Sunday we went to the house of one of the families in our home group. It's a bit of a challenge to get everyone together at once, as one of the guys works unusual hours and a couple of us live a fair distance from the church, so we're settling on Sunday afternoon.
The deal today was “bring your lunch” since the family was still moving into the house.
So, we brought our lunch — some fruit, a box of macaroni and cheese, a small container of milk and butter to make the macaroni and cheese, a saucepan (in case their pots weren't unpacked yet), some kielbasa that we could heat up in the microwave, and some more food for our daughter.
Pretty much everyone else had picked up fast food food on the way.
I'm not saying this to say how wonderfully frugal we are for bringing lunch fixings to prepare a low-cost meal, or to say how the rest of the families in our homegroup are spendthrifts. I'm just saying that I noticed.
I notice also a guy at work who brings his own water every day. I pay a small fee to be part of a water club because the tap water at our work has tested pretty bad in the past, and it's nice to have the convenience of hot water for tea. I could bring my own water from home I suppose, but one guy does it every day.
Maybe it's just a personal finance blogger thing that alerts me to frugal behavior in other people. I do think that frugality will stage a comeback as people's budgets are crowded by higher prices and a sputtering job market, and so people will notice their own spending behaviors, as well as others'.
Do you notice frugality in others?
I notice lack of frugality in others more and more now… and often have to bite my tongue.
I notice people bringing their own lunch, but I don't assume that they are being frugal. I'm very conscious of setting price limits on things so that everyone can afford them.
I have to agree with SpillingBuckets. Frugality often goes unnoticed by me but I always notice people that must go out and get coffee every morning and must go out to get lunch in the afternoon. I also notice some of the younger people that are just getting started in their career and had to buy that expensive car instead of a decent one with a much lower cost of ownership.
Getting in the habit of Frugality is like other areas of success. First, figure out WHY you want to be Frugal. In the example of eating out (which is often my biggest expense), it's good to think about what you're gaining long term and not focus on the short term. If you keep your BIG goal in mind, the little stuff doesn't matter as much. Plus, it's more healthy to pack your own lunch.
Yes.
I have just moved from a very frugal work environment to a not-very frugal work environment. I feel a great deal of peer pressure to go out to lunch . . . which would kill our budget. It is a struggle.
I tend to notice both frugality and lack of frugality. I always try to say something encouraging to people when I notice their frugality (when appropriate, of course!).
I beleive that frugal people take notice of others around them in order to find more ways to save. Wouldn't it be great if our government was more frugal?
Like others, I'm more likely to notice spending. I almost assume frugality…if that makes sense. So at work, for instance, my mind doesn't really latch on when a coworker brings their lunch. But when they get delivery or takeout, I always think "Heh, that's X hours of work." But my brain doesn't tend to judge when it registers that, because I assume that they'd pack a lunch if they wanted something else or if they couldn't afford it.
Probably a dumb assumption given the current consumer culture, but it's not my business to think otherwise unless they want to discuss PF with me.
I notice frugality and spendthrifts, now that I'm hyper-aware of both.
I think it's a lot like dieting – when you're watching what you eat, you notice the guy next to you orders something deep fat fried.
I have noticed a lot of fast food sandwiches at a soup-and-sandwich dinner series I attend every year.
This dinner is "bring your own" sandwich, with soup provided by the church ladies.
Our family always has handmade sandwiches. In addition to the money situation, it probably took more time to wait in line at the restaurant then bring what we are eating.
From my point of view, it seems that thriftiness was left behind with the turn of the century, but maybe is due to changes in our lifestyles that we have not time to stop for a moment to reflect on how frugality takes place in our every day activities.
Is it just me or does Frugal have a negative connotation? It should not.
I don't notice frugal choices. How do you really know if somebody's choice is frugal unless you know this person's circumstances?
In early 2000s I was planning a vacation in Italy with someone from work. I thought it would be easy because we were earning about the same, I was earning a bit less. To my surprise my co-worker wanted to make considerably cheaper hotel choices, and mine were pretty reasonable. Then I learned that my co-worker had just lost a lot of money on the stock market by trading on margin and was worried about the margin call. After that the choice didn't seem frugal at all: going on vacation while being in debt isn't a frugal choice. She ended up not going it all – she really wanted to but realized that it wasn't reasonable to spend money.
Just as someone may be poorer than you think, someone else may be richer than you think. Do you really know that your neighbor doesn't have a nice trust fund?
Additionally frugal choices aren't necessarily made for reasons of "frugality". I would've also brought something I cooked and it would've been a nice home-made meal, not something from the box. Yes, I don't particularly like wasting money, but I also happen to prefer my own cooking. Not to mention that I've been struggling to maintain my weight since I turned 30, so I don't eat fast food at all. My former manager always brought his own lunches to work: he has multiple food allergies. Another former manager used to bring home-made meals made by his wife who took some cooking classes.
So unless you really know other people reasons and finances, you don't really know if they are making frugal choices or not.
At my job I am known as being "good" because I always bring my lunch and my co-workers typically go out to buy their lunch. Luckily, there is no pressure to eat out but it is definitely noticed that I don't do this.
I do get pressure from a friend who encourages me to spend more because "you have to live". I'm trying to save more so have been modifying my spending habits of late. I didn't expect my new frugalness to be perceived negatively – I am totally enjoying myself with this so thought everyone would want to join in. Not!
There's a water club at my workplace, too, and quite a few people participate (myself included). Some are being frugal, some just dislike the funky taste of the stuff that comes out of our water fountains. $5.00/month for bottled water is pretty reasonable to me, simply because I drink a lot of water and because I figure the environment will be better off without my contributing to the little plastic bottle problem. All the same, there's a pitched battle raging between the water club members and the "water rustlers" who surreptitiously fill up their without paying the monthly dues, then have the gall to brag that they're being "frugal." "Dishonest and thieving" is more like it.
Quite a few people at my workplace brown bag their lunches, as do I. Those who do eat out tend to go in groups and call it a working lunch. I don't know if anyone notices and disapproves — or approves, for that matter. It's just one of those things, I guess.