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Are You Jealous Of The Joneses?

Too many people spend money they earned..to buy things they don’t want..to impress people that they don’t like. –Will Rogers

Making comparisons with people is a common thing. We all do it to some extent, but some people find themselves not only consumed with wanting to see what other people own and do but trying to keep up with this self-imposed standard of what is ‘crucial’ to have for themselves.

In our material world, success and wealth are so often confused with what we own.

Let me make two fictional examples:

Your friends, Mr & Mrs. Jones have a brand new luxury car, they take two luxury holidays overseas each year and their home is like something from an interior design magazine.

Your other friends, Mr & Mrs. Smith have driven the same car that was already a few years old when they bought it eight years ago. They go camping in the UK for a long weekend each year, and stay with family occasionally, but hardly ever seem to go abroad. Their house is clean and tidy, but it’s filled with second-hand, mismatched furniture and their kitchen and bathroom are both a little dated.

So which couple is ‘successful’? Who is earning a good salary? Which couple is struggling with debt and arguing about money when nobody can hear? Which couple has a greater than average net worth for their age? Who has the most in savings and which couple have their retirement investments on track? Who has the highest Credit Score?

The answer is, we just don’t know.

Mr and Mrs. Jones may have worked their arses off to pay cash for those expensive holidays, or that brand new car, or they may have an expensive car payment each month and they may still be paying off a holiday taken five years ago as they sun themselves on their latest dream destination.

Mr and Mrs. Smith could be raking in fantastic salaries and investing 70% of their incomes each month so that they can retire really early and travel the world or they may be paying off crippling debts and about to split up due to one of them having a secret gambling habit.

There are so many variables to each situation in this fictional set-up and so too are there when observing the lives of others around us or on social media. Unless a person chooses to tell us how their personal financial situation is, we’ll never truly understand the real picture and frankly, it’s none of our business.

Finally, not everybody measures success by material, financial, educational or vocational factors. For some people, a contented marriage or happy and well-adjusted, kind children are much more of sign that their hard work (in spending quality time with loved ones) has paid them dividends. To them, these are the only dividends they’re concerned with.

I love hearing from you and want to grow this community that is growing each day. Don’t be shy! Comment, contribute to the Facebook page, send me a private message or all three! I will always try to help you.

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A Fistful Of Frugal – Beauty Edition

‘A Fistful OF Frugal’ will be a regular feature where I share five (five fingers equals a fist, right?) frugal things that either my husband or I do to save money. I’m going to kick off with those that I use in my personal grooming and I hope that even if they’re not things that you’d choose to do, that you’ll at least find them interesting.

1. I cut my hair (with the help of Mr. B!)
   I looked for videos on YouTube and found one that kept instructions simple. Granted, I keep a simple haircut, but there are tutorials for many styles, dependent on how brave you are!
2. I make my deodorant
   I really don’t like the idea of repeatedly smearing dodgy chemicals onto the skin near my lymph nodes and breast tissue and so did some research and lucked out on a fantastic recipe, which just so happened to use ingredients that we already had in the kitchen. Once made, it lasts me many months and works better than even such brands as Mitchum worked for me. My husband tried it and though he said it worked more effectively than regular deodorant, he didn’t like the oiliness in his underarm hair. (N.B. It has never left oil stains on my clothing). I can’t find the link to the recipe I use, but I found a website with three recipes that are very similar.
3. I use a homemade exfoliant.
   Now, there are many recipes using a combination of ingredients, either using sugar or sometimes salt, as the main ingredient, and I have tried many of them, but I always go back to the thing I’ve used since I was a teenager, which is plain old granulated sugar! If you want something less abrasive, then use a recipe that mixes it up with an oil, for instance.
   Using sugar gives me really soft skin and must have saved me a fortune (not to mention all of the plastic that was kept from landfill and nasty chemicals from my skin) over the years and, as we take sugar in our tea, we always have it in the house!
4. I use a homemade face mask.
   I’ve experimented with homemade masks over the years, but always went back to my beloved clay masks, but when my favourite clay mask was discontinued recently, it was the kick I needed to look into homemade masks once again.
   I have an ongoing battle with acne. Yes, I’m 40 and not only do I have to contend with wrinkles but spots too. Life’s cruel.
   I really want to make my own clay masks, but the initial outlay is a little bit much for me to justify right now, but I found a recipe that is working very well for me and, you guessed it, everything required was in our kitchen.
5. I do my manicures and pedicures (though not as often as I probably should).
   My fingernails aren’t particularly high on my list of priorities, but when I do decide to look after them, I can do a pretty good job with some very simple and inexpensive tools. Even if you’re the type of person that likes those amazingly creative fake nails, with jewels and charms, there are tutorials for free on YouTube and not only do you save a fortune by doing it yourself, you’ll be learning a new skill. Hey, maybe you can start earning money by offering your new skill to others!

What frugal things do you do? Please share so that we can all learn from each other!

I love hearing from you and want to grow this community that is growing each day. Don’t be shy! Comment, contribute to the Facebook page, send me a private message or all three! I will always try to help you.