I was wondering how many of you are frugal by choice or necessity?

I need to be frugal to make ends meet, but am curious how many people are just frugal by nature.

I think I could do better with my budgeting, and am inspired by others that have found great ways to slash costs.

I grew up with a mom that was frugal, but I never realized it until later in life. I never thought twice about her home garden and canning, bulk cooking/freezing, coupon clipping, garage "saleing"/thrift shops, etc. A lot of these things are natural to me because of this, but I "have" to do it, if I want to stay afloat.

Is anyone hating forced frugality? I can't say I hate it, but I do stay motivated and encouraged by others.

Just curious.

I am definitly NOT frugal by nature!LOL I LOVE to spend money..unfortunatly we don't have a lot of money to spend. So I'm learning and trying to be more frugal. Thank God for the internet, these boards have taught me so much, and provided much inspiration!

When I was younger, I was frugal because I had to be to pay the bills each month. Now, I am frugal because I can not stand paying full price for an item or service. That and it helps pay for the little extras that military pay can not cover.

i am frugal because i wanna be. my hubby and i make enough to live but i hate paying full price for anything. my goal is to save money on everything. this place has taught me so much! thanx!!

well I have always hated paying full price but didnt start couponing till 6 months ago, but my dh and I are loving actually having groceries. Before I started couponing we might have bought some groceries every few months if we run out of something we just did without! so i guess i say frugal out of necessity!

I enjoy being frugal, and for the time being, I am doing so out of necessity. I've been on maternity leave since February and don't start work again until September. So, no paycheck for me. Dh doesn't make enough alone to keep us afloat. So, before the baby came, we saved, saved, saved, and have continued to do so since she was born. We're doing okay, but could be doing better. It's interesting...having to be frugal has shown me how wasteful some people can be. My parents, for example. I shudder to think of the things they buy that they don't need. My mother goes to the grocery store almost every day to pick up something or other and never uses coupons. My Dad buys books and CD's through the mail that he could just borrow from the library. It makes me crazy! So, I guess I'm frugal out of necessity, but once it's not a necessity anymore, I definitely will continue to be frugal!

We have to be frugal. My SO LOVES to spend spend spend! I have to keep all the money in my purse to, or else it burns a hole in his pocket
Susan

I am trying to learn to be frugal. I love going to garage sales and trying to cheat the big department stores out of my money. I'm a little backwards tho... I have no problem giving the fast food restaraunts my money which is the biggest change I'm out to make.

I think I am frugal because I have to be AND beacause I want to be. My biggest issue is dining out, I cant stand to go to a resturant and pay to eat there, when I KNOW I can prepare the same meals at home, and probably even better!!! Im not a lazy person, so I dont mind cleaning the kitchen, or using a little elbow grease to save a few bucks. I grew up with a mother that did garden, but she never went to garage sales or thrift stores and she always spent a fortune at the grocery store, at least $130 a week, and that was to feed 3 people!!!! We could make a good life buying just generic food and clothes from wal-mart, but I choose to make our dollars go even farther by cooking at home and buying most of our clothes from thrift stores and garage sales. When I go to Target or Wal-mart, I think toi myself......I KNOW i can find this trash can at a yard sale for 1/18th of the price that they have it here...even if it IS just $5...add those pennys up at the end of the year..and youre that much closer to your dream home or retirement ...or your childs college education. They say you cant take your money with you when you die...no you cant...but you can give it to your kids, and hope they have learned enough from you to hang on to it and make a good life for their families.

I guess we could go without being frugal. But I have trained myself to get into the mindset that we HAVE to be frugal no matter how much money we have. We went from saving here and there to full blown frugal-holics! And now its a challenge to us to see how little we can spend. We live on one income and are a family of 5. At my DH's work I am the ONLY SAHM. So we are a rare breed
~Michele~

I wasn't raised to be frugal. I'm frugal now because I have to be, I have bills to pay and a son to raise. I have no choice but to be frugal. It's not as hard as I thought it would be. Plus..I've learned how to make so much stuff.

I have been learning about living a frugal lifestyle. Can't say I always am frugal but, I am trying!! /phpbb/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif I took an early retirement from teaching so, saving on groceries and other items sure stretches our money. I am already trying to teach our granddaughters how to shop at thrift shops and yard sales and how to use coupons.

what a fun post.
I am 24 with no kids, just a boyfriend that i live with. I go ahead and let him work due to a new found illness. were saving up for things like furniture,weddings, houses. I really see no point in paying full price when you don't have to. I am in land of no doubles, so i probably pay more than most of you would for groceries. this year was my first year of really getting into couponing./refunding. we've put everything saved into a bank acct. just made our first major purchase last week. our first new couch with the recliners built in (guess whose idea that was) for us this was a big deal after 3 years of being in bankruptcy we couldn't afford to buy furniture. ( before i refunded and couponed) we are no longer living paycheck to paycheck, and our bills are getting smaller and smaller. it is such an amazing feeling to look at our school loans and credit card bills, and seeing them next to nothing. i hope all of you can get there someday, and i hope to report back that everything is paid off like some of you have reported! best of luck to you guys.and god bless!

Once upon a time hubby and I both worked two jobs each (one apart - days; and one together - nights) and we were living paycheck to paycheck. Now -- hubby works and I stay home. We have more money now than we have ever had. Before we bought things because we had less time to cook "real meals" and make things for our home, but now we make things at home and reuse items bound for the trash -- we use coupons for the things we already purchase, we buy store brands for a lot of items and I make clothing and sleep-wear for myself for wearing around the house. We still buy hubby's jeans and things, as well as some of my "better" clothing. I still DO NOT buy clothes at garage sales or thrift stores because I only wear "hand-me-downs" from people that I know. However, when we do purchase a new item we buy on sale and get the best deals we possibly can.

So I would have to say that we are frugal by nature/choice as well as gy necessity. Hubby and I enjoy remaking an old used item into something new and useful for our home. It gives me a much more satisfied feeling to "re-make" things than it does to purchase anything new!!!

If we had the room (storage space) we are terrible pack-rats. We would be hauling things home constantly because we "might" beable to use it "someday". LOL

We are frugal by necessity, but we shouldn't have to be. If we had been more careful with our money when we were younger, we wouldn't need to be frugal now.
As it is, We are working to pay off debt, using the snowball method. We are trying to reestablish our savings. We want me to be able to continue to stay home. In order to do all these things, we have to be frugal.
There are parts of it I enjoy though, thrift shopping, freebie hunting, cooking from scratch. When the magical day comes that I no longer "have" to be frugal, I will continue to do it by choice.

I'm a tightwad a heart. But then again..I am very independant. Good money managment keeps me that way. If I ever needed something, I could always get it myself (thru savings, good credit, etc). So, it's probably all part of "my package". But I don't think to look at me, it would be obvious. Part of my interest in frugality was acquiring what I need/sometimes want,and never looking/acting "needy". My "mega" journey into frugality came after reading "The Tightwad Gazette" in 92. What an eyeopener! I still re-read that book over and over for inspiration. After reading that book...we have always been very comfortable on our modest income.

I guess I would say I am becoming frugal by choice...dh makes a pretty good paycheck..and we live pretty well...but I have become sick of seeing the money he makes dwindle away to nothing each pay period..like they say the MORE you make the MORE you end up spending...( and wasting)I've come across some prety kewl boards like this one that have tons of information on how to cut costs and even offer me ways to bring in a little moolah myself..like thru auctions and message boards like the rummage sale here..thanks to some of these sites i'm really getting back into the couponing wagon and having a BLAST gettign stuff nearly FREE at my local grocery store..( I learned online that there is a store in my area that triples!! who KNEW!! I sure didn't , until i read it on the message board!! ) Right now i'm actually 'enjoying " the frugality...it's become kind of a 'game" for me...but i can already see it's paying off..

My goals are to stop transfering from savings to checking each payday( which we've been having to do regularly lately) and start transfering from CHECKING to Savings...building up for a garage we really need to build..lately our garage fund has been dwindling away as we keep takign a little here a little there...we need to STOP that and start 'putting" money INTO it...

Hearing you ladies makes me feel so much better. People might say I am frugal by choice, but I see it as a necessity. After years of spending spending spending I feel like I am finally in control and making headway. After almost 10 years of his first marriage DH came to me with almost nothing in the bank--he makes more than decent dollars - but she was a spender. I had about $4,000 in debt and little savings, but with a reasonable income. In about 4 years we have saved enough for our nice downpayment on the house I wanted (15 year mortgage) and have no other debt, we drive decent used cars and take very nice vacations while maintaining a 5 figure savings account. How? coupons for everything, if there is a mailing list I am on it, cooking at home and brownbagging lunches,trading things with friends and family-mom and I never need the crockpot etc on the same days so why buy 2, no cable, trading dinner parties with friends rather than expensive nights out, we even went without a computer and internet at home for 3 years. It was 100% worth it for the freedom and peice of mind we have now.

Ditto ....what Carrotcake said.

If we were more frugal before we wouldn't be in debt now (but we will be out in 3 years or less).

But I am not complaining.

I am enjoying being frugal (at least most of the time). LOL

And I am in frugal in some ways ...so I can be be un-frugal in other ways. Dancing and singing lessons for my 15 year old dd....a nice home and car...and other things for my two boys.

I come last...because I seem to have less needs/wants LOL....but that is how moms are sometimes.

NYC MOM

Ditto for me NYC Mom.....our wants and needs 'round here
definitely come before our dks.....I call it 'unselfishness' for us.
And by the way, I know you and you know me....but that is for
another day. :) I will get back to you later....... :)

We are frugal by need here. In most areas, though, I would CHOOSE to be frugal anyway. It bothers me too much to "overpay" when I know I can get something for less by just investing a few minutes (or hours in some cases) of my time. I do have my "splurge" areas--mainly books and certain types of magazines (cooking, homesteading) and gifts for my son and husband at the holidays, but overall I do pretty well I think...

ours is a bit of both, we can afford to splurge and go crazy byoing big expensive things, but we would rather work towards our own patch of ground. so i would have to say its a bit of both.

I am a SAHM and dh definalty doesn't make a truckload of money, but we could loosen the belt a bit.

BUT...I inherited this strange gene from my dad. We both love to save money. So I try really hard not to pay full price for anything. I try to pay cash for everything.

So both :D

I, too, am a SAHM. I have to be frugal if I want to continue to stay home. It is not natural for me...I love to spend money, but my little creatures (that is, children) need me at home, so I will do whatever I have to. The hard part is that my husband makes a really good income, but bad choices in the past have left us with high debt. Live and learn I guess. I am looking forward to the day that we are debt free though....whenever that will be.

We are frugal out of necessity. The woman dh lived with for 12 years was psycho, she refused to work to help pay the bills, her theory was "if we can't afford it, put it on plastic". Of course, all the plastic was in dh's name. When they broke up, she took ALOT of the stuff dh busted his butt to pay for, but she didn't offer to take the bills. So DH was $25,000 in CC debt with nothing to show for it. When we moved in together, we started by getting rid of our vehicles and get 1 nice one (he has a company car). I took away the credit cards, since he was still in that habit, and slowly, we started paying off 1 by 1. Our goal was to get married and buy a house, but I didn't want to marry him with that sort of debt, because then it would become mine as well. When we got about 1/2 paid off, I got pregnant and I was only working part time, so we needed to pay everything down. Dh's mom is 75 and he knew she had money saved up that she planned on leaving her all kids when she died, so dh asked if he could have his share now, so we could pay off more bills and have that much more money each month for the baby. She agreed, so that left us down to 1 bill. I now stay at home, we just built our own house this year, something I thought would never happen. But to come up with all the cash down payments, get cash for the appliances and furniture has been hard. We lived with my parents for a year so we could save like mad and not borrow a penny more than we had to.

To be able to afford what we need and have me stay at home, We rarely go out to dinner, much less go to bars blowing $80 in drinks like we used to. We got rid of our fancy-schmancy truck wich I truelly miss (We had a Chevy Tahoe), we don't have cable, I shop clearance racks at clothing stores, but usually only if I have a coupon to go with it(best deal was a $200. cashmere sweater I got for $15!!!) We go without alot of material stuff becasue it's more rewarding to have our own house and not need to rely on 2 incomes. Sure it would be nice sometimes, since some weeks after payday, our account balance is literally 0, but staying at home,having the time to cook better/healthier meals than the fancy restaurants and reusing what we already have is more rewarding and we appreciate what we do have alot more. We will not be that far in CC debt ever again. Lesson well learned.

Laura

I was raised to be frugal and didn't even realize it.....my parents came from families that had to make do with what they had. My mother comes from a family of 12.....my father from a family of 6. So i guess what i have always done came natural. I married a man with frugal tendencies also....go figure! :D

This is a complex question for me.

I didn't start on my journey to be Frugal. I slipped into depression 3 years ago and have been on medication since then. Then this summer I started Perimenopause and with all the hormones and everything going on I started to feel so trapped. I just looked around at all the material things that we have and said to myself, "How on earth did this happen?" So I started searching the Internet looking for ways to simplify my life. In doing so I found that I needed to sit down and figure out my finances and then go from there. What an eye opener, I soon had the answer to my question about how this happened. We are 14,000.00 in credit card debt, have 5,000 to pay on our Dodge Ram, 2600.00 on my new computer, 1700.00 for a storage shed we bought and my husband just bought a 1998 Freightliner putting us in debt 52, 000.00 for that. Our house is paid for thank goodness. So even tho we seem to be paying all our bills on time we are so far in debt that I see the only way out is to become frugal and apply all savings to these debts.

So the simple answer to your question is that I am learning to be frugal because I have to and want to be.

Scooby

:angel: We are frugal out of necessity and also by choice. I cannot bring myself to pay full price for something knowing full good and well that it will go on sale at some future time or I will find it at a yard sale! LOL! We live on less than $2000 a month (okay, way less) and manage to feed our family for about $160 a month with 2 adults and 3 teen boys. The $160 a month also includes cleaning products, dog food for 2 dogs, cat food and litter for 3 cats, fish food, paper and plasic products. We also tithe 10% before taxes of our income (I'm a SAHM) and I believe that is the reason why we are able to do what we do! :angel:

I think I'm frugal by nature. You'd have to define frugal. I am single and I buy what I want. I make choices about what I really want vs. what I think I want and that ends up saving me a lot of money. For example, I like to eat out, but I will only go to the restaurants that cook food the way that I can never learn how (e.g. Vietnamese, Korean, Thai) instead of going to Denny's where everything on the menu is in the Betty Crocker book and all you have to do is read. I found that I buy less clothing when I spend more money on good items and I can mix and match my wardrobe rather than buying things that don't last. Saves me time, too! Most importantly, I've mastered the art of filling rich. I have acknowledged that I really can have anything I want, however, I don't feel the need to shop anymore because I have it. Living in a small house helps!

Hi everyone! This is my first post to the boards here. I would say that I was frugal by choice first, but now by necessity. About three years ago, I read The Tightwad Gazette books. That's how I got interested in frugality. Although I was never a spendthrift, I did not regularly practice frugality by watching grocery sales, going to yard sales, etc.
Eighteen months ago, my husband's granddaughter moved in with us. (She is 12yo now). She attends the Christian school where I teach part-time, takes piano lessons, receives a small allowance and so on. So now we are frugal by necessity. Kids sure are expensive! But we enjoy having her here with us anyway!

We are frugal for both reasons. DH works full time and is in grad school part time, so our budget is being stretched. We also live in a part of the country that has a relatively high cost of living, although it's not lile California or New York!

DH and I come from very disparate backgrounds. He grew up in an upper class town where everyone has new cars, huge mortgages, etc (even though his parents weren't like this). I, OTOH, grew up on welfare! How far apart can you get? :) He had to teach me to loosen up a bit and I had to teach him that it's not good to pay full price for everything!

We pay full price for almost nothing now. My battle cry at the grocery store is, "If it's not on sale AND I don't have a coupon for it, then we don't get it!". 99% of my boys' clothes come from garage sales and they look as good (or as bad!:) ) as the rest of the kids in their classes. We take advantage of free classes offered after school and on the rare occasions we go to a movie, we go to the local theater that only charges three bucks to see a first run move!

I am frugal now by choice, but when we were first married it was by necessity. I really get a kick out of tracking expenses and seeing how far I can stretch things.

I am frugal by choice.WE started our frugal journey last summer just for the fact that I didn't see waisting money anymore on unnecessary things.Plus we want to be debt free and want to own some land and build our own house.I allready have the blueprints in my head LOL.Plus we can live more comfortably with only one income this way.

This month I am definitly being frugal by force. I am a SAHM and DH was out of work for the last month..he just started last Thursday a new job so we still won't see a paycheck until a couple weeks.
I have always been frugal by nature..grew up with my grandmother's who both saved every single used wrapping paper from christmas and every single plastic margarine tub and glass jar..it's funny because they don't even see each other but they are so much alike! They both cook from scratch..one of them garden's..they both sew and my grandmother always bought my clothes at the thrift store, and she would NEVER buy new clothing for herself except for underwear! All her outfits are from the 50's/60's.
I grew up with it ingrained in me to finish all my food on my plate and to be grateful for the Ramen soup and frozen peas because "I would never know when I would fall on hard times and not even have that to eat."
My husband makes around 2400 a month..but in this area rent is almost half of that..and my husband is SUCH a spender..he spends money before we even have it! Like another poster said, I too have to keep the cash in my purse so he won't spend it.
It breaks my heart to see him buy a 20 dollar pizza every week, chow mein, and McDonalds..It makes me feel like I'm not doing my wifely job of feeding him right..And then it makes me work all the harder to stretch my pennies even further.

I guess you could say I am frugal by nature....all my friends say I am the savings queen...I grew up on a farm and didn't have alot of money....I was taught the value of a dollar.... although I forgot that during my teenage years...lol

Me and the dh had really good jobs...and not alot of debt when we bought our house in October; which we got at auction for $15,000 less than the appraised value...we were able to put back savings and get the necessary household stuff...

I have always been one to save when I can; I will never understand why people pay full price for anything, but when my company "downsized" in January and our office closed, saving money took on a whole new meaning..... we actually have more money now than we ever had before because I am cooking meals at home, packing dh's lunch, buying less gas and clothes, and just plain looking all around us for ways to save....power, water, phone, etc.

The dh is soooo happy with the way things are now, he is talking about letting me stay home for awhile.....wow..something good does come out of everything....lol......

Have a great day!!!!!

As for me, I just think of yard sales as treasure hunts and the adventure lures me. I am a single mom and really have to watch the finances. I do splurge at eating out more than I should but with one 1 child and 1 adult, sometimes its just the thing to do. I work full time and like to think that I am using that money to the best of my abilities. I hate to buy something and then think - Oh no I had to work so many hours for THAT. I am just starting into the refunding idea and look forward to learning more as I go along.

I am frugal by choice now, but there was a time when it was necessary. I enjoy the thrill of a challenge-last month I saved $90.00 on one grocery shopping trip with coupons!:eek: It's kind of a game for me now. I don't even go to the mall without a coupon for Chick Fil A, or a pretzel. DD's now shop clearance racks too and find great stuff. I LOVE yard sales and am suffering from withdrawal right now, as there aren't any in the winter:( DH enjoys yard sales as well, and sometimes we like to sell our finds on eBay for some extra cash.

BOTH!!!

When we first married (nearly ten years ago and very young--19) money was VERY short...things gradually improved and last year Then BOOM. DH had to change jobs in Sept and we took a massive pay cut. So, we're now living on much, much less again...so long as dh averages the overtime he is now it's a third pay cut....if he didn't get overtime it would be nearly a 50% pay cut...and it's not like we had that much coming in ever.

So...I'd say it's all the more necessary for us to watch our money now...

Definitely frugal by necessity now, though I was raised to be frugal and didn't realize it then.

~Chelle

I should have mentioned----even if we did not HAVE to be frugal, I would probably CHOOSE that life anyway (well, I don't know about that if I had Bill Gates money...maybe I would not worry about it then, lol)

I am frugal by heredity, it seems. My dad started taking me to auctions when I was about 5. He taught (by example) the benefits of being frugal, and I've always been this way. DH makes good money and we live in a beautiful house. But every piece of furniture comes from yard sales or auctions! I even bought his current car at an auction! I go to yard sales, thrift stores, use coupons, keep my heat turned down -- I cannot stand to be wasteful! :eek:

I'm looking forward to learning lots more about being frugal on this web site!

"I grew up with a mom that was frugal, but I never realized it until later in life."

I'm the same way. My mom has always used coupons, shopped several stores, only bought on sale, etc., but she never 'taught' me how to do it. It wasn't until I was out on my own and trying to learn to do these things that I started 'remembering' what my mom did.

I'm frugal by choice, although for a long while it was a necessity. DH and I both work full-time and do very well. However, I heard on the news a while back what the poverty level is in California, and realized that if DH or I ever lose our job we will join the ranks of the impoverished. Very sad. But we just recently paid off all our bills due to a refinance of the house so month-to-month we're doing great. So right now we throw money into savings and live frugally for a rainy day. We've had LOTS of those.

We're frugal by choice. We choose to send our dks to college. We choose to pay off our mortgage early, We choose to save 10% of our gross income and we choose to keep an emergency fund. This would not be possible without frugality.

I would be very uncomfortable spending everything that came into my life without any thought about what might happen tomorrow. We've lived through a couple of recessions and are aware that circumstances can change quickly.

We do allow ourselves luxuries. But we don't charge the luxuries on credit cards. We maintain a budget and we shop very frugally. Luckily, dh and I are on the same page about spending so we work well as a team.

frugal by neccessity BUT someday, i will be frugal by choice!! we live on 1/3 of what we made when we were both working (my dh's plant closed down, and i became a sahm)...wish i wouldve had a clue about being frugal back then!! anyway, someday, when we do have extra $ again, i wont be able to spend like we used to! i will NEVER pay for toothpaste again as long as i live! i have enough to supply the world!!

I was leading down a dangerous path before I discovered frugality as a way out of debt and a way to financial freedom! I still have a loong way to go, but I am so much more aware of my spending habits and now I question everything I spend money on! Coming from a person who grew up with nothing and then when unleashed into the world after graduating university wanted everything at once, I have really grasped the concept that being free of debt is more valuable than any toy I could ever own! My mindset has changed now...when Df and I don't need to be frugal anymore...I'll still want to be!

Hmmmm...good question. Probably by nature, more than anything. It's my only hobby! LOL! I was always the kid that had a savings account, and have ALWAYS paid my own way. I've never asked a single person for a single dime. But, then again...I've never made a ton of money either. I guess *technically* we're middle-class in our earnings...but I don't feel we hav a ton of money to throw around.

I think it boils down to the fact that I've always been fiercely independant. I'm the only person I know that can live comfortably on minimum wage (should things get tough) LOL!

Definately frugal by need here. I need to eat, to pay bills, to add to savings, LOL. I am frugal to make ends meet but even if I did not have to be, I would. I love to find a bargain and to get my money's worth when I purchase something.

I choose to try and be frugal. I want to see what I can buy for as little as possible. I also like to be able to wear brand name clothes and know that I didn't have to spend a fortune to get them. I have more name brand clothes now then when I was not into the frugal lifestyle. I still splurge on things and I probably could save a little more, but we are getting our debt down and we have more money now then we had when we both worked full time. I am a SAHM and I love it. In past years things got out of hand. I don't ever want to be in that place again. I still have a lot to learn, but I am getting better every day.

Traci

I grew up in a time when mother's were all SAHM's. There was only one income coming in. We were poor and my mother sure knew how to stretch a dollar. We wore hand me down clothes, and were thrilled to get them. I don't recall ever going hungry and my mother was always willing to give to those worse off than us. But, I learned the value of a dollar. I have tried to find buys. Most of our furniture has come from yard sales, flea markets, or second hand stores. To be honest we have bought good quality stuff at cheap prices. My parents lived through the Depression and my mother was a firm believer in stocking up so if hard times came (and they did) we would have the cupboard filled. I have always been that way. I buy plenty of hamburg when it is on sale and freeze it and dothis with everything else. I find it is much cheaper to buy in bulk. I have had times in my life where I haven't been as frugal as I am now, but now I am no longer able to work so I have to watch the pennies. But, I don't feel deprived of anything and the cupboards are full.

Renie

When I first started to live a simple life I didn't think about being frugal at all. Now I see that it goes hand in hand with simplicity and so I'm frugal by choice. When we sell our store, we'll be frugal by necessity so I'm pleased I'll have a lot of practise before then.

by choice for now, but i see a change coming!

We're frugal by choice now that DH has a job again, but for the last 10 months we were frugal by necessity. I think that period helped cement the frugal things that we had to do and the ones that we still want to do. For example, now that we have $$ again we are eating out more, I am spending more on myself (I now get my nails done, next week I'm signing up for yoga classes) but we are still using coupons and shopping at warehouse clubs, filling up at the cheap gas station on $.05 off Sunday, re-using aluminum foil, etc. So much of what we are continuing to do is by choice - we are hoping to pay off all debt, buy a house, and start a family next year.

I am frugal by necessity. In order to get the lifestyle I want, I have to be frugal. I like my dining out and recreational pursuits. Those just aren't going to happen on dh's salary unless I'm frugal.

Dh and I started out from different ends of the spectrum. His parents were raised during the Depression and had definite ideas about money. Dh was very tight...not so much frugal as cheap and panicky about money. My mother was a spendthrift. I thought money management was how many credit cards you had!

You can imagine the clash when dh and I met headon over money! His approach was that spending any money was bad news. My approach was why live if you can't enjoy life?

Over the years we've reached a compromise. Though we still struggle with money. The best thing we did was to give each other an allowance. That way I have money I can spend and dh cannot critique it.

Still, I am frugal now of necessity. We live in an expensive area of town. It wasn't when we moved here, but it's gone upscale. So have taxes.

If I had a choice, I'd still be frugal, but I wouldn't have a hope. If we won the lottery tomorrow, dh would have it all spent on toys. That's how he is. It would be big trips, big cars, big house, expensive lifestyle. His being raised in relative poverty has left him with little understanding as to how to really manage money when you do have it!

So I live on the fine line of managing the finances as well as I can, but not too well. Because then dh thinks we need a new toy or something, and the money we save gets spent, rather than stay in savings where it belongs. Dh is good with the nickels and dimes, but lousy when he sees dollars.

I didn't start out to be frugal, I started out conserving and being environmentally friendly. I read the book Voluntary Simplicity and did a search for that on google and ended up getting the url for the village. Then after being here a while the frugality just sort of happened.

I started being frugal bracing for a period of necessity, but it didn't happen, so now it's by choice. I get a real kick out of watching my savings account grow, and I genuinely enjoy the process. We're not afraid to treat ourselves, we just make sure we get genuine value out of it whenever we do.

I come from a long line of very frugal people who were that way of necessity. When I was young and poor it never occurred to me to do things any differently. Now it is a choice. I could be a bit more lavish but frugality is just my natural bent I guess.