F is for Frugal

Frugality is not something I ever used to think about.

Having said that, living off a grant at university meant having to manage money pretty carefully. After graduation, I taught English in Greece, where I worked for five years and was appallingly badly paid. I kept my earnings in a jar in the bottom drawer of my desk. When it was empty, there was no more. In my second year there, I had to take on so many extra lessons (just to pay the rent and living expenses) that I dropped 15 kilos in weight in 3 months...the second best diet I ever went on. And if you're teaching 41 hours a week and commuting around 3 hours a day, you don't have that much time to worry about how to spend your money.

This all changed when my mother died and I inherited enough money to buy a house in Greece. By this time, I was married and the money financed our adventure in Tinos. Even there, we spent very little - we ate seasonal food bought in the local markets, stocked up on new clothes about once a year on our return to Britain and limited our travelling to within Greece or back home.

Probably my most extavagant years were when I worked in the centre of Edinburgh. The school was situated near some of the most interesting designer shops in the city - coincidentally, the dress code at work was 'smart'. Plenty of excuses then to pop out at lunchtime to buy a pair of French enamel earrings when I realised I had forgotten to wear any. Or to buy a cashmere scarf when the weather turned chilly. Or, best of all, purchase a silk shirt to replace the one my board pen had just leaked all over.

But I suppose money isn't everything. The job in the city turned sour and we took time off to travel. On our return we landed reasonably well-paid jobs but something still wasn't right. So here we are, back to being self-employed (and doing jobs we'd never dreamt of doing before) and skint. Learning to be frugal again. Not a bad thing.

One of the most important people to come into my life over the past year has been Nicky Orr. Not only does she provide a market place for designers, artists and crafts people, she is also passionate about sustainability, recycling and, well, just thinking about how to be less wasteful in our lives. Being frugal isn't being mean. It's just stopping to think. Now that I have less money, I have to look for ways to maintain the lifestyle I want: recycling what I have, buying from charity shops, even comparing prices...

Being frugal is cool and I am very proud to be participating in the first Eco Crafts Market next week. http://www.frugalcool.co.uk/ecmmainpage.html 

Here's to everyone's success.