I want to clarify something that I often think when I am typing my posts. You do not know me besides for this blog. I could be a crazy cat lady with absolutely no money. The things I write about in this blog could be strategies of desperation not frugality. However, thankfully, neither of those things is true. I live in a beautiful home in a nice area with my boyfriend and our pets. We have plenty of money to pay our bills. We have expensive furniture and decent cars. Why are we frugal? Because we want to choose where our money goes and when. We don’t want to owe anyone anything. The truth? Our cars were bought with cash years ago and we don’t have car payments. Our expensive furniture was not expensive for us because most of it was obtained second hand or with smart shopping or was given to us. Instead of using the money we have left over after we pay our bills frivolously we try to use it consciously so that we can save for really amazing experiences.

And guess what? We just returned from a cruise to the Bahamas!!!! We had an amazing time, we lounged in the sun and stuffed ourselves with unlimited food.

That being said, we do occasionally go out to eat and to the movies and shopping (sometimes even without coupons *gasp*). We do not live a life that in anyway makes us feel deprived. Our smart spending enables us to live a really amazing life, work less, do more fun stuff and help those we love when they need it.  🙂