The Fall of Frugal Frannie

I used to be frugal. I grew up in a very frugal family. Before "upcycling" was a thing, we were doing it. Nothing got thrown away until it was used to the point of having no life left in it for re-purposing into something else. We could've been the poster family for "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle," except our methods, and sometimes the results, were not exactly popular at that time. (Storing empty boxes, old magazines, plastic containers, material, donated hand-me-down clothes, etc. in 53 foot box trailers still might not be very popular today.) But, the things I read about, see people doing, and "green-living" trends I see today, I remember doing some of those exact things, or something similar, growing up. I grew up with hand-me-down clothes, getting all our clothes given to us by other families that cleaned out their closets, or Grandma died and they are cleaning out her house. Getting clothes from a thrift store, such as Salvation Army or Goodwill, was "new clothes!" for us. Or making your own clothes from material cleaned out of dead Grandma's house. My older siblings experienced the frugal life to an even greater degree than I; I don't want to paint
a picture that I had it the worst. Or best, depending on how you view frugality and the "reduce, reuse, recycle" mindset. We had a massive garden, canned and froze produce, raised our own beef and occasionally butchered it ourselves, and even raised pigs and chickens (that was before I can remember). I grew up that brand new, bought from a chain retail store was the last resort for acquiring whatever it was you needed, and it had to be an absolute need, not a want. And instant gratification of getting it right away was pretty much unheard of. Penny-pinching, figuring out how to use what you already had, couponing, and finding the things you need without buying brand-new was the way of life.

This frugal lifestyle stuck with me to a large extent, I would say, as I became an independent adult, moved out of my parents, and moved far away from home. I did start to allow non-frugal "luxuries," some of which became normal for me, and some of which remained "luxuries." Buying clothes brand spanking new, and not from a thrift store, for example. Eating fast food was, at one point, a non-frugal "norm" for me. As I have moved around, lived in different communities of friendships, had jobs, not had jobs, lived in different housing situations, etc., my frugality fluctuated. When I lived in Montana as a volunteer, the first few years of Wyoming as a college student, and later in Australia, free food was a big thing for me. I did not turn down free food, and even sought it out. The frequency of eating fast-food, at restaurants, microwave meals (Raman Noodles, frozen burritos, etc.) sometimes depended on my housing situation and if I could easily, and comfortably, cook my own food. Somehow, even through the past year, I have still been the recipient of hand-me-down clothes; at least half of my current clothes have been given to me by people cleaning out their closets. Maybe I have a neon sign about me saying, "Will take your old clothes," or something.

I remember my first apartment sharing experience, and how I furnished my portion of it: free, loaned, and extremely cheap Goodwill purchases. My room-mate was appalled at my furnishing/decor, and rightly so. It was pretty atrocious.

 My bedroom closets did not have doors, so I found those checkered curtains to hang on tension shower curtain rods. And the window curtain....it was a giant towel that I safety pinned over the curtain rod.

I even screwed eyehooks into the walls, strung a line back and forth, and would hang my clothes to dry instead of paying for the dryer.

Our second pet.......also a frugal acquisition!

My room-mate at this time, Brittany, also had a frugal lifestyle; it was just much more stylish, planned, and involved a more "I actually care" attitude than mine. Our pet snake, Garfunkel, was acquired for free.....when the pet cat, Simon (who may have been free, also), brought him home and let him loose in the apartment. And, later, other free snake pets. Brittany is the one that wanted to keep the snakes and acquired a living space for them, but somehow I think I was always the one to find the loose snakes. There was also a free rabbit at one point, acquired through the pet cat, but it died from feline inflicted injuries prior to my discovery of it in the living room.

Sorry for the rabbit trail there..... Back to my frugal lifestyle story:

Through my first two years of college, changing housing situations 4 times, and getting a pretty decent job, I remained fairly frugal, I think. I did continually expand my "luxury" spending as I discovered more and more about what all life had to offer.

Snow-skiing,

College football games

Concerts (this was Elephant Revival before they became a big name),

And road-trips across the country with friends.

But even in these luxury expenditures, there was always frugality. Such as borrowing ski clothes from friends, or friends of friends; or using my student status to get student rates for concerts, games, ski lift tickets, etc.; or camping/staying with friends parent's friends along road-trips. I was still pretty mindful of my spending and tried to not spend more money than I made, or incur any debt if possible.

Then I met Jason.

Jason was also raised in a frugal family- I think being a preacher's kid kind of automatically qualifies you as frugal. But, it was a different kind of frugal, or maybe just not quite to the extremes that my family was. I think Jason's parents are the master of sales, coupons, and clearance, as well as figuring out how to use what they already have. But, more on Jason in a minute.

After meeting Jason, and getting to know him to the point of, "I think I might marry this guy," I went to Australia with the intention of being there a year.

I think I may have experienced frugal-ness at a new level with this move. It is at this point in my life that I can say I "dumpster dived" for food, and other necessities, though not quite to the extreme of actually climbing in and out of dumpsters. Just being in the right place at the right time, and harvesting peoples unwanted, or leftover, food products (and other necessities) that appeared to be untainted.

Even after returning to the states, marrying Jason, and having two incomes supporting us, I was still pretty frugal.

Jason's first Christmas present was an old, used grill that was left behind in a house my friends bought. I got some of our furniture at yard-sales; I sold stuff at yard-sales; I tried to take advantage of deals on groceries, or the Bountiful Baskets program; and I shopped on Craigslist for major things we needed. I qualified for the Dave Ramsey "Debt Free" title at this point in my life, and I rather liked it that way.

Frugal-ness was not so high on Jason's list of necessary practices. He was not fond of used furniture from yard-sales. He did not want to participate in buying, or selling, things at yard-sales. He was not a huge fan of Craigslist shopping. With being single, and independent, with a good job for several years (actually working two jobs), he was quite alright with buying brand new. And if he wanted something, he went and bought it. He was also ok with carrying small debts. So, he didn't really qualify for the "Debt Free" title at that time.

Over the course of a couple years, we kind of worked together on our different lifestyles of frugal vs. non-frugal. I still tried to be frugal- even so far as dumpster diving with Brittany for items to re-sell at our annual yard-sale. (A real money making venture, let me tell ya! We are the reason, I believe, that the college put up "Do Not Climb in the Dumpsters" signs....) But, as with anything, people start to rub off on each other. And I started putting less effort into being frugal.

I still liked to find things used and for less than full-price. But the convenience of buying brand new, and instantly, gradually took over the frugal tendency to wait and search out a steal. With both of us working good jobs, the "Fall of Frugal Frannie" did not cause a noticeable financial problem. We were actually "Dave Ramsey Debt Free" just prior to our Little Pumpkin being born. But then she was born, I quit my job as planned, Jason decided to get out of his second job, and guess what? A baby being born isn't cheap!

2 days old, getting ready to go home

Soon after Pumpkin was born, we did the whole "Jason got a new job in another state, sell the house, buy a house, and move" program. And throughout that mess, Jason's rental property sold. So there was a whole lot of financial upheaval all over the place, and it was hard to know exactly where things stood financially. Or what living on a single income really looked like for us. Pretty much all of that year was just winging it financially, and trying to make ends meet.

It was towards the end of the year when I started trying to sort out our finances, and figure out what life on a single income looked like. We didn't qualify for Dave Ramsey's "debt free" title anymore, we have never succeeded at creating, and sticking to, a budget, and just winging it was getting old. That is when "Frugal Frannie" started to resuscitate.

By the end of the year, I had gotten a good picture of all our necessary expenses, and started paring down the luxuries. Although what is luxury vs. necessity is different to each person. After presenting the facts to Jason, what to cut out was agreed upon, and that "Dave Ramsey Debt Free" title is what we are working towards.

The return of "Frugal Frannie" is still in the works, as I am get back into my penny-pinching ways. Couponing, sales shopping, thrift store searching, and dumpster diving are coming back in style for me!

This bookshelf, and little blue basket, are Frugal Frannie's recent acquisitions: I found them both on the curb while out walking with Pumpkin and Gunther. Jason still thinks it's a little odd to pick stuff up off the curb, but I think as long as it is something we can actually use, and not just another thing to take up space, he will adjust.

I am still trying to figure out a budgeting method we can easily stick too, and not de-rail. Jason's not super excited about a cut-and-dried budget, but he is ready to quit winging it with finances, and to not have debts. If you have a budgeting method that works well for you, this newly revived "Frugal Frannie" would like to hear about it! As well as any other frugal-living tips you have!