Ask:
Do you find that people have misconceptions about the frugal life? What are they?
Frugal vs. Cheap. I find a lot of people confuse living frugally with being "cheap". They are worlds apart in my mind! Being frugal is all about not being wasteful, buying quality that will last, and getting the most bang for your buck.
Living frugally means depriving yourself. I don't think this is true. Anyone else have thoughts on this?
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I used to think it was cheap, but after being on the site for awhile now, I have learn that it isn't. I have learned so much from this site. My DH has even asked about this because he has noticed my spending habits change, not that I was a wild spender, but I would spend money on whatever now I take inventory of my pantry before shopping and I don't just buy things just because it is on sale. So to me being frugal is being smart. Thanks for all the tips and keep them coming
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I think people have a hard time accepting that you can live in a nice house, have nice things, etc, and still live frugally. To most, this seems to be a contradiction, ya' know? I buy most of my kids' clothes at consignment sales....and they were all name brand clothes. People often ask me why I do this, considering where we live, etc. Umm..HELLO!?!?!? This is HOW we live where we live!! I am frugal in buying their clothes (and in a ton of other ways) in order to be able to afford the area we live in, etc.
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I think I have the hardest time with the misconception that if you live frugally you must be "poor". Why on earth would you buy off brands, use coupons, shop 2nd hand (consignment, garage sale) etc.. if you weren't??? We live very comfortably and really don't "want" for anything ~ but that doesn't mean that we need to buy the most expensive things, or fix what we have instead of buying a new one.
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Our friends laugh at our frugal ways but they are always in awe of what we have. We don't deprive ourselves entirely, there are things we feel we can do without... others that we will get only if we can get it for a bargain.
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People have a misconception that being frugal is difficult.
In a way, it might be. Being frugal means living fully aware of what we're doing and why we're doing it. Frugal people don't tend to sail through life on over-drive, oblivious to all that is around us. We tend to be more 'present' in our lives.
People have a misconception that frugal people aren't fun or spontaneous.
On the contrary, I know several frugal people who can throw a party at the drop of a hat because we have a well stocked pantry! And we tend to be home more - instead of working - so we are more open to whatever comes up or who ever drops by.
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I think often I confuse frugal with cheap myself - at least in how I act. Of the two terms, I consider frugal something positive and a quality that I want to have. Cheap I consider a negative term and it is something I certainly don't want to be.
I have a somewhat silly example, but it affects my quality of life so I figure it illustrates how I confuse the terms myself. In adjusting our grocery bill after ds arrived, we decided to start buying wine at Aldi, to see if we could find a good quality table wine at an Aldi price. (don't laugh too hard - Aldi sparkling wine regularly wins blind taste tests with expensive French champagne, etc.) Anyway, we've been doing this for a few months now and have yet to find a bottle that we really enjoy. To be honest, we both use the phrase "life is too short for bad wine" and thus end up throwing out many of the bottles we open because we don't enjoy them. So two weeks ago I drew a line and said I'd rather buy less, drink less, but use the money to buy good wine from a local wine shop with great wines and a fantastic selection.
Our first attempt was really an attempt at being cheap, although we could have been lucky. The second option I consider frugal: consciously deciding to choose quality, even if it means having less of it. It probably costs us less in the long run (less waste) and it certainly improves our quality of life!
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Originally Posted by mama-abroad
I think often I confuse frugal with cheap myself - at least in how I act. Of the two terms, I consider frugal something positive and a quality that I want to have. Cheap I consider a negative term and it is something I certainly don't want to be.
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Our first attempt was really an attempt at being cheap, although we could have been lucky. The second option I consider frugal: consciously deciding to choose quality, even if it means having less of it. It probably costs us less in the long run (less waste) and it certainly improves our quality of life!
Have to agree here. My Dad considered himself frugal.
He was frugal but there were times when I thought he was just plain nasty disgusting cheap.
Over the years I have adopted some of his ways and skipped over what I consider nasty and disgusting.
I think it comes down to personal preferences and comfort levels.
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Living frugally means depriving yourself. - Well prehaps if you are one of those people that need instant gratification and instead of saving towards a goal, they go out and get a loan or buy it on credit.
However living frugally tends to highlight the things in your life that money does not consist in, I find that since I have been trying to live frugally I find more satisfaction at staying at home, or visiting friends houses than trying to go to all these "in" places and only enjoying my self so so as I know there are other things that that money needs to go to .
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I had all of these misconceptions and more, I' m sure. Before I started trying to spend less, I was really into convenience- things like eating out most of the time, not spending time looking for a better deal because it was easier to just pay full price, etc. I was famous for using the phrase "life's too short" to give myself an excuse to do/have whatever I wanted. I thought that living frugally meant a life full of boredom and drudgery.
Now I can't believe how wrong I was! Life is too short. Too short to waste money for the sake of "convenience" and end up having to work longer and harder just to keep from going bankrupt! After years of struggling with debt and not having enough money to cover expenses at the end of the month, it's extremely liberating to be leaving within my means.