Sunday, February 11, 2007

Frugality: the art of observation

Many people reject thriftiness because it seems like too much work. Smoothing used aluminum foil, saving bits of string, carefully dispensing Charmin square by square...it's the stuff of which stereotypes are made. (I don't do those, myself, but apparently my mention of kitchen scrap cookies left a bad taste!)

The easy part is the art of observation. Just look! Look around as you go about your day. Look at bulletin boards in passing. That's how we found the no-cost art classes and museum visit. Notice the outdoor signs. Free Chick-Fil-A sandwich for parking in the rear of the YMCA? I'll take one! Read the fine print. Paying one bill electronically saves me a $2.50 paper charge each month. Gather all that junk mail in a basket for later. Flip through the ads as you have a nice long soak. This write-up features a bucket-style florist with half-price stems after 3 pm--wrapped in tissue and tied with a bow. I'll remember that next time I have to make an unexpected hospital visit.

You never know what you'll need to know later. Information is free. Grab it wherever you can!

3 comments:

Mama Squirrel said...

Well, we like your kitchen scrap cookies.

Amy said...

That is a great tip! I actually had the good fortune of spending a couple of hours going through some of our newspaper that needed weeding through. I happened upon an article for a thrift shop in our area and it ended up being the biggest thrift store I have ever been to. We also had a stove that we needed to get rid of (switching to gas from electric) and I found out the charity would pick up the appliance for free. It was such a good find. I love hunting for new information like that! It can certainly be a goldmine! Thanks for the reminders!!

Alexandra said...

Frugality is a lot of work, but then you get to meet neat people like yourself on Blogger. :) Keep up the great posts...I so enjoy it!