Every week I like to feature a few frugal articles that caught my eyes. Curl up in your favorite reading nook and enjoy. Hopefully these encourage you to live frugal lives!
The Stuff Paradox: Dealing with the clutter in the US by Jane O’Brien
Amidst massive income and wealth inequality, a growing movement of minimalists is rising. Their work bridges and breaks the traditional bounds of income levels. Now, anyone who’s willing to declutter and rid themselves of the unnecessary can join! This article catalogs a couple Americans who are working to do just that.
The Girl Who Saw Through the Illusions by Leo Babauta
Leo is one of the most popular bloggers on minimalism and simple living. His focus spans from meditation to family life. In this new style, Leo writes from a seemingly fictional stance to talk about how illusions influence how we see the world.
What Motivates You To Save? by Kate Dore
Frugality is usually something that just happens. People tend to choose a more frugal lifestyle because of small incomes, to cut down on carbon emissions, and/or to have a less cluttered home. But to start saving, people need to ask an important motivational, intention question. Kate perfectly conveys it!
In Pursuit of More Lasting Success by Joshua Becker
This article hit me. Joshua points out two extremes in today’s economy: 1) the focus on financial success, 2) the importance of working less. Both extremes can be detrimental. Joshua proposes an alternative, where working to help others becomes a major focus. Brilliant idea!
Why We Don’t Meal Plan by Mrs. Frugalwoods
Over the last couple weeks, I published how I’m reducing expenses and trying to get my food budget down to $200 per month. I’m having a bear of a time! Mrs. Frugalwoods makes it look easy, and they don’t even meal plan to save. What could be easier?! Her biggest recommendation seems to center on the role of buying bulk and unpackaged foods for a frugal budget.
Thank you so much for the mention, Sam! I really appreciate that.
I’ve recently started reading Joshua Becker’s work and I’m really enjoying it. I’m new to the minimalism genre, but everything I’ve read so far really resonates with my ethos of frugality. Thanks for the new minimalism sources! And, I’m always a fan of Kate’s writing on Cashville Skyline.
Thanks again and have a great weekend!
Absolutely! Keep up the great work yourself. Always fun to read, especially when we’ve been working on this tough area together: food.
Thanks so much for sharing my post, Sam! I hope the weekend treats you well.
You’re welcome, Kate! Happy to include you.
We plan dinners loosely – I look around the kitchen, see what needs using up from the pantry, fridge and freezer and make a menu for the next week.
We don’t plan for breakfast or lunch at all. If I bake something we eat that for breakfast, if not, we eat oatmeal or toast. Unless we have leftover rice – then we eat it with scrambled eggs for breakfast (basic fried rice).
I don’t worry about precise amounts of food, because we eat freeze any leftovers that are enough for another meal and eat the rest for lunches.
Like Mrs. Frugalwoods, we mostly eat unprocessed foods, e.g., our oatmeal is the plain kind (we add a sprinkle of brown sugar, raisins and nuts) not the instant stuff.
Meals are, with few exceptions, either vegetarian or use meat more as a condiment. For instance we are going to be eating red beans and brown rice (both bought from the bulk section – cheaper than buying in bags) twice this week, making 8 servings. To this I’m adding a half pound of andouille sausage cut in small bites.