Frugality: A Gateway Virtue

I love our landlords. They are the cutest older retired couple and the husband loves to drop by and trim our hedges or plant new flowers in our yard. We tell him over and over that while we appreciate it, he doesn't have to do that. His response is usually something like, "I didn't have anything else to do today!". One day while he was over we started talking about restaurants in our new town. He said that he and a group of his friends usually go out to eat for lunch once a week. He pointed out that they always use a coupon and then he laughed and said, "People try to tell me I'm frugal. I tell them, no I'm not, I'm cheap!"

I've been couponing for a few years now and I can honestly say that I do not worry about looking cheap or poor or any of those other things. In fact, I feel a sense of pride that I am able to save my family so much money and the more I think about it, the more I feel like trying to be more frugal leads to more virtuous attributes.

The first one I can think of is self reliance. I remember when we first moved to Tampa for my husband to finish graduate school. We were living off of student loans and my meager salary as an intern at the University. I remember feeling so blessed that we weren't too stressed over finances. Because of using coupons and having a "use what we have" mentality, we didn't feel like poor college students. I am so glad that we didn't have to go into any more debt than was necessary, especially now that we are in the "paying off student loan" phase of our lives!

Another virtue linked to frugality is patience. From my experience, you cannot be the type of person who wants to buy something exactly when you want it and still save a lot of money consistently. You have to be able to take time to research your options, plan your shopping trip, and be willing to wait for a sale if you can. My husband has definitely come a long way in this department. When we first met, if he saw something he wanted he went and bought it almost immediately. Now, I am happy to say, I have rubbed off on him! Now he checks around, looks for a coupon, and then comes to ask me if what he wants is in our budget and we both brainstorm a way for him to get it.

I really can go on and on, but I guess my point is I feel that couponing and having a general attitude of frugality has really blessed my life and I think that it has made me a better person. I feel much more confident in my ability to manage my family's household and that has brought me a lot of peace, especially since I just made the transition to being a stay at home mom who doesn't bring in any income.