Wednesday, I met with a small group of people in the Portland area who are also pursuing increasingly frugal habits, attempting to spend less, save more, and basically reduce our own contributions to a society filled with overconsumption and waste.
While the group was small, it was interesting and included the following (names and genders have been changed to protect the frugal):
John: recently moved to Portland, and while the transition has been a smooth one, he wants to learn how to live on less and save more. He shared some of his strategies, which include using coupons, lighting his home with candles in the winter to reduce energy usage (this sounds so cozy), and taking public transportation when he can.
Ann: has been living by the tenets of Your Money or Your Life for the past two years. As a result of insight gained from the book, she decided to sell her house and now rents an apartment. She is also a fan of the Tightwad Gazette, which is a wonderful (though giant) book of hundreds (possibly thousands) of frugal tips. This is someone I think I can learn from.
Jeff: Jeff is an entrepreneur, and was primarily interested in issues related to consumerism, greed, and more 'global' problems. The rest of the group, including myself, were more interested in discussing what we, as individuals, can do to live more frugally. Still, an interesting person.
Mike: Mike is married with a child, and, like John, also recently relocated to the Portland area. He is also a member of a "green parenting" group, which sounds interesting. Although he's been in the city for a short time, he's already made contact with other vegans and those interested in forming a food co-op.
This was our first meeting, and I sincerely hope we can manage to get together again. I'm definitely going to suggest meeting with one or more of the people who were there to discuss voluntary simplicity and frugal issues in more depth.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Frugal support, part deux. . . .
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Falling off the frugal wagon. . .
I mentioned in my post yesterday that I'm not a big drinker. One beer or glass of wine, and I'm good. Two, and I'm looking for the closest place to take a nap. This helps keep my grocery costs down, and stretches my fun budget pretty far: often I can get away with a night out for less than $20.
For example, last night I went out for celebratory drinks with some classmates, after having taken a rather horrible midterm. I started with a peartini, which is already somewhat outside my comfort zone, as I usually just have a beer. The midterm was bad enough that a pear-flavored martini with sugar on the rim sounded heavenly. And it was!
Much chatting and laughter ensued, and before I knew it, we were ordering appetizers---fruit, cheese, and bread. Somewhere between the peartini and the appetizer, I made the muddled decision to order a sangria---after all, it was on the happy hour menu, and only $4! I do like a sale. . . .
By the end of the evening, we each realized that we had various commitments that required us to go our separate ways. Of course, when the bill came, we all reached for our wallets: two of us had our debit cards, the other two had cash. I offered, in a peartini/sangria-induced fog, to use my debit card, and the others could just give me cash. It worked out perfectly!
Except: now I'm walking around with what seems like a giant wad of cash in my wallet, and it's whispering "shoes, you need new shoes . . . . " So, my challenge is to make good use of that money (within my budget) without going completely overboard and falling off the frugal wagon. Next time, I'll overcome my laziness and stop by the ATM for my $20 'allowance' before going out for drinks. . . .
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Danger's gone. . . .
My friend left this afternoon, and as expected, the shopping and spending (hers, mostly) was a sight to see. Her current 'obsession' (other than bags, shoes, and makeup) is costly fabric, with which she's making these amazing little boxes. She buys cardboard boxes at a craft store, then covers them with velvet and silk fabric, embellishing with fancy ribbon. The piece de resistance is a flower made of ribbon, that she affixes to the top of the box. The boxes, while beautiful, are created with high-end materials, and are none-too-cheap to make. Not exactly a frugal past-time. I have to say, I did accompany her to a few fabric and notions shops in the area, and am guilty of spending some of my own hard-earned cash on pretty velvet---most of which I'll probably never use. Here's an accounting of the money I spent while my houseguest was in town (three days):
Dinner: $62.75
Velvet fabric: $16.50
Other craft supplies: $4.48
Pedicure: $26.00
Breakfast: $17.40
Movie: $5.50
Since I rarely carry cash, I used my debit card to take care of our dinner the first night, and also paid for fabric, for which my friend was going to reimburse me. Instead, she covered my drinks/appetizer/dinner and lunch the next day. At which time I felt that I then owed her money, and bought her breakfast. Now, I have no idea whether I spent more or she did---we didn't keep a close accounting of this. Next time I have a visitor, I'll do several things differently:
1. Save for the visit: I spent roughly $130 over three days---money that I could have had in savings, since I've known since December that this particular friend planned to visit. Had I saved $50 a month up until now, I would have had this money set aside, rather than taking it out of my checking account.
2. Carry cash: this will help me to pay for my share, rather than coming up with elaborate schemes in which I pay for dinner, the friend pays for lunch, and no one knows how much either owes.
3. Keep a close accounting of who paid for what: when spending time with a heavy shopper/spender, be sure that close attention is paid to what you owe---it may seem nit-picky at the time, but it can save money in the long run.
4. Don't get carried away by someone else's obsession: it was fun to shop for and buy fabric---I like being crafty. However, I have neither the money nor the time to be searching out high-end fabric and then sitting around and making pretty boxes. There are only so many people in my life who would enjoy a useless item (beautiful or not) like that.
There is some good news: I still can't find my credit card. Therefore, everything I spent came out of my checking account. This forced me to think about my purchases---I have a feeling that if I had been carrying a credit card, my purchases would have been even greater than they were.
I was happy to see my friend---we had a good visit. But it also reminded me of why I'm living a more frugal life. I don't need as much stuff as I used to think I did. Those pretty boxes are great! But they'll sit in my house and gather dust for about a year or two until I can find a way to get rid of them. Better not to have them in the first place!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Finally Frugal reminder. . . .
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
This is what I'm up against. . . . .
This Saks Fifth Avenue window, seen above, is right across from the light rail stop I often use. Luckily, I'm smart enough (and poor enough) that I've never stepped foot in the store. The salespeople would take one look at my Old Navy/Banana Republic wardrobe and my old Timbuk2 bag and immediately divine the knowledge that I can't afford a $200 dress (on sale!) Even during my days of wanton credit-card use, I went for quantity over quality (not that a $100 Juicy Couture t-shirt is made in a "better" Thai sweatshop than a $40 Gap blouse. . . .)
With this kind of advertising, though, is it any wonder Americans are over-extended and under-satisfied? You might 'want' that yummy orange handbag the mannequin is holding, but how long will that (probably $500) purchase satisfy you? How long until you're on the search for the next 'must have' bag, or belt, or pair of shoes? I have a friend who is constantly on the search for the bag/shoes/thing she has to have; once she knows her target, she spends hours online searching it out, weeks tracking it down, until finally she pounces----and these things are never cheap.
She's visiting me for the weekend, so I'm curious to see what her latest 'need' is. As for myself, I'm going to try to view the inevitable shopping excursions from the perspective of an anthropologist or sociologist, rather than getting swept up in my own need for more stuff.
Tomorrow, I'll post about Affluenza, a PBS documentary about the reasons behind and the consequences of Americans' need for STUFF. Soon, I'll also write a brief review of the book, which is one of the few I actually purchased last year.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Danger's a comin'. . . . .
A good friend is coming to visit at the end of the month, someone with whom I've spent countless hours drinking coffee, chatting, and yes, shopping. This will be the first visit we've had since I started my new frugal living habits, and I'm a little nervous about how I'll handle the pressure to spend money on things I don't need.
The last time she visited (in October, I believe), I bought a pair of shoes I've literally never worn. I HAD to have them at the time, but there they sit in my closet, mocking me with their shiny newness. Granted, I think they cost less than $20, but that is in addition to the roughly $60 I also spent on another pair of shoes (which I do wear occasionally) as well as some $20 hand lotion from Kiehls ($20! For hand lotion! WHAT was I thinking? It is great stuff, though). I believe there was also the purchase of some makeup, which I rarely use.
I'm trying to think of strategies that I can use to avoid this happening again. I do want to go out to breakfast and dinner, get coffee somewhere, and perhaps go to a movie, so I'm going to budget for this. But I don't want to spend anything on items that I wouldn't have purchased had my friend not been visiting (because I wouldn't have dared step foot in Banana Republic, Nordstrom, or Anthropologie).
I still can't find my credit card (not that I've spent much time looking), which is a good thing. The fact that I'm truly limited to the cash in my checking account will serve to control my spending----just paying for the entertainment noted above will be a stretch this month, in fact.
I'm going to spend some time over the next two weeks researching some other strategies I can use to control my spending urges when my friend visits, and I'll share what I find on these pages.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Making sense of my travel budget. . . .
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Socially frugal. . . .
My budget is pretty tight at the moment (see my post about my zero-based budget to see just how much I'm squeezing out of my salary). I think I have about $75 budgeted for 'fun' this month, which has to include all purchases and social costs that are not absolutely necessary (like the $39 boots I talked myself out of last week).
Today, I went to a baby shower, in honor of one of my coworkers. Thankfully, the parents requested no gifts, since they already have one child and don't need anything more. As an inexpensive 'gift', however, I created a sign-up sheet for friends and coworkers to bring a simple meal to their home once a week after the baby is about a month old. My pregnant coworker also indicated that having someone come over and hold the baby for an hour or two to allow for naps and showers would be great. Perfect free gift, and my colleagues were happy to sign up.
Unfortunately, I also agreed to bring a fruit salad to the brunch/baby shower. For some reason I thought this would be very inexpensive. It's just fruit, right? Well, it's fruit, in FEBRUARY! I spent close to $15 dollars on one salad! Everyone loved it, and there were no leftovers, but I spent 20% of my month's 'fun' money on one salad.
Sigh. I'm still getting used to this new frugal lifestyle, while attempting to retain some semblance of a social life. It's not easy! Next time maybe I'll just bring a carton of juice. . . . . that can't cost more than $3 or $4 dollars, right?
