Who Knew It Took Energy to Be Frugal?

Shortly after the birth of my newborn, I realized how much energy it takes to be as frugal as I normally am.  If you’re new to the frugal lifestyle, you can learn how to get started with frugal living here.  However, if you’re an old pro at all things thrifty, you know it takes a considerable amount of time to:

• Research the grocery store fliers and plan your shopping trips.
• Find, print, and clip coupons.
• Create and maintain a pantry system that lets you use up the oldest food first.
• Cook healthy meals from scratch.
• Keep leftovers properly stored and labeled so they get eaten instead of thrown away. (Find out my secret for how to use up refrigerator leftovers.)
• Watch clearance sales for kids’ clothes and have a good storage system in place for keeping clothes to be grown into.  Here’s my guide to buying cheap kids’ clothes on clearance.
• Train your kids about and keep on them to conserve energy in your house.
• Use cloth diapers to save on disposable diaper costs.
• Make homemade baby food.
• Hit thrift stores and garage sales to look for things you need before buying them retail.

… the list goes on and on.  Who knew it took so much energy to be hardcore frugal?!  My frugal savings dropped dramatically during the end of my pregnancy and post-delivery.  Now, I’m slowly getting back on the frugal wagon with one thing at a time.  If you’ve lost your way, you can get back on the right track too!
Sometimes life interferes with the best frugal plans and other things just have to come first.  A few perfect examples are getting sleep for a new mom or quick cooking for time when you’re packing for vacation.  No matter how much or how little energy you have, you can manage to be as frugal as you have time for.  Next, read As Frugal as You Want to Be.