She dines out at least three times a week while you wonder how to stretch that chicken to last for one more day. You get your fashions from thrift stores and consignment shops, while she is collects Jimmy Choos as through they were seashells. How can you survive this disparity without losing a friendship?
Be honest not rude
Your frugal ways could be interpreted as a lack of interest in the friendship or even snobbery. If you are constantly turning down requests to go out to dinner or visits to the spa, gently explain why. If something just isn’t in your budget, say so. There is no need to talk about how wasteful something is or how you can’t believe someone would spend money this way. Simply say something such as, “I’d love to go to the spa, but it is out of my budget right now. What do you think if we made our own foot scrub at home?” This blog has many ideas on having fun without spending much. Check through the archive of articles for ideas.
Accept the differences
Frugal people tend to develop frugal friendships, since the two will have the same interests in common and may also be in the same stage of life. But you would be missing out on very interesting people if you were a frugal snob, not accepting someone who didn’t see things the same way that you do. So the first step is to accept the fact that you are each who you are. This means accepting your differences and not putting pressure on each other to change.
Find the happy medium
When you get together what is it that you do for fun? It is important to strike a balance here. Don’t let her convince you to spend your mortgage payment on dinner, but at the same time, don’t expect her to spend an evening chatting while washing out baggies. Decide ahead of time what you are comfortable spending when you are together and then have a long list of suggestions.
Do you have a less than frugal friend? How do the two of you get along?
p>Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, creating a home in the Home Blog, caring for little ones in the Baby Blog and now relationships in the Marriage Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here or subscribe to the blog using the subscription box on the right.
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