Every so often it makes sense to check in with your life and see if you are actually meeting your goal of frugal living, or if you could do better. Every family makes their own decisions about what areas they are going to splurge on. Of course, this is only feasible if you have the money for the splurge. If you don't have the budget for it, it would be irresponsible to splurge!
Right now, we splurge on housing, but we try to be frugal with everything else. We homeschool 4 children and we decided we didn't want to be crowded into a small apartment. We felt a yard was so important to our lifestyle; so that's where we splurge. Everything else we try to be as frugal as we can. HOWEVER this year is becoming decidedly UNFRUGAL! Between moving (money, money, money), getting settled into a new house, unpacking, etc (no time to cook = money, money spent), not knowing where the best deals in my new neighborhood are, a Bar Mitzvah (serious money), and family and friends coming to stay with us for a day here, a shabbat here, a week or two there, I feel like I have lost the ability to be frugal. And organized.
I need some inspiration!
So please share your best tips - whether or not it's frugal. If it helps my household run better, or makes it easier to have guests, it may be enough to justify. And if you have an awesome, frugal source for bulk grocery delivery that will deliver in my neck of the woods (near Haifa), please share. I can't run to the store all the time only to discover they are OUT of whole wheat pasta (or whatever item I really was counting on) AGAIN...
We all know that Israel is expensive! Here you’ll find ways to save, important announcements, and frugal food ideas. (Please note: ALL posts may contain affiliate links)
For us, one of the biggest things is figuring out what to stock up on and what NOT to stock up on. If I bought Bissli on sale, it'd be gone before I could blink. But pasta and oatmeal? We stockpile both at super low prices and use at a normal pace.
ReplyDeleteAnd I know you said you splurge on housing, but that's actually where we scrimp. We moved this summer to a caravan on a yishuv, where our rent is wonderfully low. What's even better is that we also love the community. :)
Hey - where do you find sale prices on pasta and oatmeal? (I know you can find white pasta on sale, but whole wheat pasta? not so much. and I've never seen oatmeal on sale!) please fill me in. I am trying to figure out where to go to stock my pantry this week. I must have a stocked pantry or my family is going to starve...
ReplyDelete(oh and no bissli for us, that stuff has MSG in it = instant migraine)
Sounds great that yishuv life is working well for you! I'm more of a town sort of person - I like the diversity or it.