The Frugal Family Guide

I love this article. Each month when I receive the $130 cable bill, $230 cell phone bill (for 4 family phones), and $170 bill for 2 land lines and internet, I dream of a simpler time. I'm 46 so I remember the days of no internet, no cell phones and television with 5 channels. You know, it really wasn't that bad. We dine out, or bring home carry-out, food way too much. Growing up, my mother always cooked. We buy everything new, grow nothing and drink Starbuck's on a daily basis. Our savings is minimal, and keeping the credit card debt in check is always a battle. It is my greatest wish that this economic downturn will force us all to shed some of the excess in our lives for a bit more simplicity.

Good perspective on present conditions. Basics that need to be reinforced. There's no "free" in Free Enterprise. The financial industry has been building their wealth by offering other people debt.

Bravo, Mr. Tuttle, for your great article on your frugal parents. I think we might have been raised in the same family. I told a friend I was mending some underwear the other day and she couldn't believe it - she throws hers out and buys new. Sheesh, no wonder we are drowning in landfills. I keep wondering when it became ok to not take care of stuff but instead throw it out and buy new. Sometime in my lifetime that transition happened so insidiously that I almost missed it.
Thank you for the sanity check! Connie

i really appreciate this article. my mom and dad survived their childhood years during the great depression. both worked as children to put food on the table (literally). they are both thrifty by habit and thank God, financially comfortable now in their 70's after a lifetime of self-financed education, hard work and frugality. as for me, 2009 is my 20th year without TV. i've never had cable TV nor satallite, never saw a need to watch the horrible and intellectually insulting garbage that passes for entertainment. like the writer's mom, i also never owned a clothes dryer. grocery shopping with coupons and for sale items only, cooking from scratch and mostly vegetarian, buying used cars with cash and using the free public library for books and movies are no sacrifice to me. whilst corrrupt and incompetent execs on Wall street cry that they can't survive without their multimillion dollar bonuses, and failing companies insist on perks to retain their best "talent", what happened to the America that valued education, thrift, work and contributing to a better society as meritous?

Thank you Mr. Tuttle for this article! My parents are EXACTLY like this! (My mom has returned to darning old socks with holes now that the country is in recession, and they just finished the last of their "Y2K stash" of flour they bought 10 years ago. It had been sealed in a 50 gallon drum in the canning room with the home-canned vegetables from their garden.) When I was growing up, hand chopping 5 cords of wood earned my brother enough money to buy his first used car. ...and all of that upper body strength got him a football scholarship to an ivy-league school. It's not just the frugality, it's the mind-set that hard work is healthy and good for you. So many people today feel that manual work is some sort of admission of failure in our society, when it's nothing of the kind. There's this feeling that if you are "smart" you will have money and hire other people to do your yard work for you. It's like some sort of distorted mirror of the Puritan Ethic.

The Obama administration and Congress have already sent the WRONG MESSAGE. But a Home you cannot afford with an interest only mortgage with little or no money down and the Government will bail you out.

Hey Steve, or may I call you Ned Ludd

Don't worry. They way the Marxist-in-Chief is going, before too long we'll all be running round in rags, catching and eating mice by candle-light.

In the meantime, do us all a favor. Stop breathing. Think of all the carbon dioxide you'll save.

Hey Steve, or may I call you Ned Ludd

Don't worry. They way the Marxist-in-Chief is going, before too long we'll all be running round in rags, catching and eating mice by candle-light.

In the meantime, do us all a favor. Stop breathing. Think of all the carbon dioxide you'll save.

Unlike Obama and (I'm guessing) Mr. Tuttle, I grew up when clothes were washed by hand and and dried on the line. Also hauled wood, then coal for heat and cooking. No brag, just fact. I retired from the military, from a public company, and started and sold a business, so I did work at a few more things than our president. Now he wants me to sacrifice? Who the hell does he think he is. I have lost 40% of my net worth in the last three months doe to his idiotic fiscal wishy-washing! After he sacrifices and serves $50 a pound steak instead of $100 a pound steak at his White House parties, I'll think about more sacrifice to his "vision." Give me a break!

It's one thing to choose this lifestyle--and my family, for the most part, has, but quite another to be forced into it because of Obama's disastrous economic policies. This isn't the 'change' people were looking for, trust me.

So your solution is to live like it's 1899 instead of 2009? Seriously?

So, your cure for us is to live like its 1899 instead of 2009? Great.

WOW! Newsweek has entered the new phaase of journalism... they are printing personal journals. Steve Tuttle gets paid to go down memory lane. This reminds me of the tripe Tim Russert used to peddle with his books about his old man. What's the article for next week? Printings from your journal concerning the trip you took Europe in 2004? Zzzzzzzz What substance is being revealed in this week's article? None. FYI Stevie most of us have/had parents who only spent what they earned.

My mother made rugs out of plastic bread wrappers, and she would rinse off ice cubes from one drink to put into another. One of her more disgusting ideas was the "family napkin", with the intention of saving water by cutting down on the laundry load. I actually remember siting at the dinner table asking for the napkin to be passed. That was definitely going too far, and she finally came to her senses on that one. While growing up with such thrifty parents taught me some valuable lessons, it also almost causes one to be the antithesis to such frugality when we finally leave the nest, so in this matter as in all things, moderation is perhaps more preferable.

My mother made rugs out of plastic bread wrappers, and she would rinse off ice cubes from one drink to put into another. One of her more disgusting ideas was the "family napkin", with the intention of saving water by cutting down on the laundry load. I actually remember siting at the dinner table asking for the napkin to be passed. That was definitely going too far, and she finally came to her senses on that one. While growing up with such thrifty parents taught me some valuable lessons, it also almost causes one to be the antithesis to such frugality when we finally leave the nest, so in this matter as in all things, moderation is perhaps more preferable.

Not to be the meanie here, but heating one's house by burning wood produces large amounts of greenhouse gasses, as well smog particulates. Buying older technology, such as B&W TVs, typically insures a shorter life span. One could buy a non-digital ready TV very cheaply a few years ago, but it is now outdated and needs a converter to continue working whereas the slightly more expensive digital-ready TV is still functional. The amount of land your parents use is likely far above the average and certainly not available to most.

Also, there now exist humane mouse traps that don't kill the mouse, but capture him for removal. The world has built a better mouse trap.

Mr Tuttle, Just LOVED this piece..had to laugh out loud because I too come from a frugal family! Well done! Thx!