I think it is worth discussing attitude as it pertains to being frugal.  First, that one must never judge an0ther person whether they practice being careful with their money or resources or not.  Frugality is an individual thing.  Some will save all aluminum foil to reuse over and over (I do for maybe three reuses) but that might not be frugal to you.  I rarely clip coupons (not worth it where I live) but do shop the sales.  I buy new underwear and socks but buy nearly everything else at the thrift shops.  I know some who think frugal means shopping the sales at the mall.  That’s OK!

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.