I loved Amy’s post from January on celebrating your crazy, frugal self. Here’s a snippet:
Being frugal isn’t always easy. Living below your means, while reaping great benefits, isn’t necessarily fun. Saving money is hard work, and likely won’t net you a membership into the cool kids’ club. But never mind all that!
One thing I’ve learned about debt-free living is that we have to make our own fun. Celebrate our own cool. Stop for a quick dance while marching ahead to our own goals. Take note of the frugal milestones and get happy about them!
Long-term, successful frugal living is so much more about attitude than about which coupons you clipped this week.
Carolynn @mylittlebitoflife.com says
Good post! It’s sometimes hard when you get compared to other families at school!
On another note, did I miss her post for the book club on your book yesterday??
ashley says
love the pic you paired with this post. it brightened up a gray day – and a gray subject 🙂
Eli says
What a great post!! We actually are doing our first little happy dance and mini celebration. We just paid off our first Debt in the snowball and couldn’t be more excited. We are having a nice dinner out to celebrate – something we give up to make this work. If we celebrate each milestone along the way it will make it easier to keep on truckin! Looking at about 12 more months to be debt free! The only thing left will be our mortgage.
Eli says
OH and by the way – we have the kids fully involved in the plan and we have agreed on a nice family vacation once everything is paid off and we have a certain amount in our savings account. They know and understand the goals and though it’s hard on them sometimes when we have to say no, we just remind them of the vacation they are so looking forward to and is long over due!
Mackenzie @ The Random Path says
Thanks for sharing this! Sometimes it’s easy to get frustrated with budgets and penny-pinching, but the bigger picture is worth it!! 🙂
Ashley says
I think the tide is turning for young adults. I’m a member of a Sunday morning coupon-clipping club, and we’re all under the age of 28. We all post our weekly savings on facebook. I’ve had cousins & friends ask me for advice on how to get started based on those pictures…again, they’re all under 28! So, I feel like couponing is becoming the “it” thing to do (and do well) in this economy. I feel like a cool kid when I’m racking up the “likes” on the photo of my most recent shopping trip!
Dana says
Totally agree! I think that my parents (pre-boomer) and some boomer aged group people (not all) are the ones that got away with the spoils so to speak. They spent, they lived lavishly and they now left us in this “mess”. I am 34 and I think alot of people younger than myself are finding themselves in akward financial positions, no work, big student debts, etc. and being frugal has to become part of their lives, whether or not they learned it from their parents.
Angie says
I grew up with boomer parents ahead of their time – meaning they were very responsible with their money. My Mom couponed back in the 80s, and around the same time, my Dad was explaining to me why it was important to put money into a 401K.
I wish I could proudly say I followed their example, but I didn’t at first. Not until I got into my late 20’s.
After racking up too much credit card debt in my early 20s (on shoes of all things!), I learned the hard way that my parent’s way was the smart way. For proof, I only had to see that in their 50’s they were mortgage free, could pay cash for nice vacations and big ticket items.
I did eventually pay off my credit card debt, but I can’t help but think that I could have at least saved a ton on interest, and maybe could have even invested some money. I am certain we would be in a stronger financial situation now had I been wise enough to coupon back in my 20s before it was trendy.
I stay home with my kids, and the sacrifice is that we still live in a tiny condo that I sometimes feel we should have graduated from by now. If I was a young Mom, I wouldn’t feel as bad about our situation, but as 40 approaches, I sometimes can’t help but kick myself for being so dumb in my 20s.
Mrs. June Fuentes says
Thanks for sharing!
Marie says
I think letting kids know is important. Mine will be 5 next month and they are understanding that we don’t do certain things because it cost to much. Like if we splurge and go to the cheap movie theater $2, we don’t buy popcorn there. I illustrated how much it cost in pennies and said we could have popcorn one time at the movies or “this” amount of times at home. They chose the pile with more pennies!
It’s cute because we were able to take them to a waterpark resort, through a crowd cut deal, and they have asked when mommy’s going to get another coupon to go there.
I am fortunate that when we go out they don’t ask for alot or if one asks the other one will say, “It’s too expensive.”
We have fun but they know that we are careful with our money so that we can enjoy the fun things.
We have banks for them for save, give, spend and they are slowly understanding.
Nancy@chickenscowschildren says
Great Post! We have been doing so many things to live frugally so that we can get out of debt sooner and sometimes it is so hard. We have tried to focus on the fun that we cna have while still working towards our goals. I loved that you also celebrate with Sonic Slushes!! That is a our special reward of choice too!
Andrea @ Frugally Sustainable says
Attitude is everything! What a great message. There’s so much freedom in living frugally:)
Tara H says
I love this post too! I’m (we’re) just starting to learn to live frugally (by that I mean on a budget). It is definitely going to take some discipline! I’m enjoying Amy’s site and learning sooo much from both of you!
Kim@GoingThrifty says
Love this! I am definitely not in the cool Mom’s club for one of my teens. He would wear a brown bag over his head if he could. The reality of life is that someday he may have to fall back on some of these lessons and lifestyle we are not only trying to teach him and his siblings but also embrace ourselves.
But for the record, a couple of my other kiddos totally “get it” .