FRUGAL: CHOICE OR NECESSITY

Being frugal,self sufficient and all those other ,at the moment , "in things"  ......is it your choice or is it necessity?

There is no doubt that most of our ancestors had little choice but to live that way...times were hard without any support of a social security system so being frugal was just the normal lifestyle.

When do most people think about being more careful with how they spend their money.....usually when there is not much money coming in or when cut backs need to be made to pay for something else. This is not out of choice either.

There have been several books about how to live cheaply..how to live for free...but I found that the majority are written by those who already have a good foundation of wealth....ie journalist from London downsizes to farmhouse with. 5 acres and proceeds to write book about it.
How to live cheaply... but you have several savings accounts to fall back on when things get really tough.
All that is choice.

I would like to think that a lot of us come in somewhere between the two.
We do not have a lot of money but we are not poor. If we chose to live extravagantly our outgoings would most certainly exceed our incomings. If we chose just to spend without looking for good deals and best value for money then there would likely be a shortfall.

We are not poor because we have a roof over our head that we have worked hard to pay for. We can pay our bills because we are careful with the power we use. Some bills are out of your control...c'est la vie....you just have to accept that and factor them in first. We have enough to eat to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Our income is less than the national average but do not feel  poor.

To live frugally and as self sufficiently as possible.....and remember we do not have our own garden  never mind a 5 acre farm.....is OUR CHOICE.
it's a choice of lifestyle that gives us pleasure as well as being productive. We save money on everyday things that with less thought and planning would cost you more.

I think we would all find it hard if living frugally was not a choice but a necessity...you never hear anyone say how happy they are to have no money at all and are living  constantly in debt.

So I am happy to be able to live this way out of choice.