When you read the "about" tabs, you'll hear shout outs to God, thriftiness, hear terms like frugal, penny-pinchin, sensible (centsible), deal, and thrifty. You will read tales of woe, debt, job-loss, baby-deliverin', "I grew up with 10 siblings..." etc. You'll hear thoughts on frugal living so that everyone once you can splurge. They talk great stories, and maybe that's what works for a lot of people. But I have a few problems with these blogs, and these bloggers.
1st, at what cost does all this money saving come? You spend hours researching, clipping coupons, driving to different stores, etc. How much are you really saving? One woman claims that as of April 2008, her family has saved approximately $1500. Hmmmm, so about $1000 a year maybe? That's good, but not good enough. What she is leaving out is that on top of that, by blogging about these minute savings (I could save more just cutting out my satellite bill!) she is making more than an additional $1000 a year. That's what she wants you to think, right? That getting free things from the store is so cool? Because if you believe it, then she makes more money. Just saying.
Which brings me to point number 2. Just because it's free doesn't mean you need it....or even want it. I have seen a number of posts about shopping trips where the cost before coupons, rebates, etc. was high (let's say $130) and after, they only paid between $15 and $30. Well, that sounds great, right? But let's take a look: she's just bought 5 bottles of body wash that I think sucks. 3 bottles of laundry detergent that comsumer reports gives a half star (out of five, btw.) 10 glad plug-ins (who NEEDS 10????) If you need 10, you've got much bigger problems, people. Or five different types of tampons and pads......I don't know about you, but I only like one type of tampon and I only like one type of pad. Who cares if the crap pad is free - it's CRAP, so much so that you couldn't even pay me to wear them. I mean, maybe a certain brand of diapers are practically free (and you happen to know they leak like heck) who cares if they are only $.75......I'd rather pay $10 more dollars and not to have to be constantly changing my child's clothes and cleaning up, etc. I mean, at what point do you spend that savings on washing and cleaning and in time, frustration and stress??
Which brings me to point 2 and a 1/2. Because it's like #2 but has to do with food. Some bloggers have meal plans. They do grocery store matchups. And that's great. But I usually only want (sometimes) 1 item they have listed. I don't care if you can get Ramen noodles for $.1. I don't like Ramen, I don't eat Ramen, and I'm not about to start, just because I can get them for 1 penny. That's what it is for most of the stuff. So what if it has a coupon. I feel like my family eats pretty cheaply, but well. No, we don't have gourmet meals, but we aren't living on Ramen either. We have a budget. And we stick to it pretty closely. I shop deals. I peruse the ads and pick out what is on sale, and sometimes I base meals off of those sales. So while I don't scale it back like I live on welfare, I am also not spending as much as say, my mother-in-law, who goes to the grocery store every day.
It's these things that make me wonder what their way of life really is. Life is short - it should be lived to the fullest, every day. That doesn't mean you should go into debt, or spend every penny you earn. But my goodness - stop eating RAMEN!
p.s. The latin root for miserly is miser......which is also the latin root for miserable. Coincidence? I don't think so. And pinching? Sounds painful.
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