Is it possible for me to be frugal 100% of the time?
I have been thinking about this since yesterday. You know I take the cab sometime and then usually (not always – sometimes I like pampering myself) I resent it the rest of the day.
It is one of these activities that works against my frugal and effective budgeting activities; a ride to office costs around 10 buck – considering how much effort I put to save 10 bucks each week, it is understandable that taking the cab is quite counter-intuitive and counter-productive for me.Â
I thought about it and I know there are three other areas in my expenses that are against my frugal life-style;
- social treats to cheap friends/colleagues (these are the ones that would let me pay for everything, rather than putting their hands in their purses!),
- gifting (new year gifts, kids, house-warmer gifts, etc.), and,
- social treats/donations that I must do because of my work place seniority.Â
Some of these I can handle better I guess.
First thing first, those friends/colleagues who take advantage of my generosity: obviously I am pissed off by them! Next time I can try to be assertive with them!
Gifting: when I bought my sewing machine I thought I could sew gifts, but now I can see that this is not gonna happen anytime soon. So, I better start shopping for the new year gifts while there are sales. There will be other gifts that I will have to get along the way, like a birthday gift I probably will need in two days  – these I guess can be purchased when they are needed. I am afraid I have nothing additional to do about these expenses.
And social treats/donations that I must do at work: This is also an area of expense that I can hardly limit…. We have annual contributions for recognizing some of the employees’ work with us, which is perfectly fine and I am happy to do these (they so well deserve these). I am often asked to donate to causes that we all care, which I am again very happy to contribute to. And I usually take my team out for lunch several times a year, which is also great because we usually do that to celebrate a significant achievement or a life-event such as a wedding. It is also a great team-building activity. So other than choosing affordable places for lunch, I cannot see much of a thing to change here, either.
Alright. And the rest of my expenses seem to okay (not including the trips I pay to visit my family).
When I look for an opportunity to see whether I can further reduce my spending, I see that this may be possible.
But things that I can do are really small; like making my own detergent (which I do not want to), cutting my hair (which I do not want to), stop dyeing my hair (which I do not want to), buying grains and beans in bulk (like 10 kg bulk) and making them my primary staple (which I do not want to – I like grains and beans a lot but I want to eat fresh produce more), reducing the heating really low (which I do not want to), canceling my cable and risking the good price of internet-cable-phone plan (which I do not want to), not buying occasional awards such as a bar of chocolate or a drink/meal/breakfast for myself (which I do not want not to), and occasional waste like a bad apple here and there.
So, looks like for now, I am at a good shape and have a plan to tackle some of the the unnecessary expense areas. And who knows, once I reach the next level of frugality I may come up with new ways to cut my expenses and become more self-sustaining and resourceful 🙂
After all, there is always a chance of surprising ourselves – just like this bird/crow(?) in the gif below! What a smart animal! 🙂
gif by:https://giphy.com/gifs/closer-level-3O5ihx3odCq76
Love the GIF. Such a smart bird! I really felt I could relate to your post. I struggle with the same things: Do I want to live the life I want and be happy, or do I want to save money? It’s so hard to balance them out. I went to cheap hair stylists for years before I realized that my horrible haircuts weren’t doing anything for my low self esteem.
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we all have similar struggles in life, so do not worry. i think finding the best balance takes time – I am still not there, but I trust the process. I loved the example you have given; sometimes being frugal too can work against us! self-confidence/esteem is quite important and I am glad you made the right analysis, re; self-esteem, and took the steps to remove obstacles from your life. well done 🙂
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Oh for sure! I was a little hesitant to pay $60 for a haircut every five weeks, but I felt better about myself. There was also a time when I never ate out with my coworkers when they ordered take-out. I missed out on some good social connections with others when I did that, so I now choose to do it occasionally.
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So….what were you thinking about making for gifts? I got stuck on that one for some reason.
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examples include: http://www.sew4home.com/projects/curtains-panels/retro-fun-kitchen-curtains-gingham-bows
http://www.sew4home.com/projects/table-linens/kitchen-confections-modas-vintage-modern-patchwork-placemats
http://www.diaryofaquilter.com/2010/08/table-runner-tutorial.html
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I’ll look at these when we get back home
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You are being WAY too hard on yourself! If you are taking a cab because you are not using a personal car, then you are being frugal. If your social treats to cheap friends make them realize their cheapness, it’s all good. Gifts to family and friends are a necessary and unavoidable part of the social contract. And, donations because of your social status are your due. Problem solved.
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🙂 that is so great 🙂 well, yes some of the problems are solved. for example how do I tell people that they are being cheap? Since I cannot tell this, I am rather pressured inside. Gifting my family is not the problem – I do that lovingly and I was rather talking about other people that I am supposed to gift. I do that but never with feeling joy. Gifting in too many ways bother me (finding a great one, affording a great one, etc…) oh well… 🙂 thanks for stopping by
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I, too, have issues with the constant gifting. It seems like there is a donation expectation ALL THE TIME at work. Since we started living more minimally and simply, we notice these more now than before. I recently ignored the request for a donation for a person (we have about 100 people at work) getting married for the 4th time. Donation expected was $20 per person for a gift.
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that is too much to ask and also weird.- why did they even bother putting a threshold for donation??… by the way, you made an excellent point! I have been thinking about the same thing – it is the ‘expectation” part that bothers me, not the donating part for great people and great causes! people usually email me personally asking for donations, which I cannot refuse much because of my position at work, but I really appreciate “choosing” what to or who to donate for. I now am trying not to be too generous with the donations that I was asked to make 🙂
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