Frugal Framnett

Get Organized!

Not your finances, but your life and I bet (not literally, gambling is not frugal) your finances will follow! I often find myself spending unnecessary money when my organization falls apart. I am cooking, can not find an ingredient so I go to the store (spend on gas) and buy something I know we have already, but can not find. Or I misplace something else and end up having to replicate a purchase.

This also applies to the organization of time. Sometimes I decide to make something but either do not plan appropriately (or procrastinate) and I end up having to hire someone to carry out the task. This is my big problem during this time of the season, I do not allow enough time for shopping and end up having to buy things in a hurry and you can all imagine how that goes!

Being organized can also help with tracking your spending. If you are organized enough you can store, retrieve, and record receipts so you can closely track your expenses. Like I said earlier tracking your expenses is a crucial component of determining how you are doing in reaching your financial goals!

Before you buy.

What you are purchasing, is it a need or a want? Think carefully on this one and be honest with yourself. Do have a genuine need for the item or are you purchasing for reasons of:

1. Vanity?
2. To keep up with the Joneses?
3. Because you feel entitled?
4. Some other reason that is of non-necessity?

Be honest with yourself!

For example, we recently purchased a new vehicle. The vehicle comes with XM Radio and I was all geared up to subscribe. Well, I made a number of attempts to do so but there was one obstacle and another. Finally, it occurred to me to not subscribe. Why?

To be sure, it would be nice to have 24×7 classical music (WImP radio’s classical music network comes with NPR new broadcasting, yuck!) and access to Brewer’s & Badgers sports broadcasting, but in the end even though I have no real problem paying the subscription I just decided the money is better saved.

I am convinced it is not the big purchases that get us into trouble but the day in and day out routines and habits. Funny enough, its the same with eating and weight loss.

So, what Lorie and I do (at least for my shampoo needs) is to have an old shampoo bottle on hand and I purchase the cheapest bottle (as in inexpensive) of shampoo you can find. Then we pour some of that into the old bottle, top it off with water, and shake. I have shampoo.

When I wash my hair (now in the winter that is every other day) I notice no difference from using full strength shampoo.

Participate in this discussion by voting & commenting!

The way I cut shampoo is:

• Cheap (bad)!
• Frugal (good)!

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Here is where I will talk about money saving techniques and judge them to be either cheap or frugal.

• Cheap

Cheap is not a good thing in the context of this category. In this category think of the third definition of cheap. Along the lines of poor quality. Cheap things can actually be expensive in the end.

If a money saving technique, item, procedure, whatever is deemed to be cheap in this category I mean to say: do not buy or utilize it!

• Frugal

In this category frugal is a good thing. It means avoiding waste mainly avoiding the wastage of wealth.

If I deem something frugal, then if appropriate for your situation you should buy or utilize it.

Many people take good living and environmental sensitivity as being in opposition to each other. However, are they? My opinion is they are not.

The connection between frugality and environmentalism is strong. For what it is worth (FWIW) I detest eco-freakos, I think they are budding totalitarians and do their supposed cause more harm than good, but I leave that aside.

Being kind to the environment should be a frugal choice not extravagant. In the end, if the choice seems extravagant then it is probably not environment friendly. Do not invest in technologies just because they are environmentally friendly, helping the environment must be frugal or it will not catch on.

The cost of products is made up of many factors. Many of those factors eventually capture the cost in terms of damage to the environment. The more an item costs typically the more of a given resource or resources must be utilized in the item’s production.

Now, there are many technologies out there that are pitched as an investment in the environment. They are pitched that way because they are more expensive. However, do a serious analysis before spending the extra money and I would bet (again, bet is being used rhetorically as gambling is not frugal) you will find the expense does not pay off soon enough. Do not feel guilty for not investing and doing your all for the earth. When the technology is sufficiently developed then it will be truly earth friendly.

There are a number of reasons for this. The technology is not sufficiently understood and the engineering & technical expertise is rare and not well understood which often leads to over-engineering or engineering cheaply. In any event the resources thrown at the project (in total) are going to be ill utilized.

Now, if you can afford it, go for it. Being a first/early adopter is not frugal, but still important. It is on your back the reasearch and learning is done.