About FrugalPatti.com:

My wise Grandmother told me many times, "Watch you pennies and your dollars will take care of themselves!" Through my life I've really taken this advice to heart. Although I've always liked nice things, I weigh what things I really need or will enjoy the most. I always look for bargains, but not to the point of purchasing cheaply made items (which need to be frequently replaced) or buying an unneeded item. I feel it is very important to have a balanced life. By being fugal, one can spend more time with family and friends instead of working that second or third job just to buy more things.

There is much we can learn from the generations that came before us. Those that lived through the great depression and had to make sacrifices during WWII, were better equipped to deal with those challenges than those raised in a period of excess. Our fast paced and disposable society of today has caused problems in our lives (fast food, unhealthy diet, and stressful lifestyle) and our environment (water and air pollution, to name a few). Often our fast paced lifestyle has brought us away from the way we were raised. By getting back to basics, planning ahead, and cutting back in those things that fairly easily fit into our lifestyle; we can live a healthier life and help the environment also.

Reduce -> Reuse -> Recycle

For many years we, as a society, only focused on recycling. This was often because there was a financial benefit in it for us, for example collecting aluminum cans or collecting the deposit for glass coke bottles. Today many areas have mandatory recycling as our curb or at a drop off location. We have in many cases gotten away from the financial benefit, and are expected to recycle as our civic duty. As the most well known slogan in today's "green living" focus; Reduce - Reuse - Recycle is the priority we should focus our lifestyle changes on. In this green living hierarchy, reducing waste is the highest priority, then reusing items, then recycling what can't be reused. A few generations back people didn't have to remind themselves to reduce waste or reuse what they could, they thought of it as a necessary part of life. With today's economy and the need to care for our environment, we are becoming the same way. Our wasteful and disposable society, can easily change it's ways by merely being mindful of what we do, and making small changes in our lives.

Please join me in this journey,

Patti Winters