Phrugalosophy: Don't Go It Alone

Trying to live a more frugal lifestyle is best done with others who share your same goals. Trying to do it by yourself is like deciding you're going to jump in your car and take a trip to I've Never Been There, Idaho and not taking a map to help. It just wouldn't work well would it?

No matter how awesome you are at living the frugal life, you will never know everything there is to know on your own. Yes, I've come up with alot of my own great ideas, but I've also learned so much through friends and online resources. I have come across ideas that I would have never thought of myself. For example, using cloth napkins instead of paper towels. This idea never occured to me until I was eating over at a good friend's place (Hi Erin!). She asked if I wanted a napkin and being the napkin whore that I am, of course I said yes. She then proceeds to bring me a cloth napkin and a very pretty one I might add. I thought she was out of paper towels at first. She then explained she was too cheap to buy paper towels.

I got to thinking about it. Cheap? I don't think so. How about wise. I did a quick calculation on how much I spend on paper towels. I usually get one 3-pack of the wally world paper towels each week. With tax that would be about $1.75 per week. Multiply that by 52 and I'm spending at least $91 a year on something that's going to go in the trash. So why not spend half that amount stocking up on cloth napkins and then you can cut that expense out completely. You're also helping the environment. Can't beat killing 2 birds with one stone right?

Another example...a couple of weeks ago, my friend Stacy informed me that a local furniture store makes donations to our Habitat for Humanity thrift shop the first week of October. Therefore, I'll be checking it out this weekend and the next to see if I can find a nice piece of furniture for an insanely inexpensive price.

Those are just a few examples, but I think they illustrate my phrugalosophy well. I would have never known or thought about these things had I not surrounded myself with a frugal possee.


P.S. A napkin whore is someone that has to use multiple napkins per meal. I'm sorry, but I can't eat KFC and use just one dang paper towel!