In my attempts to be frugal, I sometimes find myself being cheap. Sometimes I just try too hard to be frugal and when I step back and think about what I'm doing, I realize how silly I'm being. My dh is always asking me "are we that poor?" when I do something frugal. He doesn't get it yet, I guess. He's still a work in progress.

When I talk to my friends that are struggling or family member about maybe reading this book I have on frugal living they look at me like I want them to eat bread and cheese and walk everywhere they go. I think lots of people confuse frugality with depriving yourself of everything. It's definately frusterating when I want to recommend tips to people.

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Mommy To Brody(3 years) Mason(20 months) Orin (3 Months)

"It's easy to pass judgement, it's more difficult and more meaningful to love someone" Big Love


"Cholesterol won't stick if you have the right attitude"

To me cheap is when you try and jip someone out of something like not giving a tip.

Being frugal is: living within your means, not using a credit card unless you have to, adjusting your life style so you can spend money on what you really want (shopping at Aldi's, Walmart and Goodwill so I can save money to pay down debt, build an emergency fund, and save for Disney trip)

Welcome to Europe!

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~ mama abroad

"Be the change that you want to see in the world." -Ghandi

check out my culture shock blog: A View from the Outside

I don't think I really knew the difference between frugal and cheap until I got married and moved from my parents house. My grandmother lived with my family while I was growing up for many years. She was born during the Great Depression and was VERY frugal, but also cheap in some ways. For example, I would never ask to have the left over bones from an order of spare ribs to take home from a restaurant so that I could make soup. Even if I was the one that had eaten them. On the other hand, it always embarrassed me when she would ask for half orders of dishes that normally didn't come in half orders, but she never ate more than a couple bites of anything at a meal, so it was a waste to order more. She never threw out anything, not even those styrofoam bowls that take out soup comes in. And she would also reuse baggies and bread bags. Some of that is cheap, but some is frugal. I grew up thinking it was all cheap. After I was married and had to run my own house, I realized that she was a very smart person. She could make a $20 a month grocery budget work and have some money left over, some months! She also had very nice things. Brand new tv's, new furniture, etc. She just knew what was good what needed to have money spent on it and what didn't.

I've come up with my own definition of the difference between frugal and cheap. Frugal is being wise with your money and resources and cheap is forcing everyone else to. :D

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Frugal is being wise with your money and resources and cheap is forcing everyone else to.

Check out my blog, I'm starting to add more to it, as I can...vioburn.blogspot.com

What a perfect quote. I've never heard it said that way before but it really sums it up. That would make a good signature quote.

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