Frugality beyond your family......

Frugal can apply to more than the individual or family…..

Instead of blogging about any savings we Frugals have uncovered; there are more and more out there as you look, Frau Frugal and I spent Wednesday and one of the kinder’s school at their annual Field Days put on by the PE department. This was the fourth such Field Days we have volunteered and this was by far the best.

The time we spent at the school was extremely rewarding because not only did we help out his school by being a parental volunteer and fill in a need, we spent the day together, doing something we love together, namely being parents. Now with any type of organizational activity, you will have the doer’s and the watcher’s. Frau Frugal likes to refer to the watchers as “helicopter parents’. I thought that meant parents that swooped down and dropped off the child and then flew out of there because they did not have the time to be bothered by participating, but it is a term of endearment for those parents that will ‘participate’ to say they did, but then just ‘hover’ over their child. To get off track, we had one such helicopter parent that was there and actually did the activities with their child while other children waited for their turn. They then came to the provided lunch, got their meal and then left to eat with their child….what a waste.

Our participation allowed the school to rely on volunteers to supplement their staff. By supplementing their staff they are able to fund resources that otherwise may have been allocated to hiring and not always getting the return on the dollar, through performance or skill. Our kinder’s school is fortunate to have such a strong base of volunteerism….oh yeah there is always the same group of parents that are the doer’s but the we hope the ‘watcher’s’ group will grow smaller. (It was nice to see more Herren out there then in the past!)

In addition, the PE department shared their philosophy for character development through their involvement with our kinder. It is simply this…provide an opportunity for the kinder to learn social skills, athletic skills through peer to peer relationships and move around and exercise. All this is done through character development. The kinder will become more self sufficient and rely on themselves to seek out the opportunities as they realize the rewards. Not be dependent on others for the basics….an underlying principle of frugality in my humble opinion…

Open Letter

Thanks for checking in!


This is an open letter to those Homeowner Associations that have absolutely no control or desire to regulate their water consumption watering common areas. We are currently in a drought, or are experiencing drought-like conditions. In my commute, I drive through a number of neighborhoods and cannot believe the absolute waste of water watering the pavement or ill managed sprinkler heads just streaming out water.

The St. Petersburg Times put it pretty plainly: http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/water/article983732.ece

The Frugals are trying to condition our lawn to survive with minimal water and it just frustrates me to no end to see the abuse and neglect of these associations. We live in a neighborhood with deed restrictions and combined with severe frost burn and insects, are yard is not in the greatest shape. We will probably get a letter, but we would rather get a letter than have to water and water for the sake of "maintaining our property values". I'll stick to weeding the weeds, trying to limit the pests from eating what's left and continue to stew over these selfish associations.

Time to live on a compound for us!

Do your own energy audit....

One way, a frugal way to look at maximizing your energy conservation in the quickest way is to complete an energy audit. Check with your local power company as it more than likely is a free service they offer.

Although, Herr Frugal is not a tax expert, there are some energy savings or tax breaks that are available during filing time. Here in Florida, there are state programs to assist with modifications made to your home to upgrade to current standards.

I was looking around the house and we had replaced our water heater about two years ago. We thought we were doing a good thing by upgrading the size of the water heater. Longer showers! However, what I just discovered, the option we went with is very near the worst of the energy efficient models. A quick fix or assistance to this plan may be a thermal blanket. Another, but don't tell Frau Frugal, but the thermostat for the water heater may go down to conserve a bit.

Will report to you any savings or if the theory is a bust! Leave a comment if youv'e tried this as well. Thanks for reading.