Living Frugally Doesn't Have to Mean Living Cheaply
Bill Staton, co-author of Worry-Free Family Finances®, is interviewed by the Times Union (Albany, New York), May 15, 2005, Rene A. Guzman, San Antonio Express-News
How do Gerard van den Dries and his family make the most of their money? Let us count the ways.
For starters, Gerard buys almost everything with credit cards (gas, groceries, whatnot) to the tune of $4,000 a month. But instead of carrying a high-interest balance, he usually pays it off each month and cashes in on the purchase points. Those points have earned all sorts of perks, such as season passes to Fiesta Texas amusement park and a whopping $1,200 savings on a cruise to Belize.
Then there's Mrs. van den Dries. Denise, a registered nurse, clips coupons and buys summer clothes in winter and winter clothes in summer to save extra cash. And you can bet her medical background comes in handy when addressing health expenses.
And let's not forget their two savings-savvy kids. Alex, 12, once bought a basketball hoop with birthday money and other cash he'd squirreled away for about two years. He also has a stock portfolio. But his sister Sierra, 14, is the one who's really made a killing in the market. Her stock in Dave & Busters has more than doubled.
It's such dollar-stretching that truly makes this San Antonio family money-smart.
"I'd like to think we have a very nice lifestyle with a frugal aspect to it," says Gerard, 44, a middle school history teacher. "Every purchase, every (amount of) money spent, there's a plan behind it."
In the world of being thrifty, the van den Dries take the crown for their utterly gonzo spending and saving habits.
How else to explain a family that has bought three cars with cash (including a nifty red Mustang convertible) but drinks only water when they dine out? Or that managed an 11-day trip to Hawaii yet raised the kids' allowance to $3 a week?
Before you ask, the van den Dries didn't win the lottery or come into an inheritance.
Nor do they subsist on candles and ramen. They simply find resourceful ways to maximize their income - from bidding online at eBay and scrolling Orbitz for travel bargains, to taking advantage of cash-back savings and even timeshares.
"You never spend anything without analyzing first and seeing if you can go cheaper," Gerard says. "It becomes a lifestyle."
Would that more households shared that philosophy. For all the hurdles families face, money is by far the most daunting. It's tough enough for spouses to communicate their financial needs and goals. It only gets harder when kids end up in the middle of those talks. That is, assuming they happen at all.
"You certainly have to communicate," says Bill Staton, who with wife Mary wrote "Worry-Free Family Finances". "It doesn't have to be like an interrogation or anything like that ... but you certainly have to keep in touch with what's going on."
Between the grown-ups, that talk should be candid but compassionate. As for talking finances with the kids, Staton suggests using Monopoly money as a visual aid. Let the young ones handle the play dough, then show them where the cash goes (utilities, food, etc.) by taking increments off the pile.
Such lessons are hard to come by in the classroom, so it's important that parents familiarize their children with household finances.
"We believe that being responsible with money starts in the home," Staton says, "and as kids get older they can learn (more as they go)."
In the world of financial literacy, it may be no surprise that many educators share their money smarts at home as well as at school.Take Emily Duron, a middle school family consumer sciences instructor.
When Duron isn't teaching her students the fine art of child development and budgeting, she's showing her husband, Manuel, a copier technician, and her three stepsons - Logan, 16, Zach, 11, and Hunter, 6 - how to make the grade with household finances.
She learned frugality while a student at Texas Tech University. For one assignment, a professor had her write down everything she spent. It taught her to monitor where her money was going.
"If you bought a soda you had to write it down. If you went out you'd have to write it down," says Emily, 33. "That was probably the best thing I ever learned."
Emily puts an extra $100 a month toward the mortgage to pay off the house 11 years sooner, and contributes to her teacher retirement fund while Manuel kicks in to his 401(k). The boys all have savings accounts.
Then there are those other money-saving efforts. Emily and Manuel do most of the home improvement themselves, from flooring and fencing to refurbishing most of their furniture from thrift store finds and garage sales.
A whiz at sewing, Emily also teaches sewing classes for extra cash and even recycles the boys' T-shirts into quilts. And like the van den Dries, the Durons also opt for water instead of tea or soda.
Both the van den Dries and Durons credit their frugal values to their upbringing.
Gerard van den Dries learned from his parents, post-World War II immigrants. As for Duron, "My parents fought about money and I vividly remember it," she says. "I never want to be like that."
Such lessons shape their approaches to being forthright with their loved ones when it comes to family finances. And it's that practical honesty that helps these families see green instead of ending up in the red.
