Frugality ~ noun ~ the quality of being frugal, or prudent in saving; the lack of wastefulness: No longer just a word but a fad. A fad to be stood by and to be kept around a while. Though it does fade away for some people through their life times most find that the need to live frugally comes around more then once. Right now in the United States as well as many other countries around the world the “fad” of living frugally has yet again been forced on the people. Though for many it is a hardship it, living this way actually has many good points. Yes saving money, paying off debts and creating a nest egg are all obvious good effects, but there are others as well.
To begin with the frugal life style lends it’s self to the going green movement quite well. Convenience means fast and wasteful. Frugality is the opposite. By using items that are cheaper to buy and or make that can be reused, folks are not only saving money they are inadvertently helping the environment. No more wasteful paper or plastic cups that bleed money from a budget and flood the landfills. Using less electric, oil/gas, and water to help keep the bills low, also helps by just what it is, not using as much electric and consumable resources, plus right?
The home garden, a staple of the simple life, has so many good points on so many levels it is a wonder they are lost to some people to begin with. Yes growing your own veggies, herbs and fruits saves money as does canning and drying them yourself. That though is not the end of the bounties that come from the garden. We all know that fresh fruits and vegetables are just strait out healthier for you not to mention taste better. That home preservation uses less to no chemical preservatives again healthy for you and your family. What else are they good for? The plants themselves help to clean the air, beautify ones yard and provide habitat for useful bugs and birds. Gardening has also been know to be therapeutic. Who doesn’t smile when their efforts to save money bring in butterflies and delicious food.
Skills of the past reborn! One of the coolest yet less thought of aspects of living frugally. When people learn to knit, crochet, sew, quilt, garden, can and various other “home” skills they are not only learning how to save money they are in fact preserving the past. Far too many people have lost the skills that where once handed down from generation to generation. The industrial revolution left a hole in this generational tradition, one being filled by frugal folks relearning the skills of their ancestors. Hand made items such as quilts that use up scraps of old clothes, home canned tomato sauce from Nona’s recipes, sweaters made by knitting with Mom are all effectively money saving while breathing air back into old traditions. These skills not only decorate the home, adorn the family or are put to good use they are endearing gifts that save the maker mass amounts of many while also giving someone else a treasured heirloom.
Many people look at living frugally as a bad thing. That the lifestyle is for the poor or greedy and that if one can they should not live so. That isn’t true. In today’s world people have begun to live beyond their means in too many ways. They are unhealthy, in debt and drowning in their own misdoings. Those who have always lived frugally or have now turned to the life style tend to be healthier, have few debts and are happy. Thoughts to be weighted out…