Last March, Mr. Frugalwoods and I got serious about frugality. You could even say we become hardcore frugal weirdos. To prove it, we launched our Uber Frugal Month experiment. Just how little could we spend and still enjoy life? In much the same ways as we brush our teeth not even with cheapo toothbrushes either, might I add , walk Frugal Hound, and look forward to pizza Fridays every week, frugality has become habitual and second nature can it be first nature?
But, getting to this place was a process. To be honest, the first month was difficult. After all, anything worth having takes discipline. At the outset, we had to think through our days and find ways to create efficiencies and form our frugal weirdo manifesto. Our dominant culture is geared almost entirely towards creating a life centered on spending money. And many of those ads are intended to play upon our most base human emotions: fear, survival, and pleasure.
Clearly it would be counter-productive for anyone to run an ad that touts the merits of, well, not buying anything. We discovered that once we stopped doing those things, we actually came into a deep and lasting happiness. And this is why I now believe that frugality is a gift you give yourself for a lifetime. Since Mr. Our lives are now simpler, less stressful, contain fewer decisions to make, involve far less arguing, and we have much more free time to pursue hobbies and self-learning like how to cut hair and replace exterior window trim , for example.
Looking back on that first challenging month, I honestly felt overwhelmed at the prospect of living more frugally. I wrote Uber Frugal Month in large part as a instruction manual for myself. As we navigated each element of ultimate frugality— groceries , pet care , home maintenance , entertainment , personal grooming , transportation —I made notes that transformed into the utmost frugal challenge. At first, it was a concerted effort for Mr. FW and I to deconstruct our traditional notions and expectations with regard to how money works.
We had to create a parallel understanding of our lives—one that no longer concentrated on money as the only way to attain things or define success or direct how we spent our time. Once we removed spending as a regular, daily activity, we realized how very little we missed it. I call it the Uber Frugal Month. An email a day to provide encouragement and guidance as you reset your spending priorities. Join over 10, fellow frugal sojourners making a difference in their savings.
