Have you met the Frugalwoods?

Obviously I'm someone who is open to new ideas.  As a family we've pretty much turned our old lifestyle on it's ear and begun a journey to find peace and happiness every single day. This journey has changed me in sooooooooooo many ways.

But there is one way that has been a challenge for me for a long time, in part because I simply didn't want to be bothered.

Money.

Finances.

Budget.

(Blegh.)

I'm not here to rant about budgeting and the cash system and how it has changed my life. (you can read that rant here)  No...today I'm going to talk about NOT budgeting as a way of saving money. WHA?!?!  I know, that sounds crazy...until you hear it from the Frugalwoods.

                                      The Frugalwoods from the Forbes article

Have you heard of these guys?  They have it together BIG TIME.  If I could go back and know then what I know now, we could have retired 5 years ago. For reals.  But that's ok.  My journey is what it is, and I don't live with regret.  I am grateful and overjoyed at the choices we're making.  What I do want to tell you is that you should head over to the Frugalwoods blog.  But first, let this article in Forbes give you an introduction to what they're all about.

The part that REALLY stands out to me is that they do not follow a budget.  In fact, their point is that following a budget promotes more spending. If you focus simply on not spending, then you will save. Whereas if you use a budget, you tend to spend the whole thing.  And that (for us) has been true.  If we have money left over at the end of the budget cycle, we do tend to blow it on something.

That really caused me to stop and think even more about our spending habits.  Especially since we're still making full time money right now...but next year we will not.  I don't want to spend more than we have because it means we'll have to stop traveling and start working again!

So right now I have been taking $200 out of the budget money every two weeks and putting it away in a can.  (Just to see if we can do with $200 less.)  Of course, that's not the point...the point is to simply face everything as a way to not to spend money just because you can.  Every chance to spend can also be a chance not to. And since one of my favorite Thoreau quotes is "The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it" I feel like I've come a step closer to fully realizing my new spending philosophy.

Hank's kind of cute...right?

I like learning new things.  It makes me feel stronger and more resilient against the mass consumer spending that permeates our world.

Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Frugalwood!