Is Being Frugal Worth It?

Frugality is simply the practice of looking for the less expensive alternatives. Frugality doesn’t have to mean being a scrooge or living without comfort. Is it really worth the time and effort you put into things like homemade cleaners and clipping coupons?

Search the Sunday paper for coupons and clip them out. Make a list of things on sale that you can stock up on in order to get your average cost down. Plan and run a route of four stores in order to get everything where it is the cheapest. Total extra time spent: three hours. Now, save sixty dollars. This translates into twenty dollars an hour-a pretty good deal, don’t you think?

Sometimes the small stuff is the big stuff, especially when it is repeated over and over. This is why it makes sense to save money on groceries. They are something you buy every week. Saving sixty dollars every week or two adds up over time. How you do it makes a difference though.

For example, suppose you don’t want to clip coupons or spend time looking at sales flyers. Why not invest just an hour or two to figure out which store is cheapest for the things you buy? Then shop only there, and buy more of the things you use and like when they are on sale. You might still save $20 per week, with no additional investment of time. That’s a $1,000 per year!

You need to sit down and decide how much time you have to spend on your efforts. If you do this and then figure out what your yearly savings can be, you will have a much clearer idea of how you want to proceed. It will also give you encouragement on those days when it feels you are missing out on something.