She closed on the house earlier this month and told me that some of the money she used to pay for that house has been in her savings account since she was a kid. Needless to say, my friend can make a penny go further than anyone I have ever known.
I respect her approach to economy. It works for her. She never buys any article of clothing that doesn't come from a second hand store or a yard sale. I've never known her to indulge herself in any way either by eating out (she does occasionally but it is carefully planned in advance) or attending a play or taking in any but the most infrequent movie.
Now I'm an LL Bean girl with side trips to Lands End from time to time. My friend has expressed shock at the fact that I have paid as much as $20 for a pair of pants. I'm sure, without her saying it, that she thinks me extravagant while I think of my LL Bean purchases as frugal, an investment.
There are times, I admit, when I have thought her cheap to her own detriment because as careful as she is, the secondhand stuff often has a short shelf life, a fact she bemoans. It's also important to note that her careful shopping habits are possible only because she has time to invest in rooting around secondhand shops.
To me, our shopping habits illuminate the difference between cheap and frugal. To me, cheap comes at the expense of ourselves or others. Cheap is the junk at Walmart with its planned obsolescence which forces folks who either choose or must shop there to buy twice. Cheap is taking advantage of another's distress to save or make money (see corporations and financially corrupt institutions on Wall Street). Cheap is spending a half-a-day picking through secondhand stores to find clothing for less than a dollar that doesn't last very long.
Frugal, to me, is being mindful of the ways you spend money by thinking of your purchases as investments. Which brings me to these nearly-twenty-year-old pants.
When I bought these pants, there were a deep khaki green. The fabric is sturdy. They are comfortable, fitting in all the right places. Even after all this time, only the edges of the zipper's placket and the bottoms of the legs show any wear at all.
They have long been one of my favorite pairs to wear, akin to my beloved blue jeans on my list of perfect clothes. But about three years ago, I finally had to admit that they had become a bit shabby so they became my gardening pants.
These pants probably cost less than $20 but let's say they were even that price. I'll get 20 years (at least) of wear out of them. That's $1 a year investment for rugged comfort. That's frugality, in my book.
Don't get me wrong, I shop at secondhand clothing stores and secondhand sales too. In fact, I bought a white dress shirt for my husband yesterday at a secondhand store for only $3.25. He needed one to wear as part of his "uniform" to usher at a local theater this season, and I was not willing to pay full price for something he needs only to satisfy some dress code for a volunteer gig.
My point here is that buying wisely means taking the time to understand what you need, the purpose of your purchase, and then getting good and proper value for your money. That type of buying doesn't always mean seeking out the lowest price possible.
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