Earlier this week I talked about the start of my personal finance journey and next step. I left off at the end of 2006 being a good year. We had finally started back on a budget and tracking our spending habits. We were conscious of where our money was going. But we hadn’t really made serious cuts to our budget or lived lean. Actually we were living with a lot of fat in our budget.
So in February 2007, I realized that $400/month on groceries and $400/month on eating out for 2 people was outrageous and time to change. I decided to cut both by $100/month and see what happened. I decided I would go back to clipping coupons and planning meals. I was going to become more frugal.
Doesn’t seem like much right? Right, $200/month. But I also shopped around for cheaper deals on our internet, cable, insurance, etc. I bargain hunted for everything. I began to shop avidly online things I wanted to save on sales tax. We made a plan to buy a couch during tax free day during the summer. We also saved up to pay for the backyard retaining wall and install a gas fireplace. That would mean saving $10k for home repairs/purchases.
So I had a plan. I ruthlessly began to coupon shop and soon I realized I could get us down to $200/month groceries and $200/month eating out by using the entertainment book coupons and cooking cheaper meals. My DH thought I was crazy. I had become this crazy frugal person.
But then food prices began to skyrocket at the end of 2007. But since I had been belt tightening already, growing a stockpile, and learning how to spot deals both online and in the store for groceries, I wasn’t worried. Nope, instead for 2008, I increased our grocery budget by $50 and found that I was still able to come in at or around $200/month with conscious planning of meals.
My frugality had evolved. I wasn’t born frugal. I am probably naturally a spendthrift. But I had conditioned myself to become frugal. I had worked at it until it became a second nature. Now I don’t worry too much if my grocery budget is $300 one month and $150 another. I know that there is a reason and it’ll all even out in the end.
My DH spent 2008 being sticker shocked by skyrocketing food prices. But since I had set into motion our evolving frugal behavior, he got on board and realized that my preparation to save a buck was worth it! We survived 2008 without really tightening our belts because we had started in 2007.
And now we enter 2009 masters of living below our means. Not only that but in 2008 we began to loosen the purse strings because we felt we were in control of our spending. We felt we could splurge more because we were ready for it.
So while the frugal lifestyle isn’t my cup of tea. I’ve found that I’ve evolved somewhat into a frugal person. Not entirely, but here and there. And now with a new goal of starting a business on the horizon, I think living lean might be the key to success.
8 responses so far ↓
1 Fabulously Broke // Feb 14, 2009 at 8:32 am
I am not frugal by nature either, but I did find that thinking twice about my purchases helped. Like “Do I really need that?”.. or “Would I use that?”
I still don’t do the coupon thing for eating out, but we do try grocery coupons
My Achilles’ heel is when I see my sister….
2 Kristy @ Master Your Card // Feb 16, 2009 at 12:53 am
I’m not naturally frugal myself, so I understand needing to make the conscious effort. I find myself slipping as of late, ahem…I bought a $350 blu-ray DVD player. I didn’t need it, but I wanted it. On the plus side, it streams Netflix so it will help me get more out of my membership. However, it was $350 I didn’t budget to spend and I didn’t save up for. So, that money could have been put to better use.
3 JoeP // Feb 17, 2009 at 3:03 pm
$400/month eating out? What is this you speak of? In all honesty, this could easily be dropped to $100 every other month, but it requires a lifestyle change. May I humbly suggest making meals in advance and then freezing them? Don’t get me wrong, I like eating out occasionally, but $400/mo seems like a lot of money.
4 LivingAlmostLarge // Feb 17, 2009 at 6:34 pm
JoeP, do you live in a HCOLA? I do. We’re not talking about a MCOLA, like most of the US, we’re talking cities you name on one hand in the HCOLA discussion.
That in itself contributed to $400/month eating out. You couldn’t get an entree for less than $20/per person where I live. But then again when it’s $10/beer then it puts it all into perspective.
And $400/month is a lot of money. Like I said, we were spending a lot of money in general.
5 LivingAlmostLarge // Feb 17, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Frugality is definitely an acquired taste!
6 JoeP // Feb 17, 2009 at 10:44 pm
LAL, I don’t know if my area is HCOL or LCOL. My point is that going out is an expense, regardless of how much it costs.
7 LivingAlmostLarge // Feb 18, 2009 at 9:18 am
Joe, yes and no. It does matter. I have meet people, in particular on the saving’s advice board, who live in really LCOLA. Eating out cost less than you can imagine. It’s like $2-3 for a full breakfast.
That’s cheaper when you are single than buying everything to make the breakfast. I couldn’t argue when they get that sort of deal and the same meal where I live costs $10 at least.
My roommate used to live in a LCOLA and eat out every meal. Where he would get meals for less than $2 even dinner! Now, he says he has yet to find the same sort of deals, so it’s more expensive than cooking for sure. Previously it wasn’t.
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