It’s not always easy. There are so many temptations to break the habit, whether it’s hearing from friends and family the fun things they’ve been doing or what they’ve been buying, or the commercials you can hardly avoid on television and online. Still, there are ways to deal with it when you’re tired of it all.

1. Allow small splurges.

What is it you miss most? Is there a way to get it more cheaply?

You may miss going out to see movies, for example. Movie ticket prices have gone up quite a bit, and don’t always fit well into a frugal budget. If you’re lucky enough to have a discount movie theater near you, however, you may be able to see movies somewhat later than others for quite a bit less. There’s a theater in our area, for example, that has $2 tickets, far more affordable that what we’d pay elsewhere.

You can also think about the little treats you enjoy and set a budget for it. If you miss chocolate, for example, you may be able to get chocolate chips and put them in the freezer. Nibbling just a couple rather than having an entire candy bar can save you money so long as you have the self control to not eat too many a day.

2. Tell people what you want if they’re looking for a present for you.

If you miss going out to eat, suggest gift cards to your favorite restaurant as a gift when you have a birthday or Christmas coming up. This may not feel as personal as some people would like, but if that’s what you want more than whatever else someone would buy you, it’s a good gift.

If there’s some other splurge you want that’s within the range of a gift from someone else, let them know when they want gift ideas for you. Sometimes it works out.

3. Look at free ways to get what you want.

It’s amazing what you can get for free sometimes. Libraries are wonderful if you miss getting new books to read, for example. Just how wonderful depends on the libraries in your area and the selection they have in the types of books you like to read. Remember that many libraries are networked to others in your area, and you may be able to order books from other locations.

Also see if there’s an active Freecycle group in your area. You can ask for things you’d like to get. I’ve seen people in my local group ask for things like exercise bikes and get them.

4. Review your financial goals.

You’re being frugal for a reason. It can help you deal with the frustration of being frugal if you remind yourself why you’re going through all that. Are you saving so that you can pay down credit cards or other debts? Think about the benefits of getting rid of those. If you’re being frugal because it’s the only way you can pay all your living expenses, think about how your situation would change if you weren’t managing your money so carefully.

5. Take joy in meeting your financial goals.

Don’t just think of being frugal as a long term goal. Think of your short term goals too. It may be to save a particular amount over a particular month or to cut a particular expense. Having goals where you can see the results is a big help in making frugality more interesting.

Make sure your goals are something you can achieve and you know how you’re going to achieve them. If they aren’t realistic, you’ll be more frustrated than happy with the process.

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Some of the problem can come from having to think about practically every purchase, no matter how necessary. It’s skipping your favorite treats. It’s telling the kids “no” all too often when they want a treat. It’s seeing friends and family be so much freer about how they spend money, and knowing you can’t do it.

Do You Have Any Options?

Some people say that you always have options. That’s true to a degree, but you can’t always exercise them right away. There aren’t many times that you can suddenly earn more money because you want to do more fun stuff. And you can’t just decide to splurge if you’re living paycheck to paycheck… at least not if you want a roof over your family’s head, working utilities and enough food to eat.

But you do have the option to try to bring in more money, if what you really want is an overall lifestyle change. You won’t be able to get it right away most likely, even if you were to start working outside the home, but you can set goals.

But I Want It Nooooooow!

Sometimes you can work in the small splurges. It’s wonderful when things work out that way. If you can afford to indulge yourself or your family just a little while being frugal, do so. It can really help ease some of the strain caused by being so careful with your finances.

If you can’t, it may be wiser to go over why you’re trying to save money in the first place. To an appropriate extent, this can be discussed with children. They shouldn’t be burdened too much with their parents’ financial problems, but knowing why they can’t have everything they want isn’t going to hurt them.

Especially if they watch a lot of television, kids want things. Lots of things. It often seems like they want everything they see.

Frugal or not, that’s not going to happen, right?

With that in mind, even as you say no because money is tight, think about how often you’d be saying no even if it weren’t. “No” is a great word for kids to hear when they’re trying to get you to buy stuff they don’t need. “Save your own money” isn’t a bad choice either.

When it’s stuff you want, think about what you want most. Do you want the shiny whatsit or do you want to meet your financial goals more? As a grownup, you should be able to decide sensibly whether or not you should indulge… even when you aren’t feeling like being sensible.

Get Support

No, not money. Find friends, family members, your spouse or significant other, and make sure you have emotional support for your choices. It’s particularly helpful to have the support of others who also need to be frugal. It can be a bit of a competition to see who can keep being frugal, save the most money, stick best to the budget, whatever.

Being frugal is much easier if you don’t feel alone in it.

And yes, it can still be exhausting. But you can get past that and keep working towards your goals.

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2. Are You Frugal or Cheap?
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My family has long kept our gift giving pretty simple. My sisters and I draw names to shop for, with definite budgets for everyone. It allows for smaller budgets all around. Even so, we’re looking at simplifying further yet as most of us are facing financial challenges of one sort or another.

Ways to Simplify While Still Giving Great Gifts

Visit Thrift Stores and Consignment Shops

A great gift doesn’t have to be new. It’s amazing sometimes what you can find at thrift and consignment shops. There may be a lot of stuff that is just too worn down to give as a gift, but other times you will find beautiful items to give.

This also allows you to be more creative. You probably aren’t going to find the latest and greatest anything at one of these stores, but you probably will find something you wouldn’t have thought to give otherwise.

Give Experiences

A family day out, tickets to movies or the theater, play time on a miniature golf course. You can make it memorable and avoid the clutter of unneeded stuff.

Agree to Skip the Adults

How often do you get frustrated with buying for the adults in your family because they don’t need anything? Talk it out and consider just giving to the kids instead.

Do Favors

My sisters and I have done things such as painted my mother’s house for her rather than buying gifts. It’s great to be able to help her get something done that was being put off.

Babysitting, painting, massages, house cleaning, organizing… follow your skills.

The beauty of simplifying is that it lets you focus on the real reasons why you are celebrating at this time of year. It’s not all about the gifts. It’s about the meaning your family puts into the holiday season, no matter which holiday you’re celebrating.

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Maybe. But hopefully not.

When to Cut Back on Your Home Business

If the money you spend on your business is making it hard to feed and house your family, then yes, it’s time to cut back. But only if you really have your household spending under control first. I’d suggest cutting things such as cable television long before you cut out your home business. There are a ton of other ways you can save money around the house that may help you to keep your business going financially.

Sometimes the money you spend on your business is not immediately paying you back. A profitable home business is always worth it, but if the payback isn’t quick it can be hard to think that way. If you’re having trouble keeping up, that’s a legitimate issue you need to face. Can you work things so that whatever income you are getting from your home business is helping you where you need it most?

A business that isn’t turning a profit yet can be a trickier creature to handle. Giving up means that you are losing the potential for a new income stream. It’s not always the right long term decision.

Your attitude towards your business is a part of this decision. Is your feeling more “Gosh, I hope this works,” or is it “I’m going to make this work, whatever it takes!” Is your feeling realistic, or are you letting emotion get in the way?

If the short term is what you need to think about, try to figure out if you can cut your business expenses way, way back but still keep things going. It may not be easy or even possible in all circumstances, but I recommend trying. If the business model is overall sound, giving up can be a really poor choice.

Finding Frugal Alternatives for Your Home Business

When it comes to just keeping things going, you don’t necessarily want to just keep your business up and do nothing to market it. You have alternatives.

If you don’t have a website, for example, get one! There are both free and cheap ways to get your business online. Bringing your business online can be a great way to expand your reach without spending a lot.

If you’re already online but need a way to cut the costs, take a solid look at what you’re spending versus what is being brought in. A domain name and website hosting are cheap enough that unless you’re bringing in close to nothing, they’re probably paying for themselves. Considering that you can get decent hosting for under $10 a month, this is probably not a make or break expense… unless you have a ton of traffic.

If domain name and hosting are your only expenses, but you still aren’t earning anything, it is very much so time to consider why. Too little traffic? Now’s the time to focus on marketing. Too little income but plenty of traffic? How are you monetizing your site?

When it’s traffic you need you can be frugal by considering the free options, such as article marketing. Whether or not you enjoy writing articles, this can be a great way to bring in links and traffic to your site.

You should also consider posting quality, relevant comments on related blogs. Just saying “great post” isn’t going to get people to click on your link. Blatantly advertising your site is just going to annoy people. Having something interesting to say gives you the best chance of bringing interested people over to your own site.

Monetization can be a bit more challenging. If you’re an information based site, perhaps you need to find more products that will be interesting to your site visitors.

If you’re selling products, but not enough of them, how’s your sales copy? How long has it been since you tested something new? If the same old copy worked over and over again, we’d still be seeing ads from the ’50s or even earlier. And we’d like it too!

The key here is to just not give up. Your money troubles are probably temporary, and giving up is often a very poor choice. Instead, find ways to make it work. Push your limits and see where you can take your business.

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I love being frugal. Saving money is a constant goal of mine. But there are a lot of challenges to this, and traps for the unwary.

Most of these traps relate to failing to think about the long term. It’s easy to say that this item costs less than that item. But does the difference really justify buying the cheaper item? Not always, and that is what you have to think about.

Trap 1: Cheap or better quality?

There are times where being frugal means spending more rather than less. Think about how long you are going to be using the item. If you’re buying generic rather than name brand foods, in most cases that makes good sense, especially since sometimes the two are made by the same company. Just different labels.

But other times you are buying things that you want to last. Then paying a bit more now means you will not be paying more later.

A simple example would be the cheese slicer I bought the other day. The wire on the old one had broken and we couldn’t find a replacement wire. So off to the store for a new slicer.

One model had replacement wires in the box with it, while another cost a dollar less but had no replacement wires or obvious way to replace the wire. The wires themselves felt about the same. So I bought the one with the extra wires so that we won’t have to buy another the next time the wire breaks. And in my experience, they do break.

Trap 2: Overbuying

This is the danger of the warehouse store and the really good sale. You buy more than your family can use because darn it, it’s just such a great deal! How could you possibly go wrong?

In a lot of cases stocking up isn’t all that bad. You just don’t want to stock up on things that will go bad on you or take up more storage space than you can spare for it. As you shop, pay attention to when the food will expire.

In the case of clothing, think about whether or not all the stuff you are buying will really be worn. It can be especially easy to overbuy for babies and toddlers, who just look so cute in everything. Just try to remember that overbuying is why resale shops have so many clothes available with the tags still on them or clothes that look like new.

Trap 3: “But it’s on sale!”

Similar to overbuying, buying something just because it is on sale is a big mistake. Think instead about whether or not you really need it. All too often, you won’t really need it.

Trap 4: Giving in

There are a few ways to give in. One is to go shopping while hungry. It’s said that you will buy a lot more food if you grocery shop while hungry. Your hunger just makes it easier to give in to temptation.

But if you’re shopping with the kids, it’s easy to give in to their ideas. “But Moooooommy!” If you’re a mom, you know the rest of that routine. Just remember that you are the example for your kids and that if you buy everything that they want, they’ll never understand why you talk so much about spending your money wisely.

Trap 5: Repair or replace?

This is one that can be true torture. The washing machine breaks. Is it time to replace it?

The main reason this is difficult is because so many things are designed these days to be cheaper to replace than to repair. But I would always suggest looking at the repair costs, especially if they turn out to be minor. Not every breakdown means a huge repair. Just think of all the little stuff you have to take your car to the shop for.

Once you decide to repair, make sure that you get it done right. Having to get a repair done over again is guaranteed to increase the cost.

For your car, this means picking a really good mechanic. Ask around. You can generally find a friend or neighbor who knows a truly wonderful and affordable mechanic.

For other repairs, do your homework. Get quotes for really big repairs, and don’t ask for the shortcuts if it means the repair won’t hold up.

Being frugal is smart. But taking frugal down to cheap can be a huge mistake. Whenever possible, make the most sensible decision, not just the cheapest at the moment one.

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