If you follow me on Instagram, you have probably begun to see a new hashtag popping up on my posts; #frugalliving. This has been my life ever since I got married, and honestly even as a child I grew up in a family that by necessity was frugal. It is not by any means a new season in my life, but it is once again the season I am in.
The level of my frugality has had a certain ebb and flow to it since I got married almost 4 years ago now, but there is almost a certain humor for those of us in this place, as to what one must do to make all the little ends meet. You may have heard stories, for instance, of people digging through the couch for change in order to buy something small. Well...the stories are true.
One of my favorite ways to laugh with my husband about how we are definitely not as poor as we used to be is in the area of change. When we were first married, we lived in this apartment where the whole building shared one washer and dryer. And in order to use that utility, you had to have quarters. Our landlords of the time were also a very greedy couple, and so it cost $3 to wash and dry a load. They never cleaned out the vent, though, so I often had to decide whether to cough up an extra 6 quarters in order to run the dryer a second time, or whether I would string clothesline across our extra room that we were letting my brother stay in, and finish drying my laundry there. They also took way too long to come around and collect their quarters, so sometimes there would literally be no room for more and we had to trek over to the neighboring building, owned by the same people, to do our laundry, thus effectively annoying our neighbors to no end(they often had to do the same thing when their washer or dryer was too full of coins).
Moving on with the story, however, it is enough to say that every quarter we got was hoarded and kept in a bowl or jar so we could do our laundry. Sometimes we would pay for things without using any of our change so we could get more change back, and thus have more quarters. With the quarters thus out of the way, that left us with the rest of the change for cheap items like walking to the closest gas station to buy a fountain drink(which were only $1 any size from Memorial Day to Labor Day). Did I mention our only vehicle had died on us when I was 2 months pregnant and constantly nauseous so we had to walk most places or bum a ride to go to work? Anyways, if you looked in our coin jar at the time, all you would find is nickels and pennies because all quarters were saved for laundry and all dimes were put aside for fountain drinks.
Thus, there were days that I was one quarter short of a load of laundry or one dime short of a drink(or both), and if anybody was watching they would have found me looking in the couch for some change. I can actually totally understand the biblical story of the woman looking for her lost penny. The desperation gets high when you have no clean underwear or socks!
Kind of embarrassing to admit, but it becomes a little easier to share things like this when you take a look at come current economic statistics and realize you are not as alone as you thought. For instance, the average yearly income in America(which is also right around what is considered a livable wage) is $57,000. But 73% of working Americans make less than this amount. Why can so many of us survive on a lot less? Because it is no longer normal in America to be spending your own money. The average person in America has $38,000 in debt that DOES NOT include a house mortgage!!! 20% of Americans are spending over half of their income on payments instead of actually being able to buy things in full.
Now, before I continue, I do want to say that I understand how insanely difficult it is to stay out of debt with the current economy if you do not have people or welfare to help you out. I have been there, still am there, and I completely understand. But it also a very sad thing to see what the average mindset concerning money in America now is. It is now the norm to make payments on everything you own. Something I think a lot of people don't know is that the Bible actually has something very specific to say about this; something that my husband and I have become very convicted of lately.
We are told in Proverbs that the borrower is the slave to the lender. The same passage also tells us that one man cannot serve two masters. My husband and I have entered a season of renewed passion to get out of debt. How can we fully and completely serve God if we are forever chained to the master of debt? A person in debt has to work extra in order to have most of their money immediately given to other people because it is not theirs. It already has a name on it. And it is a name that is stuck with them until they pay off that master. Some people are sitting on a couch right now reading this or a different blog post, and they don't even own that couch. They haven't fully paid for it. Many people might read this post on a mobile device that isn't actually theirs, because they still owe money on it.
How can we give freely to God with our finances if we are a slave to debt? How can we give freely of our time if we have to work as many hours as we can because we have so many payments to meet? How can we live in peace and harmony when there are these constant chains tugging on us and reminding us that we need to pay, or phone calls telling us we missed a payment?
Your question for me now probably is: "How in the world am I supposed to get out of debt?" And the honest and real life answer to that is, just take one painful step at a time. Let me share with you a few of the painful steps I have had to make in the last month.... I donate plasma 2 days a week. This means sitting there with a needle in my arm for two hours while my children are in the Biolife nursery. It means saying no to other activities or not being able to go home after a full day at work, but instead donating, because I need the extra $70+ a week to help get us out of our smallest debt.
After donating plasma yesterday, I went to Walmart with my little boys who had been very well behaved, with a list of 5 small items. We walked past some pretty cheap cookies that I often will grab for my boys. They were 2 for $0.98. And Mini Me went "Mom, look!" He was all excited, because he often gets the little Oreo bag or animal crackers, and I had to say "Not today, buddy. Maybe next time you can bring your piggy bank and buy some." He was so sweet about it, and I so wanted to say yes, but the painful step at that moment was to say no, even though it was cheap. As we went out to our car, I told the boys excitedly that they were so good that when we got home, we could have grapes that were in the fridge! They got all excited, and had forgotten all about the little cookies, but here I am still feeling the sting of saying no to something small over 24 hours later.
I cancelled all my subscriptions on Monday. I had a nice cheap one that sent me clothes to try on, and it was one of my few small pleasures to buy one item a month for less than $20, and that helped the hard reality there is no room in the budget for anything other than absolutely necessary new clothes. I cancelled Amazon Music, which is our only music subscription. I will be cancelling Amazon by the end of the month, which means our only real movie platform left (Amazon Video) will no longer be available to us. All these and more are examples of the painful steps a person has to take in order to flee the slave master called debt. For each of us, the things that we give up will be a little different. For instance, some might be able to give up the money they spend on coffee altogether. I just find ways to make it cheaper at home as I need coffee in order to keep my mind sharp during times of strict frugal living. Meanwhile, there are others who need that Netflix time occasionally to stay sane during frugal times, and wouldn't be able to give up the same subscriptions I have. Each story will be a little different, but my examples are just some simple ideas of the things you can do to save/make a little extra money in order to get out from that slave master one small step at a time.
Quick Disclaimer: There are those who are fortunate enough to come into a little money, or to have regular things given to them, or are blessed with family members who help them out with financial issues in one way or another who might not have to take these same type of painful steps. This post is more for those of you in my situation, who might occasionally be very blessed by people, but who still have the struggle of getting out of debt on a normal day. Or for those of you who are comfortable staying in debt forever and don't realize how that hampers your ability to fully serve God.
Thus, now you know why the hashtag "frugal living" has begun to pop up on my social media more and more. I would love to hear some of your stories, tips, or tricks when it comes to hardcore frugal living and/or working your way out of debt. Share in the comments!!!
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