Guest Post – Just Doing My Best

Heather from Just Doing My Best is guest posting today while I am away.  Not only is it good to surround yourself with friends who think frugal like you do, but for me it’s great to also have a blogging buddy.  Please visit her website and enjoy!

Frugality as a Lifestyle – It’s more than a price tag

Finding a great deal is considered a challenge by some. Most of us want to win the challenge and be wise with our family’s dollar. We watch for clearance sales, clip coupons, and learn to how to stretch a pound of ground beef into three separate meals. However, we often forget that living frugally is much more than a price tag. To be truly frugal and wise with our money, there are four essentials that must be mastered before the money saved from bargains and coupons will even matter.

Plan ahead – Planning ahead allows us to buy what we will need when the price is right, not when a deadline looms and the item is full-price. We know that the 75% off Christmas clearance sales are the best time to buy for next year. But by thinking ahead, you could pick up some plain red or green plates or napkins for Valentine’s Day, Fourth of July, and St. Patrick’s Day. In the fall when school supplies are nearly free, you can buy enough for the year but also buy some extra for stocking stuffers and charities. Before your children outgrow their current shoes, start watching the clearance sales for replacements. However, planning ahead sometimes creates a slight accumulation in our closets and pantry, so one must…

Organize – Organizing your coupons, sale ads, stockpiles and other purchases is essential. Imagine you bought a couple of packages of red plates for pennies at the Christmas clearance sale, but can not find them for the upcoming Valentine’s Day party. Now, you must spend extra to replace the plates at full price. You lost time and money. Likewise, if you do not remember that you already purchased your child’s snow boots or sandals in the next size and buy another pair because of a great deal, you’ve wasted money. Coupons can save a bundle but can create quite a chore and a mess if they are not organized.

Think creatively – One of the most important skills to living a frugal lifestyle is learning how to use what you already have. This is easy sometimes but other times, quite a bit of creativity is required. If a recipe calls for an ingredient that isn’t in your pantry, look for a substitute rather than running to the store. Instead of buying a new outfit for a special occasion, perhaps you can switch around a few pieces of clothing in your closet and buy only an accessory to create a new look. Creativity has allowed many parents to create unbelievable birthday parties on limited budgets.

Know when to spend – A bargain is not saving us money if we have to replace the item in a short period of time due to inferior quality. Likewise, if your family begins to feel resentful at the hands of frugality, it might be a good time to re-evaluate the sacrifices. Sometimes, spending extra is worthwhile. For example, a cheap skillet will need to be replaced several times. Over the years, you will spend more replacing the bargain priced product that may not even be cooking your food as well as other the other, more expensive skillets. Children’s seasonal shoes, that will probably be worn only one year, will not require the same quality as the older people in the family who will wear their shoes several seasons. In this writers opinion, quality should never be sacrificed for the shoes that the breadwinner(s) wears to work daily.

Frugality is a lifestyle. With a few lifestyle changes, our coupon clipping and learning to stretch a pound ground beef three different ways will have a larger impact on our family’s wallet.