The Lazy Frugalist

I was very excited to do my calculations this week, using an online tool provided by my pension provider, as well as the government pension calculator, and I look in good shape to retire in 10 years, at age 55. Just the work pension and CPP will be more than enough for me to live on, plus I'll have my own RRSP and savings to draw on in addition to the two sources of pension income.

Truth is, I live on so little (right now about $7,000 a year) that I'll actually be able to SAVE in my retirement years, and the prospect of such financial independence is pretty exciting.

While 10 years is still a while away yet, it's close enough that it seems within reach and for the first time I can actually visualize getting there.

Slightly off-topic: I've only been home from work about an hour and already received 2 marketing solicitation calls...one from a long-distance phone company and one from some company wanting to offer me a free vacation (yeah right!). I hung up on both (with a pleasant 'no thank you', but I do hang up so they don't have a chance to say anthing more...it's a waste of my time and theirs). There's supposed to be a "no call" registry starting up in Canada soon, to stop these kinds of phone solicitations and you can bet I'm going to get myself on the registry as soon as it's open. I once bought a magazine subscription when I was in my early 20s from someone over the phone, but I learned my lesson then and have never purchased anything since. Twenty years of phone calls with no sales and they keep on trying. I should tell them they are batting terrible odds!

Marie

Stocking up on groceries and household supplies is a great frugal tip that perfectly meshes with my lazy attitude. If I stock up when something is on sale, not only am I saving money but I'm reducing the number of trips I have to make to the store. That's less work for me! Making less trips to the store is also a powerful frugal tool in itself. When we make frequent shopping trips we'll inevitably spend more, because it's hard not to cave in to the urge to pick up other merchandise we happen to see and think we need. Staying out of the stores is one of those frugal tips where it requires you DON'T do something as opposed to actively doing something. It's LAZY and it WORKS. My ultimate aim is to get my grocery shopping down to once a month, with maybe a quick stop in between for perishables. Right now I'm at about every 2 weeks.

A few days ago I bought 5 packages of 12 double-roll toilet paper. Each package was $4.44 or about half the regular price and well below my own personal guideline of buying when TP is 25 cents a single roll or 50 cents a double roll. This sale worked out to a price of 37 cents per double roll. So I stocked up, hopefully enough for many many months to come.

But there's a couple of important notes to remember about stocking up. One, there's a psychological effect that if you have a lot of something on hand you'll tend to use it generously, just because you have a lot of it. In other words, if you have 10 bottles of shampoo on hand the inclination will be to pour a generous amount into your palm when you use it, because in the back of your mind is the thought that you have lots so why be stingy with it. But to be frugal you'll have to make a concerted effort to use only a modest amount even when you're living with a stockpile of plenty or you'll defeat the benefits of stocking up. Two, it's never worked for me to stockpile 'goodies', because the temptation to overuse or overeat them is too powerful for me. I recognize that weakness in myself. So, while it's okay for me to stockpile toilet paper, I try to avoid stockpiling ice cream because I'll just eat it up quickly anyway so there's no benefit in stockpiling it, there's actually a disadvantage to it.

In summary, remember that:

• stockpiling is a great lazy frugal practise because it reduces the number of trips to the store and therefore means LESS work.


• staying out of the stores as much as possible WILL reduce your overall spending


• don't stockpile goodies, recognize your human weakness and that you'll just consume the goodies at a faster pace

Stay tuned for more tips on stocking up and reducing shopping trips in future posts.

Marie

I've finally entered the digital age and recently purchased my first digital camera. Of course it was on sale, and I did a little research first to make sure it was a relatively good quality camera, but it is by no means an expensive model, more a serviceable one.

It didn't come with a camera case, I don't know if that's because of it's modest price range or what, but I thought up two inexpensive options for something I could use. One idea was a small makeup bag I saw at the dollar store, it was about the right size and would make it easier to carry the camera around but didn't offer much in the way of protection, if for example, I accidentally dropped the camera. So I settled on option #2, which was only 50 cents, half the cost of the cosmetics bag.

Here is what I bought, can you guess what it is and what it's really for:


That's right, it's one of those travel cases for soap, it's got a hard plastic body and is just the right size for my camera. It came in many colours but I chose black to look more "digital". I just wrap the camera inside in a soft cloth and put a band around the outside to hold it closed (although it works well without, it's just as extra insurance). I'd of liked to include a photo of the camera IN the case but since I only have one camera it wasn't possible!

Anyway, I just love a cheap solution!

Marie

Got a frugal question? Want to know my opinion on it? Then ask The Lazy Frugalist! Just post your question here in the comments section and I'll either reply here, or feature your question in a new separate post with my reply.

Disclaimer: I'm not a professional money manager and my replies are my opinions only. Also, I'm Canadian so cannot answer any questions relevant to the U.S. financial system (ie. Roth IRAs etc.). For techncial RRSP and investment questions, please seek professional help.

Marie

Ever suffer from house lust? Of course you have! I'm thinking everyone does at some point or another. In my case I think it was from overdosing on HGTV, you know, seeing all those beautiful homes and thinking 'why don't I have a house like that?' The more I watched that channel, the more my dissatisfaction grew.

And it was silly really. I'd bought my modest townhouse at age 30, and by age 40 I'd completely paid off the mortgage. No small accomplishment for a single woman. So why did I feel so lousy when I compared my situation and what I had to the homes on tv? Being constantly bombarded with images of beautiful homes with stainless steal appliances and granite counters in the kitchen was actually eroding my contentment level and giving me a restless feeling, like I needed to find a way to get myself a better house.

So I unsubscribed to HGTV.

And it worked! My contentment level rose when I stopped viewing the images and the urge to up-size went away. I think it's human nature to look around us and compare what we have to what others have. I'll go so far as to say it's probably some primitive survival mechanism. After all, the caveman with more fur pelts and more spears out-survived the caveman who had less, so once upon a time it benefitted us to compare our possessions to others and try to eradicate any perceived imbalance, but what worked in pre-historic times isn't very useful today. Having granite countertops isn't going to ensure my survival in any way.

So unsubscribing to HGTV fixed my house lust problem but then I began another habit that got me into trouble: I started scouting the online real estate listings, ostensibly because my sister is looking for a house (eventually) and I thought I'd help out by keeping my eye on the market. But what happened? You guessed it. Dissatisfaction with my own house set in once again.

But I came across a website the other day with accompanying photos that completely wiped out any of the dissatisfaction I was feeling about my own circumstances. Check it out:

http://www.photomichaelwolf.com/100x100/

It's 100 photos of rooms at Hong Kong's oldest social housing project. Each room is only 100 square feet...that's about 10x10, the size of a small bedroom. I don't think we can even comprehend housing this small in North America, unless it's very temporary housing, like college dorm rooms. But these are actual long-term housing units. The photos fascinated me, I was both appalled at the conditions and awed by the residents able to make do with such restricted accomodations.

But the best part was this: looking at the photos totally cured my house lust. Suddenly I was extremely grateful and appreciative of my own house, that has actual windows and even a small backyard. Not to mention a bathroom and a kitchen (both of which are absent from the Hong Kong units, I assume those would be shared facilities).

Anyway, lesson learned: if ever I become dissatisfied with what I have the answer is to look for instances where others have even less, as a reminder to myself of how truly blessed I am and not to take what I have for granted.

And of course, to stay away from HGTV. :)

Marie

Hi, I'm The Lazy Frugalist! I write under my middle name, Marie. I've been frugal a long time and decided to start a blog about it.

Why the LAZY frugalist? Well, my philosophy has always been simplicity. And I think there's a misconception that being frugal is a lot of work...you know, all that coupon-clipping, homemade gifts, cooking from scratch...it all sounds like a lot of work! But I practise a simpler kind of frugality. I advocate doing LESS, not more, but still living a frugal life and benefitting from all the advantages of good money management.

So come along my journey as I write about frugality from the less-is-more perspective. And oh yeah, I love dwelling on life's minutae so I'll be writing about a lot of little things too. They may seem small, but added up over time it's the little things that can make a big difference.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll come back and visit!

Marie