Frugality in the other areas of your life

[Diesel_Dave]

I'm really intrigued my this thread. So many people today have forgot that frugality in a virtue.

According to the conventional "wisdom" these days, the blame for the faltering economy lies not with all those who bought houses they couldn't afford, ran up thousands in credit cards, didn't honor their word and declared bankruptcy, etc...Nooo. According to most folks these days we're the problem because we didn't stimulate the economy by overspending!

[Frank Lee]

Frugality is often ridiculed. But I figure I'll have the last laugh.

$700/mo? Wow, livin' large!!!

I have my fixed costs down to $300/mo and if I don't do stupid things at casinos most months I'm still under $400 including discretionary spending.

A lot of it is having no mortgage; another huge chunk is having no other debt like car payments and etc; another is buying very little $3.75 gas. Also no cell phone or TV bills- I'm always astonished to find out what people are willing to pay per month for those things! Also pay things like insurance six months at a time to get the pre-paid cash discounts- actually pay nothing interest bearing or monthly if there's a discount for paying in larger blocs.

I haven't seen the inside of a shopping mall in eons. Even when I did go frequently with friends, gfs, etc., I almost always came out empty handed. About the only shopping I enjoy and actually pry open the wallet for is grocery shopping and at hardware stores.

[sid]

Frank, like you I don't have a mortgage, car payments, cell phone or cable. I also grow a lot of my own food and produce my own electricity. But I do have health insurance. That alone is about $240 a month, which most people would consider to be quite cheap for a 55 year old.

[Frank Lee]

I also grow a lot of my own food and produce my own electricity.

I bow down before you!

I've never been much of a gardener but I am considering going off the grid.

[Diesel_Dave]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Frugality is often ridiculed. But I figure I'll have the last laugh.

You're right on with that! They say that one of the signs of maturity is learning to delay pleasure. Frugality isn't for people who think short term. You have to be disciplined enough to be in it for the long haul. Living on $700/mo wasn't all that fun. But later, when I graduated and didn't have a ton of student loans, and made almost 10 times that...now THAT was fun!

[Doofus McFancypants]

I agree with the comments about frugality.

when we needed a new roof - went with lightest shingles we could find.
when Cell Contracts were up - we went to a no-contract plan and dumped home phone.
Coupons - "freebie" days for kids -

live below what you make - you can never go wrong.

steve

[wyatt]

Paid off wife's credit cards (from before we were married)
Paid off student loans
Paid off wife's "new" car
Bought a fixer-upper and paid for all of the remodeling with cash
Did all remodeling (except windows and new roof) ourselves
Use a reel mower to take care of our 1/2 acre lawn
Compost yard waste for black dirt (we have red clay for "dirt" in Alabama)
Do all ecomodding and other work on my car myself
Shave with a straight razor, haven't plugged in the electric razor in 6 months
Also sharpen the straights myself, and use the least expensive shave soap I have ever seen

[slowmover]

I used a straight razor for many years. There is a problem with making a mistake with one; a rather final mistake. And, if it ever needs honing (and it will) it has to be shipped out to Chicago (last I knew). Instead, an old fashioned double safetyrazor is cheap (a quality handle, and medium priced blades).

And let's address the way women use toilet paper. Here's a picture representative of the ratio of my use of one roll versus her use in the same period:




.

[wyatt]

Originally Posted by slowmover

I used a straight razor for many years. There is a problem with making a mistake with one; a rather final mistake. And, if it ever needs honing (and it will) it has to be shipped out to Chicago (last I knew). Instead, an old fashioned double safetyrazor is cheap (a quality handle, and medium priced blades).

I have never cut myself to the point that anything more than a short application of a styptic pencil was needed, but it could happen. You could also get hurt very badly while chopping celery or using a table saw, or any other number of activities... it just pays to take it slow and pay attention to what you are doing! As long as you don't do anything like chip your blade badly, all you need is:

Straight razor (shave ready)
Strop (leather, for maintaining the edge for a couple weeks at a time)
Pasted Strop (use every couple weeks to refine the edge, prolongs time between honing the razor)
Finishing Hone (use when pasted strop doesn't cut it anymore)

This setup should keep you going indefinitely (minus the shaving soap that you will need). My electric razor was in need of being replaced, so I went ahead and got a good finishing hone, strop, and pasted strop. I sharpened up my great grandpa's straight razor and haven't looked back. You can get a kit with all of the above (or without the finishing hone) at WhippedDog.com in a "sight unseen" deal. The razor won't be the prettiest, the strop kit doesn't have lots of frills, and the finishing hone isn't huge, but it's all functional and it will at least give the user an idea of whether or not they would like straight razor shaving.

Double Edge Safety Razors are another alternative. I have never used one, but I know lots of people that do (have) and really enjoy(ed) them. The only down side is that you have to continue to purchase blades. I think you can get a small specially shaped hone that will touch up the blades, and/or an "auto strop", but these blades can only take so much before you need a new blade (at least this is my understanding, maybe someday I will find out!).

I don't want to dominate the frugality discussion with shaving talk, but I didn't want people to be put off thinking they will kill themselves trying to shave with a straight razor. After all, until the safety razor came along around 1900, everyone that shaved did so with some variant of the straight razor. If people want to discuss straight razor shaving specifically, I would suggest we move it to another thread.

[Frank Lee]

IIRC we already have a frugality thread that degenerated into 8 pages of shaving tips. Come on now, shaving isn't that expensive in the grand scheme of things.