The Frugal Things that You Can’t put in a Shopping Basket

There is a strange contradiction at the heart of modern frugality. We are constantly surrounded by advice about how to spend less, yet so much of that advice still involves buying something. We are told to buy a reusable version, order in bulk, get something second hand, or buy the cheapest brand.  Maybe we are told that a slow cooker or an electric blanket will save us money on our energy bills.  Perhaps an extra freezer would save us money by storing home grown food.  However, you still have to buy the thing that will supposedly save you money in the long run.

None of these are necessarily bad ideas. However, sometimes I wonder whether we’ve made frugality too much about shopping. The deepest kind of frugality isn’t really about finding cheaper things., it is about needing fewer things in the first place.  I think it is about making the most of what you already have

The question changes. Instead of asking, “What can I buy that will save me money?”, perhaps we should occasionally ask, “What could I learn, practis,e or change so that I don’t need to spend money here at all?”

When I asked  that, it meant learning  new skills.  I found a number of meals that I could make that we liked that didn’t cost much.  Instead of buying new recipe books I would go to the library or look on YouTube.  Over the years I changed my garden and learnt to grow food. Foraging, and finding free food, meant that I could spend less and still get all the nutrition that I needed.   I didn’t need to be an expert as I knew what apples, wild garlic, and blackberries looked like. The next thing was to learn to preserve everything to keep me out of the supermarkets during the winter. Learning to mend a piece of clothing rather than replacing it, or even sew on a button was another skill. I became the sort of person who checks the freezer and the cupboards before going to the supermarket., and now spend very little there.

The next change was becoming comfortable with not being entertained.  I didn’t carry money with me every time I went out.  I stopped going to the shops weekly to do a large shop.  Friends came for a meal or a drink rather than meeting at a restaurant.  Usually though, most of my friends just came for a walk and a catchup, or hug.

To do anything else, except on a special occasion, almost sounds absurd to me now. As a society we have become accustomed to filling every quiet moment with something that costs money: a coffee while we’re out, a subscription at home, shopping online, a meal because we’re bored,  down streaming a film, an activity because the weekend feels empty.  Boredom has become expensive, but it doesn’t need to be.  There are so many free options.

Perhaps one of the least discussed benefits of a simple life is that  eventually you discover that quite a lot of what you once thought you needed, was really just something you had become accustomed to buying. The result isn’t necessarily a smaller life. It can actually be a much bigger one. You have more skills, more confidence, more time, and more tolerance for inconvenience.  You also have more ability to make do and more reasons to use what you already have. Quietly, you become a little harder to sell things to. That may be one of the best financial advantages of all.  What do you think?