Okay, these are not really secrets. Just the things, motivations and philosophies that make frugality work for us.
This came up in comments last week:
We are easily amused.
Really. I sat in the backyard one afternoon last week, watching the deer as he watched me. Really, that's all the two of us did for about an hour. That was my afternoon entertainment and then I went back to work. On a summer evening, we'll sit around the campfire, listening to the birds' last song, and wait for the bats to come out. Yep! We'd rather do this than go out to the movies, go to a concert, mall-stroll or many other money-sucking activities.
We're not entrenched in our habits, likes and dislikes.
We're flexible. I realize that we all have one or two items or brands that are favorites. Mayo seems to be a biggie for some people. My family likes California vacations. But overall, we can be happy trying out different brands of products/types of excursions, and don't expect every plate of spaghetti to taste like the last. If gas is cheaper down the street this week, that's where I'm buying it. When our favorite outing/expenditure becomes too expensive, we find something new to try.
We are clever, creative and resourceful people.
Creativity goes way beyond art and music. Creativity is about using our minds to see something new and fresh in the mundane. This can be finding a new approach to an old problem. Or tweaking a recipe to suit the ingredients you have in your kitchen. Or finding a new source for items you need at significantly reduced cost. It takes zero creativity to wander into the local big box store and buy a needed tool at full price. Us creative folk think of alternate sources for that same tool. We put the word out, we watch freecycle and craigslist. We're the ones holding up traffic, as we slow down to eyeball what's being sold at a nearby garage sale. And in the meantime, while we're searching for this new tool, but at a super-duper price point, we find ways to get around even having that tool, item or service.
My daughter needs a new pair of work jeans for summer, but we haven't had time to check out SVdP on Sundays (99 cents all clothing at St Vincent de Paul in our neighborhood on Sundays). In the meantime, those same very-worn jeans have 3 different patches sewn into the inside, the last patch being added the other night, (when she came home from work with a rather indecent hole in a place where you want more decency). It takes a minute of thought and a few minutes of resourcefulness to patch those jeans. I know quite a few people who would have seen this as a shopping emergency, "quick, let's head out to the mall and buy you a new pair". I have a well-stocked thread box, with just about any color I could want, for any sewing project. I also have the lower pant legs, from cutting jeans off into shorts and capris, to use as patching scraps.
Our tumble dryer needs a replacement part in the door latch. The door latch doesn't hold the door all the way closed, and consequently, the little button, that when depressed tells the dryer it's safe to operate, doesn't get enough pressure to fully depress itself. Our temporary fix, a wad of duct tape, taped onto the button. That button (plus tape) now sticks out far enough that when the door is shut, the button is fully depressed, and the dryer operates. We'll eventually find a cheap latch for that dryer, but this is the in-the-meantime fix until that time.
We are willing to push the envelope.
In fact, our envelopes have been pushed so far that they're off the desk entirely, and sitting in a heap on the floor next to the desk. Okay, so disposable coffee filters. Obviously they were intended to be a one-use item, right? I was wondering, a long while back, how many times could you use that same paper filter. What I discovered was that coffee is so acidic that it takes a while for mold to develop, a couple of weeks, even. Backing up that timeline a bit, to insure I'm not ingesting moldy coffee, I now use the same paper filter 3, 4 and 5 days in a row, depending on my mood. I scoop out the used coffee grounds, and replace with new ones, for each pot of coffee. I do this over and over, until I feel satisfied that I got my money's worth out of that one paper filter. How little dish detergent can I really use, before the dishes no longer come out clean? Another one of my little, "what if?" scenarios. For one week, each day, I put a little less detergent into the compartment, just to see what would happen with a bit less. I determined that for our dishwasher, water temperature and soil conditions, 1 1/2 level teaspoons is my minimum for cleanliness. I've done the same with laundry detergent. How little can I use and still have clean smelling laundry?
We don't rely on what convention (or a manufacturer) tells us is the right amount, but rely on our own observations of our own circumstances to determine what is most effective for least cost.
We have a clear idea of just how capable we humans are.
We don't assume that just because we've never tried to do something before means that we won't be able to do it now. In fact, I'll take this further. We don't assume that just because we have FAILED before that we will fail once again. Who was it, Thomas Edison? Every attempt he tried at making lightbulbs which didn't pan out, weren't failures at all, but ways he figured out were how *not* to make lightbulbs. This one quote of his is a favorite of mine:
"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
Earlier this week, I finally fixed two handles/cranks to our casement windows in the kitchen. These handles have been broken for several years. I have made numerous attempts to fix them myself. Each time I attempted, I thought about what I did the last time, and why, maybe, that didn't work. This time, I tackled the repair from another angle. And with work, time, patience and physical strength, I did indeed fix them. I will point out that no one else in the family had even a clue as to how to fix them. It was through my own trial and error that I figured out the tack that I needed to take, in order to make this repair. My experience in home repairs is limited at best. But I do know to keep trying and studying what I have done, and what I might try next.
Once, when my kids were all small, I suggested we make our own Oreo cookies. One of my daughters responded, "can we do that?" My reply, "of course we can!" That was the beginning of our many discussions of how everything that is manufactured in a factory was at one time homemade, in someone's basement, kitchen, garage or tool shed. People make factories. People create items. We are people. We, too, can make many of these items that are bought pre-made. It just takes time, research, planning and sometimes extra practice. But most of the time, especially when it comes to food products, we can produce something close enough to a manufactured product to be satisfying for our needs and wants.
We think and plan for our futures.
Some people just think life will work out, and that there will always be someone to take care of them. In one of my circles, we often remind each other that "hope is not a plan". We are the ones who can see a child playing with a ball on the sidewalk, on a busy street, and see in our minds, that ball running loose into the street and just what a small child might do -- run after the ball. We can see this in our own minds before it happens. We can see the accident awaiting when one of our kids is holding the scissors incorrectly while walking through the house.
Many of us knew this would happen -- when the housing bubble collapsed in 2008. We knew this, or something very similar, would happen. We didn't know exactly when this would happen. But we knew it would be a huge gamble to have a large mortgage out on our house. Many people will tell you that a mortgage is the "good" kind of debt. you get to write off the interest and points on your income taxes, after all. Well, us frugal folks see this differently. We pay off our mortgages as quickly as we can, not because we think it's a good financial investment to do so, but because it gives us a secure roof over our heads, no matter what happens to our stream of income. There are 3 basics in life, which cost money -- food, clothing and housing. As future thinkers and planners, we forgo a few of the transient luxuries, of the present, for the more permanent comfort-basics of the future.
We use some sort of budget or planning to manage our income, with personal financial forecasting, looking to our future years. We have assumed our autonomy in taking care of ourselves, now and tomorrow. Hope is not our plan.
We're discerning.
We think through our expenditures. We weigh cost vs benefit. We give thought to how we can get the biggest bang for our buck. We research longevity of tools, equipment and automobiles. We buy mostly well-made, basic clothing, with limited money spent on cheap uber-trendy items. We know what brings us the most pleasure in this life, and we focus our discretionary spending in those areas. When we splurge, it's on something that has meaning to us. We opt for pieces of furniture which will last not just our lifetime, but that of our children, as well. We tend to think of this attitude to spending as "smart" rather than thrifty, because we are discerning individuals.
There are likely many more "secrets" to our success. But these are the ones that sprang to mind the other day.
Whether you are following a frugal path out of necessity, right now, or making plans for a comfortable retirement in years to come, take heart when you fly against common attitudes towards spending money. It really is "slow and steady wins the race".
