Being frugal does not mean one should not enjoy life, just that we should examine our way of life to see if what we are doing is bringing us pleasure for the cost associated.
I recently had the problem of deciding to fill in the artificial nails that was given to me as a gift from my husband or taking them off and saving the money spent for upkeep. I do feel like I'm worth $15 every other week, but in the end I think it just comes down to the fact that I have other interests that I would rather put my money.
In deciding to explore just what I could do with $15 bi weekly I realized that just as artificial nails require upkeep, so do many other items in our lives. It just comes down to is the price to keep the item worth the sacrafice somewhere else.
In my instance, the item cost at the bare minimum $15 bi weekly or 26 times or $390 yearly. $15 biweekly does not sound like much but when one takes it a step further and then investigates what could that $15 really buy that would give equal joy to myself, then that is where the significance is really seen.
For me personally, I decided I would get just as much enjoyment for my $30 this month in the following way: I could buy school supplies for a child I do not know or I could buy a lot of pencils and take to the school for use when a child does not have one. The next month, I could find a nursing home in my area and take $30 worth of socks in all different sizes or I could save my money for a couple of months and take some nightgowns and PJs for the ones that do not have family.
My nails were pretty but I found after examining that I can get much more joy for my money. I'm gonna take the same money and buy some polish, calcium and vitamin D (as someone mentioned) and work on my own nails and use the leftover money in a more frugal and neighborly use.
By Meemaw
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That is a very great idea. Like you said, everyone needs to decide for themselves what they need to cut back on. Thanks for your post, and for ideas on what to do with the 'saved' money!
I went to a garage sale this summer and found a nail care
kit 3 kinds of cream/lotion and a four sided gray nail care
foam thingy for a dollar. My hands had felt rough and I had been spinning fine wool and it kept catching on the rough skin. I don't like polish, etc, so that was why I bought it.
Well, let me tell you. That little gray rectangle, which I've seen at Sally's, is unbelievable. There's one side for buffing off the ridges, one for filing nails, one for something else, and the miracle side: the buffer. My nails gleamed like polished furniture, They were beautiful, and it was all my own nails..I keep them short because of hobbies, but they looked so nice. Now it's time to do them again after 8 weeks. I also did my son's nails because he works with the public and shakes hands a lot. He couldn't believe it either.
I think the foam thingy is about $2 at Sally's.Then any nice hand cream. And it wasn't the cream making my nails gleam, that was before the cream.
Just a "heads up". I took a box of 200 pencils to our school last year for the teachers to give to the children who needed them. I found out that they were sold by the office staff to the children for $1 each and the money was used to buy the staff a new coffee maker!
I agree the cost of fill ins is outrageous. I had it done once and watched how it was done. Then I purchased everything for about $40 to do it myself. I have been doing my own nails for over 20 years. It costs less than $20 a year now and I wouldn't be without them.
Some people think I spend too much money on things like soymilk when regular milk is so much less expensive. But choosing not to use any animal products is important to me so I just find creative ways to make the most of the rest of my money.
Great idea! Use some Nailtiques Formula II (best to buy at TJ Maxx or Marshalls) should have your nails up and better in not a lot of time! Use a quick dry top coat (if you have a Sally's nearby) Seche Vite is a GREAT one and you can do you own nails, for much cheaper! Buy a Sally's card and you can get good NP (China Glaze) for a good price and it's a good polish. Now color won't stay as well as it does on acrylics, but you'll feel better you are taking care of not only yourself but others!
Kudos to you! More people should be like you. Most of us could give up some little thing in our life and use the $ to better someone else less fortunate! Grandma Jan & Kato the Wonder Dog
Wow. You sparked a realization in me. I need to look at what I think is significant to me. How much time and money do I spend on those things?
I like your generosity and community consciousness. Those children and nursing home residents will get a lot more out of what you might think are small gifts than you'd get out of expensive nail treatments, anyway.
My nails don't grow fast at all but I like them to look nice. I buy the plastic glue-on nails. I have been using them for 21 years. have been buying them at Icing by Claires where they have been buy-one-get-one-half-price since they started carrying them a few months ago. You can buy 2 sets there for what you would pay for one anywhere else. They always have new designs every time I go there. I always buy extras of my favorite designs. I stock up every 3 weeks when i have money. i am building up quite a stockpile. They last for at least 2 weeks (or longer) if you take care of them. All the money I save I can use for new school clothes for my son and groceries and such. This design is my favorite.
What a lovely and generous deeds you are doing. Thanks for the inspiration.
If everyone did that with 1 or 2 things-nails,1 fast food meal a week,1 latte a week-and gave/used 1/3 for charity and 2/3 for 1 family event (save all year and use for a vacation, to build a family memory, etc) just think how much happier we'd be! God Bless you!
I am responding to post about the school that used a pencil donation to buy a coffeemaker. (One dollar? Even the cute pencils I sell at the school book fairs don't cost that much! Those must have been extremely adorable pencils!). I am a teacher/librarian who has spent hundreds of dollars this year on materials for my students, much of it for reading incentives. I've paid for the contents of goodie bags, ice cream parties, library books, markers, pencils, the list goes on and on. There are far more teachers who would appreciate donations than those who would use them for personal gain. I really need to save more money for my own needs, but it is hard to resist providing materials that will enable and/or motivate my students. And I think that is true for most of the teachers I have worked with. So I don't doubt that this incident occurred- there are thousands of schools in this country- but it would be the exception.
You are girl after my own heart! The formula that I have used for years as far as handling my money in a meaningful way both for me and sharing with others was to take my hourly salary, - not particularly high, minus all the deductions (taxes, etc) and see how long I would have to work for a momentary "pleasure", or 'treat", versus long term satisfaction and worth. A lot of things quickly became not that important in the scheme of things as to what their real worth was. It put a lot of "stuff" in real perspective.
As to the mani-pedi craze , that has baffled me for a long time. What is the big deal? I've been given gift certificates, and felt I could do just as well myself. Didn't do a thing for me. I know my "gifters" intent was a treat , and I appreciated that aspect, but I guess it to each his own.
Following trends can cause us to lose perspective of our own values. What you did was to reaffirm one of your own virtues. You found more pleasure in helping others than in sporting fake fingernails. That goodness was in you all the time. It just needed a little nudge.
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