Frugality is not being Cheap!

Now your budget is perfect as the wind blowing in the west, we can move forward to the next few steps. In this post I want to address being frugal.

I was raised with a Mother that could stretch a nickel into a dollar better than anyone I know. I watched her as I grew and swore I would never , ever live life like her. Now I am grown up and seeing that money counts for a lot to some and not so much to others.

For me money is  non-tangible. So frugal living is keeping life simple for me. I buy stuff on sale when I need it. . I look for the best deals. I use coupons when I can. Once I start clipping coupons I will update you on how to do this. I use the Reuse, Repair and Recycle rule of thumb.Examples of these are:

• I  Reuse those food containers over and over again so i don't have to buy Tupperware or Rubbermaid products to take my lunch to work in. 
• I learned basic Repairs on my cars and other things. I learned how to fix computer's out of necessity. 
• I Recycle my plastic pop bottle to store water for my food storage. 

To live frugally you must be willing to work hard.

Example: I put a sign to  Bountiful Baskets food co op that read "Will work for Food:" Guess what I do now. I trade my talents for customer service and my front yard for one basket of food! Good food that keeps my family feed for the duration of the time I can work.

I use my skills of reasoning to figure out what made my car stop working. I worked hard and was able to save my self tons of money on a repair shop and fixed it myself along with a little help from family and friends.

Frugality is not living cheap! It is living with in your means. It is getting the best price for the item you really need. Not hording shampoo in a closet for 10 years because it was on sale and you just could not pass it up.

It is making smart sense of your money. .

I have other opportunities for being frugal as well.

I make most of my gifts  that I give for Birthdays and Christmas. I can hear you saying right now "I don't have time!" or "I have not got a crafty bone in my body."

Guess what neither do I. I work full time and have 4 children after all , my time is very limited. I never learned how to crochet, knit, quilt. I find that cross stitching sends me into fits of rage, knowing how to sew is not as frugal as I like with the price of material these days.   If you can do any of these consider your self lucky! It can save so much money in the long run for you. These crafty things are made to stretch money. Learning these things can save you in the long run. However, for the rest of us out there we must look elsewhere for that great money saving, savvy idea that can be considered a gift from the heart.

SO I stood back and used my favorite rule: KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid)!
Lets break this down into steps.
#1- What are your talents.

• Excuses I gave when it was my turn to address this topic
• I don't have any
• My talents can't help anyone else out
• Is clipping coupons a talent? 
• All my time is dedicated to my family
• I had to ask others for my talents. This can be rather hard and yet sometimes entertaining to see how others feel about you. Here is what we came up with:
• Computer Skills
• Creative
• Customer Service 
• Writing skills
• Augmentative 
• Hard Working
• Friend

#2- Now you have identified your talents you can make a list of things you do with your talents. Mine was not that easy as you can see.

My first question was what kind of talent is being a friend and how is that going to help me give a great gift? 

I found because I have always tried very hard to be a good friend my friends understand better that homemade gift from me are really, really from the heart. 

So I am not crafty, I do not have tangible talents now what? 

I get CREATIVE! 

Last year I gave each of my family and friends home made pens. I used baking clay and proceeded to place them together, finished them, wrapped them and gave them away. Total cost to me 5 hours of time with the boys helping me, and  $15.00  for 50 gifts to give. That add's up to less than .03 per gift. Yet they were done well and I was proud of the usable gift was I able to make.

I use the Internet for ideas and I use other people. I can thank my Aunt Raylynn for that idea because she made them with my boys one day when she was watching them. 

The year before I gave out homemade towels that I had made with their names on them. These did not work out so well after the first wash the names fell right off the dish towel., but it was the thought that counts. 

I have long since decided that homemade gifts can be good  gifts to give. Even if the person you are giving to is your neighbor, last year for my neighbors I made small loaves of bread. I gave these away with bows on them. Total cost to me 2-3 hours time, and the supplies needed, which added up to around $1.40 per loaf. I made this bread with my boys the time spent was priceless. 

Frugality is so much more than being cheap.It is spending your hard earned money wisely. 

p.s.  I will post some web pages, resources, instruction's on home made gifts in the near future. It is time to start making gifts for family and friends for Christmas. A bit of preparedness saves us a huge amount of money in the end.