What is Frugality Really?

First I will describe what frugality is not. Many people associate frugality with lack, but this is a misconception. It is not scrimping, being cheap, and playing small. Some may believe that frugality is all about saving string and clipping coupons, both of which may be tactics used in living a frugal life. But in and of themselves these tactics do not define frugality.

Nature is the Model of Frugality

Frugality is what happens when your true values meet your cash-flow. The natural world is a perfect model for abundant frugality. Nature is amazingly abundant and giving, but she wastes absolutely nothing. Everything is used up or recycled. So frugality is not at odds with the law of attraction or with prosperity consciousness.
The wealthy started out frugal, and those who keep their hard-earned assets remain that way. To become financially independent it is imperative that you become aware of exactly where you stand right now and where you are trying to get to. Frugality is relentlessly reality based, and requires honest self-knowledge. But it is necessary for lasting financial success.
Keep coming back if you want to learn how to apply the principles of frugality to your own life. Do the work and watch what happens.

Moving the Frugal Goddess to WordPress.org

The Frugal Goddess

Hello my dear subscribers. I have moved the Frugal Goddess blog to a new home at wordpress.org.  http://www.thefrugalgoddess.com/If you click the link you will find several juicy new posts! Please come see me over there, and don’t forget to subscribe…

Speaking of subscriptions, I have started a Frugal Goddess mailing list and a newsletter. To join the list, click here:

http://thefrugalgoddess.us4.list-manage2.com/subscribe?u=642fd0533b4e3b2a1065f2992&id=fe36106e0a

I will be sending out things that don’t necessarily show up on the blog. So sign up and get you extra goodies!

 

Dear Frugalistas–I am Moving The Frugal Goddess!

Hello Dear Frugalistas–I have finally made the big move to wordpress.org and I would love to see you there! Everything is there just as it was only better. The only thing missing is you. If you are a subscriber would you take a minute to visit the new site and subscribe again? Here is a link: http://www.thefrugalgoddess.com/

I plan to leave the old site up for awhile, but all new posts will be on the new site. Thanks for being a loyal reader and I’ll see you on the other side.

Love,

FG

The Frugal Goddess on WordPress.org!!

 

The Frugal Goddess is now at  http://www.thefrugalgoddess.com/ a wordpress.org site. I will be publishing the same high quality advice on living a rich full life using fewer resources. Only the format is changing.

This change will give The Frugal Goddess more flexibility, more beauty, and more support for creativity. Please come see the new site for a healthy dose of frugal abundance! And don’t forget to subscribe.

Looking for a Great Winter Breakfast? Try a Big Bowl of REAL Homemade Hot Cereal!

Hot Cereal is Easy and Tasty Comfort Food

We often hear that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and in winter this will often mean hot cereal. But far too often it actually means a cheap imitation of hot cereal in the form of “instant” oatmeal. The kind that I am talking about comes in a little pouch, loaded with chemicals, expensive considering what it is, and lacking both taste and nutrients. It is so bad that lots of people won’t even bother, and so end up either skipping breakfast entirely or grabbing a tastier if equally useless pastry.

This is sad, especially since REAL hot cereal is so easy and fast, and so inexpensive. And—it is not limited to oatmeal. There are mixes of cracked grain ranging from three grain to ten grain. Some are in packages, such as Bob’s Red Mill, and others are bulk section products. What they all have in common is how easy they are to cook. Just put in a pan—one part cereal to three parts water for the cracked grain mix or one part rolled oats to two parts water for homemade oatmeal. Bring to a boil and simmer for about ten minutes, stirring often. That’s it. Add milk, dairy or not. Add the sweetener of your choice. I prefer whole milk and brown sugar, but there are lots of ways to go with this. There is even a microwave version on the Bob’s Red Mill package that only takes five minutes, no longer than the cheap imitation.

This breakfast will work for almost anyone. If you are gluten intolerant look for gluten free mixes of grain. Everyone except those with celiac disease should be able to enjoy this ten minute hardy winter breakfast. So give yourself a great start and eat your whole grain at the same time with a piping hot bowl of wholesome hot cereal.

Don’t Just Watch! Play Sports for Frugal Fun

 

Equipment Need Not be Expensive

Yesterday we talked about playing music; today I will discuss playing sports. The principle is the same. Being an actual participant and not just an observer is more fun and less expensive. Gone are the days of sand lot softball and “going out to play”. For many years now the schools have filled the gap for kids, though many of these programs are now threatened by hard times.

But it is not just kids who can benefit from playing sports. The state of children’s and teenager’s after school sports program is large enough for its own post, so I will concentrate here on the grown-ups.

Do you have a sport you already play and love? Then you are lucky. If not, why not at least consider it? Is there something you have always been attracted to but never tried? Think about your physical condition and natural inclinations. There are many types of sport—some involve teams, some are done in the company of others but not as a team effort, and some are real solo activities. For example, softball always involves a team, cycling is often done with companions, and skiing is pretty much solo.

Sports also vary in costs, both to get involved and to stay involved. Skiing can be pretty expensive if you don’t live near snow, but tennis is very reasonable once you have the equipment if you stick to public courts.  You will want to rent or borrow the equipment at first to make sure you really like it, and then check out used equipment stores and craigslist.

If you have never played a team sport, you may have to ask around a bit, especially if you are self-employed or work for a very small business. Bigger companies sometimes have a team you can join. If not, look in the yellow pages first or search online for local teams. Then check out the parks and recreation department in your town, or ask at a gym of sporting goods store. There are some great side benefits to playing on a local team, besides the entertainment value. It gets you off the couch, which will improve your health naturally. And it builds wonderful connections with your fellow citizens. Have you ever been out at a tavern and seen a whole team come in for drinks after the game? That could be you. So, get fit, make friends, get outside and PLAY!

For Some Frugal Fun Try Playing Some Homegrown Music with Friends

Music is Good Frugal Fun

It seems that in many cases things we do ourselves for entertainment are more frugal than things we pay to watch others do. Do it yourself pastimes are almost always more fun than being a mere spectator too. Take music for example.

I love concerts and clubs, but some of my fondest musical memories involve garage jam sessions, singing by the campfire, and impromptu dueling guitars popping out at a dinner party. I know that you all have experienced something similar. Playing music with friends is free, it’s fun, and it builds community. At community meetings it breaks tension and brings people together. It would not be a big stretch to call it therapeutic. It may be true that professional musicians sound better technically. Maybe your skill level isn’t as high as you would like and you feel embarrassed. Don’t let that stand in your way. In a casual home environment no one cares about that. They will be having too much fun singing along even if they are out of key.

So next time you are sitting around bored, pull out that old guitar or keyboard and noodle a little. Learn a few songs that most people know the words to. If you don’t play an instrument but have always wanted to, figure out what instrument you would like to learn and look for a used one. This is one of the items with a small up-front cost leading to years of pleasure. Then, next time your crowd gets together for a potluck meal, bring your instrument, and encourage others to join you. You may find yourself getting more popular overnight, and everyone will have a great time. There is no down side to homegrown musical fun!

Don’t Get Scammed –Block “Third Party Billing” on your Cell Phone!

The other day I was getting ready to pay my cell phone bill online, and noticed that it seemed high. I took a closer look and noticed a $19.95 “usage fee”. Now, because I am a frugal person I purposely set up my service so that there would be no overages of any kind. So, I braved the potential one hour wait time to talk to a real person and learned that this charge was for a third party billing service for “premium texting”. Sometime ago I had begun receiving texts for some blingy contests. I had taken them as text spam, bad enough in and of itself. But this was much worse. They were charging me for these spam messages and I never signed up for anything like that! Why would I?

Well, they reversed the charges, and blocked any further third party billing requests. And I learned a valuable lesson. First—check every item on your phone bill every month. Don’t be afraid to raise a bit of a fuss over any suspicious items. If you completely understand what you are signing up for, you will spot phony charges right away.

Second—call your cell service right away and get them to block all third party billing. If you are getting a new phone or changing providers don’t forget to renew your blocking request. If they don’t understand the request ask to speak to someone who does understand and can help you.

Third—be careful how you use your texting service. These scam artists harvest numbers from many different sources, some of them very legitimate looking. If you are EVER asked to provide your mobile number online, find out first what the asker intends to do with your number.

Protect yourself. Don’t let rats steal from you a little at a time. If you follow these simple steps you will be sure you are not paying for things you didn’t ask for and don’t want.

How to Ride the Bus–A Public Transportation Primer

Union Station, Chicago

Using public transportation sounds easy enough—after all, how hard can it be to ride a bus? But this assumption of ease just doesn’t play out in the real world in many places. These systems were generally not designed all at once as a cohesive system, but in most cases have been patched together in an attempt to keep up with the eternal sprawl of cities as they grow. And this leaves some of the places that need public transportation the most, such as rural areas and large suburbs, entirely car dependent. Yet, leaving aside the environmental aspect and just looking at the economic side, it still makes sense to take public transportation when you can. On a recent visit to LA I found that it would cost twenty dollars to take a cab to my hostel, but the bus took only forty minutes and cost a dollar. I only had to ask six people to find the stop the first time…

So how do you cut through the complexity of the system and get where you need to go? In the area where I live, north of San Francisco, public transportation is a mess. There was once a great passenger train system here, but the tracks were partially torn out years ago at the height of our unrequited love affair with the automobile. There is a good bus line running in and out of San Francisco but politics keeps this company from operating efficiently in my county. There is a county system that will get a person to any town in the county—eventually…

Then there is the bus system in the county’s biggest city, Santa Rosa. This may be the most workable of the three systems, though it misses some areas completely.  Where I live, supposedly in Santa Rosa, I must walk for an hour to nearby Sebastopol to catch a county bus. I keep three bus websites on my desk-top. None of the schedules sync with the others and it takes up to three hours to get where a car could go in 20 minutes. All of these buses except the San Francisco bus stop running at around 7 or 8 PM, making it impossible to go out at night without a ride home.

I am pretty sure the scenario I just described it at the extreme when it comes to dysfunctional public transportation systems. This does not make other systems, even the best ones in the country, any less daunting Riding a bus is not rocket science, but it has been made as complicated as programming your own remote. Anyone who finds themselves in Manhattan for the first time can attest to that. So—if you are in an unfamiliar city and want to learn to get around fast, what can you do? I suggest going to a phone book and looking under the transportation authority of the city you are in. Or better yet go online. There may be more than one authority if it is a big area. Detroit has two systems. LA has at least two. But all of them have a number that you can call for information, and many have online schedules and fare charts.

It may take some time to get a live person on the phone. When you do get someone, ask about the best way to get where you want to go. Confirm the fare, the boarding location, and even the schedule if it is not clear that your route is well serviced. Ask about discount passes, even if you are just visiting. But don’t stop there. Get your questions answered even if you think they are dumb. You are a paying customer and you are not the one who made this so complicated.

Another trick is to type in the address of where you want to get to and pull up the Google map. Click on “get directions” and then click on the bus icon. Make sure the origin and destination addresses are correct and hit search. It should give you the bus stop locations, times, transfer points, and route numbers of the bus or busses you need to take.

Once you know how to get where you want to go remember to dress in layers, carry a book and some snacks, and hit the bathroom before you head out. Once you get the hang of it you will come to enjoy the reading instead of driving and the freedom of not being chained to a car and having to park it. Happy Trails!

Here are some links to transportation information for some major cities:

http://www.mta.info/nyct/   New York City

http://www.transitchicago.com/  Chicago

http://tripplanner.transit.511.org/mtc/XSLT_TRIP_REQUEST2?language=en San Francisco

http://www.mbta.com/ Boston

http://www.seattle.gov/html/citizen/transit.htm Seattle

http://www.metro.net/ Los Angeles

http://metrotransit.org/ Minneapolis

http://www.norta.com/ New Orleans

http://www.itsmarta.com/ Atlanta

http://www.detroitmi.gov/DepartmentsandAgencies/DetroitDepartmentofTransportation/BusSchedules.aspx Detroit

http://www.rtd-denver.com/ Denver

http://www.rtcsouthernnevada.com/ Las Vegas

http://phoenix.gov/transportation/index.html Phoenix

http://www.metrostlouis.org/Default.aspx St. Louis

If your city is not on the list just Google it!

Never Buy Store Bought Salad Dressing Again-3 Great Dressings You can Whip Up in Minutes!

Simple Ingredients

Making salad dressing at home is one of the easiest things you can do in a kitchen and in many cases it is also less expensive as well. But even when the cost is the same in actual dollars, the homemade dressing is still better. When judging the frugal choice it is important to factor in quality and not just price. When I decide what to cook I either want a real cost savings or I want a much better product at the same price. Once in a while it is possible to get both.

Simple vinaigrettes generally cost less for a higher quality. Fancier creamy dressings may cost as much as the store bought kind when you add in the high cost of certain ingredients, but if you are a serious frugalista you likely already have a windowsill herb garden if not an entire kitchen garden.

Here are three simple salad dressings to try:

Garlic Vinaigrette

• 1 cup good olive oil
•  1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 gloves garlic peeled and minced
•  1 tsp prepared mustard
•  a pinch salt

Place all ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Place an immersion blender on the lowest setting with the whisk attachment. Whisk till the mixture emulsifies. It will look almost creamy. This will take less than a minute. Put in a pint jar and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before using. This dressing will keep for several weeks.

Ranch Dressing

•  3 scallions
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tsp prepared mustard
• 1 tablespoon good olive oil 1 garlic clove minced ½ cup mayonnaise ½ cup plain yogurt
•  ½ cup buttermilk
• 1 pinch salt
•  freshly ground black pepper

Place all ingredients and whisk by hand or with an immersion blender till thoroughly blended.

Russian Dressing (sweet)

•  ½ cup ketchup
•  ½ cup mayonnaise
• 1 T prepared horseradish
• 1 T minced onion
•  1 tsp  Worcestershire sauce a splash of vinegar

Mix together and use on salads or as a spread for a corned beef or Reuben sandwich.

There are hundreds of other simple inexpensive salad dressings you can whip up fresh in just a few minutes. So, if you have been relying on over-priced, over-preserved store bought dressings just stop– and find out how great a completely fresh salad can be!

If You Want to Be Rich and Healthy Learn to Cook

A Trip to the Market can be the Key to Happiness

As prices rise food is the second biggest expense most people face after housing. And the cost of eating out, both the money angle and the health angle, have never been greater. Just think about it. Unless you are considering a fast food dollar menu diet, which will cause you to starve nutritionally while making you obese, eating out three times a day will cost at least twenty-five dollars. Multiply that by thirty and it means a food tab of $750. This figure is for very basic fare, and will likely be missing many elements of a balanced diet. This figure is also for ONE person. If you are in a family, you must multiply by the number of mouths to be fed.

On the other hand, if you just cook half the time you will improve your health, and cut the tab substantially, as follows: a single adult can eat well enough for about $210 a month, which is $7 a day. It may be necessary to shop carefully to stick with this figure, but it can be done. Half of $750 (the spendthrift food tab) is $375. Half of $210 (the home-cooking tab) is $105. If we add the two, it comes out to $480, an improvement of 46%.

Of course the best plan is to eat in almost 100% of the time, and to make going out a special event, but the Frugal Goddess knows how hard this can be given our frantic pace. That is why I will be writing more about portable food and easy home food fixes over the coming months. Bon Apetit!