Wendy McElroy on "Financial Frugality"

Any time is a good time to learn to live more efficiently. Right now, in fact, is a perfect time. In a recent post by Wendy McElroy, she outlines the personal significance added to her through engaging in daily yoga practice. On the one hand, the time it takes to practice yoga is negligible considering the outweighing increase in health. It also provides an enjoyable way to occupy time, leaving less time for doing other things that take time and money, like purchases or other activities.

Bottom line then...follow Wendy's point: find something inexpensively and enjoyably healthy to do while learning to spend less!

I cite her article partially below:

"Perhaps I should return to the theme of frugality. For me frugality is a choice and a tool through which to gain control of my time and life. Simply stated: if I do not waste time making money to purchase things/activities I don't value as much as the time they represent, then I am better able to pursue what I do value -- e.g. writing, the people for whom I care, my health. I think frugality is fun; I find cooking from scratch to be relaxing; I'm proud of owning a car that's old enough to have its own driver's license; and, home-grown tomatoes just taste better. (One reason I embrace frugality, however, is that it is a choice for me and not a driving necessity. )

One of the most frugal things I do is yoga because it helps to preserve a key aspect of my life -- one that makes all other aspects possible: health. It is not merely that medical care is ruinously high. Putting my life in the hands of a "medical system" that is notorious for getting even simple things wrong -- like the proper dose of a drug -- does not appeal one whit to me. Moreover, yoga (or any health regime) has the same goal as other forms of frugality...it deepens the quality of my life. If it extends my life, as I believe it will, then it also gives me more time."

Read the full article here.