How do you stay motivated?

[Donna Newearth]

I don't have a choice.

[2ndGenGranola]

I gotta be honest. I don't always stay motivated. Sometimes I get angry and depressed at the situations that put me in this situation. Then I am introduced to someone in a much worse situation and see the positive attitude in which they are handling their road and I have to rethink my position.

I did have to learn to not deny myself everything but to come up with some workable boundaries. I love scrapbooking and stamping but some of the supplies are outrageous in price. Take my die cuts for example. An alphabet is $150. I have learned to by those on sale. Yesterday I picked up 2 close outs for $20 each. I also watch ebay. Some people are getting these new fancy machines and getting rid of their manual dies. I've picked up many that way also.

Sometimes you have to dip back into the creative parts of your brain. Many items in our house are repurposed or redone to make it fit for our situation. My Dad built my Mom this cute plant stand for her plants (she has passed and I have it now). Our sun here would decay it in one season so I have it in my music studio holding music. My Dad had a little problem with "...that is a plant stand" but I don't have plants and I needed a music holder. Sometimes thinking outside of the box in some areas will fulfill a need you have w/o bringing debt upon yourself.

If you are saving with a specific goal in mind, put in into a special account marked for that goal. That helps me in my mind to think that I don't really have that money.

[Ashley01]

Thanks everyone I have some things I want to achieve (down payment on house, new car, etc) that seem SO far away but dipping into my ef for non emergency things WILL NOT help me get ahead! I need to stay focused!!

[IndigoMom]

I don't equate frugal motivation to mean going/doing without. When I want/need something - I have it set in my mind what I want, what quality I expect, and I will search until I find it for a price I find to be of what I feel comfortable spending on it. The thrill of the hunt is what does it for me I guess.

[miss_cas]

I was the same way by scheduling a 10% deposit into savings with every paycheck. I don't replace anything until it is broken. With this practice, I get to travel some and take classes when I like.

The savings was a god send when I developed a health problem and my employer asked me to resign upon trying to return from medical leave. They didn't have any other jobs that would suit my new health problem. I was also refused unemployment. I had my savings to live off of while I waited on SSDI. During that time, I had a termite swarm and a leak in the roof requiring replacement of all the desking plus a reshingle.

This is the reason we all save.

[mndtrp]

In order to save money, I typically do the opposite of motivate, I procrastinate. If I get the urge to buy something, anything, I simply wait. If I haven't forgotten about the want, or have found a way to get the desired result without the new product, I have succeeded in saving money.

If the want is still there, I'll go through a pretty thorough ROI examination, and then find the best deal. I rarely get to that point, though.

[bmab66]

I think for me, it's just fun. I mainly pinch pennies through shopping second hand, which I started simply to save money. But over time it's become so much more than just getting stuff for cheap! It's a treasure hunt! I have so much fun rooting through old things and have made some truly fantastic finds.

And then there are those little payoffs like having only half the student loans to pay off as my sister does. She could learn a thing or two!

[Merrilee]

Well before things got so bad off for us financially I didn't really save or clip coupons or anything-I wish I could have back all the money I wasted! But in recent months it has really gotten bad here for work, so now I have no choice. It's clip coupons, buy nothing new or extravagant...how I long for the old days!

[morrisjlm3]

How do you stay motivated to scrimp and save? I have no debt and money sitting in the bank, lots of people around that don't get why I'm saving the money and tell me "well you say you want a new car, you have money in the bank just go buy one". Ive been hearing it so much lately that man do I want to cash out my money and go buy something new!! Or well youve wanted a camera for awhile just go get one. So how do you stay motivated!! I need help!! I woke up this morning wanting to pack up the kids and go shopping lol!! Not good!

My friend Jesse just did a $25/week frugality challenge (food budget).
Think that sounds hard? Well he set out to eat only organic food!
This is definitively gave me motivation. Of course, he is single so it's definitely easier but it sure does give you an idea of whats possible for the strategic frugal minded.

He documented his 7 day challenge here: Organic food frugality challenge

Although Jesse "survived" I'm not sure that he got enough proper nutrition and protein. He also was lacking greens in his diet. I'm all for frugality but when it starts getting in the way of optimal health I think it's pointless. If you're on a tight budget food is the last thing I would compromise on.

[larabelle]

Well I stay motivated to scrimp and save by reflecting on the past:

1.) I think about what it felt like when I was in debt (the headaches, backaches, stomach upsets/issues etc. which were a result of the stress)
2.) I think about how I used to avoid walking to the mailbox because I knew it would be full of bills.
3.) I used to dread paydays because I knew that a big chunk of my pay was going to pay the debt
4.) I think about how anxious I felt the time that I had to call my car finance company as I could not make the payment that month.

I never ever want to have those feelings again so I am motivated to scrimp and save.

[cab54]

If I keep it like a game, and make it fun, it's not so bad. I even enjoy it.

The difference it makes in how much money I have leftover at the end of the month, makes me stick with it.