Moolanomy weekly roundup #14: “Frugality” edition

This has been another great week for the M-Network with our aggregate feed now moved to FeedBurner Ad Network. For our subscribers, this mean faster feed, less encoding errors, and you can actually see who wrote the post now! As always, we are committed to provide high-quality full feed.

Group Writing Project

On the week of November 12th to the 16th, members of the M-Network will share with you our philosophy of car ownership. Some of us love new cars, some of us swear by old junkers, and some think the rest of the group are nuts for owning one.

We invite you to join us and write about your car ownership philosophy, as it related to personal finance, of course! If you do, just let us know and will link up to your post so that our readers can enjoy it as well.

The Roundup

Frugal Moving Tips @ Cash Money Life — Great tips, but there comes a time in everyone life when enlisting friends to help is no longer cool.
5 frugal things about autumn @ Plonkee Money — Early nightfall just make me lazy, not frugal, but Plonkee managed to find the positives.
Crossing the Line: When does frugal become cheap? @ Being Frugal – According to this great quiz, I am frugal — not cheap. By the way, not tipping is despicable — most waiters and waitresses make less than minimum wage per hour.
What is Frugality and Are We Frugal? @ Gather Little By Little — Exploration of frugality — great post.
Becoming Cheap @ Quest For Four Pillars — 3 mind tricks to become cheap frugal.
Follow the white rabbit to financial freedom @ Brip Blap — A creative post…”If you are deeply in debt, or spending more than you earn to acquire stuff, you are living in a world that is less than what it could be.”
Am I getting more frugal by the day? @ MyInvestingBlog.com — Blogging about money can make you more frugal — beware.

Carnivals I participated in this week:

7 Ways To Get A College Degree For Less was featured in the Carnival of Education # 142 hosted by History Is Elementary, and the Common Sense Wealth Carnival # 1 hosted by TheLocoMono.
The Art of Unethical Up-selling was featured in the Carnival of Money Stories #31 hosted by Stop the Ride!
Little things you can do to save money and our planet was featured in the Carnival of the Green # 100! hosted by The Good Human.

15 Comments

Patrick
October 28, 2007, 6:11

Pinyo, I agree, everybody reaches an age when asking other people to help is not a very cool thing to do. Most people reach that stage a year or two after getting out of college. Basically, when you’ve had enough time to establish yourself as a professional. But the rest of the tips should apply to everyone at all stages of life!
Thanks for the mention.
Fruity
October 28, 2007, 6:16

I have to admit I am not much of a planner. The only thing I have, is life insurance policy for my old age. Other than that, I just let whatever comes next
plonkee
October 28, 2007, 7:21

I don’t know, I think that enlisting the help of friends is always cool, just not when the help involves carrying boxes.
hank
October 28, 2007, 8:51

Thanks for the nod this week – and it’s TRUE, I tell you, but there really isn’t anything wrong with it – Frugal’s NOT a bad word in my vocabulary!
DR
October 28, 2007, 11:26

Pinyo, thanks for the link!
Mr. Cheap
October 28, 2007, 17:42

Thanks for the link!
Brip Blap
October 29, 2007, 3:35

Thanks for the link! Actually, to build on your comment about Patrick’s post and his response in comments, it’s actually sort of a sad thing that there is a point in your life where you can no longer call up your friends to help you move.
It’s unfortunate that as life moves on we start getting embarrassed about being frugal and helping each other like we might have when we were younger. It’s true – when I was in my early 20s I wouldn’t think anything about helping my friends move, or asking for help – now I would be embarrassed to ask. Everyone gets busy, has families, other things to worry about, true. But I still fondly remember the days when I could pack most of my possessions up with the help of a couple of buddies and move in a few hours with a small U-Haul. Now it would take days to pack, professional movers to get the couch, etc. down the stairs. Life moves on.
Anyway, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with either of your comments, just an interesting thought for me out of that.
Pinyo
October 29, 2007, 4:27

Regarding enlisting friends to move, I didn’t mean it’s embarrassing, or not able to bother friends. There’s just time in most of our lives that we just accumulate too much possessions, and friends only have so much energy to give before they are completely wear out.
By all mean, call your friends to help with little things, but don’t burden them to move all the big furnitures and your library of books from your 4th story walk up apartment.
I hope you can see the difference.
Brip Blap
October 29, 2007, 18:49

Oh, I understand the difference – I just mean it’s sad that we get to that point from two points of view: 1, too much stuff, and 2, everyone is too tired to help. Life moves on…
Pinyo
October 29, 2007, 18:55

You’ll be tired too if you have to carry 50lb loads up and down 3 flights of stair the entire day. I was wasted after the 10th trip of so.
Brip Blap
October 29, 2007, 19:11

Ah, it’s good exercise, you’ll live longer Wait til you have the baby and he/she’s 30 pounds or so like my son – then you’ll see what carrying a squirming heavy load around all day up and down is like. Makes those 50 pound loads look like cupcakes!
FourPillars
October 29, 2007, 19:55

I like helping people move – as BB said it’s good exercise and it’s also a social thing.
BB is right tho – once our “possessions” get too much then it’s tough to impose.
Funny line – in our last move I had some friend s help, and after moving a ridiculous number of boxes packed full with some of my wife’s large book collection one of them asked me why I didn’t marry someone who was illiterate.
Ok, it would be funnier if you had spent a few hours helping me move first…
Mike
Pinyo
October 30, 2007, 6:22

@Brip Blap – yes it’s good exercise and I don’t mind it occasionally. I wish we had some professional help though. Regarding the baby, I have been practicing with my almost 2 years old nephew, so I think I am ready.
@FourPillars – that’s hilarious. I hope your wife gets to hear it too.
FourPillars
October 30, 2007, 19:54

Pinyo – yes, she heard it – thought it was funny too.
Mike
Make Friends, Earn Money
May 3, 2008, 12:19

I especially liked “What is frugality and are we frugal?” at GLBL. It kinda makes to think a little depper about this whole aspect and reflect on your own personal life. Thanks for the round up