Frugal February

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Today begins our fourth annual Frugal February, the month in which we spend nothing except a designated amount of cash on groceries. Well, we also pay our regular recurring bills - it's frugal, not deadbeat, month.

Over the years, I have been asked a lot of things about Frugal February. What's nice is, "Are you crazy?" isn't often one of them. Instead people are truly interested in how it works, whether it works, and what we get out it. So, that's what this blog is about.

In the past, I haven't wanted to blog it. Frugal February is, to us, an introspective journey. But I've been asked about "rules" so often, I thought it would be helpful to write it all down for anyone who might be so inspired, so here goes.

We didn't make up Frugal February but we've found a set of rules that work for us. What works for you might be different. Mostly, it's about cutting back in whatever way will make you appreciate times of plenty, using what you have instead of buying more, repairing instead of throwing away, wasting less.

This translates for us into this:

*$400 for groceries, taken out in cash at the beginning of the month
*Regularly recurring bills get paid (mortgage, utilities, etc).
*One full tank of gas.
*Business/commute expenses are OK.
*Gifts are accepted with gratitude but must be unsolicited.
*If you're doing to miss a deadline, don't do anything stupid in the name of sticking with the rules (like fail to sign up for preschool or book your summer vacation.)
*Little amounts on random gift cards can be used, but no cheating by loading up a card just to 'discover' it in February. CVS bucks are fair game too.

Does it work? Doesn't it just push expenses into March? Sure, some expenses are merely put off. The first year, our dishwasher AND our clothes dryer broke in February. We hand-washed dishes and we hung our clothes to dry in our playroom and scheduled the repairs for March. We didn't save any money by putting the repairs off, but we were raised to a whole new level of appliance gratitude.

February 2009

What do we get out of it? Plenty. Shutting off the noise of email advertising (delete!), piles of catalogs (recycle!), the siren song of "stuff" (no!) and endless loops of errands (stop!) brings what's left into focus. And what's left is what's really important: being grateful for times of plenty, creating with our hands, cooking from scratch, spending time and not money.