5 Things I learned from Frugal People

I have frugal people in my close circle. For years if you had asked me to define frugal, I might have
used some derogatory phrases (tight wad, skin flint, stingy) in a good way, of course. Life has a way of changing our thinking. Think of that moment you actually started to appreciate your mother; it probably happened after you moved out and ruined your first load of laundry, at  2AM after a night with a sick child, or after hours of dealing with a  hyper, whiney or strong willed 3 year old. As I have embarked on the journey of using no debit or credit cards, and having a limited amount of cash each week, I now understand why frugal people do some of the things they do, not all of them, but some of them. Here are 5 things I have learned from my frugal friends;
1. Purchases are only made when you can no longer justify waiting to buy them and only after researching the best price. Purchases are not made because everything in the Christmas isle is 75% off, or because "those shoes are awesome!"
2. If I decided to eat lunch out, or stop at Starbucks, I have to give up something else that I would have bought with that money. I don't raise my spending limit for the week by the amount I spent. I then have the right to celebrate at the end of the month when there is actually money in savings, and my account is not negative.
3.When you know there is money in your account, the correct response is "nice, now we have enough to pay for vacation, and a nest egg in case of emergencies" NOT "How fun, think of the possibilities,  what do you want to do with it RIGHT NOW?"
4.Stopping by the store to pick up milk does not cost $80.00, because as you walked through the Atkins aisle you decided you should try that diet again, the hair products and make up aisle and remembered you need EVERYTHING, and passed the new flavor of coffee creamers and who doesn't need mint chocolate coffee creamer.
5.Saving up to do something and then having the satisfaction of paying for it afterwards feels awesome.