Another consumerist hobby that I discovered is frugal living. The frugal living website a ran across yesterday starts with a long list of items you need to buy in order to be more frugal. I didn’t get to the end of the shopping list, so I never discovered the secrets of frugality the shopping is supposed to open up to you.
I always thought that most dogmatic and preachy people ever were reformed smokers and recent religious converts. But it turns out that the frugal living folks are easily the most smug and condescending bunch of all.
Clarissa's Blog 
Frugality, of course, is in the eye of the beholder. For example, I always wear my oldest and most ragged clothes first, saving my newer ones to the end of my laundry cycle. I also always use a clothesline, never an electric clothes dryer. I drive a small car which needs less fuel. Etc.
LikeLike
I’m puzzled by the concept of spending money on new clothes to go on holiday with – I always pack the family’s oldest and most ragged clothes and when they’re covered in mud/sand etc, stuff them in a clothes recycling bin so we have more space in luggage for return journey.
LikeLike
I’d like to put the Frugal Living people up against the Prosperity Gospel people in a smugness contest.
We’ll toss in some Evangelical Atheists as well. Just for fun.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lol! Yes, the frugal bunch are quite insufferable in their self-righteousness.
LikeLiked by 1 person
God, yes. They also spend so much time and stress on this. I think it’s a mental illness, sort of like anorexia.
I of course know I spend more than I have to and am not always careful enough, but I also note that the “frugal” types are types who normally spend money I’d never dreamed of. It’s like “spend coupons to get a discount on your Disney World hotel” when I’d take the kids camping, an not to freakin’ Disney world.
LikeLike
My favorite frugal living advice was to buy some massively expensive contraption that allows you to have gel manicures at home. The possibility of avoiding gel manicures altogether was not even discussed.
Btw, I’m not even sure what gel manicures are and why you need a special lamp for them.
LikeLike
Gel manicures are supposed to be a special type of manicure that lasts longer than two days without nicking, which saves you money and time. The UV/LED light is supposed to cure the gel bonding it to your nail plate. The question isn’t asked because having done nails is part of female beauty standards…or something.
LikeLike
I don’t get gel manicures. But I know that they can last up to a month.
LikeLike
Also, some of them stress and strain and then go and do really expensive things. I’d so much rather relax more every day. This “frugality” is a way of only ever thinking about money, really, and when they say “downsize to a smaller car” all I can say is I have never had a large one.
Maybe it is for people who never lived on a small budget? My parents didn’t spend indiscriminately, and I spent a long time in college and graduate school, and in low-paid professor positions. So I have never been in a position to spend wildly, and the things I can do, I want to just do, not penny-pinch on.
LikeLike
Obsessing about money is just as unhealthy as being a crazy spender. It’s anal stage traumas in both cases and it’s all about anxiety.
LikeLike
Another one for your out of control consumerist files? I couldn’t stand the idea of clicking on the link so maybe it’s not as bad as it seems from the excerpt.
And yes, traditional funerals were overpriced and often kind of vulgar but… the phenomenon described is worse
“the modern undertaker’s job is increasingly one of event-planning” consuming death by proxy….. brrrrrrr
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2018/04/new-service-sector-jobs-2.html
LikeLike
Yeah…a local funeral home has been running commercials for funerals comparing them to the cost/planning expected of a wedding or graduation ceremony. It’s off-putting at best.
LikeLike
“…a long list of items you need to buy to be more frugal”
Let me get this straight: one must spend a certain amount of money in order to put themselves in a position in which they’ll be able to start saving their money …
…Catch-22, eh?
LikeLike
Some costs can be justified as saving money. Taking three dogs to the groomer would cost us about sixty dollars every six months, maybe more. But a single investment in a good quality razor set has allowed us to groom them ourselves for the past eight years or so. And we haven’t had to buy new blades yet. So for the cost of a year and a half of grooming appointments, we’ve gotten six and a half years.
Granted, you need to be careful and willing to do your research about it, and you still have to put the time in. So we spend more time and energy in return for saving that money. And it’s not a good option for everyone. It just happened to make sense for us to do that.
LikeLike