I received an interesting email from FruBlogger last week, asking if he could interview me for a followup to his post: 42 Money Lessons from 19 Very Frugal Bloggers!It seemed like an interesting idea, and his questions really got me thinking. I thought I’d share my answers with you.
How did I become frugal?
I love this question because I think my story is a lot like the story of many people who find themselves in a financial bind and never really saw it coming. My wife and I were starting our family and had just moved to a new town, so she didn’t have a job and we were living on a single income.
One thing led to another and before we knew it we had a new baby and a new house. Then I had my financial tipping point. I woke up one morning at 3:00AM in a panic because we had $495 vet bill for a sick cat (with no diagnosis, mind you!), $7,320 in credit card debt, about $14,000 on a car loan, $20,000 in student loans, $130,000 mortgage and not enough money left in the bank to pay this vet bill.
I’ve been extremely fortunate in my life. I have always been able to meet a challenge head-on and if this wasn’t a challenge, I didn’t know what was. I’ve also been fortunate to have married a wonderful woman who is also my best friend and partner in all things, so it wasn’t difficult to convince her we had some problems and get her to buy into the changes it would take to get out of our situation.
I didn’t want to go on living paycheck to paycheck – especially with a 3 month old child to care for.
Things needed to be done if we were going to get out of debt and back to sleeping at night, so frugality quickly became a necessity and has grown into a way of life.
What, if anything, tempts you to overspend, and how do you resist?
In a word – Barnes and Noble. Okay, that was two words, but you get the idea…
I don’t collect much, but I do have a very big weakness for books and music. I like to joke that I have enough unread books in my collection to keep me very busy in retirement. I used to spend much of my income when I was in college on music CDs. After 9/11/2001, I found myself drifting towards more historical interests. I guess I wanted some sense that the world would go on, and that life wouldn’t always be so chaotic and uncertain. It seemed at the time that pop music was all so meaningless and transient.
I became very interested in classical music and every performance of classical music is unique in it’s own way. In a way, this is unfortunate because it gives me an extra reason to collect. So, the little bit that I do splurge is usually spent on classical music CDs and books.
The way I resist that urge is that I avoid actually going into a Barnes and Noble, and instead keep a rather lengthy wish list on their website. I then ask for specific items or gift cards for Christmas and my birthday. I usually get quite a bit stored up, and then place a big order. It’s all about delayed gratification.
What personal finance or frugality habits were the hardest for you to adopt and why?
I think the hardest change to make was saving up to buy things instead of using credit. It was hard because we had to wait to purchase things, and the gratification was no longer immediate. But it was especially difficult in the beginning because we had no cash flow or savings to use instead of the credit card. We had to go a few months without buying things we thought we needed, just to save up enough and avoid the credit card.
I think that our sense of panic was so great that cutting back and simplifying our lifestyle was the easiest part. Our lives had become chaotic with a small child anyway, so it was almost calming to cut out a lot of the financial fat we were carrying.
Once we did that, we just threw every thing we had at our debt and with each milestone payment it get more and more liberating.
Have you ever taken frugality too far? How so?
I suppose we have taken it a little too far at times. It’s a relative thing though. We gave our daughter $3 from the tooth fairy when she lost her first tooth. Some people thought that was extravagant while others thought it was bordering on cruel to give so little.
I haven’t bought a pair of non-work clothes in about 3 years. My jeans are looking threadbare in the knees, and most of my socks have holes in the heels.
I know some people who have gone so far as to wash zip-lock bags to reuse them. It varies from person to person but as long as it works for them, who am I to judge?
What resources (blogs, books, websites) would you recommend to someone who’s newly frugal?
Good question. I think personal education about finances is the single best thing anyone can do for themselves – not just when they want to be frugal.
Some frugal websites I frequent are:
http://frugaldad.com/ – A good, general all around frugal finance blog
http://www.retailmenot.com/coupons/blog – never pay full price again!
I’ve learned a lot about money management basics from http://www.bankrate.com and http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Commentary/Experts/Weston/LizPulliamWeston.aspx
Some books I recommend:
Stock Investing For Dummies, by Paul Mladjenovic. Living frugally is a must to be financially secure, but it’s not going to get you to retirement. So I also think that people should know at least the basics of investing, if only in mutual funds for retirement.
To live frugally you also have to change the way you think about money, and I think Stop Acting Rich: …And Start Living Like A Real Millionaire by Thomas J. Stanley, is an eye-opening read for that reason.
I’d like to thank FruBlogger for including me in his interview process, and I’d like to thank you for reading.
What an awesome interview. I have found giving up my credit card to be the hardest thing to do. I think I can handle it and I really don’t do badly, but the ‘things’ I buy are not necessary. I am trying to simplify my life so the credit card had to go. Thanks!
Completely agree with bobbi, i have already given up my credit card ( i just had one!
) last year and trust me, life is much, much simpler!