Frugal Principle #5: Creativity

The last frugal principle that I want to discuss is creativity. This is really one of the most necessary and also the most fun and rewarding parts of being frugal. The frugal life involves a lot of figuring out ways to get or make what you need cheaply, or better yet, making do with what you have. I always find that I am amazed at what a little thinking outside of the box can do for me!

Over the past few years, I have definitely learned a lot of creative ways to get what I need for less. For instance, when my older daughter was four months old, I was convinced she needed an exersaucer, so we went to Target and spent $50 on one! Now that I am a (slightly!) more experienced mom, I know so many resources that I could have used to get one for less. These include online coupons, Craig's List, secondhand stores, children's consignment sales, freecycle, or even borrowing one from a friend.

Now, if I had gotten one from these alternative sources, the toy might have not been new or quite as nice, but within months my daughter was cruising anyway and didn't want to be confined in it! Plus, to me a large plastic toy is a good item to get used -- just rub with a little of my favorite Clorox Anywhere spray.

As regards making do with what I have, one of the areas in which I often need to be creative is meal preparation. We have only one car, which my husband usually takes to work, so I am not able to run to the store for a missing ingredient for dinner. Not surprisingly, I have become the queen of the substitution! If I can't think of anything to substitute, I often leave an ingredient out, usually with no ill effect to the recipe. (Just don't try this with baking powder or something!)

This Christmas I also tried to work with what I had to decorate for the holiday. It was our first Christmas in our house and I really wanted to make it special, but we didn't have the money to buy a lot of decorations. These pictures show our mantelpiece decorated almost exclusively with items I found around the house or got for free (the branches). The only items I bought were the mini wire Christmas trees and the balls in the jar, all of which I got at the dollar store. The finished display wasn't fancy, but I think it looked festive.

I think that using your money and possessions creatively is so empowering. Not to sound trite, but you really discover that the most important resources you have are within yourself!

Frugal Principle #4: Time

Related to the concept of planning is the concept of time. It always amazes me how much the old adage is true, "time is money"! I've often found that time can be substituted for money and vice versa in many different instances. Whether to use your money or your time is a personal choice based on what is more important to you in a specific instance.

For instance, for the past six months I have been trying to substantially reduce our grocery bill. One of the main strategies that I've using to save money is to make a lot more of our food from scratch: everything from sandwich bread to waffles to snack mixes. Sometimes I feel like I spend all my time cooking, but it is worth it to me at this point in my life. Since I am a SAHM, I have the time do this, and it is a good activity to do with my daughter. If I were a working mom, my time at home might be more important than the money spent, and I might have more money to spend on prepared products. It's all about trade-offs.

Other ways that we've chosen to use our time instead of our money include: cutting our own grass, having a small garden, cutting my husband's hair, taking the longer way instead of the toll road (usually), and performing simple car maintenance. In some of these instances I'd much rather spend the time; for example, I really enjoy gardening. In other instances, I really wouldn't mind spending the money instead, but I make the sacrifice since we're trying to save everything we can right now. (e.g. When we have more money, I am buying the pre-washed bagged salad. I hate washing lettuce!)

I don't have much time this morning, but I hope that I've gotten you thinking about where you'd like to save time and where you'd like to save money!

Photo from www.freefoto.com

Frugal Principle #3: Planning

Now we're getting down to the practical, nitty-gritty side of being frugal! I think that if there's one thing I've learned about saving money it is that there is no substitute for planning. Planning gives you control and knowledge of what you're going to spend. Without it, it is so easy to waste money!

The most fundamental element of planning a frugal lifestyle is making a budget. I may be slightly weird, but I love budgets! (Of course, I am the same person whose two-year-old daughter plays "organizing.") But seriously, there is something so satisfying about discovering where your money is going and then committing to whatever changes to those amounts you decide to make. So far from being limiting, I think a budget gives you freedom and control over an aspect of your life that may have felt out of control.

I am no expert at making a budget, but I know that there are many tools out there to help. There are various online subscription sites (and probably some free ones too). I've also heard good things about using money management software, such as Quicken or Microsoft Money. Personally, I just use a blank book and a computer spreadsheet.

Planning for a frugal lifestyle also goes way beyond just making a budget; it can save you money in many other areas. Meal planning is a big one that comes to mind. Just deciding ahead of time what your family is going to eat for the next week can save you tons of money, both at the grocery store and at restaurants that you might have patronized.

Planning and doing research before making a large purchase can also definitely save money. It is so easy now to do internet research on any product, from a vacuum to a TV, before buying it. I like to use comparison shopping sites such as http://www.nextag.com/ to compare prices.

There are definitely more ways that planning makes a frugal life easier and saves money. I'd love to hear ideas on more!

Photo from www.freefoto.com

Frugal Principle #2: Sacrifice

The second principle of a frugal life on which I have been reflecting is sacrifice. There's no getting around it: to start saving money you are somehow, somewhere, going to have give something up. This is the difficult part of living a frugal lifestyle, depriving yourself and sticking with it. At first glance, sacrifice seems purely negative, but I can think of two important positive aspects to it.

One of Merriam-Webster's definitions of the word "sacrifice," is the following: "a destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else." So sacrifice is not pointlessly depriving yourself of something, but rather letting go of something less important in order to gain something more important (as I wrote about yesterday).

Another unexpected positive side to sacrifice is that I have often found that I actually don't miss the thing that I gave up nearly as much as I thought I would. Sometimes the alternative solution is actually better! For instance, a few months ago I started making homemade bread in a bread machine purely to save money. However, I found that it is super easy to make and my family loves it. Plus, the homemade bread is probably healthier, and I can control the ingredients that go into it. Now we wouldn't go back to store bought bread anyway!

In the end, as Henry Ward Beecher wrote, "It is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich."

Photo from freefoto.com.

Frugal Principle #1: Purpose

I believe that the first principle that has to be behind any attempt to live a more frugal lifestyle is a sense of purpose. The frugal person has to know why and for what he is saving money. Otherwise, he risks becoming like Ebeneezer Scrooge, a "tightfisted old hand at the grindstone," who nevertheless lived in a shabby apartment and ate gruel. One might say he was "frugal," yet he never used his savings for the good of himself or anyone else.

With a sense of purpose, however, the frugal person is not simply a miser hoarding money. Rather, he is someone who has knows what is truly important to him and is willing to sacrifice other less important goods toward achieving his goal. So I believe that the very first step for anyone who plans to start living more frugally is to ask himself, "Why do I want to
save money? What are my goals?"

These goals could be anything and will be different for everyone. They could be as small as saving up for a new coat or a night out or as large as saving for a house. They could include paying off debt, building a family emergency fund, saving for a vacation, amassing a college fund, or even giving more to charity. The important thing is that the goals be compelling enough that the person is willing to give up other things to achieve them. (I wrote a little more about spending your money on what satisfies here.)

It's important also to be able to clearly state and visualize one's goals, or else they will not have the ability to motivate one. For instance, right now my family's financial focus is on amassing an emergency fund. Our purchase of our first home last spring really drained our savings, and we're trying to build them back up. While this may not seem like the most exciting goal ever, when I think about the peace of mind it will afford when we have three months of living expenses in the bank, it does motivate me. Or when I reflect that the days of our ten year old car are probably numbered and dream of a minivan in our future, it's not so hard to drive past Starbucks.

As I said in my previous post, frugality is all about choices. With a true sense of purpose in your life, saving money becomes not so much a burden as a set of exciting steps toward realizing your dreams.

5 Principles of a Frugal Lifestyle

This week I plan to post a series on "5 Principles of a Frugal Lifestyle." Of course, these are just five principles according to me, but I hope that they might get you thinking and maybe coming up with some of your own. I guess it's my background in philosophy that won't let me get away with starting a frugal blog without delving into first causes! I hope you enjoy!