Frugal Living: It's all the rage
Frugal living's in. It's a strange world when living frugally becomes a trend. At least for me it is.
I grew up living cheap and never knew it. We had very little money. My Dad was a blue collar worker. My Mom stayed home with us three boys. I grew up in a two bedroom apartment with one bathroom. It wasn't until I went to a private high school in New York City on a scholarship that I had any idea how low we were on the totem pole when it came to money and lifestyle.
My Mom and Dad watched every penny. We never spent frivously. But every once in a while, Dad found something he thought was valuable enough to sweat and save for. One of those things was a Lionel train set that I have to this day. At the time, it cost a lot of money. He somehow saved up and surprised me with it one Christmas. I don't know exactly what it's worth today, but you can't buy trains like that anymore. Our kids have enjoyed the trains as much as I did. It was worth every penny, and then some.
One thing I can tell you: our family practiced frugal living because we had to. But even then, we had fun. I never felt I missed out on anything in life. We had each other; we loved each other. By today's standards, we were poor. But as far as I was concerned, we lived as well, if not better, than any family I ever met. Our priorities were always straight.
I still live in the same frugal way I was raised. We don't waste money on the latest electronic gadgets, a new car every three years, a TV in every room, gazillion-dollar home theater equipment to watch DVD's - well, you get the point.
So now that I think about it, frugal living isn't any kind of deprivation. You don't miss out on anything. Bottom line: you'll find that frugal living will help you set your priorities straight too (if they're not already). You'll get more out of life.
With that in mind, I'm thinking of publishing some more on frugal living. Perhaps some "Frugal Tips" from time to time.
I grew up living cheap and never knew it. We had very little money. My Dad was a blue collar worker. My Mom stayed home with us three boys. I grew up in a two bedroom apartment with one bathroom. It wasn't until I went to a private high school in New York City on a scholarship that I had any idea how low we were on the totem pole when it came to money and lifestyle.
My Mom and Dad watched every penny. We never spent frivously. But every once in a while, Dad found something he thought was valuable enough to sweat and save for. One of those things was a Lionel train set that I have to this day. At the time, it cost a lot of money. He somehow saved up and surprised me with it one Christmas. I don't know exactly what it's worth today, but you can't buy trains like that anymore. Our kids have enjoyed the trains as much as I did. It was worth every penny, and then some.
One thing I can tell you: our family practiced frugal living because we had to. But even then, we had fun. I never felt I missed out on anything in life. We had each other; we loved each other. By today's standards, we were poor. But as far as I was concerned, we lived as well, if not better, than any family I ever met. Our priorities were always straight.
I still live in the same frugal way I was raised. We don't waste money on the latest electronic gadgets, a new car every three years, a TV in every room, gazillion-dollar home theater equipment to watch DVD's - well, you get the point.
So now that I think about it, frugal living isn't any kind of deprivation. You don't miss out on anything. Bottom line: you'll find that frugal living will help you set your priorities straight too (if they're not already). You'll get more out of life.
With that in mind, I'm thinking of publishing some more on frugal living. Perhaps some "Frugal Tips" from time to time.
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