Play what if game

[piney]

If you had no bills to pay except usually monthly bills no morage and plenty of money to live on comfortable the rest of your life.What frugal things would you continure to do?Or would continue to be frugal?

I would still use baking soda,vinegar to clean with
I would still cut down on buying paper products
just a couple of things

[OOwl]

I wouldn't live so much frugally as I would continue to live simply. I'm just happier with less material possessions to worry about. If money were not an object, I'd increase spending in quality baking and cooking ingredients and have friends and family over more to visit and feed them.

[Momto5RN]

i would still live basically as frugal except for taking vacations
i would add that to our budget .
i would pay for the kids college

[chickadee-7815]

I would continue to live simply and frugally. This is just a way of life for me. But I would probably not be quite so concerned with checking the price of every single thing that I put into my grocery shopping cart. I would probably just go ahead and buy what I wanted at the grocery store.

[pollypurebred39]

Being frugal is just in me, but like Momto5RN I'd start taking vacations. And like chickadee I'd buy what I wanted at the grocery store. The one thing I would do would to be hire help. I'd like help with cleaning and with yard work.

[forHISglory]

We are sort of in this position for real: no debt, no bills except monthly bills. And if we are careful with the pension, then we are OK. But if we weren't limited by the pension amount, then I would probably splurge on food. As it is, my pantry is the home of the dented cans and mark down specials! I refuse to buy meat that is over $1.99 a pound, which means some of the really delicious cuts are not in our budget. I would love to be able to buy a great steak or a lobster, or even bacon. But I know our limits, and the limits say "Nothing over $1.99 a pound!!".

I'd also travel more than we do. We are blessed to be able to take some trips, but I'd like to go abroad again. We traveled much more when we were working as we had the extra money then. Now we have the extra time, but not the money. Go figure...

Finally, I'd love to be able to give more to some charities and to church. We tithe and try to give some above that, but oh how I'd love to hand over a huge chunk of change to the women's shelter, or the Salvation Army, etc.

Someone had the idea of a cleaning person. I mulled over that one, and think that right now I'm fine with out one. But I can see as I get older that having someone help clean would be nice.

Overall, I love to dream, but my real world is OK. We're not rich, but honestly, I have all that I need. Fun question!!

[Ramona]

I'd continue food shopping as I do now and buying my clothes on ebay or at discount stores.

I'd give to women's shelters and breast cancer research, the blind, food pantries.

I'd take a vacation, driving probably but researching good prices for hotels.

I'd have our backyard reclaimed into a fenced garden area and plant microclover on the rest.

[krbshappy71]

The "Electric Usage" challenge has really helped me understand that its not about whether or not I can pay my bill but what I can do for the world in general. I am enjoying my new habits and am finally seeing frugality as a fun challenge, not a curse. To have a smaller footprint has started to matter to me.

Fast food will always be a challenge for me, I know this, but I hope to not totally blow my values once I do have money.

I still prefer baking soda, vinegar too. Its just, well, clean! Natural! I can breathe when I use it!

I would still be a cheapskate to certain people in my life because I feel they are consumed by materialistic thinking and I resent it.

I would still air-dry my clothes, I am really enjoying that. (again, electric usage challenge has really changed my thoughts and habits)

I would still hand-wash dishes as I have been cranking up the country music and I really feel my dishes are cleaner because I am inspecting them. When my dishwasher broke I thought it was the end of the world, now I see its the beginning of a session of "ME TIME" that I had been missing out on. I stare out the kitchen window, listen to the music....its nice.

I could go on for days. If you asked "what can you not WAIT to be able to STOP doing..." I would probably write for days, too. ha!

[shoiji]

Would definately still have a pantry. Only what would be in it would be more organic items. Still would use rags instead of paper towels. Definately would travel more.

[nuisance26]

~I'd continue to cook from scratch, shop sales and clearance and buy secondhand. But I'd bump up just about everything else. I'd do just the frugal activities I truly enjoyed.~

[klean163]

I still would shop at discount stores ,being frugal is part of my life ,still stockpile I would give to more charties . this was a good question my minds wondering. klean163

[bumplett]

I agree with shoiji~ I'd buy ALL organic. I would be able to afford it. I would regularly buy my hubby his nasty favorite brie cheese :gag:

I would buy bird seed/squirrel feed. Now, I'm just too dang cheap to buy any. We do try to throw bread crumbs outside though.

Otherwise, I'd still wash my ziploc baggies. Some things are just ingrained & natural.

[dancemommy]

Ok, I'll be very honest. I would be frugal as far as buying things for the best possible price and not throwing money out the window, but yes, we'd live differently. We'd travel more, I'd hire people to do my laundry and cleaning, and I'd spend more time with my family. We would live in a nicer, larger home (even though ours is fine). Not sickenly huge, but larger than the one we are in now. We'd have new furniture- not extravagently expensive, but quality. I'd try to buy high quality items. Not stupid things like 3-d tv's or anything, but nice things. Sorry if this sounds wasteful, but being honest. I think the biggest thing I'd do is really know where every dollar was spent so that I wasn't wasting money- oh, and I would of course give to charity. We have many wealthy relatives and they all live the lifestyle I describe.

[DollarsOutOfDimes]

Get off my prepaid cell and go with a real plan, that supports a cooler phone, maybe a droid or a blackberry.

[Russ]

I wouldn't change any of my habits, but I would quit worrying about getting laid off.