Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Why are we frugal?

I really enjoyed reading Jennifer's take on why they are frugal, so I decided to steal her idea and do my own post.
You can read Jennifer's take on $ management, couponing and being frugal here: http://allthingsfrugal.blogspot.com/2008/02/my-reasons-for-all-things-frugal.html

Why am I frugal?
Well, back in July I discovered couponing. Since then, I've cut our monthly food and necessities budget from $80 a week down to an average of $30 a week. (keep in mind- some weeks are better than others! Like, $9.82 on groceries last week, when the week before I spent $50)

Since I started couponing, we've made other simple lifestyle changes to become more frugal:
  • we order water to drink when we go out to eat
  • we wait for clothing to go on sale before purchasing (ex- old navy and gap sales!)
  • we plan more of our trips around town to save gas
  • we usually eat out on 'special' nights- ex- 3.99 enchilada night
  • both of us only have lunch out 1x a week (if that) w/ work friends, etc.
  • We have a set budget we follow for all expenses now

Reasons why we want to remain frugal?

  1. we'd like to buy a house this year, and we are saving for the down payment
  2. we are credit card debt free, and plan to stay that way
  3. we will need to buy Brandon a new car when his dies :(
  4. I'm ALMOST done w/ graduate school- and we will have to start paying the student loans back.

Our main goal $ wise for the future is to never live above our means. Once I start working full time, I think it will be easier to over-spend and become a little bit more relaxed on our budget. But, we'll evaluate that when the time comes :)

So, why do you coupon? Or why are you frugal?

5 comments:

Kimberly said...

Thanks for the link to Jennifer's post, and creating your own post re: being frugal. We are frugal to save for a house, pay off student loans (I too am nearly done with grad school), and generally trying to save (for various things, a trip, possible future family, to have extra money for when needed...)

NerdMom said...

So now you have inspired my own post on frugality and why I do it.

Anonymous said...

What a great post.
It's neat to see how others are saving money and why.

CC said...

Hi Sarah! You've GOT to come visit my blog! I'm a school based SLP and am trying to write down lots of ideas. I'd always love more ideas too!!

ifonlyihadsuperpowers.blogspot.com

Trina said...

Why am I frugal?

It terrifies me to think I owe companies money. The only debt we have is our mortgage.

I'd rather see my savings account balance go up than a credit card balance.

We save money for emergencies and also for our children's futures.

I like the challenge of finding a good deal.

I like knowing I am smarter than most shoppers.