Hmm... lets see what people think about when you hear this word.
I love Saving and having more money because of these saving steps but in the back of my head I have a knotted crunchy thought, "don't spend anything, you can't spend anything". This is the underbelly I feel isn't shown in those beautifully written how to be frugal articles I like looking at everywhere. So let's touch on this.
I Recently have gone over this issue with my husband, we had reached a point that not spending anything with was the only way to be frugal-er then we already were. It has been a long hard track to this point, we worked really hard to get our finances in order, to make a budget, and to keep on top of our bills. I grew to have a new mindset, one that would let me walk past the pretty little girl dresses at target without the wistful glance. This mindset helps with most things, Buying food, clothing, furniture, and other everyday things, except it also gives you an internal conflict. This conflict is a big one, whether you should get mad at yourself for any purchase or be ok with that one mindless purchase, it's hard to feel alright with either really, both are spending your concentration. I guess the only way to make this work better is to understand that although you have a budget and know you shouldn't over spend, not spending is hard to do, period. there are advertisements everywhere and when it makes you feel good to buy things in general, Walmarts vanilla, it makes not purchasing anything a downright difficult thing to do.
Sometimes it feels like I need to go to a group of people and stat," I haven't spent anything in 7 days and feel horrible because today I indulged in a lip balm." Its not really about the small purchase but those still make my stomach squirm, I know why, I used to make tons of these purchases so many so that I would have no money at all by the end of the week. I guess it still makes me have a panic attack, like I'm falling off the wagon of shopping or something. If being a frugal person makes these purchases always feel so rotten I want to give a piece of advice to all others, You might need the outlet, You've held the money tight, you aren't spending willy nilly, give yourself that one small thing every so often so when you walk past the next item of your dreams it wont be so hard.
If you have any feelings about this please share, it can only help the rest of us be better people.
