Why did you start to be frugal?

[herm4]

Unlike most posters here. I actually grew up in a wealthy family. My parents never worried about money, but for some reason I was always a pennypincher. I loved to save my money. My mom thinks it's like some wierd genetic defect!! LOL!!

[Miz Pat]

My parents never saved, never planned, never seemed to budget and told me that money matters were none of my business. One of my earliest memories are of a Christmas with no toys because the union went on strike.

I also remember going hungry during a strike period and wondering why we never stocked up.

Then i got married and my husband's job disappeared the day before the wedding when the warehouse at work burned down. So by golly I learned to be frugal.

[eisor]

My parents taught me very sound financial advice. I started working when I was 15 and I did save a good amount of money. But, I spend a good amount as well. I definitely went shopping and loved every minute of it! I didn't hesitate to buy new clothes, jewelry, or other stuff.

When I started college, I was driving my sister's old car. A '92 Sentra. I continued to save towards my car. My school expenses were minimal. Less than $100 a month. Usually MUCH less. I wasn't paying rent or any other bills. So, I ate out a ton. Bought new clothes often, etc. Then, I transferred schools. That was a rude awakening. My school expenses went to about $250 a month. Much more than I was used to spending. I had to cut back somewhere. Eating out, quickly became a luxury. Then, a few months after transferring schools, I bought my new car. Wow, cars are expensive! Hehe. But, totally worth it. I stopped shopping. This was a big deal for me. But, I honestly didn't miss it much.

Then, once I finished paying my dad off for little bit I borrowed for my car (~$800), I started wedding planning. I paid for all of our wedding expenses aside from some my parents contributed. Now I'm married and we are being frugal to pay off DH's debt and then save up for when I'm unemployed for 4 months. Oh fun!

The only thing I really miss is the new clothes. I hate not having much money in my budget for new clothes. I used to shop at this outlet store near my house and buy all my dress clothes. Everything was $3-5 each. I stocked my wardrobe with so much dress clothes. So, now I don't really have an excuse to buy anything. Plus, the store has closed. That was a sad day.

[snafu]

Different strokes for different folks. My brothers and SILs spend way beyond their means and are always crying the blues. Friends are getting divorced over the money mess stress. DH and I decided that the stuff they bought weren't the things we valued.
We only take assignments we like, we travel, we live in other countries to see what it's like etc. Currently making plans to spend the winter in Vietnam.

[Caoineag]

Couple of things influenced me.

One, I grew up poor. I never wanted to be in the same financial boat as my parents had been so I promised myself I would do better.

Two, when we moved to Denver, Colorado from Michigan after college I knew we had to take on debt to do it and knew we needed to move to get a decent job. Best investment I ever made. We moved, struggled through and both ended up with good paying jobs. When I sat down with my husband to take stock, I found out that he had ran up his credit cards keeping up with my bad habits instead of telling me that he didn't have the money during the financial squeeze of the first year. I had been under the impression that my debt had been all of our debt since I handled the finances.

Whoops! This being his first time in his life handling money, he hadn't been sure what to say to me and felt really guilty about it. So we sat down that day and worked out a budget. I have been making that budget stricter as time has gone on (been 1 year now) and he will be debt free as of this christmas! We will have a downpayment for a house as of next fall and I will be credit card debt free about a year after that (of course we will have a mortgage and my tiny student loan but that's the next set of goals). He's got a 401(k) going with matching and I have a Roth IRA so we are getting there.

After that, it will just be something I do for fun. I actually enjoy saving money and I like the security of knowing that even now we could live on just one income. Most people nowadays do not have that option but I feel its a necessity because life happens and it isn't always good.

[herm4]

Exactly! That's where We are....going suddenly from two incomes down to one. So far so good though!

[snafu]

Never thought about this before! Never saw myself as a frugalista until DKs asked if we were poor. DH and I had no clue about money management when we married. Our role models were my DBs whose earnings poured out of their pockets yet they whined constantly and never had money to pay utilities until they were threatened with disconnect. Eldest DB advised me to borrow more than I needed to enjoy life. When I saw folks smoking cigarettes I saw it as standing around burning money.

We joined a service organization to help transition to a new city and were befriended by the more wealthy members. In order to attend conferences and go to events we were invited to we had to cut corners. It was a fun challenge to squeeze more out of each dollar spent.

We bought the least expensive home in our community and when I saw how my neighbors chose to spend $$$ I was even more driven towards a smaller footprint and better money management. Went to every financial management course I saw advertised and learned so much from questions asked by other participants.

I guess I am still in the closet as a frugal person. DH laughs at some of my penny pinching ways but appreciates our financial advantage.

[i-endeavors]

I read the Millionaire Next Door when I was 12. I didn't understand half of the things the author was talking about, but I got the bottom line. Self-made millionaires became that way by not wasting money.

[watcher6342]

because i am the only one working in a family of 4 and my wife and i like to homeschool our children.she is an stay at home mom and she handles the schooling. i only bring in about 40000.00 a year and i manage to put 300.00 a month into funds and some into savings. my wife couldnt manage to save and i was tired of sweating it out between paychecks every week. i never had anything when i was young and when i entered the military, what i did have i blew because i was trying to make up for lost time. now im a bit older and i wanna give my kids a better life than i had.

[leggzz66]

frugal

Ive been frugal all of my life, inspired by my dad. My dad would give me a 100 bucks and let me shop on my own for school stuff. Remember this is back in the 70's where a 100 was worth a 100,lol, and i always came back and he was satisfied with all that i got. We had a jean store, that was called jean~riffic. I walked in with my 100, come out with 7 pairs of levis, and they thru in 2 clearance t shirts and six pack of mcgregor socks. That lasted for me all thru school. class of 84, same deal, they knew i was coming twice a year and spread the word, so they always thru all those years gave me the same deal. To truely understand how old that really is, 2 of my clearance shirts was disco and who shot jr.lol.

Now that im older and have four children, budget is very hard!!! So if i dont have a coupon, im not buying. Ive hand written many letters in my day, expressing to compapnys with products i use, that I was a single mother of how many i had at the time and that i would love to purchase thier products more often if i could afford it and i got loads of freebies and not just samples either. I wrote in about flinstones vitamins they sent me 7 coupons for free bottles. I wrote jiffy cause our stores here didnt carry anything but corn bread mix, and they sent four boxes of cake mixs and a booklet of 20 cent coupons and notice that they sent a representative to our local chains. I write my letter by hand and fully honest of my current situations and send in a pop along with it and Ive always gotten something in return.
I miss kroger and thier 1 dollar vouchers per 25 dollars spent, adding up to ten dollar certificates. I used those to buy thier 14.99 movie deal at the time and bought the stuff listed for rebates. After stamps and few mins to fill out forms and the pop off the movie box and reciept, I had 2 boxes of cereal or 2 packs of hot dogs and a disney movie and paid, in the end a dollar out of pocket, to buy it all, 5 here 5 there back for pops and ten dollars off when bought. so the first rebate made the movie free and the second covered the cost of the food i had to buy. Only cost me the stamps/envelopes really and my time.
In addition now, im not just being frugal but doing a lil part in helping the environment, with lemons, vinegar, baking soda uses. Im planting a lemon tree this upcomming season, after that will cost me even less and im helping the environment even if thats just a little bit, everyone doing the same, makes it more then just a lil bit.

[PauletteGoddard]

I started to be frugal because somehow I was busy playing hopscotch when roll call for "stock options, lottery winnings and inheritances" was made. I have every right to have shelter, clothing, transportation and food as do the people who lucked out -- I just have to take the "earned income" path rather than "treasure mysteriously dropped in my lap" path to get there.

[Russ G]

A couple of years ago, I always seemed to be paying credit card bills and interest and got fed up with it so I just started buying less! I found half the stuff I had been buying I didn't need and it went on from there. Life is less cluttered and much better!

[Broken Arrow]

I started to be frugal because somehow I was busy playing hopscotch when roll call for "stock options, lottery winnings and inheritances" was made. I have every right to have shelter, clothing, transportation and food as do the people who lucked out -- I just have to take the "earned income" path rather than "treasure mysteriously dropped in my lap" path to get there.

Hehehe, that's funny. I took that skipped out too.

[flavor]

I grew up with frugal parents, so that's all I know. I like being debt free, it gives me the choices and freedom to do what I want to do. Children learn what they live, so I'm sure our children will be the same.

[bjl584]

I have no idea. My parents were horrible with money.

Something just clicked in my head I guess. It was probably due to the fact that my parents fought a lot about money. They eventually got divorced, and I guess that I decided that I never want to be in their position with money and finances.