I just read an article by Frugal Dad who suggests that frugal people are being made to feel ashamed of their frugality.
“Many of us, myself included”, he writes, “refused to accept that excessive spending and running household deficits was a reflection of our patriotism. In fact, it was quite the opposite. We felt it was time for everyone to reign in the wild spending of the last several years.
As a result, some started to feel ashamed over their frugality. And that trend continues today, as many land here at Frugal Dad while searching terms related to ashamed to be frugal.”
If you are afraid to admit you shop at thrift stores or if you pray people you run into at the grocery store won’t look in your cart, get a hold of yourself. Don’t let other people’s bad relationships with money keep you from getting a good deal and making your money go further.
I realize it is hard to stay on track with frugality with even the government doing their best to get us back into the stores. Being frugal has become downright unpatriotic. Cash-for-clunkers has millions itching to ditch their old cars for a shiny new ones, being lured you into a 5 car loans. While the deal is a good idea, if you have to get into debt to take advantage of it, you probably shouldn’t be participating.
If you are minding your nickels and dimes and not falling for traps to make you fall back into debt, you should not be ashamed. You should be downright proud. In fact, the only time you should ever feel shame about your frugality is when you fall of the wagon as in the case of the dimesavindiva who once spent $250.00 in two trips to the same grocery store in one day. Oh the horror!
Stop worrying about how others feel about your frugality and keep on using your savings websites and coupon discounts. Make a game of it and keep having fun.
…And when everyone else is crying broke because they spent all of their money, be proud that you are not in debt and can afford the necessities that you and your families need.
Andrea Hermitt writes for parenting (specifically teens), the home blog, and also the frugal blog, and homeschooling at families.com.