Frugal Friday
What is Frugality and Why Would You Want to Be Frugal?
Do you want to keep giving your money away and getting into debt?
Why Frugal Friday?
If you’re already like me, or just thinking about a life of thoughtful purchasing of preloved goods to escape the desire of consumerism, then you might just have found the right place.
I also love the alliteration of Frugal Friday.
What does frugal mean?
frugal: thrifty, sparing or economical with food and money
frugalist: someone who practices economy with money and resources
frugalistas: people who prefer to keep up with fashion without breaking the bank
Let’s share our experiences.
Whether you merely dabble, or are a full-on frugal practitioner this publication is for you.
Personally, I’m somewhere in the middle. Beyond dabbling, but not so strict that I won’t purchase the odd new item.
What made me frugal?
After a twenty year stint in a communications corporation, earning tons of money, I realised nothing I did or had made me happy.
My new career choice and writing habit reduced my disposable income drastically.
My refusal to rejoin the wage slave society means I have more time to do the things I love, but less money.
Do you want to know how I save money? Here are a few tips:
Water
When I boil the kettle in the morning I fill it with the exact amount I need to make my big mugs of tea and coffee, to warm up my pint of water, and give my porridge cooking a head start.
Boiling a full kettle is a waste of electricity (and money) if you don't need it all.
I don’t drink my coffee until a few hours later, so I keep it in a thermal flask. The flask itself is one I purchased nine years ago and it’s been everywhere with me, thus it’s not up to the task of keeping hot drinks piping for hours nowadays. My solution is to use an oven mitt to keep my mid-morning beverage hot until then.
I recently bought a new flask from my favourite coffee shop only to find it doesn’t keep hot drinks hot either. Buying new, is not always the best choice.
When a friend and I decided to go out for a walk this morning, I used the other oven mitt to keep our drinks hot from 8 to 11!
Porridge Oats
I’ve been a porridge eater for two years now and I swear by it. In addition to the boiling water, I add 35g of vanilla protein powder, a tablespoon of flaked almonds, and thirteen green grapes. It has interesting textures and flavours, it fills my belly and lasts until lunchtime.
What makes oats so special?
Studies have confirmed the health benefits of beta glucan found in oat and barley grains are particularly useful in dealing with obesity and metabolic syndrome.
I buy a kilo of oats for under a pound and they last a month. That, hands down, beats all the brand name cereals that cost two or three times as much and only last a week!
Use secondhand or charity shops for everything you need.
If I need an item of clothing, footwear, or something from my home, my first stop is the Sue Ryder shop, the next is Debra, the next is MacMillan Cancer, then British Heart Foundation, plus two more I don’t recall the names of on the High Street of my town.
I’ve bought a black cotton Boss work shirt for a fiver. A pair of brown leather, Fly of London, mid-calf boots for £27.
I give myself mini-missions to find what I’m looking for, nothing I buy is spur of the minute. It took me four months to find the perfect whisky glass, the right heft, the right shape, and the optimum size. I paid £3. I was delighted!
One of my other missions is to buy all the Lee Child books that my friend and I haven’t read yet. I keep a list on a post-it inside my phone cover. I’ve only got a few more to go.
Staggering, isn’t it?
But you know what else?
Frugal Friday is not about deprivation, which is the key point of this succinct article by Darius Foroux. Life is too short to penny-pinch. But you might have a specific goal to reach, so scrimping and saving could very well work for you.
Check out this video for more tips to ease you into frugal living:
The point is …
It’s incredibly liberating — emotionally and financially — to own only the necessities. I have clothes, footwear, glasses, two handbags, books, beauty products, a laptop, a phone and two headsets for working as an online teacher.
I started living this way when I moved abroad. I realised I wanted the freedom to be able to up sticks in one country and settle in another. I was able to fit everything I owned into a 70 litre backpack on my back, a regular size rucksack on my front, and a cabin-size wheelie bag. A giant snail.
Here’s another story you might like.
