When Frugality Becomes A Dirty Stinkin’ Excuse
This morning when I got up to make breakfast I noticed something didn’t smell right in the kitchen. The garbage was full and it was starting to smell a little. I kept putting off taking it out because I could fit more in the garbage bag. I might as well maximize using that bag before tossing it, right?
Realizing my garbage was in desperate need of attention I also noticed the dishes in the sink were building up. And in the laundry room there was a pile of dirty laundry. What happened here? Why did I get so behind in my household chores?
Frugality. Yes, you heard me. Ok, well maybe not frugality but the guise of frugality. I think I’ve been using frugality as an excuse to put off doing some chores that needed to be done.
“I can fit a little more trash in this garbage bag - I’ll wait to take it out until tomorrow”.
“But if I wait to do the dishes/laundry until tomorrow I’ll have a bigger load and it will save water and electricity.”
Who am I kidding? I’m not really saving any real amount of money - I’m just being plain lazy. It wasn’t like I only had a few shirts to wash or a couple of glasses in the sink. I had big enough loads to make it energy efficient and worth the cost. I was simply finding a way to justify my lack of housekeeping yesterday with saving money.
What good is saving a few pennies if I have to live in home with stinky garbage and dirty clothes? Quality of life plays into this, too. I don’t have to be a slob to save money.
I know I’m being dramatic here - I wasn’t horribly behind in my chores - but the smelly trash did make me examine my thinking behind not removing it earlier. I remember thinking that in a way I could be saving money.
This applies to more than just household duties. Could a desire to save money be used as an excuse to hide the true reason behind certain actions (or inactions)?
Could there be other reasons besides frugality that someone would:
- Avoid social situations like dinners or group activities?
- Delay traveling or shopping in favor of staying home?
- Neglect their health by avoiding doctors, health checks, dental exams, etc?
- Avoid replacing things they need when they are clearly worn out?
I can think of a lot of ways frugality could be used to justify behavior that is really motivated by different reasons. After all, you can still attend dinners with your friends if you eat an inexpensive meal or split something. If there are ways to make it affordable and you still choose not to go then maybe the desire to save money isn’t the main reason you aren’t going. It’s just a side effect.
Anyway, this morning I went on a crash course of cleaning to restore my home to its usual condition. I need to be more honest with myself about my motivations sometimes. For instance, if I avoid going grocery shopping is it really because I want to save money or is it because I don’t feel like going that day?
In my case, it was pretty obvious I was just avoiding doing the dishes and saving money was just a convenient (and barely applicable) excuse.
Image Source: Old Sarge
The Penny-Wise Wino
OK, I’m joking. Don’t be a wino. That’s just no good. But you can fit some wine in your frugal lifestyle with moderation.
If you enjoy a good glass of wine you know how expensive it can be. Obviously, the cheapest thing to do is to cut out all alcohol and just drink water.
Numerous sites will explain how alcohol is just empty calories and not a source of nourishment so avoid wasting your hard earned dollars on it. For the most part, I agree with this. When money is tight it is best to avoid these useless calories and focus on buying nutritious food.
Sometimes, I must admit, I just want a glass of wine. I know wine is not essential. But if you enjoy the occasional drink and want to fit it into your budget it is better to shop smart and make those dollars go as far as possible.
Before my frugal “conversion”, I loved unwinding with a good (generally not cheap) glass of wine while cooking. Hearing my husband pour me a glassful was a signal that it was time to relax and that the working day was officially over. I had read that one glass a day was good for you so I thought it might even be a good thing to indulge with a glass a few times a week.
When we started budgeting we dropped wine out entirely. There was a complete and utter moratorium on all alcoholic beverages. We just didn’t have the money to spend on it. I thought that if we ever did get to afford wine again that it would be the kind made from apples, not grapes. Now that we are getting a hold of the budget I’ve found that I can still enjoy a glass every so often as long as I am disciplined about it.
Wine can be pricey. Even cheap bottles are still $5-$10 each. And if you are only drinking the occasional glass you run the risk of the wine going bad before you can finish the bottle. That means you will have to uncork another bottle when you are ready for the next glass. Opening a bottle could actually encourage you to drink more so that you can avoid wasting it. Infrequent wine drinkers get to decide which is worse: wasting the wine or potentially drinking more than they want to.
We have found the solution to this problem: cheap boxed wine. Yes, boxed wine. I know what you are thinking, but give it a chance. It isn’t that bad, really. And at $10 to $15 for 4 or 5 liters you can’t beat the value (4 liters is about 27 - 5oz servings). A box every couple of months won’t break the bank.
The best part about boxed wine (besides the price) is that it stays good for several months and it allows you to take just a glass at a time. You can have a glass as infrequently as you want without running the risk of having it go bad. Don’t worry, these days boxed wine is available in many varieties; not just table white, sweet red, or white zinfandel. You are bound to find one you enjoy.
Boxed wine is great for entertaining on a budget, too. You can serve a crowd without spending a small fortune. I also use this wine for cooking. It’s nice not having to open an entire bottle for only ¼ cup of white wine. Now I measure directly from the spout and the rest stays fresh.
I am not suggesting that habitual drinking is good use of your money even if you manage to stay within budget. Overindulgence can hurt your bottom line in more ways than just the cost of the alcohol. But if you are drinking responsibly, boxed wine is a good way to enjoy your juice on the cheap.
Image Source: sporkist
The Secret To Lowering Summertime Electric Bills
We were thrilled to see the electric bill come in the mail these summer months. We used to dread those bills but not any more. We have made some major changes in the way we consume energy and we’re delighted to see how our efforts have saved us money.
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I compared the bills from this year and last year. Check it out:
| July 2006 | $325.03 | August 2006 | $357.81 |
| July 2007 | $161.19 | August 2007 | $164.90 |
| Savings | $163.84 or 50% | Savings | $192.91 or 54% |
How did we do it? I’m sure a lot of little things added up to that success, like turning off the lights and the TV when not in use, unplugging unused appliances, and changing to CFLs. Although all the steps we took were important the change that had the most impact on our electric bill was reducing our use of A/C this summer.
We live in the south so just turning off the air conditioner and opening the windows is not a reasonable option. It gets hot here, folks. And we happen to both like it cold. Really cold. Last year at this time, we would have the A/C cranked at 68-70 degrees all day and all night. It was constantly running, trying to keep up with the demand against the 100 degree heat.
When we created a budget and made some financial goals for ourselves this year we realized our summer electric bills were out of control. We knew we had to make some radical changes in our A/C usage. In the spring we decided to start gradually weaning ourselves off the super-low temps, relying more on fans rather than A/C cooling. By the time June hit we had adjusted to life at 76 degrees. That may not seem very high to some, but for us that is huge. Normally, we would find this unbearable but the standing fans really made a difference. They use less energy and keep us cool by circulating the air. They really do work.
I’m not saying that we are always completely comfortable. Some nights, I must admit, I long for the cool 68 degree air of last year, but all-in-all it’s not so bad. We are adjusting well and by August we were up to 78 degrees. We feel it is a challenge now, which makes me smile.
Even if we can’t tolerate much higher temps than 78 degrees we have already made quite a difference in our energy consumption. Getting used to warmer temperatures and using less A/C has allowed us to slash our energy bills in half. I’d call that a fantastic success.
Image Source: aw223
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Cheap Coffee Conundrum
I’m the main coffee drinker in the house. Melissa might have a cup every once in a while, but it’s pretty rare. I usually get my coffee fix during the week when I’m at the office, where the coffee is free (and a tasty French roast, too). But on the weekends, I used to always grab a Starbucks Latte (with an extra shot) and that really adds up (yes, I know about the latte factor).
I’ve been using a Senseo
When we started scrutinizing our grocery bills more closely, one thing started to pop out at us. Those little individual coffee pods that the machine uses can really add up! I usually used at least 2 a day, and then had to throw them away when I was done. This meant I used between 4 and 8 pods a weekend so I really burned through them.
I don’t need any fancy coffee, and I don’t want to pay more just for the coffee to be individually packaged. Just some caffeine and coffee with a taste that is tolerable. Store brand basic coffee. Yummy store brand basic coffee.
Melissa began searching for a solution, and came across Ecopads
These refillable filters have allowed us to use whatever coffee is cheapest at the time because we aren’t tied to buying only the pods that fit into the machine. If we have a coupon for some good coffee, we can get that. Maybe a free sample here or there. Whatever kind of coffee I have on hand now I can make myself just a cup or two at a time, when I want it, and save money on coffee.
In addition to brewing the amount I want of the coffee I choose, with the Ecopads
This has made all the difference on these weekends when I need to be productive. Ahh, the wonders of caffeine.
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Give Up TiVo? Are You Serious?
I may be looking to eliminate unneeded spending and keep out of debt but that doesn’t mean I’m giving up all luxuries in favor of going “bare bones”. Not yet at least. I have removed most of the fluff from my budget but after reviewing my expenses I decided to keep some items that others would probably consider completely unnecessary.
Yes, I must concede that they are unnecessary expenditures and I might be better off just saving that money. But aren’t many of the little pleasures and comforts we enjoy in life considered extraneous?
Living on a budget doesn’t necessarily mean you have to give up everything non-essential. It just means you need to carefully decide which items add the most value to your daily life, budget for them, and then cut from all the areas that don’t.
What I consider to be unimportant (e.g. going out to lunch with co-workers daily) others might view as a perfectly reasonable expense that they want to budget for. There is no one-budget-fits-all solution.
And just because I’m keeping a few luxuries in my budget doesn’t mean I shouldn’t work to trim the fat off those areas, too. Here are 5 items we decided to keep in the budget and how we managed to cut costs to make it better.
1. Cable
We used to have premium cable. I’m talking the maxed out deal with all the movie channels and music and multiple cable boxes. We would watch a lot of TV, and sure it was fun to have, but really we only watched a few core channels consistently. We were paying premium prices but only using standard services.
I know many people feel cable is an unnecessary luxury, and you know, they are probably right. But I’m just not ready to drop the cable out all together. I don’t know that I ever will be unless I’m in a situation that absolutely demands it or my priorities change. But that doesn’t mean I can’t be smart about my choice and get the best deal that I can.
How we made it better: We decided to drop down to “standard” cable. We couldn’t rationalize spending the money for all those channels just for the off chance we might want to watch one someday. However, we made the decision not to strip down to “basic” because I would lose all my favorite channels and therefore my favorite show. Going to basic might have saved us an additional $10 a month but at that point we might as well ditch the TV altogether. Savings: ~$40 a month
2. TiVo
Ahhhh, my precious TiVo. This one goes hand in hand with TV. If you don’t value TV you won’t care about TiVo. TiVo is even more useful to us now that we started watching less TV and only at certain times. We find that a service which allows us to watch exactly what we want, when we want, with the ability to zip through the commercials is very handy and time efficient. Still, it was hard to justify keeping this non-essential item in our budget. We didn’t want to give it up completely so we found ways to save money.
How we made it better: We started with three TiVos (yes, three - we love multi-room viewing) then we dropped back to two. Now we are discussing dropping to just one TiVo because we watch fewer shows and don’t need the recording capacity anymore. When I bring up the subject my husband says he isn’t ready to discuss it just yet. I guess the weaning process takes longer for some. Savings: $6.95 a month
3. Netflix
We are not movie buffs but we do like to watch a movie every now and again. The movies might be more impressive on the big screen but I prefer the comforts of home over surround sound any day. For that reason we rent movies.
We loved the idea of Netflix. No late fees and unlimited movies? We will watch a new movie every night! We signed up for the 3 at a time unlimited plan for $16.99 and filled up our queue. The problem was we didn’t watch a new movie every night and it was getting hard to feel like we were getting our money’s worth.
How we made it better: We still use (and love) Netflix but we switched to the cheapest unlimited plan. We still want to watch our movies but we didn’t watch enough of them to make paying for the additional volume reasonable. We feel we can justify keeping it in our budget (for now at least) as long as we have the desire to watch and actually watch enough movies to beat the cost of renting from the store. So far it’s been cheaper but we revisit this item often to make sure it’s worth the expense for us. Savings: $8.00 a month
4. Cell Phone
I rarely use my cell phone but like many people I feel I need one. Maybe it’s an irrational feeling. I don’t want to be caught in a situation where I can’t reach my loved ones.
Cell phone plans are fairly expensive, especially if you barely make a dent in your minutes. My husband uses his all the time but I’m a sparse user. Many would say drop the coverage and just keep the cell phone charged up in the car for emergency purposes (modern cell phones can still contact 911 even with no minutes plan). That’s a valid option but I’m just not ready to do that yet. I still find substantial value in the ability to reach people and be reached myself when I’m out and about.
How we made it better: Instead of having a separate cell phone plan I piggyback off my husband’s plan. I have my own number and phone for a fraction of the cost and we share the minutes. It allows us to have piece of mind and that is worth a lot. We also lowered the bill by dropping off extra services I didn’t realize I even had, like insurance. I got this phone for free - I don’t need to spend $7 a month to insure a freebie phone. Savings: $20.50 a month
5. Soda
I am a diet soda junkie. 
I realize that water is the ultimate frugal drink but I just can’t stomach straight up water all the time. People tell me if I just start drinking water I’ll learn to love it and I’ll lose my taste for the fizzy stuff. Not so for me.
I relish my soda. I would have never considered it a luxury. I always viewed it as a staple. That was before I started looking at how much my habit was costing us. And knowing that I don’t need soda to survive means it is non-essential, no matter how much I love it.
How we made it better: I dropped my consumption rate and abandoned brand/flavor loyalty entirely. My favorite soda is Diet Sprite but I rarely seem to get that now. I feel that in order to justify getting this totally unnecessary item there must be a good deal. I only buy the sales and if there is no sale I ration or go without until there is one. And they have to be great sales, not just regular specials, to alleviate my guilt. This weekend there was such a good sale on Pepsi we stocked and bought 10 12-packs. I guess I’ll have to get used to Diet Mountain Dew and Diet Pepsi Max for a while. Savings: ~$25.00 a month
Some might see keeping these items in our budget as frivolous, or maybe as “unfrugal”. The changes we made were substantial for us, and result in our saving about $100 a month. That ain’t chump change. We are streamlining the “luxuries” we really value by scaling back on them, saving a substantial sum along the way. To me, that way of thinking is frugal.
Frugality is a journey, one that starts with simple changes and may lead to significant changes. Our idea of frugality is evolving. We might look back at this article in the future and say to ourselves “How could we have been so wasteful with our money!” But for now, this suits us. I’ll be curious to see how our priorities change and what non-essential “splurges” are still worth the money to us 6 months from now.
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A Penny Closer is for those of us who want to improve how we spend, save, and invest. We want to be able to manage our money so that we can use it to enjoy our lives today while still saving to reach our dreams tomorrow. Read more about us here...
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