He wasn’t stingy either.  He and Grandma just spent their money in places that meant a lot to them like college for the kids and grand kids, world travel, maintaining a yacht.  But the car and the clothes – the things folks usually decide someone’s class – were certainly of moderate to low importance to them.  I remember even repairing the elastic for his favorite PJs.  Sure he could have bought a dozen brand new pajama sets without a flinch but why!?  His older ones did the job fine.

Granddad was frugal in the things that mattered to him.  But he spent money where he liked to too!  His breakfast was fresh squeezed OJ with toast,  a lunch of cheese, crackers and fruit or left over meat from the night before and dinner was always a steak or meat pattie or chicken thigh, peas and rice or potatoes.  Nothing fancy.  He reserved “fancy” for eating out once in a while.  He loved ice cream so he would have two or three flavors on hand and he would have a scoop (about 1/2 cup) every other night or so.

So I learned from Granddad that frugal is just the way to live when you have all you need.  Why don’t we all feel that way?  I have decided that it is poor people that decide if others are poor or not.  Those who are truly wealthy “know” the difference between choosing to be frugal and suffering from poverty.  It really is a state of mind.  Being poor and repairing the elastic in pjs may seem like suffering.  But from Granddad’s point of view, why spend the money when these do the job just fine.

Being frugal is deliberately choosing to live with less than the Jones’.  And after all, who decides what we should all have and be and do?   When is enough really enough?  It is time to decide for myself that I have enough.

I love the book The Overload Syndrome by Richard Swenson.  Probably the best book on the subject of learning to find enoughness.  I borrowed mine from the library but because it was so good I bought my own copy.  Any way you can get it, get it.

It’s time for a new revolution.  The “in” thing is to learn to do with less.  Once you try it for a time, you will relish the freedom you have.

Some of us are very new to saving and being conservative with our resources so it might seem extreme to wash out baggies ( rarely save any baggies but then I use reusable plastic containers).   As times get more tough we will have more and more chances to be creative and learn to stretch dollars.

For me, I found it useful to read Amy Dacyczyn’s book, Tightwad Gazette.  I made it a point to add a new way to conserve money or be careful with my resources each week.  It became a game to see what new things I could do to be more frugal with water, food and clothing – everything.  Now I love it.  It is a way of life.

But I will never be as spartan as some other frugalists out there.  And that is OK.  The idea is to be wise and to implement new steps that help your family as well as benefit the community.

Don’t let yourself get too zealous too fast, either.  Your family might “rebel”.  Like adding new foods to their diet, go slow enough to make it fun and interesting – you know your own family.  Also, some  husbands may be all for conserving  while others more used to a liberal lifestyle.

The point is, begin were you are and allow yourself to expand your frugalness as it seems best for you.  Hopefully you won’t get a sudden cut in income that throws you into desperate need, but if you plan to be more careful and add new habits all along, it won’t hit your budget so hard.

New Frugal habit:   We added garbage pickup to our budget.  We carried our own for the longest time.  But we realized our biweekly trips were costing us more to haul our two cans than to have it taken away for us.  It worked out to be $20 a month plus gas to haul it (not to mention time!).  So now we pay $24 a month to have it hauled and we share the bill with my in-laws since the garbage is partly theirs.