Frugal living is essentially about only a few things, it is amazing how we can take those few points and expand on them though for years and years of blog posts because each new day presents new challenges.

Step 1) “Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do” 
This saying was from WW2 days that pushed people to use what they have and leave more for the war effort. It is about using up what we have before buying more, wearing out clothing before we replace it and making what we already have work for us even longer. It is the thrifty persons mantra and the first step to being frugal for life.

Step 2) “Don’t be afraid” 
This means that you don’t want to be afraid of what others think or say. You don’t have to be afraid that you will end up penniless. You have been reading all this information in books and online and now you can put it into practice and know it has value. Don’t be afraid, jump right in and do it!


Step 3) “Less waste, more money”
Specifically the less you waste in energy/utilities, the more money you have at the end of the month. There are the easy things like turning out lights and turning off the faucet when you brush your teeth to more complicated issues of replacing old appliances or sealing up leaks around the house. Less waste brings more money in your pocket!

Step 4) “Do it yourself”
This includes cooking your own food, fixing something around the house or changing the oil. A step beyond cooking for yourself is to raise the food yourself as well. Sometimes the best satisfaction comes from doing it yourself no matter how long it may take.

Step 5) “Live on Less”
You can make 20,000 a year or 20 million a year but all these can be summed up by living on less. Less than what you make in money, less than what you think you need, less than what others think you need. Ultimately, saving that extra bit will help you in the future for the unexpected or as my dad commonly said, "It builds character." I do have to agree and say I that I've turned into quite the character!

Frugal living is not:
Living a life you dread waking up to
Thinking that money controls you
Feeling like you are carrying around a ball and chain

Frugal living is:
Knowing that you control the money
Seeing treasure in items and people around you
Using your mind to think creativity

“Most people have it all wrong about wealth in America. Wealth is not the same as income. If you make a good income each year and spend it all you are not getting wealthier. You are just living high. Wealth is what you accumulate, not what you spend.”

– from The Millionaire Next Door

Recently both Simple Dollar and Man vs Debt has articles on stopping kids from being crass consumers or keeping children frugal, both wonderful articles for those parents who are looking for inspiration in this media driven, advertiser soaked world around us. Of course I don't have children and I kinda wondered aloud, "what about me?" And then I realized I am still a child in some ways. Though I don't toss myself on the ground and bang my fists onto the carpet because I didn't get to go on vacation since all the money went to fixing the car - but the feeling are similar!

So let's combine the two and take a look at how we can make the child in us more consumer-proof:

Photo via young me/now me 
Turn Off or Limit Media
After reading through a variety of blogs where people talked about cutting out tv totally or limiting the amount of tv watched, they have spoken about the desire to buy, buy, buy had lessened as well and this led to an increase in their free time to get other things done around the house.

☺Baker said from Man vs Debt - "Your kids won’t crave the latest gadget"

Focus on People Not Stuff
Making yourself and others around you aware of the qualities you notice about someone and not the car they drive helps to emphasize to yourself and others that there is more to life than fluff but a substance that is deeper and lasts longer.

☺Trent stated in Simple Dollar - "I usually make it a point to identify – and usually try to point out – a good quality about a person when that person comes up in a family conversation."

Reinforce Quality of Life with Like Minds
I am not a carp trying to swim up hill, so why would I want to swim uphill by being around people who dwell on a materialistic view of the world around me? Instead I want to be around people who will add positively to a quality of life that is deeper than the clothes we wear.

☺Baker said from Man vs Debt - "You will find that your child has more fun playing with other kids who understand their type of play and can engage in it fully."

The Hard Work of Having Fun
Sometimes being frugal isn't so much fun for us, we just want to sit in the corner and sulk about all the belt tightening we have to do. There are ways to make a game out of saving money, whether it is a challenge with rewards or locating all the free stuff you can do in a 50 mile radius and start checking them off as you go through the summer.

 ☺Trent stated in Simple Dollar -"I don’t praise everything they do, but I strongly praise their effort in a positive direction, especially when that effort is producing a good result (like my son’s ongoing journey towards reading)"

Returning Gratitude and Value to Others
The things that we learn can be passed along to others who are searching by sharing our time or materials or by bringing attention to a way others can save based on our experience.

☺Baker said from Man vs Debt - "A great mind-shift can happen when we stop thinking about what we don’t have and begin thinking about how we can help others."
 ☺Trent stated in Simple Dollar - "It is nice to share, but you shouldn’t expect someone to always share what they have, and it’s a good idea to set a sharing example first."

I said I would keep you updated on how things are going along the layoff process at work. This also helps me organize my thoughts and the information I receive, so I appreciate your time.

Notification was sent around that those who made it to April 30th would receive a severance of 4 weeks (which would be taxed at the "gift rate" which is around 35-40%) as a lump sum check. Also, we found out this week that our annual reviews were finished and raises were given, most all of the people I spoke to got the most they had ever received from the company. These raises will get us through for the last 4 paychecks and final severance and of course will help if unemployment benefits is in the future.

The company has been doing a good job of trying not to leave us dangling but to be prepared. Last week they brought in HR people who spoke with who ever was interested in moving to other cities within the company. Some places have bonuses if you go to them, some do not and the bonuses appear to be available in those places where the turnover rate is highest and pay lowest.

Next week the company will be have a state representative come in and give a 2 hour meeting on the state's unemployment benefits and how the process works. Since I have never used unemployment, I signed up for that meeting right away.

This week they brought in a subsidiary company of Manpower, called Right Management and have paid them for two months of help for each employee that signs up with them. Right Management had a 90 minute meeting with us to go over what they do - They aren't a job placement company but instead help people tweak their resumes and interview skills so that they stand out among the crowd.

I know I need help with my interview skills and I'm not a young chicken any longer, I have years of clucking experience so I want to make sure I am appealling to whomever I peck at. :)

Really quickly here are some comments that stood out from the meeting:
- 4 out of 10 interviewees respond with a thank you card or email after the interview is over
- 80% percent of resumes don't include the person's accomplishments 
- Most interviewees have no focused answer to the statement, "tell me about yourself" 
- If you are fired from a job, always tell the truth and practice what you want to say
- If you are laid off from a job, give the business reasons, don't get personal

The biggest part of the meeting was just getting comfortable with talking about our accomplishments. We had to go around the room and give our name and title and then talk about something we are proud of and where we want to go into the future. We are trained (especially woman) to not talk about ourselves, to be humble and just do our job. When we were asked to look over our professional life or personal life it is hard to think of something we are proud of. I noticed most of the men in the room thought of something professional, and most of the women thought of something personal. Just interesting, that's all.

One of the items the speaker mentioned about finding out what our accomplishments was to think about all the times we have been challenged and those are our accomplishments. Those times we have saved the day or simply made someone happy.
Challenge + Action +Results = Accomplishments

And in answer to that statement, "Tell me about yourself", we want to answer with a 30-60 second 'commercial' about ourselves.
Most recently (background)....
I am best known (accomplishments)...
My next step is (future goals with company)...

This isn't going to be something that is done for us, from here on out we have to go over our yearly reviews and keep our eyes open to challenges that will help jog our memory so we can get a list of accomplishments on the ready. The speaker suggested we keep a notepad handy to jot these situations down or save a word file. Recently I saw that Lifehacker put out a post on Setting Up a Praise Folder to Track Successes for Performance Reviews, Resume Boosts, so I made sure to tag that post for reference.

I think the best part about the meeting with Right Management was that it gave me hope, there are improvements that I can make which will market my product (me) better. Of course whether that is working for someone else or someday working for myself, what I learn through this will certainly help in the future.

 

Billboard courtesy of Adam UXB Smith