Frugal Thoughts

The other day I was reading advice and rants and was enthralled with a series of articles she published about frugality.

In "7 ways you can join forces with friends to be more frugal,"

1. Share tips: This might seem obvious, but talk about your fave tips for saving more and spending less. If you come across a great new bit of advice, pass it along to your friends.
2. Share your goals and budget constraints: Talk about what you plan to achieve, e.g. save $500 a month, or spend no more than $70/week on groceries. Let others know of your specific goals, and force yourself to report back to them. Public accountability is a great motivator.
3. Have frugal fun together: Don’t trade money saving tips over expensive lunches. Now that you know each other’s plan to spend less, opt for cheaper plans like potluck meals and coffee at a friends place.
4. Give each other frugal gifts that you really want: You can band together to get a friend a spa trip that she really wants, and you can buy joint gift cards. Pooling your resources makes for less gifts, but a much higher quality one that you’d otherwise get.
5. Buy in bulk: pool your resources to buy things that you all need, in bulk. Bulk buyers can enjoy significant discounts, so take advantage of those!
6. Swap stuff: Clothes that never really suited you, or that no longer fit you. Accessories that you don’t really need. Children’s toys, and sports equipment. Find stuff that you no longer want, and trade them with your friends.
7. Sell stuff together: Host a giant yard sale, or a giant consignment sale.

Then in "7 Things You shouldn’t do in the name of frugality,"

1. Steal, or do something unethical. Don’t hurt other people to save money. Don’t be stingy.

2. Don’t stop your occassional self-indulgences, if you can afford them. Buy yourself a pretty nailpolish, a footspa on sale. Make sure you don’t feel deprived.

3. Never buy gross second-hand stuff. This includes dirty or broken stuff, and obvious things like used lingerie.

4. Never spend hours trying to save a few dimes. Whether it’s driving to the end of town, or slaving away in your kitchen for half a day, some conveniences are worth paying for.

5. Never, ever, put your or family’s health or security in danger. Your or a loved one’s life is not worth saving a few bucks for.

6. Don’t constantly talk about saving money, where to buy things for less, how much stuff cost you, etc. If you and your friends share common financial goals, you’re very lucky, but limit those discussions to your weekly frugality meetings.

7. Don’t make your family constantly unhappy. If your wife hates raisins, don’t buy them for her simply because they’re cheap.

Of course there were other articles she had, but this article would be too long if I placed excerpts from all of them. However, you get the idea. Some of the other posts she had included, "13 things to buy second-hand," "Tips for buying second-hand stuff," "Being Frugal vs Being Stingy," and "10 Frugal Entertainment Ideas."

Speaking of Frugal Entertainment, I was asked about my date from a coupe weeks ago and how that went. Well, the date was OK, but there won't be another one with her.