does age play a role in frugal living?

**forestdale** · 10-01-2005, 07:20 PM

I didn't start living frugally until I started on my journey to simple living a couple of years ago.  I'm in my late 50s now and I see that being frugal is the best way to live in retirement.  It just makes so much sense to be sensible with money and resources when your income is limited, like mine is now.

I'm interested in how a frugal life fits in to your age group.  I find it's fairly easy (most of the time) to be frugal now, but I know that when I was younger I would have found it very difficult. 

Do you think there is a difference in how different age groups practise a frugal lifestyle, and how does it suit your age group?

**sanderson76** · 10-01-2005, 09:19 PM

I am currently 29 and my husband is 26..we also have 2 children and are choosing to live frugal in order to get out of debt. I haven't really found it a problem or really hard. the only times that make it a little harder is when we have added expense that can accur with the children.

**dolphin** · 10-01-2005, 09:26 PM

Heck I was living frugal before I knew what it meant, lol. I was raised to be frugal and actually there were only about 4 or so years when I didn't live frugally and I'm 50 now. I think I've pretty much always lived frually due to low wages but I never really thought about living a "simple" life untill recently. I think frugal and simple are hugely different. When I was younger, I din't care if it was simple and I didn't long for solace and peace as I do now.

**Valerie in WA** · 10-01-2005, 09:33 PM

Well, I'm 35 and have been on the frugal bandwagon for about 4 years. Dh is 43 and he's still a spendthrift. For me the motivation was to work less to be with my dds, especially dd2 - she was a screamer and wouldn't take a bottle. Then I got interested in homeschooling. There went my plans to go back to fulltime work...

About 2 years ago, I became interested in healthy foods and being less of a burden on the environment.

I pushed it all up a step after our vacation this year. I was so relaxed (at my MIL's) and we got home and I found that my stuff really stresses me out. So I've been decluttering and simplifying like crazy.

Now, I like it simple. I don't think I'll ever work fulltime again. When I'm an empty nester, I'd like to volunteer. I would also love to be able to mentor other women starting the journey into the natural/simple/frugal living - kinda like certain women do here.

**thrifty gal** · 10-02-2005, 12:04 AM

I'm 26, and dh is 27. We find that most people we know, our age are not frugal. It is kinda hard for us at times, when we see those other people doing things we would like to but decide not to. But, then we know that we will be much better off in the end. And, that is what keeps us going.

**forestdale** · 10-02-2005, 01:01 AM

Carolyn, your story is the opposite of mine. I've been living my version of a simple life since the 60s but I've only just recently made the connection that being frugal is part of it. I've raised chickens for 20 years and grown vegetables for almost as long. I've also been into mediation, self-reflection and green politics for that length of time too.

Sanderson and Jennifer, I admire your lifestyle choice to make sacrifices to pay off your debt.

And Valerie, I think that quite a few decisions about our lives are made because of family. Isn't it wonderful that you also discovered simplicity and, like me, realise that simple and frugal living go hand in hand.

I've thought a lot about this question since I posted it and I know now that being frugal can be easy or difficult at any age. The thing is the DEBT. When we clear ourselves of debt, it's possible to live well no matter what level of income one has.

**Lori Biever-Launder** · 10-02-2005, 03:44 AM

I was raised in a Depression era lifestyle...in the 1970s!!! We lived at fifty percent below the poverty level anmd managed quite well. When I left home, I was very frugal for awhile. In my late twenties, we had a few years where we spent pretty freely. Then we decided to buy a different home and so buckled down and got some things paid off.

I also left the workforce full time when DS#1 was born in 1992. DS#2 came along a year later. I have always worked part time with them and won't go back to full time work until they are gone (or maybe ever).

What is really interesting is that we are just finally getting back to our income level (in adjusted dollars) in the past few months that we were pre kids. However we are much better off financially! We also own a house that I would love to live in for the rest of my life.

We do a lot of things frugally. There are very few things we blow money on AT ALL. We occasionally will go to the beach for a couple of days and make sure that we do it as cheaply as possible. We combine our trips to run errands, use up nearly every bit of food we buy, partially heat with firewood and just try to get along on as little as possible.

**Mamaw** · 10-02-2005, 11:59 AM

I think as your grow older, you tend to reflect the manner in which you were raised. As a younger person, I spent quite freely, incured large debt and spent no time being concerned about it. As I grow older, I grow wiser and realize that changes are needed. I find myself turning to the methods my mother and father practiced more and more. I feel that your environment and the lifestyle you were raised in have a greater influence on frugality. I hope that as I grow more frugal, my children learn a few tricks from me also!

**Darlene** · 10-02-2005, 12:30 PM

I think it's easier to do when your older, you just know your not missing out on much and your list of wants gravitates towards the simpler things.

**Jellybeanz** · 10-02-2005, 12:54 PM

I grew up in a frugal enviroment. I was raised to do things like hang out the clothes, have a veggie garden and put them up for winter, limit trips to town.. all that good stuff. I really didn't realize that was frugal living till I was grown and saw other people freely using dryers, going out to eat and movies, shopping.... yada yada yada.

During my married life, I've had two kids, one of whom had severe medical problems/surgeries that really left us in debt. We took out loans against the cc's all the time to cover missed work and even pay bills trying to make thru a period of about 5 years there where it was constant surgery and recoveries.( We were sort of stuck in that place of making too much to get free health care, but not making enough to cover the difference in what the insurance covered and what we had to pay.)

Anyway, during that really tough period, I grew lazy about money management I guess. I think I just hit a low point of being so careful for so many years to have it all still blow up in our faces. lol . I can't say I ever wasted a lot of $'s, but this all happened during my thirties and now I'll be 41 soon and I never dreamed we'd be owing so much still!

Flashback to my twenties - I was full of hope and dreams. I wanted to build a brand new house one day and envisioned that , along with fairly new vehicles. All paid for.

Forward to now - Older, wiser, just wanting a house that is PAID for and no debt. LOL A more peaceful and simple life, less having to work and worry.More time with those I love, less time spent on THINGS. Also, I've noticed I think more about retirement and my lack of savings for that. I guess my main hope now as opposed to earlier years is to be out of debt and have enough to live on with a peaceful mind and surroundings, versus a focus on having certain things that I thought I ought to have by now.

My time is much more precious now than it used to be. Period. Age definately plays a role for me now, but for a different reason than when I was younger.

**peanut** · 10-02-2005, 05:45 PM

I was raised with a spendthrift mother and a father who got the bills and yelled. To say I had an unhealthy view of money was an understatement. I started my 20's with the attitude "If you want it, well that's what credit cards are for." Thankfully I was 21 when I married, without a credit card, and dh quickly disillusioned me of that notion!

Since then I've spent money, but not beyond our ability to pay off the credit cards every month.

It was after my dd#2 was born that I saw changes needed to be made, but not with frugality. I didn't even know the word! Dd#2 had health problems that necessitated looking at diet and nutrition and, ultimately, alternative health. Along the way it also led to homeschooling.

An outgrowth of all this was tripping across the environmental movement, vegetarianism, etc. In my late 30's I discovered Amy D's "Tightwad Gazette vol. 1" on the library shelves. It was fascinating!

That was over 7 years ago now. Since then I've tripped over Simple Living on the internet.

I'm having a wonderful time being frugal and redirecting hard-earned cash to areas dh and I want to spend in. Our standard of living has gone up immeasurably. I only wish I'd discovered frugality much earlier in my life.

Jean

**staceyy** · 10-02-2005, 06:35 PM

I am now in my mid fifties. I was always a bit intriqued with the thought of frugality and had to practice it a bit out of necessity when I was in my 20's and 30's due to being a single mother. But still I wanted the big American dream and kept striving for it. It didn't come to me until I was in my 40's but I find its not everything its cracked up to be. Wisdom comes with age and most of my friends who also found the American dream are now downsizing and simplifying their lifestyles. It's amazing how much stuff you can accumulate over time and I have so much stuff that I don't even want to face the thought of sifting through it enough to move.

Even with frugality I find that I practice frugal abundance. I am frugal and save things which leads to surplus which means more stuff. I have stockpiles of everything and need to find more balance in what I do. I guess I need to focus more on saving and keeping money which doesn't take up much space instead of saving and keeping things which are overruling my life.

**britbunny** · 10-03-2005, 04:45 AM

I'm 30 and DH is 28, we started this frugal thing about 2 years ago. For us the important factor is not OUR age but the age of people we spend time with.

If we still lived in York with all our uni friends etc I think we would still be spending and having to work like mad to pay the cc bills. It's just because it's that kind of situation.

We moved away and now when we see other people it's our parents. DH's mum lives round the corner and my parents come to visit about every 6 weeks. When we moved away from somewhere fashionable the "friends" disappeared, which is fine with me.

Now we can just be true to our vision and not have any pressure from our peer group to spend. Plus many of my friends are in their 30's and are paying the price for their past spending so my relationship with them has changed and everyone can feel comforatble about having cheap nights in and not wasting money all over the place. I feel sorry for them and it reminds me how lucky we are to have taken control before it went too far.

**notsadbuthappy** · 10-03-2005, 12:25 PM

i am 23 and frugaling is fun! i have learned a lot about things and taking risk on buying generic and found a lot of those are good!! bargins are great to!! plus i dont want my life the way my parents are in a hella lot of debt than me...and there still spending.. so i am trying to be smart here!

**karnic3881** · 10-03-2005, 12:34 PM

I am 24 and just got into simplicity and frugality earlier this year. It has been a real eye-opener. I see many things much more clearly - not only the ways I used to waste money, but just what life really is. It has helped me to grow up. I unfortunately have grown apart from my friends somewhat (I think someone else mentioned that here) because I am not willing to go out every weekend and pay a cover charge to get into a bar when I don't like to drink... and that I no longer can justify it for 'time spent with friends'... I would rather put it towards my debt or my savings!