Can you be single, green & frugal?

The blog post beneath this one about the couple who lives on less than $5000 a year made me think. One topic I never see covered is “extreme personal finance” or even simple frugality in relationship to being single.

I’m not talking about being a cheapskate during dinner, but maintaining a low powered ( & eco friendly ) lifestyle while actively dating.

Like it or not first impressions count and first impressions are often based on superficialities…even by nice and otherwise deep people.

Yes, there is always the rare hippy chick out there that will not care if you drive an old car or live in a cheap apartment, but those people are rare and they may not be what everyone is looking for.

Other people don’t see old cars and cheap apartments as choices for a well thought out philosophy, but as indicators that someone does not have his life together.

Is frugality beyond a certain point for married people only?

Think you’re frugal?

If you think you are frugal you will feel humbled by this super couple of thrift:

On paper, my wife and I are poor. How poor? In 2005 we made $4,303.84 combined; in 2004 we made half that. We’re in such a low tax bracket that I have trouble convincing the government of our tax return’s accuracy; they simply can’t believe Americans can live on that kind of money.

Yet in many ways, we’re better off than a Wall Street banker: We’ve saved enough money to buy land without a mortgage, we have no credit cards or monthly bills, I work 20 flexible hours a week from home, and my daughter has two stay-at-home parents.

Simply put, we never want for anything, and we have a lot of fun.

Read the rest of his Mother Earth News article

for 75 money saving tips

Saving Money As A Vegan

The urban vegan published this great article
explaining 25 money-saving kitchen tips for frugal vegans

Alan Lakein whose 1962 book started time management as we know it, coined the 80/20 Rule which states:

80% of the value comes from 20% of the tasks. Out of a list of 10 items 80% of the value will likely come from doing just 2 items on that list.

In other words, don’t knock yourself trying to incorporate every useful suggestion on a large list of tips. Pick out the highest yielding activities, only. Not only will you get more done, you will feel less overwhelmed from information overload.

Saving money on a vegan diet in my opinion, isn’t any different from saving money on any other kind of diet. The same problems exist for all diets and the same solutions will work for all diets.

There are many helpful tips for eating more frugally, but I think the most value comes from these just these three tips:

1. Eat out less.

2. Make more food from scratch and use less prepared foods.

3. Stay aware of the prices of the things you buy at the stores in your area.

In regards to #2: make your own salad dressings, sauces and soups. Most of these items can be made quickly at home for a fraction of the cost.

Make a large pot of soup when you feel like staying home on a weekend. Lattle it out into single serving containers and freeze it.

Get a copy of this fantastic book that will show you how to make a huge variety of vegan sauces and dressings: