Don't Believe Frugality = Happiness? Try This!by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 15 Mar 2008 05:38 AM I really believe that living frugally can make you happier. You might have seen my reasons in earlier blogs, so I won't reiterate them here. But if you are skeptical about living well on less, I have something that you can try. Pick a time period that you are comfortable with and live modestly during that time. A month will work, but ideally, you should try it for at least six months to a year. This is a great opportunity to try on a frugal lifestyle without worrying about drastic changes. If you do have a life change coming up in the future, this experiment might be a great way to prepare for it. Let's say you are about to have a baby and want to consider having one parent give up working outside of the home. Living frugally and on one income while you are still working can help you make that decision. Or perhaps you feel as though you are working yourself to death. Downsize some expenses to see if you could cut back on your working hours or change jobs. Many of the things we spend money are seem necessary to support our lifestyle. We work so hard that we are too tired or don't have enough time to cook at home. But would cooking at home as a family instead of using those hours to work to support expensive eating out make us enjoy life more? Would it be more fun to go for a free family hike instead of spending money at the gym? These are the things you will find out when you take the time to live frugally for a little while. The Frugal Living Blog is packed with hundreds of ideas to help you save money and conserve your resources. Read through the various articles and note which ideas you would like to try. Don't feel bad if something doesn't seem right for your family, but at the same time, don't be afraid to try something new. This is an experiment, after all. You don't want to become overwhelmed, but commit to downsizes expenses a little at a time. Often you will find that you still have the same things you had before, but have been more clever about getting them. Good luck with your frugality, and please know that I am here to answer any questions that I can. Thanks for reading! Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here. Related Articles: Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments MegfromAllAboutAppearances (330) 16 Mar 2008 07:03 AMMy husband and I have downsized in a lot of ways that before I would have thought we could just never endure. Turns out, we are happier now. Our debt is still huge but we're making progress finally, but it has less to do with the money we're saving and more to do with the pride we take in learning new ways of doing things. And figuring more things out has become a bit of a game. Plus, we're excited to finally have some new stuff to talk about and discuss after being married for nearly 7 years. And if that weren't enough, a lot of frugal things work better. Just using baking soda helped me take off a stain on the stove that half a dozen name brand cleaners couldn't! I couldn't wait to find someone who'd take those useless cleaners off my hands so we could replace them with baking soda and vinegar. Bottom line, we tried it to save money, but even if we had plenty of money, we'd still do a lot of things frugally. Maybe that's the silver lining of us getting into debt.  Mary Ann Romans (26791) 16 Mar 2008 08:29 AMWhat an incredible experience. You and your husband should be very proud of yourselves. Frugality can be fun, especially when you see the real progress that you are making. The two of your are really working together, and that is wonderful! Please keep us updated on all of your great progress. Community Tags frugal, frugality, money, save, thrifty Discuss this article
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