Festival Of Frugality

The Festival of Frugality is up at Bargain Briana.  Check it out – lots of inspiration to be (or stay) frugal.  And with the economy where it is, frugal tips are needed more than ever.  Laura at Move to Portugal has an inspiring post about having breakfast dates at home with her husband these days, rather than going out to eat.  I like the idea of making the table look nice in order to lend an atmosphere of fancy to the meal, without spending big bucks.  Ambiance is always nice.  Living Almost Large has an interesting article about whether being poor creates frugality.  I grew up in a one income family, and while there was never a lot of money to spare, we always lived within our means – my parents haven’t had any sort of debt since sometime in the early 70s when they paid off their first mortgage.  My husband and I were extremely poor when we were starting our business in 2003.  It took us until 2007 to pay off the last of the debt we incurred during the first year and a half of having our business, and that debt drove us to be very frugal.  Now that our only debt is our mortgage and we live on less than we earn, we don’t have to be as frugal as we once did, but overall we still are.  It’s become a habit, and it’s also fun for us to see how far we can stretch a dollar.  Regardless of how much money we earn, I’ll always buy my clothes in thrift stores and search Craigs list first when we need something.  That’s just who we are.