The art of frugal living

Every starving artist knows that frugal living is an Art all of its own filled with creativity and individual forms of expression. Having five daughters and a start up business are challenges each with their own set of juggling shows, but together they make for a whole circus unto itself complete with three rings and an elephant act! And do all that on a what the IRS considers middle class income, oh, and then let your income situation change suddenly and drastically and try not to go completely insane in the process!

So besides being a walking sideshow attraction, frugal living causes you to make all sorts of choices that most people wouldn't be able to grasp on a their best day. You can tell by the way they look at your acrobats and clowns as you walk through any given store. The most seemingly simple 'socially accepted' options are just beyond me. For example, matching socks. They're really way beyond an overrated experience. Nine-year-olds with matching socks are a sign of mothers with way too much time on their hands IMHO. And this also goes for teenagers with matching socks, though that one's really less about the mom at that point and more about the teenager's lack of character. But don't even get me started on teenagers and character. I have enough opinions to fill volumes.

When you finally accept that matching socks are not something you're going to see on your child other than the first two days after you buy that new eight pack, you're going to be a much happier ring leader. Just do yourself a favor, find a more worthwhile thing to stress over and move on.

Frugal choices include all sorts of socially challenging situations. Home lunch is always a fun one. One day my middle daughter packed lunch for her little sister with a toaster pastry as her 'dessert'. It was a chocolate one so I guess it works. And they'd rather have pancakes and waffles for dinner than breakfast. Or 'Totally Chocolate Dinner', that's another great one for when you can't get to the store and all you seem to have left in the cabinet is brownie mix, chocolate frosting, chocolate chips and cupcake paper dealios. For those of you writhing in your nutritionally aware skin ready to email me just how irresponsible that is, take a moment to consider that there is nearly nothing on the MickyD's menu that don't have sugar! And we almost never eat there. And we only TCD twice a year at the most!

Being creative is one of your best allies in the war on living on a limited income. If you're one of those people who can see limitless possibilities, frugal living can become an adventure instead of the dread filled challenge of labeling yourself a low-income struggler. Quit trying to keep up with the latest things for your kids and yourself. Honestly, why do trendy teenager clothes cost that much!?!? It's just ridiculous! $40 for a off-brand pair of jeans? $50 for a hoodie? No wonder there are more and more commercials on TV every day for cutting your credit card debt! Honestly the average person couldn't survive without being in some sort of debt. What's the point though in spending yourself upside-down? You're teaching your kids to live beyond their means, fostering their dependence on material things to define who they are, and encouraging them to fit it! Shame on you!! I've been there. Mortgage, car payments, the whole shebang. I'm much happier without them and the stress they brought into my universe. I'll take my circus over your rat race any day!

Certainly there are those new and improved purchases that you're going to need to give yourself. Mine was my Zen and monthly subscription music service. It's become my life-support system. And when you can manage to pay for it over time it takes the sting out of doing something 'extravagant' for yourself. I balance this by getting everything else I can for myself on clearance! I wait to need a new purse until the thing is 70% off. And I don't resent it because I treat it like I'm doing something that's a gift, not a burden. I'm not on a financial 'diet', forcing myself to spend less and being angry that I don't have more money to buy buy buy. I could easily look at it that way, but I'm not on Prozac so it'd just create more stress than I'm medicationally equipped to deal with.

I'm ok with not keeping up, being behind the current fashion curve. I'm naturally retro, and since retro is in again, that actually makes me ahead, a trend-setter right? So be cheap, it's cooler than you think!

Some resources for the financially challenged -

CheapEats - this is a blog with some really great ideas for cheap eating. Most of it's relatively quick and easy and if you're like me and never have all the things a recipe calls for, there's room for creative interpretation with most of them.

Etsy has a few sellers who do recycled clothing. I liked things from UrbanConstruction, with a number of things at only $5, Cosmic Ripple, who has preowned tiedyed onesies for $5, LovePeaceAndDye who snagged my heart with swirly hippy stripe skirt starting around $45, and PantsToPurse tote bags from repurposed khakis for $5. There are options like that all over thanks to the age of information, I could spend days just surfing for ideas and inspiration and new wardrobe additions.

The Frugal Life - Living Well With What You Have has a number of interesting articles and a listing of categories for those looking to cheap it up in a particular part of your life


Frugal Living at About.com has some useful reading. I used to really like about.com, but the site has become more and more cluttered and harder to navigate so I don't have the patience for it anymore. If you can tolerate popups and sifting through ads, there's helpful stuff to be found.

And if you're looking for more, try dmoz.org's Frugality listing for more sites.