Ever Get Tired of Being Frugal?

Having one parent be home with the kids often means living on a pretty tight budget. Even when the at home parent works, it’s often not enough to really ease the budget crunch. But being frugal all the time isn’t much fun.

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.