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Wedfrugal.com Articles- Wed Frugal book excerpt 01: Weddings and Frugality by Rachel Sanfordlyn Shreckengast
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Wed Frugal book excerpt 01: Weddings and Frugality

copyright Rachel Sanfordlyn Shreckengast of WedFrugal.com

*Note - I am currently working on a book that I have tentatively titled Wed Frugal. I did not want this book to turn into a clone of Bridal Bargains by Denise and Alan Fields. As a result, I no longer have a publisher. Regardless, I will likely finish the book in the fall/winter of this year and eventually try to find a publisher for it. My goal is to finish the book in the manner that I have always wanted to write it. Below, you will find an excerpt of the book:

Weddings and Frugality

Most people do not associate weddings with frugality. There is a very good reason for this. The two do not seem like they should go together at all. Of course, the reality is that weddings and frugality go together quite well. Most people believe that weddings are supposed to be expensive. After all, it is a very important day in your life. On this day, you will publicly show your commitment to your partner. In many cases, it will happen only once in your lifetime. You can not deny that it is a very special day. Everyone reminds you exactly how special this day is. You and your partner love each other and you want to show that love for each other on this day. This is the day that you hope to look fondly on for the rest of your lives.

Even though your wedding is indeed a special day, you can have a wonderful day while spending less. There are many reasons that couples may want to spend less on their wedding. Like my husband and I, some couples prefer to spend their money on something else. For us it was a house, but other couples may choose to spend their money on an education, traveling or a new car. Some couples choose to combine frugality and weddings in order to invest their money in stocks, bonds or mutual funds. Other couples use frugality because they do not have a lot of money to begin with. Whatever your reasons, frugality can be a great tool to cut the costs of your wedding.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with frugality, a definition is in order. At its most basic, frugality simply means living below or within your means. Those that practice frugality are varied. Some who practice frugality do so for very specific reasons and others adopt it as a lifestyle. One important thing to note is that frugality is entirely voluntary for those that practice it consciously. Some people want to trade a high-stress career for one that has less stress and fewer hours, others want to have one partner stay at home to raise the children and others want to live a simpler life in general. I want to make it very clear that those who consciously practice frugality do not feel deprived. This is because they choose to be frugal. When you make a conscious choice to do something, you are in control of that decision. There is no reason to feel deprived under these conditions.

There is often an assumption that people who choose to live frugally go to extreme measures to save a few pennies. While this is true in some cases, many frugalists truly enjoy the challenge of trying to live below or within their means. This varies in degrees and it is extremely difficult to put frugalists in any one category or to define them adequately. This is because frugal people are a varied bunch, and they all practice frugality for different reasons. Some pinch every penny they can, while others use a few concepts of frugality to keep costs manageable. You’ll find that many frugalists fit somewhere in between. There are a great number of names that a frugalist may be called by other people. Some frugalists are called thrifty, while others are called cheapskates, tightwads, penny-pinchers, or bargain-hunters. Many of these terms are not looked on favorably by some people.

It is unfortunate that some people view frugality as a negative thing. Most of us live in a consumer-oriented society. Many who live in this society feel that the wealthy show their riches by showing off the possessions that they own. In the United States, it is called "Keeping up with the Joneses", and it is a very prevalent practice. This is despite the fact that it has been shown that frugal people are often more successful and more wealthy than people assume. More studies and research are being done on this, and it appears that the people who try to appear successful are often in debt or struggling financially. They are often too busy "keeping up with the Joneses" to actually save their money. One recommended book on this particular subject is "The Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko. There are many other books, but this one is easy to read and easy to understand.

Another myth about frugality is that it has to be difficult to be effective. As I hope this book illustrates, many aspects of frugality are very simple. They are not difficult to use and they are not difficult to do. Frugality is a choice that varies by degrees. You can use the simplest concepts or tips to save some money on your wedding or you can drastically reduce the costs of your wedding by doing a little more work than others might be willing to do. Some aspects of frugality take practice to be effective, but most are very simple and take little practice or work. In many cases, frugality is common sense. Most aspects of frugality can be done by anyone whether they choose to do it once or incorporate it into their life.

Time is often an issue for many couples, and some may feel that they do not have the time to practice frugality. This is also a myth. Some aspects of frugality take very little time. For the most part, it is not necessary to spend large amounts of time on any of the concepts, tips or ideas that are presented here. I have tried to present ideas for beginners as well as for those who are experienced frugalists. The time you spend on frugality is the time you choose to spend on it. You can use frugality whether you are working ten hours a week or seventy. The point is to use frugality as tool. It can fit around your lifestyle and can be used successfully by the majority of people who try it. There is no set amount of time that you have to spend. Of course, I hope that many of you will decide to try it in other areas of your life as well.

Frugality can be used to enrich your life in a number of ways, but there are also people who use frugality as a tool to help them keep costs down on certain items. In many cases, these items are things that cost quite a bit to begin with. A wedding is merely one example of this. Some people choose to practice frugality on a temporary basis. There is nothing wrong with this and it can be used in this manner as well. It can be used for big-ticket items or to cut the costs of events such as weddings.

Of course, I must mention that frugality is most beneficial if used as part of a lifestyle rather than for one big-ticket item. We use it in nearly every aspect of our lives and the benefits to doing so are very apparent to us. We are able to afford the things we truly enjoy and ignore those things that mean nothing to us. We have two savings accounts and two checking accounts. There is money left at the end of the month in both checking accounts and there is always money in both of our savings accounts. We know that we can easily afford our house-payment, even if one of us loses our job due to an accident or illness. We know that we will be able to feed our family of three children and four pets if a major catastrophe strikes. We know that our cars are very cheap to maintain and fix. Both of our cars were paid for with cash, and we don’t have to worry about car payments. Most importantly, we have peace-of-mind. We know that if an emergency arises, we will be able to handle it and weather whichever storm decides to come our way. This is priceless to us and affects our outlooks on life positively.

Next section of book - Concepts of Frugality...

Best Wishes,
Rachel Sanfordlyn Shreckengast

01012001

Best Wishes,
Rachel Sanfordlyn Shreckengast

WedFrugal.com
Personal Pages

Owner, WedFrugal.com (February 18, 2001 to present)
The Wedding Frugality Page (now at wedfrugal.com - December 1995 to May 2001)
-former About.com Weddings Guide (October 26, 1997 to April 5, 2001)
-former Wed Net columnist (October 1996 to December 1997)
-Dollar Stretcher contributor (Various Dates)

Copyright, Rachel Sanfordlyn Shreckengast 12/95 to present