The most obvious thing about our frugality is that we don't have a lot of clutter. The garage is empty, and we don't utilize most of the closet space. We also doubled the size of our home in 2001 so half the house may be a little more cluttered but the other half is rather bare (dining room, living room, kids' rooms, just minimal furniture and toys. We never understood why buying more house meant running out to clutter it up ASAP. We knew it would happen with time).
What isn't so obvious to the naked eye is that almost all of our furniture was hand-me-downs or bought second hand. We have a nice brass coat rack as well - hand-me-down from my boss. I have gorgeous dining chairs that were handed down from a co-worker. A nice recliner my sister was going to throw in the dumpster when she moved out of state. A lot of furniture from my grandma-in-law. I inherited our kitchen table from an old roommate. Most the rest we got new but cheap at a warehouse (a couple of couches and the kids' furniture) or we had as kids (desks, stereo equipment, etc.). The funny thing is this works out for the best. My dh and I can not agree on furniture if our life depended on it. Our only new, expensive piece of furniture (in the $1k range) is a sectional couch. I now think it is ugly and hate it. At the time it was merely a compromise. I am sure most people would think it's our cheapest piece of furniture - hehe. Since most of the hand-me-down stuff is pretty nice.
Last edited by MonkeyMama : 01-23-2009 at 09:48 AM.
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