Why Be Frugal?

I decided to post on why you might want to live a more frugal lifestyle. The question comes up as I think of a lot of people I know who SHOULD be a bit more frugal, but aren’t. And I would love to point out, no matter how much money you make, everyone can benefit from being a little bit more frugal. Here are some of my favorite reasons why.

The purpose of being frugal is to:

1. Never have a moment where you realized you have $7 left in your account, you have to go to work for an entire week before your next pay day and your gas tank just started flashing the Empty sign at you.
2. Be able to visit a grocery store and purchase whatever you want for dinner.
3. Never run out of toilet paper.
4. Be prepared for possible job loss.
5. Pay off your car early.
6. Afford to take a weekend vacation at the beach just because you feel like it.
7. Be able to pull a bag full of extra groceries out of the pantry and drop it off on someone’s porch when you hear they are in need.
8. Pay your medical bills on time.
9. Send your kid to summer camp.
10. Not stress over Christmas gift expenses.
11. Take a co-worker out lunch when they are having a bad day.
12. Pay for the kitty to get stitches when they stupidly get in a fight before coming in for the night.
13. Fix a flat tire.
14. Not have to ask friends and family to borrow money.
15. Having enough money to splurge on decadent top of the line brownies or well made kitchen tools.

These are just a few of the reasons I try to be frugal. It’s not so I can be rich, or because I am poor. It’s not because I want to cheap out or not waste money or can’t afford stuff. Although sometimes those things are true too. It’s because I want to spend less on things that I can spend less on, so that I can have more money for the things above, among other things.

What are your favorite reasons to be frugal?

-Inspired by a Seth Godin blog post on What is School for?