Money Management

Is Frugal Living for You?

Frugal living. What comes to mind for you when you hear the words “Frugal Living”?

Frugal Living You may think that frugality means being cheap, or going without, or never spending money. This is far from the truth.

Living frugally means choice. You choose how and when to spend your money wisely and spend it in line with your goals. It means that you will have what you need, and if you plan it right, and follow that plan, you will have what you want in your life.

It doesn't mean "to go without". It's just tweaking your lifestyle to match with what you really want in your life.

If we take the meaning of frugal literally, it means to be economical. It really means to not waste something. So in the case of managing your money (and in essence your life) it means to not be wasteful with your money.

Take a moment and think about how you may waste money. It may be with actual physical money (dollars and cents), like forgetting your change, losing money because you left in your car and it fell out, or could be paying interest and/or penalties because you didn’t pay your bills on time.

Where Could You be More Frugal?

You could waste money by buying things that you will never use, or only use once. Think about: Money Management

Your clothes closet or drawers. Are there items that still have tags on them?
Household goods? - try new products and don't finish them?
Small appliances or tools that you have only used once?
Memberships or subscriptions you paid for and only used once?
How often you throw food out that you never finished or opened?
Received Christmas gifts that never get used?

What about where or how you shop?

Do you only buy brand names or shop in brand name stores – and won’t even consider the generic brands.
Do you take the upgrade as it is only “a few” dollars more, when really you only needed the regular size or model?
Do you take your lunch to work, but go out for lunch, and you throw it out?

Being frugal can be taken to the extreme and become incredibly restricting and turn you into living like a cheapskate. You may deny yourself of things that you really love or want in your life. You may deprive yourself of joy. Some people take it too far and end up regretting their choices or find it too hard and give up on it. Eventually you many become depressed or hard to live with. This isn’t frugal living. Frugal living is about choice not about deprivation.

If you are a work at home mom, WAHM Ideas offers moms ideas and tips to enable you to stay home and earn an income.

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