Threats to Frugality
1. Lack of contentment- gotta have that television/dress/book because I'll be miserable, ugly, bored without them. I don't WANT lentils for dinner again, not even sweet and sour ones.
2. Lack of planning- the window on the van has been rattling for six months, and said rattling has been ignored for six months. Last week it broke and became an emergency. Or it's 6:00 and I'm too tired to fix dinner.... or I knew we would be out running errands from 10:00 until 3:00, and suddenly we all want lunch! Or--- did you know birthdays come EVERY year on the SAME day!?!
3. Lack of knowledge- sometimes our ignorance is so deep we do not even know what we do not know. More than one smart person in my life has not known that you can make cake frosting from scratch, or your own home-made biscuit mix. For years I spent money on store bought laundry soap because I didn't know how easy it was to make your own laundry soap. I just recently explained to a couple of college students that you could grow your own sprouts from lentils at the grocery store.
I have six more hindrances to frugality for future Friday posts. What are some of yours?
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8 Responses to “Threats to Frugality”
February 25th, 2011 at 5:37 am
For me sometimes its my husband! Ok, let me explain. I can do figures in my head, comparing prices to work out the best value. When I go (grocery) shopping with my husband he just picks up the one that looks right to him.
I’ve learnt that sometimes I can say “this one is better”, but actually sometimes it’s ok to let it go. If I think about it from another point of view, maybe the baby is with Nana and we’re having some time together, maybe we’re picking up something we’ll enjoy while snuggling up watching a movie, sometimes it’s ok to ‘splurge’.
And when we were setting up a budget recently, I made sure that there’s a bit set aside each week for ‘date time’. Ok, so maybe my grocery budget went over, but it’s ok cos I can take it out of the date time budget!
February 25th, 2011 at 8:50 am
Lack of support–sometimes well meaning family and friends can either distract you from your frugal goals (“oh, just come on out, I will pay for it”…then, of course, you’d never let your friend pay so frugal plan is out the window) or they just don’t understand your need for frugality so won’t support you (e.g. a spouse that spends recklessly while you watch the spending carefully).
February 25th, 2011 at 9:25 am
I think you’re right about just not knowing that you can or knowing how–but that can vary a lot from person to person, family to family. I cannot imagine not knowing that you don’t make frosting from scratch–my mom loved decorating cakes and I grew up in a kitchen filled with waxed-paper frosting bags, metal tips, and icing rosebuds. But she didn’t make bread (usually), or laundry soap, or sprouts, or even jam (my grandma put up more than we could eat as it was)…so I grew up unfamiliar with canning. My husband watched and helped his grandma make jam many times, so he’s in charge of that now.
I often have a jar of lentil sprouts going in the cupboard–they’re so easy. If kindergartners can sprout one seed in a jar, anybody can sprout a jarful–you just have to rinse them a couple of times a day.
You’ve mentioned before about new parents who think they have to have the baby in a stroller or in a portable car seat all the time–if nobody tells you that you’re allowed to have baby in a sling or just carried in someone’s arms or sitting on a lap, it might not occur to you that you can get along without those things. We were given a stroller for our first baby but didn’t use it until she was about a year old and getting a bit heavier to carry. The first winter (when she was 6 to 9 months old), I carried her in a sling (in her snowsuit) and put my coat on over top–if I wore a sweater, it didn’t matter if it was done up. And we walked a LOT.
February 25th, 2011 at 10:52 am
Attention span. We’re full of good intentions, but once the zeal of a fresh new conviction wears off it’s easy to rationalize or simply forget that we weren’t going to spend money on _insert personal weakness_.
February 25th, 2011 at 1:31 pm
Lack of time.
I wrote about the time/money balance on my most recent post.
February 25th, 2011 at 3:55 pm
The first thing I thought of was a bit different- more situational.
The basic cost of things is increasing even though income isn’t. Examples: our electric usage has dropped between this year and last and yet the amount of our bill is more. Same with gas which is a nonnegotiable expense for me because I drive for work. The property taxes on our home have gone up even though the house is worth less money. Likewise, sales tax here is nearing or at 10% in some cities. Thankfully that doesn’t include food.
February 26th, 2011 at 11:19 pm
Having a “bad day” and using retail therapy to make yourself feel better. I was guilty of this until I realized that there are much better ways to make yourself feel good than spending money:
A walk
A shower or bubble bath
Reading a library book
A nap
March 2nd, 2011 at 4:45 pm
clothes buying is my Achilles Heel. I do very well otherwise at cooking from scratch and making do. oooh, except for the time factor, which Church Mouse mentioned. I could do a much better job of freezing meals to have on hand for those no-time days.
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