Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Radical frugality

Every so often I go on a frugality bender in which I become quietly obsessed with spending less money than before. I'm a huge advocate of frugality. It is a powerful fiscal weapon. In fact, arguably it's one of the most powerful weapons in anyone's financial arsenal. Over the decades of self-employment, we were forced into becoming students of thrift, and we've remained so ever since.

Recently I stumbled across an article entitled "Radical Frugality" which outlined a woman's efforts to "live within a limited income as a bulwark against a consumer culture and capitalist agenda." She touches on the desperate situation of the working poor, and the increasing number of people losing homes, jobs, and businesses in the current economy, 

The author writes, "As I like to point out, many people are lucky to be earning $15 an hour, but we are living in a $100-an-hour world. Every time we step out and into the marketplace, we are faced with the costs of goods and services that have outpaced our income."

She doesn't offer much by way of concrete recommendations on how to adopt this radical frugality except, oddly, a suggestion of communal living. (This is, of course, what we're doing with Older Daughter as she takes over the woodcraft business.)

But the concept of radical frugality is a good one, especially in this time of skyrocketing inflation. Increasingly, more people will be forced to become radically frugal whether they like it or not, so I figure it's better to adopt this lifestyle now rather than later.

What I hope is this Novel Frugality can be seen as liberating, not traumatizing. If you're used to an affluent lifestyle, then yeah, it's a difficult adjustment. But living low can be amazingly freeing (no more worrying what the Joneses think!).

However frugality is a learned skill, just like anything else. So I thought I'd open up the comments and get reader input on what you've done to become thriftier. What advice would you give (radical or not) to the newly frugal)?

37 comments:

  1. What a great idea in this time of inflation, that does not seem to have an end. I would recommend the Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn. I read her books many years ago and still use many of her ideas. It might seem a little over the top to some, but lots of good ideas. Also talk with some older members of your family. My grandmothers, aunt and mother were good examples of frugality to me and now I am in the position to be an example to my family. I think we are all going to have to tighten our belts!! It will be interesting to see the ideas from comments here. Thanks for bringing up this topic.

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    1. I heard about Amy Dacyczyn years ago and have a set of her newsletters that were the basis of her books. Lots of good ideas. Maybe some don't apply to your situation but what she and her husband were able to accomplish is amazing.

      kathy in MS

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  2. We're doing all of our home repairs and appliance repairs, not because we really want to, but because we can't find anybody that is interested in doing it. YouTube can be a very helpful resource for fixing a washing machine, embroidering a child's dress, or different methods of grafting fruit trees.

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  3. I grew up with the ultimately frugal Mom. She made all our clothes, used all the scraps from those as well as worn out cloths to make quilts, and then, what she couldn't cut into blocks for quilts, she tore into short strips that were sewn together, wound into balls and crocheted into rugs. We used to accuse her of picking out all the thread and winding that on spools before she started this process. She also canned almost all our food for the year and we gleaned the feilds of fruits and vegetables grown in our area. She made all our bread, and she loved to hum and sing while she did it all. The best Mom in the world. I learned to cook on a wood cook stove. I am so very grateful for every skill she demonstrated and passed on to her children.

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    1. Your mother sounds like a Proverbs 31 woman. What a blessing and a legacy she left for you.
      Jeff

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    2. She would be so humbled that you think that of her. Jesus was her best friend and she taught us kids that He is our best friend, too, and that we could ALWAYS trust him.

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  4. My sister just sent me an email telling me about her trip to Hobby Lobby. She was in line with her $15.00 purchase berating herself for spending so much, but felt much better while in line and seeing a customer with a full cart and spending a whopping $800.00 for her purchase. I am still in shocked so is my sister. Wow.

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    1. I'm shocked too! But. Several years ago there was a yarn sale at Michael's, like 50c to 1$ for beautiful, expensive yarns. I felt so guilty, but bought out all those I liked. It may have been $100 or so, and I've done the same at Walmart since if it's 50c. Since then I've been very thankful to have all that's needed for whatever project, and am certainly stocked for many more.
      Maybe it was a teacher. I observed a lady shopping near me recently in a store who seemed to be buying out the school and art supplies. I asked her if she was a teacher and she laughed and said yes!
      There are also a lot of creative folks who make their living crafting things and stock up from time to time. So hopefully this person wasn't just blowing a bunch of $ on unimportant, unnecessary stuff.

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  5. We are you tube graduates for home and auto repairs. If it's canned in the store you can PC it yourself. Lots of garden blogs to read.

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  6. I am blessed to have had a thrifty grandma, grandpa, and stepdad and to have been poor when my kids were little. I have also realized how blessed it was to have a mom who lives well beyond her means. Our family suffered, and continues to do so, because of her outrageous spending. I learned that I didn’t want to be like her.

    When I finished school and began working, I enjoyed having more money and not having a calculator, pad, and pencil with me to make every buying decision. I can live with, and I can live without.

    I have kept most of my thrifty habits even during our times of plenty. I can squeeze more out of a tube of toothpaste than the world’s strongest man. I still add water to bottles of ketchup, mustard, and such, slosh it around, and add the goodness to whatever I’m cooking. My grandkids know to turn bottles upside-down and put them in the refrigerator when they’re here. We can always get one more squirt of ketchup from that bottle. I open packages of barred soap weeks before they’re needed to let it cure so it will last longer. I turn out lights in rooms when they’re not needed. Kitchen scraps are composted or fed to the appropriate animals. Meat bones are used for broth. I buy on clearance or at thrift stores. (I still feel guilty buying clothes for myself. As we were walking out of church last week, I commented that the shoes I was wearing were over eleven years old.) I garden, raise animals, and preserve our food. I give homemade gifts to friends and family, and gifts that are bought are carefully considered and purchased wisely. I wash clothes in cold water as much as possible (Some really dirty things require warmer water.), and hang them to dry. I drove my last car for fourteen-and-a-half years. Leftovers are eaten the next day or frozen to eat later. Husband and I are taking a long camping trip soon, and meals are already being prepared so we won’t have to buy groceries in unfamiliar stores or eat at restaurants. I hope the freezer in the camper will hold everything!

    I could write a book on how to live on less. I’m blessed to have had the people and experiences to teach me. God has been good to me and always provided my needs. I know that He always will.

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    1. I had no clue about letting the soap sit out for awhile to help it longer! What a great idea!

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    2. When making homemade soap, it’s given time to cure. Soap you buy from a manufacturer hasn’t been given a long time to cure.

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    3. How do you know that it has cured? I usually buy ivory soap. Sometimes I come across an old bar that was left in a toiletry case by one of my kids when they went to camp. It is a bit yellow and cracked/dried.

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    4. I can’t really give you a definitive answer. Each brand is different. I try to have it unwrapped at least two months before I plan to use it. I have a basket that I keep it in. I notice that it gets more solid and less slick (If that makes any sense) as time goes on. I try to use it when it doesn’t seem to rub off on my hands when I pick up a new bar. I’ve noticed that my brand is taking more time than it used to.

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    5. A great place to let soap dry out is in chest drawers. It really infuses the scent of soap into your clothes!
      Another place is your vehicle. Put a bar under the seat.

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  7. Our "governor" Newsom has decreed that sales of gasoline-powered yard equipment is outlawed as of January, 2023. Again, city dwellers who have never had to maintain a property are telling the rest of us what to do. I'll admit, I've always considered yard equipment powered by small 2-cycle engines more or less disposable; use them for a few years until they crap out and buy another one. Not anymore. I've always treated my 4-cycle machines well. I keep them clean. I change the oil regularly. I don't beat them up. I'm still using a lawn edger that was probably madei n the early 70's. I've extended that practice to the weedeaters, blowers, and the like. I treat them like I'll never be able to get another one, because I may very well not be able to! Don't get me wrong. I treat ALL my equipment well. It's just that the small 2-cycle engines and whatever they're attached to tend to be, well, cheaply made, and tend to wear out quickly. I gotta do what I gotta do though.

    On this tack, sometimes being thrifty requires SPENDING money. Given the yard equipment situation above, when maintaining or repairing this equipment, I do it the right way. If something breaks and I can MacGyver a repair and achieve 100% functionality and reliability, I'll do it. Indeed, sometimes the repair is actually an IMPROVEMENT which addresses the reason the failure happened in the first place. Otherwise, unless I'm faced with financial hardship or nonavailability of parts, I prefer to spend the money, get the proper replacement part, and restore the equipment to 100%. MacGyvering a repair when you CAN fix it right is not being frugal. It's being CHEAP.

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    1. Years ago, a company named Worx was advertising a BOGO on TV for their new battery powered weed eater. $99 for 2 weedeaters, with batteries and chargers. I took a chance thinking one could be a gift for a sister. But I fell in love with the ease of it's push button, and, living in the country, needed the other battery. Also, I put the wheels on one and left them off the other. It's been about 10 years and they're still going strong. No gas or oil, they've never needed maintenance a and I've fallen in love with the world of interchangeable battery operated stuff. A lawnmower soon followed the weedeaters, and it's still serving well. No gas, no oil no maintenance. Push Button. When covid hit I got another larger Ryobi lawnmower in case the 1st one died and couldn't be replaced. Also got solar "generator", small and on sale for half price years ago, which charges all these rechargeable tools! So now with shortages, I've added chainsaws, and other stuff, but a lot of people seem to have discovered these things are dependable and last, and you can't always find what you want.
      Anyone who buys one of these tools , instead of buying extra batteries, buy another kind of tool with the same battery. Batteries and chargers are cheaper that way and you can recharge one as you swap it out for another.

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    2. I'm glad you have had good experiences with your battery operated tools. Mine have been mixed, to say the least. My wife uses a Black & Decker battery weedeater. She likes yardwork.
      The thing is OK for manicuring around sprinkler heads and the like, but is pretty much useless in the corral and around the fruit trees. It is, in a word, weak. The line doesn't feed as it should. She goes through two batteries just to do the easy stuff, and these are the optional "high capacity" batteries. Those just decide to go bad, too. One day they're good. The next day they won't take a charge. Instant hazmat. Even the Chinese knockoff replacement batteries are expensive. We recently investigated preplacing it with a stronger "Nanny Newsom Approved" model. They were ALL heavier than gas powered models; too heavy for my wife, weight being the reason she uses the electric. Then there are the batteries. I'd have to get a new set of batteries and a couple of chargers. The ones we already have would be trashcan material. With the gas models, you replace the unit and keep using the same fuel! By the time were added everything up, we were paying more than DOUBLE what a gas powered unit would cost. She decided to stick with an enemy she knew. On one hand that's good. The money stays in my pocket. On the other hand I have to keep fixing a shoddily made piece of garbage. As for me, batt-op units are a non-starter. They're just not robust enough for heavy property maintenance.

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    3. I Have been lucky but have learned some things too. The batteries hold their charge better if the grass isn't wet.
      The Worx weedeaters are very light. I'm older and have arthritis in my hands, and sometimes having wheels on the thing helps.
      Sometimes I use the weedeaters to whack the tops off higher grasses to follow with the newer, larger lawnmower set on it's highest setting. In fact, I just used that mower to cut through knee high weeds across the road to get to and around some fruit trees. The county seems to have abandoned most of their roadwork and finding help is almost impossible. That patch was rough and the mower did fine. Set up high.
      I got the mowers at Home Depot. I think good name brand stuff is key, and the vendor (HD) by carrying things is kind of giving a nod. I agree they aren't all up to snuff though. That sprayer thing advertised on TV doesn't do much but wet stuff. But it does have a little washable filter on a fairly long tube that can be dropped in a creek or pond that would be handy for siphoning and prefiltering water if needed, thereby preserving my water filters somewhat so I didn't return it. Don't laugh, but I also figure it could wash me off!

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  8. On Facebook there are hyper-local groups called Buy Nothing where people give away free stuff they don't want. Furniture, clothes, blenders, whatever.

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    1. If you are not on Facebook, there is Freecycle. You can offer things up or request items.

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  9. As silly as it might sound, writing a weekly menu and sticking to it when shopping. I usually scan my pantry/fridge/freezer first and plan based on what I have and what sounds good, then only shop to fill any gaps I might have. I also look to buy second hand vs new as much as possible and I've joined my local "Buy Nothing" group, where people in a neighborhood offer up items that are in good order that are no longer needed. Requests can also be made there, which I have seen result in significant community building and support. Just this week a teacher mentoring a former student made a request for dorm room items for the 18 year old new collage student and the outpouring of support was a beautiful thing. Those happenings are frequent in that group. I'm still working on gardening, and have (finally) purchased and learned to use a pressure canner. I have a small flock of laying hens who help reduce food waste and turn it into eggs. I cook from scratch, buy in bulk and on sale, limit driving as much as possible, pack a lunch instead of buying one. I don't have vices to speak of, don't really wear makeup, go to the spa/salon. Opt for quality items when purchasing as they will outlast less expensive items of lower quality and save you the cost of repair or replacement down the road. I have no credit card debt, no car payment, no student loans. The only think financed in my life is the house. Being conscientious of electricity use, high efficiency appliances, used outside of peak rates, limiting lights (and switching to LED's wherever possible). Solar is on the list but not in place yet. Turn down the temp on the water heater by a few degrees. I suppose these are the primary examples in my life, I'm sure there are more to add and I'm looking forward to reading the wisdom from the group here.

    KinCa

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  10. I calculate exactly costs of kilowatts in my power bill monthly. I also manage kw's used daily.
    So when my power bill started zooming, I started turning things off entirely, and taking readings for example, after using the dryer. All this saved me from freaking out thinking rate hikes had happened.
    It took a storm blowing the cover off the well to see the disaster with the connections on the backside of the new tank. In the meantime my monthly bill which is based on a yearly average doubled. Ugh.
    In the meantime, I had turned off the HWHeater. With all the heat, it's actually been refreshing to take sailor showers using a jug of cold water!
    I quit using the AC and used a window unit set to dehumidify. That plus a couple of fans made even 100 plus heat outside endurable. Not comfortable, but endurable.
    Set up a hot plate outside for cooking to keep heat out of the house.
    At bedtime I slept with ice packs and frozen 2 liter bottles of water and slept well.
    These things will continue until cold weather because power usage is so low there's a good credit being applied to the balance from months of overuse. Because it's cheaper to pay off the balance this way. Free interest. By cold weather the balance will be in range of payoff with future enjoyment of low bills. It would take a year otherwise to get average billing back to normal.
    I have learned that I don't really have to have hot water in the summer. An electric pot provided the little really needed. It could have been a Kelly Kettle outdoors.
    I'm not going back to using a lot of electricity. Or water.

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    1. If anyone decides to track kilowatts to manage their bill, first call and find out what the basic charge is. Years ago I found out the power company here starts out with a basic charge, then add the charge for your usage and that's your bill. Plus find out if your charge for watts used varies with time of day. Ours doesn't, but some companies do. You have to know all available info to properly manage utilities and they don't always tell you unless you ask.

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  11. Because I am a numbers person, I looked at debt as a game. If I could squeeze out an extra five dollars to pay down our mortgage I did. As the kids got older I kept a pay down thermometer drawing on the refrigerator. We paid off our California mortgage on one police officer salary. We taught our kids about debt and trained them to plan and anticipate future bills like yearly homeowner’s insurance and pay yourself monthly for those bills so they aren’t painful when you receive them. While all of our kids understand what we have taught them, only two are living it out. One son is greatly in debt and feels the noose tightening around his neck but won’t stop spending. My best tip is to consider frugality a game and challenge yourself to win at it.

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    1. There is hope. One of my adult kids was like that. However, he changed his ways and started living more frugally. Now he’s doing great!

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    2. Thank you for that encouragement! It makes us sick to watch it and he is a fabulous man with a young family. We are praying for change!

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  12. I ended use of satellite TV and replaced it with one of those little Free TV square antennas several years ago. Had to by a booster for it, so the little antenna and booster wound up being about 25 bucks.
    I am nowhere near a big city, yet sometimes get as many as 40 channels.
    There are plusses and minuses. The plus is I've saved several thousand dollars not spent on satellite tv already!
    Another plus is all your local channels and weather are picked up.
    Another plus is there's a lot of old programming so it could be considered more family friendly in that respect.
    A mixed blessing is that it partially weans you from the boob tube. You can't record in the set or at all unless you go back to old school recording, which I can do, but it's too much of a hassle.
    I had to give up some channels I liked, like HGTV, but DABL is there and is about the same.
    There are no sports channels, but, remember, you get everything local. So there's a lot of football that you'll be looking for and Will find.
    Plus, and this is sweet, a lot of local high school games.
    There are Christian channels, but a couple I miss.
    Sometimes reception isn't as good, but even then there will probably be something you can get, and it's all HD, unlike decades ago, so pictures are clear.
    Nowadays many people just use their devices to view tv and movies, but this is about as cheap and easy as it gets if you just want to use a television.

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  13. One of the better ways to fight back against the babylonian economic and financial system we currently slave under (sorry folks, capitalism is NOT Free Enterprise; capitalism is just another form of socialism) is to live frugally and not participate in the babylonian system (consumerism) any more than absolutely necessary. Starve the Beast any way you can by being frugal.

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    1. Clearly someone hasn't lived in a country ruled by socialism. Live there for a year & your mind will be changed.

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    2. I don't really think capitalism is the same as socialism, but I do think a lot of corporations are on the new world order bandwagon. Their future depends on us joining up too, but I think most of us are planning on flying away to meet Jesus in the air !

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  14. Learn to use what you have and take care of the expensive items you do purchase. We have taught our kids to use what they have rather than purchase a new product. If they see something on TV or hear about it on the radio, they face a challenge of how we can create something like that at home, using items that we have.

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    1. Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without. That’s our focus.

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  15. Don’t be afraid to buy new vehicles. You always hear not to due to the initial depreciation hit. With owning a vehicle from its “infancy” You can control the upkeep for life, not having to rely on the previous owner’s word for maintenance history. We keep our vehicles a long time so we go out of our way to research the most reliable, and aren’t afraid to spend “good” money for the most useful (to us). One of our vehicles is a 15 year old Prius that is still going great. Due to lifestyle change (now I driving in areas most likely requiring 4-wheel drive and high road clearance) we recently spent a chunk of change for a second vehicle, on a wonderfully capable, and reliable, new Toyota 4Runner. We don’t regret spending higher amounts of money on quality items, whether it be a pressure canner, or other tools such as vehicles. Plus, we avoid debt like the plague. We learned a hard lesson decades ago. Even though we live on a modest pension, and have modest savings, we never finance anything.

    In addition to some of the books previously mention, for living with one’s means, I really like the books, “Choosing Simplicity” by Linda Breen, and “How To Retire the Cheapskate Way” by Jeff Yeager. In Jeff’s book I learned of what is now one of my favorite sayings, “Go on About Your Rat Killing.”
    Cheers to y’all

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    1. Get out of debt and live within your means. I could write a book on frugality as could most of the respondents here.
      My newest vehicle is a 16 y/o prius, followed by a 24 y/o sedan and a 30 y/o pickup truck, all well maintained and functioning. Next to nothing insurance for them. I told my kids if they wreck any of them, they are responsible for buying another vehicle for me as I cannot replace these vehicles at any cost.

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  16. Sometimes we need to draw a line with frugality or redirect it. We all know there are " lines" not to cross with preparing and serving food. And we all do the best we can to observe them. But do we really know those lines ?
    ServSafe certifies food workers and managers now for restaurant work and has courses for each. That's where I learned from a teacher that the #1 source (at that time) of food borne illnesses comes from church suppers and pot lucks. Home cooks.
    I'm not saying run out and take some course.
    There are a lot of those books online where students did what students do. Sell their books.
    There's info on specific illnesses, temperatures, how the fridge and freezer need organizing , and just a lot of good food safety info.
    Books are an excellent tool for frugality.

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  17. We live by the old saying:
    Use it up,
    Wear it out,
    Make it do,
    Or do without.

    I buy used, I reuse, and REUSE again. We agree on almost every single purchase, as to whether we really need it, do we have room, will it serve us for a long time, can it be repaired, etc...

    I think that in times where we have had a little more we tend to appreciate it more than some, maybe, but we were still very frugal. We would use the "extra" to get things we needed but couldn't really afford before. In times like we have upon us now, it's almost a weird comfort; it's easy to slip right back into the habit of being frugal. We're back to checking all the details, prioritizing for needfulness, reusability and whatnot. It's barely a bump in the road. I hope things get better, but if they don't, we've had a lot of practice.

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