We have come full circle -- Have you?

**imagine** · 08-26-2010, 08:55 AM

Hubby and I have come full circle.

When we were college students dating we would borrow movies from the library with the occasional $1 movie rental.
Then as newlyweds we waited for the movies to become the $1 rental instead of the more expensive new releases.
Then we started not waiting and paid more to rent the new releases.
Then when the kids were young we bought new releases instead of renting them.
Then we started renting the new releases instead of buying them.
Now we are back to borrowing from the library with the occasional $1 rental. This week we borrowed The Lovely Bones from the library and put The Blind Side on hold. The children are trying to patiently wait for The Diary of a Wimpy Kid to come to the $1 rental.

Our home phone has come full circle. Started out paying only local service with long distance was pay per min. eventually we moved to service that had all the bells an whistles, caller id, unlimited local and long distance ( talk as much as you want to whom you wish), call notes. You get the idea. Now the home phone is back to not knowing who is calling (no caller id) ask if every call is a local number ( I had to ask if toll free was a long distance call or not LOL). Almost a full circle, we have cell phones and probably will get an answer machine for the home phone.

Have you come full circle on anything? Is it good you have come full circle or not?

**andrew's mom** · 08-26-2010, 10:47 AM

We kinda did that with the cable. In college we could not afford it so we only had movies to watch. Then we got married, got jobs, got cable and got addicted to TV. We had cable for the bulk of our marriage and then we knew we had to cut stuff out when our son was born. So we got rid of the cable 2 years ago, we have an antenna now and we watch the free channels and we are back to watching movies. Same thing with the internet and home phone. We are internet free and home phone free at home. And we are loving it.

**frugalwarrior2** · 08-26-2010, 10:57 AM

I love HULU. Never had that. We do go to the ice cream place for cheap cones for entertainmnet. But we don't save pop bottle to do it. We don't drink pop anymore.

I have full circled on the coupon clipping but have learned so much more about it.

The only thing we full circled on is our opinion of debt. We are paying down,shopping less,using what we have. The diff is we are contracting not adding things. No new houses,pets,kids,toys. And getting serious about a cash cushion and retirement.

**Momto5RN** · 08-26-2010, 05:21 PM

not really - was frugal as a teen - was frugal in nursing school was frugal before we married - had to be once married especially with 4 out of 5 pregnancies that took me out of work at 4-5 months and then after kids were born i was with dx of fibromyalgia .

there are some things its not as easy being frugal with at certain times of my live mainly due to the kids - schools activities etc

i suspect i will be better frugally with some things food bills electricity etc when the kids are gone because more is in ny control .

so not sure if i went full circle or really just never keft the first spot lol !

**miss_cas** · 08-30-2010, 12:14 PM

When I first moved out of my parent's home at age 22, I had bunny ears and a 12" color TV + VCR. I bought a 17" TV with my xmas bonus at work. I had $55 a month cable for quite a while until I bought my own home. I cut cable as I didn't find enough to watch on there to justify paying for it. Even when my health prevented me from working for a while, I tried cable again and was bored with it within a few months. The new HDTV craze enabled me to get a free 30" TV from my bil who was upgrading. I also have a DVD & VCR combo which was a xmas gift 8 years ago. I tried the converter box and the picture would come and go, I gave up and got the $15 networks cable package.

I had netflix for a while but found out the redbox at the grocery store was $1. I used to go to movie theaters but have pretty much cut that out except for an occasional $2 movie splurge with friends. I pick up a couple of free movies from the library every week to watch in my spare time. I also have a couple of shows I like watching on the networks or PBS.

I have started a bad eatting out habit I am trying to break. I can cook something really nice and similiar at home and get 4 servings for the price of 1/2 a restaurant meal. It's also better for my waistline.

**stinkbug** · 08-30-2010, 01:34 PM

Dh and I met in our 30's. He was just out of school and was living pretty frugally (no school loans, no debt) and I was a single parent with no debt (except my car) but a TIGHT budget. We never spent money on *dates* and if we went anywhere we each paid our own way. When we got married I moved into his house and we just kept living the same way. Eventually, when my car was paid off, I quit work (mutual decision) and we have kept virtually the same money principles. We do have a bigger house now and some nicer things....but still no debt (except the mortgage...8 more years).

**Pianolady** · 08-31-2010, 06:04 PM

Yes! We started out without cable & had only basic phone when the kids were young & we were right out of college. We went to cable & got in one of those "packages" where you have all the bells and whistles on the phone. We couldn't get any stations' reception decently without cable.

With the digital ota signal and a move to the city, we're back to no cable, and get a lot of stations over the air, many in HD. We live in a large metro area, so indoor antennas are all we need for reception. The money we spent on antennas/tuner boxes was nothing compared to the cable bill. We also dropped our caller id, it wasn't worth $10/mo. However, there is no way I'm going back to dialup. Hulu and Windows Media Center both make things easy to see shows we miss. I use my laptop/WMC like a DVR using a tv tuner for my computer. We're back to free tv, and basic phone, just like we started out.