Back in 2009, I wrote a post about living the frugal life as a freelancer (for technical reasons, this post is no longer available). Nearly three years later, I’m still quite frugal but with some new observations, so I thought this topic was worth revisiting.
As I predicted in that post, my family is now completely debt-free. We own our house without a mortgage and have no credit card debt, car loans, student loans or any other types of loans. Barring unexpected disasters, we’re committed to remaining debt free forever. And as my husband likes to note, both of us have only had “regular jobs.” We achieved this level of financial security without any massive salaries, work bonuses, inheritances, etc. Basically we just lived beneath our means for so long that we paid everything off.
On the substantive front, we still don’t have a clothes dryer (I think that was the item in the previous post that people asked me about most often!), we still have only one car, a 15 year old Subaru station wagon that we bought used, we still use our bikes for most of our in-town transportation, we still don’t own a single item of furniture that was purchased new, and I still couldn’t tell you the last time I bought an article of clothing in a real retail store. So, not much new to report on that front.
Like most frugal families, our frugal habits are defined more by what we don’t do than by what we do. But if I had to identify some frugal “dos,” I’d pick my Crock-Pot slow cooker and my prepaid cell phone. The Crock-Pot helps avoid the temptation to eat out on days when we don’t get home until right at dinner time, usually due to my daughter’s sports practice schedule. I load it up in the morning, often using a recipe from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, then dinner is ready when we walk in the door (and check out the newly released Fresh from the Vegan Slow-Cooker too!). My TracFone also saves me a ton of money. We still have a land line so I don’t use my cell phone much, and I pay about $150 a year for service and minutes.
Now that we don’t have a mortgage, our largest monthly expense is food. As I mentioned in the previous post, we’re vegetarians but we eat almost exclusively organic food and we like good stuff like nice cheese and chocolate. So our monthly food expense for three people has been about $800-$1,000 a month for the past few years. That includes almost everything we eat, because my husband and I take lunch to work and my daughter takes lunch to school. Also, we have family or friends over for dinner at least once a week and sometimes as often as three times, so our food bill includes that food as well. However, one of my goals for this year is to cut our food bill without sacrificing taste and quality.
As I get older and make more money, my take on the purpose of frugality is changing. When my freelance business and my daughter were both in their infancy, the frugal lifestyle was an imperative, not a choice. Now, frugality is more about saving money on some things (car, cell phone, clothes) in order to have money to spend on other things (travel, sports gear, time off). For example I recently joined a co-working office, which costs me $350 a month. Is this a necessary expense? Absolutely not, since I have an office in our house. But because I save money on other things, can I afford this? Totally. So, if you’re frugal or frugal-curious, how can you save money on:
-Food? Well, you can use your slow cooker, as described above. Also, you can avoid eating out as much as possible. In addition, my number one money-saving tip for food is to go grocery shopping less often. First, you can save money by buying in bulk. If you have the storage space, load up whenever anything non-perishable is on sale. Second, you give yourself fewer opportunities to make unplanned or impulse purchases, or an item to eat in the car on the way home. If you really want to take it to the black belt level, you could be like these people, who only grocery shop 12 times a year.
-Cell phones? If you’re a real cell phone minimalist, you can go with TracFone and pay by the minute. Even if your cell phone is your primary phone, you should be able to dramatically cut your bill by using Net10, Straight Talk or similar no-contract services that offer unlimited talk, text and data for under $50 per month.
-Furniture, clothing and household items? Buy second hand. Here in Boulder we’re lucky to have a huge range of high-quality second hand stores, so I shop them almost exclusively for clothing and household things. You can also cruise Freecycle, Craigslist and similar sites. I have my limits, and there are some things (mattresses, bathing suits, shoes unless they’re basically unworn) that I will not buy second hand, but just about everything else is fair game.
-Transportation? It depends on where you live, but if you can do it, replacing your around-town driving with biking or walking serves two purposes. You save money on gas and car maintenance, and you get some exercise. Again, we’re fortunate to live in a city that is consistently rated among America’s most bike-friendly, but we also made a choice to spend more money on a house in order to live in a bikeable/walkable area because we refuse to have more than one car.
-Computers? If you’re looking for a laptop, consider purchasing one from a reseller of used corporate laptops. For example, last year I purchased a reconditioned Lenovo ThinkPad from a Microsoft authorized reseller for under $300, and I’ve been very happy with it ever since. I used TigerDirect on eBay, but there are lots of other refurbished options out there.
If I had to sum up the frugal mindset, I would say it this way: make deliberate choices. I think that a lot of people spend a lot of money on stuff that doesn’t really matter to them, just because everyone else is doing it and it seems like the thing to do. So for example, a big priority for our family is to take three weeks to a month off together every summer. Especially as my daughter gets older and we all have more of our own thing going on, we really try to carve out this time to have some fun adventures together. But in order to do this, we have to really think about our spending during the rest of the year, since something like our bike trip across Switzerland and Italy involves significant spending and a significant amount of unpaid time off for me and my husband. But for us, the point of frugality is that through deliberately choosing our spending priorities, we have enough money for the things that really matter to us.
Other thoughts on freelance frugality?
Nathalie Reis says
Interesting article, Corinne. We all have our weaknesses in terms of spending money. I don’t mind not buying clothes or handbags but I hate saving on food (although I don’t buy organic) and I love eating out with friends/family. But I also think that it is worth being frugal about some things, especially if you have a plan in mind. At the moment, I’d really like to go away on a painting week-end so I am slightly careful about my expenditure.
Angelica Samper says
Hola Corinne,
I really enjoyed this posting… It made me reflect about wiser ways to approach life in terms of our spending habits, and time-investing decisions.
Seems like being frugal… purposefully frugal… is an important aspect of that way-of-life freelancing is.
Thanks again. Your work is quite inspiring for many translators in, what may seem to you, very remote areas of the earth.
Angélica S.
Diana Coada says
For a few years now I’ve been buying by bookmarking the item of clothing that I like and waiting for the sale. And I love it. Clothes are overpriced here in the UK and buying something that used to be £40 for £9 makes me happy. I can’t stop buying clothes now.
Second hand furniture is in my plans as well. I am getting thriftier by the minute!!
Great article Corinne 🙂
Judy Jenner (@language_news) says
Great stuff as always! And congrats on not having a mortgage — I am jealous, in a good way. Don’t even get me started on the Vegas real estate market issues, but that’s another story. I’ve also been relatively frugal all my life (but compared to you, I am a green belt), but my weak point is eating out, which we do very frequently and with great gusto. However, when we do, we support small and family-owned restaurants, so that makes me feel good. I am trying to own fewer things, given that I have everything that I could possibly need, and donate to charity every three months. My unrealistic goal is to be a bit of a minimalist, but I have too many books and clothes for that, plus hubby is a bit of a pack rat. I also love thrift stores for funky and inexpensive clothes! And I really like your idea about the refurbished laptop — had never thought of that. My favorite thrifty and eco-friendly business trick: print on both sides of paper (we print out each translation project at least twice).
And I completely agree with you that it’s all about choices, and you choose vacations (as do I) and quality time with friends and family (me, too). I could drive a fancier car, but I love my Prius and I’d rather travel than spend the money on a big car payment.
Ah, and I really need to dust off the slow cooker. I used it in December to make mulled wine for a party, but I should use it for food one of these days, too!
Marta (@mstelmaszak) says
Thank you for such a lovely article, Corinne! It’s great to know that you and your family are vegetarian. I’m vegan, nice to meet you 🙂
I’m doing all I can, but living in London is not necessarily frugal-friendly (or sometimes I think common sense-friendly). I can’t wait to move to Norway!
Oliver Lawrence says
Hi Corinne, nice one :). I view frugality in the same light as Will Strunk’s precept that, as a machine should have no unnecessary parts, so a text should have no unnecessary words – similarly, a task should have no unnecessary steps, and a lifestyle should have no unnecessary expenses. Get the most from your time and your money.
From funky keyboard shortcuts (with AsUtype, I’ve defined shortcuts for lots of things I need to enter often, like my email signature or web address – handy for that inviting field at the bottom of your ‘leave a reply’ section :)) to buying 10 packs of cereal at the supermarket when it’s on special offer, every little helps.
Tina Müller says
Hi Corinne, great post and right up my street. Living in London, I already save huge amounts by not having to commute into town every day. Another favourite of mine is doing my grocery shopping online. Although you have to pay a small fee for the delivery, the bill is generally about £40 (!) a week less then when I go to the shop :).
Martin Wunderlich says
Thanks so much for this article, Corinne, which provides a nice alternative to the high-powered, intensively consuming lifestyle that is advocated in advertising.
+1 on Freecycle. Whenever I need to get a specifc item, I tend to check our local Freecycle community in Munich first rather than buying new. Lots of perfectly good stuff (e.g. a nice sledge for my daughter, xmas tree stand…).
Instead of owning a car, I have a carsharing option for the few occasions where I do need a car. This is done more out of ecological reasons than frugality. I need the carshare for maybe 2 hours every other month. The rest is bike and public transport. Not sure, if this is an option in Boulder.
(I won’t start on listing my weaknesses here when it comes to frugality – that would take up too much space 🙂 )
Léon COLLET says
> > Bonjour Corinne, >
Merci pour vos billets.
Parlant de frugalité, voici quelques faits glanés en divers lieux.
Une boutique de Pamiers, dans l’Ariège (chef-lieu Foix), offrait, offre peut-être encore, à quiconque de remplir un sac, style sac d’épicerie, de polos, chandails…pour 1 Euro et peut-être un droit d’inscription, je ne me souviens plus. Les gens portent ces vêtements durant un certain temps, s’en lassent, les rapportent et recommencent le cycle. La grande rotation assure un certain revenu au commerçant.
Un commerçant du marché public d’alimentation de Dreux, dans l’Eure-et-Loir (chef- lieu Chartres), offre un panier de bonnes dimensions de fruits bien mûrs pour 1,50 Euro. L’expérience amoindrit le risque d’un tel achat. Peu de gens profitent de l’aubaine, surtout en public! La plupart achètent des fruits durs comme des pierres, fruits qui parfois pourrissent avant maturité.
On peut aussi congeler les poissons des mers froides, les moins chers et aussi heureusement les plus nutritifs, durant leur saison de pêche et en dehors de la ruée à prix fort des fêtes de fin d’année.
À l’heure de fermeture du marché Jean-Talon, à Montréal, on pouvait avoir jusqu’à 18 mangues très très mûres pour seulement 2 $ !
Et comme vous le faites, on peut un peu partout, se vêtir à petit prix, voire gratuitement, dans les entrepôts de certains organismes caritatifs tels que le Secours catholique, etc., lesquels offrent aussi parfois des meubles, peut-être contre paiement de certains frais. Il faut s’y rendre souvent pour saisir les meilleures occasions.
Bonne journée.
Léon.
English Training Center says
Great article. Thanks for sharing. I learned a lot and hopefully I can apply your ideas and thoughts in my life, as well. Keep it up!
Corinne McKay says
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks!
patenttranslator says
“We achieved this level of financial security without any massive salaries, work bonuses, inheritances, etc. Basically we just lived beneath our means for so long that we paid everything off.”
OK, now I understand why you decided to splurge 350 dollars a month totally unnecessarily on shared office-space outside of your house.
It’s time to finally start living it up, right?
(Just kidding).
Corinne McKay says
Joke taken! But yes, even my accountant said “Life is short, you should loosen up a little and go on a nice vacation.” So we did 🙂
Catharine Cellier-Smart (Smart Translate) says
Thought-provoking article.
Amongst other things I try to be frugal with my book buying : when I’m tempted to buy a book straightaway I put it on my wishlist on Bookmooch (a book exchange website), and cross my fingers that I won’t have to wait too long for it to become available!
Emily Ortiz Alfonso says
I enjoyed this article because I am known as the coupon queen to many. I would love to reduce many items, but I have a family that constantly challenges me. One interesting thing you mention that I want to reiterate is that frugality is about choices. I love good, expensive clothing. My efforts to purchase them on discount is actually quite good. Coach bags…I buy one every few years at the outlet. Eating out is really not my thing. It is truly important that regardless of our profession, we need to identify what merits our hard-earned money and what does not. Thank you for sharing.
chiara says
Very nice article Corinne, I like your straightforward writing style 🙂
Mary Byrne says
Chapeau Corinne! I’m delighted to see we’re doing basically the same kind of things here in Basse Normandie, with stews cooking on the wood-burning stove and a kind of occasional circling wardrobe among friends (living both here and in Paris), of clothes that are perfectly good but that they don’t want to wear anymore – great fun altogether!
Keep up the good work!
Mary
Tapani Ronni says
Good ideas, Corinne. What’s been really hitting us hard here in Boston area is day care. Cost: over 3000 bucks a month for 2 preschoolers. Now that the older one is in Kindergarten it is looking a little better. Housing could also be cheaper, but you have to live where there are jobs.
Translation Services says
Really nice one corinne.. In today’s global world, many of us are missing this perspective..
Very useful one with a good insight..
Annabelle Vergne says
Great article Corinne, I live pretty frugally myself, no commuting, I buy most stuff second hand too, you can buy almost anything at thrift stores in the US, and we use Straight talk for phone service. I am about to go a bit further in that direction, to be able to do more of the fun things too, like, yes, take time off.
James Homanich says
Excellent article. For those who enjoy shopping for used clothing, if you get to Paris, I would recommend the Kilo Shop, the only store I have ever found that sells clothing by weight. I am not someone who really enjoys shopping a lot but Kilo Shop is fun.