Comments on: Frugal Friday 19: Contentment

By: Top 25 Thrifty Ways to Go Green

Top 25 Thrifty Ways to Go Green — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 06:05:41 +0000

[...] 10) Learn to be content. You don’t need the latest gadget and gizmo to be happy. Accumulating things takes up room in your house, causes burdensome debt, and only leaves you longing for something bigger and better. Materialism is a barrier to contentment. [...]

By: Michelle Gartner

Michelle Gartner — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 06:11:22 +0000

I agree in this case about contentment- it’s very natural though for people to think the grass is greener on the other side. If only I had this, if only my husband was like…

I remember when I lived in an apartment for a long time- I thought if I had a house, I would be so much happier. Then God gave me a house and I went through a really rough period of time for 2 years right after. Did the house make me happy- not even close. In fact I looked back and longed for all the good times of the 3 prior years that were very good and happened to be in a cramped apartment. -Michelle

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 08:06:31 +0000

I agree this whole beat the neighbors mentality is stupid. I know two people who have no kids and live in a house with 20 (20!!) rooms. It drains money and earth resources. I know other families who want to have one parent home to be with the kids but say they can’t afford it but they have three TVs and four cars. Come on. It’s so lame. I work at home and unschool my son and I’m a single parent. But time with Cedar is far more important than shoes to me. I wish we had a little more but just enough to save some. Basically you really only need what you need with a little left over for fun and a bit to save not all this extra crap. Very good post – I totally agree.

By: Eric S. Mueller

Eric S. Mueller — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 01:37:40 +0000

My wife and I are by no means frugal, but we have made adaptations in our standard of living to accommodate her staying home with the kids. Our last three couches have come, respectively, from a thrift store, Craig’s List, and the side of the road. It just makes no sense to us to spend more than $1000 for a couch when the kids will destroy it within six months anyway, so we just take what we can find. We always buy our cars used and we keep our monthly payments at $200 a month or less. I’m driving a really nice car right now with leather seats and 4 wheel drive; we just bought it 5 years old and wouldn’t budge on the $200 financing cap. It’s possible to live well without living expensively, you just have to exercise wisdom (Proverbs is a good place to start).

By: Summer

Summer — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 14:26:29 +0000

We have some debt right now due to school loans. My husband gets a stipend that would be perfect for a single student but not for five people. Luckily the loans we’ve had to take out are relatively small and we will be able to pay it back quickly if we keeping beign smart.
We have really had to differentiate between wants and needs. We cancelled cable a while back, have started eating meals that may not be restaraunt worthy but they are cheap and nourishing and we’ve started handwashing our own laudnry to save the expense of the laundromat.

By: Suzanne

Suzanne — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 13:43:07 +0000

I struggle with want vs need frequently. It helps me to turn off the TV and not see what every new gizmo is. I live in an area ripe with over-priced everything and soccer moms galore. The competition amongst them is fierce and I just don’t even WANT to be in that atmosphere. I think the media showving all the new choices at us constantly, bombarding us, is affecting everything too much. But we, as wise consumers, can decide what we do with our money. It’s hard sometimes, resisting, sacrificing, doing without, being happy with what you have…

I have been trying to give up stuff. Do without. For the most part, I am doing it. But I slip up every once in a while.

Great srticle. Your site keeps me focused on my goal.

By: Susan

Susan — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 10:20:46 +0000

I’ve written about the same thing. Contentment is key. My definition of “rich” is “how content you are with what you have”. I know so many people who make tons of money and have a lot who talk like they are poor. But I also know people who make little money no few luxuries who feel incredibly rich.

Contentment. Something to strive for.