Exercising Your Frugality Muscle

Wow, this poor blog has sat lonely and untouched for much too long! I had to dust a few cobwebs off of it when I pulled up the website this morning to start typing to all of you. Anyhow, this post is solely for the purpose of MOTIVATION. We all talk about and try to find motivation every day, but rarely is it an easy thing to come by if we are pursuing something we're not excited about. When Dallin first introduced the Mr. Money Mustache blog to me, I was skeptical and not motivated to take his excellent advice, so I ignored it for a while. However, I have continued to take his advice over the past few months since I last wrote to you (back in August...yikes!), and I am happy to report some exciting things that have happened in our lives!

The biggest one?! We bought a HOUSE! That's right...we bought a house, and by the end of this next year, we hope to have about 1/4 of it payed off. So far, it's looking like we will! How did we buy a house? I'm 22 and still in college, and Dallin is just fresh into his post-college career and isn't making all that much in comparison to the average living costs around here. So, how did we manage to get a loan and purchase a house?

Firstly, I applied for some various credit cards about a year and a half ago and was approved for one. Using this card for a year (and Dallin using one, too) and always paying it off on time gave us enough of a credit score to qualify for a mortgage. But credit cards are scary, right?? Not if used in a totally responsible manner. I set my credit card up on auto-pay every month so that I NEVER carry over a balance on it. The credit card companies don't value me as a great customer because I never pay them ANY interest...but I do get some cash-back rewards points, so it's a win-win. Our credit cards get treated like debit cards, not miniature loans. So, go out and apply for some credit cards! I guarantee you will be approved for one..just make sure to do your research and get one that doesn't have any annual fees!

Secondly, we saved like CRAZY! This sounds  hard to do, but in all honesty, if you are living a TRULY happy and fulfilled life, it's not. Does eating out really make you happy? No. Does buying an excessive amount of clothes really make you happy? No. Does having ridiculous gadgets for silly things make you happy? No. Does having the latest, most expensive technology and wasting a lot of time on it make you happy? ALSO A NO. So, instead of spending our money on these things, we shoveled it into our savings account and waited anxiously for it to build up enough so that we could make the down-payment on a house.

Thirdly, we lived like others aren't willing to live. In anticipation of buying a home, Dallin and I rented the CHEAPEST apartment we could possibly find. It was a little over 300 square feet, and let me attest...it was tight! We don't have that much stuff though, so it worked! The kitchen was PUNY and I had to improvise every day in order to cook in a semi-orderly fashion, but we made it work! We lived there for a year and a half, and I waved goodbye to that place somewhat sad and very happy all at the same time. Living in such a tiny apartment did amazing things for mine and Dallin's communication skills--neither one of us could avoid the other one for long in our 1 bedroom (a glorified studio, really) apartment. ;) THIS APARTMENT WAS SO WORTH IT. In some ways, I miss it a little sometimes. We have some seriously happy memories that were made there.

Lastly, we exercised our frugality muscles EVERY. DAY. It was so hard at first, but it has just gotten easier and easier the more I've learned and the more I've worked at it. I am not a crazy, penny-pinching person because I get a thrill out of watching the money build up. In all reality, I love to eat extremely healthy, and that means not going out to eat hardly anywhere. I love to do my best to be kind to my environment and to support good causes, so that means not eating hardly any meat, shopping at most clothing stores, or buying unnecessary, disposable goods. I LOVE to be outdoors, and that is FREE! So Dallin and I use that as our entertainment. My entertainment also comes from learning. I love to watch documentaries on Netflix on the weekends. I like to go to our local library and take free classes. I enjoy hiking with my husband and friends. Camping is our preferred method of a weekend get-away, and if done right, that can be free!

So, find some motivation, and exercise that frugality muscle. You seriously will not regret it.

Photo Cred: Google Images