Sunday 3 July 2016

Frugally Challenged

I was reading blogs for quite a while before I took the plunge myself.  Maybe you are in that position now.  You need some sort of user name (maybe your Real Life name?) so you can leave comments on other people’s blogs.  I was reading a lot of blogs about living very frugally and I have to admit I was amazed at the lengths that some people go to in order to save money.  I was very aware (and still am) that I wouldn’t be going as far as some people so rather tongue-in-cheek, I chose the user name “Frugally Challenged”.

I was brought up in the fifties when the make-do-and-mend mentality was much more prevalent than today.  The sleeves of my school sweaters always had darns in them.  There was no choice in the food I ate – I had to eat what I was given and clean my plate and whether I liked the food was totally irrelevant.

In some ways I’m glad those days have gone.  It is only in recent years that I have learnt to listen to my body and stop eating when I am full.   My body shape tells me that is a lesson I should have learnt much sooner.  In other ways I think the ideas of my childhood were absolutely right and I am re-learning and re-adopting them.

Each of us has to choose the right level of frugality.  I am aware that my standard of living is lavish compared to many as I have an adequate pension which allows me to satisfy many of my wants as well as my needs.  However, there are still things I want to do, ambitions I want to chase, dreams I want to do more than dream.

I want to live a rich life, rich in experiences rather than possessions, but experiences can cost money so I want to live as frugally as I comfortably can.  My choices may not be yours (nor yours mine) but the choices I make are allowing me to have a great time in retirement.  I’m no frugal expert:  I am definitely Frugally Challenged.


5 comments:

  1. Lovely post from the heart, I agree we are each living our lives to the level we want, my life is lived closer to my childhood family values. As we get older we see the world for its true values, I prefer to exclude myself from a lot of the stuff pushed at us, and I feel I'm happier for it.

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  2. Always enjoy reading whatever you're sharing. I too struggle to save some days and have success others. Rich life-not necessarily rich bank account is my hope as well.

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  3. It's a good name. We all come at frugality in our own way, either out of necessity, because we are saving for specific things or experiences, or simply the desire to life as simply as possible.

    Reading about other peoples efforts is always inspiring, sometimes amusing but always interesting, and I love that we all learn something from each other ... it's what keeps blogland so interesting.

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  4. A post to take me back to my childhood. My mother was also frugally challenged! I don't remember wanting for much of anything although I wasn't spoiled. I think as we get older we all have that desire to live more simply and enjoy what is important. I know I am in that mindset right now and yes, experiences are more important to me than things right now. Beautiful post, Mary.

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  5. Some interesting thoughts, Mary.

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