How old were you when you "discovered" frugality?

[markp1016]

I discovered frugality pretty recently in my life. I'm 19 years old right now and I discovered it while in high school. It was my first time in school where I had the option to purchase lunch at the cafeteria. I had a budget of $20/week for lunch. If I saved money I coudl use the remainder of it for the weekend, maybe to see a movie or go out ot eat with friends or go to the mall.

[Finally_Frugal]

Three months ago. Seriously.

Well, I started thinking about it 8 months ago, but didn't really start living frugally until November. I'm 38 now, so I've got a lot of bad habits to change! So far it's been a bit of a struggle, and I've definitely had my setbacks, but each day gets easier. I'm finally plugging away at my debt and (mostly, I'm not there yet!) decreasing my spending. Each day is an adventure!

I come from an earn and spend (and spend some more) family, so the 'new me' is a little frightening for my significant others. I've been so inspired by the blogs I've read and the people who frequent these forums.

[habh44]

The older I get the more frugal I desire to be. It has been a painful journey but a well worth it one. I started to appreciate the ideals of frugality when I was able and fortunate circumstances allowed for me to get out of the debt cycle and start actually buying things with the money I had. It as been wonderful. Now, I try and save as much as I can each pay period, am putting money into my 401K, an IRA, and a high interest savings account(etrade). I set up a monthly budget and try and beat it, comparing each month to last years average spending in each catagory. I now have money for vacations when I want to take one, can fix my car when necessary without a sweat and can enjoy life much more. Some months are tight but I can take it. It is a welcome alternative to lying in bed each night thinking about which Peter to rob to pay Paul.

[moneymatters]

I think i discovered frugality after college when all of my student loans, credit card debt, rent, food, utilities and other expenses really hit home for the first time. I had learned how to be frugal growing up in a household where my mom stayed at home, and my dad was in ministry, so we didn't have a lot of money. We made do - buying the generic store brands, using coupons, being creative with leftovers and so on.

I still struggle with being frugal every time I see a new gadget I want, or see something I want to buy, but the reward is in the bank account statements when we see that balance going up.

[wildgift]

I grew up "frugal" before knowing the term. My folks grew up during the Depression, and during the postwar era, were in Japan, where it wasn't exactly booming. So they had frugal habits.

At college, I lived it up and spent money. Later, I was frugal again. Then when my income went up, I spent it freely for a while. Then, I met some people who knew how to really save money, quit work, and then live even more cheaply. They inspired me to do the same, and that eventually led to lots of risk-taking.

Having a period when I was affluent was really nice. It's easier to be "frugal" once you've tried the good stuff.

[Kathryn]

I got started on the road to frugality as a kid. My parents made a comfortable middle-class living; I wouldn't call them frugal, but they are very sensible about money, which is a good start. They made me work and save for things I wanted starting when I was 8, which was the year my brother and I saved up for about 6 months to buy a parakeet and its paraphernalia. I also worked and saved for summer camp each year--my parents would pay for one week and I would pay for a second week because I loved it so much.

But the real pattern was set when I went off to college--my first year I was in the dorms and had housing/meals paid for, and got $100/mo for all my expenses and books and everything. The year after that I got an apartment; my folks gave me $250/mo for housing expenses and I got a half-time job to cover everything else. My total monthly budget was around $500. Even so, I managed to save a little to travel around with my friends, buy an expensive bike (instead of a car), etc.

I lived like that for a long time--undergrad was followed by a couple years of low-paying work in publishing, followed by many more years of grad school, a first marriage and 2 kids with an unemployed/underemployed $%#$, single parenthood, and finally steadier but not lucrative work since finishing school. It's only been in my late 30s that I've approached "financially comfortable," and all those years of scraping along make it hard to think in anything other than frugal terms.

[rbarber1]

I grew up in a home with a very CHEAP not frugal mentality. I definitely believe there is a difference. Frugal is finding the best deal but not necessarily sacrificing quality. I tried the cheap route until after college. I got married to a wonderful man with a dot-com salary ($75,000 per year) and after two years had nothing to show for it. We both abandoned the frugal route for the sake of marital harmony. He did not grow up in a frugal or cheap home. He found it annoying and a waste of time. His parents are very foolish with their money and he didn't learn until he met me. (Lucky him!) Actually, it took him being laid off and me being 7 months pregnant before it sunk in for him. I rededicated myself to a life of frugality. I am 30 and finally feel like I am getting it. My husband is definitely as excited as I am to find the best deal and to save money. Money in the bank is much more fun than "things" as he previously thought. I know his parents think we are crazy, but I kind of enjoy that, too.

[penny pinscher]

Seriously. I don't know if it's because I'm scottish, okinawan and jewish in my blood (3 naturally frugal races, I've heard). Maybe it's because as a child I saw my parents live on my Dad's Vietnam Vet pension (not much, I can tell you) while my mom went through college. I have just always been interested in money, making more money, and saving what I've already made.

Even as a young adult living on my own I bought my clothes from thrift shops, found high value housing at rock bottom prices (I had a whole country house with wood burning stove and antiques all to myself because technically I was renting a room in a bed and breakfast. Loved it!). Even my partying was reserved for $5 all the beer you can drink night (and I always got my money's worth. My car was a junker, but it was a trade for helping someone out in their job so it was FREE, down to tags and license. I had it made. I didn't even have to buy food - I took the leftovers from one job (I had two) home with me. I saw nothing wrong with chili mac for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Now that I have kids and a husband I really have to tone down my natural frugality, which is probably good. I'd probably have tons of money but be a lonely old miser taking baths in the public library sink to save water! They make me turn the heat on and serve more then just day old bread (less then .20 a loaf!) and discount peanut butter for lunches. I am usually good at keeping everyone on track with money. I think everyone needs a natural tightwad in their circle of family and friends. It keeps us from hoarding sugar packets, and keeps the spendthrifts from over buying.

[lilac]

I grew up in a middle class family and lived pretty comfortably up to the point where my parents divorced when I was young. Then mountains of credit card debt that my mom didn't realise dad had grew and grew and she had to declare bankruptcy. Up to then I was a pretty spoiled, only child. At the time I didn't know that all of that was going on, I just thought it was time for me to suck it up and be a "big girl" and I didn't need as many Barbies and toys, etc.

Ever since that point, I've been pretty good at saving, and often my mom would make jokes that I'm more sensible about money than she is.

Despite all of that, I think my own personal frugality really clicked the day I moved off to college. I learned really quick where I could get free meals. I kicked my bottled water habit and bought a nice Nalgene (and later a Sigg) once I found out just how ridiculously expensive it was when you could get better stuff out of the tap. I got really creative with my cooking and learned to make soups and pizzas when my vegetables were about to go bad. When baguettes went stale, I made french toast or made soup and dipped them in it. I learned how to get cheap alcohol (buying giant things of spirits, wine, cases of beer and mixers at Costco and splitting the costs with friends). I found fun, free things to do on campus. I brought my own coffee mug to campus cafes and got free hot water and kept tea bags on me so I didn't have to spend money on tea on campus. I borrowed books instead of buying them. I bought only timeless styles so I didn't have to worry about my clothes being out of style. I bought grains in bulk and bought fruit and veg from the farmer's market because it was much cheaper than you could get it at grocery stores.

Not very long after I started college I met an irresistible Englishman who stole my heart, and we decided to pursue a long distance relationship. Then, I became even more frugal so I could put even more leftover money into savings. Whereas before I had just some money for a rainy day, I now had a travel fund accruing so I could afford flights to go see him.

Later on, when I decided I wanted to study abroad for a year, I worked all summer long and during as many breaks as possible to save up for the big move. When I got to France, my db joined me and we were, as he would say, "living the dream". We went out a lot, but what we did instead of bar hopping a lot and spending a lot of money was that we would have lots of dinners and movie nights at friends' houses. We would all take turns making nice and cheap (but yummy!) dinners for one another and someone would bring a dvd which we'd watch on someone's laptop and we'd have a grand old time.

My last year of college, I knew I wanted to move permanently to old Blighty to be with db, so I saved every last penny I possibly could because things cost so much here, especially grad school (stupid international fees!). My housemates and some of my friends thought I was insane, not going out a whole lot, staying in, eating out only once every few months, but it was totally worth it.

After graduation, I worked a 9-5 job for several months to really boost my savings a bit more, and now I'm in England, fulfilling my dreams and really happy. And not being to find a job as soon as I thought I would, my frugality is still being put to the test

I can't imagine giving up the frugality any time soon, I really enjoy it, and find it as a nice, creative outlet too.