Suddenly Frugal: How to Live Happier and Healthier for Less

198 Pages·2010·1.25 MB·English

by  Leah Ingram

suddenly
FRUGAL
HOW TO LIVE HAPPIER & HEALTHIER FOR LESS
LEAH INGRAM
Copyright © 2010 by Leah Ingram
All rights reserved.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any
form without permission from the publisher; exceptions are
made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.
Published by
Adams Media, a division of F+W Media, Inc.
57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322. U.S.A.
www.adamsmedia.com
ISBN 10: 1-4405-0182-3
ISBN 13: 978-1-4405-0182-1
eISBN: 978-1-4405-1293-3
Printed in the United States of America.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
is available from the publisher.
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—From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the
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Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their product are claimed as
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All savings listed herein are estimations and will vary depending on many factors including location,
lifestyle, and the types of appliances/equipment you own. Before implementing any of the suggestions
given in this book, please consult owner’s manuals, instructions, and warranties for your particular items to
ensure that no advice in this book would be contrary to the manufacturer’s instruction. The author and
publisher disclaim any liability of any kind arising directly or indirectly from the use of this book.
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table of
CONTENTS
introduction THE MYTH OF FRUGALITY
chapter one
REBOOTING YOUR DAILY ROUTINES
chapter two
SHIFTING HOW YOU SHOP
chapter three
APPLIANCES THAT DON’T SUCK. . .
ENERGY, THAT IS
chapter four
ROOMS FOR IMPROVEMENT
chapter five
MIXING MEDIA WITH FRUGALITY
chapter six
GETTING FROM POINT A TO POINT B
chapter seven
THE WARM AND COLD OF IT
chapter eight
BECOMING A DO-IT-YOURSELFER
chapter nine
RENOVATIONS AND INTERIOR DECORATING
chapter ten
IN THE GARDEN AND AR OUND THE YARD
chapter eleven
GETTING SOMETHING FOR (ALMOST) NOTHING
chapter twelve
HOLIDAYS, CELEBRATIONS, AND ENTERTAINING
chapter thirteen
DON’T THROW IT OUT—WEAR IT OUT
chapter fourteen
VACATIONS AND GETAWAYS
appendix FOR MORE INFORMATION
about the author
acknowledgments
I’m a believer in karma and fate. And both had a big role in my taking the
concept of living a suddenly frugal life from an idea to a blog to a book.
For starters, had I not been raised by a frugal mother, I never would have even
considered dedicating my recent writing life to all things frugal. Of course, when
I was growing up, I didn’t know what to call my mother’s shrewd habits—weird,
perhaps? But as I grew older and wiser and recognized the wisdom in her
money-saving ways, I came to appreciate the thriftiness she taught me. For that,
thanks go out to my mother, Judy Watson Ingram, the original Yankee in my
book.
Then there is the matter of my husband, Bill Behre, and me deciding to sell
our old home and buy our new house some two years ago—a move that ended
up not being financially prudent, but that helped us to fully embrace frugal
living. Because we didn’t want to end up as another foreclosure statistic, we
knew we had to significantly change how we lived and spent money. My
husband and my daughters, Jane and Annie, have been really good sports
throughout this whole frugal experiment, and I thank them for their everlasting
support of this and my many other professional endeavors.
Because we sold our house and bought a new one, we became even closer
with our realtors and friends Michele Natale and Kim Sager at the Coldwell
Banker Hearthside office in our town. Not only did these women listen to use as
we blabbered on about our newly frugal ways, but they also introduced me to the
local CSA farm of which I’m now a member. I’d also like to thank fellow realtor
(and fellow author and frugalista) Dee Dee Bowman. She’s schooled me on all
things green and frugal, and I value all of the advice and suggestions she’s
shared with me in the past few years. So thanks go out to Michele, Kim, and Dee
Dee.
Now on to my agent Adam Chromy at Artists and Artisans. Though I’ve had a
handful of agents with the thirteen other books I’ve written, Adam is the first
agent who has been more than just the person who sells a book for me. Adam
believes in me holistically, as a writer, an expert, and a brand. I have never had
someone who wasn’t related to me be such a cheerleader for my future success,
and had Adam not believed in me so strongly, I know that Suddenly Frugal
never would have happened. Plus, had I not filled in for my dear friend (now
deceased) Sarah Wernick as a moderator at a writing conference a few years ago,
I never would have met Adam, who was a speaker on the panel I was
moderating. Thank you, Sarah and fate, for allowing Adam and me to meet. It
took more than two years, Adam, but finally we’ve got a book in our hands, and
greater things to come in the near future.
Were it not for Adam, I never would have been able to work with the fine
folks at Adams Media again. (I wrote the second edition of The
®
Everything Etiquette Book for the company a few years back.) I’m thrilled to
have the opportunity to work closely with editors Meredith O’Hayre and Laura
Daly at Adams.
Finally, thank you to all of the loyal readers of my Suddenly Frugal blog:
www.suddenlyfrugal.com. You all have shared great ideas with me, made
awesome suggestions about topics I should cover in the future, and given me
honest feedback when you felt my blog was slipping a bit off the frugal path. I
hope you’ll all stick around for many years to come, and tell everyone you know
about my frugal mission.
introduction
THE MYTH OF
FRUGALITY
I’m not shy about telling people why we decided to start living frugally back in
2007. We had gotten in over our heads with debt and then bought more house
than we could afford. When I make this confession, most people reply, “Well,
good for you for nipping the problem in the bud.” I’m sure that behind our
backs, they say, “Serves you right, you spendthrift, for buying a house you
couldn’t afford.”
Some people actually called us freaks when we told them we had become a
suddenly frugal family. They couldn’t fathom that we could change how we live
and what we spend in today’s world, and how we could still come out ahead
financially and socially, and actually be happy about it.
Now, granted, all of this name-calling occurred long before the economy sunk
to the bottom of the toilet. It was still a time of freely available credit and
conspicuous consumption. But more important, people didn’t understand how or
even why we would willingly become frugal. That’s because these folks had
bought into the myth of frugality. To them, living frugally meant not living much
at all. But that’s not the point of frugality— the “not living” part. In reality, if
you adopt a more frugal lifestyle, suddenly you will find that you are more in
control of your spending and you will actually be able to live more on less.
It’s like the people I met long ago when I joined Weight Watchers, who
believed that if they ate too little each day, they would lose more weight. These
people had determined from day one on Weight Watchers that they would
undercut their Points intake every day so they could get skinnier faster.
While that theory sounds perfect, it is flawed. Your body needs a certain
amount of calories each day to function, and if you shortchange your body, it
will fight your attempt to lose weight. Once you start tracking how many Points
you could and should eat each day, you’ll discover that you can eat more food