My husband and I both went from living with our parents and having no bills to pay to being young and married and with bills that we weren't sure how to pay because we had no budget. I am not saying that we didn't have enough money because we did. We just didn't seem to have it when we needed it... the check always came a few weeks after bills were due.
It was great once I learned to budget creatively.

I'd say that we learned the hard way that if you make frugal a choice than you won't have to make it a necessity.

We will be married for 3 years in June. We were in the process of buying a house when we found out we were expecting our 15 month old daughter and in the process of buying a brand new car when we found out we were expecting our son who is due in July.

I found mommysavers around the time my daughter was 6 months old and have added being frugal to our way of life that before was just a great budget, not many extras and a lot of home cooking. I now clip coupons and watch the sales. I stockpile things when I can get them for a great price or close to free, and have started reusing items, eating left overs, trading coupons with friends, eating out only once a month, and I am still learning from most of you guys.

We actually have a savings (something we should have started when we barely had any bills) and have paid off all our credit card debt that we found ourselves in from needless spending.

Frugal will always be a way of life for us fnow and if it becomes a necessity as well then we will be well prepared.

It's a little of both. It's a neccessity because I am a sahm and we don't have a big income. But even if we made more money, I would still use coupons, and shop thrift stores, etc.

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SAHM TO 2 GIRLS
6 years and 19 months

Right now more by necessity, hopefully to be by choice soon.

It's a necessity because with have only one income but I like it this way too why paying more money for things. I like discounts, sales and coupons.

We used to HAVE to but now we want to. I find that it is easier the more you do it and you find spending money on something you KNOW can be cheaper if you did it keeps me frugal.

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Except I had to be frugal when I was single and in grad school. Lots of ramen noodles and mac and cheese at that time in my life. A splurge was going to Wendy's and getting a Caesar salad for $1.

But, I was raised being frugal and very careful with my money.

We are frugal to get by. When we moved to help my husband find a job, the company that hired me, let me go without cause. I later found out they had no intention of keeping me.. But that took away one entire income for our family!! I kept job searching, but we were surprised to find out I was pregnant. That prevents me from returning to work for 1 year now. So we went from a family with 2 incomes to a family with one income, suddenly and unexpectedly!!

We have a larger grocery budget, but are still learning to control spending.. It is hard when you have to make such a drastic change so quickly!!

TJ

We are mostly frugal by choice at the moment. Doing so allows us to pay for some "extras" that we wouldn't otherwise buy. But we've been frugal by necessity as well. We have been very blessed that we don't have hardly any debt, just the last little bit of my college loan. And I've been able to work part time--so that provides cushion room and allows me to spend a fair amount time at home w/ DS.

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Blessed beyond measure

This is a hard one. I always thought frugal by necessity. But how can you call it necessity when you have satelite TV, soda, snacks, etc....

So I guess looking at it like this frugal by choice so we can have conviences.

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