How low can you go?

I'm not talking about Limbo here. Although that is alot of fun (for kids who can limbo AND get up the next morning!). I'm talking about frugally. How low can you really go? I've been thinking about this lately. There are different levels of frugality. There is Severe, Moderate, and Mild.

Severe Frugality ~ If you were living this style of life you would be growing most of your own food, raising meat animals, raising dairy animals. You could rend fat from the animals to make your own soaps. Use fleece from the animals to spin into yarn to make clothing items out of. You would also compost.

I would have my own chickens, for eggs and meat. I would have sheep for milk, wool, and soap. I would raise my own veggies. I would cook everything from scratch only buying household staples if I needed to. I might even see about bartering some things that I did have for things I needed. I would expect to grind wheat into flour instead of buying flour. Babies would be cloth diapered and breastfed. Napkins would be cloth and cleaning cloths would be used instead of paper towels. I would hang clothes on a line instead of using a dryer. I might even use a wash basin to wash them. You can and dry all your veggie crops.

Moderate Frugality ~ You have a garden with some veggies and herbs. You cook from scratch but will use convience items (if purchased on sale with coupons). You buy your flour ground and in bulk. If you shop deals at drugstores vivaciously and have a nice stockpile going this is probably you. You bake bread from scratch, maybe using a bread machine. You would use disposable cultlery and paper products only if it were a deal and you had coupons (you may even wash them and reuse them). You would be a pretty devoted coupon and deal shopper. You tend to buy holiday items the day after and take advantage of 50% off savings, stocking up for next year.

Mild Frugality ~ You are starting to cut back on your budget, if you even have one. You buy some things when they are on sale. It may not be a good sale, but it is better than full price. You would buy flour in whatever size package is on sale. You may try and group errand together and save gas. You would buy bread on sale. You would use coupons for items you were already going to buy. It probably isn't worth the time invested to bother with coupons though. You may only use 1-3 a week. You are buying more store brands.
----------------------------
If any of the above situations sounds like it might be you, then welcome! You are at the right place. If not, you may have traveled here on accident. But don't leave, stay and maybe learn something you didn't know before!

We would fall into the Moderate Frugality category with splashes of Severe. I would love to live the Severe Frugality life it just isn't in my cards right now. But I can dream. We compost, we garden (more planned this year!), I am an extreme coupon/deal shopper. We have a lovely stockpile going. I keep very strick inventories and rotate all food to eliminate spoilage! I was clothes in a machine and hang them out in the spring/summer/fall seasons. I use a dryer in the winter. I would love to raise angora rabbits for fleece. I would also love to learn to spin it into yarn.

Frugality starts out with a push. There is almost always a reason you want to start living this way. There are dozens of reasons for this. The reason doesn't matter. Starting is what matters. We don't make tons of money but I can tell you that we are living better now than we ever have since being together. Frugality has allowed our standard of living to increase.

I used to spend $150-200 per week on groceries. Now we spend $50 or less. That also includes stocking up, household and animal supplies. The federal government has determined that about $6/person/day is proverty level (for groceries). That would be $42/person/week. My family is 2 people so that would be $84/week. We spend about $3/person/day with some extra! I am shopping well below poverty level and living quite well.

We used to think buying store brands was saving us enough money. I remember going shopping and spending $150 and being thrilled at all the food we bought, only to realize there was no food. What I mean by that is, sure you may have icecream but that isn't dinner. It isn't even anything to make dinner. So you get to have icecream for dessert after your dinner of mac and cheese.

Now we have plenty of food for my people who stop by. We had food to bring to my mother when she lost power during the icestorm. I can give food to friends who are having a hard time. I can donate boxes of food to food pantries. This is what I mean when I said we are living better than ever before. Being frugal has allowed me to live better and bless other people. I won't kid you and tell you it isn't work. Trust me it is. I will tell you that the payout is really worth it!

Take some time and think about what you want out of your life. Will saving money help you do that? Great. Do you want to help bless other people. Great. I think Dave Ramsey says it best. "Live like no one else so later you can live like no one else!".

~Aimee