Frugal Mania

Welcome, Frugal Maniacs!

I’m so excited I could scream!

Okay, so maybe that’s an overstatement, but I have to tell you that when I was contacted about writing for a website called Frugal Mania my frugal little heart did skip a beat or two. You see, the word frugal has had such a negative connotation for so many years that I guess you could say most people have been hiding in the frugal closet. They keep their frugality under wraps, often even concealing it from their families and closest friends out of the fear of being pegged as cheap.

Congratulations, you frugal few! You can come out of the closet with pride now and no one will make fun of your penny-pinching ways!

Now that the economy is taking a swan dive into the toilet, people are finally realizing just how beneficial frugal living can be. With hundreds of thousands of people across the country living with the threat of losing their homes to foreclosure, you can bet that they’re looking for ways to save a few bucks here and there. When they do, guess who they’ll be coming to? That’s right, you frugal freaks.

Now more than ever, the world needs Frugal Mania!

But enough about them, let’s talk about me.

My name is Michael Nolan and I’ve been living frugal for a hundred years since I was a kid. For those of you doing the math, I’m 35 so that makes it technically about 30 years now. At the tender age of five, I convinced my parents that I could raise chickens and get eggs for free. Sounds cute and ever-so Laura Ingalls of me, doesn’t it? Well before you picture me in pigtails and prairie dresses you should know that I grew up in suburbia and I walked to school not because it was the 1800s but because it was only 3 blocks away from our house.

I got my chickens, and they even produced eggs. At one point I even had a duck named Donald (Gimme a break – I was five!) until he flew out of the kiddie pool I’d set up for him one too many times and my mother made me give him to a guy with a lake on his property.

If you haven’t noticed yet, I love telling stories about my life and lucky for you, that’s exactly how I plan to approach this thing we call frugal living here on Frugal Mania. It is important for you to realize that the best way to learn is to do – reading about being frugal isn’t nearly as beneficial as actually doing it. In other words, get off your frugal butts and use what you learn!

If you ever have a question or a comment about something you’ve read here or elsewhere, please let me know. I encourage reader questions and you never know when something you are curious about might help someone else.

Bookmarks, links, trackbacks and fencepost (or water cooler) conversations about Frugal Mania are all strongly encouraged.

And now that we have all of that out of the way, let’s go crazy you Frugal Maniacs!

Michael the Frugal Maniac