Frugality

The personal finance book that has had the most influence on me is “Your Money or Your Life” by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin. If I had faithfully followed all the steps in the book from the time I first read it I could be retired by now.

 One of the most powerful steps in the book is the Three Questions That Will Transform Your Life.  These three questions should be asked when evaluating your spending. They are 1. Did I receive fulfillment, satisfaction, and value in proportion to life energy spent? 2. Is this expenditure of life energy in alignment with my values and life purpose? 3. How might this expenditure change if I didn’t have to work for a living? By applying these questions when evaluating your spending you most likely will not only reduce your spending but change the thing you spend your money on.

In 2000 I saw an advertisement in the local paper offering $99 airfares to Costa Rica. This seemed to good to be true but it wasn’t and I booked an airfare for the next week. The total was about $150 with taxes and fees. This was a charter flight and was landing in Liberia rather than the usual destination of San Jose.

My next step was to head to the library and check out the cheap travel books. The “Lonely Planet” and “Let’s Go” books are the ones that seem most useful to me for those on a shoestring budget. I located a small beach town nearby that had several budget accommodations.  I also talked my friend into going with me which would allow us to share some travel expenses and also make the travel experience more enjoyable.

Everyone else on the flight was going to the destination resort which was sold as a package with the airfare.  That option was much more money than we planned to spend. After arriving at the airport we negotiated on a taxi ride to the village for $10. This was the same price people were paying to go to the resort which was in another town. After arriving in the village we checked out several hotels before making a decision. My limited Spanish was helpful here. The hotel cost was $14 a night so we only had to pay $7 a night each. This was a very basic room but it was all we needed.

Meals were very cheap. We paid no more than $2 to $3 a meal and often even less. Beer was only 75 cents. These were all local restaurants. This village had no major hotel and had limited tourist activity so prices were low compared to resort towns.

Our activities consisted mostly of hanging out at the beach and hanging out at one of the bars. The beach was free and the bar was inexpensive. We also went on a zip line tour which was $50 each but well worth the price and cheaper than usual since we were visiting in the off-season. Hanging out at the bar was a great experience because we were usually the only Americans there and it was interesting conversing with the locals and the European tourists. It is much easier to experience a foreign culture if you are not surrounded by people from your own culture.

My total cost for this vacation was under $300. Although I took this trip in 2000 it could still be done for not much more money today. The company I booked the flight through, Worry-Free Vacations still has $99 airfares on a regular basis. The taxes and fees will be higher though.  Meals and rooms can still be had for roughly the same money. If you are willing to go off the beaten path and travel off-peak you can enjoy an international vacation on the cheap.

Missouri is having their state sales tax holiday this weekend (Aug. 3-5). I doubt I’ll be taking advantage of it. The benefit of these holidays is commonly overblown. The Missouri state tax rate is 4.225%. With county and city taxes the total rate is around 7-8%. Stores commonly run sales with discounts much larger than 8% so I don’t know why people get excited over not having to pay state sales tax. Not all cities and counties participate in the holiday which would make your savings even less. In addition only certain items can be purchased and there is a maximum cost limit on these purchases. If you’re already planning on making a purchase and the store also has the item on sale this can be a good deal but I don’t think it is anything worth going out of your way for.

After seeing posts at Mapgirl, Savvy Saver, and Young and Broke on what they do to live frugally I decided to write my own post on the subject using their lists as a guide.
1. I don’t buy books(except for school),CDs, or DVDs. I get books from the library or borrow/exchange books with friends and family. I have a collection of 3 CDs and don’t plan on getting more. I have 1 DVD but that is only because I am in it.

2. I drive an old car that is paid for. Not only do I not have to make car payments, the insurance is only $25 a month. It gets 38 MPG on the highway and until this year had minimal maintenance costs. It also provides me peace of mind. It has always started for me and I don’t worry about minor door dings and scrapes since it already has so many one more isn’t going to make a difference.

3. I don’t buy clothes. I haven’t spent any money on clothes this year and don’t plan to do so. I have plenty of clothes now and don’t need any more.

4. I don’t spend a lot of money on food. I spend about $100 a month without trying to be frugal. If I am ever successful at breaking my fast food habit my food budget will be even less.

5. I don’t buy bottled water. Most bottled water is just tap water anyway so why pay extra for it. I have a Nalgene but I mostly use Powerade bottles to carry my tap water. These are lighter and easier to drink out of.

6. I cut my own hair. Since my buzz cut doesn’t really require any skill(which is good because I don’t have any) I do it myself. I’m still using a bottle of shampoo that I bought for 39 cents last year and it is still over half-full. Total expenditure on my hair this year: $0. And I actually get compliments on my hair when I let it grow out a little bit.

7. I don’t have technolust. It was pretty easy for me to keep from buying a new iPhone or Nintendo Wii because I have no desire to have them.

8. I have a small,cheap apartment. My apartment is in a good area but since it is an older building I pay less rent than at comparable apartments in the area. I have a one bedroom now but am considering moving to a studio when my lease is up. I prefer having less space.

9. I don’t have cable or internet. Having cable would lead to me watching too much TV. Since I can use the internet at school there isn’t really a need for me to have internet at home. I’d consider getting home internet service if I didn’t have to buy cable or phone service as well.
10. I have a budget and track expenses. Knowing where your money is going can help you find where your problem areas are.

That isn’t everything I do to be frugal but that should give you an idea of what I do. I’m fairly content with my level of frugality although there is still room for improvement and I have some ideas to lower my expenses even more.

Yes, sometimes being cheap can cost you more money than just spending what you need to spend. An example of this is my latest car repair. I’ve known for a while that my water pump was going bad and wasn’t going to last much longer. When I had my car in for service in late May I though about getting it replaced then. I decided not to since I was already spending so much money and thought it would be easier to afford later.

This week my water pump finally went out. I really couldn’t afford the expense of fixing it now any easier than I could in May so that logic was faulty. I was lucky that it went out when I was near home and I was able to drive it to a close by repair shop without it overheating. Although this repair shop has reasonable rates it was still more than I would have paid to have it fixed in the small town shop I was at in May. If I would have had to pay towing fees or missed work this could have been even more expensive. This is a case where being cheap was not the frugal choice.

I think I have learned my lesson on this one. While I had my car in I had them replace the timing belt and leaking valve cover gasket as well. The gasket was needing replacement for a while and was costing me money by leaking oil. The timing belt in my car has never been changed and with my car having over 210,000 it was time to do so since the timing belt going out can ruin the engine. Now I just have to hope that my car keeps going long enough to justify the money I spent on the repairs and maintenance.