Frugal

What does frugal mean?

According to the dictionary frugal means:
Practicing or marked by economy, as in the expenditure of money or the use of material resources 
Spending less

What does frugal mean to others?

Well, I've read that it means being "cheap", being "lazy", being "poor", or just "trashy".


Ok all of those words but one is offensive to me. I will be the first one to ever tell you, yes I am cheap!

How did it start out that I was frugal?

Well, if you ask my mom now she will tell you "I never would have thought you out of all the kids would be this way" She has once told me that. In a way, made me feel great, in another way, woman what are you talking about! See growing up, we weren't poor, we weren't rich either. I never went without. I had the toys I wanted, traveled, and it was nothing to ask my parents for money, a car, a cell phone, or whatever during those teenage years. Well, looking back now, I took advantage of that. My parents work/worked hard all their lives, still do, and I took advantage of their money and never knew the true meaning of a dollar. My mom raised me to know that it was ok to shop at thrift stores, to go to yard sales and my sister thought me how to dumpster dive.

Once I moved to Alabama with my now husband, point blank we were broke as broke could be. I remember one night, that now looking back on we laugh about it. I wanted some chocolate, we didn't have alot of money but we got alot of change together and went to the vending machine in town and got whatever we could with the money. That was our treat for the month. Once we got married I knew we had to figure out a way to make it in life. I tried to be frugal, didn't quite get it, didn't quite want to get it. I started couponing though and that saved us. When I moved back to Mississippi during that time, I knew I had to be frugal. Whatever cost I could cut in half I had to. Once I moved to HSV, yeah that's when it all started!

I will share my experiences with you, tell you and show you how I'm frugal and the way I cut cost. Just because I am cheap, doesn't mean I live cheap. We still eat what we want, my kids wear nice clothes, my home and yard looks nice, and we live a pretty happy lifestyle! Join me on this journey of being frugal! Cutting cost, couldn't hurt anyone!