Frugal Living Can Be a Blessingby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 23 May 2009 10:28 AM We all have different reasons for trying to save money and live a frugal life. But too often, we focus on the deprivations of living frugally, such as not being able to eat out often, or living without cell phones and cable television. But this is the wrong attitude. Frugal living is a blessing in many ways. It fosters appreciation Just the other day, my family and I were at a local park and everyone was having a great time. I felt completely blessed to have this great free resource nearby. In the past, before living frugally, I wouldn't have thought twice about the blessings of having a park or anything else for that matter. There are so many other little things in the day that I can now appreciate and get great enjoyment from a cup of coffee after church last Sunday to an entire week at our friend's beach house last summer. It allows for the blessing of others Watching our pennies and saving money means that we have more of a means to help others. And while we are still working on being more generous, I love the fact that some of the savings can go for good causes. This can be expressed in little ways, from being able to shop at a thrift store for an entire wardrobe for a family in need to being able to have extra change for someone in front of you in line at the grocery store who finds themselves a little short on cash. It contributes to the well-being of out planet Many, if not most, of the things that we do while living frugally can reduce our impact on the environment. Buying used items, reusing and recycling old items into new uses, not using paper products, cooking from scratch, and hanging laundry all give us the opportunity to go green while saving money. How have you been blessed by frugal living? Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, creating a home in the Home Blog, caring for little ones in the Baby Blog and now relationships in the Marriage Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here or subscribe to the blog using the subscription box on the right. Favorite Deal Websites: Related Articles: 12 Ways Staying Home Saves Money Overmyminutes.com: Keep Track of Your Cell Phone Usage Simple Attempts at Money Stewardship Money Saving Steps to Take When You Are Laid Off Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments  ups477 (54) 23 May 2009 10:43 AMI lost my job over a year ago and that is when I started living the frugal life. I have found that even without a job and very little unemployment I can do just as much as I did before & more. I am able to have more time with my kids & grandkids. I now have the whole family over once a month for a cook out in the summer & sunday dinner in the winter. Even when I worked I never had the money or the time to do that. I spent my money on things I did not really need. I would say it has helped me become closer to my family and who can ask for more then that!!!  Mary Ann Romans (26886) 25 May 2009 05:02 AMWhat a wonderful blessing! Thanks for sharing that. You are an inspiration. Memartha (306) 28 May 2009 03:38 AMI agree! Did you ever notice how cluttered the capitalist world is? Once you break the connection to all this distraction of things you don't need, things the market thinks it can sell to anyone, you discover independence and simplicity. Life gets better, not worse, for learning what you don't want. Your life becomes yours, not somebody's idea. That's just wonderful in my book! Yay frugality! Discuss this article
|
Frugal categories |
