Why I Save Money
Growing up in a family of 8, you learn the joys of coupon clipping and hand-me-down wearing at an early age. As a kid, I vowed never to deprive my children in this manner. As an adult, I consider myself practical where money is concerned. I don’t really consider myself frugal, or cheap. I just think it’s wise to save money.
My husband and I have a mortgage, but no other debt. We never had credit card balances (well there was my first year with plastic, but that’s all just a tragic memory), we don’t feel the need to keep up with the Joneses, but we don’t deprive ourselves either. We learned to do without the things we don’t need in order to have the things we want. Sounds funny, I know. Frugalists are supposed to be those who only buy what they need, right? Well we do that too.
We save money because we know the importance of saving money. We’re looking for a new house and the almighty credit score is very important to us, as is a decent down payment. We’re interested in paying as little mortgage as possible. We would like to fix up our current house and also save money for our son’s college education. We need clothes and food and shin guards and cleats and lunch box treats. To us that’s worth borrowing movies from the library or looking for free neighborhood events.
We save money for a rainy day. As a freelance writer, I learned that my business is feast or famine. My husband has a very good job, but you never know what can happen. We want to know we can take of our family if one of the “God forbids” happens.
I know there are plenty of people who won’t spend money because they believe anything that isn’t a necessity is wasteful. I disagree with that. I feel everyone needs to have fun once in a while, and we should all splurge on something we don’t need now and again. I don’t believe in high credit card bills, eating lunch in a restaurant every day, or negative account balances. I’ve never bounced a check or missed a payment, and hope this will always be the case.
I save because to me it’s the responsible thing to do, if I want my son to pick up responsible habits, it’s best for him to learn by our example. I save so I don’t have to be frugal.
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POSTED IN: Simple Pleasures, Simpler Thinking
8 opinions for Why I Save Money
Jennifer
Sep 3, 2007 at 6:03 pm
This is a great post. It’s all the same reasons I save when I can — but I don’t believe in never spending any extra either. It is good for kids to learn about money at an early age too. Good one.
Susan
Sep 4, 2007 at 5:08 am
you make it sound like frugality is a bad word! I must make my claim to fame on the basis of frugality — mainly because of necessity. I do not have a husband that makes “good money” he is an unskilled worker in a warehouse — enough earnings that with frugality and second hand store purchases to make ourselves able to purchase a townhouse — not a single family home. I sew for my family, I crochet for my family, I make gifts, I don’t know what it is like to walk along the street carrying a Tommy Hilfigure bag or a Gap t-shirt, I wear fake Crocs, and whenever anyone offers me something free, I take it and find a way to use it — but I too have money in the bank! A couple of quarters hidden in drawers add up to dollars, in a year $200 in the bank over all the expenses is a great feeling! in 10 years, $10,000 is practically a nest egg!
There’s nothing wrong with being frugal — oh and just cause you try to teach your children about money and the way to handle it, doesnt mean they will — I have grown son’s, one is like his father but is able to treat himself to a trip each year, the other has the education and a professional type career and claims to never have a spare penny…
Deborah Ng
Sep 4, 2007 at 5:54 am
Hi Susan,
I hope you weren’t offended by my post. I don’t believe being frugal is a bad thing, though I believe everyone has their own ideas about saving money and what it means.
For the record, I make my own gifts, I crochet and bake and look for crafts. For Christmas everyone gets a bag filled with homemade treats. I don’t wear names on my chest, because I think they should pay me for the advertising and I don’t dress in designer clothes.
I believe in recycling, reusing and freecycling.
I don’t believe in being so extreme with my frugality that my family misses out on some good things, here and there. Now, mind you, I don’t run out and make impulse purchases. All of our extras are things that took some time to save up for.
I put away money each month so I could buy my husband a smoker for the back yard, and he did the same to buy me deck furniture for my birthday. These aren’t what many consider necessary purchases, but we wanted them and cut out things we feel unnecessary so we can have them.
I just don’t believe in depriving myself to save money.
marye
Sep 4, 2007 at 11:19 am
Excellent. This is my point of view as well. Unfortunately my husband needs an intervention. :/
I am in control of my money, in that I choose what to spend money on. I really love excellent coffee and when I owned a tea room I had a local roaster create a custom blend. I Still buy it for my personal use..I COULD get Folgers and save some money on it but I choose to shop at the local thrift stores and pay the extra for my good coffee. Like everything, thrift is knowing that you can’t have it all and choosing the things that are most important.
Susanna a.k.a. Cheap Like Me
Sep 4, 2007 at 4:58 pm
Fantastic post! You express it so well.
That’s what life is all about … finding the security to be able to enjoy yourself — at whatever level.
Lela Davidson
Sep 5, 2007 at 7:20 pm
Exactly - the thriftiness in one area pays for the splurge in another. It’s all about priorities and values. We rarely eat in restaurants, but when we do we try to make it count. Skip the fast food a few times and the family can spend some quality time over a nice meal. Thanks for the great post.
Kimberly
Sep 9, 2007 at 5:07 pm
This is an excellent post… I agree saving is important and I do love a good/free deal but I never deprive myself if there is something I really want even if that means I “throw” a little money away.
Frugal Momma
Sep 17, 2007 at 5:14 am
Deb We are in pretty similar situations however we had debt that I did pay off. My husband too makes decent money and I do internet marketing and writing to make extra to pay for the extras. I don’t feel a need to keep up with the jones either. I want to feel secure.
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