I shopped victoriously

As a Dave Ramsey fan, I wanted to expand my library of DR stuff. But the Dave Ramsey CDs and books from Dave's site are prohibitively expensive. So I thought I would check out ebay for these items. I looked at many bids, patiently ( rather unusual for me!).
Most of the bids ended approx $45, which I just wasn't willing to pay. Fortunately for me, after a lot of waiting and watching and bidding, I was able to get the book and audio library for just $15 + $5shipping. Yup. I'm feeling rather good about myself today.

Garage sales are soooooo coool!

We were looking to furnish our house but didn't want to spend a lot of money because we are not planning on settling in this country. The other day we went to a garage sale & drove away with a used Dining table & 4 chairs for $30. We were able to bring it home in 10mins in the car itself. I'm sure the set would have cost atleast $100 had we got it through Craigslist.
Some other good finds were a knife set that costs $125 on Amazon for $5 and it still looks new. And the best yet(for me), 4 books for $1!!!

Frugality - back in vogue?

I read a lot of blogs written by the American religious christian right, mostly women who are full time home makers. They home school their children, praise their husbands & practice 'frugality'.

Why the scary quotes? Frugality is such an ugly concept in India, its considered cheap, especially in the metros. I'm usually economical, not exactly frugal though :-(

I've never had a credit card debt, touch wood, & am more used to lending money than borrowing it. At the work place, I used to have a lot of friends who couldnt manage money at all. One of my best friends for example, he's always in debt, he has no idea where it all goes. I guess binge drinking on weekends tend to thin out your wallet.

In the last 4 yrs, I saved up about 40% of my income, while living on my own; impressive I know. Now I'm unemployed, living on my husbands money. Its not easy for me, independent as I am. Unfortunately, he's working for an Indian company which does not pay a lot. And so, we have to make every dollar count. Thats where frugality comes into the picture.