Sharpen up those pencils, students! It’s time for another lesson from the Royal Savings Academy. This time, we’re focusing on living frugally. What does it mean to lead a frugal life? Why should you do it? How can you start?
- A quick search of the word frugal on Merriam-Webster’s site reveals that frugal has the Latin root frui meaning “to enjoy.” I absolutely love this because I think the #1 misconception about living frugally is that it means one must deprive him or herself. Nothing could be further from the truth. When you began to take the focus off of what you want and shift it to what you have, you really do begin to enjoy life more. Being frugal is NOT about making yourself miserable by deprivation but instead realizing the great many blessings that you already have and making the most of them.
- Now, for me being frugal is relatively new experience (within the last year or two). I’ve always been cheap and all about scoring the best deal but I haven’t always focused on living a bit more simpler life. In the end stuff on sale is still stuff. Even free stuff is still stuff. Stuff does not equal happiness. And if you’re organizationally challenged and living in a small home like we do, eventually something’s got to give. The King and I have been married for almost ten years and stuff starts to stack up after a time period like that. So recently I’m on a rampage to eliminate items from our household – donating, recycling and when necessary pitching. And at the same time I’m looking at everything we have with new eyes. What can be repaired and reused in a different form or function in our home? I exist much more peacefully when I have less to manage (less laundry to do, fewer dishes to wash, fewer toys to pick up). I think is one of the unsung tenets/benefits of frugality. So bottom line, if you live more frugally, you’re going to save money, you might be a little more organized and feel lighter, you’ll have less of an impact on the earth making it better for your kids and grandkids, and if your focus is right you’ll enjoy life more!
- So how do you start? Here are three basic ideas to help you begin living frugally today. Look around. Are there things that you can see right from where you’re sitting that you don’t really need? 1) Maybe you have some books, DVDs or games that you need to put up on half.com and sell for a profit (and use to pay off any debt you might have). 2) Perhaps you have too many clothes (I know we do!). I’ve been eliminating 3 items/load of laundry lately. I’ve either put them in a box to donate, turned them into rags for cleaning, pitching those that are in a truly deplorable state, or storing those items that are for winter clothing. 3) Toys, toys, toys . . . we have SO many. Start by donating those your kids don’t really use. Goodwill is an easy place to donate but check around and find other organizations that give such items directly to little ones rather than selling them. Then begin a new habit of encouraging friends, grandparents, and family to think outside of the box when it comes to gift giving. It was very hard for me to suggest this at first but I almost think it’s a relief to the givers now. One year we asked everyone to just come and help build a swingset for the Eldest Princess. Their time was their gift. Another year, we invited several friends to meet us at Bouncer Town for bouncing fun. Instead of doing an official party with cake and all of the stuffy-stuff, the guests paid for their own admission and celebrated the Eldest Princess’ birthday with a fun play time instead of lots of gifts. We’ve also done birthday parties where we’ve asked the guests to bring a book (one/family), a CD/DVD/Computer game, or outdoor toys (because we didn’t have things for outside). It still gives room for the giver to be creative but also limits the number of new things we have at the end of the day.
Congratulations, you’re well on your way to enjoying life more and living simply. Next time in this course, we’ll talk about making some of your own home cleaning supplies to save money and use what you probably already have to keep your home sparkling clean!
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