Budgets, Frugality, & Simplicity

Originally posted on Simple Katie on November 15, 2005

The other day I saw this:

B Buy what you need, not what you want.
U Use it up, wear it out or give it away
D Don’t spend what you don’t have yet
G Garage sales, thrift shops, pass downs
E Eat at home or make it at home
T Tracking your spending
S Simplify your life

This wonderful bit of knowledge was from Frugal For Life. We don’t use a budget specifically, but we do follow the principles mentioned above.

B – we generally follow this policy – we do occasionally buy what we want but we temper impulse purchases with lots of thinking and discussion so that 98% of the time we don’t even want “it” anymore.

U – we definately follow this policy. Jeff’s favorite pair of sweat pants have been patched so many times – it’s more patch than original pant any more (exaggeration but you get my point). My current pair of slippers are falling apart but I’m not buying a new pair because I’ve put it on my Christmas list so that I get a new pair instead of something I don’t want or need.

D – We absolutely follow this policy. We have one credit card that pays us 5% back on gas purchases so we use that card to buy all of our gas and pay it off every month. We don’t take advantage (or get taken advantage of) during those no finance charges for 6 month deals. We buy what we can pay for with what we have on hand.

G – This is something we do actually enjoy doing. In the summer months we do go to yard sales on the weekends together and it becomes almost a date for us. We enjoy it and occasionally find really good stuff. This past summer I got a great old hand crank stone wheat grinder for $4 in its original box. Just two weeks ago I found a great set of flannel sheets at the Salvation Army Thrift Store for $7.

E – We do this more often than not. I do admit that I do like to go out to eat, but Jeff doesn’t so much – so we balance out. My home cooked meals are better anyway, and when I pay $4.50 for a bowl of soup, well I’m astounded. I can make a lot of soup for $4.50.

T – Thanks to Quicken this is very easy for us to do. I love looking at the little charts of where our money is going so we can make some changes if need be.

S – This is a constant work in progress but I’m learning that the simpler my life becomes, the more I yearn for even more simplicity and my desire for things slowly diminishes.

We are very frugal as a couple and Jeff is extremely savings oriented so financially speaking we do quite well with little funds. The bills from my gall bladder surgery are starting to come in, thankfully, I have health insurance through work. However, what they will and won’t cover is only starting to become clear. Right now I think we will owe around $3,000 for the hospitalization, I don’t know what we might owe for the surgeon yet. When the first bills started coming in, I told Jeff I’d be happy to pick up an extra seasonal job this holiday season to pay off the bills. He looked at me like I was crazy – we have more than enough in savings to cover these bills, thankfully. He reminded me that these kind of situations are what we have a savings account for, I tend to think of the savings account more for buying our little piece of dream property, silly, but true. We’ve worked hard to build the savings account, and now it’s paying off for us.

I know many people see frugality as going without, I think it’s just a matter of mindset. I might be going without that Ipod but in return I’m building a savings account for my little dream farm and a life of self-sufficiency without debt. For me personally, I’d rather not worry about the creditors and bill collectors calling my house or working myself to death to buy things and instead have a quiet, simple life full of joy.