Comments on: A Frugal Diet, Or A Frugal Lifestyle

By: Marcy

Marcy — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:10:52 +0000

Excellent, thoughtful post. I live overseas where prices on consumer items are high, such as clothing, shoes, electronics, DVDs, and name brand toilitries. Every time I go to visit my parents in the States I have extra spending money and basically end up in the binge mode, at least in comparison to my every day life. It feels very weird to binge and purge with spending. Although it makes sense financially, since I get all the good deals, it stresses me out a good deal. I feel incredibly spoiled while in the States and after the first couple of months of enjoying my new items rather deprived abroad. To be honest neither emotional state feels so great! It is all about moderation.

By: Value For Your Life

Value For Your Life — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 11:37:41 +0000

Love the post! Our family is going through a similar phase right now. We decided to scale back a couple of years ago to really start making some serious progress with your debt repayment. Now that we are one track, as long as nothing interferes with our plan to be debt free, we are starting to reintroduce a few things, and have learned that by planning ahead and saving up for big purchases ahead of time, and changing the ways that we shop, that we can do this! I think the key for us is to just keep being mindful and tracking those expenses so we don’t lose sight of the big financial picture.
Sincerely,
Amanda

By: » Happy St Patrick’s Festival #169! on the Festival of Frugality

» Happy St Patrick’s Festival #169! on the Festival of Frugality — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:55:55 +0000

[...] A Frugal Diet Or A Frugal Lifestyle at Frugal Dad [...]

By: Carla

Carla — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:29:36 +0000

I agree, it’s too easy to get lax when times are good. We tried to make it a habit to spend less regardless, but sometimes; we fall into the trap of mindless spending.

With my fiancé, his father grew up during The Great Depression and made it his life goal to never live that way again. Over the past six or seven decades, he has accumulated enough wealth for himself and his wife that we are out of the clear in terms of taking care of them financially now that they are in their ‘80. On the other hand, my S/O never had to be frugal growing up and its been a hard lesson as an adult (since he doesn’t live off of his parents).

We are always constantly going over out “diet” and finding ways to cut things out without suffering too much!

By: Complacency A Silent Killer Of Financial Turnarounds | Frugal Dad

Complacency A Silent Killer Of Financial Turnarounds | Frugal Dad — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:01:51 +0000

[...] like to dedicate a post to expanding on an idea I mentioned in last week’s post, A Frugal Diet, Or A Frugal Lifestyle – a follow up of a follow up, if you will. I mentioned in that post that a reader’s comment [...]

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 22:14:12 +0000

Wow, this was a great post. I think it is so easy to get frugality mixed up with simplicity! In my case, I am very frugal and drive a piece of crap car, but I was just able to build a beautiful home for me family that most my age cannot afford. Why? I have no debt and we curb our expenses!
As a side note, Dave Ramsey will be speaking at my church for the next for weeks. If you live in Florida, Oklahoma, New York, Arizona, Texas, or Tennessee, consider looking up a campus and visiting. If not, you can attend church online! In either case, visit lifechurch.tv for details.

Thanks for the post!

By: Alyson

Alyson — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 11:04:49 +0000

I love discussions like this as we are the type of family who had “poor” childhoods, now have “earned” the right to spend our money and realize we are wasteful even though we balance it with plenty of giving. I do believe in the being good stewards with our money and possessions and not being wasteful. But for us, we need a diet frequently to get us back on track. A lifestyle change hasn’t worked for us as we are not disciplined. We KNOW what we should do, but need the “go on a diet” mentality to get us started. Each family has to find what fits them. We are the type that needs something to hold us accountable (we teach/facilitate the Crown.org Life group classes). We need a life changing event to get us motivated. I applaud all of you who are dedicated to doing the right thing with your money. I also know, that being generous with giving is a balance to include in your frugal plans.

Alyson
Alyzabeth’s Mommy for Six Months!

By: Derek @ NüHabits

Derek @ NüHabits — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 04:41:39 +0000

My wife and I recently clawed our way back into the green, wiping out $8k in credit card debt in the last 6 months, and it feels good! Now that we’ve reached our goal we will loosen up on our budget a bit because we can afford to! The key is just not to let the pendulum swing the opposite direction.

I loved this post. I wish you much success, and I’m sure you’ll see your readership base grow as the economy continues to tank….this is an anti-cyclical blog!

Here’s my take, the economy isn’t the problem Human Defects are!

By: Retired Syd

Retired Syd — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 01:16:15 +0000

I LOVE this analogy–being on the maintenance phase of a diet. Sometimes you don’t know until you give up a bunch of stuff which of them are simply worth the calories and which you find you can live with out. If you try and deny yourself even the ones you love, you wind up bingeing after awhile, so it sounds like adding back the cable will help you not to binge on, say, a satellite dish in the future!

By: Abigail

Abigail — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 21:53:16 +0000

Okay, well, here’s the thing. To make a lifestyle change, you do sometimes have to create a “diet” to see how it goes. Then you can evaluate and decide how long you can/want to keep up the habits that got you to the desired point.

I think, in this case, you decided that TV was an allowable luxury. So you added it back into an otherwise frugal lifestyle.

I think any change is, essentially, a frugal diet until you get to your goal. Then it’s a matter of deciding whether it’s a change you want to make permanent.

For example, most of us cut back on how much we eat out, while we pay down debt. But once our debt is paid down, we will probably allow slightly more luxury in and dine out from time to time.

Sometimes, frugal changes are a means to an end. Other times, they’re a lifestyle change. It’s a completely individual choice.