Yes, the idea that frugal living is its own reward is exactly the idea I was grasping for here. It doesn't contradict the use of frgality as a tactic for avoiding the grind--it complements it.
I will start off by saying that I do concur that if you are getting the run around from local or front line staff, you need to take it to the next level and to only resort to contacting the corporate office after you have exhausted other resources, but do not agree that this situation was handled properly in this case.
First of all, Amazon and UPS are two totally separate companies. Amazon has no control over UPS or UPS over Amazon. To blame or praise both parties for the other parties good works or misdeeds is not being fair to either party
What you should have determined and indicated which party was most likely responsible for receiving the damaged lamps and filed complaint/claim with that party.
It is not indicated whether it appears the lamps were shipped defective or the packages were not being packaged or labeled properly, which could have happened and Amazon would be responsible, but the higher probability is that they were damaged in transit either properly handled by UPS.
If the lamps were damaged in shipment, the writer should have filed a Claim with with UPS and this could have been done online.
From personal experience I would NEVER advocate leaving packages outside your door unattended for UPS to pick up because if someone decides to steal them, you would have no recourse in getting your money back from either Amazon or filing a Claim with UPS. If you cannot leave the packages where someone can witness the packages being picked up by the UPS agent, go to your closest UPS vendor on and return the items yourself and be sure to get the receipt with the tracking number that proves you mailed the item(s) back to UPS if sending back to Amazon.
For me frugality is part of a lifestyle, a major facet and result of choosing a simplified life. Making the choice to simplify our lives required my husband and I to live on far less than we had previously. Frugality is one of the basic fundamentals for us in living a life of freedom from the grind. Not only is it a facet to a lifestyle, but a result. And as a result, consumerism is no longer the ideal. Frugality is very freeing and fulfilling. I have gained everything worthwhile and lost nothing of true value. Frugal living is it's own reward, creating personal balance and less environmental impact, both of which, (in my opinion) contribute to a more authentic, satisfying and spiritual life experience.
To me, it comes down to the joy of minimalism and the realization that happiness really comes from things that don't really require much money. Two of my principal sources of happiness are learning (I get most of my books at the library) and interaction with family and friends. Although I'm not poor, I like to live in a way that if someday I lost my income, it wouldn't devastate me. I would only have lost some fringe distractions.
One thing we splurged on one year was a really nice professional massage table from Costco. It's really nice at the end of the week to be able to whip up massage oil for cheap and get / give a back rub. And really, it pays for itself in just 2-3 massages. Because we are both nearing 40 (very near, actually), getting proper neck allignment is more important than it used to be, so we felt this particular purchase was justified and spent time saving for it. Obviously, the initial investment was way more than 2 bucks, but once that's been recovered, you can easily make your own oils for under your two dollar suggested limit.
I LOVED the comment about the pull up a good cat or grab one of her own when none were available. I have felt that way about our pups on occasion, particularly with the most recent skunk incident. Yuk!
I'm more inclined to your tactic theory Philip because for me a goal is something that one day you arrive at then you go on to the next goal. Benjamin Franklin included Frugality as one of his "virtues". "Virtues" is not a concept I'd really considered but they're kind of character qualities and when you think about it that way frugality is indeed a "virtue".
OK, so, I know, that's me throwing a third term into the discussion but it strikes me your use of "tactic" here is pretty similar to the way Franklin and some of the modern writers on positive psychology use the concept of virtues.
PS I've posted about virtues on my blog (heroesnotzombies.wordpress.com)if you want to consider this further
@Annika: Yes. Also the question: How would my standard of living change if I won the lottery?
It's not a simple thing, though. I don't live the way I do purely as a tactic (although I often think of it that way). I choose to live this way because I like it. I expect my standard of living would go up if I won the lottery, but it wouldn't go way up--I don't see myself moving to a penthouse in New York or even to a mansion here in Champaign, Illinois.
There are some people though, whose standard of living wouldn't go up at all. They'd go on living exactly as they do, channeling whatever they'd won into supporting some work that they found important. It was those people I was thinking of when I realized that I couldn't just write the "Frugality is a tactic, not a goal" piece that I'd been thinking about. For them, frugality is a goal.
This site you suggested is so powerful, I always check the www.couonalbum.com for the good bargains and coupons. CouponAlbum too give discounts and coupons.just check it out!!!!!!!
I see the difference between frugality as a goal and as a tactic in the answer to the question: what am I going to do with the money I save? If the answer is "buy", i.e. saving for a house, an expensive gadget, a trip or some such thing it's frugality as a tactic. Frugality as a goal is about not spending money because you don't want to spend money: not-buying as a goal in itself.
Actually, Phillip, I guess I would have to say it's both for us. We use it as a way to achieve certain things, certainly. While we like to relax a little more now that we've achieved some of the goals we set for ourselves, we still really think about purchases that we make in advance and make it a habit not to be excessive just for the sake of being excessive. If we want to buy a case of really great wine, we do. But we may also choose to get the bulk of our recreational clothing second hand while shopping for one or two important pieces per year at mall stores . . . perhaps on clearance or perhaps not. We pay attention to packaging, the efficient use of our time, and channeling funds towards things we really value as a family. Certainly, people with excessive lifestyles would still see us as frugal. However, compared with how tight things used to be (I'm reminded of your earlier post and discussion on how frightening it can be to be too close to the financial edge), the things we need to do are not necessarily feeling as extreme as they used to.
Not sure if this was the type of input you were looking for . . .
Hi. I saw a home that I like a lot. My husband likes it too but not as much as I do b/c it lacks a garage and has a shared driveway. Not a problem for me at all. I went to see the house by myself and then called my husband to take a peek to see what he thought. He was very interested. The same day I went to the Seller's agents office and told him that I would like to bid on the house. I explained to him that I would only pay $430,000. b/c the house has no driveway, the siding in the back of the house is melted b/c of a BBQ being a little too close to the house, the kitchen was very dirty and needed to be updated and they had a small portable washer. The house is on the market for $469,000. The seller's agent told me that the seller had another house built and that they would accept our offer and that he would start out with a low bid of $410 and go up in $5,000 incraments. The bidding started and the seller went as low as $440,000. My husband said that all he would pay is $430,000. Nothing more. And now everything has come to a complete hault. I spoke to the agent on a friday and now it's Thursday of the following week and I haven't heard anything. I called yesterday and the agent told me that the listing agent is trying to work something out with the buyer... what does that mean? I don't have a buyers agent so the commision doesn't have to be split with anyone. Are they playing games with me?????? why are they taking so long to call me. Isn't it a yes or no answer from the seller? P.S. after speaking with my husband last night he has agreed to go up $5,000.00. Should I mention it to the agent or just wait to see what happens. I truly think the bidding part of the deal is over. HELP! what should I do???????
I am a prize winning short story and poet since age 13 and author of four books.
May I add that for those who are from Africa, the Caine Prize for African Writing is a free short story contest and the best so far with a cash prize of $15, 000 and the first five short listed writers get all expenses paid trip to a writers workshop.
I have a free short story contest and the winner takes all the cash prize of $100. But I won't post the link here so that it will not be mistaken for spam.
The fact that this happens to Wikipedia is not very good, but not much can be done about it...
BUT -
The fact that these things can be discovered is a great thing and kudos to Wikipedia for making it possible. This is one sure thing that may actually prevent those edits...
Now, however, we have widespread and, more importantly, decentralized outlets that anybody can utilize. Information is now in the hands of the people.
You mean like Wikipedia?
It sounds to me like you're complaining that the major media outlets aren't as unbiased as we'd all like. So what? They never were!
I'm not complaining; but it is true, and it doesn't need to be that way if it weren't all about "maximizing shareholder value". And I think the "so what?" attitude is the natural outcome of what is typically exposure to desensitizing, often irrelevant and generally banal "news".
Darlin'? That's some cheek, from a 13-year old. :) Either that, or a sign of a real ladies' man.
Great post, BTW, Nora. Now, if only you had arrived BEFORE I spent my money on a gym membership. Sigh. I don't know why you bloggers can't time your posts around my life.
Oooh, snap! Paul reaches thousands of readers per day, this is true. And you're right on about the decentralizing power of the interwebs. (My guess is, before the internet, Paul would have ended up on public access TV or NPR).
You might want to look at buying episodes of your favorite shows from iTunes or the like. If you only watch a few shows a week, the annual cost might be lower than what you pay now for cable.
You know, I had never even heard of lock bumping until I ran across the video on "You Tube"! Scary, to say the least! So, I now own one! It's amazing how simple looking this device is, yet so secure!!! Brett, this is brillant - thanks for creating this innovative safety lock for our home!
How? How is it getting harder to find out about it? 40 years ago some guy had to call himself Deep Throat and meet Woodward and Bernstein in a darkened parking garage. Now that guy could start a blog and reach a million people before breakfast.
It sounds to me like you're complaining that the major media outlets aren't as unbiased as we'd all like. So what? They never were!
Now, however, we have widespread and, more importantly, decentralized outlets that anybody can utilize. Information is now in the hands of the people.
Paul - you probably have, at your fingertips, the potential to reach at least a few thousand people (maybe more, I don't know) via this blog every day. How could you possibly have hoped to achieve that before blogs?
One of my best friends is a from Mississippi, and her kids are grown. So whenever I would have a new baby, she would bring "supper" over for the night I came back from the hospital. She made chicken and biscuits and this amazing peach cobbler. I thought she hung the moon! Then she revealed that her cobbler was simply that recipe you just mentioned. Now I can hang the moon for my own family!
I teach my students consumer rights and media awareness. One activity that we do is dissecting magazine advertisements. After that, I ask the students to create their own "spoof" advertisement using the techniques that we have discussed. I believe that it helps them to think about the consumer choices that they make a bit more.
Stories like this make me smile like nothing else. I wonder how these companies feel, probably like a little kid getting caught with their hand in the cookie jar before dinner time. ;)
Yes, the idea that frugal living is its own reward is exactly the idea I was grasping for here. It doesn't contradict the use of frgality as a tactic for avoiding the grind--it complements it.
I will start off by saying that I do concur that if you are getting the run around from local or front line staff, you need to take it to the next level and to only resort to contacting the corporate office after you have exhausted other resources, but do not agree that this situation was handled properly in this case.
First of all, Amazon and UPS are two totally separate companies. Amazon has no control over UPS or UPS over Amazon. To blame or praise both parties for the other parties good works or misdeeds is not being fair to either party
What you should have determined and indicated which party was most likely responsible for receiving the damaged lamps and filed complaint/claim with that party.
It is not indicated whether it appears the lamps were shipped defective or the packages were not being packaged or labeled properly, which could have happened and Amazon would be responsible, but the higher probability is that they were damaged in transit either properly handled by UPS.
If the lamps were damaged in shipment, the writer should have filed a Claim with with UPS and this could have been done online.
From personal experience I would NEVER advocate leaving packages outside your door unattended for UPS to pick up because if someone decides to steal them, you would have no recourse in getting your money back from either Amazon or filing a Claim with UPS. If you cannot leave the packages where someone can witness the packages being picked up by the UPS agent, go to your closest UPS vendor on and return the items yourself and be sure to get the receipt with the tracking number that proves you mailed the item(s) back to UPS if sending back to Amazon.
For me frugality is part of a lifestyle, a major facet and result of choosing a simplified life. Making the choice to simplify our lives required my husband and I to live on far less than we had previously. Frugality is one of the basic fundamentals for us in living a life of freedom from the grind. Not only is it a facet to a lifestyle, but a result. And as a result, consumerism is no longer the ideal. Frugality is very freeing and fulfilling. I have gained everything worthwhile and lost nothing of true value. Frugal living is it's own reward, creating personal balance and less environmental impact, both of which, (in my opinion) contribute to a more authentic, satisfying and spiritual life experience.
To me, it comes down to the joy of minimalism and the realization that happiness really comes from things that don't really require much money. Two of my principal sources of happiness are learning (I get most of my books at the library) and interaction with family and friends. Although I'm not poor, I like to live in a way that if someday I lost my income, it wouldn't devastate me. I would only have lost some fringe distractions.
One thing we splurged on one year was a really nice professional massage table from Costco. It's really nice at the end of the week to be able to whip up massage oil for cheap and get / give a back rub. And really, it pays for itself in just 2-3 massages. Because we are both nearing 40 (very near, actually), getting proper neck allignment is more important than it used to be, so we felt this particular purchase was justified and spent time saving for it. Obviously, the initial investment was way more than 2 bucks, but once that's been recovered, you can easily make your own oils for under your two dollar suggested limit.
I LOVED the comment about the pull up a good cat or grab one of her own when none were available. I have felt that way about our pups on occasion, particularly with the most recent skunk incident. Yuk!
I'm more inclined to your tactic theory Philip because for me a goal is something that one day you arrive at then you go on to the next goal. Benjamin Franklin included Frugality as one of his "virtues". "Virtues" is not a concept I'd really considered but they're kind of character qualities and when you think about it that way frugality is indeed a "virtue".
OK, so, I know, that's me throwing a third term into the discussion but it strikes me your use of "tactic" here is pretty similar to the way Franklin and some of the modern writers on positive psychology use the concept of virtues.
PS I've posted about virtues on my blog (heroesnotzombies.wordpress.com)if you want to consider this further
@Annika: Yes. Also the question: How would my standard of living change if I won the lottery?
It's not a simple thing, though. I don't live the way I do purely as a tactic (although I often think of it that way). I choose to live this way because I like it. I expect my standard of living would go up if I won the lottery, but it wouldn't go way up--I don't see myself moving to a penthouse in New York or even to a mansion here in Champaign, Illinois.
There are some people though, whose standard of living wouldn't go up at all. They'd go on living exactly as they do, channeling whatever they'd won into supporting some work that they found important. It was those people I was thinking of when I realized that I couldn't just write the "Frugality is a tactic, not a goal" piece that I'd been thinking about. For them, frugality is a goal.
This site you suggested is so powerful, I always check the www.couonalbum.com for the good bargains and coupons. CouponAlbum too give discounts and coupons.just check it out!!!!!!!
I see the difference between frugality as a goal and as a tactic in the answer to the question: what am I going to do with the money I save? If the answer is "buy", i.e. saving for a house, an expensive gadget, a trip or some such thing it's frugality as a tactic. Frugality as a goal is about not spending money because you don't want to spend money: not-buying as a goal in itself.
I also thought it sounded like the cobbler my grandma used to make.
And I agree . . . southern food rocks!
Actually, Phillip, I guess I would have to say it's both for us. We use it as a way to achieve certain things, certainly. While we like to relax a little more now that we've achieved some of the goals we set for ourselves, we still really think about purchases that we make in advance and make it a habit not to be excessive just for the sake of being excessive. If we want to buy a case of really great wine, we do. But we may also choose to get the bulk of our recreational clothing second hand while shopping for one or two important pieces per year at mall stores . . . perhaps on clearance or perhaps not. We pay attention to packaging, the efficient use of our time, and channeling funds towards things we really value as a family. Certainly, people with excessive lifestyles would still see us as frugal. However, compared with how tight things used to be (I'm reminded of your earlier post and discussion on how frightening it can be to be too close to the financial edge), the things we need to do are not necessarily feeling as extreme as they used to.
Not sure if this was the type of input you were looking for . . .
Hi. I saw a home that I like a lot. My husband likes it too but not as much as I do b/c it lacks a garage and has a shared driveway. Not a problem for me at all. I went to see the house by myself and then called my husband to take a peek to see what he thought. He was very interested. The same day I went to the Seller's agents office and told him that I would like to bid on the house. I explained to him that I would only pay $430,000. b/c the house has no driveway, the siding in the back of the house is melted b/c of a BBQ being a little too close to the house, the kitchen was very dirty and needed to be updated and they had a small portable washer. The house is on the market for $469,000. The seller's agent told me that the seller had another house built and that they would accept our offer and that he would start out with a low bid of $410 and go up in $5,000 incraments. The bidding started and the seller went as low as $440,000. My husband said that all he would pay is $430,000. Nothing more. And now everything has come to a complete hault. I spoke to the agent on a friday and now it's Thursday of the following week and I haven't heard anything. I called yesterday and the agent told me that the listing agent is trying to work something out with the buyer... what does that mean? I don't have a buyers agent so the commision doesn't have to be split with anyone. Are they playing games with me?????? why are they taking so long to call me. Isn't it a yes or no answer from the seller? P.S. after speaking with my husband last night he has agreed to go up $5,000.00. Should I mention it to the agent or just wait to see what happens. I truly think the bidding part of the deal is over. HELP! what should I do???????
I am a prize winning short story and poet since age 13 and author of four books.
May I add that for those who are from Africa, the Caine Prize for African Writing is a free short story contest and the best so far with a cash prize of $15, 000 and the first five short listed writers get all expenses paid trip to a writers workshop.
I have a free short story contest and the winner takes all the cash prize of $100. But I won't post the link here so that it will not be mistaken for spam.
Cheers and God bless.
The fact that this happens to Wikipedia is not very good, but not much can be done about it...
BUT -
The fact that these things can be discovered is a great thing and kudos to Wikipedia for making it possible. This is one sure thing that may actually prevent those edits...
You mean like Wikipedia?
I'm not complaining; but it is true, and it doesn't need to be that way if it weren't all about "maximizing shareholder value". And I think the "so what?" attitude is the natural outcome of what is typically exposure to desensitizing, often irrelevant and generally banal "news".
Darlin'? That's some cheek, from a 13-year old. :) Either that, or a sign of a real ladies' man.
Great post, BTW, Nora. Now, if only you had arrived BEFORE I spent my money on a gym membership. Sigh. I don't know why you bloggers can't time your posts around my life.
According to the Consumerist, you can email Amazon executive service at ecr@amazon.com.
Oooh, snap! Paul reaches thousands of readers per day, this is true. And you're right on about the decentralizing power of the interwebs. (My guess is, before the internet, Paul would have ended up on public access TV or NPR).
You might want to look at buying episodes of your favorite shows from iTunes or the like. If you only watch a few shows a week, the annual cost might be lower than what you pay now for cable.
You know, I had never even heard of lock bumping until I ran across the video on "You Tube"! Scary, to say the least! So, I now own one! It's amazing how simple looking this device is, yet so secure!!! Brett, this is brillant - thanks for creating this innovative safety lock for our home!
How? How is it getting harder to find out about it? 40 years ago some guy had to call himself Deep Throat and meet Woodward and Bernstein in a darkened parking garage. Now that guy could start a blog and reach a million people before breakfast.
It sounds to me like you're complaining that the major media outlets aren't as unbiased as we'd all like. So what? They never were!
Now, however, we have widespread and, more importantly, decentralized outlets that anybody can utilize. Information is now in the hands of the people.
Paul - you probably have, at your fingertips, the potential to reach at least a few thousand people (maybe more, I don't know) via this blog every day. How could you possibly have hoped to achieve that before blogs?
One of my best friends is a from Mississippi, and her kids are grown. So whenever I would have a new baby, she would bring "supper" over for the night I came back from the hospital. She made chicken and biscuits and this amazing peach cobbler. I thought she hung the moon! Then she revealed that her cobbler was simply that recipe you just mentioned. Now I can hang the moon for my own family!
I teach my students consumer rights and media awareness. One activity that we do is dissecting magazine advertisements. After that, I ask the students to create their own "spoof" advertisement using the techniques that we have discussed. I believe that it helps them to think about the consumer choices that they make a bit more.
My mom makes a FAB chocolate "poke and dump" cake using evaporated milk, sugar, and cocoa.
Stories like this make me smile like nothing else. I wonder how these companies feel, probably like a little kid getting caught with their hand in the cookie jar before dinner time. ;)