Why are you frugal? A quick poll

Posted by louisa on Wednesday 1 December 2010 in frugal, meta | 7 comments

I follow a lot of frugal, green, simple living and growing blogs – some of my favourites are listed in the sidebar but I read many, many more. Amongst all the great advice and ideas, I’ve noticed that just about everyone has their own reason for being frugal or growing their own – and that’s made me wonder what drives me/us too. What drives you?

I’ve listed what I think are a dozen reasonably common reasons for frugality here – but I’m sure there are many, many more reasons for it — and for many people, it won’t be just one thing, it’ll be a combination of a few – so feel free to tick as many as applicable.

For me, it’s a certainly a combination of more than a few! I’ve always looked after the pennies and I think I’d still look for offers/bargains even if I had a million pounds, I think it’s an unchangeable trait now.

Living cheaply allowed us the freedom to quit the shackles of our full time jobs and start working for ourselves – and it still allows us to do what interests us rather than needing earn a fortune to pay the bills.

I am a greeny and I abhor easily avoidable waste, and related to that, I also strongly dislike excessive consumerism – so I guess that’s part of my drive too. There are elements of frugality I find fun – cooking, growing, making etc – and I like having hobbies that help me save money and live well. I’m also definitely be ticking the “thrill of a good deal” box! Frugality isn’t all doom and gloom as far as I’m concerned.

So what about you? What drives you to be frugal? Is there something I’ve missed off the poll list?

7 Comments

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strowger
1 December, 2010 at 2:29 pm

You missed out “sick of having a house full of crap” as a reason, IMV.

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- louisa
  1 December, 2010 at 4:38 pm
  
  I did kinda have that but it got morphed into the political/anti-consumerism one.
  
  Reply
Mark
3 December, 2010 at 2:59 pm

I’m all of the top four. Lost my job, got into debt and now I’m working again I don’t want to get into more debt. Its hard to know how difficult life in debt is until you’ve experienced it. I don’t think people would spend so much on credit if they knew what it was like.

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- louisa
  7 December, 2010 at 11:00 am
  
  That’s an interesting point, Mark, thanks for the comment.
  
  Reply
kate@livingthefrugallife
3 December, 2010 at 11:26 pm

Several of your reasons work for me: debt reduction, “green” aspirations, the pleasure of creativity, so I can work less, and lately a certain perverse enjoyment in sticking it to the capitalist overlords has crept in there too. Maybe that’s what you meant by political statement. “Subverting the dominant paradigm” would work for me there. My frugality is a way of striking back at a system that does not have my best interests at heart. I don’t have their primary interests at heart either.

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- louisa
  4 December, 2010 at 11:53 am
  
  Hi Kate,
  
  Thanks for the comment! Love your blog :)
  
  I kept the “political statement” answer broad but that is certainly one of the things I meant by it – and it’s very much a reason for our frugality too. You put it perfectly: they only really care about one thing and it’s not us, or the environment.
  
  -louisa :)
  
  Reply
cathy moore
7 December, 2010 at 2:36 am

I’m old enough to have been in the the back to the land movement in the late 60’s & early 70’s. Though I’ve strayed off and on through the years I do still believe in living simply so that others may simply live. It’s very interesting to me, here in the US, to hear all of your thoughts in the UK. It does need to be a world wide effort if we’re to evolve into a more caring society. namaste.

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