During the World War II food shortages, people were forced to make the most of what they had. With today’s escalating grocery prices, one hint from that time still makes a lot of sense (and cents!)… how to turn one stick of butter into two. This extended butter has the same taste and texture. It’s frugal… half the cost… but it’s also healthier… because it has half the fat and half the calories of regular butter. And you can use extended butter anywhere you would normally use butter, except do not use it for baking.
Read more...
Are the savings at buyer’s clubs worth the membership fee? For us… for a while… the answer was yes. Now I’m not so sure. The only buyer’s club within an hour’s drive for us is a BJ’s Wholesale Club. When we first found this store a few years ago, we were pleased to discover that they stocked a number of soy-free food items that we had not been able to find in any of the other grocery stores we have access to. In the beginning, our purchases there were quite substantial. We also saved a lot of money by buying many items in bulk.
Read more...
All the political ads out there right now are making me remember something that happened during the last election period, when my husband and I were shopping one day at our “local” Wal-Mart (about an hour’s drive away). He needed to buy something in electronics and I needed to buy something in housewares, and we were already almost late for an appointment, so we agreed to each go find what we needed and meet up again in a few minutes.
Read more...
How many times have you read that you should cut up your credit cards and use cash to pay for everything? For anyone who really can’t control their spending, this is probably good advice, but for the majority of people, it makes a credit card out to be more than it is. Properly used, a credit card isn’t the enemy… it’s just a tool, like cash or your checkbook… and the right credit card can actually earn you money.
Read more...
I think frugality is so ingrained into the Yankee lifestyle that it would be difficult for us not to be frugal… but the frugality we practice is sensible frugality… and that doesn’t mean deprivation, being miserly or cheap. What sensible frugality does mean is getting the most value for the money we spend. By practicing sensible frugality and saving money on necessary purchases… and perhaps eliminating unnecessary purchases… we actually end up with more money and more options of how to spend (or save) it.
Read more...
One of the biggest ways we have saved money through the years is to do things ourselves. Any time we can make, repair, or do something ourselves, instead of paying someone else to do it for us, we can save big. Our most recent project, for example, was installing hardwood floors in all of the bedrooms in our house. Somehow that project escalated to include repainting the walls and the ceilings, and of course since we’ve done all the work ourselves, it has taken a longer time than if we had hired someone. But because we saved so much money on the installation we were able to choose a much higher quality of hardwood than if the installation had to be included in the cost. Like all of our projects, installing these hardwood floors was a learning experience. Before we began, we studied all the information and how-to’s we could find on the subject, and then we just jumped in. We “practiced” until we were happy with our results, and then we did our first floor. Now that we have so many great looking finished floors behind us, we’re talking about a possible next project… hardwood or stone floors to replace the carpets in the rest of the house.
Read more...
When it comes to keeping your household clean and organized a lot of people are constantly looking for some easy answer… some “magic bullet” that will eliminate the effort. Eventually just about everyone learns that housework is always going to involve work and that much of this work is going to have to be done day after day. A lot of it is drudge work that actually gets your hands dirty and often isn’t pleasant. But it still has to be done. Some people think purging is the answer, on the principle that if something isn’t there they won’t have to clean it. And while that is true, purging beyond sensible decluttering is a little like having all your teeth pulled so you will never have to brush them again. Sure, an empty, spartan house is easier to clean, but it does still has to be cleaned, and it’s not much fun to live in.
Read more...
Voluntary simplicity is a philosophy. Often called compassionate living, it is a conscious choice to simplify your life and a deliberate downshifting to create the life and home environment that fit you and your family.
Some people think that voluntary simplicity means frugality, but voluntary simplicity and frugality are actually two different things. Although frugality is an important part of voluntary simplicity, frugality is a tool that makes the simpler lifestyle possible... not the goal. Voluntary simplicity does not mean you have to live in poverty or practice a lifestyle of self-denial. It means quite the opposite, in fact, because once you develop the habit of being frugal where it really counts, you will be able to enjoy a happier and more meaningful lifestyle, with more discretionary money and time, plus the freedom of being able to decide what to do with both.
Read more...
Downshifting means working towards simple living by making conscious choices to leave materialism behind and move on to more sustainable living. It does not mean simply cutting back and trying to live the same life only with less money. Downshifting requires prioritizing, an adjustment in values, and a totally different mindset... not just a change to a more frugal way of living.
People decide to downshift for a variety of reasons. Many want to get away from "living competitively"... job stress, consumerism, and feeling they have to live up to someone else's expectations. Other people downshift because of a life changing experience, health reasons, or a crisis in the family. Often downshifting comes out of a wish to conserve natural resources. Whatever the reason, downshifting isn't limited to any age or income level.
Read more...
Everybody wants to be happy, but many people don't realize that happiness has to come from within. If you're not content with your life and at peace with yourself, no amount of money or possessions will make you truly happy. True happiness comes from learning to enjoy the life you are living now and learning to appreciate the things you have at this moment. Living for a future time and yearning for the things you don't have will never make you happy.
Read more...
If you've done much reading about accepting responsibility, you have probably come across the statement that everything that happens to you in your life is the result of choices you have made and that with properly-focused thoughts you can control your life, your success, your health, and your future. I have trouble buying into this viewpoint. However, I do strongly believe that even though you may not have control over everything that happens to you, you do have control over how you react to situations and events.
Read more...
The dictionary defines procrastinating as "postponing doing something, especially as a regular practice." Procrastinating is a habit, nothing more. In order to stop procrastinating, you must replace the habit of putting things off with the healthy habit of getting things done... and the first step is to understand WHY you are procrastinating.
Read more...
Like most other concepts, voluntary simplicity means different things to different people, but I have to agree that for a lot of people, simplicity seems to be centered around purging and decluttering, and these people do advise going through your house and ruthlessly getting rid of everything that "you don't need". This practice often starts with children's toys, then snowballs on to include other items throughout the house. Very little is considered off limits with the sole guideline being that if you're not using an item on a regular basis RIGHT NOW then you should get rid of it... and somehow these people believe that this purging will create a simpler life.
Read more...
I have a friend who never telephones me unless she is doing something else at the same time. Sometimes she's eating dinner, sometimes she's driving somewhere, sometimes she's doing housework, and sometimes she's washing dishes. Often she becomes so preoccupied with the other thing she is doing that she forgets what she is saying or what I have answered, and the sounds of chewing, traffic, running water, or clanging dishes are very distracting. This woman is a good friend and I'm very fond of her, but I wish JUST ONCE she would devote her full attention to the phone call. I doubt that this will ever happen, though, because she is very much into multitasking. And she's always feeling frazzled and in a rush.
Read more...
