Passive versus active frugality
Your pants’ pocket rips. The button pops off on your shirt. You leave it for a week until you fix it. You let your hair grow a little longer before having it cut. You live with that dated furniture until you can afford to replace it.
Passive frugality. Also known as letting it ride. Saves money by not lifting a finger or spending a dime.
Now, active frugality is not always easy. The office above our kitchen was dated and decorated in what I would refer to as “early attic”. At first, I just wanted to paint and put in an inexpensive carpet. When we pulled up the carpet and the plywood, there was old 1796 pine planking. Husband exclaimed, “Oh easy, I’ll sand and urethane.” This was not easy. Days of sanding with different grades of sandpaper and then wood filler and more sanding and then four urethane coats. But it is gorgeous.
Hanging up clothes on a line, making your own clothes, cooking meals – active frugality. Lots of advantages but it’s work.
Below is our new floor.
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