When Enough is Enough
You all know that I'm for outside the box ideas, but the money saving ideas in the article I stumbled on this morning were a bit much:
Preventing obesity and smoking can save lives, but it doesn't save money, researchers reported Monday. It costs more to care for healthy people who live years longer, according to a Dutch study that counters the common perception that preventing obesity would save governments millions of dollars.
"But it also makes sense. If you live longer, then you cost the health system more," said Pieter van Baal, an economist at the Netherlands' National Institute for Public Health and the Environment. READ THE REST
The article went on to say it's "cheap" to treat lung cancer because "people don't survive very long." What?! "But if they are old enough to get Alzheimer's one day, they may survive longer and cost more." Aaaah! I won't get on my soapbox about the value of life. But suffice it to say, the things that could stem from this type of "research" don't amuse me. Some things are worth paying for. I am NOT. JUST. A. DOLLAR SIGN!
So, e'hem, now that I've gotten that out of my system... When is enough enough when it comes to being frugal?
I spent some time this week pondering my recent frugal rut and thinking about Meredith’s questions from Monday. Sara’s post on Excess from Walk Slowly, Live Wildly added to my thoughts. The question? When is enough enough? How hard do we have to work at finding and implementing new ideas and ways to cut costs when we’re trying to save or not spend money? How can we avoid being legalistic about flip flopping between doing "something," which might not seem like all that much, or obsessively seeking out more ideas simply because they exist?
Although I know some of you are, I would be willing to guess that a good portion of FH readers aren’t trying to provide for 6 people on $35k a year. Yes it may be tight, but if push came to shove, I’ll bet in most cases there is something drastic that you could do, like selling a house or car or moving into a smaller rental, to bring more financial stability. If we sold our house at or near current market value and found a reasonable place to buy or rent, life would be pretty sweet for us financially. Alas, I have to deal with reality and the mortgage.
Other than our well pump disaster from June, replacing the kitchen floor and the fact that our clothes dryer died last week, our financial picture hasn’t changed much in the past year. (You know, just a couple “little" things.) Rich got a raise at the beginning of this year and last, but increased heating and gas costs devoured both. Our income and out go are pretty close. Well, except that our oldest is unavoidably going to need braces this year…
We do all the “proper” frugal things: we don’t eat out, don’t spend recklessly (except 50¢ books and an occasion stop at the thrift store), I make some of our clothes with frugally acquired supplies and we bargain hunt for the rest, we combine trips to save gas, keep the thermostat at 67 (and FREEZE!), don’t have cable, gave up our Netflix subscription, spend hardly anything on homeschool curriculum, buy food in bulk, look for sales and make most everything from scratch. Other than increasing our income or selling the house, which is so tempting since it’s the source of our financial issues, there isn’t anything substantial we can cut to make a difference.
When we are practicing frugality and the ends are meeting, albeit humbly, when is what we are doing enough? Where does prudent become sinfully obsessive? When do our frugal ways cross the line and become cheap? I know what my answer is, but I'd like to hear your thoughts!
psst! If you want to improve your health by eating healthy so you save on health care $$, you can make frugal health choices by simply eating more veggies, paying attention to how you put things together and watching when you eat. The three of these together can make a big difference. 
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14 Responses to “When Enough is Enough”
February 6th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
I listened to a whole report about the study on NPR at about 6 last night, and was floored. The result was, it’s cheaper to treat smokers & obese people over their lifetime because they don’t live as long. The economist who did the study and was being interviewed was totally serious- that health care providers (or the government, if they’re providing health care) should take this into account, and perhaps not provide obesity- and smoking-prevention programs to save money in the long run (and have people die earlier!). It was AWFUL. He took into account the value of the money spent on health problems, but not the value of the life saved and the extra days spent alive. From a purely economic point of view, he was right- but I couldn’t imagine anyone looking at the situation from a purely economic point of view.
February 6th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
That’s crazy! Was that study really funded by the tobacco industry?!
Janel – I hear ya on doing all the “proper” frugal things, but still falling behind. It is frustrating!
February 6th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
I think it becomes sinful when it interferes with our relationships – with God and with those that He has put into our lives (husbands, children, neighbors.)
If one is frugal and hoards every penny – that’s sinful. When one doesn’t go to church, because gas is expensive but will go to four different grocery stores to save $, that is sinful. When one does not provide for our brothers and sisters, resists providing hospitality, or makes our loved one go without material needs in order to save $, that’s sinful.
Being good stewards of our money, and carefully considering the ways it is spent, is not sinful.
Christ does not want our money – He wants US. So if our frugal habits are interfering with that relationship, that’s when it becomes a problem, IMO.
February 6th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
There is a fine line between being frugal and being miserly. Our family has been accused of the latter as if we’re the modern day Ma and Pa Kettle because eight of us live in a mobile home of about 832 square feet.
But it was not the drive to be frugal that caused us to make this move. It was too little income to support anything other than a paid for, small mobile home. For the year before we made the purchase, we had lived with my dad in his 2000 square foot house with my brother, his wife, and their child–11 of us; they because they were saving money to buy a home, us because our income was well under $35,000 and we did not qualify for higher paying jobs. We also knew that sticking with my husband’s job provided a business opportunity down the line if we hung in there.
You do what you need to do to make ends meet, but its important to make sure essentials are met. I’ve learned from living here in what seems like camp that often what we and others think we need really isn’t what we need. It’s society’s perception of what’s socially acceptable, the reason we’ve received a lot of negative feedback to our lifestyle.
The biggest way we compensated for our lack was to do things ourselves, hence our name online of The Building Brows, and why we’re building our house with our own hands. But I hope that when we do come to a place where our income is more, and we have been working toward that this past year, that we will release jobs to people because we can pay them.
When I feel the pull to hoard–needing to conserve or not–that’s when being frugal crosses into being miserly. It’s a heart condition.
Great posts. And shame on those people for valuing money more than lives.
February 7th, 2008 at 8:26 am
We provided for 6 people on 35K (and sometimes less) for years, and did it fairly easily. No trips to Disney World, but we certainly weren’t suffering at all. We owned our own home and vehicle, the kids were in activities, we ate well, a yearly camping vacation… Is 35K really too little for most people?? I’m not being snippy, I’m seriously wondering. That 35K was after Hubby got a new job with a huge raise- before that we were living on 26- 30K.
February 7th, 2008 at 9:38 am
I think that frugality becomes sinful when it gets in the way of the things we are supposed to do as Christians. If you don’t provide meals for someone in your church who needs them because you don’t want to spend the cash, that’s wrong. If you don’t tithe so that you can put the money in a savings account, that’s wrong, too.
February 7th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Good thoughts!
When I wrote $35k, I was thinking of how little it is for people to live where we are here in surburban New England. There are places that you can live well on $35k a year – but I think they are becoming fewer and farther between. CoffeeMama, I’ll bet you’re not from New England! lol
“It’s society’s perception of what’s socially acceptable, the reason we’ve received a lot of negative feedback to our lifestyle.” So TRUE!
February 7th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
We’re in New England, too–rural Vermont. It is hard here because the cost of living is far above what the average Vermonter can earn.
Our region seems to provide good paying jobs only for those who get their education out-of-state and bring it in with them. Livelong Vermonters are often stuck on some kind of assistance.
I don’t know about you, but 35K seems like a luxury income.
February 7th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
I don’t know much about VT. We’re in the Boston commute area. Everything is outrageous here.
“Our region seems to provide good paying jobs only for those who get their education out-of-state and bring it in with them. Livelong Vermonters are often stuck on some kind of assistance.”
Just an FYI… It was like that where we were in the Fargo area. We were the out-of-staters with a good paying job. Because of that, we were getting clipped for massive state taxes.
Several folks I knew out there didn’t make a lot and qualified for free health care & dental, tax breaks, got 75% of their homeschooling resources paid for and a bunch of other programs like that. We got ZERO and had to pay for all that stuff out of pocket. And then, every year we were there, the state took our ENTIRE federal tax return, and then some, in state taxes.
While it appears that that those high pay people are getting the hiring breaks, know that they are probably paying dearly for those “breaks.”
February 7th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Yes, $35K can be hard to live on when you have school loans that are breaking you, as well as a car loan, and outstanding medical bills.
February 8th, 2008 at 2:13 am
We also provided for our large family on less than 35 K for years- but, that was before milk and gas prices were over 3.00 a gallon, to name just two. I have watched prices on staples like tuna go up 20 percent over the last year, but my income sure didn’t go up 20 percent.
Where you live also makes a *huge* difference. In Colorado Springs five or six years ago, most people paid around a thousand dollars to rent a small modular house. In the same time period in rural Indiana you could find a much nicer house to rent for 300-500 a month.
February 8th, 2008 at 9:02 am
We are a family of 6 and our income is under or there around 35K. Many times we have lived on much, much less.
It is a choice that we have made, to have me stay home and homeschool the kids. In making that choice we have had to cut corners and perhaps do without things that others take for granted. We live within our means, have no credit cards, no loans (aside from the mortgage), and I try very hard to find frugal tips that help us out. ;0)
February 10th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
BTW—we live in New England too. :0)
February 11th, 2008 at 10:12 am
I appreciate your comments!
I have no doubt that if we were in western Massachusetts or western New Hampshire or almost anywhere in Maine, that we could live on $35k a year. That’s where we’d love to be, unfortunately God has other plans for us right now.
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