Being Frugal Doesn't Have to be Frumpy

I started learning about being frugal because, quite frankly, I didn't have much money. With things as they are, more and more people are looking for ways to be frugal. By my way of thinking, there's no reason not to be frugal in style. I want to live like "I meant to do that" not "I have to do that".

The first thing to do if you have less money to work with than previously, is to determine what your needs are. This will take an honest evaluation on your part. Things you may have never considered doing without can be cut while your income is on the rebound. You may even find you are having so much fun being frugal that when your income increases, you continue with a simpler lifestyle! It takes more creativity to figure out how to get what you need without jumping in your car and going to Wal-Mart.

I'll let you in on a few things I've done to reduce my expenses. I hope you will share your tips as well.

Rent/Mortgage

I was sharing rent with a friend temporarily and I decided I wanted to find a house with 4 bedrooms closer to church, work and friends to save on commute costs. I found the perfect house through a guy I worked with in the past and two weeks after I moved my job notified us that they were closing down our division. Hmmm...what's going on? The man I rent from told me he took in boarders when he lost his income so I posted an ad on craigslist.com. I also looked at ads others posted looking for a room to rent. I got several responses, corresponded with a few and met with one who took the room. I also got a response from a young woman in Germany who will be studying at a local university in the fall and I decided it would be nice to shore up my expenses a little more without a long term commitment. I plan to put a futon in the room I use as a home office and rent my bedroom out for four months. (I didn't relish the thought of moving furniture from room to room so I will relocate temporarily across the hall.)

As a side benefit, my girls will experience a little of the world without leaving the U.S.

Communication

Cell phones have become a staple and I wouldn't suggest we try to go back to not using them. If you still have a landline, however, you might consider getting rid of it or switching to the MajicJack. The reception is clear and you can't beat the price - $19.99 USD a year! It is a new technology and with that comes bugs to be worked out but I love being on the cutting edge of new products so I can deal with the occasional need to restart the product and a redial once in a while. I like the email notification when I have a voicemail. I can check my email from anywhere and see and hear my voicemail.

Several carriers are offering one-price cell phone plans that require no contract. I switched to BoostMobile and pay $50 per month and have unlimited calling and text. I was able to keep my Verizon phone number. They advertise unlimited Web access but I have found the Web service inferior and wouldn't recommend buying the service specifically for that. BoostMobile has several phone models but they are not great to look at. I found a cool solution for my i335 Motorola phone at EliteXtreme.com. I bought several phone covers for $6.99 each and have gotten comments from friends, strangers, and retail people about my phone. There are lots of colors and patterns to choose from. They must be getting popular because the price is a little higher than when I bought mine the beginning of 2009. I also found a site that has cool skins for cell phones for every taste. You choose the product model and the design (flags, sports teams, Disney themes, animal prints and so on and so forth). The site is Skinit.com.

If you live near a public access wireless Internet provider (restaurant, hospital, cybercafe) you may be able to get access for no charge. If you depend on your Internet access for business, however, the $20 or so a month for your own access is worth having a reliable connection.

Clothing

If you have never been thrift shopping, you are in for a treat. The biggest hurdle for people who haven't bought and worn clothes that someone else has owned is getting their head around it. Think of it this way. You have no trouble wearing something that more than likely was assembled in a country less developed than the United States and made its way to your favorite retail store by way of a ship occupied by whatever vermin make their habitat in ships. Think of buying at thrift stores as the ultimate green activity. Its similar to borrowing from your sister's closet. An added bonus...since you are spending so little there is no guilt if you get tired of something. Simply re-donate it and get something else.

I buy better brands at thrift stores than I would ever feel comfortable paying full price for at a retail store. I love the thrill of a great find...those perfect gray dress pants that go with the pink and gray zip up sweater I picked up last trip. Add a pink tank top underneath from 2 or 3 trips ago and I have an outfit that brings compliments and costs less than my shoes.

Speaking of shoes, it is hard to find nice shoes at thrift stores. People hang on to good shoes until they have gotten all the wear out of them. There are exceptions. I found a great pair of black velvet heels with cutout designs that looked like they had never been worn at a garage sale a couple years ago. They were probably purchased for a Christmas party or some other one time event. I have worn them and worn them and I get compliments on them almost every time. I can't even say what they cost because I got them as part of a bag of items.

There is a great place in my community where you pay $2 at the door, sign a log book (no ID necessary) and get anything you want. They have clothing sorted by infants/children, men's, women's, and youth. They also have a garage full of household items. I got a plug-in type percolator coffee pot on one trip that was exactly what I needed. I have very hard water at my house. From past experience I know that drip pots suffer a quick painful death with hard water. Finding the percolator was an answer to prayer I hadn't even prayed!

Entertainment

I consciously decided not to get cable TV. My daughter has a TV in her room and a DVD player. She and I both like to read. When we thrift shop, we get books. Again, I can't justify paying $12-?? for a new book that I will read once, maybe twice. Especially since we read a lot. Buying used at thrift stores and garage sales keeps us in books. Of course, there is always the library but for the cost, buying books that I can get to when I get to them works better for me. One of the large libraries in my area has a Friends of the Library mailing list notifying me of book sales where I get hardcover books for $1 and softcover for $.25. There is a bag sale for the last hour of the sale for $2 per bag. Salvation Army also gets lots of books donated and they sell them for 10% of the new price. Sometimes they have additional sales also.

There is a discount theater near me that shows movies from several months ago. It used to be a dollar theater. Now it is $2.50 I believe. Still a great price for a movie. Another thing I appreciate about this theater is they have reasonably priced snacks. I've taken my girls there for birthday celebrations with a couple friends. I heard it can be reserved for bigger parties but I haven't looked into that. Check to see if there is something similar in your community.

Another inexpensive entertainment option is to go to the final practice in community theaters. If you attend the dress rehearsal of a community play, you get to see the play without paying the ticket price. To keep from being cheap while attempting to be frugal, donate a couple dollars to the theater if you take advantage of this tip. If the regular ticket price is $12 for an adult and you donate $2 each time you attend a dress rehearsal, you are still getting a great deal and supporting the efforts of the theater group.

Some high schools have better than average drama programs. These productions can be an inexpensive entertainment option and are family friendly. One community near me has an annual community production with students from the high school, elementary and middle schools as well as adults in the community. They have done Anne Get Your Gun, Me & My Girl and Oklahoma in recent years.

I hope I have inspired you to look for creative ways to save without resigning yourself to a life of doldrums and frumpiness.

Thanks for reading.