. For example, my mum lives near a Home Bargains but it's a 30 mile round trip. I will do my shopping when I'm in the area. However, I end up spending more than planned as I don't know when I'll next get the opportunity to pop in, but it will save me money in the long run.

Towser

I love carboot sales and can understand waiting for things to come up and they do eventually. If I did not then:

it would be a poor exchange of time and money and not worth it.

However, I feel Charity shops are even more worth it as everything is presorted. There is a huge difference in price between CS and CBS. But I can see that you have a much larger range of things to buy at a carboot so maybe I will have to Charity Shop shop in winter and CBS in summer?

Mistral001

Yorkshirelass mentioned being frugal because you have to as opposed to because you want to. Up until about six months ago I had for about 4 or 5 years been frugal because I had to and I can tell you that it is much harder than if you are frugal just because you want to.


It is not just the stress you come under from not having any money, often you end up spending more than when you have a little money in the bank. Not being able to pay bills yearly such as car tax, TV License, rates, means you pay more. I have oil fired central heating so not being able to pay for it in normal quantities raises the costs more there as well.


Now my frugality is more of a hobby and generally stress-free. BTW I try to not let it impact on my friends and family and still like to thing that I pay my way socially.

missyrichards

Mistral001 wrote: »

Yorkshirelass mentioned being frugal because you have to as opposed to because you want to. Up until about six months ago I had for about 4 or 5 years been frugal because I had to and I can tell you that it is much harder than if you are frugal just because you want to.

Now my frugality is more of a hobby and generally stress-free.

Yes, I completely agree. When we had to be frugal because we were paying off debts it was not fun most of the time but now it's different as it's voluntary frugality and choosing a simple life.:)

Goldiegirl

When it's not an absolute necessity to be frugal, you can choose what you want to be frugal with.


So, for me, it's about what I enjoy and what I want to spend time doing


I enjoy things like cooking, so I'm happy to make the majority our meals from scratch


We like growing some of our own produce, so we do this, but on a fairly small scale as we don't have a large garden.


We like re-using and rehoming stuff, so that's another thing we do.


I like car boot sales, but rarely go, as I think there's a tendency to buy 'bargains' that aren't really needed, while you are waiting to find what you really need. As I've just finished a decluttering drive, I don't want to bring in another load of 'stuff'.


I'd rather search eBay for second hand things - A couple of days ago I bought the perfect (second hand) dress for my next cruise.


But there's things I don't do, simply because I get no pleasure from it.


Charity shops for example. I've never found anything I would like to buy in a charity shop, and I don't really like the charity shop smell. I don't go in these shops anymore.


Heating the house is something I won't scrimp on. I'm not afraid to put a cardigan on if it's a bit chilly, but I won't be bundled up in fleeces, thermals and gloves in warming myself round a candle. When it gets cold, we have the heating on. I want to be comfortable in my own home, and, as you get older, it's not good for your health to live in a cold home.

PasturesNew

Living_proof wrote: »

... two full length matching sets of curtains ... 5 pounds a pair, absolutely new condition. ...
Have I convinced you? Apologies for the lack of pound sign, I will have to look out for one at the next CBS on Saturday!

Well, I look for curtains every time, size 90x90, not seen any in that size at all, never mind at a mind-numbing £5/pair!

[Deleted User]

I cook from scratch as I prefer my own food to processed stuff,I enjoy foraging with my DGS and like to make a lot of my own home made soups,cakes and biscuits I like to spend the cash I have saved on other things ,like treating my DDs or grandchildren and we have a decent family holiday every year using cash I have accrued through my frugal ways. I have always been sensible with cash having gone through lean times during my life and growing up with post war austerity makes one careful with ones resourses