It just dawned on me today that my husband and I have now lived off one salary for ten years now. To celebrate the occasion, I thought I would share my lessons from 10 years of living frugal including 6 of those years with children. When it comes down to it, it’s really all about your life values and priorities. To some extent, how we choose to spend or not spend our money, reflects who we are.
1: Food is a priority. To us, living healthy and well has always been a priority, so food has been the area where we most often did NOT skimp. We managed to buy a lot of quality food by using leftovers, carefully planned meals based on what’s in the fridge and freezer and by just sometimes eating a delicious, but cheap oatmeal porridge. Recently I have switched to a mostly plant based diet which has actually made it a bit cheaper, but I have splurged on nice spices and other exciting new flavors to get me off to a good start on my new diet.
2: Thrift stores have been our friends. For almost anything from plates, books, clothes, furniture, utensils etc. A few items have been purchased or gifted new, like a nice pan, wooden spatulas, a new mixer, but most other things have been purchased used. We hardly ever get new or used furniture. It’s just a luxury we can’t afford and if it’s not broken, it stays. Our dining room table is getting worn but have now lasted 14 years. Why change it? It’s a waste of money that I would rather spend on a nice pair of boots for my son or save for a rainy day.
3: Contrary to popular opinion, having children is not expensive (at least not with regards to general consumption and gear). We got a used pram and bought used baby clothes.. often it is hardly even used at all. Hand me down bed. Used books. Used LEGO, good as new. I will say our child (recently two) has cost us very little extra on a day to day basis. I’m sure once they get older, it will get more expensive, but then I’ll also make them get a job for a couple of days a week, so they can help pay their own way.
4: We have been lucky to have received vacations as presents on a number of occasions. This is a big budget item and we would probably not have been vacationing much abroad if we had not gotten it for virtually free. That said, if we decided to be super frugal on food, we could probably have afforded it anyway. But, we eat every day and a vacation is only once or twice a year, so food is more important to us. It’s lucky we could do both.
5: We rent our place cheap, don’t have a car and savings are scant. The savings tend to dissipate with dental bills or a washing machine that breaks down. It’s really my main concern for the future.
Thank you for reading, feel free to ask and have a nice, frugal day!
February 28, 2018 at 04:38PM
