Frugality

Frugalness. The quality of being economical with money or food.

A while ago I came across an English blog with the word “Frugal” in it. I found it interesting and inspiring and linked from it to several others, all touting frugality. The writers practice frugality for varying reasons: some because they are hard up for money in varying degrees, some because they live frugally in some aspects of their lives while saving up for cars or vacations, some because of the principle of not spending excessively on themselves or their possessions. I learned a lot about contemporary British life (boot sales,  charity shops, yellow stickers) and found some cost saving recipes to try.  I note in passing that I linked to one of these blogs earlier today and found a whole entry on the quality of frugality, differentiating it from being cheap and explaining why paying more to get good quality is actually frugality. Naturally I can’t find it now.

Reading such blogs has given me cause to sit back and examine my spending habits. I have a long way to go before I could consider myself frugal.  I do not plan a weeks worth of errands in such a way that I will save gas by tackling the places visited in order of proximity one to the next. I do not avoid cooking with meat as much as I could. I use way too much paper towel— but I justify it in that I consider it a huge help in cleaning. I remember that after my son lived in Chad for two years he told us of the delight of the villagers in his part of the country with the discovery of a plastic coffee can and all the uses they had for it. I throw them away. Most of us do.

We spend way more on books, paper and things like ink cartridges than any elderly couple should. On the plus side we neither spend much on clothes and I try to watch the on-line sites for sales and fluctuations in price. The fact is that for so many years we had to watch pennies very carefully and now the pressure is off, it is often confusing to adapt practices of economy suitable for us in our present situation. I recently read a brief article about Eleven Madison Park, a Michelin starred dining spot in New York, that just began offering a $24 cup of joe. Actually that’s if two people share the 10 ounces of Wush Wush coffee they sell for $48. At least is not kopi luwak. Remember that?

Your (usually) diligent shopper is pleased to bring you an example of what not to sacrifice (money) in the interests of saving time. These two photographs were taken on the same day at my local grocery store. It is like a question on the exam they usually give to high school students: “Which is the better buy—2 hard boiled (and peeled) eggs for 99¢ or 18 large eggs for $1.19?”

Give some of the frugal blogs a try (and forget the Wush Wush.)