The Edge of Frugality

Before I describe my current efforts, I feel I need to give a little background. I mean, I could just start writing about sewing, cooking, cleaning and somehow managing to feed eight people on about $100 a week but the places we draw the line are different from some other families. So, I'll explain.

Everyone has their line in the sand. Everyone. I can't think of one person who doesn't have a financial line that says, "You are now leaving Frugal and entering Cheap." However, each person draws it in a different place, either because of circumstances or values. For me and my family, we care very much about quality on some things. Food, for example. We try our best to eat as healthy as we can and we do surprisingly well. So, even though I could save quite a bit by buying white bread and white rice, I choose to buy brown rice (preferably through an Asian market in bulk) and other whole grains, some of which sound a bit exotic. We aren't able to grow a garden (horrible soil here and we don't have the money to buy anything extra for gardening at the moment) so we buy loss leader vegetables and fruits. Soon, I'll have a different blog up for our efforts to heal ourselves naturally on a limited budget but that's another topic.

The point is, there's a lot of people who would think we were crazy for trying to live on so little, especially when we put such a high amount in the food we eat.

Our view is that better food keeps us healthier and out the hospital: medical bills are a big reason people go into debt.

So, what do I mean when I talk about the "edge" if it's that malleable? I'm talking about the point where you sacrifice true quality of life. There are many things people can live without. My experiences as a child taught me there are some things that a person must have: food, water, clothing/warmth, and joy. The first three are pretty obvious. The last one isn't but if you look at people who are truly happy, who have found joy in their lives, you'll also find that they often only have what they need and a little extra. The surplus they create tends to circulate through the community benefiting everyone.

Take George Bailey for example.

George Bailey, from It's a Wonderful Life, hated his town. He hated the life he felt had been pushed on him by circumstance. He hated Potter, who only cared about himself and what he could extract from others and probably hated him as one of those circumstances keeping him in Bedford Falls instead of letting him wander the world building and creating in exotic places. This resentment and hatred built in him, in spite of the good he managed to do for others, until finally one day he snapped. His life, he felt, had been a waste because he had never done the great things he'd wanted, or been as successful as his friends--Sam Wainwright, business mogul, being the most prominent. He couldn't even provide for his family and, because of someone else's mistake, would end up in jail.

The film/story is fairly well known now. There's no real need to go through the ending--how George Bailey discovers that his life, no matter how it may end, was never really a waste. My point is that part of discovering the edge of frugality is discovering joy. Just as George Bailey had to learn that there are more sources of security than money, and that a life of service is worth more than any investment in a bank, keeping joy in our lives is vital to truly living a frugal life.

George Bailey had more than he thought he had. So it often is with us. And as long as we can keep joy in our lives, then we know we haven't crossed that line yet. We're still only being frugal.