Things I Applaud: Frugality

I have always been tight with my money. Every since I was a little kid. I liked to have a lot of it stored up in the bank. I still do. Noah, on the other hand, likes to spend money. I will say, "if you were not married to me you would still be living in your parent's basement with a lot of expensive toys!" and he counters back, "if we hadn't gotten married you would live in a small apartment with a million bucks in your mattress!"

And those statements, although maybe slightly exaggerated, are in essence the way we work. I buy generic everything, he likes to think that brand name sugar probably tastes better. Thankfully, over the 8 years that we have been married he has at least conceded on most of the grocery items.

Now, I am not a big couponer/deal hunter. I do not have the patience and time and temperment for it. I just have certain policies that I follow, things like I never spend more than $20 on a pair of jeans for myself (I know, to some of you that sounds way excessive, and others of you are looking down your noses at me.)

But I am, as Noah calls me, a poor snob. That means that I am very impressed with people who brag about how little they spent on something and not so impressed with people who brag about how much they spent on something.

Here is my friend Becki at her wedding. Her wedding dress was $7. And that was when her sister Rachel bought it for her wedding. So technically, it was like $3.50.

And she looked beautiful. And she and Matt got married. And the dress was white. What more matters?

Anyway, with the economy the way it is, and people losing jobs etc. I have been thinking a lot more about being content with what I have, being responsible with what I have been given, and being more Heavenly minded about what I spend.

2 weeks ago when I thought Noah might lose his job, I started realizing just how much money we waste, even with my frugal nature. Just how many things I desire that I don't need, just how many people throughout the world have nothing when we have everything.

Now, I am still not ready to give up the dream of having a few acres to let the kids run wild on, or a large room to have guests over in. Nor am I giving up the dream of repadding my kitchen chairs...but it does mean that like Kim , you will still find me digging out the hand-me-down snowpants and being really happy when I get to use my $10 Kohls cash to get new sunglasses, 9 pairs of jockey underwear and a tank top. Go 90% off!