Getting used to frugality

[Pitdog]

I think the majority of us are spoiled to an extent, I know I am a lot.
The hardest thing about living frugally, is breaking old habits that are started by being spoiled.
The HARDEST thing is the food. I am way too spoiled and passing up a 'dollar menu' item is REALLY hard for me. Due as much to convenience as to liking the crap, which I don't necessarily.
Other things too that I have started doing to 'trim the financial fat' have been noticeably hard, but are allowing other avenues of activity.
As a student back in college at age 32, old habits ARE hard to break, but I am slowly working on it. All those books I always wanted to read, are getting read. The drawings I wanted to work on, are getting drawn. I am becoming a little more versed in living frugally, by necessity since money is tighter, with gas being HIGH and me having to use a lot of it, going to NC for school, and back to VA one the weekends to my Pup.
I have started making living more frugally a challenge, and that is helping too.

Anyone else breaking the mold of being spoiled? I need consultation/ counseling on this whole new financial aspect. Plust tips :) Thanks for listening.

[bookwormom]

nope, I grew up really poor and being frugal must have settled in my genes, as my daughter and son are naturally frugal, too, cooking from scratch, buying second hand, waste not want not, if you don't take care of what you have you won't have it , a penny saved is a penny earned, a stitch in time and so on. Oh, push a bottlecap into a cake of soap, make sure you will rest the soap on the bottlecap. it will last a lot longer. and you can get your teeth just as clean with a lot less toothpaste. use baking soda for deodorant. works good and is better for you. (I do not trust deodorants anyway). use shopping plastic bags as trashbags. I am sure you will find a lot of help on the subject on this forum.

[docjered]

I used to make about 150k a year. All I did, during those flush years, was:

1. Spoil my oldest son and not teach him the value of a dollar.
2. Bought a lot of useless stuff that is gone now.
3. Bought a lot of other stuff that is only worth pennies on the dollar on Ebay.
4. Got in trouble with the IRS
5. Ate wrong, trampled on the earth, wasted virtually everything I touched, threw a lot of good things away, and got lazy.

When life changed and money got really tight, things got so much better on so many fronts. I would love to have just one more year of the "big money" to use properly, but wouldnt trade the lessons learned for all the tea at Big Lots.

[Shamrock1121]

I grew up so poor - poverty would have been a step up for us. *Until I was in my early 30's, I always feared going hungry. *It's very hard for me to spend money - especially on myself.

For the two of us, I have a $50 food budget. *Hubby gets paid once every 2 wks., so I put 2 fifty dollar bills in the *zipper pouch in the little 3-ringed note book where I keep track of the prices of foods I purchase. *Using this book, I know if something really is a bargain, based on what prices I've been paying for them, and I also keep an inventory of food on hand. *So far this year, I've managed to have money left nearly every week. *When I got enough extra $, not long ago, I purchased 70 pounds of grain (10#corn, 25#hard white wheat, 25#spelt, 10# rye). *The next time I accumulate "extra", I'll purchase a years worth of Morning Moo's (whey-based milk substitute).

When the garden gets going, I will spend a lot less on food, and be able to put that money into high-priced meat to put in the freezer.

I budget for everything - even blow money. *As Dave Ramsey (the money guru) says, "every dollar has a name" (groceries, clothing, fun, insurance, savings, etc.). *

I spend cash only for most purchases. *They have proven that you spend more money if you use a credit card.

I save the $1 bills I accumulate. *That savings, deposited at the bank once a month, pays for Christmas and after-Christmas bargains. *I can usually save around $1,000 a year (if I nab hubby's dollars too ;)).

I cut my own hair. *Since I do such a great job *:D, I budget and pay myself $20 a month. *I put that with the dollar savings as well. *That way it's REALLY saving it. *Otherwise it's just spent on something else.

Frugal is:
-homegrown
-homemade
-home cooked
-repaired
-restored
-reused
-reduced
-recycled

-Karen

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