Frugal Living is a choice. It's choosing to make choices that are needs and not wants. . Recently, I had a friend who had no money, no home and just started a job but hadn't gotten paid yet..... but told me that she deserved a "treat" of the most expensive ice cream there was. My daughter, who heard this, asked me why she could do that and we couldn't. I told her that we need to make choices and that just because you want something doesn't mean it's a need. I had to show my daughter that my friends "need" wasn't a need at all but a want.
My family has choosen at times to not spend money. Not because we are "Scrooge" but because we have to make ever penny count! We don't have cable, we don't have caller ID, we don't have cell phone with cameras and texting on them. .... but we also don't have the BILLS and Debt that most families have. It's a choice and a lifestyle.
I am not saying that having those things are bad or wrong, just the opposite. I am saying that you are making choices that will impact your future. Recently, BOTH cars both down in the same week. Over $1,600 in repairs. We had a choice, put it on credit card or use our emergency fund. Due to the choices we have made, we had enough in our emergency fund to pay for it. It still hurt us financially ( emergency fund is very low and summer is just around the corner), and with my husband's layoff it's made it extremely tough to get by but we have the knowledge and faith to know that we will survive and we can do what we can to make ends meet. We know that the choices we make effect our future.
With that said, I use the internet not only for coupons and freebies but for a wealth of other ways to save and learn. Here are a few examples:
1. I want to encourage my kids to learn, so I use many different kidsafe websites to help them including http://pbskids.org/; www.learningbox.com/base10/CatchTen.html; http://www.starfall.com/; http://www.funbrain.com/
and many others
2. I try to do things on my own. Like trim my daughters hair. There are several great sites to help you learn things. I like http://www.findhow.com/ or http://www.ehow.com/
3. I love to read and I also am looking for some hard to find books. There is a great website to trade books ( you pay the shipping here but at least they have some hard to find books) at http://www.paperbackswap.com/
4. Check your Credit Report!! Always know what is going on with your credit! The only free site for credit reports is http://www.annualcreditreport.com/.
5. My husband is not good at fixing things..but there is a great site to help him. It's http://www.fixitclub.com/ and http://www.diynetwork.com/.
6. Use the Library!! The Library is a great free resource!! Not only for books, but movies, music and more! Also, look to see if your community has a Library Bulletin Board..And the have Free Internet Access.
7. http://www.freecycle.org/ is a great website for finding free things in your community. Understand that depending on who moderates your specific area, this can be a great resource or a weak one.
There are tons of great resources. There are many ways to save money. This is a lifestyle, not a burden and how you look at it will determine your perpective of it.
It's been a great frugal weekend for us. We went to Wisconsin Dells water park for free, the kids got a free lunch, and a wonderful family was cleaning out their freezer and asked if we wanted any of the extra food. We said yes and got some great frozen foods!!! This will at least keep us another week or two without going out to grocery shop!! Also, my husband and I got to go on a date Friday night, it was free admission to an event at church and we found someone to babysit the kids for free. Thank goodness God provided all those things for us because we just paid the bill on the 2 cars breaking down!! OUCH! :) But, the weekend was great, we had fun and basically just paid for the gas to get around!!
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