Frugal Mania

I’ve already mentioned here that I have been a frugal kinda guy for a long time, but my experience with the online frugal community is still fairly new.  It wasn’t all that long ago that I came across the first frugal blog I had ever read, Frugal For Life.  A few days ago I contacted Dawn (the site’s founder) asking if she would allow me to interview her for Frugal Mania.

What follows are my five questions and Dawn’s answers:  

Michael:  I’ve been reading your web site for quite a while now and have to admit to being a bit of a fan. What got you thinking in a frugal direction? Was it one particular event or a culmination of things?

Dawn:  I started this frugal thing because I had just declared bankruptcy, was living in a studio apartment with no air conditioning and walking to work because I had sold my car to meet my expenses. I felt I had hit bottom and I thought there had to be a better way to manage my money instead of the attitude I had before – I wanted it all and I wanted it now!

Because of that bankruptcy, I lived only on cash (I couldn’t get credit even if I wanted to, at the time) and started to understand how it wasn’t so bad picking up items from the trash to furnish my home.

Michael:  Considering the bigger picture (the world, life in general), what have your frugal ways taught you that you may not have learned otherwise?

Dawn:  For my life in general it has taught me that I shouldn’t value stuff more than life experiences and people. New isn’t better and second-hand isn’t bad.

For the world I live in, I have slowly understood that living frugally has a good impact on the people around and I can leave a smaller footprint. For instance, if I buy something second hand from craigslist, I am not only saving something from the dump, but also putting cash in someone’s hand (buying locally).

Michael:  How do you think web sites such as yours, Frugal Mania and others have helped (or hurt) the frugal cause over the years?

Dawn:  I think any and all frugal web site can only help, first as a resource to those who are not familiar with living within their means, but also as a way to help them find their own voice. For each frugal site, there is a different, unique voice behind it – that has to affect another two or three people who will see the validity of living a life of less.

Michael:  How have the people in your life been impacted by your frugality?

Dawn:  Truthfully, I can only speak from what I see, I’m sure they will correct me if I’m wrong. But the biggest change is my roommate- she has moved in attitude from shopping high-end retail stores only to seeing items next to the dumpster and getting excited about the ‘new’ item. I’m still working with her on other frugal ideas, but we can’t all be the same.

I don’t know if I have had a direct or indirect impact on other members of my family getting back into recycling/re-using and friends of mine thinking more along the lines of living well with less. But it is nice to see, because they in return, inspire me to keep going.

Michael:  What do you consider the best frugal tip you’ve ever heard (or created)?

I think the best frugal tip I heard, is the "one in, one out" rule. For every hat, shirt, nic-knack or other luxury item that is brought into your home, one must be sold or given away. It is a hard rule to go by, but one that forces you to keep the clutter to a minimum and only keep what is necessary and important.

If I may, I would like to say one last thing, and that is that frugal living is an ongoing journey for me, I am still learning new ideas and attitudes; I still have a hard time doing something things frugally and it is mostly because I don’t like breaking out of my comfort zone, which means I still have moments where I go back to my spendthrift days of "I want it all. Now." But thankfully, common sense does eventually bring be back to that place where I need to be frugal for life.

Visit Dawn at her website:  www.frugalforlife.com.