Feeling Like it and Frugality

**joyofsix** · 10-15-2008, 12:37 PM

In the past two days I've had two separate conversations where the person said they would be more frugal (shop around and hang clothes) but they just didn't 'feel like it'. Um when did what you feel like doing have anything to do with what you do. They felt it was 'too much work' and 'took too long'. What do you think, is frugality a matter of strength of will?
*disclaimer-I like doing many things that contribute to our frugality, but I by no means feel like making dinner every night, doing my errands on foot or quite frankly looking at the budget. Budgets make my eyes glaze over.

**Moor** · 10-15-2008, 01:02 PM

To me, frugality is work.

You have to get up every morning and make the choice to be frugal. You have to make the choice to make every penny count, so that you can have a better life in the long run.
I know that there are days when I don't want to go shop at the thrift store, because I would really like that new purse or a new pair of jeans - something that someone else has not worn or used. KWIM?????

But for me, I do it, because I know that in the long run, the choices that I make today, are going to make my life better down the road. If we can get out of debt, then things would be so much easier. There would be so much left at the end of the month.

**Cricketlegs** · 10-15-2008, 01:12 PM

No no no, the budget is your best friend.

How sad, please love the budget lol!

I know some days I would rather eat dirt than press dhs work clothes but then I remember the $100 a month savings, go into my sewing room, pop in a disc, and press while I sing!

Even the mundane can be fun if you face it with the right attitude.

PS the cats think I am NUTS!

**Bournecrazy** · 10-15-2008, 01:29 PM

i dont know what i'd do without my budget, i would loose track and get stucck into paying ccharges every other dayy.

for me i dont feel it as work, i jsut avoid goingg to the shops that way i cant buy anything, and i would ather save the money i would spend. but thats just me.

**PrairieRose** · 10-15-2008, 01:32 PM

I do my best to make a game out of it but some things like cooking at home get a little old sometimes. As far as shopping at the thrift store, wanting things that noone has worn or had before.....as long as I keep in mind that can have the new things, but I choose not to buy new....looking for 2nd hand is so much for me..... seriously.

QM · 10-15-2008, 01:42 PM

Originally Posted by Cricketlegs

...I know some days I would rather eat dirt than press dhs work clothes but then I remember the $100 a month savings, go into my sewing room, pop in a disc, and press while I sing!

That's something that I have to do to save some money. I'll have to remember to tell him that!

**Kaos Kitty** · 10-15-2008, 01:48 PM

Originally Posted by joyofsix

In the past two days I've had two separate conversations where the person said they would be more frugal (shop around and hang clothes) but they just didn't 'feel like it'. .

I used to look after my niece when she was younger. We had a routine where we would fold laundry together, and then after wards watch 1/2 hr of TV. She was only 3, but quite capable of folding all of the dishcloths, face cloths, and matching up the socks. One day she threw down the face cloth she was folding and said "I can't do it, I don't know how!" I looked back at her and said, "Of course you know how to do it, we do this every week together, you're great at it!". My niece looked back at me thoughtfully and said, " I mean, I don't feel like doing it". I laughed and said, "Do you think I like folding laundry? No. But if we want to watch TV for 1/2 hr we better get moving. No laundry, no TV.".

Put that way the laundry went very quickly and we enjoyed watching our cartoons afterward. I think that's the difference between being a child and an adult. Children don't do things because they don't feel like it. Adults do them any way.

And the best part? When I stopped being able to babysit - turns out my niece missed folding laundry and began asking mum if she could help.

**Monner 1** · 10-15-2008, 01:50 PM

Joyofsix I feel the same way you do about frugality. Usually the people that complain that they don't feel like going that little extra are the ones that are usually broke and are searching for something that is missing in their life. One day of good frugalness makes one sleep well at night. I call it my free exercise. I will be frugal till the day they cover me up with dirt. Meanwhile I am enjoying the use of my garage sale Stone Mountain leather purse that I bought for $4.00. More than I usually spend but it is so soft that I splurged. Long gone are the days of buying new stuff.

**Royal** · 10-15-2008, 02:25 PM

We just do what we feel that we gotta do! I have 2 SIL that think we are "cheap" and that being frugal costs waaayyy too much time. But let me tell you, we see it as a sport to save money and we truly enjoy our goals that are met. They think about here and now, me and DH think about our futures and to tell you the truth our future is looking quite OK.

**Starlight9803** · 10-15-2008, 02:37 PM

I guess some forms of frugality could be a bit more work, but with the right mindset it doesn't seem that way. I think of it as a game - kinda how low can you go type of thing. Sometimes it gets frustrating. I get in cooking ruts where I simply hate going into the kitchen to fix anything, but I know that if I cave and call in a pizza or take the kids out to McDonalds, I'll only feel guilty knowing that I overpaid for something that wasn't that great and is forgotten in an instant. One of my in-laws complains that frugal stuff is too much work (hanging clothes takes too much time, cooking is too much prep, etc), but of course, they just lost their house (and they make more than enough annually to pay for it - they just would rather have $50K new vehicles, and go out partying and to concerts all the time, oh well). It's worth it to me to have some peace of mind about my financial state.

**Cricketlegs** · 10-15-2008, 02:49 PM

Originally Posted by Royal

We just do what we feel that we gotta do! I have 2 SIL that think we are "cheap" and that being frugal costs waaayyy too much time. But let me tell you, we see it as a sport to save money and we truly enjoy our goals that are met. They think about here and now, me and DH think about our futures and to tell you the truth our future is looking quite OK.

That is so wrong. Your SIL are crazy!
The less THINGS you have the less you have to worry about and the more you do around a simple life the more time you have.

My house is clean, dinner is planned, bills paid, laundry washed and pressed and put away, I mopped, played with the dogs and yet I feel like I have been sitting online all day.

No a frugal simple life means no rat race, no cluttered house, and a new better attitude--and fresh baked bread!

You will have the last laugh.

**frugalbabe** · 10-15-2008, 02:50 PM

Well, I don't know I think most of us have something in the realm of frugality that we DON'T do even though we should. It's about keeping a balance. 99% of the time I cook at home about once a month I go on strike and we grab a burger. 99% of the time, I hang clothes out but there will be that odd day that lugging out load after load of wet, heavy laundry to the line is just NOT going to happen so I cut myself some slack and throw it in the dryer. The result is I keep well within my monthly budget (which I do every two weeks no exceptions!) and I also get to keep my sanity! (imagine that!)

**MomToTwoBoys** · 10-15-2008, 02:52 PM

I have those "I don't feel like it" moments less now than I did before. I still do, sometimes. I then take a look at how much that little "didn't feel like it" moment impacted our happiness and our checkbooks. That's when I buck up and do something the next time that I didn't want to do before.

**Moor** · 10-15-2008, 03:04 PM

I think that you guys took my post wrong.

Frugality is work. But it is something that has given me goals. So that I can do things that I want, instead of have to.
For instance, we love going to the zoo. Last couple of years, we put our membership on a cc. When we bought ours last year, I told DH that this is the last time I am putting anything on cc. I stuck to my guns. I made a budget for the zoo membership. I began putting money away for it. Every time dh got paid, I put in $5.00. Then I also put in change that I found laying around. Ones that I found in the bottom of my purse and so on. (not that, that happens a lot)
So this year, we were able to pay for our membership in cash and we had money left over. We are going to continue to add to it, so that we will have next years membership paid for, but also, extra money, will be donated to the zoo to help with conservation. The kids also contribute to that fund with money that they find. So we are teaching as we go.

I love my budget, don't get me wrong. But there are days, when I get tired of chasing the dogs away from my clothes on the line, or having line strung up all over the house, so that I can save money.
There are days, when I would like to be able to get the kids that cute little pair of shoes, but don't because I know it will blow my budget.
There are days, when I would really like to buy that game, but don't, because I know that we really don't need to have it, it's just a want.

But when I get through those days, I am so proud of myself. Because I have beaten temptation and I am coming out the winner, not only that day, but because my will power to get out of debt has become stronger and I know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Also, in the long run, my ultimate dreams will come true. With patience, I will have that 50 acre farm with the cows, chickens, old farmhouse, horses, dogs, my garden, and my pond to swim in.

**Cricketlegs** · 10-15-2008, 03:23 PM

Simple living leads to happiness and a slower paced life.

That is my goal. I am seeing it and feeling it happen.

I love it too.

So if that means I do tasks that I didn't do before then okay but I do find joys in those tasks I never knew existed.

There is satisfaction in a job well done.

I think alot of women have listened to the hype that a wife and mother who ins't out there in the world making a buck is a useless lazy skillless drudge.

Pbbbttt.

I say women who work outside the home need all the support they can get because they also have to be in charge of a home too. I have worked I remember never getting anything done all the way, of feeling like a failure.

Now I allow myself pleasure at the simple things but I also work hard with cleaning, cooking, baking, sewing, taking care of laundry, the pets, the dds, I run the money and I run it well, everything!

I manage my life in a way that I have time to ENJOY my life instead of trying to hurry it up to...what...my kids growing up and away, death??? What was I doing in my old life????