I love buying a new book. To me, a book represents
many hours of getting lost in a story or learning about something new.
It’s a portal to another place and having a number of books just waiting
to be read when I have time for them makes me happy.
I also love opening, learning, and playing board games. I love
reading the rules, punching out the tokens, and playing games with my
friends. Our game nights are most fun when they feature a mix of old
and new games.
Spending on those things – as well as on occasional things like a cup
of coffee at the local coffee shop – bring me a lot of personal joy. I
would be very upset if our budget tightened to the point where I couldn’t enjoy these things.
For a long time, I mentally tied the idea of frugality to cutting back on those things I cared so deeply about.
It made me very negative toward the idea of frugality, to the point
that I basically avoided it for the first five years or so of my
professional life.
When I thought about cutting back on spending, I didn’t think about
buying dishwasher soap in bulk or making a meal at home or installing
energy efficient light bulbs. I thought about losing the pleasure of
buying a new book or two. I thought about losing the pleasure of a
craft beer on a warm summer weekend. I thought about losing the things I
really enjoyed in life.
Frankly, I thought it sounded pretty terrible. It was the last thing I wanted to do.
Here’s the reality, though. Frugality does not mean giving that stuff up. It simply means cutting back on the things that I care less about so that I can afford the things that I do care about.
I don’t have any sort of emotional tie to the type of light bulb
that’s illuminating my office. I just care that my office is lit, so
I’ll buy the most cost-efficient bulbs that I can. That’s frugality.
My biggest joy from eating comes from eating with people I care
about, so I’ll make meals at home when I eat with my family and with
friends and eat really cheap when eating by myself. I still get
wonderful meals with the people I care about. That’s frugality.
While I still enjoy buying a new book – and I still do on a regular
basis – I realize now that my true joy comes from getting lost in a
book, so I use the local libraries quite heavily. I love having an
unread book on my bedside table. It doesn’t matter much whether it’s my
own book or one from the library. That’s frugality.
If a spending choice makes you feel utterly miserable, then you’re not practicing frugality.
You’re practicing some form of self-punishment. Frugality doesn’t
mean going ultra-minimalist. It doesn’t mean becoming a possession-free
stoic monk.
Frugality means that you cut back hard on the things you don’t care about so that you have money for the things that you do care about.
It means buying generic baking soda and installing energy efficient
light bulbs so that you can afford to go out for a nice dinner every
once in a while and also save for retirement. It means making a slow
cooker meal for dinner and shopping at consignment stores for your
family’s clothes so that you can afford to contribute to your son’s 529
account and also enjoy a round of golf on a beautiful weekend. It means
having potluck dinners instead of going out on the town so that you can
pay off your credit cards and still enjoy a vacation next summer.
Frugality doesn’t mean losing the stuff you care about.
The problem with making comparisons like the ones I made above is that
I’ll inevitably mention giving up something someone really cares about
and that person will think the idea of frugality sounds like misery.
Here’s the thing: I’m talking about giving up something unimportant to me. This may or may not be something that’s unimportant to you.
I generally sort expenses in my life into two groups. One group
consists of things that bring me significant or lasting joy – the
“important and joyful” group. The other group is everything else. When
I write sentences like the ones above, I’m mentioning cutting back on
things in my own “everything else” group so that I can afford things
from the group that bring me joy.
You’re going to sort the elements of your life a little differently
than I do – and that’s fine. Just keep in mind that frugality is about
cutting back on the “everything else” group so that you can afford the
“important and joyful” group, no matter how you sort things.
Frugality means casting a critical eye on every dollar you
spend and asking yourself whether that spending is really bringing you
joy – or whether you could find joy elsewhere, cheaper. My own
sorting of things that are “important and joyful” and “everything else”
changes over time. Sometimes, it’s due to my own changing interests
and goals. At other times, it’s due to discovering new ways to enjoy my
passions, such as my migration from buying books to checking them out
from the library.
I usually discover these changes by keeping a careful eye on every
dollar spent. Usually, I begin to realize that some things I buy simply
aren’t bringing me as much joy as they once did, so I’ll cut back.
Occasionally, I’ll notice new interests rising, too.
Budgeting is the key, as always. When you track your expenses and
match them to your budget, it’s easy to see these things happening.
Frugality doesn’t mean denying yourself everything. On the contrary, it actually protects
a reasonable amount of joyful spending. In our budget, Sarah and I
each allot ourselves a certain amount to spend as we please. Within
that amount, there are no restrictions. If I want to buy a game or
Sarah wants to buy books, we can.
We carve out that spending allowance by cutting back on other, less important areas. That’s how frugality works.
Because we know that money is accounted for, we don’t feel guilty
spending it. There’s no remorse later on. It’s simply a perk of living
frugally.
Frugality means realizing that sometimes an occasional treat brings you far more pleasure than a daily treat.
I get far more joy out of a monthly visit to a coffee shop than I get
out of a daily visit. It took me a long time to figure that out.
I used to visit a coffee shop each day. It didn’t take long for it
to become completely routine. I stopped getting much pleasure at all
from that coffee. It was just a normal part of my day – not special in
any way.
When I stopped that routine, I noticed that the next time I visited a
coffee shop a month or two later, the experience was great. I deeply
enjoyed my cup of coffee. I really enjoyed the environment and the
experience.
Now, I actually feel anticipation when I’ve penciled in a stop at a
coffee shop. I spend about one morning a month working at a coffee shop
in our area, just for a change of pace, and it’s a wonderful
experience, with unique aromas and taste and sights and noises and
people. It’s not ordinary any more, it’s special – and that makes the
cup of coffee worth a lot more.
Frugality doesn’t mean giving up those little pleasures.
I can still enjoy coffee whenever I want. We have some good coffee in
the cupboard and a coffee grinder and a good coffee pot. What I’ve
learned, though, is that when I drink coffee every day, the pleasure
just vanishes. It becomes ordinary. And if it’s ordinary, why not just
drink water?
I fill my money and my time with the ordinary so that when I
occasionally have those treats, I can get pleasure from the
anticipation, the experience itself, and the aftermath. It becomes much
more special without costing any more at all.
Frugality means trying new approaches in every avenue of your spending.
One of the interesting things I realized about my heavy spending days
is that much of my spending was very routine-oriented. I stopped at
bookstores two or three times a week and always bought two or three
books. It was like clockwork.
Frugality doesn’t mean repeating the same old routines.
Frugality means upsetting routines. It means trying new things. It
means figuring out if a new experience is something that brings me joy.
It means spreading out pleasures and making them irregular. It means
experiencing life in a whole new way.
You do not have to give up the spending that makes you happy in order to be “frugal.”
Being frugal means that you do have the resources to spend money in a
joyful way because you’ve cut back on the ordinary and you’ve figured
out how to spend a dollar to bring yourself a lot of joy.
For me, that’s a pretty happy way to live.
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