Cheap vs. Frugal

I will freely admit that when it comes to shopping, I'm easily distracted by bright, shiny things. And the brightest, shiniest, quickest thing to catch my attention is a "Clearance" sign. Over the years, I've made some really good purchases off clearance racks, especially when it comes to clothing.

But I'm always looking for a good bargain. I was raised to be frugal. And it's been a lifestyle I've had to embrace during a good bit of my adult life. The norms for my life have been hand-me-down clothes, raising a garden to can and freeze food for the winter months, watching for major sales. It's just part of my nature to be frugal.

Today, though, I had to wonder if I'd crossed the line between being frugal and being cheap. (Here, feel free to insert audio of my kids laughing and saying "ya think??!!!") Hubby had yet another meeting with our dentist, who's fast becoming the person we see the most outside of our apartment building. While he was gone, I decided to mop our two small tile floors. What should have taken only a couple of minutes ended up taking quite a while.

When we moved, my broom and mop had seen much better days and I threw them out. I had a Swiffer handle and thought I could get by with using the dry and wet pads on the floors. By two or three weeks ago, I'd realized that really wasn't working for us. So we went to the local dollar store and I bought a broom, a dust pan, and a mop. I was pretty pleased with myself at the time for finding all three for a total of less than $5. And I might insert here that the broom and dust pan have worked well.

My bargain $1.50 mop, though, ended up in the trash room after I mopped this morning. The foam mop head absolutely refused to stay attached to the handle. It was all plastic, with pegs on the head that snapped onto the handle. The trouble was, the holes were too big - and as soon as I pushed the mop the head just flopped off. Before long, my patience was flopping around, too!

So we went back to the dollar store this afternoon and bought another mop. The price was still reasonable, but let's just say it cost more than $1.50! Mr. Clean had better treat me right, or he'll end up in the trash room as well.

When I was a kid, Mom always cut my hair (speaking of being frugal). She did - and still does - cut her own hair. There have been times over the years that I've cut my own hair - but I really enjoy having a professional do that chore, and hubby insists I treat myself to the beauty shop.

When my kids were small, I cut their hair........this was when I was cutting my own hair, there was no money for frivolities such as a beauty shop. My poor kids - I really have no hair cutting talent. I didn't do too bad on bangs, but when I cut the girls' long hair off it would always end up really short as I attempted to get it even. And the girls still tease their brother about his "cereal bowl" cuts. I might hope that they eventually forget, but unfortunately they all have school photos to remind them of my feeble, pathetic attempts.

I will continue to look for bargains. But hopefully I'll be able to keep the $1.50 mop in my brain as a reminder to use my better judgment about whether I'm being frugal or just merely cheap.