5 Tips For Beating Frugal Burnout
If you're new to this whole being-responsible-with-your-money-thing, you may occasionally hit bumps in the road where you feel like all of your motivation is gone.
Heck, even seasoned frugal people sometimes feel like throwing in the towel (I often want to buy everything in the grocery store or order a pizza instead of cooking dinner!).
So, here's a short and sweet list of ways to re-inspire yourself and keep heading down the right track.
1. Think about the future
If you only think about right now, you're probably going to mismanage your money. Plan for the future, make financial goals and plans, and review them frequently.
If you remember that you're trying to save up for a vacation next year, you might not order that pizza, or if you remember that you're trying to pare down so you can quit your job and stay home, you might forgo that dress/pair of shoes/tool/movie ticket.
2. Hang out with frugal savers
I've said it before, but the power of positive peer pressure is amazing. If you can find someone who has a good attitude about saving money, hang out with them! It'll help you not to feel all gloomy about saving and will help you not to feel alone.
If you're surrounded by nothing but spenders in real life, read some frugal blogs! I'm a dyed-in-the-wool frugal girl, and I still find myself being inspired and encouraged by other money saving blogs.
3. Don't deprive yourself of everything
Unless you're in truly desperate straits, don't take away every single bit of fun spending in your life. See if you can budget in a little bit of fun money, even if all you can manage is a $2 ice cream cone every week.
4. Don't do everysinglefrugalactivitypossible
Again, unless it's absolutely, positively necessary, don't feel like you've got to employ every last frugal technique you read about.
If you absolutely hate painting, don't guilt yourself into redoing Goodwill furniture.
If you don't have time to make yogurt, don't fret.
5. Remind yourself of overspending consequences
I'm all for being positive, but sometimes what we need is a good reality check.
If you find yourself wanting to run out and spend willy-nilly, think over the consequences of that (credit card debt, interest, delays in reaching savings goals, inability to pay bills).
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What would you add to this list?
Love all your tips! Also remembering how much I do have I find always helps me. It may not seem like I have a lot compared to your average middle-class American, but when I compare to people that barely have enough to eat, I realize that I'm very blessed and have way more than I need.
By the way, one of the reasons I read your blog is because it helps keep me inspired to do frugal stuff! 🙂
I get a bit burned-out on cooking. I don't care for recreational shopping, and have all that I need in the house, but the continuing effort of planning, preparing and cooking has worn thin. To make the task a little more social, I started a cooking blog. Now I have a reason to take my time and go through every step properly! No one is going to read a "buying pizza" blog.
I think of you, though, every time I have to set up a food photo. I ask myself, "How would Kristen show this?" Thanks for the inspiration.
I'd like to ditto #3. It's like dieting -- if you deny yourself everything "bad" then you end up binging and can undo all the good you've done. You have to have a "splurge", figure out what's important to you and include it in your budget! If you can't resist gourmet foods, new clothes or shoes, or going to the movies then be sure to make that a part of your normal spending. Cut back elsewhere to make it happen.
When I start to get fed up with being frugal I sit down and remind myself of what's important in my life, which for me is staying home with my kids. All those sacrifices are worth it to be with them. I'm very lucky to have a good support system of family and friends. They don't judge me if I don't have the latest handbag or if I dress my kids in consignment clothes. And I ditto Katy, the sacrifices we make are NOTHING compared to what some families have to go through. I have a nice home with A/C and heat, my kids are well fed, and we are a family who loves each other very much. We are very, very blessed.
I think the hardest thing for my husband and I is #2. We know very few people who embrace a frugal lifestyle...
That is something I can sympathize with. I don't have a lot of personal friends whom I regularly hang out with but many of the people I associate with are downright spendthrifts. Many of my in-laws are constantly jet-setting on big vacations or buying the newest iPhone or Coach bag or new car.
The flipside is that it's also easy to get a superiority complex and feel judge the people around you for not "living right." At the end of the day, you have to do what's best for you and your family and forget the others.
I understand #2 totally. I am frugal in a lot of ways but I am fixing up my house and it has caused me to overbudget in that category so what I did this payday was cut back on the nonessential budget categories to make up for the overbudget one.
So one of the categories that I cut out this payday was going out to eat on Fridays with my friend at work, and when I told her why she got upset with me and told me that I didn't overspend in the eating out on Friday instead it was in the other categories that I overspent and she was still going out. Oh well! I know what I am doing is best for myself and my money so I am not going to let her comment get me down.
Also, having long range plans is the best because you know what you are working for and when you will reach those goals!
Correction: "my husband and me."
Love your blog..thank you for all the wonderful tips!!:)
Excellent! Having a specific, much-desired goal in mind is a very useful anti-spendy tool!
I would add to the list that, if you fall down, get back up.
It's okay to make a mistake, and it's NOT ok to overly beat yourself up over it. Take the lesson and learn from it, starting just as soon as you can.
Someone earlier compared being frugal to being on a diet, and it's true. If I eat a snickers today...oh well. I did. I'm certainly not going to regurgitate (sp) it for the sake of calories. I'll take that lesson and learn from it, or maybe instead of eating the whole king size (ahem), maybe a mini will do.
And that bring be to another point. If being frugal is a brand new lifestyle, take baby steps. Try and make a habit of one thing and then add one more thing, etc. It was so much easier for me (and my family) to try one generic item than for me to bring home a whole cart of "no name" items.
I'm having a heart attack from finding out that ice cream cones are $2! I haven't bought one in so long that I was completely unaware of that price tag. I remember 75 cent cones...
I agree that one needs to hang out with others who embrace frugal living. To me, it's like being a Christian - I do better at it when I spend time with others who are doing it. It helps me to stay focused.
I like to tell people that when I was a kid (and this was in the mid to late 80s) my dad would take us to the local liquor/convenience store (there was a dividing wall and children weren't allowed to go in the sinful side, of course) and we'd get Hersey's popsicles for all of 5 cents! It makes me feel old to see 50 cent or higher popsicles.
I live in British Columbia, and ice cream cones here are around $4. Very expensive place to live, but oh so pretty.
I think the worth frugal enemy is my own desires: I want this, I want that, I need that.
But I shouldn't be surprised. 🙂
I have trouble with that too. I've started thinking in terms of how many hours would I have to work for item X, and that really helps me prioritize. It's all psychological, since it's not like I'm going to get a second job to buy it, but when I think about it in terms of how long I'd be at my desk job (which I don't particularly enjoy), it puts it into perspective.
I definitely agree with #3/Leanne that it's fine to plan for a splurge every now and then. Most Friday nights, we have a frozen pizza for dinner. Is it cheaper and healthier to make it myself? Yes, but I've usually made fairly healthy dinners every other night, so I don't beat myself up over it. It also means less dishes for the husband to wash, and he appreciates that. Also, I've found that if I'm going to make a lot of our food from scratch, it's best to set them up on a staggered schedule - make a batch of yogurt one weekend, marinara sauce the next, flour tortillas after that, etc. If we run out of all our homemade staples all at once, it's pretty intimidating to think I have to make ALL THAT FOOD in one weekend, and I'm much more likely to just buy it at the grocery store.
I would also recommend reading this blog daily!
Number four is a big one that needs to be emphasized to prevent scaring people away. I bake my own bread from scratch (using a no-knead sourdough recipe from Alton Brown) but in the long run that doesn't really save us all that much from buying bread from the bakery. You're much better off finding a better rate on your car insurance
I think what makes this blog special isn't that it has the "hey you can do X, Y and Z to save money" but shows that a "frugal lifestyle" (if such a thing exists) is not a life of poverty or one where you constantly deprive yourself of the pleasures of life.
I often want to just have something new - new furniture, new decorations, new clothes, etc. I am trying to re-fashion alot of things that I want new as opposed to buying things. Like I want new art work in my living room so instead of buying a framed print, I am using some old paint in my house (from other projects) and I bought a set of two white canvases for cheap. DIY new art work!
Thanks for inspiring us!
I definitely try to stay future-minded. For me, one of my most important goals in life is to retire early, so I try to think of every skipped full price movie ticket or dinner out is a day of my life I don't have to work!
Jessie, I can't begin to tell you how awesome I think that is. Just the motivation I need to redouble my retirement efforts!!!
Awesome post-especially mentioning the positive peer pressure. This summer has been a bit of a struggle with the house in such an uproar but having my cheering section has helped enormously. I shudder to think what I would have spent in the past.
For me, staying on the frugal track has been about really embracing the frugal activities that I enjoy, while relaxing a bit on stuff that I hate doing. For example, I love hanging the laundry to dry, finding cheap fun activities and shopping at thrift stores. However, I am not a big fan of completely avoiding restaurant meals. So I allow myself to eat out occasionally, with a general rule to not eat food that I can make at home, which translates into foreign restaurant eating.
I am always amazed at people who splurge on expensive hamburgers or pasta.
Katy
The one that kills me is folks who order oatmeal when out for breakfast. Not my idea of a splurge for breakfast, but maybe they love oatmeal more than anything!
Or they just can't cook it. I've never been able to properly cook oatmeal, grits, polenta, or rice.
For rice, I now use a cooker, but it doesn't work for the others....
A word of encouragement for those new to frugal living. It takes time to develop an all out frugal mindset. Start small and add more and more frugal ideas as you go along. There will come a time when your will find it harder to do a non-frugal thing than the frugal alternative. Slow & steady wins the race.
And sometimes you find that frgual habits turn into preferred habits--I like the taste of homemade yogurt better, like that I can make vanilla with less sugar, and I like that it cuts down on the waste of plastic containers. I use the crockpot method so it doesn't require a lot of hands on time. Haven't been as successful with bread, yet. A nice loaf of como from the bakery is way better than my bread. I agree with Megan that fs you get in a schedule where you stagger your homemade cooking, things go much more smoothly.
If you're stuck on a habit, it's worth some time to analyze. Had a hard time breaking the going out to lunch on workdays habit, but when I thought about it I realized it wasn't the restaurant food I was craving, but a break from work. Now I take my sandwich or leftovers from home, and if I need a break I go eat it in a park or at the beach. Not quite as frugal as eating in the back room, since I drive a little to get away, but totally worth it in terms of a sanity break, and way cheaper than eating out.
I'm pushing 50, so I may be older than some of your other readers, but I find it helps me to think about the options my Mother or Grandmother would have had in my situation. If they could do it, then so can I. Lately, I am so struck with the availability of ready-made food - either restaraunts, vending machines or convenience food at the grocery. I'm a single mom of two teens, so ready-made food has unfortunately become second nature and I find that I don't do as well at having made-from-scratch alternatives available. So, I tend to make a game or a challenge of whatever my current focus may be - in this case having convenient, but still made-from-scratch food available for our busy family. It's really changing my shopping habits and pre-cook habits and I'm finding it challenging and fun. That and trying to reduce food waste has resulted in some interesting "meals".
I find it really rejuvinating to do something that reminds me I can "live the good life, cheaply." For example, packing a luxurious picknic to take to a park with an amazing view of the sunset. Luxurious = making rosemary lemonade and packing it in a glass flip top bottle that I re-use and brining along whatever other yummy home-made food I would normally have made for a boring dinner inside. It's a great time and even better when you think about what it would cost to dine at a restaurant with a similar view.
Love your comment!
I think it's important to not think of being frugal as a sacrifice. For me it's a fun and challenging game...getting things for free, cheap, on sale, etc. What's funny is my mom seems to think we are dirt poor, when really I am making an active choice to get things used or discounted. Finances are definitely the main reason for being frugal but I also do it for social and environmental reasons...too much waste in this country.
I think all of your tips are great as well as the comments people have left. It's important to get back up if you fall down. I also think it's important to recognize when you've hit a goal. When my husband and I pay off another debt, we are both so pleased about it that it motivates us to keep going. We don't recognize it financially but we both do a little dance and smile a lot all day.
Also wanted to add that having spendthrift friends can be a bonus to frugal people if you are not embarrassed to ask for their hand me downs, I have never paid for a TV...am still driving a hand me down vehicle, get tons of toys-clothing-furniture-housewares. They don't want to be bothered with a yard sale and what I can't use I sell or donate(as opposed to ending up in the dump)...win-win for everyone.
I took early retirement at 60 three years ago, so am living on less than half the income I had before. BUT I did get the house and car paid off before I retired, did do capital investment on my garden space, did build up some savings for home improvement. I love working in my large garden and really enjoy all the food I put up all through the winter. We have funds for the travelling we love to do (about eight weeks of the year) and eat well. Eating out we do with WagJag and Groupon (they help with the travel budget too), but maybe twice a month at most. We find our biggest relaxant is getting out of the house and out of town for a while -- our latest cheap date was a to gallery's First Friday in another town with live music, art exhibits, and a shared $5 Subway sandwich! It was a gorgeous summer evening and just a real wind-down from our usual summer projects.
Maybe it's because I'm a child of the 80's and 90's, but the thing that trips me up sometimes with a frugal lifestyle is boredom. Young adults in my generation find it very difficult to entertain themselves without spending money. So usually when I'm feeling frustrated with frugality, I take a step back and realize that I'm just bored and need to find ways to have fun with it. I read books, I'm learning to sew, and I even wrote a whole Bible study--all because I wasn't wasting my time at the mall or movie theater.
Sometimes, being frugal is finding a less expensive way. Rather than paying $10 per ticket to see a movie, you go to the second run theater or rent a movie with friends. Go to a free concert in the park rather than paying to go to a club. See community theater rather than going to a more expensive professional show. There are lots of ways to find inexpensive entertainment. It's all about thinking about side the box.
Some days I don't know what I want, but I bet I'm going to want money when I get there, so I probably shouldn't spend it all today.
I love this comment! So very true. 🙂
Hmm, trying to think of a good tip and the only thing I can come up with is to find frugal activities that are easy or that you really enjoy doing. It is silly, but I totally enjoyed making homemade laundry detergent, and it was super easy to do.
Oh, I have another one: Don't set yourself up for failure. For example, I love dessert, and sometimes when menu planning, I won't plan for making any baked goods thinking "It will be more frugal if we just stick to meal items." Then later in the week, I end up going back to the grocery store to buy the item, and usually I'll end up spending more and getting more than if I had made realistic plans in the first place.
I hope that helps someone-I'm new to the frugal world, so I still have a lot of learning to do.
Great tips! I totally agree with #2 - Hanging out with frugal savers. It can be really hard when you have friends who always want to go out to lunch/dinner/movies etc...
One concept I really like from this blog is how being frugal in your daily habits allows you to spend money on the things that really matter to you. So I cook almost all of my meals from scratch instead of buying prepared or restaurant meals, and as a result I can go out and have a nice dinner or drinks with friends when the occasion warrants it and not worry about the cost. The same goes with all my other purchases; since I shop for clothes rarely, when I do buy something, I can buy something that's higher quality that I actually love. My weakness I think, is that I really like buying new. I know it's not great for the environment, but whenever I try to thrift I never find anything I really like.
One more thing from this blog that's really helped me is the food waste challenge. It wasn't something I gave any thought to before but now I'm trying to be really careful about how much I buy and making sure I use everything up and that has added up to pretty significant savings over time. I hadn't realized how much I was wasting before.
In our marriage I am the spender and my husband is the saver. Thankfully, together we were able to agree on a budget. All the time I see new "stuff" that I want. (Including such things as meals out, etc.) Whenever I bring it up (either to him or in my head), the question is always the same, out of what budget am I paying for it? That quashes most of the "gimmies" right there. When I see the lump in the checking account, not as a big lump, but all the little things we expect to have to pay for in the next couple of months, then it makes it easier to say no. (I believe I've also heard this concept called, "giving each dollar a name.")
One of my best motivations is remembering to set an example for my two children. When you have four eyes watching and learning, it really keeps you honest! I hope they are learning about self-reliance and delayed gratification as well as enjoying the simple things of life. Besides, as a kid, how much more fun is it to make something (like yogurt or laundry detergent) than go to a grocery store and buy it?
I always feel better when I find something I need for less. Not just on sale or with a coupon. But like when I need/want something, look around for it, and then find it for waaay less. For instance, I have a very small kitchen, so I was looking for a hutch to add some storage and prep space. Anything at a store was over $100, and that was for one that I didn't really care for. Making one would cost about that too. Then I found one on Craigslist in near-perfect condition that was EXACTLY what I was looking for, for $50!
I would much rather have fewer, higher quality things than a lot of cheap things.
It helps that my boyfriend is fine with generics and also appreciates good deals and cheap thrills. 🙂
I like to think that I am much more creative when I am frugal. I feel inspired to think outside of the box more from everything to how I feed my family to what kinds of activities/hobbies we try. If I start to get off track with too much spending, I remember how much more fun I have when intentionally trying to not spend!
Great tips! I, myself, am a frugal baby. Part of my get-your-act-together plan is to spend more time with frugal peeps. I don't know many in the real world so I have become a frugal blog stalker. Did I just say that out loud?
You have a fantastic blog and I could spend hours pouring over it. But, I won't. Because if I don't get my booty back to work I could end up unemployed and the whole "no paycheck thing" might just interfere with my plan. Such a catch 22.
I've been pondering this article over since I read it. Great tips, Kristen! While it's SO important to be encouraged by other frugal friends and bloggers, I'd also say that to avoid burnout, you can't compare your deals to everyone else's. It gives us a goal but we should be proud of our deals and use others as an encouragement but not a discouragement that we couldn't do any better. It's great to be frugal but sometimes we all hit those burnout moments. Thanks for encouraging me in this journey!
I was amazed early in my frugal-baby-steps how many frugal ways are so environmentally friendly, but also time and sanity savers. We started recycling to use less garbage bags, and once we found out about all of the recyclable items we could put in the recycle bin instead, we cut waaaaay down on the trash we sent to the landfill, plus we only buy garbage bags a couple of times a year! Cloth diapers saved me so much time that I used to spend couponing for diaper deals, and stress of worrying about having enough diapers till the next deal. Making my own cleaning supplies saves me time again with looking for coupons/deals, plus I find the homemade cleaners very effective and way less irritating to my skin and nose, so cleaning isn't such a chore. And again, cloth diapers and making my own cleaners have environmental bonuses too, so a win-win-win!
I'd say i do better if we have short term and Long term goals. For example, saving some money so i can buy a new dress forthe wedding we hace this summer while paying the mortage early. Ir keeps us motivated