I have a friend, who supporting his family in bare-bones fashion, says having no money simplifies life, cutting down on choices. I think that's one consequence of frugality--and likely a way out of the well-known "misery of choice" that hits people with too many stuff decisions.

But besides simplifying my material life, I find frugality takes me to unexpected places and some quirky behaviors. A few examples:

About ten years ago, done with the sports car experience (a Miata), a new car was in order. I wanted value, reliablity, and economy in a very basic car. I wanted something like the legendary VW Beetle, which hasn't been available for decades. I decided the closest to my automotive wish would be a Toyota ECHO sedan, $12,000 and no options. Then I found out a neat Toyota ECHO hatchback model was sold north of the border in Canada--everywhere else in the world--but not in USA. So I went north and imported, as an individual, a Black Sand Pearl ECHO HB. Bare bones: no air, no power steering, wind-up windows, a worthy successor to the VW Beetle. You can read more about where my frugal ways took me here.

I eat oatmeal for breakfast, have for a long time. Being frugal, I buy oatmeal in bulk. But where to keep it on the shelf at home? Well, once in the past I bought a cylindrical "Old Fashioned Quaker Oats" box and I've been filling it with bulk oatmeal ever since. How long? There's a shelf pull date stamped on the bottom of the Quaker box: BEST BEFORE JAN 10 02! Yes, a cardboard box twelve years old (I might add another year to that because last night I noticed Quaker Oats now on the store shelves have a pull date of mid-2015).

In another testament to substituted goods, I use witch hazel as an aftershave and prefer Dickinson's Original Witch Hazel. But of late, I've been backsliding with my frugal ways. I buy the house brand at the supermarket, save a buck, and pour it into a Dickinson's bottle. I feel a smidge of guilt. This is, after all, a commercial success in the marketplace that shares my surname. But then Dickinsons have always had a reputation for Yankee thriftiness to uphold.

Lastly, I wrote about stockpiling incandescent light bulbs on this blog. A frugal defense against the mandate of more expensive replacements (CFLs, LEDs, and the like). Recently, a reporter for NBC, coming across the blog post, interviewed me by phone. Thus, my frugality led to fifteen minutes of Internet fame, something--if I'm to be labelled--with which I can live.

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Read more ...
(click to enlarge image)

Read Charlie Dickinson's story collection, The Cat at Light's End, as an ebook in these downloadable formats:

.mobi (Kindle)
.epub (most other readers)
.pdf (for PCs)

Also, a flash fiction, "Ylena Thinks Nyet," is at Cigale Literary Magazine.

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