What would your Frugal Day look like if you Worked for Yourself?

[Amaranth]

Awakenedsoul said this:

Yeah, some beautiful responses. Being frugal has enabled me to stay home and grow food, cook, clean, read, knit, do yoga, meditate, and take care of my animals. It had gotten to the point in my teaching that I wasn't enjoying it anymore. I wouldn't "play the game," and I got tired of working for people I didn't like or who were behaving in financially unscrupulous ways. Even when I owned a business, I realized that I'd need to make $50,000. a year for it to really work. After inheriting some money, I realized it was much wiser to stay home and spend minimally. I'm kind of like a single housewife without kids. I enjoy having a clean, beautful cottage, and doing the work to create that. I prefer riding my bike to commuting. It's a relief to let go of all that responsibility. I'm no longer making money for people I don't respect. That used to really get to me. I also have much more to give now. It's nice. I had some very lean years when I was teaching dance, and now I have plenty of food, a paid off car and home, and a thriving orchard and vegetable garden. Keeping that going is my work now. I approach it like a paid job, but I work for myself.

I like Awakenedsoul's version of the day. My day would also include promoting and teaching home gardening, children and teens getting to learn more skills of all sorts around the house.

[Mrs-M]

I don't work for myself per se, but I am a stay-at-home mom, and my day consists of everything homemaking, housewife, and mom, that one can add to the basket.

Having the freedom to do as I please (for the most part), and do when I want, is liberating, as is not being tied to an out of home schedule, clock, and work environment.

My day as of current, looks like this. I care for my children, garden (Spring through till Fall seasons), bake, cook, do housework, and take great pride in practicing and promoting simple/frugal living.

In the future, once the kids become older and more independent, I plan on expanding my days (outside the home), not all the time, but definitely more so than I am doing now. Nothing where I'm obligated to be somewhere every single day, at such and such a time, but rather, just doing something that benefits others and makes me feel good.

[Float On]

Working for ourselves....it never seems very frugal.
Husband just handed me a list of functional and raw material he needs me to order. $$$$$$$$

Thats why I hang out here.....in hopes of one day having a simple and frugal life.

[awakenedsoul]

Thanks Amaranth. I remember when I read The Millionaire Next Door, what stood out to me was that the men in the book nearly all had wives who stayed home, took care of the house, budgeted carefully, and made their own meals. I remember realizing that even though I'm single, those things make a huge difference in my financial life, too. It seems like people who struggle financially always have messy houses, not much food in the house, and lots of possessions that are broken. (I know I did when I had cc debt.) It's a vicious cycle. It's amazing to me what living in a clean, orderly environment does for you, psychologically.

My mom taught me all of the homemaking skills from a very young age. I'm really grateful for that now.

[catherine]

Working for ourselves....it never seems very frugal.
Husband just handed me a list of functional and raw material he needs me to order. $$$$$$$$

Thats why I hang out here.....in hopes of one day having a simple and frugal life.

+1

HOWEVER, I do have more time now than I did when I was in the corporate world, so I can develop new hobbies and businesses on the side and not feel like I'm stealing from my employer.

[SteveinMN]

I remember when I read The Millionaire Next Door, what stood out to me was that the men in the book nearly all had wives who stayed home, took care of the house, budgeted carefully, and made their own meals. I remember realizing that even though I'm single, those things make a huge difference in my financial life, too.
Interesting as my retirement essentially has cast me in the role of housewife as you describe it.

I'm taking care of the house and the budget; I've always been the family cook. I've had the time to do some household chores and projects that we used to hire out. I've had the time to look at the bills as they come in and pursue questionable charges or determine how we might get the same services for less money. I could take several hours and work on our retirement financial planning. We cook at home almost exclusively because we're not exhausted after another ridiculous day at work.

And my wife likes that all she has to deal with is work -- not calling contractors during odd moments in the day, not running errands over lunch, not worrying about what she's not getting done if she has to work late...

This is working so well for both of us, but I don't see how it would be possible as a single person.

[Polliwog]

I absolutely agree that doing "simple living" well requires time. Working 40+ hours a week leaves little time for planning meals and doing household maintenance and repairs. Hence, eating out is easier, using credit is easier, hiring other people to do what you could do if you had time is easier. I am so excited about the new year because I will be working about half as much as I have been - that's good. The bad part is that I will take a cut in pay. That is going to force me to pare down my financial outgo and to think of all the ways I can accomplish it. I love how you posters have described your simple-living lives. It gives me such pleasure to read your stories and comments.

[awakenedsoul]

Steve,
I didn't see how it could be possible, either. But, I think it's a formula. In my case, I inherited some money. I treat that as a retirement account. I no longer have the expenses of commuting, clothing, teaching supplies, etc. It's just so much cheaper this way. My brothers are married. They are receiving the same amount of money. But, they spend two to five times as much as I do, so they have to keep working. Two of them are married, but their wives don't cook or clean. That's not their thing...