Know When to Stop Being Frugal

Frugality is a wonderful thing.  It’s good for you, your wallet, and the environment.  It encourages you to reduce and reuse.  For many people, frugality becomes a strange and enjoyable sort of hobby sometimes bordering on obsession.  Just how many times can you use that ziplock baggie?

The best things to happen to us in 2020, a set of Pyrex measuring cups.

I love frugality.  Frugality helped us save money to build our house and do all of the things that we want to do.  It has helped us lessen our impact on the environment.  It helps us slow down our life and really think about our choices. We wait for the right thing to come along, like a used couch, instead of going out and buying it new as soon as the urge strikes.  Usually, if we have to wait long enough, we decide that what we initially wanted wasn’t the best option, and we end up making a better decision because we waited.

But sometimes you can be too frugal.  This is a problem I wrestle with continuously. And some people will say that you can never be to frugal, but I disagree. There comes a time when frugality can cause more harm than good, and that time will be different for each of us.

I had a nice example of this the other day.  When we got married, I got many nice wedding gifts.  Our family and friends were incredibly generous. Many of the gifts were for the kitchen.  One thing that I did not get was a glass (liquid) measuring cup.  So I stole an extra from my dad’s kitchen, and have been using that ever since. 

The measuring cup that I STOLE

This has worked fine for the most part. Except sometimes it’s nice to be able to measure larger quantities.  Like when you’re canning and you don’t want to measure out seven quarts of tomatoes one cup at a time. 

But I had it in my head that I was going to find a used measuring cup somewhere, i just had to keep looking. Eventually something would turn up at a thrift store or a yard sale.  The problem is, I don’t get out very much, and large measuring cups aren’t very common yard sale items.  So it’s now been 5 years since we got married, and almost 3 since we moved into our house, and I still was using this single one-cup measuring cup I stole from my dad. 

I casually mentioned my plight to Andy, saying how at some point I think I should probably just buy a bigger measuring cup, since it was kind of hard to can or bake in bulk without any real accurate way to measure larger quantities. 

His response was to immediately go online and buy me a set of not one, but FOUR measuring cups ranging from one cup to 8 cups.  They were there within the week. 

And you know what?  I’ve used them almost every time I’ve cooked since then.  I had been suffering for years, because I didn’t want to spend the $30 on a set of measuring cups.  But in those years I had been suffering, I had wasted countless hours and a large part of my sanity.

Having to re-measure because I lost count, having recipes not turn out quite right because my measurements were ‘close enough’, and having to measure out seven quarts of tomatoes one cup at a time, or calculate weights, which is pure craziness. 

All because I would “come across a used one someday”.  Frugality is important, but so is productivity and your quality of life.  And if being frugal is keeping you from enjoying your life or from doing the things you need to do, then maybe you need to pause and reevaluate what really matters to you.  Frugality shouldn’t make your life difficult or unpleasant.

Sometimes you just need to give in and buy the measuring cups.

-Kiley