Saving money though is becoming more of a necessity not only for me, but for others as well I think, as prices continue to go up right in front of us.
I have read a lot of books and websites on being frugal. People have practiced frugality for years. Our ancestors were the kings and queens of frugality. But as I think of that word frugal, and the more I see the word, the less I really like it. To me it seems to sometimes come with a negative connotation. Not always, but sometimes. Other words like penny pincher, miser, tightwad aren't great words either.
I would like the trend to be that those of us who work hard at saving money would be called "resourceful" or some more positive and more appropriate term. After all, resourceful is what we are, when we are making do and there is little to make do with. Resourceful is what we are when we are improvising, creating, planning and being the kind of survivor and go getter that it takes to make it in a tough economy or other financially tough times regardless of what caused them.
Last week I made a trip to the grocery store to pick up a few things, and it seemed like some prices had taken another jump. Judging by what I saw, I am going to have to start getting considerably more resourceful with my grocery shopping!
I like your idea. "Resourcefulness" can also mean good stewardship of the resources at our disposal---turning off lights, not staring mindlessly into the refrigerator as if waiting for a show to start, dropping subscriptions to magazines we never get around to reading, washing full loads of clothes or dishes, etc. I am sure we can all think of dozens of ways to save.
ReplyDelete