Six Advantages to Not Having Any Money

by Kelly · 27 comments

in Living Frugally

busted_seat

1. An empty fridge is easier to clean. No more dirty shelves! And even the hardest to reach nooks and crannies are free of caked-on gunk. I’ve been known to take the bins of the doors of the fridge and run them through the dishwasher.

2. Think of all the good you are doing to the planet by turning your heat down! Lower heating bills are just a happy consequence.

3. Your mail carrier’s back deserved a break– how nice of you to cancel all your magazine and catalog subscriptions! Those packages from Amazon were a little heavy.

4. No more phoning a few thousand baby sitters just to find one free for Friday. And now you don’t have to feel guilty about leaving your kids at home while you go to the movies.

5. Nor do you have to feel guilty about not buying your kid (or yourself) that latest gadget. Self sacrifice builds character. And we all want our kids to have character, don’t we?

6. Thrift shops have the best clothes! Who wants to look like your coworker’s clone anyway? This way you get to exercise your personal sense of style, and feel good about all the deals your scoring. Not to mention that the proceeds usually go to charity- what a good deed you’ve done!

What’s your favorite benefit to not having any money?

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{ 27 comments }

1 Nicki at Domestic Cents February 6, 2009

Love it! Great perspective 😀

Nicki at Domestic Cents´s last blog post..Magically Erasing Crayon

2 Crunchy Sews February 6, 2009

The best part of it for me is spending more time with family – baking, sewing, even just watching old videos together. The activity isn’t important, I’m simply grateful for the family time.

Crunchy Sews´s last blog post..Woot! Backpack joy.

3 Karen Chaffee February 6, 2009

Ha ha…these were good. My favorite things about having no money:

1. No more guilt over impulse purchases…there are none!
2. I’ve reacquainted myself with the library…free books and movies
3. Deciding what to make for dinner is much easier with fewer choices.

Karen

4 Sarah H. February 6, 2009

Haha, these are fun! My fav is #6…you bet thrift stores have great clothes!! 🙂

Sarah H.´s last blog post..Mission: Appliances – Wok

5 Revanche February 6, 2009

No more worries about how to protect your money in failing banks or how much you’ve lost in the stock market!

No worries about juggling social obligations, either.

Revanche´s last blog post..Done deal: I just spent $733

6 Lady February 6, 2009

I see where you were going with this one…but that was a depressing post. Thankfully, the people leaving comments focused on some more positive things, like getting to know the library, spending time with family, re-discovering our domestic skills, in-stead of focusing on the lack of things.

7 Kelly February 7, 2009

Well the intention wasn’t to be depressing, but rather to look on the bright side of the situation!

8 Jennifer February 7, 2009

Baking everything from lunch to modeling clay with young children is not only fun, educational but economic. Taking kids fto a park is free and does not end in temper tantrums resulting from consumerdriven impulses at the grocery store. Never understand how families lug their offspring to commercial establishments! PS. I washed my fridge bins and they warped. Better to have been more frugal by washing by hand!

9 Bellesouth February 7, 2009

The best thing about having no money is that I’m actually forced to learn how to cook for myself. I thought I knew a lot – but now that I’m dealing with different types of meats, etc – I have to be a bit more creative. Frozen pizza, schmozen schmizza.

Bellesouth´s last blog post..C-SPAN2 becomes my source of entertainment

10 Kristen February 7, 2009

I love this post! Sometimes we just have to laugh about our situation and do our best to look on the bright side of things 🙂

Kristen´s last blog post..Animal Crackers

11 Jason February 7, 2009

No long waits queuing at the “fast food” restaurants to get my dinner – I have to get busy and cook it myself!

(And I agree with some of the other comments – this post was fun and made me laugh, albeit about a situation that isn’t fun for anyone to be in).

Jason´s last blog post..Think Long Term When Comparing Costs

12 kathy February 8, 2009

No money means good time for coming up with good ways to use the pantry and freezer stash. Also means good time to watch old movies with the kids and spend more time taking walks or basic things we ignore in order to spend, spend, spend

kathy´s last blog post..Manila Billboards

13 Chelle M February 8, 2009

Hmm… advantages to not having money?

No more spending a ton of money on pop every week (apparently it’s not too healthy for you 😉 hehe) koolaid and plain water are much cheaper alternatives.

No more trips to stores to “just waste some time” and more time wasted at home playing board games and watching our movies.

Chelle M´s last blog post..Life Aint Always Beautiful….

14 Kristy @ Master Your Card February 8, 2009

Getting more things done around the house because I’ve dropped cable…actually, even with money I’ve dropped cable. I really do get more done around the house now.

I liked the one about getting reacquainted with the library! I spend way too much on books, and while I will re-read everyone of those books, as I’ve done on numerous occasions, it’s still a lot to pack and move every year as I’m in an apartment. So, the extra benefit here is that it costs me less to move when I have less books that I can rent from the library for free when I feel like reading them.

Excellent post!

Kristy @ Master Your Card´s last blog post..Hot Checks: Lesson Learned…The Hard Way

15 Shevy February 8, 2009

Funny, I read this and totally thought it was tongue-in-cheek. A (real) benefit to not having money?

Well, when you have a lot of money people are always asking you for charitable donations for things, to attend events etc. In addition to costing a lot of money all of that takes a lot of time. So, I guess you save all of that.

16 Kika February 9, 2009

Sometimes when I “wish” we didn’t have to be so careful with our finances, I realize that many of the frugal choices we make lead us to living healthier, greener and more creative lives. We don’t have tons of money to be running around involved in every class or activity and, instead, spend more time just “being” together. I feel proud of the end result and incredibly grateful for all the blessings in our life.

17 Emma @ Baby-log.com February 9, 2009

Interesting question! I guess learning a lot and acquiring many skills instead of outsourcing, because naturally that costs money. Spending quality time at home (because dining out is expensive), looking forward and saving up for the things you really, really want to buy. Not feeling guilty for your consumerism. A lot of things!

Emma @ Baby-log.com´s last blog post..How I quit smoking for my baby’s sake, part 2

18 Laura February 9, 2009

I am so happy that NOW..finally there will be no more social phonies! Crisis like this put people back into reality..I love it! I went to dinner with friends the other night and wore my rubber boots outside my pants…great to have that down home feeling again i had when I was little!

19 Lucie @ Unconventional Origins February 10, 2009

Thanks for the post. Sometimes I need to laugh about something I am usually pretty grumpy about – being broke!

One benefit for us is once we make even a little money (we are both students right now), I know we can save a ton because we are used to living so frugally!

20 Saver Queen February 10, 2009

The best thing about not having money is forcing yourself to enjoy and appreciate what you have around you! It’s a great opportunity to finally play those games, read those books, wear those clothes that have been sitting untouched in your home. Take part in your community – go to free lectures, concerts, visit with friends, visit your library go for walks and enjoy nature – take full advantage of what is around you and you just might end up leading a richer, fuller life!

Saver Queen´s last blog post..Fifty Fun, Free things to do on Valentines Day!

21 chaotic kitten February 18, 2009

It’s always good to be appreciative, even of being skint!

Thanks for this post 🙂

chaotic kitten´s last blog post..Shopping

22 Clothdiapermama February 20, 2009

The best thing for me is the not eating out, I bake more, and I have been doing a ton of sewing.

Clothdiapermama´s last blog post..Neighbors Helping Neighbors

23 Jackie February 20, 2009

Less time shopping and more time playing with the kids!

24 Kevlar February 21, 2009

I don’t know what you people are talking about. I have lots of money, because I’m frugal and don’t spend it (hehe). But I don’t have to worry about how I’m going to pay my next bill.

25 CindySue Bridges February 21, 2009

The ultimate benefit is nothing changes when the economy does a nose dive. You see people around the country freaking out, some committing suicide, heck I been livin like this since I been on my own. This is now a no brainer!

26 croftgray February 24, 2009

good thing i stumbled your site..definitely true.thanks for sharing

27 Andy February 25, 2009

Well one thing is I got more time to practice my music ! ROCK ON NUKA!

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