I have recently been at the receiving end of some confessions from some of my relatives about their childhoods and how those factors affected their attitudes to their lives in their adulthood. These relatives, now older than I am and in more or less the same financial status as mine, still live frugal lives and think that I am daft for spending my money, in their opinion, lavishly on travel, restaurants etc.
All three pointed out to me that my childhood was not one of poverty as my father was quite well off during my childhood as they had many occasions to perceive first hand. On the other hand, each of them had very poor standards of living during their childhood which impacted their attitudes to money and economy in their later lives.
On reflection, this certainly would explain my general attitude towards life as being one of abundance which reflects in my approach to money.
My life has never followed a philosophy of frugality. It has however followed flugality.
Let me explain.
Frugality: The quality of being frugal, sparing, thrifty, prudent or economical in the use of consumable resources such as food, time or money, and avoiding waste, lavishness or extravagance.
In behavioral science, frugality has been defined as the tendency to acquire goods and services in a restrained manner, and resourceful use of already owned economic goods and services, to achieve a longer term goal.
Flugality:
A fluctuating degree of frugality based on economic circumstances.(portmanteau of fluid and frugal)
Scrimping and saving when money was tight and indulging when it was in abundance.
Let me clarify before my readers conclude that I am a prodigal. Far from it. I am not a spendthrift but I do like the good things of life and do not see any reason to not spend money that I can afford on them. I will most certainly not buy a Rolex wrist watch, but will buy a good one and keep one in spare too. I will not go to a five star hotel but will most certainly stay in a service apartment facility instead of in some dive near the railway station. I do not drive a BMW but a modern and efficient car that is comfortable for me to get in and out of and gives me value for money.
I will spend money on a Mac! In fact, this post has been written using one.
I am grateful that I can be flugal.
I hope that you enjoyed reading this post on the weekly Friday Loose Bloggers Consortium where eleven of us write on the same topic. Today’s topic has been chosen by The Old Fossil. The ten other bloggers who write regularly are, in alphabetical order, Delirious, gaelikaa, Grannymar, Maxi, Maria SF, Padmum, Paul, Shackman, The Old Fossil and Will. Do drop in on their blogs and see what their take is on this week’s topic. Since some of them may post late, do give some allowance for that too!