Why I Do What I Do

When I feel the temptation to go out and buy something, when I look around my house and think ‘if I only had a… things would be so much better!’, when I get discouraged at not having enough (of whatever it is), I try to think about why I do what I do.

I have my reasons for trying to live a frugal life, and you have yours. Sure, some of them might overlap (I bet family, security and happiness are pretty high on all our lists), but in the end, my reasons for trying to be more frugal are my own.

The important thing is not what your reasons are, but why they are.  And just like the list of why I’m frugal, the list of how I’m frugal looks different from yours. It’s why I don’t understand when people criticize each other for making their own soap, or sewing their own clothes, or growing their own food… or doing none of those things. It’s how we choose to live our lives, in accordance with our beliefs, and while working towards our own goals. That looks different for everyone.

The path is sometimes more important than the destination. Although this afternoon, as I sit writing this comfortable in the knowledge that I have money in my bank account and there’s money in my husband’s too, that there’s money in savings and our holiday will be paid for before we leave, knowing that I can go home and cook a nice dinner for my family before continuing to work on my grad school project on my paid for laptop… I know that the destination is important too.