Asking What Your Grandma Would Do Can Save You a Lot of Money

What would grandma do? Imagine your grandmother in her younger years raising her family. Many of them did not have the convenience of living in town near a grocery store stocked with all the modern conveniences of year round vegetables and fruits. If they did live in town, they probably did not have a second car parked in the driveway just waiting for their use. As I advise people about changing their thought processes into one of a frugal lifestyle, I ask them to think about this question. Here is a brief comparison of how our world has changed drastically from our grandmother's world and how it ends up costing us money.

· One car family vs. two car family. That alone keeps us from running out to get unnecessary items. Grandma had to call and ask grandpa to stop at the grocery store on the way home because she did not have a car to make a quick run. This would have been a big request as he was the primary breadwinner and generally did not want to be in the habit of running errands on the way home. Instead, errands were planned and so was shopping day. Lists were carefully made and multiple trips were out of the question. I compare that to my own life where we can easily stop at the grocery store, the drug store or anyplace else multiple times a day. I am not sure that I am ready to live in a one car household but it certainly wouldn't help to plan ahead a little bit to save some time, energy and money.