You Can Have Frugality and Quality of Life

To the person who started the whole “You can’t have your cake and eat it too”, I say, I disagree!  For those of you who think that frugal is just another word for “cheap” you may want to read on.  I can really only speak about what frugality means to me–getting the most out of the money I spend, and not wasting money.  As you can tell from the title and tag line of this blog, as well as many of the posts here, I’m really big on value–and not just in the monetary sense. 

As an illustration of how you can in fact lead a frugal life and also have a great quality of life, I’m going to take you on a journey that started 12 years ago for me.  At the end of the post, I invite you to share experiences from your frugal life through the comment section, and even to make a related post on your site/blog about your own frugal evolution.

The year was 1996, my age…18.  I moved away from home for my first year at university.  At my school, it was mandatory at the time for first-year students to live on campus and have the very expensive meal plan.  I don’t regret the experience, or the expense of living on campus my first year, because it made the transition much easier, and I made some lifelong friends.  Even back then when I’d never lived on my own, I knew that  much of the food was overpriced, and I needed to find a way to stretch out my meal plan since many people ran out part way through the year.  I also wanted to treat my friends from home when they came to visit for the weekend.  I never deprived myself of anything that I wanted, but I learned to make smart decisions, and often looked for good value.  Another thing I did was make a weekly 10-minute walk to a nearby discount grocery store, where I picked up a few things a week like bagels, cream cheese, snacks, and fruit.  I felt much happier about spending 2o cents or less on an apple than almost a dollar for the same thing in the dining hall.  By the end of the year, I even had several meal points left over, and sold them at a discount to another student who’d run out.

The following year, I moved off-campus with some of my friends.  I was determined not to live off of only macaroni and cheese and dried noodles–and I didn’t.  I kept a fairly tight budget, but I ate healthy food, and ate expensive things like meat and dairy sparingly, usually alternating weeks when I would buy them.  My roommates didn’t really know how to cook, so I often made enough food for more than just me–for a similar price to if I’d bought enough pre-prepared food for just me.  Don’t get me wrong–I did have to have some convenience food on hand for when I was busy studying, or in classes all day, but I kept things balanced with my diet as well as my pocketbook.

With the help of my parents, I bought a townhouse when I started into my five-year vet school program.  It was a condo with very reasonable fees, so it didn’t require much maintenance on my part.  I had three tenants who lived upstairs, with my dog Naula and I living in the basement.  Buying the house was a great move in many ways: I lived rent-free for five years, it taught me to be responsible and manage money from a young age, and we made a tidy profit when I sold it after graduation.   I don’t know if I would spend the money on condo fees in today’s market, but at the time it provided good value in my situation.  I arranged a cleaning schedule with my tenants, and we decided together on things like cable TV–many years we decided it wasn’t necessary.  I had a part time job at a nearby clinic until my 3rd year of vet school, which covered my monthly expenses. I loved having a clean, quiet, safe place to go to every night–for a student I had a terrific quality of life for very little money spent.

While in my last year of vet school I was too busy to cook–let alone sleep or eat, so more eating out and convenience foods were consumed.  This added some cost, but was probably balanced out by the almost non-existent entertainment and social expenditures!

My first year in the working world I was mostly alone working long hours during the week, taking care of the two dogs, and only seeing my now husband on the weekends as he’d gone back to school the same year I’d graduated At this stage in my life, I shopped around for things like life and disability insurance, finding the best value I could with reputable companies.

Things were very tight financially between 2004 and 2006 as my husband went to the U.K. for teacher’s college, we built a house, and got married–all at once.  This may not have been the best plan financially for some people, but it was the right thing to do for us as we’d waited a long time to officially start our life together, and we knew that both being professionals we would have reasonable incomes and the job security of being able to live and find work almost anywhere.  During this time, we really learned how to live the frugal life, and with all of the expenses that go along with the above, we learned the value of not paying more than you need to for the same object or service.  My husband took a bike and commuted almost everywhere while in  Central London, saving a couple thousand dollars by not using public transport, and at least another thousand by stretching out his daily full-breakfast into a lunch (his residence only provided breakfast and dinner in the meal plan).  Meanwhile, here in Canada, I worked hard to save over $8000 on our wedding by negotiating well and doing a lot of the work ourselves.  The wedding was very down to earth, but classy, and nobody would have ever know how little we spent for what we got!  During those years, I bought little to no clothing, and if I did, it was only on deep discount or second-hand.  We had a running list of essential things we needed for our new home, and only bought them one by one when on sale.

2007-Present.  I took the frugality one step further and now plan every meal ahead of time, shop the sales for groceries and the personal care items we use, and eat healthy, high-quality food every day.  The secret: be willing to think outside the box and basically get creative with what’s on sale and seasonal that week along with a few staple items.  The savings: about $5000 a year over what we were spending before on food and household supplies.  We lived well on one income for a long time and continue to do so while aggressively paying down the debt mostly from our education.  We save and go on one big trip every year, with small breaks to go camping or visit friends.  We most recently cut out the satellite TV that we weren’t really watching anyway, and upped our home and car insurance deductibles to put the savings towards our retirement plan!

Although many things have changed over the last 12 years, two things haven’t: I always look for value, and I never deprive myself or those I love of something that’s really needed.  I’ve learned that for me, planning ahead is the number one way that I can have an excellent quality of life while leading a frugal life.  

My personal journey has produced one genuine side-effect I can’t put a dollar value on:  I’m truly happy with everything I have.  I know this is rare in today’s society, and I’m thankful that my real happiness comes from within me and from the people and animals I share my life with.  As a result, I really don’t care what anyone else is doing, or how they spend their money.

What are the highlights from your frugal journey? 

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