If your frugalness is several impacting your happiness or hurting your ability to earn more money, then it is too far!

I would much rather rent a room than live in a car. But that is my preference.

FrankN wrote:

Lexie wrote:

Moneyes wrote:

FrugalFran wrote: I actually spent a couple weeks of my life thinking I was going to have to live in my car.

You might be surprised at how many You Tube video's there are with people sharing their tips and experiences of living out of their car. There are ways you can do it without anyone really knowing that you do. Hygiene wise that is.

OMGosh Moneyeyes. I saw this whole video about a young student who was living in his car in order to have enough money to go to college. It was amazing. He had the whole thing figured out even down to the hygiene. He took his showers in the gym's locker room. I admired his perseverance and desire to reach his goal without affecting the people around him.

This seems to be the new trend of the young generation. I don't really get it. Or better said, I could never do that!

One of my coworkers spoke with me about this. I was surprised since she has pets, health issues, and isn't all that young. She had it all planned out though. I agree though, I could never be that frugal. In my rough times, I rented rooms from friends or family members.

Joker wrote: I totally agree with you FrankN. I don't think I could ever live in my car or a tent. My niece is in the Airforce and she is set to retire in the next couple of years. In July of this year, she decided to leave apartment life and move into a tent on base until October. Her thought was that she wanted to be debt free BEFORE retirement. She's paying off her car, her kids car, helping her sister and more. She said she is really ready to get back to an apartment. I salute her for the effort, however, I'm just not that frugal.

I salute her for her service and frugalness! Not something I could do.

I totally agree with you FrankN. I don't think I could ever live in my car or a tent. My niece is in the Airforce and she is set to retire in the next couple of years. In July of this year, she decided to leave apartment life and move into a tent on base until October. Her thought was that she wanted to be debt free BEFORE retirement. She's paying off her car, her kids car, helping her sister and more. She said she is really ready to get back to an apartment. I salute her for the effort, however, I'm just not that frugal.

Lexie wrote:

Moneyes wrote:

FrugalFran wrote: I actually spent a couple weeks of my life thinking I was going to have to live in my car.

You might be surprised at how many You Tube video's there are with people sharing their tips and experiences of living out of their car. There are ways you can do it without anyone really knowing that you do. Hygiene wise that is.

OMGosh Moneyeyes. I saw this whole video about a young student who was living in his car in order to have enough money to go to college. It was amazing. He had the whole thing figured out even down to the hygiene. He took his showers in the gym's locker room. I admired his perseverance and desire to reach his goal without affecting the people around him.

This seems to be the new trend of the young generation. I don't really get it. Or better said, I could never do that!

Moneyes wrote:

FrugalFran wrote: I actually spent a couple weeks of my life thinking I was going to have to live in my car.

You might be surprised at how many You Tube video's there are with people sharing their tips and experiences of living out of their car. There are ways you can do it without anyone really knowing that you do. Hygiene wise that is.

OMGosh Moneyeyes. I saw this whole video about a young student who was living in his car in order to have enough money to go to college. It was amazing. He had the whole thing figured out even down to the hygiene. He took his showers in the gym's locker room. I admired his perseverance and desire to reach his goal without affecting the people around him.

FrugalFran wrote: I actually spent a couple weeks of my life thinking I was going to have to live in my car.

You might be surprised at how many You Tube video's there are with people sharing their tips and experiences of living out of their car. There are ways you can do it without anyone really knowing that you do. Hygiene wise that is.

I am in agreement that sacrificing hygiene is a bit much. We use our WalMart bags for trash can liners in the bathroom rather than buying small ones for that. We get so many that we had to find something to use them for. Sometimes when things are lean we go to the Dollar Tree where everything is $1. The quality isn't great but it will get you by.

You've heard the old saying, "you get what you pay for?" Most times it's very true. Like the shoes. Concerning food, I usually buy the store brands which are about the same and much cheaper than brand names. Food salvage stores have great deals too. Dented cans just don't bother me.

That is a great point TISHBEL. You have to compare costs at apples to apples.

Glad to hear you made it out of that. Things must have been very tight for a while.

Sacrificing hygiene for the sake of a few bucks on toilet paper seems like taking it too far. Substituting cheaper products is one thing, but things like toilet paper can't really be done without. Being frugal goes too far when it starts costing you money, like when I bought myself cheap shoes for half the price but went through three pairs in the time good shoes would last. Sometimes value for money is as important as saving it.

I am really glad to hear you came out positive in that situation. I am sure that the time, that was extremely difficult for you.

I was in a situation about ten years ago when I lost my job and had no money to the point that I was in jeopardy of losing my apartment. I actually spent a couple weeks of my life thinking I was going to have to live in my car. Anyway, I hadn't been in the apartment for very long when all this happened and I didn't have any silverware, so I went to the Taco Bell down the road and nonchalantly swiped a few sporks. A few months later, by the grace of God and the good people He put in my path, I was completely back on my feet and doing better than ever when a friend stopped by one night to surprise me and make me dinner. He asked me where my cutlery was and I told him all I had were a few sporks from Taco Bell that I wash and re-use. He said, "You've got a great job and you make a ton of money...why don't you buy a set of cutlery?" My response was that the sporks had worked just fine when I was poor and they continued to work in light of my good fortune.

I've done that before with taco sauce from Taco Bell. When my husband's bottle starts to get low, we go there for lunch and have the kids grab a bunch of packets. I know that it doesn't cost that much just to replace the bottle, but it just doesn't seem worth it since we don't use it that often.