The Frug: Live Lean. Work Lean. Travel Lean.

Live lean. Wear Stuff Out.

Wear Stuff Out.

The average American discards 1569 pounds of waste per year. Often, it turns out that some of that waste is still perfectly usable to someone.

This was a great Adirondack Chair. We had it for years and I even repainted it a few times. Many cold beers were enjoyed in this chair over the years. I read more than a few great books here as well. Early this summer, it started to wobble and one of the chair’s back legs was split. Also, SuperK would not even sit in it anymore due to a fear of splinters. It was pretty much falling apart. We had officially worn it out.

Wear. Stuff. Out.

A big part of my “living lean” philosophy is simply wearing stuff out. Think about how much cheap plastic, or low-quality, outdoor furniture is discarded every day. The cheap or plastic stuff looks great in the store but quickly it fades, the paint peels or it simply collapses and ends up in a landfill. Much better to start off with a locally made quality piece of furniture and wear it out.

This chair had done its job well. I couldn’t just take it to a dumpster or use it for scrap. So, I took this fantastic photo, put a “curb alert” up on Craigslist, then set it out in front of the house. It was gone in less than 15 minutes. Maybe some craftsman was going to sand it down, replace all the rusty screws and rotted parts, paint it and get another 15 years out of it. I’ll never know, but I like to think that someone else is sitting in that chair right now enjoying a few cold beers and wearing it out all over again. This just demonstrates that even when we think something is worn out, someone else can see it as having great potential.

You can post stuff to Craigslist directly from your smartphone using this free Craigslist mobile app. Once your account is set up, you snap a quick photo, type in a description, and post. This is much easier than the old process of getting that picture and uploading photos and descriptions from your computer. It’s always good to include a couple of photos so people know exactly what they’ll be picking up. Curb alerts are always for free merchandise and are a great timesaver versus hauling stuff away.

While you’re on Craigslist, you may even find a replacement.

The Frug

Are you an energy hog? Track and compare your electric, gas, and water usage with friends and neighbors.

07/13 by The Frug 5 Comments

I’ve been using a great service to track our family’s energy use over the past few years, myenergy.com . The service recently got a makeover and is now a Nest Company. Nest makes those high-tech energy saver thermostats. As you can see, The Frug is not so frugal when it comes to energy usage. Looks like our family of four is spending double what the average energy user in the area is spending. You can track by total bill, or in the case of electricity, actual kilowatt hours. You can also track and compare with your neighbors or with friends anywhere in the country. Either way, we are off the chart. I still get quite a few complaints that the house is not cool enough. The source of the complaints is a two level heating and cooling system linked to timed zone thermostats downstairs and upstairs. I have them set up to cut off the air conditioning downstairs when no one is around and vice versa, upstairs. I need to reprogram them every time daylight savings rolls around and even need to get the system rebalanced occasionally! All of this to spend more money than my neighbors!

I think many people including myself focus on the heating and air-conditioning, but don’t realize how much energy appliances and electronics consume. A few years ago I read that cable boxes use more energy than an average size refrigerator even when the TV is off. We’ve gotten rid of all of our cable boxes, soon to be followed by the cable company. More on that later.

I’d be interested to hear what other folks spend on their electric or gas bills. I must say that we’ve done much better on the gas/heating bill over the past few years. I’m going to be sharing other family of four stats on this blog. A lot of the economic reports include great detail on family of four spending. I will be trying to get to the bottom of why our family of four spending often bears no resemblance to the stats. For example, I am continually blown away by the amount of water we use for a family that doesn’t water the lawn or have a pool. Is our water meter rigged? Do our toilets run all night? (They don’t. I did the food dye test) There are also the families that spend way below the averages, this is where we want to be. Mr. Money Mustache publishes his family’s entire budget. He was recently featured in the Washington Post. People around here have really had a hard time getting their heads around how he pulls this off. It’s good reading.

Example of some of the charts on myenergy.com. As an added incentive the service is free and you also get points for lowering your energy bill.

George Carlin – Stuff

07/13 by The Frug Leave a Comment

George Carlin on Stuff transcript.

Actually this is just a place for my stuff, ya know? That’s all, a little place for my stuff. That’s all I want, that’s all you need in life, is a little place for your stuff, ya know? I can see it on your table, everybody’s got a little place for their stuff. This is my stuff, that’s your stuff, that’ll be his stuff over there. That’s all you need in life, a little place for your stuff. That’s all your house is: a place to keep your stuff. If you didn’t have so much stuff, you wouldn’t need a house. You could just walk around all the time.

A house is just a pile of stuff with a cover on it. You can see that when you’re taking off in an airplane. You look down, you see everybody’s got a little pile of stuff. All the little piles of stuff. And when you leave your house, you gotta lock it up. Wouldn’t want somebody to come by and take some of your stuff. They always take the good stuff. They never bother with that crap you’re saving. All they want is the shiny stuff. That’s what your house is, a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get…more stuff!

Sometimes you gotta move, gotta get a bigger house. Why? No room for your stuff anymore. Did you ever notice when you go to somebody else’s house, you never quite feel a hundred percent at home? You know why? No room for your stuff. Somebody else’s stuff is all over the place! And if you stay overnight, unexpectedly, they give you a little bedroom to sleep in. Bedroom they haven’t used in about eleven years. Someone died in it, eleven years ago. And they haven’t moved any of his stuff! Right next to the bed there’s usually a dresser or a bureau of some kind, and there’s NO ROOM for your stuff on it. Somebody else’s shit is on the dresser.

Have you noticed that their stuff is shit and your shit is stuff? God! And you say, “Get that shit offa there and let me put my stuff down!”

Sometimes you leave your house to go on vacation. And you gotta take some of your stuff with you. Gotta take about two big suitcases full of stuff, when you go on vacation. You gotta take a smaller version of your house. It’s the second version of your stuff. And you’re gonna fly all the way to Honolulu. Gonna go across the continent, across half an ocean to Honolulu. You get down to the hotel room in Honolulu and you open up your suitcase and you put away all your stuff. “Here’s a place here, put a little bit of stuff there, put some stuff here, put some stuff–you put your stuff there, I’ll put some stuff–here’s another place for stuff, look at this, I’ll put some stuff here…” And even though you’re far away from home, you start to get used to it, you start to feel okay, because after all, you do have some of your stuff with you. That’s when your friend calls up from Maui, and says, “Hey, why don’tchya come over to Maui for the weekend and spend a couple of nights over here.”

Oh, no! Now what do I pack? Right, you’ve gotta pack an even SMALLER version of your stuff. The third version of your house. Just enough stuff to take to Maui for a coupla days. You get over to Maui–I mean you’re really getting extended now, when you think about it. You got stuff ALL the way back on the mainland, you got stuff on another island, you got stuff on this island. I mean, supply lines are getting longer and harder to maintain. You get over to your friend’s house on Maui and he gives you a little place to sleep, a little bed right next to his windowsill or something. You put some of your stuff up there. You put your stuff up there. You got your Visine, you got your nail clippers, and you put everything up. It takes about an hour and a half, but after a while you finally feel okay, say, “All right, I got my nail clippers, I must be okay.” That’s when your friend says, “Aaaaay, I think tonight we’ll go over the other side of the island, visit a pal of mine and maybe stay over.”

Aww, no. NOW what do you pack? Right–you gotta pack an even SMALLER version of your stuff. The fourth version of your house. Only the stuff you know you’re gonna need. Money, keys, comb, wallet, lighter, hanky, pen, smokes, rubber and change. Well, only the stuff you HOPE you’re gonna need.

All material written and owned by George Carlin.

Just Get Started

07/13 by The Frug 2 Comments

You have to start somewhere. If you have read my posts, you know I’ve declared a War on Stuff. The reasons are pretty simple. Stuff wastes a lot of time. Storing stuff, cleaning stuff, buying stuff to clean your stuff, looking for stuff, shopping for more stuff and the list goes on.

Check out George Carlin on stuff, it’s a guaranteed laugh.

If you’re interested in getting rid of stuff and decluttering your life, but haven’t found the time to get started on it, I’ve come up with a simple way to have a constant reminder in front of you each day. We set up a box in the hallway right next to the hamper. Any time SuperK or I come across something we no longer use or want to get rid of, we drop it in this large cardboard box. Usually, after a month or so, the box is nearly full and we can quickly pack up and run it over to Goodwill or call Purple Heart and they’ll come pick it up. You can also reach out to the Lupus Foundation who also does at home pickup.

The box also comes in handy when I’m trying to do some quick decluttering. I can toss in old baby books, toys, videotapes, as long as it’s something that may be usable to someone. I’ll admit I’m not sure who’s going to want that Big Chill soundtrack on cassette but I’ll leave that up to the folks sorting through all this treasure. Don’t get too hung up on the quality or age of the clothing or items you pass along, as long as it’s clean. If it’s not up to Goodwill standards (yes, there are standards) they generally make it into rag stock or recycle it — which is much better than it ending up in a landfill.

If your box isn’t filling up, you may need to schedule about 30 minutes of decluttering a week. If just one or two family members, roommates etc. participate, that box will fill up quickly. This is especially important just prior to the winter months when shelters really are looking for old sweaters, jackets, coats and anything warm. Don’t just wait till spring cleaning rolls around. Get rid of that stuff!

Brad Beckstrom, The Frug

Declaration of War on Stuff

07/13 by The Frug Leave a Comment

Origin of the Frug

07/13 by The Frug Leave a Comment

Origin of The Frug
by Brad Beckstrom

I was given the nickname “The Frug” by my beautiful wife Kelly. She has a blog, kellysuperficial.com from here on out “SuperK” as that’s how lazy of a typist I am. She writes about celebrities, makeup, and fashion. Sometimes she uses her blog to complain about me and my frugal ways! (when I am merely trying to dissuade her from spending our kids’ college education funds at Target, Nordstrom,and Sephora!)

I think she’s got at least 100 blog posts that mention “The Frug.” Anyway, I thought, “why do I deserve this nickname?” By all appearances, we are certainly not that frugal. In fact, I believe we spend more than most families on what I call “family T&E” or as SuperK calls it “Family Fun Time.” (I think she is being sarcastic, but what do I know?) It’s our biggest budget item. This blog is mostly about our journey from spending on “stuff” to spending on adventures.

Regardless, the name stuck so I decided to really start living it. A few years ago, I registered the domain name “thefrug.com” but never got around to starting the blog as I was too busy dealing with, you guessed it, “stuff.” I think when most people hear the word frugal they think of a penny-pinching coupon clipping recluse. I’d like to redefine the term.

Let’s start with the Wikipedia definition of frugality:

Frugality is 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.

I like to think of it this way Frugality = Less and Less = More. So this blog is really about enjoying life more by consuming less. Especially less stuff.

The formula is pretty simple, by consuming less we free up time and money to spend on life’s experiences, instead of stuff. And if we can develop lean spending habits for travel, for work, and for life in general, everyone benefits. I’ve been working on this for years and I want to encourage people to join me in the War on Stuff . I also want to share everything I’ve learned in my long journey towards a lean lifestyle.

So, what am I going to be talking about? Mostly, this blog will be about improving your personal economy and enjoyment of life through living lean, working lean and traveling lean. Many personal finance blogs spend a lot of time focused on the economy, the stock market and the general insanity of the day-to-day world of finance. That’s not for us. We know we have no control over that and most of the advice is contradictory or flat out wrong.

My goal is to guide you towards financial independence so you can be free from worrying about the news, the market and your 401K balance.

Let’s get started.