“Adversity is wont to reveal genius, prosperity to hide it.”
HORACE, Satires

This quote really speaks to how I feel about frugal living. Through circumstance and my own decisions (why did I drop out of college – and even though I went back – why did I get a degree in English??) – I have been forced to live frugally and focus on saving money in order to survive. This means that I have been forced to think about life very differently from someone who has never had these experiences – someone who has always been able to do all of their grocery shopping at Whole Foods and drive a Prius not because it cuts the cost of gas but because it costs bad fuel emissions (ah, someday, eh?).

Frugality forces me to be creative. It forces me to think of new recipes, projects, activities. Last week , I had a lot of celery, carrots and barley: therefore I made soup without a recipe and experimented instead of being able to follow a martha stewart recipe and buying the expensive ingredients and following it to a tee. The soup came out great, actually, and I was proud. Maybe I was even more proud of how great it came out than I would have been had I followed a Martha Stewart recipe?

This blog is a product of frugality. It is a project I have undertaken to fill my spare time and to maybe make a little side income for the savings account (that would be nice. i’ll be the first to let you know if that actually happens!!).  If I had more money right now, I probably would put off writing (just like I have for the past decade…groan). Activities…. my husband and I have taken to going on a lot of walks. We admire trees, architecture, our son – every day things that are important and beautiful. If we had more money, I might be going to spas and he might be on a recliner in front of cable TV – and we wouldn’t have this time together, with our young son , to build our relationship and really think about life.

Adversity is truly inspiring creativity for me as well as a different approach to life. Though I don’t wish to always be on such a limited budget, I am wildly grateful for how much this experience is teaching me.

Cheers!