How has frugality changed your life?

[Daisygirl]

Geez, this kind of sounds like a testimonial on an infomercial, lol!

About 4 months ago I decided that I was in a horrible place financially. I was in danger of losing my house, all my utilities were on the verge of being shut off, and I had some awful debts at very high interest rates. Luckily for me I stumbled onto this website and a new lifestyle was born.

Now four months does not sound like a terribly long time, but it has certainly been enough to make some major changes. I have refinanced my debts, paid off a lot of small bills, and made changes to make my existing expenses more manageable. I have downsized cable, internet and phone and gotten rid of many other unneccessary expenses. I finally know how much money I need to survive every month, something I had never had any real concept of before. My bills are in a pretty good place right now, nothing on the verge of being shut off, and life is easier.

As most of you know I lost my job last week. Had this happened 6 months ago I would have been totally lost. Everything would have been lost. Now, I know that I can live for nearly 3 months on my severance package alone, without the help of Unemployment Insurance. I know exactly what I must make to make a new job worthwhile for me in terms of childcare and expenses. I am feeling very little financial stress at all over this, and it is because I know I can get by on less and live BENEATH my means now. I can have no spend days, and cheap grocery weeks, I know how to prioritize my bills, and I will be just fine. I know that now I can follow my dream of writing professionally because I can get by on less, I do not have to work 50 hours a week.

I know this is a bit of a novel, but how about you? How has this lifestyle changed your life, whether for better or for worse?

[ewokgirl]

I can't say that anything has changed drastically for me. We haven't been in dire straits, so I haven't gone nuts with the frugality thing. However, being here at this site is making me far more mindful of how our money is spent. I've worked more on a budget and a payment plan for our debt, and I'm working to stay within that. For example, DH was wanting to see a movie this afternoon. We've found a fairly cheap theater that shows new releases for $4 during the day. Not bad. However, because there is a birthday party at a restaurant next weekend for one of DH's friends, I suggested we just rent a movie ($2.49) instead. He agreed. Before, I probably would have just said, "Sure, let's go to a movie!" Now I'm thinking carefully about how our money is being spent and thinking ahead.

I'm also being better about eating at home. It's so easy to run to Taco Bell or Sonic, but also pretty easy (I'm learning) to just have quick stuff on hand at all times for when I don't want to or feel like cooking. I ate out this morning (breakfast meeting with jr. high girls from church), but that was my first meal out in a couple of weeks! (The last meal out was for DH's birthday.)

[halloweenfreak]

we use to spend ALOT of money eating out and ALOT of money on groceries every week because of convenience foods. i started our frugal living in jan. and now i know that if we have a short paycheck (theyre bad about shorting paychecks) as long as we get the bills paid, we're still doing good. because i have started my little stockpile, i cook nearly everything from scratch now (except a few things that i prefer to come from a box) i have downsized a bunch of things that at one time i thought were neccesities, and have realized weren't. im not embarrased about using my coupons or pointing out the fact that they missed my .30 off on baggies. im just more conscious of where our money is going instead of just spending and then worrying about the lack of funds later down the road. we are in the process of snowballing our credit cards and hope to have them paid off in a year. none of this would be possible if i hadnt come across some of these sites.

[tervsforme]

This biggest thing I have learned from this site and being frugal is to be aware of my spending. I now have tons of no spend days, I used to have to spend every penny that was in my wallet. Now, I can go weeks and still have the same $20 in my wallet. That never would have happened before.

[Droppedonmyhead]

Daisy, you're a success story!! WTG!!

I second what Tervs just said. Money would absolutely "burn a hole" in my pocket. If I had it, I wanted to spend it. I would have very few no spend days too. Now, I have lots of no spend days. I am very cautious about waste and rethink every penny I spend. I am learning what my necessities are vs what my wants are. I really believe it helps to come here everyday to get "refueled".

[Telephus44]

I've found that through frugal living we've been able to realize our dreams a lot faster than most of our friends (we're just about the only one of our friends that doesn't have massive amounts of debt) and we have a much greater peace of mind (similar to what Daisy was talking about). We've also just hit the point where we've stopped focusing on debt reduction and can move to wealth building/financial independence. It is a really good feeling!!!

[Goodwin17]

There used to be a time when I needed frugality to survive. I finished graduate school in Dec 2004. For a little while now I've been comfortable, and have gotten away from my frugal practices. I got married last year, and my husband and I both work on the bills. I'm realizing that I need to go back to some of my frugality ways so I can achieve my dreams of not having to work full time my entire life. I want to be able to stay home when I have children, and not struggle. I know that learning from this site, and putting it into practice is the only way to make it work. I know doing it right works, because it's worked in the past. It's always so good to hear how people have turned their lives around by practicing frugality.

[kabin63]

I don't spend every penny that comes in anymore. I don't do credit, and if I do I pay it off within the month, but it is rare. The biggest thing is knowing I can get by on much less than I thought andd I am in control, not the cc companies.

[babetteq]

I grew up poor and when I had money I would spend it fast to get as much stuff as I could before it would be gone again. I realize now that that reaction was about fear. I"m not afraid of money or the lack thereof anymore. I am more at peace with where ever I am financially and I have more control over where I am financially. I guess in a nutshell frugality has allowed me to relax about money instead of worrying myself sick.

babs

[autumnlynn]

I had to become frugal when I found myself divorced with two children. I have always been a saver, but now I had bills to deal with by myself for the first time. I think for the first time in my life I grew up. I was very wasteful in the past and very impulsive. I am working the Dave Ramsey Plan and I am working to change the family tree so my children can have a sound foundation for their future.

[Backtoreality]

When I came to this place - 1 month ago, I was near !!!
My DH was about to leave and the children about to go to college. Now my DH has seen the progress I've made and I make notes daily on what I'm spending and what bills I'm paying. I have the small CC paid off now !!! On to the next. The peoples at work have really noticed a difference. I have enjoyed this site with a co-worker who is now "seeing the light"

[Daisygirl]

Wow, there are some great stories here! Seems like everyone has a story to make such a break from the mainstream lifestyle. Thanks for sharing them. It is really motivating to read about the progress of others.

[LadyNada]

Would you believe it's given me a personality and confidence?

So many people chuckle at my frugality and such. It's really pretty funny. I took a notepad with me this weekend when 's father and step-mother went to CostCo and wrote down a bunch of prices. laughs at me, but I think he appreciates it.

It's also given me confidence. When I do little things like save broccoli stems or clip coupons, I know I'm taking charge of my finances and doing what I need to do to keep my head above water and achieve my goals -- like getting divorced in December and moving on with my life.

[Shellshome]

I haven't been on this site for very long but I have learned from everyone else and I hope that we can turn our lives around and make a difference. I think reading about people that are just like me make it more real then hearing about someone on tv or something like that.

I have learned that I don't mind cooking (I rather enjoy it). I can stay home and get more things done then having to go here or there all the time with no real reason. I have learned that the library is a good way to get free entertainment (books, Dvd's and things like that). I have learned that dh and I can do this and we will do it but we have to do it together.

We are skalling back for Christmas this year and not everyone is getting high end items or big ticket they are getting nice simple gifts.

We have started a EF this month (nothing in it yet but pay day is friday and so is my garage sale) I have also learned I don't need all this stuff so I am having a major garage sale this friday and saturday and hope to sell it all. But we have agreed some of it will goto the ebay store to try to sell and other things will go to goodwill let someone else who needs something have it to buy.

It is really sad when I think of all the money we have wasted on this and that and we really didn't need any of it. I am going thru the dogs toys today and taking some of then to the human society he doesn't need all these.

Dh and I have been married almost 14 years and last year was the 1st time we went on vacation we went to Las vegas with my family for my brother to get married and we had a blast but we never had the money before to do things like that and we are really trying to save up so we can go again next year. My goal is to move out there but for now we need to save some money and pay more off on the house.

I am also not afraid to use my coupons and shop the right ads. I am now a cherry picker because of my great stockpile so that helps with the budget a lot.

But it is great to come to this site and learn from others.

Good luck to everyone who is paying down there debt and also learning to live a little differently.

[Lady_V]

let's put it this way... it's nice to not get a bill with 'FINAL NOTICE' !!