19 responses so far ↓

• 1 Meg from FruWiki // Jan 30, 2009 at 9:12 am

  In some ways, yes. In others, no.

  I will always value value — which is why I’m frugal and not cheap. I want to know that what I buy is a good deal and is going to last me. I might pay more for something, but a lot of research goes into most of what I buy.

  I will always hate waste. It’s bad for the environment, bad for the pocket book, and bad for humanity as a whole.

  And I don’t think I’d go on a spending spree filling my house with crap. I’m really liking decluttering more than shopping these days. There are still a few things on my wishlist, and I might upgrade other things I already have, but I wouldn’t spend my days at the mall.

  However, if I could do so without gaining lots of weight, I would love to eat out more, order more takeout, or maybe just have a personal chef. And for that matter, a little help around the house and yard would be nice if I really could afford it. And I could do a lot worse than employing people in this economy.

• 2 Fit Wallet // Jan 30, 2009 at 10:17 am

  If I came into a bunch of money, the first thing I would do is turn up the heat! It’s not fun being cold all the time, plain and simple–if we didn’t have to keep our house at 58 degrees, we surely wouldn’t. We would also do a lot of work on the house, some cosmetic and some not. In other ways, we are naturally frugal. We don’t care about fancy clothes, furniture, or cars.

  Now, am I naturally LAZY? Yes! If I didn’t have to work, I would be perfectly happy volunteering a couple days a week and spending the rest of my time doing as I please.

• 3 LivingAlmostLarge // Jan 30, 2009 at 11:18 am

  Me too. I hate waste. But I too would be living at least at 65!

• 4 midlifemomkc // Jan 30, 2009 at 11:21 am

  yes, i am. growing up in a family of very little means, it was a way of life. i just can’t stand to waste anything including money. The pleasure i get from things is pretty short lived. i worked so many jobs to get thru school completely on my own (including 2 advanced degrees) that i value not working as much now more than i do buying things. But the downside of this frugality is that i struggle with a unrealistic fear of being poor again. i have gotten better and now give myself permission to splurge (relatively speaking) on ‘experiences’ (not things) and on my kids’ education.

• 5 Revanche // Jan 30, 2009 at 11:38 am

  I honestly don’t know for sure; I’ve grown up needing to be frugal, always wanted to build wealth to support my parents, and saving is an integrated part of my personality.

  But frugality is adjunctive to saving, I think, so there are probably ways in which I wouldn’t continue to be frugal. I’d probably eat whatever I wanted, whenever if I didn’t have to worry about money. Might not worry so much about buying some nicer things, on occasion. Would definitely take opportunities to travel!

• 6 Fabulously Broke // Jan 30, 2009 at 1:51 pm

  BIG FAT NO!

  I am not frugal by nature, but I’m trying. Now I’m just being smarter and not buying what I don’t need. Does that count as being frugal?

  Fabulously Broke in the City
  “Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver.“

• 7 Meg // Jan 30, 2009 at 2:07 pm

  I am not frugal by nature, but I am controlling by nature. In other words, I would still budget and track and detail all of my spending and obsess over the percentages and projections of my spending categories so that they match up to my values. But as long as I was saving X percent of my income and giving away Y, I wouldn’t worry about limiting the other categories.

• 8 Miss M @ M is for Money // Jan 30, 2009 at 2:55 pm

  No, definitely not frugal by nature. It took a whole lot of debt to convince me I needed to be more frugal. But now that I’ve experienced the conversion, I’m likely to stay with it even if I come in to a lot of money. I’ve learned the importance of “value” not just cost.

• 9 Kristy // Jan 30, 2009 at 4:14 pm

  I guess I am frugal by nature in some ways. Unlike some of you, I keep the heat up. I don’t enjoy being cold and would rather pay a little extra to feel warm. Also, we do have a cleaning service come by every two weeks. Again, I feel that it is a good choice at this point in my life.

  However, we dont eat out frequently and we brown bag it almost every day. I never go over our grocery budget, though it is starting to get tight and I will have to increase it as my kids get a little older. We also save quite a bit though, so the heat and cleaning service are justified in my opinion.

  Now, if I came into a ton of money, I wouldnt work as much and I would definitely eat out more. I would also travel more…that is the one thing I am looking forward to doing as the kids get older. With one toddler and one on the way, I doubt if there will be too many vacations in the near future. Though I do have kid friendly vacations or weekend trips planned for when the new baby is a little older.

• 10 LivingAlmostLarge // Jan 30, 2009 at 6:04 pm

  Depends on person’s heated home is cold to another! I’ve learned that because I’d love to have it at least 72, but my DH would be satisfied with 62.

  It seems like most people would have a bit more fun if they won the lotto or got rich suddenly! And a lot of people would work less…

  So not necessarily not frugal but not needing as much income. Cool.

• 11 SimplyForties // Feb 1, 2009 at 1:08 pm

  I don’t think I am. I work very hard at it but it doesn’t come naturally to me. I hope that if my circumstances change substantially I’d hang on to some of hard won frugality but I suspect a lot of it would go by the wayside!

• 12 LAL // Feb 2, 2009 at 9:39 pm

  LOL, it appears frugality is directly proportional to your income.

• 14 Funny about Money // Feb 10, 2009 at 10:39 am

  It’s cold even in Arizona today! But even after the snow level dropped to 3500 feet, it’s still not 58 degrees in the house. Yet.

  I think it mostly has to do with habit. When I was married to the corporate lawyer, we ate out all the time, and half the rest of the time we brought home carry-out from an expensive gourmet market. But after using my kitchen exclusively for several years, I don’t much LIKE to eat out. I cook better than most restaurant cooks do. Unless it’s a very fancy establishment, by and large the stuff you get in restaurants is microwaved, mass-produced, oversalted slop. I eat better than that.

  And after a winter of leaving the heat off in my house, most offices, stores, and people’s homes feel overheated to me.

  If the market hadn’t crashed and lost a big chunk of my retirement savings, if my salary hadn’t been cut by 12%, if I didn’t expect to be laid off any day now…then I’d probably turn the heat on for a half-hour this morning. But nothing would get me back into a chain restaurant.

• 16 Monroe on a Budget // Feb 10, 2009 at 2:16 pm

  I think frugality has been part of my life for so long that if I went grocery shopping without coupons and without looking at the sales fliers ahead of time … the cash register receipt would be a scary sight.

• 17 LivingAlmostLarge // Feb 10, 2009 at 5:05 pm

  Funny, we eat mostly at mom and pops and haven’t eaten at a chain unless on vacation. And then it’s typically McD for breakfast. We love ethnic foods mostly and love to go out for stuff I can’t cook. I like ethipion, brazilian, middle eastern, etc.

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