Frugal Living and Affiliated Concepts

The concept of frugal living, for me, is contained within a certain philosophy of life. Spending more than you earn has many unintended consequences that go far beyond not being able to pay your Visa bill. It also takes a serious toll on the quality of your life. There are many creative alternatives to "retail therapy" that can add a new dimension to your life and make you much happier.

One of my heroes, Henry David Thoreau, proposed in his famous Walden that it was possible to live comfortably on the income that one could produce in one month. As an experiment he did exactly that, and Walden came into being. Walden is a recounting of Thoreau's living alongside a massive lake in Massachusetts for a year's time. Between fishing, building his house and tending his modest garden, he read works of antiquity, wrote, listened and watched the myriad movements of nature and conversed with the rare visitor for hours on philosophy, writing and life.

I think one of the biggest problems society currently faces is, quite simply, boredom. We live in a society where practically everything is done for us - all of our possessions are made by someone other than ourselves. We can go for months on end without ever having to cook a meal, clean our home or write a check to pay a bill. This is a good thing, right? Frees up our time; our energy; our life. But the fallout from this inactivity is a sense of not being grounded, or, at the very worst, a deep-down nagging sense of worthlessness.

Walden pinpointed for me all of my thoughts on frugal living and how to sustain oneself in society. As my own exercise in self-sufficiency, I decided I would learn how to make one category of my personal possessions and to achieve mastery over that craft. The craft I decided to pursue was jewelry. I took a beginning jewelry-making class, and since then my hobby has taken on a life of its own. What I love most about my craft is that I am now able to make a gift for someone that is perfectly tailored to that individual, and on a moment's notice. It sure beats prowling the local department store the night before, spending much more than I ever intended to, and giving a gift that is not really suited (and possibly insulting) to the recipient.

You can do this, too. Pick a type of craft you really love and get exceptionally good at it. It could be making beer, barbecue sauce, jewelry, ceramics - whatever you love to do. When people start dropping hints about what they'd like for their next gift - i.e., "my birthday is next week - made any barbecue sauce lately?" you will know that you have clearance to proceed. And you will significantly boost your self-esteem when you are able to boast that the gift of barbecue sauce is indeed one of your creations, lovingly nuanced with your own special concoctions of spices.

I like to think that Thoreau would have approved of this approach. I have wonderful dreams of my neighbors wearing clothing their friends made, sitting on furniture lovingly hand-crafted by relatives, enjoying barbecued ribs graced with their coworker's barbecue sauce and sipping beer brewed by their significant other. I don't believe this makes me a Marxist - just someone who thinks that we need to infuse our surroundings and lives with more of ourselves and less of Ralph Lauren, for instance. If you really enjoy Ralph Lauren, that's something else entirely. But if you don't, he's taking space from someone or something else that could really enhance your life.

I also think it's time to take some of the action away from Macy's and bring it back into our own homes. The biggest price we pay for carrying debt on our credit cards isn't lack of freedom, stress or poverty in our golden years. The real price is having to drinking a beer that some beer executive thinks is good, as opposed to a beer brewed especially for us, that is so good it makes us run down the middle of the street singing show tunes. Or wearing a piece of jewelry that is anything less than spectacular. Every moment of our lives should be filled with love from others, and love given to others. And this is a good place to start.

Happy Frugal Living to You!